Pawlenty Gets Ready To Defy Minnesota Courts

by dday

That’s how I read this announcement:

Two sources have confirmed that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will announce that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

The sources confirmed to WCCO-TV political reporter Pat Kessler that the announcement about Pawlenty’s future plans will include an announcement that he will not seek a third term.

The announcement is expected to be made at a 2 p.m. press conference.

Pawlenty wants to run for President, and maybe wants to free his schedule for 2011 (although that didn’t exactly work out for Mitt Romney). He also might want to avoid a re-election fight in a blue state after years of budget deficits and recessions. This is a bad time to be a Governor.

But clearly, not having to face Minnesota voters again frees him up to do whatever he deems necessary with respect to the US Senate election. Al Franken will probably get approval from the state Supreme Court within a couple weeks as the winner of the election. At that point the Court will, in all likelihood, request a certificate of election for Franken to be seated. The people of Minnesota want two Senators again. Pawlenty, by taking himself out of the running, removes himself of accountability and can now be free to show Republican primary voters what a good soldier he is. He’ll refuse to sign the certificate. Heck, he makes this announcement THE DAY after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Franken-Coleman case. He’s practically begging you to make the connection.

…at his press conference today: “I think you guys have really overbaked that issue. I’m going to do whatever the court says.”

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Professor Larry Jacobs explains how Pawlenty can wiggle out of this:

“Pawlenty’s decision not to run for governor could be a lead-up to a decision to run for President,” said Jacobs. “And Pawlenty’s decision to run for President makes it more likely, not less, that he will support Coleman’s efforts to appeal to the federal courts when he loses in the Minnesota Supreme Court. So I think the bottom line here is, Gov. Pawlenty’s political agenda may end up driving how he handles the Senate recount.”

I asked Jacobs about how Pawlenty said today — not for the first time — that he would obey the decision of a court to issue a certificate of election. But Jacobs still sees wiggle room here. “Signing it — and how quickly you sign it — those are two different things,” Jacobs explained. “If Norm indicates that he’s going to be filing in federal court, the Governor may just say, ‘you know, I am gonna sign it, I’m just waiting to hear from my legal counsel that this is appropriate.'”

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