Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (Official photo)
That didn't take long:
Gov. Mark Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch met for about an hour Tuesday afternoon. It was their first time in a room together after budget talks fell apart late Thursday.
Gov. Mark Dayton (D) has compromised repeatedly, dropping his initial $37 billion budget proposal to $35.8 billion, then dropping his call for a tax increase on the top 2% of earners to just the top 0.3%, those making more than $1 million per year. Republican leaders of the legislature countered by demanding that he make concessions on abortion and stem cells.
In a radio interview Tuesday morning, Dayton appeared ready to compromise further but not yet to collapse completely—and that appears to be the only thing Republicans will accept. Illustrating the Republican take on the matter, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty is bragging about how he shut down the state's government back in 2005. In this atmosphere, it's extremely hard to imagine that a independent bipartisan commission being put together by Walter Mondale and Arne Carlson will have much impact.