By T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

The 2008 legislative session is some four months away but a frenzied script is perhaps already being written.

Senate DFLers gathered near the Lafayette Bridge in St. Paul last week demanding Gov. Tim Pawlenty jettison Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau as the Commissioner of Transportation.

DFLers have pages of complaints against the skydiving, karate chopping commissioner, who even before the collapse of the 35W bridge had a habit of sleeping only a few hours a night.

Democrats donít blame Molnau for the collapse of the bridge, but otherwise wave a bill of indictment thatís lengthy and unflattering.

Senate Transportation Chair-man Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, indicated Senate DFLers would hold a confirmation hearing on Molnau on the Senate floor at the start of the session in February.

He opined the Senate would not confirm Molnau, thereby reducing her job description by fifty-percent.

These little exercises do not occur in vacuums.

The firing of former Pawlenty Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke by the Senate in 2004 was part of a partisan progression that culminated in the state government shutdown the following year.

The Yecke confirmation hearing provided memorable TV visuals with one witness tearing sheets of paper apart, symbolizing Yeckeís perceived divisiveness but also the refining nature of scissors.

Such dramatics would not occur in the stolid Senate, where visitors may ask why the senator in the corner isnít voting to learn theyíre looking at a bust.

At any rate, should the Senate can Molnau, itís not something the governor is likely to easily shrug off.

Unlike with Yecke, Pawlenty has served with Molnau for a long time ó they were seat mates together in the House.

On the campaign trail, he seems to enjoy mentioning his beer-keg-tossing second-in-command and indicated last week he was sticking by her.

"But as to their (Senate DFLers) request that I fire her, Iím not going to do that," he said.

To an extent Pawlenty canít fire the lieutenant governor. Whether she is a commissioner or not isnít going away.

But imagine just as inscrutable eyes of the political world begin to squint at Minnesota in the build up to the Republican National Convention, the Republican governor is so humiliated by Democrats.

And all this against the backdrop of anticipated 35W bridge reconstruction.

Itís possible DFLers could not only defrock Molnau but produce a transportation finance bill with tax increases, one the governor canít or wonít support and vetoes, and succeed in overriding Pawlenty by getting enough Republicans ó there doesnít need to be that many ó to back it.

Those Democrats!

Of course the governor could deal with this scenario with calmness, mild words and benevolence.

Or perhaps the impending gathering of the Republican clan could elicit combativeness from one of the stars of the show.

That remains to be seen.

But transportation could become a rogue proton like the same-sex marriage ban amendment of a few years ago, attaching itself to other issues like health care reform and causing the political process to reach an unstable mass.

The session is months away and a lot could happen to entirely rewrite the script.

Itís on paper, not chiseled in granite.

Some kind of transportation finance agreement could be reached, though, as the debate has been stagnant for years, that seems unlikely.

Indeed, very unlikely.

The governor could put Molnau in charge of a huge transportation reprioritization effort, one having her visiting the far reaches of the state and so engrossed and so busy as to require her to surrender the day-to-day operations of the transportation department.

Pawlentyís embattled health commissioner simply resigned during a political lull.

At any rate, the 2008 legislative session promises more political drama than can be rightly packed into a short session.

And that may be the problem.

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