Senator's
apology ends veterans 'plate gate'
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Updated: 10 hrs ago
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- An uproar at the Capitol over how money
raised from the sale of special veterans license plates is being
spent took a dramatic turn Thursday. That's when it
became clear Governor Pawlenty's office had not tapped into those funds
to pay other bills, contrary to what had been reported by several media
outlets.
The controversy some termed "plate gate" ended abruptly, when critics
were confronted with the truth. And the state senator who fueled the
fire apologized for speaking out before he knew all the facts.
"I'm the one that squawked the loudest about this when it first came
out," Sen. Steve Murphy, D - Red Wing, told his colleagues during a
finance committee hearing on the issue.
"And I'll tell you what. If I could grab those words and shove them
back down my throat I most certainly would."
Sen. Murphy, a Marine veteran, and fellow Democrat Don Betzold, an
Army veteran, became alarmed last week when they were told that money
generated from the sale of "Support Our Troops" license plates wasn't
all being spent as advertised.
Motorists who buy those plate must make a minimum donation of $30 to
the state, which pays for veterans services in Minnesota. In 2009
alone, the state raised $930,000 in contributions through sales of those
special plates.
It came to light last week that those funds were used to pay
one-fourth of the $92,000 annual salary of Lee Buckley, who served as
Governor Pawlenty's director of faith-based initiatives and community
services until last December. On the surface it appeared to be a case of
Pawlenty borrowing from a special fund to make ends meet in another
area, a practice which has drawn criticism from Democrats for several
years.
In response Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee drafted a bill
designed to end that practice and extract more accountability when it
comes to so-called "interagency transfers" such as that one. The
hearing Thursday morning was supposed to allow Pawlenty's critics to air
their concerns about what they see as a financial shell game.
But when Buckley began to testify it quickly became obvious she had
spent at least one-fourth of her time working on veterans outreach while
she held the post in Pawlenty's office. Veterans Affairs Commissioner
Michael Pugliese further drove home the point, making it clear that the
money had been spent as intended.
"We did not pay the governor's office for the services she provided
the governor's office," Pugliese explained, "She worked for the
Department of Veterans Affairs for 25 percent of her time, on a
temporary part-time basis."
Murphy apologized to Buckley, who now works for the Department of
Corrections, for his role in fanning the flames over the source of her
paycheck.
"We need 100 more Ms. Buckleys, and Ms. Buckley you've done a
wonderful job," he said, "I feel that anyone that provides service to
our veterans should be put on a pedestal. And if I knocked you off that
pedestal I apologize."
Veterans packed the hearing room, anxious to hear someone set the
record straight. They said they worried the negative publicity and
misperceptions created in newspaper and magazine articles could cause
people to stop buying the plates.
Murphy said his frustration with the governor's office stemmed from
years of going back and forth with Pawlenty on transportation safety
measures, such as primary seat belts and teen driving curfews.
"Any time the governor's office has been involved in negotiations
I've been involved with, it hasn't come out very good. And that's why I
questioned this program. I was wrong."
He then asked his colleagues to drop the bills aimed at tracking the
license plate money more carefully.
"I don't think we need either of these bills, guys, I really don't."
A welcoming home for our Troops.
