Republican governor candidate Tom Emmer is still playing coy with his plans to balance the state budget. Ememr told reporters this week he may start rolling out his aplans for dealing with the state's looming $6 billion budget shortfall sometime next week.
That's a little better than the statements he was making earlier in the week, something to the effect of "Deficit? What deficit?" Emmer was parroting the old Pawlenty line that revenues available in the next biennium will be seven percent higher than the past biennium, so, the problem is obviously not a lack of money, just too much spending.
He didn't explain how much of that revenue is money that should have been paid to school districts this year and other bookkeeping tricks, or how he plans to trim that excessive spending.
The upcoming budget deficit is not some monster in the closet that will disappear when you really look for it. It is a financial fact, and the sooner Emmer starts taking it seriously, the sooner voters can figure out if they want to vote for him.