The conservative Club for Growth issued a somewhat negative review of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a presidential candidate, noting his mixed record on pro-growth policies and concluding that he was not particularly reliable on the issues that the group supports.
In its Presidential White Papers, the Club for Growth looks at “how…the candidates rate as a pro-growth economic conservatives.” The reports look at the candidates’ records in several areas: lowering taxes, reducing government spending, commitment to free trade, entitlement reform, reducing government regulation, school choice, tort reform, free speech, and supporting other candidates who support those things.
The first report was issued on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In its second report in the series, the former Minnesota governor receives a mixed review.
“It’s clear that Governor Pawlenty is, for the most part, hard to pin down on his exact ideological moorings,” the report says, noting that he “deserves tremendous praise” for certain things, but has also “some simply inexcusable” things on his record.
“Given all this, we struggle to identify the real Tim Pawlenty,” the report concludes. “We agree with those who say that Governor Pawlenty did the best he could in a state as liberal as Minnesota. And we believe he would be a stronger pro-growth executive in a more conservative climate, but his ‘clunkers’ as he himself describes them are difficult to ignore. A President Pawlenty, we suspect, would fight for pro-growth policies, but would be susceptible to adopting ‘pragmatic’ policies that grow government.”
On spending and taxes, the Club for Growth calls Pawlenty’s record a mixed bag. For example, while the report praises him for his early career as a state legislator, it attacks him for “Breaking his anti-tax pledge” by imposing a “health impact fee” on packs of cigarettes that the Club for Growth says amounted to a tax on smokers.
The group affirms Pawlenty’s claim that “through his two terms as Minnesota’s Governor, he vetoed $7.5 billion in proposed tax increases.” But the group questions his claim “that ‘he cut taxes by nearly $800 million, moving Minnesota out of the top 10 highest taxed states.’” The report notes that “A large portion of these tax reductions are carve outs and special interest giveaways that clutter up the tax code, but that being said, it’s tough to criticize any reduction in taxes considering the liberal Minnesota Legislature.”
On spending, the report is much more laudatory.
“Overall, Pawlenty does deserve tremendous praise for his role in keeping increases in spending down as Governor,” it says. “Pawlenty’s role in general fund spending should take into account that he had a Democratic Senate to deal with his entire eight years as Governor, and a Democratic House during his last term.”
However, the report attacks him for, among other things, taking stimulus money from the federal government and for using public funds to pay for the construction of a new baseball stadium.
On free trade, the Club for Growth says Pawlenty’s stance is not perfect, but normal for someone in his position.
“Governor Pawlenty’s stance on free trade could be much improved, but it’s basically the standard position taken by most Republican presidential candidates – he supports free trade, but not all of the time,” the report says.
Club for Growth praises Pawlenty for his handling of the Minnesota transit workers strike, in which he ultimately prevailed and established stricter requirements for retirement and health care benefits for transit workers.
The group gives him “mixed reviews” on his health care reform, and offers no verdict on his positions on Medicare and Social Security.
Pawlenty receives the harshest criticism on the subject of government regulation.
“Perhaps more so than any other issue, Pawlenty’s record on regulation is deeply troubling,” the report says.
The report attacks him for his “consistent support for increasing the minimum wage,” and for supporting cap and trade, a position he has since backed away from. The report also condemns his support of ethanol subsidies, a position he disavowed in his announcement of his candidacy on Monday.
The Club for Growth throws him a bone on two fronts in this category – his opposition to “card check” and his support for offshore drilling.
On school choice, tort reform, and supporting political free speech, Pawlenty gets good marks. On political activity and endorsements, the Club for Growth is more skeptical, noting that he rarely “got involved in primaries in order to advance candidates who supported principles over party. Instead, he chose a much more cautious approach that is typical with most high-profile Republicans – he mainly supported Republican candidates post-primary.”
Pawlenty’s spokesperson had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication.