State Senator Claire Robling to Leave Public Office After Sixteen Years of Service

St. Paul-Sen. Claire Robling (R-Jordan) announced Friday that she will not seek reelection to the Minnesota Senate.

"I've been contemplating this decision for the last year, and with the upcoming endorsing convention, I've decided not to move forward with a reelection bid," said Robling, who was first elected in 1996 and faced no serious challenge in the upcoming election.

Robling repreented parts of Scott, Carver, Sibley, and LeSueur counties from 1997-2002, and has since represented the majority of Scott County.  Her new district, which has been reduced again because of the rapid growth in Scott County, includes Shakopee, Prior Lake, and Jordan, and Louisville, Jackson, Spring Lake, Credit River, and Sand Creek townships.

"When I first saw the new district, I was excited because I've really enjoyed representing the people in these communities," said Robling, who announced after the new district maps were released in February that she would seek reelection. "It's been an honor to serve this area, and I've always worked hard to represent my constituents in St. Paul, but sixteen years in this position is long enough.  I find my enthusiasm for doing this job for another four years is waning.  I think it's time to let someone else step into this spot."

Robling said she has no immediate plans but is looking forward to new opportunities in the future.  She will also enjoy the ability to spend more time with her family.

"I look forward to helping my daughter and her family as my husband, Tony, and I welcome our second grandchild due in September, and my parents are elderly and I'd like to be available to help them more as well.  It's difficult to find the time to do it now with the incredibly busy schedule I've had as a legislator," she said.

Robling, who served in the minority for 14 years, said she was especially pleased to have had the opportunity during the last two years to move into the majority and serve as chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.  Last December, she was also elected as a member of the Senate Republican Leadership Team.

However, she expressed frustration that the political process in St. Paul has continued to become more partisan during the years she has served.

"I fear that statemen are vanishing as partisanship deepens," she said.  "It is very difficult to pass common sense measures into law these days because special interest groups block or promote agendas that only benefit themselves."

As an example, she cited the bill which would remove seniority as the only crieria for laying off teachers.  "Some of us really want to make sure we have the best teachers in front of our classrooms and so we are seeking evaluations and other measures to determine who should have those jobs, but the teachers' union is inflexible and the DFL falls in step behind them because they don't want to lose the union support.  The bill was passed by the House and Senate, but now the Governor said he'll veto it.  There are just so many disappointments like that," she said.

Last year's state shutdown was also frustrating and unnecessary, said Robling.

"The Governor rejected an offer made by legislative leaders prior to the shutdown that later became the framework for the final agreement to end the shutdown.  If that had been accepted in June, not shutdown would have occurred and Minnesotans would not have had to suffer throught it," said Robling.

Recent positive developments in the state's fiscal situtation are promising, said Robling.

We've turned a $5.2 billion projected budget deficit at the beginning of this biennium into nearly a $1 billion surplus.  The cash flow account and budget reserve fund have been restored, and we've already paid back nearly half of the school shift we used last yer to help balance the budget.  We are definitely heading in the right direction as we hold the line on government spending and tax increases.  I'm proud of the work we did to put Minnesota on a more sustainable financial path."

Senate Majority Leader David Senjem (R-Rochester) said Robling's retirement will be a "significant loss to the Senate and all the people she has served in such an outstanding manner.  She is and has been the consummate common-sense legislator.  She always stood strong for what she believed in.  At the same time she had a special ability to reach out and work with people who thought differently.  She spoke often of her affection for her constituency and her dedication to public service was remarkable."

Jobs and the economy, capital investment projects, streamlining government, property taxes , a stadium, racino, and more will all likely be on the agenda when the Minnesota Legislature convenes Jan. 24 for its 2012 session.

Thankfully, something that is not on the list is dealing with another budget deficit.  As chair of the Senate Finance Committee, the Dec 1 news that Minnesota is projected to have an $876 million budget surplus -- dealing with a $5 billion deficit last year- was a tremendous relief.  At least we should not have to reopen all of the budget areas for the remainder of the biennium which ends June 30, 2013.  Minnesota's economy is recovering, which will help us restore the cash flow account, the budget reserve, and begin paying back the education shift which was implemented last summer to balance the budget.  We will hopefully continue to grow our way to economic prosperity by holding down taxes and over-regulation and allowing the private sector to flourish and hire more employees.

Helping to steer the majority caucus this session is a new leadership team which I was elected to in December.  It is an honor to be selected by my colleagues, but it is also a major responsibility.  The Senate Republican Caucus leadership team, with input from all the members, sets priorities, determines schedules, negotiates with the House and Governor, assists members with their legislation, communicates information, and gets involved in campaign activity for the caucus.

The leadership team includes seven members, including the majority leader, Sen. Dave Senjem, (R-Rochester), four assistant majority leaders elected by the caucus, including myself, and two members appointed by the majority leader, Sen. Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen), who also represents three townships in Scott County (Louisville, Jackson and St. Lawrence), has been appointed the deputy majority leader by Sen. Senjem.

Typically, the leadership team divides the work among its members, with the majority leader having major responsibilities.  However, since our team is so new, we haven't determined which members will assume specific responsibilities and we're all helping out in multiple areas right now.

Our first priority is to make sure the legislative session is ready to begin, that agendas are being developed, bills are being drafted, and that we are providing information to and receiving information from our members, staff, and the public.  Committee chairs have been reviewing possible legislation, and members have been visiting with their constituents to find out their positions on issues.  The leadership team has met with Kurt Zellers, the Speaker of the House, and Gov. Mark Dayton as we look for ways to work together.  Although we know we will have disagreements, it is our goal to also find common ground, especially in the area of jobs and the economy and government reform and efficiencies.

I expect a capital investment bill to be passed this session, and if we can find an acceptable agreement on a stadium, that will also be addressed.  However, I believe any plan using general fund tax dollars for a stadium will not be approved since that is not acceptable to many of us in the Legislature, including me.

The Senate leadership team has not set a date for adjournment, but we must adjourn by the third Monday in May, which falls on May 21 this year.  However, I don't expect legislators to want to stay in St. Paul that long since new district maps are expected to be released Feb. 21.  Redistricting is completed within two years after the U.S. Census in order to make districts proportional again.  Few legislators have felt the effect of growth in the last 10 years as much as Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee) and I.  We currently represent the most populated House and Senate districts in the state.  Senate District 35 has about 30,000 more people now than it will have after redistricting when each district should have about 78,000 residents.  However, no one knows exactly which communities will be included in their new district, and with every seat in the Legislature up for election this year, I expect legislators will be eager to complete the work and return home to meet with possible new and familiar constituents as soon as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns about state issues, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (651)296-4123 or send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  You may also subscribe to my legislative e-newsletter by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

By the time you read this, I am hopeful that Gov. Mark Dayton will have called a special session and allowed the Legislature to pass budget bill or at least a continuing resolution which would allow temporary funding to end the government shutdown.  I worked hard to try to reach a compormise and prevent a shutdown, and I am disappointed that it happened and apologetic to everyone who is adversely affected.  I absolutely did not want a government shutdown because I believe it is bad for our fragile Minnesota economy, not to mention the direct impact it has on state employees and those who have contracts with the state or depend upon some service from the state to continue to operate, such as Canterbury Park.

I do wish Gov. Dayton would have conceded to the request of Republican legislators to call us back into special session at the end of June in order to pass a "lights on" bill in order to keep state government running at current levels until a full budget agreement could be reached.  We could have put a limit of one week or ten days into the resolution so everyone would have kept working hard toward a compromise.  We were close to agreements on many of the budget bills.  In fact, if the Governor didn't want to use a "lights on" bill, I believe we could have closed up six of the nine major outstanding budget bills very quickly, and we would have been willing to do that if he would have agreed.  If we could have passed those, many workers could have stayed on the job and services would have continued for many state residents.  The budgets in the environment bill (funding game, fish, parks, and the Pollution Control Agency, with the Department of Commerce also rolled into that bill), the E-12 education bill, transportation (which could have kept all the road construction projects going and the rest stops open) higher education, jobs and judiciary and public safety bills were either completely or almost (a few million dollars) agreed upon.

Intense and productive negotiations took place last week on the health and human services (HHS) bill -- our largest growth area and the bill that always causes the most angst as a result.  The committee chairs and the commissioner of HHS were making real progess and there was agreement that some additional one-time money would be provided for this budget if reforms that would slow future growth in this area were also included in the bill.  The tax bill and state government bill were also still being discussed.  However, Governor Dayton refused to call us back for a special session, something only the Governor could do after he vetoed all of the bills we passed which did provide for a balanced budget (and additional spending over current levels in K-12 and HHS) and would have kept everything running if he had signed them in May.  Gov. Dayton said he would only call us back to pass a continuing resolution if we had agreement in all budget areas.

Prior to the shutdown in 2005, Gov. Pawlenty encourage us to pass bills, which he signed, as agreements were reached in each budget area.  That resulted in a much more limited shutdown than is being experienced this time.

It is the belief of many of my colleagues, and I agree, that Gov. Dayton and DFL legislators planned to make this shutdown as painful as possible in order to force the Republican majority to his position quicker.  That strategy not only puts pressure on legislators, but it negatively affects thousands of others who are caught in our dispute, such as Canterbury Park which is unfairly shuttered because of this shutdown.  I think that's shameful.

Although I do support cutting projected growth to balance the budget I am willing to support some additional revenue, including racino, in order to get a compromise.  I do not support increasing income or sales tax rates because I believe that can have a negative impact on economic development, and we can't afford to hamper that during an economic recession when we need job creation.  Minnesota is already ranked 50th in the nation for business tax climate by Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (http://www.sbecouncil.org/businesstaxindex2011/report.pdf), with only the District of Columbia being worse.  We need to make the climate in Minnesota better for business if we want to grow our economy and get our folks back to work.  There are case studies showing that a tax increase on high income individuals, like the one proposed by Governor Dayton, will drive those that pay that tax out of the state.  For example, when Maryland increased taxes on the wealthy, the state lost one-third of those tax payers in one year.

Other than directly increasing tax rates, there are a variety of ways to increase revenue in order to cover some additional expenditures the Governor is demanding.  However, there was not consensus on these items.  I left the Capitol at mignight June 30 very disheartened that no compormise was reached.  Although I know many of my conservative friends do not like the idea of raising any additional revenue (I've read your emails), I don't believe there will ever be an agreement reached with the Governor if there isn't some level of additional funding available.  I will not, however, concede to the $1.8 billion he has requested.  I know from working on all of the budgets that we do not need that amount of growth.

I will continue to work to try to bring sensible and fiscally prudent ideas to the table in order to close the divide and bring about compromise.  I want our state to operate efficiently, but I do not believe it should provide services that cost taxpayers so much that they can't take care of their own families or profitably operate businesses and provide employment.  We really must work to live within our means.

When we started the legislative session in January, we faced an overwhelming $6.2 billion deficit.  That was reduced to $5 billion deficit in February forecast because of forecasted economic growth.  That additional revenue also allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to develop a budget that spends $34.2 billion -- the largest general fund budget in the state's history and the same amount that the state spent in the 2010-11 biennium which ended June 30 (when federal stimulus funds and money made available through the K-12 education shift are included).  Our 2010-11 general fund was only $30 billion without that revenue, so you can see that our economy is projected to grow nicely, but if we keep all of our programs the same we will be $5 billion short because the budget is projected to grow to $39 billion.  That is why cuts and reforms must be a prominent part of these bills.  We truly must slow the rapid growth of state government spending.

I appreciate all of the input I have received from my constituents.  Comments have been all over the board, some wanting the Governor's position, some wanting even less spending than passed in the Republican budget bills, some very supportive of the Republicans' "live within our means" proposal, and the majority simply wanting a compromise to end the stalemate.  Obviously, not all of these positions can prevail, but compromise does require both sides to give up things they really want and accept a few things they don't want.  No one will be completely happy, but with my 15 years of experience in politics, I know that's what it takes to get a deal, and for the sake of the people in Minnesota, a deal must be made.

Here is video of an interview with Senator Claire Robling on Capitol Report:

Senator Robling named chair of Senate Finance Committee

St.Paul, MN-State Senator Claire Robling (R-Jordan) will be facing the state's nearly $6 billion budget deficit head on as the newly named chair of the Senate's finance Committee.

"Sen. Robling is a thoughtful, fair, and hard-working legislator, and there is no one I trust more than her to help shape our state's budget," said new Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch after announcing that Robling would head the committee on Nov. 17.

Robling has served as a member of the Senate Finance Committee in the past, as well as serving on several of the budget divisions, including Higher Education, E-12 Education, State Government, Transportation, and Capital Investments.

"Her experience in these areas make her the right choice for this very challenging job," said Koch, addding that Robling has a reputation for digging into issues, seeking input from others, and working cooperatively towards finding appropriate solutions.

Robling said she is honored and humbled by her selection as Finance Committee Chair. "This will be a tremendous responsibility, especially in light of the budget crisis this state is facing.  There won't be any easy solutions, and there won't be many popular ones either, " she said.

The Scott County senator said she has been spending time studying the current budget and looking ahead to the next budget.  She said she is hopeful that some of the next biennium's budget shortfall will be addressed immediately by making the one-time cuts passed last year by the Legislature permanent. "There's really no way we can reinstate them, and the local units of government and agencies affected by those cuts should know as soon as possible that we won't be able to restore them," said Robling.

"Every area of the budget will have to be reviewed for budget cuts, and then we will prioritize.  Six billion dollars represents about one-fifth of our state's $31 billion budget.  It's huge," said Robling, who will work with her counterpart in the Minnesota House of Representatives, the new chair of the Ways and means Committee, Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-Lakeville).

Robling said the fastest area of growth is in Health and Human Services budget, which is expected to grow by about 30 percent, and she recently learned that the new federal health care bill has a "maintenance of effort" requirement that will prevent states from cutting any health care programs that receive federal funding.  This is about 70 percent of the public health care programs in the state.

"It's extremely frustrating to find out we won't be able to set our own state priorities because of federal mandates," said Robling, adding that it will result in deeper cuts in other areas that state legislators might consider a higher state priority.

The Senate Finance Committee is an integral stop in providing fiscal discipline for budgeting in state government.  Since all of the budget bills from other committees flow through the Senate Finance Committee, this committee is charged with ensuring that the state acts responsibly with taxpayers' money, said Robling.

"I believe the people of Minnesota want and deserve thoughtful and common sense leadership in the Senate Finance Committee and I will strive to deliver that," concluded Senator Robling.

For more detailed information on the Senate Finance Committee that Senator Robling will chair as well as responsibilities and jurisdictions of other Senate Committees please click on the link below: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/2009-2010/info/jurisdiction_committee.pdf#1007

State Senator Claire Robling was elected to her 5th term in the Minnesota Senate in 2010.  She encourages and appreciates constituent input, and can be reached at (651)296-4123, by mail at 143 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,St.Paul, MN 55155, or via e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .