A breath of fresh air from the St. Cloud Times editorial board.

A breath of fresh air from the St. Cloud Times opinion page. You heard me right! Read on…

St. Cloud Times “Our View: Keep party tones out of bridge talk.”

Although it happened sooner than expected (within the first few hours), connecting the Interstate 35W bridge collapse to the politics of public policy was inevitable.

Now, though, these discussions should continue in — and we stress this next part — measured, solution-oriented and party-neutral tones.

Since the bridge was deemed “structurally deficient” in 1990, Minnesota has had two Republican, one DFL and one Independence governor, not to mention a two-house Legislature under a varied mix of Republican and DFL control.

Our point is this: The folks Minnesota voters have put in those offices now will quickly slip from elected officials to political hacks if they even point a partisan finger in any direction.

Minnesotans, indeed the nation and especially the victims of the collapse, need their public officials to focus on doing public good now, and not rehashing two decades’ worth of political and legislative inaction on infrastructure issues like this.

The first step in achieving that is not to convene a special legislative session. That’s right. We said no special session in Minnesota.

Sure, the temptation is strong. The next presidential and state House elections are already making news. The last legislative session featured plenty of partisan bickering, punctuated with some stinging vetoes. And many other states’ elected leaders are using Minnesota’s tragedy to push their own changes.

From an incumbent perspective, what’s not to like about a special session in which legislators not only create a “solution,” but one that would probably end with them holding hands and singing bipartisan praises?

To this electoral allure, we say turn away from the light.

Why? Simple. Investigations into the collapse are not even close to pinpointing the cause or causes.

Without those crucial details, legislators have little clue as to what specifically needs fixing.

Sure, they could convene now and pass some measures designating more spending on bridge testing and repair.

But is that really going to speed up changes? Remember, the 2008 session convenes in six months.

A smarter strategy — and one less likely to risk wasting tax dollars — is to begin statewide discussions on infrastructure issues likely to be targeted come Feb. 12.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty already has put one of those on the table with his announcement that he will consider raising the gas tax. Other potential topics range from the role and resources of the state Department of Transportation to how emerging federal initiatives might affect Minnesota.

Legislators would impress, gosh, probably every Minnesotan if they began these talks now and developed a coordinated plan that pledges definitive actions within the first 30 days of the 2008 session.

Assuming, of course, they leave the partisan politics out of that plan.

Didn’t see this one coming, but I’m in agreement with a lot of what was said in this article. There shouldn’t be a special session, there should instead be a re-evaluating of priorities in spending and how to deal with this once the next session starts. Bravo Mr. Krebs.