1-31-2001

By BILL HANNA and MEGAN BOLDT
Mesabi Daily News

ST. PAUL -- The Iron Range legislative delegation imploded at the Legislature Wednesday over a bill that would extend jobless benefits for laid off Steelworkers.

State Sen. Doug Johnson, DFL-Tower, amended and narrowed the bill in a division of the Senate Finance Committee to include only former LTV Mining workers and some of its suppliers rather than laid off Steelworkers across the Range at all mine operations.

Some of his fellow Range lawmakers reacted with outrage, using words before only said in private where such strong differences among area lawmakers had traditionally been hashed out.

"It's typical. Dougie never cared about the Range anyways,'' said Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, who added that Johnson is acting like "he was a king.''

Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, said his fellow senator's action was "a betrayal.''

And Rep. Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, said he was "shocked.''

But Johnson said his decision, which was taken without consultation with others in the Range delegation, may be the only way to get any jobless extension for LTV workers through the Legislature.

"I wish I could ask for extension of benefits for all unemployed workers in the state. Layoffs happen everywhere. Everyone understands the LTV situation is different. It's a permanent closure,'' he said.

The bill, as amended Wednesday, would extend jobless benefits from 26 weeks to 104 weeks for employees of LTV and some employees of its suppliers if they were laid off due to lack of work after last Aug. 1. Workers of related suppliers are eligible if the vendor did 25 percent of its business with the closed mining company. Those eligible to receive the benefits can do so anytime during a three-year period after the time of unemployment. Workers must be from the Arrowhead region of Minnesota to collect the benefits.

The bill is set to be heard in the full Senate Finance Committee on Monday.

Johnson said there was support from Senate Republicans before, and now some of them will help him gain support from their counterparts in the House.

Sen. Martha Robertson, R-Minnetonka, agreed during the Wednesday committee hearing to be a part of that effort.

"The closing of the LTV plant and its integral part of the community is the rationale for this legislation,'' she said.

Robertson also said if the bill wasn't narrowed, she feared the LTV workers would be left with nothing because of different levels of support in the House and Senate.

But Rukavina said Johnson gave away any legislative leverage the Iron Range may have had on the issue.

"As chair of the Senate Finance Committee he could have kept it all the way through the Senate and then we could have gotten more in conference committee,'' he said.

But Johnson said he had to deal with the political reality of the situation of a GOP-controlled House.

"If my Iron Range colleagues are able to pass a broadened version of this legislation in the House, I will be the first to applaud them,'' he said.

Rukavina said Johnson has been acting on his own on the issue.

"He told David (Tomassoni) on Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 15) that he was going to take his name off the bill because he couldn't sleep at night because I'm always second-guessing him,'' Rukavina said, referring to the jobless extension bill that initially only referred to LTV workers then was amended to include all Steelworkers last week at the insistence of Rukavina, Tomassoni and Sertich. "I must be aggravating him because he's the king.''

Tomassoni said he was "extremely disappointed he did it this way. He acted like, 'This is my decision, I don't care what others think.'''

The Chisholm state senator said he may try to bring up the original amendment to the bill on the Senate floor to try to once again include all Steelworkers laid off at taconite mines and those workers of mine suppliers.

"I'm not sure if it will pass or where it will go. But I'm positive the original bill would have passed committee and gone to the Senate floor,'' he said.

Tomassoni said the Legislature needs to take a broader view of the issue.

"As massive as the LTV thing is, it could double and triple if others go down. To limit is not right ... not fair. Something could happen at other plants after we adjourn and then what would we do?'' he said.

For Sertich, a first-term legislator, it was a difficult learning experience.

"This is the first bill I've worked on with the Range delegation and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

"We had talked about what we would do for all the people in the Legislature and then this. I'm just stunned,'' he said.

Rukavina said he finds Johnson's decision fits a pattern of the senator helping to provide an unfair distribution of taconite taxes over several years that have hurt the Iron Range.

"I think it's reprehensible. He told David (Tomassoni) that he can't sleep at night for what's going on with LTV. Well, for years I haven't been able to sleep at night for what's been going on by Johnson sending our taconite monies more than 100 miles away from where it belongs,'' he said.

Johnson, however, strongly defended his decision and the reasons for it.

"After 30 years in the Legislature and hearing many concerns expressed to me by many Democratic and Republican colleagues in the Senate that the original legislation was too broad, concerns from the Ventura administration, discussions with Minnesota business leaders who have influence with House Republican leaders -- unlike Range legislators -- I have come to the conclusion that the only way to save the families, communities and schools adversely affected by the permanent shutdown of LTV was to accept an amendment to limit the bill,'' he said Wednesday night.

He also said he hopes his decision will be as beneficial to the area as was his collaborative work with Attorney General Mike Hatch regarding EVTAC.

"After Attorney General Mike Hatch and I developed a solution to the Eveleth Mines insurance problem that was jeopardizing the continued operation of Eveleth Mines, I hope that the decision I made today will be the correct one also,'' Johnson said.

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