New member skewers Hennepin County Board

After being on the losing side of budget votes more often than he expected, new Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson has started a blog that takes some light-hearted pokes at projects that he considers wasteful.

Johnson's blog features the same image of a surly looking bulldog that was on the "Taxpayer Watchdog" campaign literature that helped him win the Seventh District board seat last fall. On the blog, Johnson awards "Golden Hydrant" awards that figuratively lift a leg on projects he dislikes.

So far, hydrant winners include the county's funding of two half-time sex-education positions in Richfield and Brooklyn Center schools and the county's $900,000 investment in solar panels for its Medina public works building.

Johnson views the funding of the two sex-ed positions in public schools as something outside the county's responsibilities. The solar installation saves about $15,000 a year in energy costs, but on the blog, Johnson writes that that means the county will recoup its investment in the year 2070. He notes that by that time, he'll be dead, his fifth-grade son will be 71 and the public works building may no longer be standing.

His intent, he said, is to "shine light on how we spend money in the county, because it's complicated."

"I've seen some spending that I did not agree with, that's wasteful and duplicative," he said. "At the same time, we're hearing frequent comments that we're not providing basic county services because of cuts at the state level. That may be true, but ... we could fill that hole if we didn't spend money on some of these other things."

Johnson, a Plymouth Republican who is a former assistant majority leader in the state House of Representatives, said he did not plan to start a blog when he joined the board in January. But after repeatedly being the lone dissenter -- in one memorable meeting, board Chairman Mike Opat jokingly called Johnson "Dr. No" after he cast a series of "no" votes -- he decided a blog was one way to keep constituents informed about what goes into the county's $1.7 billion budget.

"I'm not just here to vote 'no' and lose over things," Johnson said. "I'd like to reform things."

Johnson used campaign funds to pay to have the Web page set up, but he said he's done the blogging himself. He notified campaign supporters and acquaintances about the blog by e-mail. Most of the feedback has been positive, he said.

"Most people say 'thank you, I never paid attention to how the county spends money,'" he said. "And a few people disagree with me."

Reaction among his board colleagues has been mixed. "Not all of them are happy," Johnson said. He said he tried to talk to them about it and has kept the tone on the blog light.

"I knew this would ruffle some feathers, but I've been careful not to criticize anyone on the staff or on the board," he said. "I don't want to get petty."

Opat said Johnson's blog is a first for the board. He doesn't object to the blog itself -- "All forms of communication are in play these days," he said -- but he disagrees about whether the projects Johnson has targeted are wasteful.

While the payback period on the solar panel project "is debatable," Opat said, he said government sometimes has to take the lead and set an innovative example so others follow. He said he "absolutely disagrees" with Johnson on the sex-education spending. With 1,200 Hennepin County teenagers having babies each year, the teaching positions are an attempt at pregnancy prevention, he said. Teenage moms and their babies often end up needing expensive county services later.

While Johnson said he hopes the blog doesn't erode his relationships with other board members, he believes he already has experienced "a little retribution" in a board vote. On Tuesday, an administrative recommendation to devote $100,000 in federal stimulus money to a Maple Plain sewer project in Johnson's district was removed by other commissioners who subbed a project in St. Louis Park instead.

"Maybe it was a shot across the bow," Johnson said. "I think we'll work through that."

Opat said the board "had a number of worthy projects to do. We do deviate from... administrative recommendations."

Johnson's blog "in and of itself will not hurt relations up here," Opat said. "It depends on how he chooses to communicate. If he targets projects that others overwhelmingly support, and repeats [that criticism], other folks will remember that."

Opat said he had no plans now to start his own blog. "It's time-consuming, but I guess I wouldn't rule it out," he said.

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380

Jeff Johnson's blog is at www. taxpayerwatch dog.org.