ST. CLOUD - Gov. Tim Pawlenty gave Minnesota a sloppy Valentine on Wednesday, telling a hand-picked audience at the St. Cloud Civic Center that we have an "unstoppable forward momentum toward greatness."
Greatness was the message of his State of the State Address -- delivered to a small audience of invited big shots (and 75 empty seats). But four blocks away, at the Ace Bar & Grill on E. St. Germain Street, greatness was not apparent to a cross-section of Granite City residents who were eating lunch and who didn't get invited to hear the Tim Talk.
Let's call this report the State of the Ace. It won't be as flowery as the State of the State, but it will have true grit. The State of the Ace is reality-based.
Listen to a 58-year-old food server named Janice Brownie who earns $6.15 an hour, plus tips, hustling plates of food to the customers. How's the state of your state, Janice? I asked.
"People are hurting," she said, filling water glasses. "My husband and I are way behind on our fuel bill, our health insurance is going up, our daughter got cut off her medical. ... We can hardly make it."
Brownie's husband, Frank, is a school custodian.
Frank just got a raise, but a hike in the couple's health-care premium meant his take-home pay is $100 less a month than before the raise. Meanwhile, Janice's daughter, Marie, who also is a waitress, lost her medical assistance after asking for more hours of work to try to make ends meet. Marie has asthma, but only takes half the meds she should be using, because she can't afford the co-pays.
And Janice has been postponing neck and back surgery.