The billboard, at Highway 280 and University Ave., is part of an anti-government campaign run by a right-wing coalition calling itself Minnesota Budget Solutions. According to the coalition’s website, its goals include attacking public-employee pensions, reducing corporate taxes, and eliminating government services.

The billboard tries to incite public outrage by claiming that more than 5,300 government employees in the Twin Cities are raking in six-figure incomes. But why let credibility or facts get in the way when you can use creative math, creative geography, loose interpretations of the English language, and plain old lies?

The truth behind the numbers
AFSCME Council 5 analyzed the data the coalition says it used to come up with its numbers. It doesn’t take long before the billboard’s claims begin to unravel. Some facts:

• In order to get anywhere near the billboard’s number, the coalition first has to use an extremely wide definition of government employees. Then it has to play loose with those numbers.
• A coalition web page and a phone recording that callers hear if they respond to the billboard refer specifically to “state and local government employees.” But to come up with 5,300 employees, the coalition goes far beyond state, county and city governments.
• The coalition counts as “government employees” more than 3,200 professors, doctors, coaches, administrators, etc. from both the University of Minnesota and MnSCU. Yes, these are public institutions. But, really – when was the last time you considered the University of Minnesota, Anoka Technical College or Inver Hills Community College part of state or local government?
• The coalition seems geographically and mathematically challenged. Its billboard talks about “metro area government employees.” But its count includes University of Minnesota campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris and Rochester. (To verify that these cities are not in the metro area, you can download an official state highway map.) The coalition also seems to count more than 125 MnSCU instructors whose names are duplicated in the database – some as many as six times.
• To further inflate its count, the coalition includes nearly 400 judges – everyone from Supreme Court justices on down. Most of them are district court judges; many of these judges preside far outside the metro area.

Add the universities, colleges and judges together, and you knock 3,660 jobs off the coalition’s count. That’s more than two-thirds. Suddenly, “more than 5,300” shrinks to “fewer than 1,700.” That kind of loss would make contestants on “The Biggest Loser” envious.

Of course, maybe eliminating higher education and eliminating the state court system are what the coalition means when it says it wants to “reduce out-of-control government spending.”

Layers of management boost numbers
If the coalition actually sticks to “state and local government,” it would be down to about 1,675 employees who make more than $100,000. That’s 900 in local government and 775 in state government.

Examining state government numbers reveals the following:
• 78 work directly for Gov. Tim Pawlenty – in his office or elsewhere in the executive branch. That includes Pawlenty political appointees who are commissioners, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners, deputy directors, assistant directors, etc. making at least $100,000.
• 47 work in Atty. Gen. Lori Swanson’s office.
• 4 work in the secretary of state’s or state auditor’s offices.
• 31 work for the Legislature.

Of the 260 state government job classifications that can pay at least $100,000, 75 percent are in the executive branch under direct control of the governor. If the coalition really wants to get rid of highly paid layers of management, maybe it could talk directly to Pawlenty the next time he’s in the state. After all, he’s the guy they helped put in office.

About those other jobs…
In local government, a little digging raises even more questions about the outrage the coalition is trying to generate. Sixty-two percent of the highly paid jobs in local government are police officers, firefighters, prosecutors and others who work in public safety and courts. But again, maybe the coalition really does want to weaken public safety.

Finally, the coalition web page that highlights the billboard claims: “Since the beginning of the recession in late 2007, state and local government have added 3,000 employees to their ranks.” That’s a flat-out lie. The recession officially began in December 2007. Since then, state and local governments actually have eliminated 1,000 jobs overall, according to March’s seasonally adjusted statistics from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The fine print
The database from which the coalition says it pulls its statistics is maintained by Twin Cities.Com. The salaries are from 2008. For local government, the database includes Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties; the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul; and the Metropolitan Council.

Minnesota Budget Solutions is funded by:
• The Taxpayers League of Minnesota, which never met a millionaire tax break it didn’t like
• The anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors
• “Traditional values” groups such as Minnesota Majority and the Minnesota Family Council
• “Free enterprise” groups like the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Minnesota Free Market Institute

Michael Kuchta is communications coordinator for AFSCME Minnesota Council 5.