In a day of state government visitors, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Ann Rest and Sen. Dan Sparks all visited Albert Lea Tuesday.

Pawlenty flew into the Albert Lea airport in a plane marked with the governor’s seal.

He addressed a crowd of around 30 at the airport, speaking about the budget, changes in state law, and changes in the way funding has been allocated during the legislative session.

&uot;There were a lot of important issues and challenges facing the state,&uot; Pawlenty said. &uot;We tried to keep our promises.&uot;

Pawlenty said he was proud of the repeal of the Profile of Learning and the beginning of new academic standards, preserving funding in K-12 classrooms and creation of the largest infusion of tax dollars into state transportation infrastructure.

But the two Democratic senators criticized Pawlenty’s handling of the session in a meeting earlier Tuesday morning.

&uot;We’re very disappointed in the budget,&uot; Rest, DFL-New Hope, said.

One person in attendance at the airport criticized Pawlenty, saying that the new budget had cut back on funding for social services, saying those kinds of programs are what makes the state unique.

Pawlenty answered that other states have much worse social service programs than Minnesota’s.

&uot;I don’t care about the other states,&uot; the man shot back. &uot;This is Minnesota.&uot;

The DFLers made the same point.

Sen. Rest said she thinks that while the governor is looking toward the future, the effects of the cuts in the future are going to make Minnesotans look back on this budget as a mistake.

She said Minnesotans will soon feel the effects of cuts to schools and other programs, and will turn around to blame the governor.

Sparks agreed.

&uot;I think when students return to their classes in the fall and see that their aid has been cut, or other programs and departments begin to feel their cuts, then people will start to realize the depth of what really happened,&uot; Sparks said. &uot;It’s just a problem of short-term thinking.&uot;

Pawlenty defended his cuts Tuesday, saying the state budget has doubled in the last 10 years, and the state can’t keep growing that way and succeed, especially in harsh economic times.

While he said the session included difficult budget cutting, positives during the session, specifically for Albert Lea, are the JOBZ tax-free zones, added state troopers and more funding for online learning for rural students.

But Rest didn’t see the same positives.

She said the legislature had some negative bills pushed through, such as the conceal and carry bill, without much debate.

The biggest victory for the DFLers was the passage of a state bonding bill.

&uot;It had been supported by both sides, but was vetoed last year (by Ventura),&uot; she said. &uot;This year it was an uphill battle.&uot;

The bill included grant money for universities, the Department of Natural Resources, the arts and the Board of Water and Soil Resources.

The issue that gave the city of Albert Lea the most heartache was local government aid (LGA).

Pawlenty said the LGA cuts to Albert Lea, around $1.2 million, weren’t harsh in comparison to other cuts in state programs. He said cities should easily be able to take care of the cuts.

Rest and Sparks criticized Pawlenty for protecting the &uot;donut&uot; of first-ring suburbs around the Twin Cities area.

&uot;For them, this budget will be a nuisance, not a pain, like it is for cities like Albert Lea,&uot; Rest said.

When asked whether he felt the suburbs were being left out of the pain, Pawlenty said that those criticisms come from &uot;regionalism.&uot;

&uot;This is not good for our state,&uot; he said. He added that people want to protect what they have, but that every part of the state is doing the same thing and each is being affected the same by the budget.

Pawlenty said the cuts were made in ways that were the most fair. He said that many of the suburban areas that didn’t get LGA cuts have seen other cuts in other ways.