The chorus of conservatives/libertarians unenthusiastic at a McCain/Pawlenty ticket keep growing with Sam Batkins of the conservative National Taxpayers Union offering his two cents:

Like Governor Romney, Pawlenty's spending record started off strong. During his first year in office, Pawlenty was actually able to cut general fund spending by 1.2%. This penchant for fiscal probity waned in later years, however. In the next four years, general fund growth averaged 6.6%.

This rate in government growth is average when compared to the rest of the United States. From FY 2004-07, spending increased 17.2% (from $13.6 billion to $15.9 billion).

Unfortunately for taxpayers, government employment in Minnesota grew 27.7% (from 33,279 state employees to 42,515) during Pawlenty's tenure.

Taxes:

Pawlenty's record on taxes can rightly be characterized as a disaster for Minnesotans. There have been no broad-based tax cuts in Minnesota and the largest reduction during Pawlenty's time in office is only $28.7 million.

Overall, during Pawlenty's tenure, taxes have increased $1.74 billion (with a b). Some supporters might attempt to describe these increases as merely fees, but consumers and corporations nevertheless have to pay the bill. To his credit, Pawlenty has proposed a modest $77.3 million reduction in sales taxes for FY 2009, but this is more than offset with $138.7 million in other tax and fee hikes.

Rumors are abound that Pawlenty is the front-runner for McCain's VP slot, but with over $1.7 billion in tax hikes to his name and even more on the way, McCain might think twice about choosing Pawlenty.

The more of these assessments conservatives read about Pawlenty the more his stock drops. But an even bigger disadvantage for Pawlenty is that it's difficult to see where besides Minnesota he helps McCain. He's seen as a "safe bet" for McCain, but safe bets don't exactly excite the passions.

(ht Nachama Soloveichik)