"Who is this Downey fellow?"

That's former governor Arne's Carlson's reaction to hearing a quite from Keith Downey (R - 41A) saying that the time for government reform was "now." Here's more of the exchange between Doug Grow and Carlson in a MinnPost article:

"We've been putting off reforms for 15 years," Downey said. "The time to act is now." 

 That's the line that upset Carlson. 

"Who's this Downey fellow?" he asked me.  

A representative from Edina starting his second term, the governor was told. 

 "If he's starting his second term, he's probably part of the problem," Carlson said. 

Carlson contends that his administration didn't just point out the long-term structural problems in the 1995 report that Downey was referring to. Rather, it made the "reforms" necessary to correct the problems.

 Carlson also contends that Tim Pawlenty, as majority leader of the House and then as governor, undid most of the changes the Carlson administration instituted. Along the way, Pawlenty got a little help from Gov. Jesse Ventura and some DFLers.

I commend the entire article to you.