http://www.startribune.com/...
The Republican Party that collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday was rated as "structurally deficient" two years ago and possibly in need of replacement.
A spokesman for Minnesota Governor Gonzo Pawlenty said the party was aware of the 2005 assessment. "We've seen it, and we are very familiar with it," he said. But he declined to say what the party had been planning to do to address the deficiencies found in 2005. "I don't recall. These were 'other programs' which I'm not at liberty to discuss."
The Republican Party's deficiency rating is derived from a complex formula that evaluates many factors and condenses them into an overall score. A score of 80 percent or less indicates some rehabilitation may be needed; a 50 percent score or less indicates replacement may be in order.
The Republican Party was rated at 25 percent.
The inventory data also summarize the party's status as "structurally deficient." Party components are ranked on a scale of 0 to 9, with 0 being "failed" and 9 being "excellent."
In 2005, the party's superstructure -- meaning the mental conditions of all Republican members of congress -- was rated at 4, records show. The state substructure, comprised of the governors, state senators, and other state-level components, was rated 6. The party's administrative deck (which is not a full deck) was rated 0.
In 2001, a research report on the party had found that it was likely to experience fatigue cracking in the Rovian trusses supporting its administrative deck.
The report concluded that the party's administrative deck "has experienced fatigue cracking, and has many poor fatigue details on both the potus truss and vice truss system."
The authors said their research helped determine that "fatigue cracking of the potus truss is likely." Yet, they surprisingly concluded that there was no need to "prematurely impeach this deck because of fatigue cracking, due to the high costs associated with such a large project."
However, the report noted "many poor fatigue details" and said certain members of the potus truss should be inspected every two years. In addition, the report said, certain sections of the vice trusses had high stress areas that should be inspected every six months.
"Timolezza" Pawlenty said Wednesday night that the party was inspected in 2005 and 2006, and that no structural deficiencies were identified. "No one could have predicted such a complete and unmitigated collapse of the party apparatus and the administrative deck," he said.