With smaller outstate cities facing extremely difficult budget choices if Pawlenty cuts aid deeply, Hentges is hopeful that Republican lawmakers might influence the governor to ease up.

“Marty Seifert and Bob Gunther and Julie Rosen and Tony Cornish, I think they should be concerned if the governor is disproportionately focusing his cuts on LGA and the cities they represent,” Hentges said, listing veteran Republican lawmakers from southern Minnesota.

Gunther, R-Fairmont, hopes the LGA cuts are closer to the House level than to Pawlenty’s original budget proposal, saying the governor will be “a gold-plated hero” if he can figure out a way to ease the reductions to that level. Gunther also told Pawlenty administration officials it would be better to target larger cities, which have more flexibility in their budgets, and suburban communities that receive other sorts of state aid.

“I said, hit the bigger cities the hardest and the smaller cities the least,” Gunther said. “And everybody has to feel the pain, so Market Value Credit (to suburbs) has to be in there.”

Still, cities have reason to be concerned, Gunther said, especially since Pawlenty isn’t running for a third term and won’t face the potential political repercussions of cuts that affect municipal services or property taxes.

“I’d be worried to heck about somebody like that,” he said.

But Gunther also echoes Pawlenty’s criticism that cities haven’t made the difficult choices required during tough economic times.

“A lot of people say there’s little evidence of cities cutting back,” he said.