When Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty released his proposal last month to deal with a state budget deficit approaching $5 billion, arts advocates breathed a sigh of relief – the proposal cut the arts, but only by 22%. Still, a massive lobbying effort was launched to get the cuts down to what the state arts board sees as a more fair level, such as 14%. Apparently, the governor does not like being questioned: a revised draft of the budget slashes an additional $5 million from the arts board’s budget, bringing the total cuts to 40%.