LAKE ELMO, Minn. (AP) – Like most high school students, Jana Graczyk couldn’t have cared less about the political warfare at the state Capitol. That is, until it threatened her chance to get the prized possession of most teenagers – a driver’s license.

Minnesotans like Graczyk are suddenly paying attention to a standoff between the governor and state lawmakers that, if not resolved by July 1, could mean 16,000 layoffs, the closing of parks and rest stops, and no licenses for new drivers.

The dispute is over tax increases and health care for the poor, and with just a week to avert a shutdown, talks at the Capitol are at a standstill.

Graczyk turns 16 on July 2. She was looking forward to a summer of tooling around this St. Paul suburb in her family’s minivan, driving herself to violin lessons, soccer practice and outings with her friends.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” Graczyk said. “Just because they can’t get their jobs done.”

The standoff pits Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty against Democrats who once dominated state politics but are now clinging to a power base in the state Senate.

Democrats say they cannot accept the governor’s proposal to cut up to 30,000 people from state-sponsored health care for the working poor, calling it a betrayal of Minnesota’s long progressive tradition. Pawlenty charges that Democrats want a government shutdown to embarrass him in the run-up to his 2006 re-election campaign.

“I think it’s a political strategy for them, sadly,” Pawlenty said last week. “I think it’s a cynical strategy.”

It is the governor who’s playing politics, Democrats insist.

“He’s only interested in press conferences and TV appearances and doing talk radio,” said Sen. Dean Johnson, the leader of Senate Democrats. “If he put half as much energy into solving this problem, we’d have been done weeks ago.”

It is not uncommon for state lawmakers around the country to miss budget deadlines and go into special session to finish the job. But Minnesota, unlike at least a dozen states, lacks a law to automatically extend government spending past the end of its fiscal year if a new budget isn’t approved.

At issue is a projected budget deficit of $466 million that must be erased, plus a desire among both parties to boost spending on schools. But how to get there has produced deep divisions.

Pawlenty, who signed a no-new-tax pledge before winning his first term, angered Democrats when he said their proposal to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest citizens was “profoundly stupid.” The governor wants to cut spending on health care.

Pawlenty also hoped to break the logjam with a 75-cent “fee” on every pack of cigarettes sold in the state, with the proceeds to be spent on schools. But Democrats have been slow to embrace it, ridiculing the governor’s contortions to avoid direct tax increases that would alienate his conservative base and perhaps hurt any political aspirations he may have outside Minnesota.

Complicating matters further, Johnson is a possible Pawlenty opponent in 2006, as is Democratic Attorney General Mike Hatch, who has sparred with the governor over legal planning for a possible shutdown.

“I think everyone involved thinks that somebody else is going to get tagged with the responsibility for the shutdown,” said David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University. “Everyone is playing poker on this one.”

State agencies are girding for a shutdown. Prisons have already been funded and won’t be affected. And on Thursday a judge ruled that state services critical to people’s safety – presumably state police, hospitals and the like – must continue if there is a shutdown.

The state Parks Division is telling hundreds of reservation-holders that parks and campsites will be locked down just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. The state is calculating severance packages for 16,000 state employees.

And families like the Graczyks are planning for the possibility that Mom might have to be the chauffeur for at least a few more weeks.

“I realize it’s not the end of the world,” said Vickie Graczyk, Jana’s mother. “But there’s a lot of kids out there who are waiting for this day, and it’s important to them.”

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