Timothy James Pawlenty (; born November 27, 1960) is an American businessman and politician who is president and CEO of Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington, D.C.-based industry advocacy group. He was a Republican politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota (2003-2011). He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives (1993-2003), where he was majority leader for two terms.

Since the Minnesota Constitution prohibits state-run gambling outside of Native territory, Pawlenty proposed negotiating with Minnesota's 11 tribes over profit-sharing of their casinos. Legislators also pushed a proposal to turn Canterbury Park horse track into a racino. The plan was poorly received by Northern Tribes who would operate part of the racino, citing reluctance to compete with other tribes. Tribes with casinos opposed the expanded gambling and some legislators objected on moral grounds that the state shouldn't exploit problem gamblers. Politicians in heavy tribal areas feared losing campaign-finance sources if they supported the plan. Delays by the Legislature ended with the bill being pulled from committee. Tribes had spent millions lobbying legislatures in 2004.  Pawlenty worked throughout 2006 to fund a Minnesota Twins baseball stadium in Minneapolis. The resulting Minnesota Twins-Hennepin County ballpark bill called for an increased county sales tax which passed the state legislature and was symbolically signed in at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The majority of Hennepin County commissioners did not feel a referendum was necessary to approve the sales tax because of the delay it would cause. Pawlenty and the Legislature agreed, citing 10 years already of the project's debate, and exempted the county from state law requiring one in the bill.  In June 2006, Pawlenty signed a $999.9-million public works bill that included funding for additional work on the Northstar Commuter rail line (a change in position from reservations about the idea he initially expressed), an expanded Faribault prison, a bioscience building at the University of Minnesota, and science facilities at Minnesota State University in Mankato. The bill also funded a $26-million expansion of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.  In 2011, Pawlenty shut down an Islamic finance program, that was part of a larger program to increase home ownership in Minnesota, and his spokesperson said that the program accommodated the Muslim ban on interest. Adam Sorensen from TIME questioned whether this was a case of double standards, pointing out New York's kosher food regulations, Blue Laws that prohibit alcohol sales on Sundays, and Pawlenty's own creation of "The Governor's Council On Faith-Based And Community Initiatives".

What other projects did he support
Legislators also pushed a proposal to turn Canterbury Park horse track into a racino.