Start with a sitting congressman, add seven candidates for governor, throw in a crowd of delegates and what do you get? Simple: a DFL County Convention. This past Saturday, all these folks gathered at the New Ulm Public Library for the time-honored pastime of endorsement politics.
Setting a positive tone, Congressman Tim Walz stated Democrats have a vision going forward. “Our country has stood down depression, tyranny and terrorism,” he said.
“It’s time to create middle class jobs, take on the Wall Street entitlement mentality, eliminate outsourcing jobs to China, and lower the high cost of health care. Helping our neighbors reflects our values of hard work and pursuit of the common good.”
Brown County DFL officers and directors were elected at Saturday’s DFL Convention, but the real centers of attention were the Democrats running for governor.
R.T. Rybak, winner of the DFL precinct caucus straw poll last Tuesday, emphasized his executive experience as mayor of Minneapolis. Rybak stated that he ran to help when the 35W bridge went down, and now he’s here to help all Minnesotans.
Margaret Anderson Kelliher hails from southern Minnesota, having grown up on a farm near Judson, just west of Mankato. Citing her childhood of hunting, fishing, and hard work on the farm, candidate Kelliher spoke of the difficulty her family went through during the farm crisis of the 1980s.
Currently Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Kelliher referred to passing a landmark transportation bill with bipartisan support, and her experience putting together three state budgets, as proof that she can work with both sides of the aisle as governor.
Tom Rukavina, who said he’s “used to getting fingernails dirty,” credited his parents with “teaching me the values of hard work, helping your neighbors and getting a good education.” Calling Virginia, Minn. his home, Rukavina has been in the Minnesota House of Representatives for 24 years.
“I helped pass a law that required all flags used and uniforms worn in Minnesota be made in the USA. Our manufacturing base must be here in the U.S.,” Rukavina said.
A carpenter by trade, Tom Bakk represents Minnesota’s Arrowhead region, the largest district in the state. As tax chair of the Minnesota Senate, Bakk “understands the state budget. The deficit is not the problem, rather the economy is performing so poorly that revenues are way down.”
Bakk feels Minnesota is trending in the wrong direction. “There are fewer people employed now than when Governor Pawlenty took office, and during his watch, local property taxes have increased 60 percent,” Bakk said. “I will take Minnesota in a new direction.”
Hailing from Worthington, former State Representative Matt Entenza spoke of losing his dad to alcoholism at age 15. After putting himself though college “walking beans,” he graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.
“Minnesota needs a leader to take on the grid lock in St. Paul,” Entenza said. “A clean energy economy is the real path forward, and funding schools is a high priority.” Returning to his difficult youth in his closing, Entenza admitted, “I’m only here because Minnesota gave me a good education.”
Candidate John Marty, son of renowned Lutheran minister and theologian Dr. Martin Marty, is a long-time state senator from Roseville. He favors a single payer health care plan.
According to Marty, “45,000 people in America die each year because they can’t afford to go to a doctor. This needs to stop. United Health Care in Minnesota makes millions in profits and pays its CEO a multi-million dollar salary. That’s not right.” Marty said he won’t duck issues. “If people know you’re honest, they believe in you.”
Last but not least, State Representative Paul Thissen, chair of the House Human Services Committee, declared we “must rebuild Minnesota. The lesson of the last 15 years is that Republicans have paid too much attention to corporations and not to the middle class.
“We need affordable tuition, a living wage, and secure retirement,” he concluded. Reducing property taxes, investing in infrastructure and making the income tax more progressive are Thissen’s top priorities.
