I chose a career of public service. After college, I taught in a public school in New York City and then worked for a social service agency. I learned early in life to stand up for my principles by opposing the Viet Nam War, which earned me the distinction of being the only Minnesotan named to Richard Nixon’s infamous “Enemies List.”
For most of the past 35 years, I have served the people of Minnesota. I worked as a legislative aide to our great United States Senator and Vice President Walter F. Mondale. I am the only candidate for Governor, who has ever headed a state agency, and I have led three of them, where I was proud to work with dedicated members of AFSCME Council 5, whose endorsement I am so honored to have today, along with that of the Teamsters Joint Council 32.
I served as Minnesota’s United States Senator, where again I stood up for my principles and voted against George Bush’s Iraq War Resolution. I donated my Senate salary to fund bus trips enabling Minnesota senior citizens to buy cheaper prescription drugs in Canada. And, when I’m Governor, I will assure that the MN Department of Health is helping all our citizens to find the lowest cost prescription drugs.
As Senator, I established a Health Care Help-Line, to help Minnesotans receive the health care their doctors prescribed and that their health insurance companies refused to pay for. As Governor, I’ll stand up to those profiteering health insurance giants, who are reaping billions of dollars in profits by not paying for people’s health care, and I’ll champion affordable health care for all Minnesotans.
As Senator, I also worked with the Minnesota National Guard to obtain the first Congressional funding for their pioneering “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon” program to help returning Iraq and Afghan War veterans and their families with their readjustments into civilian life. Their success has now been expanded into a national program that is helping many thousands of the men and women, who have served our country so courageously.
I will bring my devotion to serving the people of Minnesota to the Office of Governor. Like my DFL predecessor Rudy Perpich, I will be a “Jobs Governor,” doing whatever I can, whenever I can, wherever I can to bring new jobs to our state.
Minnesota Republicans are the party of tax cuts for the rich and job cuts for everyone else. To create a strong foundation for our future economic growth, we must reverse their policies of cutting funding for public education and public services. Our well-educated, productive citizens have always been the keys to our success. We must reinvest in better education, which will be the cornerstone for “A Better Minnesota.” I promise that I will increase state funding for K-12 public education in real dollars every year I’m Governor. No exceptions; no excuses. And I will do my best to lower tuition costs for Minnesota’s college students and increase state funding for early childhood education.
To invest in better education, I will close tax loopholes and end tax cuts for the rich, whose failure to pay their fair share of taxes has cost state and local governments billions of dollars and raised taxes for rest of Minnesotans. By the MN Department of Revenue’s own analysis, if the wealthiest 10% of taxpayers paid the same percentage of their incomes as everyone else, that would provide an additional $3.8 billion during the current two years. I strongly urge the Governor and the Legislature to balance the present budget deficit by raising taxes on the wealthiest 10% of Minnesotans, not by taking more money away from our public schools, colleges, and universities, further slashing essential services, or denying health care to the poorest Minnesotans. You can read my lips: Tax the rich.
He calls out the exploiters. He does not mince words. He does not back down nor equivocate.
While Mark Dayton's style appears more direct and confrontational than John Marty, there is much similarity between the two. Each will fight as needed for what's right. Each of the two have a heart, brain, and courage and neither doubts himself nor feels compelled to appease those selfishly wanting to maintain an unbalanced and improper status quo. Each wants a better Minnesota and a better world.
Each would make an exceptionally fine governor.
Each, in contrast to the ambitious itinerant incumbent, stands for making the state better and not meaner and more petty.
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In terms of "tax the rich," would Dayton make his recent year past state and federal tax returns available to the press? As in, how have the rich positioned themselves to be taxed?
My bet, he would, gladly, if Entenza-Quam would.
By the way, as wealthy as he is, Dayton donated his Senate salary, as the above quote notes. Did Entenza donate his lesser legislative salary, comparably? Both appear to be among the wealthy that Dayton, as Governor, would want to see taxed more in order to be fair to the rest of us. Has Entenza stated a position on this issue? I pose but a few questions. It is for an active inquisitive press to pursue and gain answers.