Sen. Al Franken and U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden both talked about job creation today. Franken did so via a new TV ad that focuses on a bill he introduced to create partnerships between manufacturers and community colleges to produce better-trained workers.

McFadden did so during a brief interview after remarks he made Tuesday morning at a meeting of the Republican Seniors of Minnesota in Bloomington.

“I am a proponent of anything that creates job in the private sector, but what Al Franken has done is put regulation upon regulation upon businesses that has caused there to be less jobs,” he said. “The unemployment rate of people 20 to 29 is 11 percent. The crime is that we have the opportunity to get the economy going to jump start it, and I know how to do that.”

In his prepared remarks, McFadden offered the Republican seniors a taste — just a taste — of a jobs creation policy he would pursue in the Senate.

“I am a huge proponent of the energy industry,” he said. “As a businessman that’s worked in manufacturing around manufacturers my whole career, I know that with low-cost energy, we have a manufacturing renaissance. We can manufacture competitively on a global basis. That’s how you increase jobs, that’s how you increase wages.”

For some media members, McFadden has been maddeningly vague on policy positions, but promised to make a more detailed statements on jobs and business policy soon.

“It’s Minnesota’s sweet spot; it’s my sweet spot,” he said. 

Republican gubernatorial Marty Seifert will be on the air Friday with the first television ad of the 2014 gubernatorial campaign, beating even DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to the punch.

The 30-second spot offers the traditional introduction to a candidate who is not yet a statewide name.

Less traditional is the time slot — during Game Four of the Minnesota Wild versus the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Comcast SportsNet will carry the game in the metro area.

“I know it’s early to run an ad on TV, but we have to be out of the box,” Seifert said.  “And I thought, ‘Where will we find almost every Minnesotans glued to the TV?’”

Seifert said the ad may air again on other channels prior to the Republican state convention May 30-31, where delegates will endorse candidates for governor and U.S. Senator.

Seifert’s ad placement precedes an equally unconventional media event. On Saturday, he will stage his own fishing opener on Rush Lake, going head-to-head with Dayton’s Governor’s Fishing Opening in the Brainerd Lakes area.

Seifert is one of six candidates for running for the GOP endorsement. A recent poll showed him trailing Dayton by 13 points, about the same distance as the other GOP gubernatorial candidates.

U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden continues to put a soft-focus filter on his campaign statements. But in an interview with MinnPost, he reveals some specifics on policies he’d pursue if he defeats Sen. Al Franken in November.

It’s not that the others seeking Republican endorsement have done much more than articulate their support of traditional conservative positions. It’s that, unlike McFadden, the most serious challengers — State Rep. Jim Abeler, State Sen. Julianne Ortman and St. Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg — have voting records. 

McFadden, a mergers-and-acquisition consultant with a Georgetown law degree, declined to participate in early debates and often gave generalized responses when pressed for policy details. Both the DFL, and his GOP competitor Dahlberg, have accused him of dodging the issues. 

Below, McFadden defined a few of his positions, including tax reform, energy sector growth, and foreign affairs:

MinnPost: What did you think of Congressman Dave Camp’s tax plan — it eliminates write-offs and lowers the overall rates — and how does this compare to your concept of tax reform?

Mike McFadden: I think there’s a huge opportunity to sit down and really make some dramatic improvements here.

It shouldn’t be a partisan issue; it should be bipartisan. Sitting across the table with like-minded Democrats and say, “Let’s agree it’s going to be revenue-neutral,” because we’ve got $17 trillion of debt that we have to address.

But we can all agree that we have something that’s much more simple and much more transparent. Every economist will tell you that we’ll see economic growth from that, because it’s just more efficient.

Let’s sit down and talk about what that looks like. The 15,000 deductions; exemptions … I think you start with a white, blank sheet of paper and say, "This is the amount of money we need to run the government, here’s what we’re going to do. Here are the rates. What deductions or exemptions do we absolutely need and why?"

MP: So you’re looking at a revenue-neutral tax plan, but vastly simplified?

MM: And transparent. I want people to know what people are paying. People pay a lot in taxes, and they should have the confidence as to what that is.

We need tax reform. It’s so complicated, no one understands it.

We have a 35 percent tax rate for corporations. That’s too high. I believe that’s too high. But having said that, corporations are all over. There are reports that there are some large corporations in America that paid zero income tax last year. That’s wrong. It’s not illegal, but it’s wrong.

MP: Do you support the Fed’s monetary policy of keeping interest rates low?

MM: I’m concerned we are in uncharted territory.

The Fed has been manipulating interest rates for five years now. As they’ve been the predominant buyer of securities on the open market — they have affected that market greatly. As they stop buying the bonds, there’s a real concern that interest rates will spike.

… They announced some tapering last summer, and interest rates spike on five- and ten-year bonds. They pulled back immediately.The last couple situations where they decreased the amount of buying, it’s been smoother in the marketplace.

What’s absolutely critical is that we get … the underlying economy — manufacturing sector, service sector — doing better, creating more jobs so that the Fed can pull back.

They've got to pull back, and if we don’t have the growth, my concern is that we’ll see out-of-control inflation.

MP: Do you support a federal increase in the minimum wage?

MM: I support anything that increases wage and increases jobs. My concern is two-fold:

One is federal versus state. It concerns me that the government dictates a wage across the whole country. As we all know, the factors that we face in Minnesota are dramatically different than New York or California or Alabama.

The other … is when I read reports from economists that this will destroy jobs.

MP: So you don’t support a federal increase?

MM: Yeah that would destroy jobs. I think there’s a better way to do it. I’m a big fan of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The other thing is that we gotta get this economy growing. That’s how you increase jobs; that’s how you increase wages.

I’m very concerned we’ve absolutely had stagnant growth. Last quarter, we grew 0.1 percent. While the unemployment rate has gone down, it’s somewhat misleading because the labor participation rate has gone done significantly.

… We’re going sideways and I know that. I’m a businessman. There’s a way forward. There’s a path to growth and prosperity, if we allow it to happen.

I think one of the reason we have so few new business starts is that regulation has made it so expensive to start a new business.

MP: In a bill, what regulations would you propose to eliminate?

MM: I don’t think it’s as simple as proposing language in a bill.

Someone was asking me what committees I would like to be sitting on in the U.S. Senate. I said one of the things I’d like to do is create a new committee, which would be the committee of de-regulation.

We have all these committees that create laws, then create regulation. There’s no one whose job is to look through and say what is still relevant.

MP: But specifically, where do you see these regulatory roadblocks?

MM: I am for smart regulation, efficient regulation.

Let me give you a real-life example in Minnesota that’s problematic. We’re sitting on the largest copper deposit in the world. It has the opportunity to have Bakken-like economic impact on our state and on the region.

Nobody in Minnesota, including myself, wants to do anything that harms our 10,000 lakes. We are all environmentalists in this state. What is problematic is this copper deposit — this has been under review for seven years, $150 million, and we don’t have an answer yet.

There currently are seven different regulatory agencies that have control over this project: the DNR, PCA, sovereign nations, Bureau of Land Management, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior and the Forest Service.

If we were in Germany, which has the toughest environmental laws in the EU, we’d have an answer in six months. Just tell us.

Nobody wants to do something that’s harmful, and my sense is that they’re going to allow this to happen because they can do it in an environmentally safe way — but nothing should take seven years and $150 million. We have such an inefficient, chaotic regulatory review process. That’s wrong. That stops economic impact.

MP: With these entrenched structures, how would you propose to make them more efficient?

MM: You need to build a coalition of like-minded people. Ideally, it’s bipartisan. I think this is ideally suited for people that have private-sector experience. I’ve solved problems my whole life, that’s what I'm trained to do. …

Let’s take the energy industry. We are sitting on the doorsteps of an energy renaissance, which is truly game-changing if we allow it to happen in a responsible way.

We haven't been energy independent; we haven’t been an energy superpower since the early 1960s. People forget that in World War II, we provided six-sevenths of the oil that was used to prosecute the war on behalf of the allies.

We have the opportunity — because of technology, because of innovation, because of horizontal drilling — to really be an energy superpower.

It’s a game-changer, because not only is energy the number one source of high paying jobs over the next decade, but also more importantly, with low cost energy, we have a manufacturing renaissance.

MP: What do you think Congress should do with energy policy?

MM: One is approve the Keystone pipeline, which has thoroughly passed multiple environmental reviews.

Two is natural gas. There are 24 [liquefied and natural gas plants] around the country that have applied for permits. I would fast-track the permitting process.

Let’s talk about Europe. France does use [nuclear]. Germany curtailed their nuclear program, and went to natural gas and I believe 60 to 70 percent of their energy comes from Russia. That’s a problem; that’s a huge problem.

Energy independence is not just to allow us to be an economic superpower — which we need to be — but it’s got huge implications on geo-political issues. If we had these L-and-G plants up and running, we actually could export to Europe. We could supply their energy — democracy to democracy.

Germany allowed themselves to get in a situation where they were dependent on Russia.

MP: Natural gas is a resource that produces methane that may contribute to climate change. If Congress decides to act on climate change — what is the most prudent course, in your opinion?

MM: One of the frustrations that I've had is the way that the question is posed. There’s a false choice out there. You’re either for the environment, or you’re for the economic growth or business growth.

… You can do both. You grow; you develop in a responsible way. With natural gas, the studies I've seen, there’s more methane produced from livestock than there ever is from natural gas production. And natural gas is one of the cleanest forms of energy.

I’m a big proponent of all forms of energy. Let the market determine what’s the most efficient way to provide energy sources.

Look at the improvements we made in the coal industry in terms of what we’ve been able to do there. Whether its coal, nuclear, natural gas, propane — let’s promote it in a responsible way.

If we're able to provide natural gas to Europe, they’re not held hostage by Russia. Russia’s economy is completely energy dependent.

MP: What is your opinion of U.S. policy regarding Russia and the Ukraine?

MM: I’m very disappointed in the current administration in terms of their foreign policy. I think they’ve put the U.S. in a place where we are in a less safe, more dangerous position today that when they got elected into office.

Let’s look at Benghazi. A U.S. ambassador was murdered. We had a rapid deployment force of Marines on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. We did nothing and the world watched.

Then we drew a red line in the sand in Syria. They crossed it. We did nothing and the world watched.So no one should be surprised by what Putin did in the Ukraine.

MP:Do you advocate a more muscular U.S. policy in this situation?

MM: I advocate a more clear policy. I would have started in Benghazi. I would have sent a very strong message that we’re going to protect our embassies.

We find ourselves in a situation in the Ukraine. I would have immediately kicked Russia out of the G-8. We become the G-7. I would consider things like taking the [2018] World Cup from them immediately. I’m a big proponent of economic sanctions. We need Europe’s support to make them effective.

Two new television ads on behalf of two Republican candidates for governor will be on the air shortly.

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson tries for humor in a spot in which he helps his teen-aged son, Thor, learn how to drive.

As Thor crashes through obstacle barrels labeled MnSure and veers around cones, Johnson compares his son’s driving to Gov. Mark Dayton’s handling of state government.  “The only thing he gets right are the hard left turn,” Johnson says in the ad.

Johnson campaign manager Greg Peppin says the ad will run statewide but will be “a targeted buy.”  Translation — it won’t be saturating the airwaves.

The second ad appears to be the first independent expenditures of the campaign season.  Compete Minnesota has created an ad www.CompeteMN.com. on behalf of Scott Honour, airing in the Twin Cities on cable outlets and also online.  Entitled, “The Difference,” the ad claims that Honour is the only gubernatorial candidate to advocate the full dismantling of MnSure and features supporters extolling Honour’s capabilities.

Compete Minnesota’s state filing shows that as of April 14, the group had more than $250,000 cash on hand, which came from three contributors.  Alec Gores of the Gores Group, a private equity firm where Honour worked for several years in Los Angeles, contributed $200,000 of the total amount.

It’s a blessing and curse to serve as a legislator while running for another office — especially for four Republican legislators running for governor or U.S. Senator.

For the four — State Sens. Dave Thompson and Julianne Ortman, and State Reps. Jim Abeler and Kurt Zellers — gains from authoring significant legislation can be undone by a single vote on a controversial bill.

“Those of us who are in office have to contend with more issues than those who are not in office,” said Abeler, who is running for the U.S. Senate. “We have to make decisions on real pieces of legislation. My effort has been to continue to be myself and do what I think is right.”

Abeler, from Anoka, said a good example of voting his conscience is the $846 million bonding bill that Republicans criticized as too expensive.

“The easy, really good political vote is to vote no. But it was, for me, the wrong vote,” he said. “I had a big project in there, important to my district — the bridge in the city of Ramsey to go across Highway 10.”

Gubernatorial candidate Zellers voted against the bonding bill. It contains “so many things that are unnecessary,” the Maple Grove Republican said.

But a legislative session is more than an opportunity to say no, he added. “You can show by introducing a bill, by giving a floor speech, how you would act as governor,” he said.

Zellers said his signature legislation this session was a bill to repeal the warehouse tax, which he made a cornerstone of his governor’s campaign. The governor signed the comprehensive tax bill containing the repeal, but Zellers can use the tax as a campaign talking point.

Zellers’ bill to rebate the money already collected under the tax did not pass. “This was a horrible mistake,” he said. “If this was a bad thing then, it’s still a bad thing now.”

Thompson, a Lakeville Republican running for governor, points with pride to two bills he authored. Gov. Dayton has signed Thompson’s bill requiring a conviction before property used in a crime can be confiscated. Dayton is expected to sign a second Thompson bill, increasing penalties for assaulting a prosecuting attorney or judge.

“I’m really pleased that a bill that I authored will be signed into law by the man I am running against,” Thompson said.

But Republicans could only nibble at the feast of goodies a legislative session offers. “We were either coerced or ignored,” according to Abeler.

The major Republican achievement of the session may well have been using the new Senate office building as metaphor for all the things the GOP believes are wrong with the DFL.

The honor of authoring the bill to repeal building funding went to Sen. Julianne Ortman, running for the U.S. Senate. The bill died immediately after introduction.

Ortman and Abeler face Mike McFadden, a business broker who has never held elective office; other GOP Senate candidates include St. Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg, who has his own voting record.

On the gubernatorial side, Thompson and Zellers face Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson and former GOP House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, among others.

Rep. Tom Anzelc

The DFL Iron Range legislative delegation has fired off a letter to Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, using language that sounds like the GOP’s campaign themes.

The letter protests a potential U.S. Forest Service “programmatic environmental impact statement” that would evaluate mining throughout northern Minnesota and the Superior National Forest. A coalition of environmental groups has requested the PEIS.

“A regional or PEIS proposal … is not necessary or appropriate, would be an inefficient use of federal resources, does not contribute to the public interest … and would cause unacceptable delay in bringing jobs to Minnesota,” wrote the eight-DFLer delegation. 

The letter defends copper-nickel mining as “a tremendous opportunity for both the region and the state.”

State Rep. Tom Anzelc, group chair, said that copper-nickel concerns are “appropriate,” but another layer of environmental review would cast a shadow over iron ore mining, the region’s main employer.

“My point is that the Environmental Protection Agency’s increasingly aggressive interest in dealing with copper-nickel mining has morphed into areas that have consequences in iron and taconite,” the Keewatin DFLer said. “And we have been doing iron and taconite for 125 years.”

A spokesman for Friends of the Boundary Water Wilderness, which supports the PEIS request, acknowledges such a review would touch on other copper-nickel mining projects. “It looks at how a landscape or region approaches different kinds of development,” said communications director Aaron Klemz.

Klemz said that the proposed Twin Metals mining project is an example of what could come under PEIS review. “Twin Metals is relying on leases that were procured in 1966, before we had laws that require environmental review.”

Anzelc maintains that government environmental agencies should stick to the facts. “The EPA is charged with interpreting data, not politics,” he said.

He and state representatives Jason Metsa, Joe Radinovich, Carly Melin, and David Dill, and state senators Tom Bakk and Tom Saxhaug, called for Klobuchar and Franken to “reject the call for a PEIS in the Superior National Forest.”

Anzelc said he personally has not received a reply from Klobuchar or Franken.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Sen. Al Franken

Franken replied to a MinnPost request for a response in an email. "Mining is a great Minnesota tradition, and so is protection of our environment and natural resources," he said. "There's no question that we need to take into account the environmental impact of any proposed project, but Minnesota and the federal government already have rigorous processes in place to make sure that happens. There's no reason to have an overly burdensome process. I've been talking with the Forest Service about this issue and I will continue to engage them." 

Klobuchar’s emailed response was similar. “While every project must undergo a thorough environmental evaluation, I am concerned about adding this additional impact statement when there is already a process in place,” she said. “I will continue to work with the Forest Service on this issue."

The legislative protest is getting an assist from the Iron Range cities of Ely, Aurora, Babbit, which are offering resolutions criticizing the PEIS.

“We feel the process is complete enough,” said Dave Lislegard, a member of the Aurora city council. “We don’t support further tactics to try and delay projects and that is for all industry.”

This latest maneuver is the one that will solidify the citizenry, he said. “Northeastern Minnesota is coming together,” he said. “We’re willing to stand up in unity with one voice and protect our way of life. The history and tradition of the Iron Range run as deep as the minerals under our feet.”

Sen. Julianne Ortman

Even though most polls place Sen. Al Franken and Gov. Mark Dayton in safe territory for re-election, most Republican activists don’t believe them. That’s why this weekend, at the Republican Party state convention in Rochester, political pragmatism may prevail over the usual Hatfield-McCoy games that delegates play.

The best setting for this theory is the U.S. Senate endorsement. There are seven candidates; four are taken seriously and, after a few ballots, the 2,200 delegates will make their choice between two: Julianne Ortman and Mike McFadden.

Ortman has stressed her opposition to Obamacare, her support of gun rights, her opposition to NSA surveillance techniques, and her contention that U.S. policy is best directed by following the Constitution. She supports the party platform on opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Sarah Palin, still a conservative sweetheart for many delegates, has endorsed her. 

If the delegates had any suspicions about Ortman, about some of her more middle-of-the road votes as a state senator, about why she wasn’t endorsed when she ran for the state senate in 2012, they may be reassured by her choice of campaign director. Andy Parrish served in the same position and also as a chief of staff for retiring Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

MinnPost file photo by Brian Halliday

Mike McFadden

McFadden has chosen not to compete with Ortman, or fellow candidates Jim Abeler and Chris Dahlberg, on experience or conservative credentials. He’s drawn criticism, even among activists, that he has been too vague on issues and positions. He indicated from the day he announced his candidacy, he would go to a primary, if not endorsed. 

So why is he considered a competitive number two for endorsement? First and foremost, he’s the only candidate that has the ability to raise enough money to compete with the ginormous Franken campaign war chest. His campaign has $1.8 million cash-on-hand. Also, as a wealthy businessman, he has the ability to lend his campaign cash infusions.

And the delegates, whom McFadden has courted, may see him as a candidate who, once he’s head-to-head with Franken, will have the same focus and intensity as Norm Coleman, who narrowly lost to Franken in 2008.

In other words, it’s not personal, it’s just business. 

Governor’s race

Rising above family feuds is harder to do in the endorsement for governor.

Marty Seifert, who lost the GOP endorsement for governor in 2010 to Tom Emmer, is running again, this time not promising to abide by the endorsement. The Emmer-Seifert factions still exist among the delegates — as do Seifert fans who believe he would have beaten Dayton.

Complicating the decision for the delegates is the certainty of a primary with two strong candidates, businessman Scott Honour and State Rep. Kurt Zellers, who essentially have bypassed the endorsement process.

That leaves State Sen. Dave Thompson and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson. They are hoping to scoop up the delegates conflicted about Seifert. This three-man contest is where hard decisions must be made.

Seifert has made a good showing in greater Minnesota and could be seen as offering voters a reasonable alternative to the metro-liberal Dayton. But he’s weaker in the suburbs with their cache of Republican voters.

Thompson’s from Republican-rich Lakeville. He appeals to the party’s influential Liberty wing. He’s an attorney and a good speaker who can match Dayton’s intellect. But his days as a radio talk show host offer ample fodder for Democrats who are drooling at the chance to remind voters of Thompson’s flame-throwing past.

Johnson, from Plymouth, has equal appeal to the staunchly conservative yet pragmatic group of delegates that will determine the endorsement Saturday as the final act of the convention. His drawback is his poor showing in his only other statewide race, as a 2006 candidate for attorney general. His base is Hennepin County, a good place to attract independent voters but not a GOP stronghold.

Still, he may be seen as the one candidate with ability to unite the Liberty wing, the Tea Party activists, and the traditional pro-business Republican voters who have to be mobilized to give the GOP a chance. He bills himself as “the candidate who can win.”

Sixty percent of the Republican delegates may agree with him on Saturday. 

Republican candidate for governor Scott Honour announced that state Sen. Karin Housley of Stillwater will be his running mate in the race for the GOP nomination.

Honour and Kurt Zellers are bypassing the endorsement Saturday in Rochester, not even placing their names in nomination. Honour, like Zellers, promised a primary campaign that reaches out beyond the boundaries of the traditional Republican primary voting field.

He said that strategy was reflected in his choice of Housley, who had been considering a run for governor herself.  "Karin, like me, has spent most of her life working in the private sector, not in government," he said at a news conference.

Honour's announcement came just before delegates are about to take their eighth round of balloting to endorse a candidate for the U.S. Senate. That battle, is a two-man contest, with St. Louis County commissioner Chris Dahlberg leading businessman Mike McFadden, 55 percent to 44 percent of the delegate vote.

After ten ballots and 15 hours of debate, Republican delegates in Rochester finally endorsed Sunfish Lake businessman Mike McFadden for the U.S. Senate.

"I am the candidate, undoubtedly, without exception, that can beat Al Franken," Mike McFadden told the delegates.

Ultimately, he convinced them — even if he acknowledged from the start he would run in a primary without endorsement.

McFadden defeated St. Louis County commissioner Chris Dahlberg, the last man standing in what started as a field of six. Dahlberg ran a campaign long on pluck and short on resources. McFadden exploited his fundraising prowess in his appeal to delegates.

A hoarse and visibly emotional McFadden addressed the delegates after Dahlberg conceded. "Thank you Minnesota I love ya," he said.  "I humbly accept. I'd like to give a special thanks to Chris Dahlberg  — what a great man and gentleman."

Dahlberg, who was greeted by a standing ovation, pledged McFadden his support.  "I'm going to get behind the endorsed candidate," he said.  "It's been a great honor and let's go on to win and defeat Al Franken." 

Dahlberg established his position as a frontrunner on the first ballot and held it until the ninth.

David Strom, a delegated from the Fifth Congressional District who switched from Dahlberg to McFadden on that ballot, said he thought the group knew it was time to kick one candidate over the top. "There was a general belief that McFadden would win a primary and it would be best to have the endorsement go to the eventual winner," he said.

The DFL party responded to McFadden's endorsement with a statement that his business practices, as a mergers and acquisition consultant, cost people their jobs. McFadden volleyed right back. "I don't think the DFL has any idea how the economy works," he said at a news conference.

"It's only the end of the beginning," McFadden said of the endorsement. 

Technically, it's not. State senator Julianne Ortman, who dropped out of balloting yesterday, said she would abide by the endorsement.  But state representative Jim Abeler who dropped out after the second ballot, has said he will go to a primary, although the filing deadline for office is Tuesday.  Abeler told MinnPost he will make his decision on Monday.

The four-way race for the Republican endorsement for governor ended with the endorsement of Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson — but not before a Machiavellian twist that ensures a four-way primary. 

On the third ballot, Johnson led state senator Dave Thompson, and former state representative Marty Seifert by 17 points, clearing Johnson's path to an eventual victory.

Thompson dropped out on the third ballot, getting a standing ovation when he asked his opponents not abiding by the endorsement "to think about it."

"I would implore my opponents to think about whether running in a primary is for the good of a cause or for the elevation of self," Thompson said, asking his delegates to support Johnson. 

Seifert then startled the delegates by taking the podium.  He released his delegates but did not technically withdraw, forcing a fourth and final ballot. 

Seifert's move drew a surprisingly public rebuke from party chair Keith Downey who said when Seifert asked to speak to the delegates, "it was assumed he would also withdraw."

But Downey said Seifert's intent was to prevent any endorsement by telling Seifert delegates to leave and reducing the delegate number to an insufficient level for a legal endorsement. "That was uncalled for," Downey said.

Delegate numbers were sufficient to give Johnson a victory on fourth ballot. "It has been a positive race," Johnson told the delegates in his acceptance speech. "I particularly want to thank Dave Thompson and Michelle Benson for being two of the classiest people." 

He now faces Seifert, state representative Kurt Zellers, and Orono businessman Scott Honour in the August 12 primary.

"It ain't going to be easy," Johnson said of the primary contest.  "We need to ... pull together every faction and group in the party.  We need to appeal to the people that left [the party]."

The endorsement battles in both the U.S.Senate and governor's races have made the party stronger, Downey told the delegates.  "I thought our party had actually grown, the heart and soul even stronger, and it is," he said.

Delegate and Minnesota Tea Party Alliance chair Jack Rogers was blunter. "Marty [Seifert] has just galvanized every faction in this party to work for the endorsed candidate," he said.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Marty Seifert's move drew a surprisingly public rebuke from party chair Keith Downey.

The strategies of the four candidates who remain in the Republican race for governor share one tactic — broadening the base of voters.

That’s a tough job given that the number of primary voters are shrinking, not growing, and given that the primary takes place August 12. But it’s critical for unendorsed candidates Marty Seifert, Scott Honour, and Kurt Zellers who go into the primary without the party’s voter turnout apparatus. And it’s a good idea for endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson who would need more than the GOP faithful to defeat Gov. Mark Dayton in November.

“Part of my goal is, I want to expand the universe of people that think of themselves as Republicans,” said Honour, who made an appearance at the Republican convention in Rochester over the weekend but did not seek endorsement.

To prove that point, Honour and his choice for lieutenant governor, Woodbury state Sen. Karin Housley left the convention for an appearance in Duluth where the DFL was holding its endorsing convention.

“The contest is not here [in Rochester],” said Zellers, who pledged to rally conservative Democrats and independents over issues like mining in northern Minnesota. 

The state Republican Party has been conducting a frank reappraisal of its priorities, outreach, and messages since the 2012 election when the GOP lost control of the legislature.

That’s why the delegates in Rochester displayed a pragmatic streak in their choice of endorsees. They endorsed businessman Mike McFadden for the U.S. Senate over the more ideologically pure Chris Dahlberg. (McFadden may have a primary challenge from state representative Jim Abeler.) For governor, they chose Johnson, viewed by delegates as more centrist than state senator Dave Thompson.

When Johnson was asked about the first steps of his campaign, instead of offering campaign rhetoric he said, “What frankly the Democrats are really good at is telling stories about how laws affect real people and that’s what we need to do a better job of.”

Sixth District congressional candidate Tom Emmer, in his speech to delegates, pivoted from the conservative pitches he made when he ran for governor against Dayton in 2010. “We have to be for something, not against everything,” he said. “We must stop the circular firing squads.”

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Mike McFadden greeting delegates during the GOP

convention on Friday evening.

The last remark referred to Emmer supporter David FitzSimmons, who was denied Republican endorsement for state representative from St. Michael for his vote to approve same-sex marriage.

In the ultimate demonstration of party practicality, Emmer and Fitzsimmons, who was working the delegates on behalf of McFadden, appear to have been responsible for securing Michele Bachmann’s endorsement of McFadden in a statement that was circulated among delegates.

Of course, the party cannot claim unity with a four-way primary for the nomination for Governor. And reaching out to new voters may be more difficult while trying to elbow aside the competition at the same time.

But the delegates, candidates, and party leaders can legitimately claim they’ve made progress since election losses in 2012 as they work to validate that progress with the voters of 2014.

Pete Hegseth, new finance chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, explained to a Republican seniors group Tuesday in Bloomington that he wears three hats: chief fund-raiser for the GOP, contributor to Fox News, and CEO of Concerned Veterans for America.

Hegseth, 33, an Iraq War veteran and Bronze Star medalist, will wear the third hat Thursday when he testifies before the U.S. Senate Veteran Affairs committee on the VA Management Accountability Act, a bill that passed the House overwhelmingly with bipartisan support.

“It’s long overdue that there be some real accountability in the Department of Veterans Affairs, meaning that not a single senior executive has been fired even since the Phoenix VA scandal because it nearly impossible to fire a top-level government employee,” Hegseth said in an interview.

The reform legislation, H.R. 4031, was prompted by an Inspector General’s report that a VA facility in Phoenix had manipulated records on waiting times for medical care, an investigation that has expanded to other facilities nationwide.

HR 4031 is a three-page bill that gives the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the authority to remove managers who are failing in their duties.  “It is not a partisan issue, it is about — do you defend the status quo or are you going to be for reform in a department that badly needs it,” Hegseth said.  

But for the Republican Seniors of Minnesota, Hegseth, a U.S. Senate candidate in 2010, put a partisan spin on the VA problems.  “The Department of Veterans Affairs is probably the best preview anywhere of what government-run, top-down, single-payer health care looks like,” he told the group.  “No choice, no transparency of cost, lots of bureaucracy.”   

Concerned Veterans for America is part of a network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch.  The group has launched a campaign of letters, phone calls and advertising aimed at five Democratic senators, urging them to support the reform legislation.  The ad campaign also praises Democrats who voted for the bill in the House.

Even though the Minnesota Senate isn’t up for re-election for two years, the Republican caucus, which enjoyed a brief moment in the majority, is doing more than warming the bench.

Senate Minority Leader David Hann, for example, took advantage of the critical mass of activists at the Republicans’ Rochester state convention to do some one-on-one research on districts the GOP hopes to regain in 2016.

“We’ve been working on building some local infrastructure,” Hann told me after a meeting with delegates from Senate District 49, a seat currently held by DFL Sen. Melisa Franzen of Edina.

DFL representation of the district is a particularly sore spot for Republicans. State Rep. Ron Erhardt, who at one time represented the district as a Republican, re-won the seat in 2012 running as a Democrat. Franzen, meanwhile, defeated former state Rep. Keith Downey, who now heads the state Republican Party.

It’s not a personal battle, though. Hann said it’s a question of restoring political balance, given the DFL’s control of the House, Senate and governor’s office.

That situation, he said, has led to policies that don’t reflect the true political leaning of Minnesota voters.

“Our state has drifted to become more center left than center right, which is where I think we are,” Hann said.

Senate Republicans are targeting a dozen districts, many in the Twin Cities suburbs, which they consider winnable in 2016.

They’re engaging in open opposition research, as in Senate District 49. Hann said he asked delegates from the district, “What was the perception of [Franzen] locally? What do people think about her?”

The Senate caucus is building voter lists, identifying possible candidates and learning what voters want from their candidates, information that Hann said his team will share with House campaigners.

“Building in ’14 pays off in ’16,” he said.

And, of course, there will be fundraising, but Hann says the Senate will step aside for current House efforts.

“We say to donors, ‘If you’re going to write only one check this year, write it to the House,’ ” he said. “ ‘Just remember us when the time comes.’ ”

Editor’s note: This is one of occasional reports on the campaigns of the four Republican gubernatorial candidates.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Marty Seifert isn’t apologizing for the parliamentary maneuver that got him booed at last month’s state party convention in Rochester.

In fact, he views his decision to abruptly leave the endorsement process as evidence of his standing as a nonconformist who talks straight and doesn’t pander to the party’s more conservative wings.

“I think Minnesota voters study the candidates,” he said in an interview this week. “They like mavericks, they like people who are out of the box.”

Seifert’s campaign has attracted some of the few outsiders who still participate in the official party process of caucuses and endorsement, such as supporters of former Gov. Arne Carlson. 

He’s consulting with veterans of primary challenges, including former state Rep. Connie Doepke, a traditional Orono Republican who lost a 2012 state Senate primary to the more conservative David Osmek.

Seifert is aware that the Aug. 12 primary may draw only 200,000 voters, many of whom consider the party’s endorsement of Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson the stamp of approval.

To counter that, he’s courting voters in the state’s regional centers that lean Republican.

In the space of two weeks, he’s visited more than two dozen cities. This week, he’s calling on Alexandria, Brainerd, Crookston, Fergus Falls, Northfield, Owatonna, Red Wing and Winona to promote his campaign’s main theme.  

“I think the main issue is [that] we’re one Minnesota, and in terms of my ticket, I tried to find the best-balanced — gender, geography, experience — ticket of everybody,” he said. Seifert is from Marshall; his running mate, Rep. Pam Myhra, is from Burnsville.

Not coincidentally, he’s visiting cities with daily newspapers and radio stations where Seifert can take advantage of free publicity.

By his own admission, Seifert, a former House minority leader,  is constantly fundraising. Money is tight in the four-way race, where fellow candidates Scott Honour, Kurt Zellers and endorsee Jeff Johnson may have a fundraising edge.

But Seifert points to other well-funded candidates — including DFLer Matt Entenza and Republican Wheelock Whitney — who have lost primaries as proof that money is not the key to victory.

He’s hopeful that success for him comes from a combination of retail politics, an understanding of the primary voter, and an image of a politician willing to buck the establishment.

Editor’s note: This is one of occasional reports on the campaigns of the four Republican gubernatorial candidates.

It’s all business for Kurt Zellers.  Or rather, it’s all about business for the Republican state representative and former House speaker running for governor.

Along with the coffee shops and county fairs, Zellers includes small businesses on his campaign stops, places like Lundell Manufacturing in Plymouth, Superior Manufacturing in Morris, Plastic Tec in Pine City.

“They worry about getting qualified workers for their job openings and also issues like affordable housing for those workers,” he said.

From the day he announced he was running against Mark Dayton (and bypassing the Republican endorsement process), Zellers has made jobs and business growth a centerpiece argument. He was one of the first Republicans to position himself as a proponent of mining expansion in northern Minnesota, taking advantage of the friction in the DFL between union members and environmentalists.

His Twitter posts repeat the theme: “Sign our petition to revitalize mining here,” and “More news about our effort to revitalize mining and grow jobs in Minnesota,” they say.

Gen X counterpoint

Zellers also is promoting the advantage of youth. At age 44, with a young family, he is the Gen X counterpoint to the baby-boomer Dayton.

“I have picked up on the campaign trail that maybe it’s time we have someone in the governor's office that still has kids,” he said. “I don’t think that I'm exploiting the age difference — but voters are saying the old ’60s liberal model doesn’t work any more.”

Like his competition in the August 12 primary — endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson, former state Rep. Marty Seifert, and businessman Scott Honour — Zellers maintains he’s the best qualified to defeat Dayton in November and takes a jab at the others in explaining why.

“I'm the only guy that has beaten Mark Dayton. We believed we could balance the budget [in the 2011 legislative session] with a budget shortfall and turn it into a surplus,” he said.

'The entire budget' 

“As speaker, I passed the entire budget — not just pieces of a budget,” he added, referring to Siefert and Johnson and their terms as state representatives. “And, Honour, the [political] outsider message kind of works, but government doesn’t always run like business.”

A recent KSTP-TV poll showed that Zellers and Johnson were tied for the support of Republican primary voters.

“It’s a snapshot in time,” Zellers said of the poll. But, he admitted, it’s validation that his efforts to distinguish himself from the primary pack are working thus far.

2014 Campaign Finance Dashboard

Explore the latest fundraising numbers in the Minnesota races for Governor, Senator and U.S. Representative.

Some trends but few surprises in the new campaign finance reports filed by Minnesota’s candidates for governor.  The reports cover campaign contributions, expenditures and cash balances for the first six months of the year.

Orono businessman Scott Honour leads the field of four Republicans vying to be the GOP candidate with a cash balance of $226,733.  His contributions are an equally impressive $573, 329. But that sum includes $300,000 that Honour loaned his campaign this year on top of the $100,000 loan he made in 2013.

All but one of the GOP candidates made loans to their campaigns.  Former state Rep. Marty Seifert of Marshall reports a cash balance of $104,345.  His contributions totaled $143,717, which includes a $19,500 personal loan.

State Rep. Kurt Zellers reports a cash balance of $94,827. He reports contributions of $140,254, including a personal loan of $20,000.

Only Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson, the party’s endorsed candidate, did not have a personal loan on the books. He has the smallest amount of cash on hand — $32,529 — and lowest in campaign contributions, $47, 953.  

But in a news release issued in advance of the filings, the Johnson campaign said that in the two weeks since the May 30 endorsing convention, the Johnson for Governor campaign raised more than $90,000 and “is on pace to meet its fundraising goals.”

Not surprisingly, no individual Republican candidate comes close to the campaign funds amassed by DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. He reports a cash balance of $753,204 with contributions of  $355,112.  The report also includes a loan of nearly $4 million that Dayton made to his campaign for governor in 2010

The Dayton advantage may shrink after the Aug. 12 GOP primary. Until then, the Republican field is sharing the contribution base. Contributions totaled among the four candidates exceed the Dayton contributions.

Editor’s note: One of a series of occasional reports on the campaigns of the four Republican gubernatorial candidates.

“We’ll have some gas in the tank.”

That’s Jeff Johnson’s take on the finances of his campaign for governor.  The Republican endorsed candidate to challenge Mark Dayton trails his three GOP challengers for the nomination in fundraising.

But, as the endorsee, Johnson and only Johnson has access to the state Republican party’s voter lists, donor lists, and get-out-the-vote mechanism. Access to those tools and the imprimatur of endorsement form the basis of his campaign strategy.

“We have to have re-energize and secure the Republican base,” he said. “We can’t be divided going into the fall.” 

Johnson invested his campaign funds heavily in securing the GOP endorsement last month, spending more than $100,000 on delegate outreach and such campaign paraphernalia as T-shirts and balloons. He’s not apologizing.

These Republicans [delegates] were chosen by other Republicans to represent them,” he said. “They did vet us up close.”

He warns that Republicans may stay home for the general election in November if a non-endorsed candidate should win the August 12 primary. “Certainly there will be some disinterest among activists if the non-endorsed candidate wins, and even some anger,” he said.

But while as Johnson is appealing to the most loyal and active Republican voters, he also touts his credentials as a candidate who can win independent votes in November.

“To beat Mark Dayton, we need someone who can get half of the non-Republican votes,” he said. “I’m the only one that can show I’ve been able to do that in large numbers in Hennepin County. It's a voter rich area that we used to depend upon heavily and we haven't done well there in the last two cycles.”

Johnson actually isn’t spending a lot of time in Hennepin County, where he is well-known. In southern, western and northwestern Minnesota, his name i.d. is low.

“Some know me and some don’t,” he said. “But when I talk to non-Republicans in greater Minnesota there’s a real interest in hearing my case against Dayton. They like him so you have to make your case.”  

So, Johnson talks to voters about the business climate and competitiveness with surrounding states. He says he would improve conditions with “tax reform — low, broad and simple as opposed to high, narrow and complex.”

He says he’s talking about the education achievement gap between white and non-white students, a gap he says he’d close by “giving parents more control and more choice.”

And Johnson is using the fighting government waste theme that he promoted as county commissioner. In a state budget, “we’d start with an audit of human services – they are the easiest programs to measure,” he said.   

But policy discussions can be overshadowed by the practical.

“I need to spend time raising money so we can get on television before the primary election,” Johnson said.  When the MinnPost interview was over, he said, he’d be back on the phone making fundraising calls.

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of occasional reports on the campaigns of the four Republican gubernatorial candidates.

Republican candidate for governor Scott Honour wants primary voters to follow the money.

“We need someone that has the resources to bear to win the race,” Honour said of the fall’s race against DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.  “We will be the only the campaign that has the ability to go toe-to-toe with the governor raising money.”

With $225,000 in his campaign account, Honour has more than twice as much cash on hand as his competitors — state Rep. Kurt Zellers, former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and endorsed GOP candidate Jeff Johnson. Much of that advantage comes from the $300,000 he lent the campaign this year.  That was money well-spent, he said.

“We funded all the infrastructure — personnel, technology,” Honour said of the personal loans. Now, he said, when he calls on donors, “we can say that every dollar we raise is going directly into advertising, into getting our message out.”

When the Honour campaign ads hit the air in a few weeks, expect to hear the phrases “private-sector experience,” which he gained from his years as an investment banker, and “career politician,” which is how he describes his competitors.

Honour talks about the need for smarter spending, changes in regulations and taxes, and education, as do the other three Republican candidates. But he’s trying to insert a wedge of difference.

“The candidates I’m running against have been in leadership positions for quite awhile, and we haven’t gotten our agenda passed,” he said. “I know from my experience in the private sector you can always lower costs and get better results.”

Honour says he has a refined and sophisticated strategy to get that message to the right people.  

“We’re focused on two target groups,” he said.  “One — the traditional primary voter. I think they’re going to like what I’m about.  

“[And] we’re going to be reaching to new voters; new with respect to the primary — folks that have not voted in Republican primaries in the past and have them understand that they have a great chance to put their voice behind this race in a way that will impact the outcome.”

And that’s the third part of the Honour message, and, perhaps, the most challenging to deliver. He says he will be telling the primary voters that they — not party insiders — should have a say in choosing the Republican nominee.   

The campaign must persuade them that they care enough about that choice — and Honour — to show up to vote on Aug. 12.

Republican candidate for governor Marty Seifert, one of four candidates in the primary race for the nomination, has picked up a high-profile endorsement – from a former Republican governor.

In a news release, Seifert said he earned the endorsement of former Gov. Al Quie.

“I have been impressed by Seifert’s ability to connect with Minnesotans all over our state and his unique grasp of the issues that are important for our future,” said Quie in the news release. “We need a leader who is dedicated to justice and he will appoint judges and justices who respect the law and the Constitution, have radical integrity, and who will respect the litigants.”

Quie has led a movement to change the judicial selection process in Minnesota from contested elections to a gubernatorial appointment system that includes an evaluation program for judges.

 “Governor Quie has been universally praised for being a public servant willing to take risks, offering out-of-the-box ideas for education and judicial reforms,” said Seifert. “I am looking forward to hearing more of his advice on how to make Minnesota an even better place.”

Quie served as governor from 1979 to 1982 after defeating DFL Gov. Rudy Perpich in 1978.