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Minnesota AFL-CIO endorses Mark Dayton for governor By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor MAPLEWOOD -— Six days after the August 10 primary election, the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s general board met and voted to endorse DFL primary winner Mark Dayton for governor of Minnesota. The state labor federation did not endorse before the primary, with affiliated unions splitting their support between former U.S. Senator Dayton and Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher. The August 16 AFL-CIO vote to endorse Dayton was unanimous — and board members gave Dayton a standing ovation as he entered their meeting room at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 hall in Maplewood. Dayton thanked the Minnesota AFL-CIO for remaining neutral in the primary contest and acknowledged the unions who backed his primary campaign. “Those of you who supported Speaker Kelliher supported an excellent candidate,” Dayton also said. “Now we need to pull all together.” Dayton was joined by his running mate for lieutenant governor, State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon from Duluth. “The stakes in this election could not be higher,” Dayton said, contrasting his record of support for labor with the anti-labor record of the Republican-endorsed candidate for governor, State Representative Tom Emmer. “On every important issue, Yvonne and I have been on your side and will be on your side,” Dayton said. Emmer, he said, “will be anti-labor on every issue you could imagine.” “I’m proud of the fact that I have been a friend and supporter of the Minnesota AFL-CIO throughout my career,” Dayton said. Dayton led two state agencies as a commissioner appointed by the last DFL governor, Rudy Perpich. Dayton was elected Minnesota State Auditor in 1990. And in 2000, with labor support, Dayton was elected to the U.S. Senate. During his six years in the Senate, Dayton noted, he earned a 99 percent voting record on working family issues tracked by the national AFL-CIO “I’m very proud of my service in government,” Dayton said. If elected governor, Dayton said, the first priority will be to “clean up the mess Tim Pawlenty left behind.” “It’s not going to be easy,” Dayton warned, referencing the projected $6 billion budget deficit the state faces. “There are no easy answers,” Dayton said. “But there are right and wrong answers.” “The budget is about our values and priorities,” Dayton emphasized. In a Dayton administration, he said, the priorities will be supporting education, creating jobs, and restoring fairness to Minnesota’s tax system. “The richest people are not paying their fair share of taxes,” Dayton said, repeating a main theme of his campaign. “They can afford to help out the rest of Minnesotans so our kids can go to school five days a week.” “If the rich don’t pay, everybody else pays,” Dayton said. “This is not about tax or not tax. This is about a tax on who.” Dayton observed that some candidates “run on an ideology that government can’t solve problems and then go out to prove themselves correct.” But the legacy of the “no new taxes” creed, he said, has resulted in “20 years of not meeting the state’s needs… It hasn’t worked. Their formula hasn’t worked.” Dayton’s win in the DFL primary August 10 was followed soon by attack ads from the Republican Party. “Make no mistake about it — this will be a vicious campaign, a smear campaign,” Dayton said. Opponents will attack him personally, he said, because “if they run on the issues, we win.” He expressed his belief that campaign debate in the race for governor “should keep it on the issues and what matters to the future of Minnesota.” “Middle class Minnesotans face a clear choice in electing a governor this year,” said Shar Knutson, Minnesota AFL-CIO president. “Mark Dayton understands what it is going to take to put Minnesotans back to work, make taxes fair for the middle class, and lead our state back to prosperity.” Contact:
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