Pawlenty says voting for Horner helps Dayton
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 10:18 am
- 7 Comments
Gov. Tim Pawlenty told Minnesota Republicans this weekend that voting for Tom Horner, a former Republican running for governor on the Independence Party ticket, would spell disaster for GOP-endorsed candidate Tom Emmer’s chances at the governor’s mansion. The Minnesota GOP has increased its attacks on Horner in recent weeks as Horner picks up the support of moderate Republicans.
“I’ve known Tom Horner for 30 years, and while he’s a decent man, his proposals to raise billions in new taxes and allow government to grow unsustainably will take Minnesota in the wrong direction,” Pawlenty wrote in a statement released Sunday. “Any Republican who votes for Tom Horner is not only helping Mark Dayton become governor, but casting a vote to undo the tax and spending cuts we’ve fought so hard for over the last 8 years.”
He continued, “These are challenging times for our country and state. If you are concerned about your future, about creating jobs, and moving our state forward, Tom Horner and Mark Dayton represent the same wrong choice. Tom Emmer is the only candidate for governor who will fight to ensure we create jobs in Minnesota and enjoy a better future.”
Horner has been polling in the mid-teens in most surveys while Emmer and Dayton hover in the high 30s to low 40s. Last week Horner picked up the support of 13 former Republican legislators, which prompted harsh — and controversial — words from GOP chair Tony Sutton. Sutton used a Nazi reference and said there’s a “special place in hell” for them.
Horner shot back at the governor, saying Pawlenty’s aligned himself with Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin in order to jumpstart his presidential ambitions.
“Gov. Pawlenty is a decent person, but his policies have left Minnesota with job creation that has lagged the nation during much of the last decade, in good years and bad. That’s not a record Minnesota can afford in the next four years,” he said. “The most telling part of the endorsement, though, is that the Republican nominee hasn’t been able to secure the endorsement of a Republican governor until little more than three weeks left in the campaign. It speaks volumes about the reluctance of Gov. Pawlenty to jeopardize his national ambitions by tying himself to a gubernatorial candidate who increasingly is the choice only of Palin-Bachmann Republicans.”
While the GOP has tried to paint Horner as a tax-and-spend liberal and lump him in with Dayton, the DFL and liberal groups have been hammering on Horner’s Republican past. Over the weekend, the left-leaning Alliance for a Better Minnesota released a television ad that attempts to tie Horner to Pawlenty.
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter7 Comments
Comment posted October 11, 2010 @ 10:58 am
The difference between Horner and Emmer illustrates just how far to the right the republican party has strayed.
No system works when taken to an extreme, and conservatism is no exception. All the republicans talk about now is:
1) Blaming Democrats for everything.
2) Winning elections
3) Cutting taxes and spending
4) Getting the government in other people’s bedrooms.
They only pay lip service to the responsibilities of state government even as they push to shift power from the feds to the states.
Republicans voting for Horner are an important reminder that most Minnesotans are more moderate than the current incarnation of the republican party.
Comment posted October 11, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
Voting for Horner helps Dayton.
Voting for Pawlenty helps no one.
Comment posted October 11, 2010 @ 2:53 pm
Mr. Dayton’s paid approximately $10,000 in Minnesota state taxes last year according to his tax filings. Mr. Dayton is the beneficary of one of the largest fortunes every created in the state of Minnesota and one of our wealthest residents. Of course, this is the candiate that claims wealthy Minnesotians are not paying their fair share of taxes. He must have reached this conclusion by reviewing his own tax records.
Now how can that be that one of our wealthest residents pays only $10,000 in state income taxes? Either he must be financially incompetent, having frittered away his fortune through poor investments, or he is sheltering income through complicated trusts and tax shelters. In either case is this the profile of a man we want to entrust with setting the priorities and managing the finances of the state of Minnesota?
Dayton’s agenda of increased spending and “taxing the rich” will result in all Minnesotans being less well off. We already have a serious state deficit and we are already one of the highest tax states in our country. Increased taxes will result in making Minnesota less competitve in the national job marke and individuals choosing to live in less onerous tax states. As a result, Dayton’s legacy will be lower state growth, fewer job opportunities, increased government spending, and lower state tax revenues. Just like the Dayton Department Stores, Minnesota will be relic of the past.
Of course, Mr Dayton will still be paying his $10,000 as his fair share of state taxes!!!
Comment posted October 11, 2010 @ 3:17 pm
Oh look another neo con telling people how to vote. Him and Palin are two tea bags in a cup.
Comment posted October 11, 2010 @ 5:34 pm
This is the height of rutting season in Minnesota and Bull Moose is not thinking clearly.
All the blood has left his brain.
Comment posted October 12, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
So Bull old boy Dayton is going to be our next Governor… starting your whining early?
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