I don't have any great hopes for seeing this happen in a big way soon, but a wedge has been put in to create an opening. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, the DFL-nominated candidate for governor, has chosen John Gunyou as her running mate.
John Gunyou was Finance Commissioner under Arne Carlson, the last state-wide moderate Republican. He has written many op-ed pieces for the Star Tribune criticizing the many ideologues in politics, especially Republicans. I've saved five of them.
One of my favorites is "Taxpayer's League's model for governing", Star Tribune, 2006-06-15. Sorry, it's no longer available online. His opening is priceless:
"Here's a civics question to start the day. Who provides your public services like police and fire protection, education, parks and roads? Is it: (a) cities, counties and schools, (b) Uncle Sam & Cousin Tim, or (c) the Minnesota Taxpayers League?
Listening to the Taxpayers League and their political sycophants crow about our state's drop in tax rankings is a little hard to take for those of us actually responsible for delivering the services those taxes pay for. It's a whole lot easier to pontificate about downsizing government when you don't have to figure out how to stretch shrinking resources to patch crumbling streets."
Among other things he points out is the Taxpayer's League doesn't consider that the price of asphalt has gone up but the cities's share of the unchanged gas tax has not gone up. As citizens' two biggest concerns are speeding and road repair. Gunyou proposed that his city solve these with less taxes by having inverted speed bumps. He had a couple of other tongue-in-cheek ideas for getting something for nothing.
If you are a Minnesota voter, I highly recommend looking up his commentaries in your nearest public library. That is, if it is still open and at a time convenient to you.
I was planning to cast a blank ballot in the August primaries, but now I will be sure to put an X next to Kelliher/Gunyou. Also, after I post this I'll make a small contribution to the Kelliher/Gunyou campaign. Note that I am still a Party of One and do not contribute to parties. Oh, the Coffee Party might be an exception.
