Dayton Does Town Hall Minnesota

I have been a long-time promoter of the idea of Town Hall Minnesota, a structured setting in which ordinary citizens can question elected officials.

To his credit, Minnesota’s Democrat Governor Mark Dayton has embraced the town hall concept and is now ¾ of the way through another such tour of the state.  By all accounts, the events have been well attended and, perhaps, even productive.

It seems that the Governor receives feedback on these out-state trips that he is not receiving (or heeding) back in St. Paul.

You may recall that, in July 2011, Dayton decided to end the state government shutdown while still in the midst of a statewide tour selling his side of the story. 

It was, at least in part, the result of defending his original Budget 1.0 in front if skeptical audiences early this year that caused the Governor to change course.  Minnesota Public Radio reported earlier this month the Governor saying,

“You hear an earful, I've heard a TCF Stadium full of concerns about the business to business tax," Dayton said.

At the first stop in his Budget 2.0 tour, the Governor heard from the good people of Duluth, who packed the event to provide their input.  The Duluth News Tribune reported that,

The most pointed exchange came after Paul King asked about the governor’s proposal to tax the richest 2 percent in order to collect $1.1 billion in new tax revenue.  King, a Tea Party activist from Duluth, complained about the onerous regulations that already stifle business development and was brusque at the idea Dayton laid out at the beginning of the meeting, that the rich must pay a fair share of their income in taxes equitable to the middle class.

“Maybe we paid our fair share,” King told the governor. “The wealthy are doing all the work.”

At the next stop, in the border city of Moorhead, attention turned to Dayton’s proposed cigarette tax hike.  Forum News reported,

Frank Orton made sure Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton understands problems he faces in competing against North Dakota stores.

“Minnesota must not adopt a tax policy that makes our businesses unable to compete,” Orton wrote in a letter to Dayton in connection with a Monday night Moorhead town hall meeting.  “At times those of us on the Minnesota-North Dakota (line) feel like we are playing with the deck completely stacked against us.  At some point the economics will be as such that we just quit playing the game.”

At the most recent stop in St. Cloud, concerns turned to gun rights.  The St. Cloud Times reported, 

But Dayton was challenged by more questioners during the second half of the event, especially on the issue of gun rights.

One teenage questioner lectured Dayton about the Second Amendment, at one point rising from his seat to show the governor his pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution.  Another asked Dayton why he supports a bill that would impose universal background checks for gun sales, arguing such a change would only affect law-abiding gun owners, not criminals. 

The Governor also heard from a local employer, 

Mike Helgeson, CEO of St. Cloud-based poultry firm Gold’n Plump, thanked Dayton at the event for withdrawing his proposal to expand the state sales tax to certain transactions not currently taxed, including services purchased by businesses.

But Helgeson asked Dayton to rethink his plan to increase the income-tax rate on the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesota taxpayers. Helgeson said the plan could harm small businesses that pay taxes through the owner’s individual tax return.

We hope that the citizens at the last stop in Rochester next week are just as spirited as their neighbors to the north and west.

Again, we should thank the Governor for putting himself in front of average citizens and answering their questions.  My only suggestion would be to add events closer to the Metro area, where more citizens could participate.