The day after he officially announced his candidacy for governor, Democrat and former Sen. Mark Dayton visited Bemidji State University (BSU) on day three of his 87 counties in 87-days campaign.
Dayton came to Bemidji promoting his slogan “Mark Dayton for a Better Minnesota.” One of the main issues Dayton said he wants to tackle is the current unemployment situation in Minnesota.
“I want to restore Minnesota’s greatness by allowing Minnesotans to do what they are great at,” said Dayton.
Dayton also expressed his plans to lower tuition for public colleges and K-12 schools by raising taxes. He commented that Minnesota is one of the most expensive states to attend school in, and that the tuition is growing higher than the state's funding.
“I promise to increase state funding [for] public education every year. No excuses,” pledged Dayton. “And I will do this by raising taxes [on] the wealthiest 10 percent of the state.” The former senator was then interrupted by applause from the relatively small audience in the Beaux Arts Ballroom.
A question asked to Dayton was from a BSU support staff member. He asked where Dayton stood on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) cutting jobs, while at the same time giving bonuses to their own executives.
“It’s dead wrong to give bonuses to MnSCU executives while they are cutting lower jobs,” responded Dayton.
Senior and accounting major Andrew Grelsen asked Dayton what his plans were with public transportation. Dayton said he would plan to invest more money in transportation, because the past few governors have not put enough money into it. The first issue in transportation he would tackle would be highway maintenance. Then he would put more money into the bus systems in the inner cities and regional busing.
One of the citizens attending the meeting asked what Dayton would do to pay for these maintenances, since he was already raising taxes for public education. Dayton replied that he would use highway bonds, which he said are a good way to raise money outside of taxes.
Sophomore and business major Ryan Kalan asked the final question of the day: what is Dayton's stance on health care?
Dayton said he politely disagreed with President Obama on this issue, and that he believes Americans should have a national single-payer health care format. This would be somewhat similar to what is used in Canada; the payment is decided by certain factors such as age, citizenship and other demographic information.
The meeting then came to an informal conclusion. People who needed to leave could, but people were more than welcome to stay around and talk to Mark. Many students took this as an opportunity to ask questions they did not feel comfortable asking in the formal speech. Mark took time to talk to everyone until the very end.
Dayton is one of 12 Democratic candidates, as well as many more Republican candidates left, and many other smaller party candidates.
Dayton has served Minnesota for 35 years in many different positions: Commissioner of the Minnesota Departments of Economic Development and of Energy and Economic Development; a State Auditor; and most recently, a U.S. senator.
For more information on Sen. Mark Dayton, go to his website, www.markdayton.com, or attend the Gubernatorial Caucus on Feb. 2. The election for governor will be Nov. 2, 2010.
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