Discover Politics

“Conservative Values, Progressive Vision” This is a phrase that John Marty uses to describe himself politically and why he doesn’t hand out buttons with that phrase on it, I don’t know. I sat down at a quiet coffee shop with Senator Marty to check in on his campaign and ask him some of the same questions that DiscoverPolics has been asking all the DFL candidates for Governor.

We start by discussing the growing number of state legislators that have announced that they will not return to their seats in 2011. Some legislators are seeking higher office, some are just not coming back. Senator Marty feels that some of those announcements are insincere. “Just because they say that now, doesn’t mean they won’t be back after nominations are handed out or the general election is over”. I ask him if he thinks that some leaders are not returning because of the seemingly insurmountable issues to face including the budget deficit, unallotments and redistricting following the 2010 census. Marty thinks that would be a silly reason to cite for not coming back. “By taking office in the first place they basically said they wanted to work on those problems”.

Despite Marty’s excellent slogan, most Minnesotan’s who know him, view him as fairly far to the left. I ask if nominations on either side of the isle get too extreme, will we see another strong independent step in. He jumps in immediately, before I even finish the question, “Everybody wants to look at politics as left, right, center.  I don’ think the majority of the public does that and I don’t think it’s helpful. When Jessie Ventura announced he was running, the Blue Dog Democrats embraced him as being such a centrist. Why is someone a centrist just because they say they are? Someone decided somewhere that a pro-life Democrat is a moderate or a pro-choice Republican is a moderate, regardless of how a particular candidate holds up on the majority of other issues”. This may certainly be true. We all know people who choose their party affiliation based on one issue, but the fact is that public perception has a way of becoming reality and if a campaign refuses to address this they are potentially losing the support they need to push through to the next stages of the debate. “I think voters respond to honesty and common sense”. In the end that may have been why Ventura was successful. The “common man attacks politicians” approach worked to get in the door, even though many Minnesotans doubt it would have worked to keep him in office.

I ask about his high profile opponents for DFL attention. He admits that he’s “frustrated” by Mark Dayton’s AFSME endorsement and how some groups make their endorsements. He wonders “who is making the call?” He’s looking for endorsements currently and hopes to be able to really talk to groups that are underrepresented. I ask how he can compete financially with Dayton and Entenza and he plainly lays out that he can’t compete dollar for dollar, “but I can compete idea for idea”. He adds that all this campaign money this early can spell problems down the road because of implied promises made in exchange for money.  He makes no allegations about his big dollar colleagues, but simply states that “I’m the one to take on corruption in big businesses like insurance, because I didn’t take any of their money. All this money corrupts the system”. He also adds that he will abide by the parties endorsement unlike the big dollar candidates. “This is supposed to be an election, not an auction”.

His biggest criticism for Governor Pawlenty is the lack of vision in the state coupled with a failure to act on everything from the cost of education on through healthcare and transportation. He is increasingly frustrated with allegations that single payer health care is socialism. He firmly believes that spending a dollar now will save 3 or 4 dollars later. As Governor, he says he will spell out a vision for Minnesota and ask first “what should we do”, then “what can we do”. Summing it up nicely by saying, “Minnesota needs to figure out where we’re going before we can figure out how we’re going to get there”.