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I spent the shut down weekend running the Cass County Republican booth at the county fair in Pine River. It was obvious from the start that the Minnesota government shut down was planned by the DFL all along. Dayton had no intention of negotiating with the GOP Legislative leadership, but was merely running out the clock until they could implement their well orchestrated plans. State workers were instructed to close wayside rests and campgrounds on June 30th well ahead of the midnight deadline, inconveniencing travelers on the busy July 4th weekend statewide. The Alliance for a Better Minnesota funded by the unions and the Dayton family already had their million dollar GOP attack ads ready to go on air as soon as the deadline was passed. The whole idea was to shut down state government on the busiest summer weekend for the highest impact and blame the Republicans. Did it work?

The sensible people who stopped by our booth at the fair knew who was to blame. They are the overwhelming majority who elected Republicans to the state legislature to cut wasteful spending and stop raising taxes. The DFL knows this and are using unscrupulous tactics and class warfare in a desperate attempt to regain majority rule in a state that is finally waking up to the destructive consequences of their liberal tax and spend policies.

Dayton is a wealthy man, so when he says he wants to tax the rich does he ever mention how much more he will end up paying? My guess is little to nothing since most of his money is in tax shelters out of state. "Tax the rich" is a popular DFL catch phrase because most people don't think it affects them. When they said they would tax the millionaires, I said nothing because I wasn't a millionaire. Where do you think it will go from there? You know how the analogy ends.[[In-content Ad]]There were a few brave Democrats who came by our GOP booth to take a quick verbal shot about "getting along" or "working together" to solve the budget battle, but none who would stay to defend their position. They all scurried off rather than admit their idea of working together is to do what they want so we can all get along.

Part of me would like to let Dayton go ahead with his tax the rich scheme just to prove he's wrong about the amount of revenue it would bring in, but that would just leave our state with another budget shortfall and a worse economy than we already have. The Republican majority passed a balanced budget and Dayton vetoed it. Only the governor had the power to shut down the state government and he did. The blame for this fiasco rests squarely on the shoulders of Governor Dayton.

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