Former IPer Uldrich to wage gubernatorial write-in

Good news for folks who aren't happy with the three major gubernatorial candidates.

Retired businessman and veterans advocate John Uldrich announced Tuesday he's waging a write-in campaign for the state's highest-elected office.

Uldrich said he was spurred to run in part because government leaders are ignoring a "private sector depression."

Uldrich, who launched previously unsuccessful bids for Minneapolis School Board and the U.S. Senate, proposed a mix of temporary tax hikes and spending cuts to resolve the state's multibillion-dollar deficit.

An Uldrich administration would hike income taxes, corporate taxes and property taxes for two to four years. He'd also broaden the sales taxes to include caskets, burial vaults and funeral services.

"We've had a decade of accounting gimmicks – squeeze the budget balloon on one end, and watch the property taxes swell on the other," Uldrich said in statement.

Uldrich calls himself a centrist. He's a former Republican who switched over the Independence Party, failed to win the IP's gubernatorial endorsement this year, and then returned to the GOP.

He tapped former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Carney Jr. as his running mate. Carney, who calls himself a "candidate journalist," received 9,856 votes in the GOP primary.

"I am glad John as returned to the fold," Carney said. "The party needs help."