Legislative Republicans were blitzing the state Monday to make the case that one-party Democratic control at the Capitol is bad for Minnesota.
Democrats brought "unhealthy taxing and spending, hurting Minnesota's economy and hurting Minnesota families," said House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown.
GOP leaders converged at the Capitol for an early-morning news conference before taking off for Moorhead, Austin and Luverne, areas where Republicans believe they can best make their case and help win back the House.
Legislators adjourned late Friday night, capping a three-month legislative session where Democratic majorities in the House and Senate raised the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour, approved more than $550 million in tax breaks, threw more money into the state's rainy-day fund and legalized medical marijuana.
"This Legislature did what we said we were going to do," said House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis. "We balanced the budget responsibly in order to focus on priorities important to most Minnesotans: investing in education from kindergarten to college, investing in proven job creation initiatives, and reducing property taxes for homeowners, renters and farmers."
The Senate is not up for election this November, so Republicans and conservative donors are placing enormous emphasis on winning control of the House. Ousting Democrats from power would give Republicans a solid platform to block DFL initiatives and pass their own measures.
Republicans need just seven more seats to gain control, and Daudt predicted they could win back nearly 20 additional seats on Election Day.
The GOP urged Minnesotans to embrace their "balanced Republican approach." They did not highlight some of the more polarizing issues at the Capitol this year, such as the anti-bullying measure and a minimum wage increase that had strong opposition from business leaders.
Instead, they talked about the need for tougher education standards and more commitment to transportation spending, particularly in rural areas.
Republicans criticized Democrats for a new $77 million office building and for last year's tax hikes, particularly as some early indications show that Minnesota's employment and budget picture might be dimming a bit.
"Democrats have really let Minnesotans down," said Senate Majority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie.
Republicans continued to hammer on the state's bungled roll out of MNsure, the state's health insurance exchange.
"The one glaring omission is that we did nothing with health care," Hann said.
He called the new system a "failure."
Hann said he plans to meet with health care officials over the summer to see what changes could be feasible.
Democrats are trying to keep the debate more focused on the economy. They warned that Republican control brought years of back-to-back budget deficits that drained budget reserves, resulting in billions being borrowed from public schools to patch up the state budget.
DLFers said their budget balancing repaid public schools, left the state with its highest ever budget reserves in state history and ushered in a $1.2 billion budget surplus.
"The best way to build on our progress is to continue growing our economy from the middle-out," House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul. "That means fighting for working families and our local communities instead of engaging in partisan gridlock that only benefits the wealthy special interests."
