Thirteen former Republican legislators appeared at the Capitol Wednesday to demonstrate their support for Independence Party candidate for governor Tom Horner, describing him as the only candidate with a sensible plan for dealing with the state's budget woes.
"Tom Horner recognizes this problem," said former state Sen. Bill Belanger, a Republican from Bloomington who said Horner's proposal to expand the sales tax is the only plan "that will provide stability to the tax system" as income taxes decline with an aging population.
Horner's campaign argued that the Republican endorsements show that support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer is waning or static.
But after the news conference, Michael Brodkorb, deputy chair of the state GOP, said the Republicans endorsing Horner represent "a by-gone era" and were out of touch with calls to redesign governement, a favorite theme of Emmer's.
Besides Belanger, the Republicans endorsing Horner include: former Rep. Peggy Leppik of Golden Valley, former Rep. Dennis Ozment of Rosemont, former Rep. Roger Scherer of Brooklyn Center, former Rep. David Jennings of Martin and Watonwan counties, former Rep. Lynne Osterman of New Hope, former Rep. Dave Bishop of Rochester, former Rep. Bill Schreiber of Brooklyn Park, former Rep. Art Seaberg of South St. Paul, former Rep. Rod Searle of Waseca, former Rep. Neil Peterson of Bloomington, former Sen. Ed Oliver of Deephaven and former Sen. George Pillsbury of Wayzata.
