GOP running mate sings different tune

Annette Meeks has many of the conservative chops that likely explain why Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer selected her as his running mate.

Policy experience? Check.

Political connections? Double check.

Written about abolishing the $78,000-a-year lieutenant governor's office? Check.

Sorry, what?

Yes, Meeks spent nine years at the Center of the American Experiment, where she helped create the Minnesota Policy Blueprint, a review of state government through conservative eyes.

Policy wonks didn't have to read past the second page to see, "Recommendation: Eliminate the office of lieutenant governor."

The report noted that choosing a running mate right before the convention adds to this tendency.

So it should be noted that Emmer, a man, named Meeks, a woman, his running mate two days before the state endorsing convention opens in Minneapolis.

"As it currently stands, we do not believe that a lieutenant governor performs a necessary function," the group wrote.

The blueprint argued that the secretary of state would be a logical pick to fill in for the governor if the state's highest-elected official were unable to do the job.

In this case, that would be Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat.

Dayton says he's 'unapologetic'

Saying he was unconcerned with political criticism, former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton tried to energize his DFL gubernatorial campaign Tuesday by calling for an income tax increase on Minnesota's wealthiest citizens to aid education.

"I'm unapologetic," said Dayton, who came under immediate fire from a state Republican Party official who said his proposal would hurt business.

Dayton said he would increase state income taxes by 2 to 3 percent on Minnesotans who earn more than $1 million a year. He acknowledged such a move would give Minnesota some of the highest income tax rates in the country.

"I think it's good politics," he said, adding that his proposal offered voters a sharp contrast to outgoing Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Dayton said the proposal, which he would make permanent as governor, would raise $500 million a year and equalize a system in which the state's richest taxpayers pay a smaller percentage of their income than ordinary Minnesotans.

State Republican Party deputy chair Michael Brodkorb called Dayton "one of the most out-of-touch politicians I've ever seen in my entire life."

Brodkorb told reporters after Dayton's news conference that such high income taxes would hurt job-creating small businesses. Dayton countered that small business owners earning more than $1 million could afford to pay more. Schools, meanwhile, have been forced to contend with overly full classrooms and some have adopted four-day weeks, he said.

"We can balance the budget very readily in the next biennium if we provide school three days a week," Dayton said. "We could operate public schools two days a week statewide and we'd have a surplus.

"[But] what are your values, and what are your priorities?" he asked.