U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden on Wednesday signed a "Contract with Minnesota" pledging that, if elected, he will remain independent and transparent, and will not run again if he fails to fulfill any aspects of his pledge.
Speaking to reporters and flanked by friends and family, McFadden vowed to be accessible, accountable and take action in the contract, which you can read here. Among the pledges are to visit all of Minnesota's 87 counties annually, as Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar does, hold quarterly town hall meetings and post each vote and the reasoning for it on his website.
McFadden a Sunfish Lake businessman who is the Republican challenger to Sen. Al Franken, said it's a plan in contrast with his opponent, who he lambasts for not spending enough time in Minnesota and is not accessible to his constitutents.
McFadden brushed off comparisons of his pedge with the Republican' Party's 1994 "Contract With America," saying generations of voters are too young to remember what that is, and that he hasn't consulted with other candidates in offering similar pledges.
"I don't care what anybody else does. This is my commitment to the people of Minnesota," he said. "I have seen my opponent for six years be invisible as a senator, now he's invisible as a candidate…He's perpetrating a manipulation of the Minnesota public by spending millions and millions of dollars in advertising to try to portray him as something that he's not. He's not a statesman who has walked across party lines to get things done. In light of that I thought it was really important that Minnesotans knew that I would do."
McFadden also pledged to author or co-sponsor a balanced budget amendment, a No Budget, No Pay Act, legislation to support Keystone XL and other pipeline projects, and streamline the regulatory process, particularly among proposed project like the PolyMet copper-nickel mine, and expanding the definition of navigable waters.
McFadden has recently vowed not to seek re-election if he votes with his party 97 percent of the time—a key criticism he lays upon Franken. Although the proposed pieces of legislation listed in his contract are part of the GOP agenda, McFadden said it's highly unlikely that he'll agree with this party nearly entirely.
"I believe, just common sense, that no one agrees with another person 97 percent of the time if they have an independent mind. That's my experience," he said. "I don't even agree with my wife 97 percent of the time. So to put some meat behind it, I said if I do agree with someone 97 percent of the time, I will not run for re-election."
