New shot in shutdown ad war

The Taxpayers League of Minnesota Monday announced it made a small ad buy with the message that "Enough is Enough," but its president also admitted that Republicans budget was actually too much for some.

The ad claims Republican lawmakers' passed a two year state budget that spends 12 percent more than the current biennium.

"Gov. Dayton doesn't want to compromise," says one of the ad's speakers.

The ad is the anti-tax group's answer to the $1 million television ad campaign run by Alliance for a Better Minnesota, which supports DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's tax increase proposal. The League's cable-only campaign spends far less than $1 million.

The League is also in the uncomfortable position of supporting Republicans' budget that spends $34 billion, which is about $4 billion currently spending in state dollars.

League President Phil Krinkie said "many conservatives across the state are upset with the Republicans that they already proposed an enormous increase in state spending."

"That's not what they campaigned on that's not what they came here to try to accomplish," said Krinkie, a former Republican state representative. But he notes that budget was one that lawmakers could pass.

The ad runs into a few budget number mishaps.

It says Republicans want to spend 12 percent more than is currently being spent. Republicans calculate that figure as six percent more. It also says the GOP wants to spend $1 billion more on education. But the House education committee chairman says his bill spends $450 million more and even that figure has been found doubtful. The ad also says "their budget protects our most vulnerable adults." The Republicans' measure, according to the state, would cut back on health care coverage for low-income and poor Minnesotans and trim spending on home and community health care programs.