With a budget deadlock gripping the state, Alliance for a Better Minnesota has launched a $1 million television advertising campaign urging legislators to side with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's budget plan.
The group, which backed Dayton in the last election, is running an ad called "Choice," which features Minnesotans talking about the Republican budget plan.
The ad contends the GOP plan would raise property taxes, slash jobs and education funding, which Republicans dispute.
"The Republican legislature has failed to accomplish what they said was their number one goal for the legislative session: a solution to our state's budget crisis," said Denise Cardinal, the group's executive director. "The plan they produced is reliant on greater sacrifice from the middle-class here in Minnesota at a time when they can't afford deeper cuts."
Dayton has proposed raising taxes on Minnesota's wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans to reduce some of the cuts. Republicans refuse to raise taxes, something they say would kill the state's economic recovery.
"There is a better choice; asking the wealthiest two percent of Minnesotans to pay slightly more in taxes. This will protect our schools from the cuts being proposed by Republicans, and allow us to ensure that 140,000 Minnesotans do not lose health care coverage," she said.
The ad will run statewide the next few weeks, paired with similar online and radio advertising in targeted areas.
The total ad buy will total nearly $1 million, paid for by state and national unions, according the group.
