One of the state's biggest public employees unions will taking their fight for higher taxes on the air.
"You pay your taxes. It's time the rich pay their fair share," says the television ad from AFSCME Council 5. It will run during the Minnesota Twins home opener and during newscasts next week.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty is likely to veto any attempt to raise income taxes. Democrats in the Minnesota House would need Republican help to override any veto, which seems an unlikely scenario, and not even all Democrats in the House and Senate support raising income taxes on the top five percent of Minnesotans (those making more than $193,687 a year.)
"What we're looking for is to build for an override on revenue," said Jennifer Munt, spokeswoman for the union.
She said the union is spending about $40,000 to run the ad on television and another $30,000 on ancillary efforts, including on Gov. Tim Pawlenty's radio show. That strategic buy might just be designed to rankle the outgoing governor and hit the ears of the media and political types who tune in for the show.
The spending buys more than a token appearance but won't hit everyone's eyeballs. It equals about what one of the 2008 Senate candidates spent on one station in an early fall week that year.
(I'll post the ad and transcript once they are available electronically.)
Here's the ad:
