Gov. Race Drifts To Talk Of Payback, Tea Party Ties

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — With just eight weeks left in the race for Minnesota governor, both parties are trying to cast the other's nominee as too extreme: Republicans say Gov. Mark Dayton is beholden to labor unions, while Democrats are chastising Jeff Johnson as being a right-wing supporter of the tea party.

The themes are driving the latest television ads and candidates' comments, including on Thursday when Johnson accused Dayton of pushing a law that was a priority for state unions after he was endorsed and financially supported by the state chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The law paves the way for personal care attendants and home child care providers to unionize.

"Any political payback is wrong, but this one is worse than a lot of them we see because it is done at the expense of a lot of hardworking businessmen and women, and at the expense of parents and children who use in-home child care in this state," said Johnson, a Hennepin County commissioner.

Dayton campaign manager Katharine Tinucci said Dayton has consistently supported citizens' right to unionize and that his stance had nothing to do with institutional support or campaign money.

"People have been trying to make hay out of this for years," she said.

Personal care attendants for the disabled and elderly recently voted to form a union, and a vote among thousands of day-care providers who tend to children in subsidy programs could occur soon. Both drives were authorized by Dayton and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, and allowed to proceed after court challenges.

Meanwhile, groups eager to see Dayton re-elected are spending heavily on TV ads branding Johnson as a tea party subscriber. The state Democratic Party is preparing to launch a million-dollar ad campaign next week, and the Democratic-aligned Alliance for a Better Minnesota has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars calling Johnson a tea party Republican.

"Minnesotans don't want people who associate with the extremes of either party," Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin said Wednesday. "And when you have a candidate who is proudly wearing as a badge of honor the fact he is a tea party member, I don't think that's what Minnesotans want to see in their next governor."

Johnson made multiple speeches to tea party groups ahead of the state party convention in May and the August primary. He said he shares tea party beliefs in cutting government spending and strictly adhering to the Constitution, but he has more recently downplayed his association with the group.

"I didn't ask for a tea party endorsement," Johnson said Thursday, responding to a video showing him asking a tea party audience for backing. "I was looking for endorsement of the members of the tea party who are also Republican delegates."

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