BILL HANNA EXECUTIVE EDITOR VIRGINIA — Jeff Johnson is a calm candidate for governor, even though he is running seven to eight points behind in an average of polls less than two weeks before the only poll that really matters — Election Day on Nov. 4. “I think we’re really about five or six points behind. But it’s absolutely doable” Johnson, the GOP gubernatorial candidate running against Gov. Mark Dayton, said during a visit to the Mesabi Daily News on Friday. “Republicans are never ahead in statewide races at this point. Often polls can put Republicans double-digits behind ... that’s how it was for Emmer,” he said of the 2010 GOP governor candidate Tom Emmer, who ended up losing to Dayton by just 9,000 votes in an election that required a recount. Johnson said he feels the campaign has gotten more traction the past two weeks. “It’s been a late-blooming race. People are now starting to engage and pay attention. That usually happens right after Labor Day, but not this year,” he said. Johnson said a competitive Republican governor’s primary in August with four candidates on the ballot has also played a role in a late start for interest in the campaign. “Tom Emmer was able to be the known governor’s candidate all summer long in 2010,” Johnson said. Johnson’s opponent is touting a Minnesota unemployment rate that has dropped during Dayton’s four years in office and is 4.1 percent, the lowest in the state in eight years. In addition, Dayton claims 172,000 new jobs have been created during his term. But Johnson said the state’s underemployment rate — those who are highly skilled but working in lower-paying jobs, or young people just living in their parents’ basements — “is just over 50 percent. These include people working but making just 60 percent of what they were.” Johnson brushes off criticism of his underemployment argument by the governor. “He says it’s nonsense. But the statistics are from his own administration,” the challenger said. Johnson said he is hearing a lot of concern on the campaign trail about an uncertain future from people not confident the state is heading in the right direction. “People are worried about what lies ahead for their kids and grandkids,” he said. Johnson, who grew up in the rural western Minnesota town of Detroit Lakes, said Dayton has made Greater Minnesota “an afterthought in his administration. “He has never lived outside the metro area. If someone has that rural Minnesota experience, he or she can much better bridge that divide. “And he picked a metro running mate (Tina Smith) after his lieutenant governor (Yvonne Prettner Solon of Duluth) was basically pushed aside,” Johnson said. Johnson said he has also picked up on an electorate uncertain about Dayton’s job competency. “There’s concern if the governor is really engaged or not. He doesn’t seem to know what is going on and is just not on top of things,” Johnson said. o On specific regional issues, Johnson said he would appoint an Iron Ranger as commissioner of the IRRRB. “I think that would be important ... that would be my goal.” Regarding his vote while in the Legislature to take $49 million from the 21st Century Minerals Fund to help fill a budget gap, Johnson said he was a state legislator from the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth at the time. “There’s a big difference between being a governor and a legislator from a Twin Cities suburb. I’ve learned a lot more about the Range, and I know the importance to the area and job growth of those funds,” Johnson said. Would he vow that would not happen again if he is elected governor? “I would never make a promise that strong on anything. But I can say I would have no intention of going after it,” he said. On the copper/nickel/precious metals mining and the PolyMet project near Hoyt Lakes, Johnson restated his strong support for the venture, which is currently in the supplemental draft environmental impact statement comment review phase. And, in a recently released television ad, Johnson said Dayton has “hostility” to the PolyMet project and it will “be dead” if the governor is re-elected. That has received pushback from PolyMet’s LaTisha Gietzen, who said it is “simply not true.” Johnson said, however, that’s what PolyMet officials have to say in case Dayton does win.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:45:09 +0000
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