In just three days we will be endorsing our candidate to take on Rebecca Otto, the self-proclaimed “Rodney Dangerfield” of State Auditor’s. She claims she gets no respect, and she’s right. She doesn’t. You have to earn respect, and completely overwhelmed by the Auditor’s job, Otto has done nothing to warrant attention let alone respect. Even the usual suspect liberal media commentators singled her out as the Constitutional Officer most likely to be defeated in November.

ECM capitol reporter T.W. Budig quotes Hamline University School of Business Professor and political commentator David Schultz. Noting that there is a national anti-incumbent trend that could “cascade” to impact statewide races, Schultz wrote in an email “(Former State Auditor Pat) Anderson has a real shot at Otto … Her name, the fact that the GOP wants to win this, this being an anti-incumbent year, all pave the way for a possible upset.”

That’s pretty heady stuff considering the source. I am convinced we can win back not only the State Auditor’s seat, but all the other constitutional offices as well.  We have a strong slate of candidates and, most importantly, after just two years of the “change” the Obama administration is imposing upon us and the new “progressive” direction adopted by the Minnesota DFL, the Minnesota Republican Party message of fiscal responsibility resonates with Minnesotans.

But before we start counting our political chickens we have some work to do. We have to put together and come together behind our ticket. For my part, I must earn your respect, earn your support and win the endorsement. Those three things are coming together.

I have personally called about 85 percent of the delegates to date and a majority of you have committed to supporting my candidacy.  I thank you for that.  We have also secured the support of almost every sitting and former legislator. They are not only supporting us as delegates, but many have also offered to help the campaign.  In addition we have the support of most of the BPOU chairs and almost all the state executive committee members including the following:

National Committeewoman Evie Axdahl
National Committeeman Brian Sullivan
Former National Committeeman Jack Meeks
CD1 Chair Steve Perkins
CD1 State Vice Chair Duane Quam
CD2 Chair Bonn Clayton
CD4 Chair Bev Aplikowski
CD4 State Vice Chair Bill Jungbauer
CD5 Chair Carleton Crawford
CD5 Vice Chair Adam Weigold
CD6 Chair Dave FitzSimmons
CD6 State Vice Chair Scott Andersen
CD7 Chair Craig Bishop
CD7 State Vice Chair Doug Lindgren
CD8 Chair Ted Lovdahl
CD8 State Vice Chair Kurt Daudt

What’s worthy of note is this list includes individuals from every faction of the Minnesota Republican Party – the liberty Republicans are represented. So are  party regulars and newcomers to the party and supporters from the camps of each of the frontrunners for the gubernatorial endorsement. There will be a lot of talk about unity at the State Convention, but of everything accomplished by my campaign so far, I am most proud of the breadth my support. I strongly believe that my presence on the ticket, more than any other candidate, serves to unify our party and gives us the best chance at a clean sweep of constitutional offices in November.

I have this support because I have already started or accomplished what the other candidates talk about doing.  I have a long and active record as your State Auditor.  You know what you are getting with me.  But the question is not so much what I did in the past as what I will do in the future.

While we exposed many problems with public pension funds and retiree health care and got legislation passed to cap benefits, merge failing funds and root out overpayments, the system is far from healthy.  We now have over $15 billion in unfunded pension liabilities with our three large funds (PERA, MSRS and TRA) and the system is unsustainable.  The audits and reporting already exist (I put the audit structure in place when I was State Auditor). Missing is the voice of an active State Auditor to republicize the problem, an active State Auditor with the will to push the legislature to take the steps necessary to implement actual reform.  This is a problem that needs to be dealt with now.  I know the numbers, the structure, the issues and the players that need to come together to fix the problem.  I can, and will, hit it on day one.

Another issue which needs to be looked at is our school district expenditures.  K-12 is a significant part of the state budget and we need to make sure we are spending our money on the right things, not administrative costs and waste.  As State Auditor, I did the first ever report on school district spending.  In her four-year term, the current State Auditor has done little with this issue – other than complain and join the DFL cacophony of cries to “tax the rich” as the solution for every problem.

We also need to look at the finances surrounding light rail. We hear about the “resounding success” of light rail, but it has never been subject to the rigors of an audit done to objective audit standards. The State Auditor has authority to conduct such an audit through is audit authority of the Met Council. As an independent constitutional officer, the State Auditor also has the authority to apply rigorous audit standards to economic development programs like JOBZ, something even the current partisan State Auditor lacked the will to tackle. I will tackle it.

This is all on top of the goal to help restructure government, remove state mandates from local government and give local governments more freedom to decide what services they will provide and more responsibility to raising revenue to provide those services.

A lot to do?  Yes, and I look forward to it.  I ask for your support on Thursday at the State Convention. Let’s send the liberals worse nightmare back to the State Auditor’s office.

Thanks for your support –

Pat