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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Johnson focuses on jobs in Range swing

Posted 10/1/14

REGIONAL— Former state legislator and current Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson made a political swing through the North Country last Friday, with a focus on jobs.

Johnson, the …

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THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Johnson focuses on jobs in Range swing

Posted

REGIONAL— Former state legislator and current Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson made a political swing through the North Country last Friday, with a focus on jobs.

Johnson, the Republican nominee for governor, is challenging DFLer and current Gov. Mark Dayton and he said Dayton hasn’t taken job creation on the Iron Range seriously enough. Johnson offers a traditional Republican outlook, arguing that less regulation and lower taxes on businesses and the wealthy is the key to economic strength.

He said he hears concerns about the lack of good-paying jobs wherever he goes in Minnesota, but particularly on the Iron Range, where unemployment is traditionally higher than in other parts of the state. “We know there are plenty of jobs being created out there, but if you’re looking for a job that you can raise a family on, that’s the problem I’m hearing about.” At the same time, Johnson said he would have vetoed the minimum wage increase that Gov. Dayton signed earlier this year. Johnson said raising the minimum wage hurts low-wage workers the most by eliminating jobs.

He pointed to other options, such as mining, as the way to create better-paying jobs. During his tour of the area last week, Johnson met with officials from PolyMet Mining and Twin Metals— and he said he’d do more than Gov. Dayton to speed the mine permitting process along. “An important job for the governor is to make sure we’re moving through that process, not delaying it for political purposes,” he said. When challenged on his charge, Johnson acknowledged he had no evidence that Gov. Dayton was delaying the approval process. “Some people have suggested that concern, but I don’t have any evidence of it,” he said. “I will certainly be a stronger advocate for it than Gov. Dayton.”

Johnson’s focus on jobs comes at a time when Minnesota has been recognized as a leader in job creation in the wake of the recession. Statewide, the unemployment rate was just 4.3 percent in August, the fourth lowest in the country. But Johnson said Minnesota’s rate of job creation has slowed in 2014, and he blames tax increases that took effect in January of this year. He said he’s particularly concerned about the new top tier on the income tax, which bumps the tax rate on income over $250,000 for a married couple or $150,000 for a single person from 7.85 percent to 9.85 percent. For a married couple with a $300,000 annual income, that’s a tax increase of $1,000.

But Johnson said the wealthy weren’t the only ones affected by the tax increases. He said the cigarette tax increase fell most heavily on lower income Minnesotans.

Johnson said the income tax increase is forcing some small business owners to leave Minnesota for neighboring states, and that the impact of that is already showing up in the economic numbers. “If you look only at 2014, we’re the worst in the Midwest for private sector job creation,” he said.

But Johnson’s claim depends on which sets of data you choose to look at. Based on a quarterly census by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Minnesota saw only 19,000 additional jobs in the past year, a growth rate of 0.8 percent, the slowest in the Midwest. But the monthly jobs data, also published by the BLS, shows that Minnesota created a far rosier 56,000 jobs from August 2013 through August 2014, one of the best jobs performances in the Midwest. At the same time, Minnesota’s unemployment rate, which is based on census data, fell to its lowest level in eight years in August 2014, following the creation of 6,100 new jobs in the month.

The stronger economy has unquestionably helped Minnesota to improve its financial picture substantially, allowing for the build-up of rainy day accounts and repaying the state’s schools for money borrowed during the height of the recession.

But Johnson said the days of surplus may not last, and he said tax revenues have been coming in below projections for several months now. But that statement is inconsistent with data from Minnesota Management and Budget, which oversees the state’s budget. The MMB reported in July that revenues for the 2014 fiscal year, which ended June 30, were $168 million above projections. Tax receipts dipped in July, but the month-to-month tallies are known to be volatile.

Johnson’s trip to the Iron Range did not escape the notice of DFL party officials, who greeted his visit with a press statement noting his past votes as a state legislator to take money from the 21st Century Minerals Fund to fill a state budget gap, as well as his votes to reduce local government aid. Johnson said his priorities as a legislator would not necessarily reflect his outlook as governor, given the broader constituency. And he said he supports the concept of local government aid, but believes the formula should be changed to target the funds more towards cities that are truly property poor.

Johnson took issue with Gov. Dayton on the MNsure program, which he called a “disaster.” “The first thing I’d do is fire the entire board. They were all handpicked by the governor,” he said. Then, he said he’d offer a greater choice of lower cost plans, such as the very high deductible policies that the Affordable Care Act was designed to eliminate. “We should trust people to make their own decisions,” he said. Johnson said he favors repeal of the ACA, but as governor would work to make it better. At the same time, he said he would maintain the Medicaid expansion, which has qualified tens of thousands of additional Minnesotans for the public health care plan for low-income people.

On other issues, Johnson said he supports traditional marriage, but would not support an effort to repeal the state’s new law legalizing same-sex marriage. “It’s here to stay,” he said. “Even if we changed it, the courts would likely say otherwise.”