Created: 11/02/2009 2:26 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email

GOP's Anderson Sketches Out Bid for Minn. Gov.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat Anderson began a 14-city introductory tour Monday by advocating for an expansion of the state sales tax opposite cuts in corporate and individual income taxes.

Anderson, 43, is one of eight people presently seeking the GOP nomination. She is the only one with a statewide victory - and defeat - under her belt. She was elected state auditor in 2002 but lost reelection four years later.

The tour that runs Monday to Thursday was considered her formal campaign kickoff. Surrounded by family members in the Capitol rotunda, Anderson said voters can expect her to lay out 365 ideas for improving Minnesota over the 365 days until the 2010 election.

"They are tired of partisan bickering. They are tired of the 'no new taxes' versus 'tax the rich' debate," she said of voters. "They are tired of bullet-point promises from Republicans; they are tired of pie-in-the-sky promises from Democrats."

Among her first offerings is a plan to apply sales taxes to services and clothing - two areas now exempt from the current 6.875 percent tax - if income tax rates were cut for individuals and corporations. She said shifting concentration to consumption taxes would add stability to a Minnesota revenue system that now swings wildly from big surplus to deep deficit.

Anderson also took aim at business tax-break program championed by departing incumbent Gov. Tim Pawlenty as being counter to free market forces. She said she doesn't support Pawlenty's JOBZ program that allows businesses to operate mostly free of state taxes if they promise to relocate to or expand in economically distressed regions.

"I am a pro-market Republican. I am not a so-called, pro-business Republican," Anderson said, adding that subsidies like it would be targeted for elimination in her administration.

Anderson was less specific about how she would meet her objective of reducing government spending, saying she would start by honing in on what's worth keeping.

Before her single term as auditor, Anderson was mayor of Eagan. More recently, she was an agency commissioner in Pawlenty's administration and currently heads the Minnesota Free Market Institute think tank.

Anderson has been chasing GOP delegate support for months and finished third in an early October straw poll at a Republican state convention.

Her declared GOP competitors are: state Sen. David Hann, Sen. Mike Jungbauer, Rep. Marty Seifert, Rep. Tom Emmer, former Rep. Bill Haas, businessman Phil Herwig and environmental activist Leslie Davis.

Anderson said she won't run in a primary election if she doesn't gain the Republican endorsement at next April's state party convention.

Democrats have a slate of 11 candidates to whittle down.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)