DULUTH - In a bid to nail down the senior voters who could be vital to a primary victory, DFL gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher on Monday offered up a seniors-only property tax break.
The pitch is a sign that with just two weeks to go in the high-stakes DFL primary, Kelliher and her DFL rivals are stepping up their game to gain an edge before the Aug. 10 election.
Monday's move by Kelliher takes direct aim at DFL opponent Mark Dayton, who won a 2000 U.S. Senate race largely on the strength of his appeals to seniors. To win, Kelliher and the third member of the DFL primary troika, Matt Entenza, must make inroads with that population. More than half of those voting next month could be older than 65.
Dayton has become a familiar figure at the Duluth Rainbow Community Center, where Kelliher made her announcement. The former senator even called bingo games there in January -- and that wasn't his first time.
"We love to see Mark Dayton," said Cathie McGovern, the center's coordinator. McGovern, whose bright energy and vibrant red mane belie her 60 years, said that while Dayton is popular there, Kelliher has won her support.
Frank Jewell, a candidate for St. Louis County commissioner who has campaigned for Kelliher, said he often heard that any of the three DFL candidates would make a fine governor.
"A lot of people can't make up their minds," Jewell said.
The candidates are looking to help voters, particularly the high-voting seniors, do that.
On Monday, Kelliher, who was introduced with patriotic accordion and drum tunes performed by Rainbow center regulars, brought some elders of her own. Former Vice President Walter Mondale, former Secretary of State Joan Growe and two-decade House veteran Rep. Mary Murphy, of Duluth, all stood by her side at the event. Though he hasn't held elective office in nearly 30 years, Mondale still cuts a large enough figure with seniors that his was the marquee name on the community center board for the Kelliher visit and he was announced first over the center's loudspeaker.
'Serve Our Seniors'
In the running battle for the over-65 vote, Dayton has offered up his running mate, Minnesota Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon of Duluth, for a "Serve Our Seniors" tour that has taken her to 40 senior centers since June. While Kelliher worked the Rainbow center, Prettner Solon visited senior housing elsewhere in Duluth.
As part of her proposal, Kelliher also took a shot at Dayton, who has promised to raise taxes on high-income Minnesotans -- including "snowbirds" who head south for the winter and those who own homes worth $1 million or more.
Kelliher, the Minnesota House speaker, has said she, too, would raise income taxes, but wouldn't dig as deep into the income pyramid. Raising taxes on snowbirds and owners of high-value property, she said, "would drive senior citizens out of the state of Minnesota." Kelliher said it was "unreasonable and irresponsible" to hit seniors with a new round of tax increases. In her tax proposal, seniors would have to be below certain income thresholds -- $100,000 for singles, $150,000 for couples -- to qualify for her property tax cap. The cap would only apply if property taxes rose faster than the rate of inflation.
The state House Property and Local Sales Tax Division chairman Paul Marquart said the Kelliher proposal would offer seniors, who have been smacked with increased property taxes in recent years, the stability they need to stay in their homes. But, he acknowledged, it could also drive cities and counties to rely more on younger homeowners when local governments run short on cash.
Jeremy Drucker, an Entenza spokesman, said Kelliher could have proposed a senior property tax cap during her last four years as speaker. State Republican Party officials on Monday pointed out that in 2008 Kelliher voted against property tax freeze amendments that would have provided some relief to low-income seniors.
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger • 651-292-0164
