Minnesota politics: IP spoiler in 1st CD?

by Leigh Pomeroy

According to the Mankato Free Press, "Stephen Williams, a vegetable farmer from Austin, has announced a write-in campaign for the seat." The Free Press says he has been endorsed by the Independence Party, but there is no indication of that as yet on its website. On Williams' campaign website he writes:

In the management of a prairie, fire is used to renew and reinvigorate the prairie. A fire will burn off the dead old growth and kill off the weeds that are choking the life out of the prairie. It is my opinion that there is a lot of old growth and weeds that need burning, in our government and in our major political parties. For example, the old growth of laws that are ineffective and just transfer problems to the future, and the weeds of special interest groups who buy political favors at the expense of the nation. In my campaign I will be proposing essential changes to our economic, tax, healthcare and welfare systems.

So far, the most prominent IPer in the 1st CD, Tim Penny, has remained mum on the race. Will he come out and endorse a candidate? It's anyone's guess.

A true independent in the district is Greg Mikkelson, a grain elevator operator from Lake Crystal. Mikkelson ran as the Green Party candidate in 2002, garnering 3.75%; as the IP candidate in 2004, winning 4.8%; and as a Republican challenging incumbent Gil Gutknecht in the GOP primary, earning 12.71%.

I have to confess. I know Greg fairly well and like him a lot. (Okay, I haven't told him this. So now it's public.) I saw quite a bit of him during the 2004 campaign as we would both inevitably show up to debates that the incumbent, Herr Gutknecht, boycotted, no doubt thinking that such events were beneath him to attend. (So much for the democratic exchange of ideas.)

Greg and I agreed on most issues: We opposed the war in Iraq. We believed in fiscal responsibility — that is, don't spend more than you take in. We thought that protecting the environment and promoting renewable energies was not only the correct moral decision but also the best fiscal policy as well.

Heck, I remember thinking: If by some outside chance I win, I would would want this guy in Washington with me. (Don't know if he thought the same thing.)

I like Greg because he's a true maverick. He's a small businessman but hardly a chamber of commerce lemming. Soft spoken, he simply and straightforwardly expresses his beliefs. He doesn't adjust them for his audience. He just says what he thinks and that's that.

And he's willing to put his own money into his electoral crusades, eschewing the major party methodology of shaking down donors with endless phone calls and personal meetings. He has easily spent in the tens of thousands of dollars of his own savings for his three campaign attempts.

Whether Greg will come out this election in support of a candidate — be that candidate Williams or Gutknecht or Walz — is something only he knows. One thing is for sure, however. His name is recognized throughout the independent minded 1st CD. And if he does publicly declare his support for a candidate, especially in the close election that the 1st CD is shaping up to be, his recommendation may very well tip the balance as to whom the next congressman from southern Minnesota will be.