Jeffers will challenge Pawlenty for GOP endorsement

04/27/2006

BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

Minneapolis bar owner Sue Jeffers today formally announced she will challenge Gov. Tim Pawlenty for the Republican Party endorsement for governor in June.

Jeffers, 49, a New Brighton resident who previously was endorsed by the Libertarian Party, said at a Capitol news conference that she will run against Pawlenty from the right. “I am the only fiscal conservative running in this race,” she said.

She supported Pawlenty when he ran in 2002 but said she became disillusioned with him when he and the Legislature increased state fees by $559 million and he proposed nearly a $1 billion bonding bill this year to finance state construction projects. She said her “tipping point” was Pawlenty’s support for a new Twins ballpark financed largely by a Hennepin County sales tax without approval by county voters. Although Pawlenty favors a referendum on the tax, he has said he would sign a stadium bill that doesn’t require voter approval.

In response, Pawlenty campaign spokesman Mike Krueger said, “I think most Minnesotans would find the idea that Tim Pawlenty is not a fiscal conservative to be laughable.”

Jeffers, the owner of Herb and Stub’s Restaurant near the University of Minnesota, is at best a very long shot for the Republican endorsement. Pawlenty is popular with GOP activists, and she starts the campaign with little money or support from party delegates.

In fact, the state Republican Party has refused to give her a list of delegates, and she said Ron Carey, the party chairman, told her she will not be permitted to address the state convention in June. That’s because she has registered with the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure board as a Libertarian, said GOP spokesman Mark Drake. “The Republican convention is open to Republicans; it is not a Libertarian Party convention.”

If Jeffers fails to win the Republican endorsement, she said she would consider running as a Libertarian.