Better Know A Challenger: Mike Obermuller 38B (part two)

Mike Obermueller is making a second run for the Minnesota House in district 38B, which covers Burnsville and Eagan. In 2006, he lost the seat by just more than 100 votes as a first time candidate, which makes his seat the third most competitive potential pick-up among democratic candidates.

MN Blue has previously covered this race here but Mike is such an outstanding, no nonsense progressive candidate that I just can’t resist revisiting his campaign, particularly in light of his recent interview with Access to Democracy. The issues that matter to him most are the ones that matter to all of us. Education, healthcare, and tax fairness top the list. He is one of two current Take Action MN endorsees (though hopefully we’ll have some more later today), and has been endorsed by Operating Engineers Local 49 and the AFL-CIO of Minnesota.

The incumbent, a stooge of the district’s most notorious resident, has repeatedly voted to cut or eliminate increases to education funding and to cut local government aid, resulting in three substantial property tax increases for the district in the past three years while the cost of extracurricular activities have skyrocketed ($400 to play football, $50 for French Club?!?).

Mike has the right solution to this problem. “We don’t need to fund education through property taxes…it's time for consistent state support for education so we can end the costly cycle of property tax increases to fund our schools.” He is quick to point out that the answer isn’t necessarily more funding but rather more consistent funding, so that school administrators know what to expect.

Mike also knows that the status quo in healthcare isn’t working and has some great ideas about what to do. In an interview with “Access to Democracy,” he indicates he would support a single-payer system, but also proposes the novel idea of a statewide four-payer system. The advantage of this four-payer system (over a single-payer model) should be clear to anyone who works at Eagan-based BCBS.

His plan would require the supposedly not-for-profit insurers in our state to cover everyone (they already cover 75%), eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions, and to submit to executive compensation oversight so that they can live up to their “not-for-profit” moniker. In addition, he talks about creating efficiencies through electronic records and the creation of a commission that would help medical practitioners coordinate their capital expenditures on technology, therefore reducing expensive redundancies such as multiple MRI machines across the street from one another.

On tax policy, Obermueller is a tough talker. While he agrees that our state needed the Gas tax increase in order to restore our roads and bridges, before doing so, he pointed out that the Gas tax is regressive. He talks about the disastrous effect property tax increases have had on older voters, in some cases forcing those on fixed incomes to lose their homes. He talks about the elimination of the renters credit and how the governor and incumbent are all too happy to raise taxes on those who can least afford it. Finally, he openly advocates re-establishing the top income tax bracket to distribute the state’s tax burden more fairly and to allow for more consistent funding.

Mike has been out knocking on doors and talking to constituents. Allen Miller, host of the above mentioned “Access to Democracy” points out that the incumbent only appears in the district during the last two months before an election. Obermueller, on the other hand, has talked to “thousands” of district residents already this spring.

If the DFL hopes to get anything progressive done during the last years of Pawlenty’s administration, we need to pick up this seat. Mike is an excellent candidate and highly deserving of your support. Please visit his website and do what you can to help.