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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

Event triggers campaign food fight in governor’s race

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Two Republican candidates for governor are criticizing the DFL incumbent, for different reasons, over his appearance today at a suburban school.

Gov. Mark Dayton and several DFL lawmakers served breakfast to students at Morris Bye Elementary School in Coon Rapids. They were highlighting legislation enacted earlier this year to provide $4 million for school lunch and breakfast programs throughout the state.

But former Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers, who is one of four GOP candidates for governor running in the Aug. 12 primary, described the appearance as “political pandering.” Zellers said Dayton should have addressed the school lunch funding issue back in 2013 when Republicans first raised it.

“Now that it’s a political year, now that it’s politically uncomfortable for him –which is a pattern – he decides he’s not only going to fund the program but go out and talk about,” Zellers said. “He had every opportunity to fix this last year.”

Businessman Scott Honour, another GOP candidate, used the school breakfast event to blast Dayton on teacher accountability. Honour said the elimination of a basic skills test for teachers will hurt students.

“The point is, he’s out there saying he’s an advocate for students, and I’m saying that he’s not,” Honour said.

Honour and Zellers discussed their pandering allegations with reporters ahead of a groundbreaking ceremony for the Military Family Tribute at the state Capitol. The governor was a speaker at the event.

Afterwards, Dayton dismissed the GOP criticism as “tacky and desperate.” He also said he expects to hear more of the same in the months ahead.

“Anything I do for the next five months will be questioned by somebody,” Dayton said. “Of course if I did nothing, that would be questioned too. So, it just comes with the territory.”