Kevin Staunton

Contact:           Jennifer Hovelsrud

Phone:              612-518-8159

Email:              jen.hovelsrud@stauntonforhouse.org

Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Democrats Endorse Kevin Staunton for 2010 Minnesota State House of Representatives
Staunton is Democrats’ Clear Choice for November Election

Edina, Minn., March 6, 2010 – Today, Democrats in 41(A) overwhelmingly endorsed Kevin Staunton as their candidate to run for the Minnesota House of Representatives at the District Convention.  Staunton received 81 percent of delegate votes in his district amidst a challenge from former Republican and Independent candidate, Ron Erhardt.

“Kevin understands Minnesota’s difficult fiscal crisis and community needs.  He will provide the collaborative leadership that our district deserves and the Minnesota State House of Representatives needs,” said DFL 41(A) Endorsement Committee Co-Chair and DFL Central Committee Member, Dianne Thomas.

“I am honored to be the Democratic candidate and I look forward to restoring responsible, moderate representation for Edina at the state house,” said Staunton.  “We are at a crossroads on a national, state and community level.  We need a change.”   

Staunton’s Focus

Staunton will work to restore Minnesota’s longstanding leadership in education, economic development, healthcare, energy and the environment. 

“While I’m optimistic about our future, I’m greatly concerned that we are creating high-cost problems for the future.  Our current representative [Republican Keith Downey] is approaching financial challenges by being penny wise and pound foolish,” said Staunton. “This is a serious situation. There is not a single state education system that has been allowed to fail in the past that has rebounded–regardless of resources. We cannot attract new business and emerge as the leader Minnesota once was by allowing this and other valuable infrastructure to deteriorate,” offered Staunton.

Staunton advises a multifaceted approach to the funding of solutions to keep state infrastructure strong.  “We know it is impossible to solve the state budget crisis with cuts or revenue increases alone.  We need to quit playing shell games and make the hard decisions around priorities and our best return on investment.”

Democrats also endorsed Steve Elkins (41) for the Minnesota Senate and MN State House incumbent Paul Rosenthal 41(B) at the Convention.  All candidates take their contest to the voters in November of this year.

About Kevin Staunton
Kevin and his family have been a part of the Edina community for more than 11 years.  He has lived in Minnesota since the age of 17 when he moved here to attend the University of Minnesota.  He and his wife, Maria Christu, have three boys attending the Edina Public Schools.  Kevin has worked with state and local government for more than 20 years, serving as a Special Assistant Attorney General, a City Attorney, and a private lawyer representing individuals and businesses working with government. He is vice chairman of the Edina Planning Commission, sits on the Edina Public Schools Innovation Team and has served as a youth sports coach, Cub Scout leader and PTA president.

Additional Information:

Website–http://stauntonforhouse.org/

Photos–http://www.flickr.com/photos/43061224@N08/?saved=1 

Facebook– www.facebook.com/kevinstaunton41A

.

###

Sun-Current:  1/28/10

Why I’m Running

In 2008, I was privileged to be a candidate to represent Edina in the Minnesota House of Representatives.  Although I did not prevail in a close three-way race, I thank those of you who worked hard on my behalf and took time to share your views with me throughout the campaign.

As our paths crossed over the past year, many of you encouraged me to run again saying we need a moderate, reasonable voice in the state legislature.  In response to your encouragement, I’ve decided to run for the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2010.

My focus is on how we can keep Edina and Minnesota great.  The key, as always, is maintaining and leveraging the competitive advantages we enjoy by having a healthy, well-educated population and livable communities.  These competitive advantages create jobs by supporting our existing businesses and fostering the kind of innovation that creates the businesses (and jobs) of the future.  To do this we need to build and maintain those things that make our communities endure – education, transportation infrastructure, a clean environment, and a sound healthcare system.

As we work to fund these priorities, it is critical we do so in a fiscally-responsible way.  First and foremost, that means we must insist on value by ensuring the priorities we fund provide a return on our investment.  Once we’ve decided it’s worth investing in a priority, we must be:

• honest about what it will cost and how we’re going to pay for it;
• transparent about how we expend our resources so we can see funds are going to the priorities we value and achieving our goals; and
• fair about how we share the cost of our investments.

People in our community and state are willing to pay for the things we value, but want to know our money will actually be used to fund the things we value and spent wisely to ensure a return on our investment.

Although these times are challenging, I am optimistic that together we can build a future that will make our children and grandchildren proud.  I look forward to talking with you about the future of our great city and state in the coming months.

Sincerely,

Information on precincts and voting: http:www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/elections/voter-precinctfinder-help.asp, or http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/

The MN House of Representatives: www.house.leg.state.mn.us/

SD41 Democrats: www.sd41democrats.org

SD41 Precinct Map http://www.sd41democrats.org/about.htm

• Downey’s Nov. 10 op-ed op-ed

• Charlie Quimby’s response, senior fellow, Growth & Justice, Nov. 13, 2009 (scroll to “spending restrictions”)

Kevin’s response:

We need a more moderate voice

Many of you may have been wondering what kind of legislator Keith Downey will be.  In an  op-ed article criticizing the House Jobs Task Force in last week’s Star Tribune he demonstrated that his work will be guided by ideological inflexibility and an inability to work with others. This should be alarming to people in our community who want a moderate representative who can work with people across the political spectrum to craft practical solutions to the serious problems facing our state.

Representative Downey’s ideological obsession with “government interference” limits the options available for finding long-term solutions. While he correctly recognizes a talented workforce, educational excellence, and quality of life fuel our prosperity and are key elements of our long-term success, he has no prescription for preserving these key elements.  Instead of doing the “hard work” of prioritizing, he clings to the ideological belief that maintaining our vitality in the long-term requires no more than tax “reform” and reduced government interference.

This one-size-fits-all thinking also inhibits creative thinking in the short term. Despite record unemployment in our state, Representative Downey advocates we do nothing to address the real pain being experienced by thousands of unemployed Minnesotans today. The very stimulus bonding idea he rejects, for instance, could create jobs in a construction industry hit hard by the recession. Bonding for such work allows us to create those jobs now by taking advantage of historically-low interest rates to pay for renewing infrastructure so critical to our future.

I am perhaps most disappointed at Representative Downey’s inability to work with others to find solutions to the problems we face. Just two meetings into his service on the Jobs Task Force, he abandoned efforts to work from the inside, choosing instead to preserve his ideological purity by criticizing from the outside.  I understand he may have very real disagreements with other members of the Task Force; such disagreements are an expected and vital part of the democratic process.  But that process is only successful when people who disagree with each other work together to find solutions to benefit all of us.

We need a moderate legislator who can work with people from across the political spectrum to find practical solutions to the challenges we face.  I hope you’ll help me become that legislator as we work to keep Edina and Minnesota great today and in the future.

Find out what supporters have said about Kevin in letters to the editor:

Edina Sun-Current 1/10

• Steven Rothberg

Edina Sun-Current 10/09

• Loren Hooyman

Edina Sun-Current 11/09

• Bill Layton

Photos from October, 2009 campaign kickoff event:

Photos