The Winona Daily News wrote a pretty powerful editorial over the weekend about Tom Emmer’s decision to skip a gubernatorial debate sponsored by the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.

Some of the highlights:

Instead of learning about where the GOP candidate stands on the
issues, we probably learned everything we needed to know from Tom
Emmer’s silence.

Emmer snubbed rural Minnesota by not showing up for the debate.
Instead, he made time for a private trucking coalition
fundraiser.

His actions, in this case, speak louder than any of his words, even
his off-base words about tipping.

[…] it’s insulting to believe that Emmer couldn’t spend the gas
money to get to Winona and talk about issues that matter to Greater
Minnesota.

Time may indeed be money during the campaign season, but the debate
wasn’t that long.

[…]  Emmer appears to be beholden to whatever business seems to be
doling out cash at the moment.

By snubbing the debate, Emmer not only snubbed rural Minnesota but
also sent a powerful message: Raising funds is much more important
than raising awareness.

It’s good to know the priorities of Emmer because it’s easy to
assume they’ll translate to the state’s priorities if he’s elected
governor.

And it appears that attention, in the Emmer world of politics, goes
to those willing to pay.

On the positive side, many leaders from Greater Minnesota got the
opportunity to see Emmer’s commitment, or lack thereof.

Next time Emmer comes rolling through town, we’ll assume it’s
because he doesn’t have some other money-making opportunity
available.

And if he lands in the governor’s mansion, we’ll just trust he
cares about Greater Minnesota.

Until the next fundraiser or lobbyist with a checkbook comes
along.

You have to wonder about a guy who wants to be governor but doesn’t
want people to know where he stands – or is too busy to say.

We’ve posted in the past about Tom Emmer’s not-so-great record on the issues that matter to Greater Minnesota, so you’d think he might try to use the CGMC debate as an opportunity to reverse/backtrack/flip-flop on some of the issues (the way he used Game Fair to play politics with the Legacy Amendment).

But the Winona Daily News hit the nail on the head: in Tom Emmer’s Minnesota, corporate special interests always come before working Minnesota families.

Tom Emmer stood with Tim Pawlenty in opposing a plan to make wealthy CEOs and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes, while supporting budget cuts to education, health care, and job training programs.

As the Winona Daily News pointed out, Tom Emmer is basically asking Minnesotans to “trust” that he’ll be on their side if he gets into the Governor’s mansion.  But actions speak louder than words — and Tom Emmer’s record of supporting corporate interests before all else makes Tom Emmer’s Minnesota a very scary place for everyday Minnesotans.