Star Tribune Endorses Mick McGuire (HD25A)

We would like to congratulate Mick McGuire for receiving the Star Tribune's endorsement:

25A: Mick McGuire

Montgomery Mayor Mick McGuire's DFL candidacy gives voters in southwest-exurban District 25A the chance to send a pragmatic problem-solver to St. Paul. It's a chance they ought to seize as they replace GOP state Rep. Laura Brod.

McGuire, 58, has spent 18 years in nonpartisan city government, 10 of them as mayor, and 23 years as owner of a landscape contracting business. Those experiences have prepared him well for legislative service. They've instilled in him a deep understanding of what makes communities thrive, including a good sense of how government contributes to private-sector success.

His Republican opponent, Glenn Gruenhagen, declined our interview invitations. Gruenhagen, 58, is a Glencoe Silver Lake school board member whose campaign website prominently features his opposition to abortion, gay marriage and illegal immigration. Those are tangential matters at a time when state revenues are projected to fall nearly 20 percent short of scheduled spending in the next biennium.

As mayor, McGuire knows first-hand how to creatively cut spending to preserve basic services. He also knows that for cities like his, core services are now unavoidably on the chopping block if state aid cuts continue. State government could use that kind of knowledge.

( Full Story Star Tribune 10/26/10 )

McGuire Responds (Le Sueur News-Herald)

McGuire responds to letter in last week's News-Herald

I am responding to a submission in your last issue by David Anderson of Lonsdale with a clarification regarding some of the information he provided in his letter.  

While it is true that I respectfully declined to submit the MCCL endorsement questionnaire, I would add that I also did the same with the NARAL endorsement questionnaire. 

For the benefit of your readers, I would like to describe the nature of these questionnaires.  In both cases, candidates are asked to answer a series of questions with only a “yes” or “no” response.  In fact, the questionnaire instructions specifically forbid candidates from offering any kind of explanation or reasoning in their response to questions involving extremely complex issues.  This format prevents them from offering any meaningful information about their stance on these issues.  In both cases, the organizations are using these questionnaires as nothing more than litmus tests.

Complex issues require more thoughtful and nuanced answers than a simple “yes” or “no” response.  Mr. Anderson may call this “smoke and mirrors,” but I believe that most people don’t see the world simply in black or white.  As a candidate who seeks to represent House District 25A – in all its diversity—I believe it would be a disservice to see just the black or the white, without consideration of the many shades of gray in between. 

I for one believe that there are too many polarizing influences in our current politics.  This is one of the reasons I have chosen to run for the State House of Representatives.  I do not come to this campaign, as some do, with a strong ideological agenda.  Instead, I promise two things:  to listen and to do my best to serve my constituents.      



Mick McGuire

Mayor of Montgomery

Candidate for House District 25A

Source:  Le Sueur News-Herald Thursday, August 19, 2010