John Benson: pro business, or not so much?

With a little over two weeks until the statewide precinct caucus day on Tuesday, February 2, Republican Brian Grogan has already resumed his campaign to unseat second-term DFL incumbent John Benson from his state House seat in district 43B. Grogan first ran against Benson in 2008, falling short by 11% of the votes in that race. Benson is nevertheless a worthy candidate: well-informed, well-spoken, very hard working, accessible.

Can Grogan pull together the key elements of messenger, message, and money to unseat Benson this November? Grogan has been honing the second piece of that puzzle in the "offseason," and fired his first shot in this week's Lakeshore Weekly News:

Rep. John Benson recently expressed in this paper his desire to create a more favorable climate for small businesses and responsible strategies to lower unemployment.

I appreciate this position but his voting record stands in stark contrast to his words. The Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota's largest, small business advocacy group rated Benson in 2009 (www.minnesotaprosperity.org) on 13 legislative, pro-business priorities. He agreed with only 4 of the 13 positions and has consistently scored low on the Chamber's annual scorecard. In addition, he opposed the expansion of the JOBZ program and the Minnesota Taxpayer's League has consistently scored Benson low.

Since elected in 2007, Benson has consistently voted for increasing taxes and spending and opposed job creation legislation. It would be nice to know what Benson means by favorable business climate and responsible strategies to lower unemployment because his voting record doesn't support job creation.

More evidence of Grogan's offseason due diligence (i.e., opposition research) can be seen on his web site, where he has a comprehensive listing of the lowlights of Benson's voting record on taxes and spending, health care, business, education, and more. I'll be highlighting that record and Grogan's agenda here throughout the campaign season.