Matt Entenza: The MinnesotaBrown interview

Last week my series of interviews with 2010 candidates for Minnesota Governor continued as I met with former State Rep. and progressive policy advocate Matt Entenza. Previous interviews have included Mark Dayton, Paul Thissen and Tom Bakk. I hope to eventually speak with all or most candidates, depending on scheduling availability. I spoke to Entenza Wednesday, April 29, at Hibbing Community College during his first Iron Range tour since announcing his campaign.

Our conversation focused on clean energy, higher education, economic development and transportation policy.

The Interview

“I know every corner of the state because I’ve been there,” Entenza said.

There are two dominant messages Entenza is taking with him on his campaign’s debut tour. One, he says he can offer a credible vision to a statewide audience. He traveled the state for his former jobs as House Minority Leader (offering that he helped recruit the class of candidates that took the majority in 2006) and as the leader of Minnesota 2020, a think tank he founded that has provided unique and invaluable research on many statewide issues. Two, he says he’s the candidate with a real plan to turn clean energy jobs into a revitalization of Minnesota’s economy, especially in northern Minnesota.

“The person who will win will be the one that expresses a winning vision,” said Entenza “… Democrats haven’t run a campaign that spoke to greater Minnesota in a generation.”

Entenza, like most candidates talking to an Iron Ranger, invoked former Gov. Rudy Perpich. He connected the Range’s most current economic problem — a downturn in local mining — to the region’s most pressing longterm challenge.

“Taconite will come back but will be increasingly mechanized. Just look at the job losses in recent decades,” said Entenza. He compared the region’s economic woes to that of the farm country where he’s from. “You have to replace those jobs or towns shrink.”

He criticized Gov. Pawlenty’s JOB-Z program, saying that it didn’t work and represented a “Trojan Horse” for rural Minnesota, doing as much or more harm than good. Instead, Entenza said Minnesota needs to pursue new 21st century industries to revitalize the entire state.

“Wind, sun, biomass, these are the new clean energy economy,” said Entenza. “We’re not building turbines. We’re not building solar panels. We should be. Corn based ethanol has been a boon for (farming areas). We could do the same for northern Minnesota with wood-based fuels.”

Entenza puts the monetary value of biomass fuels at a $1 billion share of the state’s economy. I asked how this focus could help the core cities of the Iron Range that are less related to the wood products industry.

“The clean energy economy is about this whole area,” said Entenza. “It’s about thousands of new jobs on the Iron Range. We should be building turbines and solar collectors on the Range. The private sector will place it somewhere. It should be us. And the Range is well positioned because there’s good transportation infrastructure, decent rail and a workforce that understands manufacturing.”

“One distinction between me and the other candidates is that this is what I talk about all the time,” said Entenza. “Some state will become the next Silicon Valley of clean energy and it should be us.”

Entenza said the key to the Range’s economy and a priority of his is to encourage small business growth.

“We have to diversify the economy of the Range,” he said. “We have to work to expand broadband because the Internet is the new Main Street. We export our kids, but people do want to live here and we can make that happen.”

Entenza founded the think tank Minnesota 2020 (and has since left it to pursue this campaign), which has done research and analysis on several Minnesota governance issues, including the JOB-Z tax program, Local Government Aid, education funding and more. Our conversation also touched on higher education’s relationship with economic development and the increasing financial pressure on schools.

So close to the hometown of Congressman Jim Oberstar, the U.S. House Transportation Committee chair, Entenza lamented the fact that the Minnesota Department of Transportation was going to miss out on federal road money because it’s unable to match 80/20 matching grants (the state being responsible for the 20 percent).

“The big impediments for a lot of economic development is distance from markets and recruiting for labor,” said Entenza. You can overcome this with improved transportation corridors” including roads, light and heavy rail, he said.

I concluded the interview with the elephant in the room, In 2006, Entenza withdrew from the Attorney General race shortly after receiving the DFL endorsement. At issue was a dispute over Entenza’s collection of political research about several people, including then gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch. Additional criticism of his wife’s leadership position with the UnitedHealth group has dogged Entenza as well.

“In 2006, the reality was that I had a choice,” said Entenza. “Was it in the best interest of the party to have a conflict between two people at the top of the ticket?”

Entenza said he didn’t want to jeopardize the party’s chances before the issue could be better understood, especially with the opportunity to take back the House of Representatives.

Does this constitute political baggage?

“At the end of the day baggage is doing some bad thing,” said Entenza. “Like most candidates I did political research. I never used that political research. If I had stayed in it would have been a distraction.”

Entenza, who plans to entering the DFL primary with or without the endorsement, believes he can be the one to deliver victory to the DFL after five straight losses in the governor’s race.

“You can’t be a regional candidate,” he said. “DFL primary voters will react to vision more than anything else.”

You can read more about Entenza’s campaign at his website. His bio is here.

UPDATE: It bears mentioning that over the weekend, since I wrote this, that U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison endorsed Entenza and joined him for a campaign event on Sunday. This is the first “big” endorsement of the 2010 cycle. It’s made more significant by the large number of Minneapolis candidates that might be undercut by Ellison’s backing of Entenza.

My Analysis

Matt Entenza presents a curious challenge for DFLers at this very early point in the campaign. Articulate, experienced and with easy access to a large amount of funding, he has all the makings of a true contender. On the other hand few in the political class can go long without mentioning the 2006 trouble or other dust ups Entenza has had in his political career.

After several cycles of backing flawed candidates, many DFLers are looking for a perfect choice: someone well-funded, likable, competent, experienced, without any negatives and able to close the gaps between the warring factions within the party. Well, there is unlikely to be such a perfect choice and unless one arrives, Entenza is justifiably making his claim that he can unite the party and deliver it to a hard-fought victory.

Talking to Entenza was an interesting experience. I’ve talked to many politicians as a reporter, political worker and, now, blogger. Most politicians try to separate the practice of politics from their so-called “narrative.” In doing so, we often end up with what’s called “the typical politician” — someone who’s always spinning, smiling and looking over the crowd for a more important baby to kiss. Entenza is not exactly a typical politician, because in a way he seems to fully embrace the realities of what a modern political candidate has to do logistically to win high office. He doesn’t pretend he’s not a politician. I find that refreshing, but I’m not a typical voter. Typical voters might understandably pin him as an uber-politician. Entenza’s big challenge will be in taking his in-the-room expertise and applying it to a statewide race involving people who value soft skills along with a hard nose on their governor.

On substance, Entenza is doubling down on his clean energy agenda. His website and logo colors are green. The concept dominates his press materials and, obviously, public interviews and speeches. Entenza is trying to unite the state behind this one cause, demonstrating how the combination of clean energy and economic development can benefit all parts of this geographically diverse state. He says that’s a winning strategy and I see merit in it. Entenza said he won’t concede any region, including the Iron Range, when he’s campaigning next year.

On the matter of the 2006 “baggage,” I thought Entenza was direct but lawyerly in his response. He didn’t offer up any more explanation than the direct questions I asked. This remains my biggest concern about Entenza’s candidacy. I’ve received half a dozen anonymous “tips” and angry questions about Entenza since I announced this interview. Clearly, the guy has made a few enemies along the way. Now, that’s not bad in and of itself. You’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. But Entenza, it would seem, has made a really big omelet. That’s great if you like omelets but … OK, no more egg metaphors.

The real test for Entenza will occur again and again in small rooms, cafes and along parade routes. Will people see him as more than a politician? Will they see him as the “happy warrior” type of political leader that this state tends to prefer. I don’t know. Entenza’s name recognition is higher than most current candidates but I think most voters or even DFL activists have yet to render judgement.

Entenza is currently running the most aggressive and focused campaign. He can self-fund if necessary, just like Dayton, and seems like he’s ready for a political fight. I’m not in the business of ranking candidates at this early stage but Entenza will be sitting at the big people table when all the candidates are in. The question is how primary voters will see him. On that, I (along with everyone else) have no precise idea.

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    What’s your interpretation of Ellison’s motivation for endorsing so early when there’s still an auditorium full of declared/potential candidates? If Entenza’s candidacy fizzles, or new baggage shows up on the campaign carousel, doesn’t it hurt Ellison more than it could help Entenza? (Note-I am not discounting the possibility that Ellison just honestly believes Entenza would be best for MN)

  2. Great question. I think that Ellison is a great early get for Entenza. Like I said, it ought to rattle the cages of all the MPLS candidates. It also gives him a lifeline to some of the progressives, who have thus far been the most hostile to Entenza. But — oh brother — do we have a long way to go.

  3. I am a progressive and I am not hostile, hmmmm. Can you better characterize the angry comments? I am not getting why political research was so offensive? Do we have some reason to believe that Republicans won’t find something and present it just two weeks before the election. Why not have political research information come up in the primary instead, then it is either over or it is old news?

  4. OK, reluctant? Skeptical?

    Anyway, this has the makings of a scorched earth primary (That’s not exclusively Entenza’s fault). The verbiage is going to get a good deal more charged (hostile?) before this is done. I meant no insult.

  5. Anonymous says

    Why didn’t you ask Entenza about the mass firings of House staffers he administered when he became House Minority Leader so he could hire his sycophants in their place?

  6. I don’t know what you’re talking about, that’s why. I’m not saying it’s not a legitimate question, but in a 45 minute broad ranging interview I’m not going to play gotcha on something I know nothing about.

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