Mark Dayton, Ravitch Honor Roll Member, Hits 57% Approval

Diane Ravitch on May 27:

Governor Mark Dayton vetoed an earmark (set-aside) of $1.5 million for Teach for America. The governor quite reasonably noted that TFA is a wealthy organization with $350 million in assets and saw no reason the state should pay to rent more of them. He suggested a competitive bidding process. Here is his veto message.

For his recognition that Minnesota needs a cadre of highly professional, experienced teachers, for his willingness to stand up to the fawning media hype about TFA, Mark Dayton joins the honor roll as a champion of American education.

Click here for the post , the veto message link, and the comments via Gov. Dayton Joins the Honor Roll | Diane Ravitch’s blog.

Today from the Star-Tribune:

Gov. Mark Dayton has the highest approval ratings since taking office, with more than half of Minnesotans saying they like the job he is doing, according to a new Minnesota Poll.


The poll shows that 57 percent of Minnesota adults give the DFLer high marks for his performance as governor, and in Hennepin and Ramsey counties that figure soars to 72 percent.


Dayton, who was in Düsseldorf, Germany, on a trade mission, said he was encouraged by the results.

“It shows that people understand that we did what we had to do to restore fiscal balance to the state and we’re on the right track,” he said. Still, he said he is not expecting an easy re-election campaign next year.


The uptick in job approval, led by a turnaround in the opinions of independent voters and an increase in approval among Republicans, follows a legislative session in which Dayton enacted sweeping changes. He pushed for — and got — a $2.1 billion tax increase mostly on the wealthy and on smokers; made Minnesota the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage; granted state aid for expansions of the Mayo Clinic, 3M and Mall of America; and funded free, all-day kindergarten across the state.

Dayton raised taxes on the wealthiest 2% in the state in order to maintain state services.

I like that kind of thinking.

It's a shame Governor 1% in NY State doesn't think that way.

And then there was the veto of the TFA earmark.

You know Governor 1% in NY State would never do anything like that.