MPR: The Republican Brain Drain

The Republican Brain Drain
by Michael Khoo
January 18, 2000

State Auditor Judi Dutcher has announced she will leave the Republican Party for the DFL. Dutcher's move marks the second defection by a high-ranking Republican in less than a week.

State Auditor Judi Dutcher

Elected: 1994, 1998

Education: University of Minnesota (B.A., political science and English, 1984); University of Minnesota Law School (J.D., 1987)

Personal: Born 11/27/72, Married (Edwin), two children (Grant, Ryan)

DUTCHER WAS FIRST elected state auditor in 1994, after being recruited by then-governor Arne Carlson. The office oversees the financial integrity of local units of government. And like her former political patron, Dutcher often found herself at odds with party activists over her support for abortion rights and other social issues. She says the Republicans had shifted too far to the extreme right and she no longer felt welcome in their ranks.

Dutcher: I don't expect that I'm going to agree with every position held by every member of any party; that's impossible. As I've stated, I've tried to be a voice of reason, but I think, ultimately, when you become a cry in the wilderness, you have to make a change and that's what this change is about. It's a very personal one for me.

Dutcher's decision comes less than a week after State Senator Dean Johnson of Willmar made a similar switch. Johnson had been feuding with Republican leadership for years and many Republicans say his reversal did not come as a surprise. But House Speaker Steve Sviggum says he couldn't quite grasp Dutcher's explanation for her decision. In what sense, he asked, was the Republican agenda extremist?

Sviggum: Are tax cuts for working families, not mainstream? Are better schools and reducing class size for kids not mainstream? Are fighting for families, keeping them safe, gang strike task forces not mainstream? What on our agenda does Ms. Dutcher say is not mainstream? Is not her? I don't understand what that may be.

Furthermore, Sviggum notes that Republican delegates gave Dutcher a unanimous endorsement in the 1998 election cycle. But Dutcher says her dissatisfaction runs deeper than endorsements or individual policy planks.

Dutcher: It's bigger than that. It's not the support at the convention, it's the fact that as the ranking Republican in the state of Minnesota, you would think that I would have an active role in shaping policy and leading discussion; but, in fact, I was excluded from those discussions.

Sviggum contends U.S. Senator Rod Grams is the ranking Republican, not Dutcher. And he wondered aloud if Dutcher's decision wasn't motivated by political ambition. Dutcher says she is not interested in seeking higher office at the moment. She also says she won't run for another term as state auditor. But she doesn't rule out a run for higher office and many political observers expect to hear her name often as a potential candidate.

"Is the Reform Party anything more than Jesse Ventura?"

- Dan Cramer
Political Consultant

Public affairs consultant Dan Cramer, who has been a strategist for several DFL campaigns, says it's not just the Republicans who are hurt by Dutcher's defection. Cramer says with elected officials like Dutcher and Johnson swapping parties, it's important to ask why the Reform Party isn't making headway.

Cramer: You have two candidates who very much, in some respects, mirror the politics of the governor, where they're fiscally conservative, yet more moderate or progressive on social issues; yet they've chosen not to join the Reform Party but come to the DFL Party. So, I think it's bad news for both the Republican Party and the Reform Party and begs again the question of, "Is the Reform Party anything more than Jesse Ventura?"

The Reform Party had made overtures to Dutcher before her switch to the DFL. Reformers have also attempted to recruit former Congressman Tim Penny. Penny has been exploring a Senate bid, and says if he does enter the race it will be under the DFL banner.

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