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It's DFL right vs. left in Northeast Minnesota
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
September 10, 2004

Remote forest highways are speckled with blue campaign signs for Bill Hansen or David Dill. This sign is on a lonely stretch of Highway 2, several miles north of Two Harbors. (MPR Photo/Bob Kelleher)

A Northeast Minnesota legislator is looking over his shoulder - in a race that might be decided in Tuesday's DFL primary. Incumbent State Representative David Dill is facing a challenge from Bill Hansen. While both are Democrats from a fiercely Democratic part of the state, they both stress they're very different candidates.

	Bill Hansen

Duluth, Minn. — Bill Hansen is door knocking in a rural Duluth neighborhood, looking for primary voters.

He idles a weathered black pickup into another long, rural driveway, and fends off a friendly pack of dogs to make his pitch to another potential voter.

Hansen has a lot of doors to knock on. District 6-A is, geographically, the largest in Minnesota. It includes all of Cook and Lake Counties, and part of eastern St. Louis. It's bigger than some states.

Two years ago Hansen lost to David Dill in the primary. This time, Dill has the support of fellow area legislators, but Hansen has the district's DFL endorsement. Each claims a smattering of labor support.

Bill Hansen is a wilderness canoe outfitter near Tofte, on Lake Superior's North Shore. For Hansen it's jobs first.

"And supporting that, I think is strengthening public education," Hansen says. "The state is definitely going the wrong way on education and on education funding. And there's no question in my mind that strong public education supports good jobs and good wages ultimately."

And Hansen says it's time to do something about health care - to make it more accessible, and make it available to all Minnesotans.

	David Dill

David Dill is a former charter pilot out of Crane Lake and City Administrator of Orr, just outside Voyageurs National Park. He's running on his record as a first term legislator in the Minnesota House.

"We stayed focused on our mission," Dill says. "Which is jobs and opportunity, caring for children, for seniors and for disabled, and on recreation of all sorts - both motorized and non-motorized recreation."

Each claims to be a centrist on environmental issues and motorized recreation - flash point topics in this forested district. But their respective viewpoints are as different as left and right.

On the one hand, let's say the right hand, David Dill is a vocal opponent of some environmental groups, which he blames for delaying timber sales in the Superior National Forest.

On the other hand, the left hand, Bill Hansen is a charter member of the pro-environmental group Northeast Minnesotans for Wilderness. The group supports expanding wilderness near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Dill is an unabashed motor enthusiast. But Dill says he supports responsible ATV and snowmobile use. Dill co-authored legislation to classify Minnesota forests for potential ATV trails, or for protection from ATV use. Dill says his public image isn't based on his record.

"So, I really feel when I'm criticized, and I am criticized by a small group, here in Duluth particularly, about being, you know, strictly about motors," says Dill. "I actually authored more legislation for non-motorized trails than I did for motorized. We need to find some commonality there, so that we can all live together. And we can do it."

Bill Hansen has to remind voters that he too enjoys motoring in the woods. He supports dedicated ATV trails.

"You know, we've done it before with the snowmobile trails," Hansen says. "We can build ATV trails that are environmentally responsible, give local people a place to ride, and solve that problem. And then what we really should be concentrating on what are the serious issues, which are jobs and wages, education and health care."

There's little love lost between the two. Hansen says he'll support Dill if Dill wins Tuesday's primary. Dill says he can't support Hanson, regardless.

"My competitor, my formerly defeated opponent, is very entrenched in the politics of the DFL party," Dill says. "In fact, the left part of the DFL party. I am however, involved in the center, like the center of the aisle, and try to find commonality between people."

But Bill Hansen puts David Dill beyond the right wing of the DFL party - closer to the opposition party's.

"I am challenging David Dill based on his record," Hansen says. "I think he's shown, through his voting record, that he has a pretty republican cant to his philosophy. And I don't think he's indicative of the, really - I don't think he's representing the constituent's true concerns which are education and health care."

Voters might consider David Dill's brush with campaign spending law. He agreed to repay more than $6,000 for campaign over-spending in the last election. Dill says the spending was inadvertent.

However, Tuesday's vote might tell more about the district than the candidates. Traditional blue collar, union families, might be losing ground to higher income retirees -especially in towns like Grand Marais and Ely.

What's likely is that Tuesday's vote will predict November's final outcome. There is a Republican on the ballot - Marty Breaker of Ely. But this district tends to swing somewhere between the right and left wings of the DFL party.

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