MINNESOTA
      Candidate for Governor...withdrew Jan. 25, 2018

Matt Dean (R)
Brochure - 8 1/2" x 11"
 
An End to the Liberal Elite

Making Government Work for Minnesotans

In a rousing campaign kickoff, gubernatorial candidate Matt Dean implores Republicans to run on conservative solutions, not away from them

Nearly 300 supporters and friends-in­cluding 16 legislators-showed up on July 11 at the former Dean's Tavern on north Rice Street in Maplewood to help Matt Dean formally kick off his campaign to be Minnesota's next governor. Combining his trademark wit with the occasional flourish of a political stemwinder, Dean described how his proud blue collar background formed his conservative beliefs and shaped his vision for Minnesota.

Dean was born in Ely. His dad, Jim, had been drawn north by a booming Iron Range economy, but returned to Rice Street to help Matt's grandfather operate

The invigorated audience lingered at the Tavern for two hours after Dean concluded his speech. A whopping 70 activists registered to volunteer for his campaign.
 
the Rice Street tavern that was founded by his great grandfather in the 1870s. Matt lived in a house located on the north edge of the parking lot. He attended McCarrons Lake Elementary School, about a block west of the tavern. One of his kindergarten classmates was his future wife, Laura.

Rice Street sensibilities at the time made an enduring impression on young Dean. One lesson was humility. "You learned that if you think you're better than someone else, that someone will have a brother or a friend or a mom or a little sister who will publicly and unmercifully teach you about Rice Street."

He also learned about the sometimes-hu­morous practicalities of running a pub.
Matt's grandpa once described a bartend­ing applicant who promised to show up on time, to refrain from drinking behind the bar, and to only steal $20 a day. "My grandpa liked his honesty," Dean said. He got the job.

He also learned to appreciate a wide diversity of neighbors. If Cheers had Norm Peterson to perpetually hold down his cor­ner of the bar, the Dean's Tavern of Matt's youth had Ronnie Koskie, an employee of the local Schmidt brewery. On Saturdays, Ronnie would supervise the young Dean kids as they stocked four back-bar coolers with cold beer. The first cooler was filled with Schmidt, Dean recalled. The second was filled with Schmidt; the third was filled with Schmidt, and the last one was filled with milk, eggs and a few bottles of Grain Belt "in case someone wandered over from Minneapolis." From his permanent stool at the bar, Koskie ensured that the siblings ar­ranged the Schmidt bottles in straight rows, their labels perfectly aligned. "Then he made us tum the Grain Belt labels away," Dean recalled.

Two huge annual booyas highlighted the neighborhood of Dean's youth, one sponsored by St. Jerome's church, the other by Dean's Tavern. Every fall, residents would clean out their freezers before hunting season and dump frozen game of all varieties into a huge cast-iron cauldron about five feet across. The head chef, "they guy stirring with a canoe paddle," accord­ing to Matt, was called "The Old Goat." An assistant would occasionally drag a fishing net through the kettle to rid the concoction of bones, leaves and other material, which legend says one year included a set of dentures. "I don't remember that," Dean admitted, "but I do remember that it tasted great, and everyone survived without inter­ference from the Department of Health's booya Police."

He also recalled that only a few volun­teers actually cooked the booya, working under a big tree out behind the tavern, but a much larger committee of volunteers annually formed around them "to tell them what they were doing wrong."

Says Dean: "I think this is where I learned everything I needed to know about the legislature."

Fairness & the Middle Class
His neighborhood, he said, was filled with proud families who didn't have connections to lobbyists or big business or big union bosses. "But still, their families were strong, their values solid and this state worked for them," he said.

Those days are gone, Dean said.

Middle class Minnesota families are in a vice, he said. "They pay more and more,
but get less and less, while they see others pay less and less to get more, or cheat and get it for free."

He said, they are furious when they hear that Minnesota taxpayers wasted $231 million on free government healthcare for people who didn't qualify. "Right now, HMOs get a check every month for people who make too much money, live in another state, or are dead," Dean said.

"In Minnesota, the only people who can go wherever they want to get health care are the only ones who don't pay a dime for

"I challenge any Republican to listen to that speech­—and consider the man giving it—and not conclude that he should be the next governor of Minnesota."
- Representative Nick Zerwas (30A)

it. They can walk into to any hospital in the state and get free, immediate care with no premium, no deductible or no copay."

But for those who were promised "If you like your plan you can keep your plan; if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor," things have changed. "They did lose their plan. They did lose their doctor. The new one is two towns away. And for many, health care costs doubled or tripled. People are going into savings or debt to pay premiums," Dean said.

The biggest debacle of all is MN sure, which he described as a "$400 million broken website" called MNsure. Dean has been the point man for house Republicans for dismantling MNsure. He said a top priority as governor will be to implement his two-step plan for MN sure: Step l: Kill it. Step 2: Bury it. "I will not rest until Minnesotans are reconnected with the best health care in the country," Dean said.
______

TEAM LAURA
Matt Dean freely acknowledges that his campaign is strengthened by his wife Laura.

Besides being a fully involved wife and mother, "Dr. Laura," is an acclaimed OB/ GYN, having delivered thousands of babies in the Stillwater/White Bear Lake area, and elected nationally by her peers to represent them on their national board. She is also a devoted GOP activist who was a delegate to the 2016 National GOP convention in Cleveland.

She'll take advantage of those strengths by launching "Team Laura," a stand-alone addition to the campaign, in which she'll de­vote time each week to visit activists across Minnesota to talk about family, life, and the need to give Minnesota's most vulnerable citizens the dignity they deserve.
______

Hope for Minnesotans
Dean pledged not to use his speech to make campaign promises, but did offer a series of predictions.

Wherever there is a shopkeeper trying to keep a little bit left at the end of the month, maybe hire another employee, maybe expand, but she can't because she's too afraid of the red tape and taxes .... I'm going to be there to roll up my sleeves and say Minnesota has to be there for you.

Wherever there's a mom who thinks her kid doesn't deserve to be trapped in a school that fails him, I will be there to make this state work for her again. We are going to give that child a ticket out, a ticket to prosperity.

Wherever there is someone stuck in traffic, I will find the people at MnDOT who make these crazy schemes and the social planners who schemes, try to pull us out of our cars and put us into stupid little trains that take us to places we don't want to go. I will say, we are done with that.

I will say to everybody at the Met Council to review your resume. If it doesn't begin with infrastructure and digging holes for pipes and end with keeping your nose out of other people's business, I am going to copy that resume because you are going to need it.

Wherever there is a cop who can't protect the people he serves because of stupid sanctuary city laws, this governor will go to that cop and say, I have your back. This state has your back. And we will have your back going into the future.

Wherever there is a protester on Highway 94 who wants to shut down our freeways or shut down our airport or is trying to shut down our capital, I will stand there and say, our state laws are going to work for you, my friend, because you are going to jail.

A Record of Winning
Dean described the victorious path to becoming governor will consist of holding firm to conservative values. Before winning his house seat in 2004, "establishment" party people tried to dissuade him from running, saying he lived in the wrong town and needed to be a soccer mom. "I told them to buzz off," he said. He won, being the only Republican in the state to defeat a sitting Democrat incumbent.

"I didn't win by abandoning my prin­ciples or my party. I won because I kept them," he said.

In 2010, Matt chaired the house's campaign committee, winning 25 seats and capturing the majority. "I like winning," he said.

"We are going to have a state that works for us again, when we have a governor who doesn't think we all work for him," Matt said. "We are going to have a state that works again when we focus on real solutions. I'm going to run on conservative solutions, not away from them. I'm going to win by leading our party, not hiding from it. You are going to have a governor and a party that you can be proud of."

Most of the the invigorated audience lingered at the tavern for two hours after Dean concluded his speech. A whopping 70 people registered to volunteer for his campaign on the spot.

GOP Representative Nick Zerwas (30A) said afterward: "I challenge any Republican to listen to that speech-and consider the man giving it-and not con­clude that he should be the next governor of Minnesota."

"Matt understands that the most effective politics is the outcome of good policy.
He understands the issues and respects the process. He's always a winner."
- Representative Steve Drazkowski (21B)

[photo caption]
FAMILY VALUES IN PRACTICE
Matt and Laura have three terrific kids: Marta is an incoming junior at the University of Min­nesota-Crookston; Jack will be a sophomore at the University of St. Thomas and Jane is a high school freshman.

Prepared and paid for by the Matt Dean for Governor committee, PO Box 10679, White Bear Lake, MN. 55110