Mills to try again

Stewart Mills has announced he will again challenge incumbent Rep. Rick Nolan for the Eighth District seat in the House of U.S. Representatives.

While the Mills Fleet Farm scion is sporting shorter hair — the result of a grilling mishap— Mills would do better to consider changing policies, instead.

As a Republican, Mills has an obligation to show how he would represent a change from a party orthodoxy that has become increasingly at odds with the interests of most Americans, and certainly with those of us who reside in Minnesota’s Eighth District.

On issue after issue, the GOP has become a force for empowering the already rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and even the middle class. Mills has shown no tendency to buck that disturbing trend.

From efforts to restrict voting rights, to blocking attempts to raise the minimum wage, to thwarting action on climate change, to advocating cuts in Social Security and Medicare, Republicans have shown they take their marching orders from a small cadre of multi-millionaires and billionaires who are using their vast wealth to reshape our representative form of government into a mere handmaiden of plutocrats.

On other issues, Mills offers the usual GOP gruel—scrapping the Affordable Care Act, which would deny millions of Americans access to affordable health insurance, revising the Iran nuclear agreement, and blocking even the most modest gun control legislation, such as closing the gun show loophole on instant background checks. To Mills, everyone, apparently even felons and the mentally ill, should be able to purchase guns on demand.

During his first run at public office, Mills came across as personally likable, but ill-equipped to represent the Eighth District. The contrast with Nolan, a seasoned legislator, could not been more stark and that undoubtedly was one reason that Nolan was able to beat back Mills’ challenge despite low turnout in the off-year election.

Nolan was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1968 and later was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974.

After a lengthy departure from public office, Nolan successfully defeated Chip Cravaack in 2012, and has been the Eighth District’s representative since then.

While Mills opposes any action on gun control, Nolan takes a measured approach, supporting common-sense limitations on gun access. Even most gun owners support keeping guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill, but background check loopholes make that difficult.

And although Mills and Nolan share a belief that mining is critical to northern Minnesota’s economy, Nolan would, at least, require that companies meet environmental standards.

The two differ most sharply on tax policy with Nolan favoring tax increases targeting the wealthiest in an effort to restore balance to an economy with an ever-shrinking middle class. Mills bristles at claims the wealthiest aren’t paying their fair share.

Mills made a surprisingly strong showing in his initial run against Nolan, but he’s likely to find tougher going in a presidential election year. Voter turnout will be stronger and that should work to Nolan’s advantage in what has been traditionally a DFL stronghold.

Mills’ return to the race does hold out promise for a good debate on the issues— and that should also work to Nolan’s advantage.

As a party, the GOP is a damaged brand, that has shown it can’t even govern itself. Indeed, many of its members have no interest in governing at all, preferring instead to dismantle government, or to obstruct progress simply for the sake of obstruction. That’s not an approach welcome in the Eighth District, where most voters routinely look to government to provide opportunities for residents to succeed.

Mills may bring a new hairstyle to the race, but he’d be better off with a new slate of policies and principles. His current ideas are out of step with the district he hopes to represent.