The House Republican Campaign Caucus has launched a television attack ad campaign this week making the statement: "Who's to blame for higher gas prices? It's the Democrats in the State Capitol."
House Minority Leader Marty Seifert believes his caucus needs to educate Minnesotans that the Democrats are to blame for the rising gas prices. The caucus hopes this will give the House Republican Caucus a political advantage.
Unfortunately, the political advertisement is quite false. This is sad because there certainly are many things for which House Republicans can criticize Democrats, but being fully responsible for high gas prices is not one of them.
It is true the Minnesota Legislature overrode Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of the transportation bill. Under the bill, Minnesota's state gas tax rose 2 cents April 1. During the rest of April, gas prices rose about 30 cents due to other reasons.
If you look back over the previous year, Minnesota's gas tax increase was zero -- not one cent. Gas prices in the state increased during the same period nearly 70 cents.
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So there are certainly other factors involved being the major cause of gas price hike of nearly $1 per gallon in the past year. Gas prices increased in the past year due primarily to increased demand and a weaker dollar resulting in higher crude oil prices.
The House Republicans are looking for a campaign issue to utilize in the 2008 House elections. They believe rising gas prices are an issue where the Democrats are vulnerable. Minnesotans are not that stupid.
Seifert needs to do a better job for his House Republicans in identifying issues on which to criticize the DFL. If he does not, the House Republicans could have a repeat of their 2006 election failure when they lost a significant number of seats.
Running a TV ad blaming Minnesota Democrats for high gas prices is really a falsehood. Seifert and the other 48 House Republicans should know better.
