For 20 years, state Rep. Tom Huntley of Duluth has been a key member of the Northland's legislative delegation. And while he's carved his niche as one of St. Paul's leading experts on health-care issues, an expertise that'll be critical to the Northland and all of Minnesota as the federal Affordable Care Act is implemented, Huntley's no one-issue elected leader.
And he isn't afraid to change with the times, a trait, among others, that can win him votes and a victory in the Aug. 14 primary election. DFLers in House District 7A can send the incumbent to face Republican Therese Bower of Duluth in the general election on Nov. 6. Bower has no primary opponent.
"The number-one issue is the long-term budget problems we have in Minnesota," Huntley said in an interview last week with the News Tribune editorial board. "We need to increase some of the revenues, and we need to quit borrowing from the schools."
Increasing revenues, Huntley said, means income tax hikes for the rich -- and for the middle class.
"Most of my DFL friends don't like that one," he said, a grin flashing and then quickly fading. "If you want to balance the budget someone is going to have to pay. ... I never thought I'd support a flat tax, but a flat tax is better than what we have now. And if that's what it'll take to get something passed, something that'll help our budget problems, I could go for that.
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"This is a very important year," said Huntley, who was first elected in 1992. "We've been kicking the can down the street for 15 years. It's time to get serious about Minnesota's future."
Huntley found himself in an unusual position last session: in the legislative minority.
"I just basically kept my mouth shut and tried to make a joke once in a while," he said.
If voters grant Huntley an 11th term they can demand more than that -- and better than that, no matter how difficult he feels it has gotten to work through what he sees as an attitude shift among the more newly elected leaders. The shift is away from helping others and toward watching out for self-interests, he said.
If so, if that indeed is reality, then Huntley, a retired associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UMD, has the smarts and the leadership skills to rise above and to do what's best for constituents, no matter which party gets credit.
Huntley is faced in the DFL primary by Brandon Clokey, an emerging leader and a rising voice for low-income Duluthians and others too often ignored or overlooked by politics and big government. In an interview with the News Tribune editorial board, Clokey promised to fight for affordable health care, a single-payer health-care system, livable wages and fair taxation.
"I am the strong, effective choice for 7A. That's it in a nutshell," said Clokey, the executive director of the Duluth Fathering Project. "There needs to be a focus on the future ... and someone who's in touch with what's going on now and what needs to be changed and what needs to be improved, a person who isn't afraid to say what needs to be said."
