ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Republican state House minority leader Marty Seifert's idea of running anti-Democrat, anti-gasoline tax advertisement on gas station dispenser monitors across the Twin Cities is finding no takers, reported The Pioneer Press. Holiday Stationstores and SuperAmerica stations have rejected the ads.
Holiday gas stations in Minnesota, 49 of which have at-the-pump video monitors, will not run the political ads, said the report. Robert Nye, Holiday Stationstores spokesperson, told the newspaper that the company has a longstanding policy against accepting political ads.
Seifert [image-nocss] said Monday morning that his caucus had also hoped that SuperAmerica stations would run the ad on their video monitors. But Linda Casey, spokesperson for SuperAmerica's corporate parent, Marathon, said the company does not have TV monitors at its stations there.
Monday afternoon, Seifert said, the gas station video monitor ad idea was basically dead. Since that idea failed, Seifert said the Republicans would run the 15-second ad on network TV in the Twin Cities. The ads started appearing during evening newscasts on Tuesday, said the report.
"Who is to blame for higher gas prices? It's the Democrats at the state capitol," the ad says. House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (D) cried foul, however. He said that the ad focuses only on the gasoline tax—a small part of the increase in prices—and not oil company profits.
He said Democratic members are "absolutely" hearing from constituents about higher gas prices—but they are not hearing so many complaints about the higher gasoline taxes. The increased gasoline tax will help pay for better roads and bridges across the state, he added.
Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature voted to increase the 20 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax to 22 cents this spring and to 25 cents October 1. The measure would also impose a surcharge of 3.5 cents per gallon to pay the debt service on $2 billion in road and bridge construction bonds. In 2014, the tax and surcharge would be 28.5 cents, the report said.
All House Democrats and six House Republicans voted for the final measure, after Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed it. All Senate Democrats and two Senate Republicans voted for it. The gasoline tax increase is the first in two decades, said the Pioneer Press.
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