Ciresi concentrates on accomplishments

The United States is in a middle-class squeeze, U.S. Senate candidate Mike Ciresi said in a weekend stop in Brainerd, and he pointed to his track record of accomplishments as reasons the Democratic Party should endorse him to challenge Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

"People are looking for leadership," Ciresi said. "They want things changed in Washington.

Best known for winning the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry, Ciresi also successfully sued over defective birth control devices and represented the government of India after the Union Carbide chemical leak in Bhopal injured or killed thousands in that country.

The tobacco multi-billion settlement forced the companies to stop targeting young people and brings $200 million a year to the state.

"We changed how one of the most powerful industries does business," he said.

Ciresi pointed to health care as the "No. 1 domestic issue," while including the war in Iraq, education and the environment in that top tier as well.

"The war is still a major concern as well," he said, noting that he opposed the war from the start while his main opponent, comedian Al Franken, did not.

The candidate criticized the current health care system as one in which families are one illness away from financial disaster and he also criticized the unfunded mandates of No Child Left Behind and special education.

Noting that about one-third of Minnesota's school districts conducted operating levy referendums, he said many of them failed because people are pinched by the economy.

"We've got a governor who doesn't seem to believe in education," he said.

He also criticized higher education costs that left recent graduates with student loans that could run as high as $70,000.

"They've got a mortgage without the house," he said of those college graduates.

The Bush administration and Republicans have run up trillions of dollars in obligations that future generations will have to pay off, he said. After years of Republicans criticizing "tax and spend" Democrats, he said the Republicans were "no tax and spend" politicians.

Ciresi favors rolling back tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in order to help the middle class and working poor and called for establishing a 21st century education fund to provide low-interest college loans. He said the Democratic Party would rebuild a prosperous and vibrant middle class.

"I think the real big issue here is what's going to happen with the middle class," he said. "America does best when it invests in people."

Ciresi 61, grew up in St. Paul, the son of a first generation immigrant father who never went past the seventh grade. The family ran a grocery store and he lost his mother to breast cancer when he was 12.

Now a successful trial attorney, he said lawyers - despite their critics - are people who create access to the people's courts, help people live in dignity and hold wrongdoers accountable.

When asked to differentiate himself from Franken on the issues he said he has a much better and comprehensive understanding of the health care system and has a track record of getting things done.

He declined to speculate whether Franken's sharply worded statements and opinions before his candidacy would make him a weaker candidate against Coleman.

"I'll be on the offensive," he said of his own campaign. "What I'll use as an argument (in his bid for the endorsement) is that I'll win.

He did say Franken "had very, very high unfavorables," in polls and that people wanted someone who has accomplishments.

Also running for the Democratic endorsement are Jim Cohen and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a University of St. Thomas professor; and Jim Cohen, an attorney and activist. All four candidates have pledged to abide by the endorsement and not mount a primary challenge to whoever DFLers pick in June.

Ciresi, who lives in Mendota Heights, toured the Iron Range on Friday, campaigning in Chisholm, Virginia, Coleraine and Nashwauk. After spending the night at his Deerwood cabin, his schedule called for him to travel to Onamia, Garrison, Brainerd and eventually back to the Twin Cities on Saturday.

This is his second bid for public office. In 2000 he finished second to Mark Dayton in his bid for the DFL endorsement for the U.S. Senate. He then finished second to Dayton in the 2000 primary.

"I believe passionately about public service," he said explaining his reason for running. "I can make a difference."