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Minnesota’s Independence
Party (IP) was established in 1992 by visionary Minnesotans who
believed in a more ethical, accountable, and fiscally
responsible government. Its defining issues were eliminating the
federal budget deficit and ending the influence of special
interest money that overwhelms the voice of average citizens.
Just two years later, Dean Barkley’s solid US Senate campaign
performance helped us earn major party status, a remarkable
achievement for a political party in its infancy. The
Independence Party has preserved its major party status in every
election since.
The IP’s first election success occurred in 1993 when Steve
Minn won his bid for the Minneapolis City Council. Since that
victory, the IP has become a home for a growing number of
influential local office holders including mayors, city council
members and county commissioners, serving their communities with
no special interest strings attached.
From the beginning, the party has been centrist in beliefs
and character. This was demonstrated in 1994 with the Party’s
endorsement of Independent Republican Governor, Arne Carlson.
Carlson did not receive his party’s endorsement, even though
he was an incumbent Republican Governor.
In 1998, the Independence Party briefly changed its name in
order to affiliate with the National Reform Party. The
relationship was strained from the beginning. The national
organization’s high centralization of power was in direct
conflict with Minnesotan's dedication to grassroots empowerment
of the political process.
Also in 1998, Governor Jesse Ventura and Lieutenant Governor
Mae Schunk made international news with their monumental
election victory. During the next four years, despite the many
political road blocks they faced, the Ventura administration
managed to: break a 40-year stalemate in transportation,
creating the Hiawatha Light Rail Line; reform Minnesota’s tax
system; rebate budget surpluses back to taxpayers; increase
funding to education; and make highly respected judicial
appointments.
Governor Ventura did not run for a second term, instead he
endorsed Tim Penny, a former six-term U.S. House Representative
and a key political advisor of Ventura, as his successor in
2002. Tim Penny gave Minnesota a hard-fought campaign. His
dedication to the party during and since his campaign has laid
much of the groundwork for the organization today.
In the four years since, the Independence Party and our
visionary candidates have worked to bring the focus of politics
back to pressing issues, including health care, education,
transportation, environmental preservation and economic factors,
such as dependency on foreign oil. Together, with the help of
our supporters, we are returning Minnesota politics back where
it belongs- in the hands of our citizens.
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