Mark Ritchie for Sec. of State- Minnesota

Background:

For the past 20 years, I have served as the President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (www.iatp.org) in Minneapolis. Three years ago, I took a leave to run the NOVEMBER 2 campaign, the non-partisan Voter Registration Campaign of the National Voice Coalition.

Goals:

To restore non-partisanship, excellent customer service, and professional integrity to the Minnesota Office of the Secretary of State.

Issues:

Partisanship by the current Secretary of State in the operation of the office.

Extremely poor public customer service on both the election side of the office and the community/business services provided by the office.

Restoring professional integrity in the office.

Grassroots Support:

I have elected to abide by the state mandated spending limits, which essentially preclude media in this race. Running against a strong incumbent, my only serious option is grassroots organzing in every part of the state. We have already advanced our campaign in this direction on a significant scale, with over 2200 public supporters in all corners of the state working to build the local structures needed to mobilize base and swing voters in the fall.

DFA Values:

I have spent a life working for social justice, economic progress, and ecological sustainability. I have done this both in state government (under Governor Perpich, the last Democratic governor in Minnesota) and in the non-profit sector. I have grown an organization over two decades from one person to over 40 with a track record of successful fundraising and fiscal management for the entire time.