Political Career
Erhardt was a long time Republican, acting as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. Erhardt claims to base his positions and votes on the predominant views of the voters of his district. He is known for knocking on most doors in his district and running a legislative poll of his constituents on major issues. Like most members of the Minnesota House, he sent an annual report of issues to every household. He received many awards from a wide variety of organizations in recognition of his many years of service. His primary area of legislative work in his latter years was in transportation, although he co-authored bills in other areas as well. Previously, Erhardt served on the House Committees for Transportation Policy (Vice-Chairman), Taxes- where he, as ranking minority member, authored a major revision of Minnesota Real Property Taxes, Transportation Finance, as well as long time service on the Ways and Means Committee.
Erhardt was originally elected to the House in 1990, and was re-elected eight consecutive times as an endorsed Republican. In 2008, Erhardt ran for re-election as a Moderate Independent after losing the Republican Party's endorsement to Keith Downey, a more conservative Republican. Local Republican leaders were upset with Erhardt's liberal views on abortion, gay rights and with his support of the over-ride of Governor Pawlenty's veto of the Transportation bill.
In February 2008, Erhardt was in the news when he, along with five other Republicans in the Minnesota House of Representatives, voted with House Democrats for a successful override of Governor Tim Pawlenty's veto of a statewide transportation bill. Since 1939 only 14 vetoes have been overrode (of which 12 fall into the tenure of Independence Party Governor Jesse Ventura). Erhardt had been instrumental in the drafting of this bill. It included a graduated increase in the gas tax dedicated to highway and bridge repair and construction. It also gave metro counties the option of increasing by 0.15% the sales tax to fund transit projects, an option later approved in 5 of the 7 metro area counties. The legislature's veto override vote was the first successful veto override of Pawlenty's administration. Supporters of the bill, including the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, argued that an increase in funding was needed for highways and transit, especially after the nationally mourned Highway 35W bridge collapse. The flat gas tax had not been increased since 1988. Critics of the bill, including Governor Pawlenty, opposed any tax increase and also opposed investment in mass transit. Erhardt explained his vote to override the veto by pointing out that 61% of his constituents in Edina supported the bill.
Read more about this topic: Ron Erhardt (politician)
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