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by Peter Bodley
Managing editor
Republicans in Minnesota House District 48B have not endorsed Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, for re-election.
But at the Senate District 48 convention Saturday at Anoka City Hall, the House District 48B delegates did not endorse anyone else either.
Abeler missed the endorsement for re-election by 1.2 votes, he said.
He received the support of 58 percent of the delegates, just 2 percent shy of the required 60 percent, according to Abeler.
There were efforts to find someone to run against him for the endorsement, but no one stepped forward, Abeler said.
“I took that as a compliment,” he said. “This one of the most conservative Republican districts.”
But Senate District 48 GOP Chairman Dan Emery said that a candidate has expressed an interest in seeking the party’s endorsement for the seat.
Emery has been in touch with the Minnesota State Republican Party, which has told him that it would prefer that an endorsed candidate be in place prior to filings opening for office in early July, he said.
In an e-mail to the Anoka County Union, Jim Wilson, 27, Ramsey, announced that he plans to challenge Abeler for the Republican endorsement in District 48B.
Married with two children, Wilson is a systems engineer (IT). He spent five years in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged.
At this point, no date has yet been set for another endorsing convention in House District 48B, according to Emery.
Regardless, Abeler plans to run for re-election to a sixth term - he was first elected in 1998 - in the House in this fall’s election, he said.
“I will run as a Republican, an independent Republican,” Abeler said.
“I have had 13 offers and 500 suggestions from unhappy Republicans that I become a DFLer, but I don’t think I would make a good Democrat.”
What sparked opposition at the convention to Abeler’s endorsement for re-election was his vote for the $6.6 billion Transportation Funding Bill and particularly his vote to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of the bill. He was one of six Republicans in the House to vote to override.
Abeler has had no second thoughts about voting for the bill and to override the governor’s veto, he said.
“I voted my conscience,” he said.
And he told the delegates that he has four principles that he lives by at the Capitol - in order, creation, conscience, constituents and caucus.
In fact, Abeler said his override vote lifted a great deal of pressure from him.
“I feel free from caucus and political pressure and I can continue to represent all my constituents,” he said.
“At the convention, I was very calm and not nervous at all. In fact, before the endorsement vote at the convention I went and got a sandwich.”
In Abeler’s view, the transportation funding legislation is an Anoka County bill, he said.
Abeler believes that the gas tax increase that will go to roads and bridges and the sales tax increase for transit, the latter requiring a vote of the Anoka County Board to approve, will lessen the burden on property taxes for transportation projects.
This year 21 percent of the county’s tax levy is going for transportation, a new high, according to Abeler.
From the gas tax, Anoka County will get from $60 to $70 million over the next 10 years, the city of Anoka $1.5 million and the city of Ramsey $3 million, Abeler said.
House District 48B includes the cities of Anoka and Ramsey.
In District 48A, the Republican delegates overwhelmingly endorsed Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, for re-election.
Peter Bodley is at
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