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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: 202.626.5625
July 26, 2006 Ken Goldman
State Auditor candidate Rebecca
Otto chosen as a "bold, visionary new leader"
WASHINGTON, DC – Twenty-First Century Democrats today announced that it
has endorsed Minnesota State Auditor candidate Rebecca Otto for the 2006
election season, only one of 24 candidates the influential group has
chosen nation-wide.
“Rebecca Otto is a bold, visionary new leader,” said Kelly C. Young,
president of Twenty-First Century Democrats. “She is not your ordinary
Democrat.”
Responding to the common media spin that Democrats have no agenda and
don’t differentiate themselves from Republicans in any meaningful way,
the nation’s 13th-largest political action committee selected Rebecca
Otto for her progressive values, her inspiring vision for what’s
possible in America, and her ability to get things done, as proven
throughout her career.
“Rebecca Otto is a rare leader who stands out for her ability to unite
people of opposing viewpoints, such as former Republican Governor Arne
Carlson and former Democrat Vice President Walter Mondale in her 2004
State House race, not by playing the middle but by providing her vision
of One Minnesota – a team approach to the future,” said Young. “She
stands up and says what she believes in even if it’s not popular, and
that makes her stand out from the crowd.”
Rebecca Otto is a former State Representative from Marine on Saint
Croix. She was one of the first leaders to stand up and show how the “no
new taxes” approach to government was simply passing the buck onto local
governments and forcing up property taxes and fees, a policy her
Republican opponent was among the earliest proponents of. “We need
people at the state and federal level who aren’t afraid to tackle real
problems instead of passing the buck,” said Otto. “As State Auditor I’ll
stand up for accountability at all levels of government, and if I see
policies coming down the pike at the state or federal level that will
hurt our local communities, you can bet I’ll stand up and fight them. As
State Auditor it’s my job to ensure compliance in local government
spending, but it’s also my job to speak out against pushing more of the
state and federal costs down onto local property taxes and fees.”
“My favorite thing about Rebecca is that she is truly a new brand of
leader,” said Young. “She has shown the utmost integrity and she will
stay true to her vision – she will not become poll-dependant or driven
by consultants when in office.”
The endorsement of such a small number of candidates around the nation
signals a new direction for Twenty-First Century Democrats. “Despite our
group’s successes in winning many elections during the past decade, we
saw that simply electing Democrats to office wasn’t enough,” said Young.
“We believe that winning a Democratic majority won’t achieve the end
goal of enacting bold solutions to our country’s problems, and let’s
admit it, we’re currently stuck. We need those bold leaders again to
shake us loose and move us forward again. History has taught us that the
most innovative solutions to our country’s pressing needs came from
visionary leadership that fought for quantum leaps in public policy, not
the politics-as-usual incremental steps. Our 2006 class of candidates –
Rebecca key among them – has the fortitude and heart to lead America by
quantum leaps.”
For information about Twenty-First Century Democrats, please visit
www.21stdems.org <http://www.21stdems.org/> .
For information about Rebecca Otto, please visit www.rebeccaotto.com.
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