Partisan, obstructionist, and ideologue are just some of the words DFLer Elwyn Tinklenberg uses to describe Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in his interview with The UpTake’s Ken Avidor. Tinklenberg, who was Transportation Director under Governor Jesse Venutura, is seeking the DFL endorsement to run against Bachmann this year. If this interview is any indication, the Tinklenberg campaign plans to portray Bachmann as a do-nothing delayer who is more concerned about politics than results. Highlights of the interview in text after the jump.

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Tinklenberg on Bachmann and transportation:
She is about partisan polarization. She is about divisiveness. And the result is she has not been able to accomplish anything as a (state) Senator and she’s not accomplishing anything except in a negative sort of way in the district currently. We think we represent a strong alternative to that.

The district is the focus of some major chages in transportation, not only in terms of improvements to the existing system, but changes in that system. Northstar is a big issue. And I’m proud of the fact that I helped get Northstar started when I was at Anoka County. And now we’re making some progress on that. It’s disappointing to me that it’s five year later than what it should have been. It’s $90 Million more than when we introduced it back in 2000. Back then it was going all the way to St. Cloud, now it’s just going to Big Lake. So we’ve lost time, we’ve lost half of the line and we’ve increased the cost as result of the delays that came out of the Republican controlled House back in 2000.

I bring a record of having to do some things in transportation and some important things, the Hiawatha light rail line for example, as compared to Representative Bachmann, who when she was in the state Senate fought every transportation initiative that came along, has been a constant obstructionist for transportation issues in the state and has carried that on even now in her Congressional seat. She has voted three times to hold up funding for the reconstruction of the 35 W bridge. And I think that represents where her priorities are in relation to transportation issues .

She hasn’t been able anything done partly because of that kind of partisan, ideologue approach she’s taken to so many issues. But also she has used what support she has given to transportation, principally PRT or Personal Rapid Transit, as a way of really distracting the discussion of kind of delaying tactics in terms of transportation. PRT is not something that’s going to work to serve commuters. It’s not something that’s going to work to serve the transit interests and concerns and needs of Minnesota. And she’s using it simply as a distraction. She doesn’t really mean or intend to support any kind of increased funding for transit and she’s just using this as a way of diffusing the issue.

Tinklenberg on Iraq:
When I get to Congress the first resolution I will introduce is to demand that the next administration provide for the Congress a plan within three months of taking office, for the secure safe withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. I think we have become part of the problem and that we need to be moving in the direction of removing our troops in a way that protects their safety and security. But also in a way that encourages the surrounding countries to get more involved. They’re never going to take a serious role in the stability of that region as long as we’re there doing the job for them. It’s only when we set up a plan for withdrawal that the other countries are really going to have a stake in helping to build a more secure and stable region.

Tinklenberg on the mortgage crisis and health care:
People are feeling really squeezed. The families in the 6th district are seeing heating costs go up. They’re seeing gas prices go up. They’re seeing their property taxes go up. They’re feeling a kind of insecurity in terms of the cost of health care. The insecurity in terms of their retirement and then the mortgage crisis added to that where they used to be able to count on the equity in their home, and now their seeing the valuse of their home actually declining even while property taxes are goin up. So all of those things are really creating a tremendous amount of pressure on the families of the district. At the same time they’re facing a kind of stagnation in the wages of non-supervisory working people. So I think we need to find ways to address those issues. I think we need to define a tax policy that supports working families, that supports jobs and economic development and not the kind of tax policies that the Bush administration has put in place that really support the concentration of wealth among a smaller and smaller percentage of the public.

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