"If they want to reduce heart disease then why stop at tobacco. For those of us who never smoked or quit years ago the real worries are fat, cholesterol, salt and lack of exercise. If they are testing politicians and they want to separate the women from the girls then they should also circulate pledges against taking money from fast food franchisees, potato chip producers, TV and easy chair manufacturers, and coffee shops that give refills."
"It's easy to beat up on a politically incorrect industry located in the Republican South, but what does it prove. I'll give you a meaningful pledge. I am not going to take PAC, corporate or union money from anyone, American or foreign--it's the special interest money that is the silent killer of American government!"
Shilepsky also criticized the targeting of a single industry and its registered lobbyists to be scapegoats. "This is a democracy and they have information and a point of view. Fight them on the merits of their positions_don't try to drive them from the field using shame and derision."
"If this sort of tactics works then next year there will be pledges against gun shops, pin-up magazines and beer. Whatever Tom doesn't want Dick and Harry to use."
Shilepsky said that in addition to not taking any PAC money, if elected Secretary of State he would use his position on the State Board of Investments to encourage divestment of any significant tobacco and gambling holdings. "Values and character count; I don't hold such stocks personally and would use my vote to discourage the State from holding them as well." The American Heart Association says that Minnesota has more money invested in tobacco companies than does any major tobacco producing state besides North Carolina.
Shilepsky is seeking the Reform Party endorsement at its June 6 State Convention. He supports instant runoff ballots, to let voters rank their choices for an office, 1,2,3.
Shilepsky, 55, lives and owns a computer consulting business in Minneapolis. Before joining the then-Independence Party, now-Reform Party in 1995 he was a life-long Democrat. Trained in physics, public policy analysis, and economics he has worked for both the federal (US EPA and US General Accounting Office) and Minnesota governments (State Planning Agency and Waste Management Board). In 1996 he ran for State Legislature in District 59B (P Kahn-DFL) as the Reform Party candidate, and got 13 percent in a three way race.