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Ron Erhardt (born October 23, 1929) is a Minnesotan politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represents District 49A, which includes Edina in Hennepin County. Until July 2008, Erhardt was a registered member of the Republican Party of Minnesota and had always run as an endorsed Republican. For nine terms he achieved fairly easy election victories, even when other Republicans did poorly. In 2006 he still won with 59.5%.〔http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/2006/campaign/results/sthouse_dist.php?district=41A〕 However, over time his district, then numbered District 41A, went from Republican-leaning to becoming a swing district with candidates of both major parties succeeding in the same elections. Illustrated by the district supporting Democrats John Kerry in the 2004 election〔http://mnpublius.com/tag/ron-erhardt/〕 and Amy Klobuchar for US Senate in 2006 while at the same time voting strongly for Republicans such as then Congressman Jim Ramstad and the current Congressman Erik Paulsen, as well as State Representative Ron Erhardt, who won as an endorsed Republican in those same 2004 and 2006 elections with a 60% plurality. ==Political career== Prior to 2010, Erhardt was a long time Republican, known as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate, basing his positions and votes on the predominant views of the voters of his district . Well known for knocking on most doors in his district every election cycle and running a legislative poll of his constituents on major issues , 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.〔http://ronerhardt.com〕 His primary area of legislative work recently was in transportation. Additionally, he co-authored bills in many other areas. 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.〔http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/votetracker/legislator_view.php?id=159〕 Erhardt, first elected to the State House in 1990 as a Republican, was re-elected eight times and served nine consecutive terms in the House of Representatives (1991-2009). During the Republican Party endorsement process in 2008, a conservative Republican obtained the Republican Party's endorsement, Keith Downey. Erhardt then entered the general election race as a Moderate Independent. Local conservative Republicans were upset with Erhardt's leadership of the over-ride of Governor Pawlenty's veto of the Transportation bill, and with his views on abortion and gay rights. In February 2008, Erhardt was in the news when he and five other Republicans in the House voted with House Democrats for a successful override of Governor Tim Pawlenty's veto of a statewide transportation bill.〔http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/25/veto/〕 Since 1939 only 14 vetoes have been overridden (of which 12 fall into the tenure of Independence Party Governor Jesse Ventura).〔http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/15942557.html〕 Erhardt had been instrumental in the drafting of this bill which 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ron Erhardt (politician)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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