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Give people some credit, Lessard says.

Bob Lessard waited until a few ours before the deadline to file as a Republican candidate for Attorney General.

“I kept hoping that someone would file that really was filing to protect the Constitution and laws of Minnesota,” the 80 something former Minnesota State Senator from International Falls, said. “Nobody did so I filed.”

Lessard says he has two reasons for running for Minnesota’s Attorney General.

One reason is that he’s concerned that Republicans want to repeal Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution.

“You know it’s in their party platform,” he asked.
Lessard, along with Staples area Senator Dallas Sams, were the co-authors of the bill that eventually went before Minnesota voters as a Constitutional amendment to fund environmental and arts projects with a quarter of one percent sales tax. Fifty-six percent of Minnesota voters voted yes on the Constitutional amendment.

“I’m not in favor of governing by initiative and referendum like they do in California but sometimes you need to give the people some credit,” Lessard said. “The people wanted this and they voted for it and the vote should be respected.”

Lessard, who also authored the legislation (and 1988 Constitutional amendment) that allowed fifty-percent of lottery profits to be used on environmental projects, says legislators from both the DFL and GOP have a tendency to raid dedicated sources of revenue.

“At first fifty percent of the lottery money was supposed to go to the environment through the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources,” he said. “Then the Legislature whittled it down to forty percent for the environment and sixty percent for the General Fund. They also put the money from unclaimed prizes in the General Fund. That’s wrong.”

Lessard is afraid the legislature is going to go after the Legacy Amendment funds in the same way. This last session the Republican controlled legislature used Legacy Amendment funds for water and sewer treatment system improvements.

“That’s wrong. That not what the Amendment was for. Those things should be in the bonding bill. If you start doing that you’ll wipe out the Legacy funds very quickly.”

So, Lessard is concerned that if the Republicans can’t repeal the Legacy Amendment head on they will hollow it out from the inside.

“This fund is not a cash cow,” Lessard said. “The people voted for this and if they knew what was going on they’d be outraged.”

Lessard says he has another reason for running for Minnesota Attorney General.

“All the other candidates want to use the office to advance their political and ideological agendas,” he said. “If they want to do that they should run for the legislature.”

Lessard says that the office of the Minnesota Attorney General is supposed to limit itself to uphold the laws and Constitution of Minnesota.


“If they want an activist Attorney General they should move to New York or California,” he said. 

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