Business climate in MN obviously excellent

The annual Fortune 500 list is out, and Minnesota looks like a great place to do business.

Minnesota has 21 of the elite “Fortune 500,” based on total revenue in the past year. That might sound insignificant, since California and Texas each host 57 and New York has 56. But if you relate it to state population, Minnesota takes first place on a per capita basis.

Lee Egerstrom, writing at Hindsight 20/20, said:

So how do the great examples of so-called “good business climates” fare on the Fortune 500 list? South Dakota, zero companies; Mississippi, zilch; Wyoming, zippo; Alabama, one, and South Carolina has three.

The Minnesota list of companies is a little misleading. Fortune only use “public,” not private companies on the list and that eliminates Cargill Inc. ($116.6 billion in 2009 revenue!)

So, in the absence of Cargill, the MN list is topped by UnitedHealth Group, Target, and Best Buy - an impressive array.

Now I'll be the first to admit we still need more jobs to rev up the state economy, and that the roads and infrastructure within the 2nd Congressional District aren't exactly enticing. But as a result of former State Representative Shelley Madore's initiative and hard work while she was a state legislator we are getting $5 million/year for improvements via the Madore Amendment to the transportation bill.

It's no wonder the GOP targeted Shelley Madore when she ran for re-election. She was authoring about one bill per week on average while the MN House was in session. Compare that to the anemic pace of John Kline's work on our behalf - about one bill per year - and you can see Madore did more for this district at the state level in one term than our U.S. Congressman has done in many, many years in D.C (with the exception of fund-raising for his campaign, of course, where the incumbent Congressman clearly has a significant edge.)

If Madore secures the DFL endorsement in the August 10th Primary, she'll be up against an incumbent who hasn't done much for the district, in a year when the latest Washington Post survey reveals a strong anti-incumbent mood. I'm not sure we can expect anything new from Kline; he's had 8 years to help the district, and he's mostly kept a low profile.

Shelley Madore? She'll do more.