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Dane Smith

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President, Growth & Justice

2324 University Ave. West
Suite 120A
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55114
(651) 251-0728

Expertise & Civic Involvements

As a newspaper journalist for 30 years before heading Growth & Justice, Smith covered politics and policy at the local, state and federal levels, writing more than 4,000 bylined articles. Notable contributions include an award-winning Star Tribune series in 1987, “Spending Big,” about the growth of state and local government in Minnesota, and “The Good that Government Does,” a three-part “News With a View’’ series in 1994 that explained the unappreciated value of federal, state and local government to the nation and Minnesota.
Since 2007, his work at Growth & Justice focuses on fair taxation and smart public investment. Smith has held two adjunct teaching positions, one at Inver Hills Community College, and one at the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership program. He is former chairman and current member of the Inver Hills Community College Alumni Board. In 2007 and 2008, he served on a citizens advisory panel to revise the state’s discipline policy for judges. Smith also recently served on an Education Finance Working Group to recommend overhaul of state funding formulas. As President of Growth & Justice, he participates in numerous advisory panels and strategic partnerships and advocacy teams. Smith also tutors students in reading at Horace Mann Elementary School in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, and is active in various organizations which support the St. Paul Public Schools.

SSN Briefs

Key Publications

  • "Beyond the Affordable Care Act: An Economic Analysis of a Unified System of Health Care for Minnesota," (with Amy Lange, RN, MS, CNM, Growth & Justice Policy Fellow on Health Care), Econometric analysis in partnership with The Lewin Group of costs and benefits of a publicly financed "unified and universal'' health-care system for Minnesota (also known as "single-payer"), Growth & Justice, March, 2012.
    Minnesota could reduce it's total health-care spending by individuals and businesses by 9 percent (compared to full implementation of the Affordable Care Act) if it established a taxpayer financed universal health-care system with a top-shelf benefit set.
  • "Whole Towns Coming Together for All Students," Growth & Justice Policy Education Report, January, 2012.
    Describes progress being made through community engagement initiatives toward improving student success and closing achievement and attainment gaps in an increasingly diverse Greater Minnesota. Highlights some promising specific efforts happening across the state in rural towns and cities outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
  • "Governing with Accountability," Growth & Justice Policy Report, March, 2009.
    Provides overview of classic principles that underlie effective and accountable state and local government in Minnesota, and reviews challenges and promising initiatives aimed at redesigning the public sector.
  • "Smart Investments in Minnesota’s Students," (with Angie Eilers as principal author), Growth & Justice Policy Report, October, 2008.
    Outlines evidence-based strategic investments aimed at dramatically increasing post-secondary graduation in Minnesota, and reducing achievement and attainment gaps.
  • Professor Wellstone Goes to Washington: The Inside Story of a Grassroots Senate Campaign (with Dennis McGrath) (University of Minnesota Press, 2003).
    Tells the story of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone’s populist progressive campaign in 1990 and his stunning upset victory over incumbent Republican Rudy Boschwitz in 1990.

Media Contributions

In his capacity as president of Growth & Justice, Dane Smith has written or co-authored or edited more than 150 op-ed articles addressing public policy issues in Minnesota and the United States, mostly in Capitol Report and the Politics in Minnesota online network, but also in the Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, MinnPost, Minnesota Public Radio and in suburban and outstate Minnesota newspapers. He has also contributed to television and radio, both as a guest analyst and as a producer of documentaries. Here is a selection of this recent work:

Talks and Briefings

Smith has delivered dozens of talks to business, non-profit, academic, civic and church groups in recent years. Here are two of his recent talks:
  • "The Color of Our Labor," Unity Unitarian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, September 2, 2012.
    In his annual Labor Day Sunday sermon at Unity Church, Dane Smith traces history of racial exploitation of labor, remarkable progress toward equity, current trends and demographics and the moral and economic obligation to drive toward further closing gaps in education and employment.
  • "Debate: Regulating Capitalism: Moral Necessity or Moral Treason?," (with Yaron Brook, President of Ayn Rand Institute), Debate, September 27, 2011.
  • "And How are the Children," Tedx1000Lakes Lecture on examples of civic engagement for student success in rural Minnesota, September 23, 2011.