 In 1970 , Wendell Anderson ( DFL ) was elected as governor of Minnesota . He spent two years working with a split Minnesota Legislature to enact a tax and school finance reform package that shifted the source of public education funding from local property taxes to state sales taxes , as well as adding excise taxes to liquor and cigarettes . This achievement , dubbed the " Minnesota Miracle " , was immensely popular . In the next few years , the Legislature enacted other facets of their " new liberalism " , including ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment , strong environmental laws , increases in workers ' compensation and unemployment benefits , and elimination of income taxes for the working poor . Time Magazine featured Wendell Anderson and the state in an article entitled , " Minnesota : A State That Works " . In 1976 when Mondale resigned his Senate seat to become Jimmy Carter 's running mate , Anderson resigned the governor 's seat and turned it over to Lieutenant Governor Rudy Perpich ( DFL ) , who promptly appointed Anderson to fill Mondale 's vacant Senate seat . Voters turned Perpich and Anderson out of office in 1978 , in an election dubbed the " Minnesota Massacre " . Perpich was again elected as governor in 1983 and served until 1991 . 
