Dayton Heckled in Shakopee, Calls Audience 'Rude' and 'Juvenile'

Gov. Mark Dayton faced audience heckling Monday evening when he came to Shakopee High School for a town hall event to discuss Minnesota's budget and field question from residents.

The Shakopee audience met Dayton's comments about how the state's legislators are underpaid with laughter, head nods and interruptions, prompting a recrimination from the Democratic governor.

"Let me just finish," he told the Shakopee audience. "I’ve been all over the state and I’ve never had people behave this rudely. You know, if you want to say something, raise your hand and get a mic.”

Shakopee mayor Brad Tabke, who introduced Dayton at the event, agreed that the audience was somewhat rude.

"It felt rude at times from the stage," he wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning. "You know me, I love a good argument but crossed line occasionally."

MinnPost reported that while not all in the audience were hostile toward Dayton, "things turned grim" when he started speaking and "most didn’t seem to hear the governor."

To one Prior Lake woman's questions about “How much of my dollar will I be allowed to keep? What’s my fair share?” Dayton responded, “The system is not fair now,” explaining that the wealthy pay less in taxes than the middle class.

His answer angered the Prior Lake woman.

“You’re not answering my question,” she said, according to MinnPost. “How much of my dollar do I get to keep.”

Dayton told reporters that the Shakopee event, the first town hall in his "Meetings with Mark" series to be held in the metro area, was somewhat derailed by the attendees.

"It was very juvenile kind of behavior: It reminded me of my ninth grade general science classes in New York City," he said in a Tuesday press conference.