ST. PAUL — The son of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone is taking up his own political activism at a state Capitol event calling for upper-income federal tax hikes to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

David Wellstone will speak today at a press conference organized by The Action. That’s a multistate coalition of labor unions, activists, nonprofits and other leaders formed to pressure Congress to extend tax breaks for the middle class while letting President Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy expire.

Wellstone will be joined at the Capitol by representatives of middle-class families. He is also speaking at round-table discussions later in the day in Minnetonka and Eagan.

Wellstone recently published a memoir about his family. His father, mother and sister were killed in a plane crash in October of 2002.