Nov 05 St. Cloud Gubernatorial Forum Notes

Wednesday night's gubernatorial debate in the St. Cloud City Council room offered a stark contrast between the DFL and the GOP candidates. DFL candidates attending were Susan Gaertner, who arrived late, John Marty and Steve Kelley. GOP candidates Bill Jungbauer, Tom Emmer, Pat Anderson and Leslie Davis also attended. Frank Harold of SCSU moderated the event. John Bodette, executive editor of the St. Cloud Times, and Jim Maurice, the news director for WJON radio asked questions of the candidates, including 2 questions from the audience.

Q1: (asked by John Bodette) Education funding

MARTY: said we need more funding for education. Supports new Minnesota Miracle.

JUNGBAUER: We've gotten away from the Constitution on this. He then talks about the tax system and how we tax productivity, not consumption. ???

EMMER: Government's job is to ensure that parents can educate their children as they see fit. "Don't play politics with kids...A child in battle Lake is worth $5K annual but a kid in the Twin Cities is worth $10,000+"

KELLEY: Advocate for big federal role in education.

ANDERSON: Remove mandates, support competition, eliminate NCLB. We're lacking local control, too.

GAERTNER: Education funding under stress. Need to make enhanced funding investments.

Q2: Balancing the budget
JUNGBAUER: We've got 1,344 taxing authorities. We need to tax consumption, not productivity.
Gaertner: We need someone who has the courage to do something more than pay bills. Eliminate mandates to cities.
OBSERVATION: Why nothing from these two about setting spending priorities?
EMMER: We don't need more taxes. Let's reform workers comp and tort reform. We don't need a Dept. of Health AND a Dept. of Human Services. Colorado and Minnesota similar size and population, yet Colorado spends a third less than we do. Why?
Kelley: I wonder which nursing homes Tom would cut. (The media table wasn't impressed with that answer.) More taxes needed. It's Pawlenty's fault. According to Kelley, no new taxes just meant that cities paid more in taxes. No mention of why cities didn't prioritize spending instead of raising taxes but that's because he's DFL.
ANDERSON: I actually agree that we aren't funding our commitments. Anderson then follows up saying that we've made too many commitments.
Q3: Transportation
Kelley: whines about how we "paid for a full railroad but only got half a railroad", then blames Pawlenty for not being a better negotiator. He's developing a whiney everything-that's-wrong-is-Pawlenty's-fault approach. This can't be appealing to voters. He also says that railroads are good investments because "Warren Buffett just invested in them." (Might that be because he'll get gov't. subsidies to operate?)
ANDERSON: We must do a better job of setting priorities because wish list is too big.
Marty: talked about bridge collapsing, doesn't mention that the problem was engineering, not funding.
Q4 was Vikings stadium. No support for public funding from anyone.
Q5: First issue you'll tackle upon taking office?
EMMER: Reducing gov't. Reform taxes so Minnesota isn't 50th in state-to-state migration. Businesses leaving because of taxes. South Dakota 2nd in state-to-state migration, North Dakota high, too, both because of cheaper taxes.
PERSONAL NOTE: 13 of NoDak's 15 biggest employers are medical industry-related.
Kelley: Increase taxes and spending. State "needs to get better at funding education."
ANDERSON: Shrink budget, reduce gov't. control of our lives. A robust private sector needed to pay for public sector.
Marty: Cradle-to-grave health care would be first priority. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!!!
Q6: Health Care-If universal care passes, should we cut MinnesotaCare?
Kelley: isn't sure what will pass
ANDERSON: I'll be out leading the rebellion if it passes. Says that Democrats' health care reforms would cause rebellions. We've driven competition with 26 health care mandates.
Marty: Health care is a right. Police and firefighters don't ask whether you've got a pre-existing condition. MOST INCOHERENT ANSWER OF THE NIGHT and that's saying something.
Gaertner: I'm "not confident we'll get universal coverage." Let's emphasize wellness programs.
EMMER: We can't solve failed gov't. programs by adding more gov't. programs. Let's let citizens make more decisions.

Overall, I thought Tom Emmer and Pat Anderson had strong nights. Kelley, Marty and Gaertner clearly aren't top tier candidates.

Finally, check out the St. Cloud Times' twitter stream. Dave Aikens did a great job under difficult circumstances. (computer crash)

Comments welcome at LFR.