Two years ago, Mary Rieder and Gil Gutknecht ran against each other.

Friday, November 03, 2000

Two years ago, Mary Rieder and Gil Gutknecht ran against each other. This newspaper endorsed Gutknecht in that race, stating that he needed to go back to Washington for Austin. That hasn’t happened.

Republican Gutknecht had a chance to show he cares for this community and he failed. We need to see our congressional representative more often than when we experience flooding here.

Mary Rieder, a DFLer, proves she’s a go-getter. She’s also very well educated in areas that would prove valuable on Capitol Hill. She’s got a Ph.D., she’s an economist and she’s been a stockbroker. She understands the complexities of today’s economy.

Rieder also shows she can think outside the box. She’d like to see broader crops for farmers, including industrial hemp. Rieder envisions plants turning hemp into paper much like ethanol plants have surfaced in Minnesota to turn corn into fuel.

Rieder is right in that this would bring much-needed industry to rural America.

In addition, Rieder says that the federal government needs to find alternative ways to turn corn and soy oil into fuels. She stresses that we need to lean toward agrichemicals instead of petrochemicals.

Rieder, also an educator who taught 30 years at Winona State University, tells how much harder it is to teach today, especially to children with special needs. She suggests that the federal government should research how children learn to find new methods of effective teaching.

Rieder also favors local control of schools, saying, "I don’t want a curriculum dictated by the federal government."

While Gutknecht wants to be a watchdog of "wasteful Washington spending," we think that economist Rieder brings much to the table for the First Congressional District in Minnesota. It’s now Mary Rieder’s turn to prove she can represent Austin in Washington.