Thursday, November 02, 2000

Senate District 27 candidates Pat Piper and Grace Schwab have been through seven opportunities to discuss the issues of the year 2000 campaign.

House District 27B candidates Rob Leighton and Jeff Anderson have also been tested by concerned citizens an equal number of times.

In some of the forums, there were winners and losers. Some made their points better than others. Some helped better define the differences in the candidates. Some succeeded in gaining ground or lost ground in their campaigns.

All will remember Wednesday night’s Austin branch of American Association of University Women as the last.

There will be no more before next Tuesday’s General Election so the final days of the campaign for incumbents Senator Piper and State Rep. Leighton and challengers Anderson and Schwab will see their energies directed elsewhere.

They will also remember Wednesday night’s forum as one where they did not have to share the spotlight with other higher-profile candidates. Congressman Gil Gutknecht (R-Minnesota) and his challenger, Mary Rieder, skipped the forum.

Evelyn Guentzel, the AAUW branch’s public policy chair, welcomed the small crowd of AAUW members and other concerned citizens to a classroom at Riverland Community College. Guentzel said the forum was "a part of who we are and what we do."

Challengers Schwab and Anderson sat on one side of the table opposite the DFL incumbents.

In opening statements, Anderson said, "I really want to represent this district, because I believe in local issues and local concerns … I want to be a representative who puts local issues first." Anderson also said he would not always vote his party’s line. "I’m a person who will part ways with people," he said.

Leighton, a three-term incumbent, said he enjoyed the forum "experience," because, "forums are more enlightening than political ads."

He emphasized his experience in office and said, "I represent Mower County and I know this district."

Piper was first elected to the Minnesota House in 1982 and speculation persists this will be her last campaign.

She recounted how she was first elected, when Minnesota was still reeling from a recession and now serves in the Senate during a time of fiscal prosperity.

She said ensuring a quality education is an opportunity to protect "one of the most powerful gifts of our society."

Piper also warned that with the new census, the expected redistricting of legislative districts, in part, motivated her to seek another term in office to help protect rural Minnesota from losing any of its power in St. Paul.

Schwab continued to hammer away at the need to give family’s a greater role in spending "their money" or tax surpluses, forgetting about funding a light rail system when rural Minnesota’s roads and bridges need more attention and repeating a phrase she has used to describe her opponent. "We do not need another Metro voice," Schwab said.

In the question and answer session that followed, here are some of the highlights:

On the Bob Goetz question of funding education seeking new alternatives to bolster education, here were the high points of the candidates’ responses:

Piper: "The development of our state’s brainpower has to happen to children when they are very little."

Leighton: No matter what the solution, they all "cost money."

Anderson: Wants equitable funding of education dollars for urban, suburban and rural schools.

Schwab: "Get rid of the Metro bias" in funding education, she said. "The state has tied education’s hands."

Gary Rhodes, president of Riverland, asked why there was so little campaign rhetoric paid to higher education.

Anderson: Favors addressing some $500 million in deferred Minnesota State Colleges and Universities maintenance needs.

Leighton: "This is a political problem, because every legislator has a K-12 school district in their district, but not everyone has an institution of higher education."

Piper: Because K-12 secondary education is a 12-13 year experience and higher education is only a two, three or four year experience, it requires more funding.

Schwab: MnSCU funding needs must be addressed, but MnSCU may be part of the problem, because of the health insurance issue for the state’s higher education system workers.

Dr. Richard Nordin, an optometrist, asked about the sick tax on health insurance companies and providers. Every one of the candidates favored repealing the tax and volunteered to author the legislation to do that, when Peter Tangren asked for volunteers.

A question about repealing the state’s marriage tax penalty saw minor fireworks between Leighton and Anderson over a Republican-sponsored ad questioning the incumbent’s voting record on the issue.

Schwab, an Albert Lea School Board member for several years and well-known lobbyist for education in St. Paul, also decried Leighton’s claim that he has the support of teachers. She claimed she received the local education association’s endorsement for the senate seat by a 5-2 vote.

At that point, Anderson, an Austin High School teacher, "Education Minnesota, the lobbying group, supports you (Leighton) and not the teachers. To say, teachers support you is a pretty broad statement. I know at least one who doesn’t."

Bob Vilt inquired about the candidates’ stand on the light rail system issue, Goetz attempted to pin down the two Democrats on the Taxpayers League of Minnesota’s low rankings of Piper and Leighton and after other questions, the AAUW forum neared conclusion.

Abortion, large animal feedlots, hemp farming, child care and environmental issues came from the audience members.

In their final statements, Anderson asked the audience to consider the differences between he and the incumbent. Leighton said he understands and shares the values and priorities of District 27B now more than ever. Piper said one more term in the Senate will allow her to do more things for Minnesota’s future. Schwab promised "new ideas, new energy and new leadership."