good evening and welcome to this league of women voters form for the candidates in the november election for minnesota legislative senate district thirty eight and house district thirty eight and b my name is liz nordlinger and i'm a member of the league of women voters up of white bear lake area and i do not live in this district and i will be moderating this forum tonight as a trusted volunteer nonpartisan organization the league of women voters does not support or oppose political parties  candidates we sponsor forms provide voters an opportunity to hear candidates about issues of interest in the upcoming election for more information about the minnesota league please visit our web site at l w v m and dot org for viewers viewers of this forum on community access television a map of senate district thirty eight will appear on the t v screen this year bob reason numbers of legislative districts have changed and it was helpful to see a map of district thirty eight to know which areas are included in the new district district thirty eight is represented by the lightest colored area the league is also displaying the map tonight out in the lobby the order speaking tonight has been determined by a drawing of numbers and will be rotated randomly there after the candidates remarks are being time to assure equality questions are being collected from the audience there are two candidates for senate district thirty eight and house districts thirty i'd like to think the league of women voters for putting this on it's a lot of work and but let me introduce myself i'm ten or seven i live in line a legs have lived there for fifteen years and i was approached well let me talk about my i have a fair our family married and to my wife christie of twenty years and i have four children all who have attended or currently attending this internal school district and i have a dog and a german  pointer and we like to hide and go running and we love the trail systems in the in and around the communities i'm running for senate because well first of all the party came to me and they were looking for a candidate that would run against roger term a lot of the voters in the district didn't care for his his hard right approach to a lot of things in his inability to compromise and there was a longing to have somebody come up and and throw their name in the ad to run against him i don't dislike roger i mean roger's a nice guy and i've got a normal little bit but i don't like his puppet politics or his policy make i'm a i'm a navy veteran i'm a labor rob and i'm a i'm a like a light liaison between labor and management and i have to compromise and negotiate  find good solutions to in compromise to reach settlement and we didn't have that last year in the session our session was shutdown it was an  and the governor wanted to compromise but he didn't have a legislator legislature that would compromise with them so i'm going to bring that to district thirty eight there's a lot of independents and a lot of leaners that are looking for a moderate like me to get in there and help the governor come up with legislation that everybody has ownership in thank you next with his opening remarks project chamberlain good evening and think you all for coming and thank you to the legal women voters for again sponsoring this debate i'm roger chamberlain i'm running a campaign really represents you in minnesota senate district thirty eight i too served in the u s navy and by the way i do like him as well i don't think he's a bad guy for the record i serve in the navy minutes army national guard my job experience is in business tax compliance i work for bucharest ronson and for america price financial my wife and then i live in line a lake's we have two grown children we two have a dog she's old and deaf and twenty  pounds were active members of social or to new from church in white bear lake three words opportunity prosperity and freedom that's what this election's about and the question is who decides who will decide where your kids go to school what they'll be taught we're going to car you drive what food you eat who will make your health care decisions for you should be politicians and bureaucrats who should be each of you for you yourself and your family we need government but it cannot solve all of our problems you cannot satisfy all our wants needs and desires the government cannot provide a source elevation we need government but it needs to be in measure as for our state since one nine hundred sixty spending has increased on average seventeen percent every two years in january two thousand and eleven we had a deficit of five billion dollars unemployment is over seven percent and schools are overregulated and burdened we now have a projected surplus of one point two billion dollars revenue collections are up seven percent unemployment is down schools receive additional funding and payback of the school ship mandate relief and much more needed reforms would balance a budget by establishing priorities and living within our means we're moving in the right direction thank you very much thank you those are you two candidates for senate district thirty eight think one of the things i'd like to do first is again think the women voters for sponsoring this event in the cruise in the set of people used to run camera a long time ago so we may understand completely a mode set up and tear down one of the things that i'll give you kind of a brief summary of his stash of where i've been in my history i've been a technology business for about thirty years i have been in what worked in both public and private industry in the private side i've worked for bill small medium corporate sized business in the public side i've worked for the university of minnesota for nine years so in effect i've really touched any and all industries within the state of minnesota i've worked with with the university minnesota on several projects as well so i've also worked with k twelve on some issues so that gives you kind of a brief history of my van and what industries it touches you can tell it touch many of them one of the things that you consider from thank you next with her opening statement lender brunswick thank you and thanks so much for being here tonight oh my name's linda runback and my husband rich and i have lived in circle pines for longer than i want to tell  happy but i spent a part of being in the legislature spent about seventeen years in the corporate sector in various management positions and and then went on to own a small business myself in addition to which my husband and i own a small business in bray in minnesota it's a tombstone company of all things but it's been a fascinating experience and we body it out of bankruptcy and for twenty years it has it is employed eighteen people full time  so we're very pleased that we're able to contribute in that way i did serve on the circle pine city council prior to running for office of the first time running for my fourth term in the house and i did serve two terms in the state senate and came as close to white bear as white bear township under that those old district lines really two reasons driven me to run and one is the state budget really of the state budget is an important document because it tells us where our state is going and how we're going to get there and you know you look back for thirty years in which the minnesota state budget was growing at levels of fifteen sixteen percent every by any i'm unsustainable i mean we grew a government in the good times that we can't afford today so we have got to and what we did two years ago when the legislature became under control by the republicans was to work very hard reform and cutting so that we could have a budget that would live within our means the second category is jobs and we'll get probably more into that but we need to re creating jobs at fifteen i'm sorry at fifty sixty seventy thousand a year and if we're going to have a good future so we've got to figure that problem out thank you we'll have our opening remarks from our candidates for house just thirty eight b and we'll begin with matt dean well i'd like to think the league of women voters and all of the folks who came here said night to learn a little bit more about the candidates in this district and those of you who are watching from home thank you for tuning in and learning more about the issues affecting this area and also some issues affecting the upcoming legislative session this is a very important election as all of us know and it's really says good things about our community that people show up that people tune in to find out about the candidates in the issues so thank you for doing that my name is matt dean and live with my wife laura and elwood we've got three great kids and we're raising them and we'd like them to stay in the state of minnesota and raise their kids here too but like a lot of folks we have some great concerns about where our state is heading and what kind of opportunities that they will have moving forward particularly in the area of jobs i was first elected in two thousand and four and have served in the legislature since i was elected as majority leader in last year in the last two thousand and ten i was elected majority  leader and served with both senator chamberlain and representative run back and work very well with them and look forward to working with them in a very challenging but improving session moving forward for minnesota's legislature and the state of minnesota and our economy but there's a lot at stake and we know that moving forward and i think that when we travel around and we talk to folks i traveled thirty thousand miles last summer talking to different people i hear about jobs and the economy in the future and for our kids and my job that's what folks are saying now you know five years ago it was the economy and jobs this year it's what about my job what about our checkbook that's what we want to talk a little bit about tonight and address and looking forward we've got some great opportunities in the state of minnesota we've got a lot of assets that we can draw upon and we're very optimistic about moving forward so once again thank you for tuning in look forward the discussion ahead thank you that's his opening remarks craig  lf my name is greg greg i'm the d f l and earth candidate for the minnesota house thirty eight b i love saying that especially when i'm knocking on doors i just want to repeat it as often as i can i join my panel members and thanking the league of women voters this is a wonderful forum thank you to all of you for attending tonight what a good looking group and a special hello  everyone who is watching us at home a little bit about myself i'm going to make it brief i want you to understand i grew up here i work here i volunteered here and tonight in the audience my beautiful family is here my lovely wife my wonderful mother my wonderful mother in law and many friends and a lot of familiar faces that i've met as i was  share that with you because i want to emphasize this is my hometown this is my backyard as your representative i'm going to use the standard that carol macfarlane has established the standard for personal public service representative macfarlane returns your phone calls she answers your e mails she stays connected to you and you the hardworking creative members of this community will be my focus as your representative i want to go to the i want to use my accounting degree and go to the hill and balance the budget and do it fairly balancing the budget we can pay back to schools and we can use the bonding that's available for the state to create jobs create jobs in the public sector and the private sector and that generates that generates more jobs and money that helps the economy and we all win and i ask for your vote thank you you thank there are two constitutional amendments on the ballot and we will have questions on them and we're going to begin with this one if the proposed constitutional amendment requiring all voters to show a photo id passes this year what rules would you propose to implement the language of the amendment in two thousand and thirteen and we will begin with patrick d when i first looked at this and heard about this i really personal i'm against the voter id i don't think it's the right time to do it i think it's been looked at rushed to judgment too quickly the other thing that worries me is the cost of go this goes beyond a simple ten dollar i d card and what i fear is going to happen is that the legislature if it passes the legislature will mandate this and then at that point the counties will have to assess people on the property tax to pay for it i look at this and i'm not happy with what i see here because i think it gets to mint too many restrictions in place and right now i don't think it's a good idea that we that there's not been enough discussion about it and enough decisionmaking on this to see that all the pieces like that all the eyes of the t's of across here so i would say at this point that this should not be implemented and we should take it very hard look at really what this does is it helping or is it hurting voters i feel the border idea men men is a solution looking for a problem if it passes i feel the legislature would have responsibility to do everything possible to put an id into the hands of every potential voter that an effort would have to be pursued to make sure that there were no borders that didn't have an i d that couldn't vote when they went to the polling place that will be the responsibility  legislature and and most likely will cost money and people will be missed and we will have disenfranchised voters and that's going to hurt minnesota minnesota has a reputation for putting out for showing up at the polls usually number one a number two in the nation we do not need to put more obstacles in place so if that if the id amendment were to pass and i hope not the legislature would have a responsibility to make sure every voter had available the id that they need perhaps we would need to broaden the type of id that would be available so that college students wouldn't have to worry that's my concern and that's what i would that's what i would approach and pursue at the legislature making sure that every voter had an idea available and that they wouldn't have to pay for it and then it would be easily accessible  dean well thank you the idea behind voter id is a pretty simple one and that is when you go to the polls are you who you say you are and where do you live where you sail it and this is a very common sense law that is actually enacted across the country in the majority of states and what we're doing is we're looking at other states and we're saying how do we enact that in a fair way in the state of minnesota with common sense and when you look at enacting that and doing that we're going to that's what we're going to do we're going to apply common sense though that it actually works in the state of minnesota we're looking at other states and how they haven't acted that to try to make sure that we get it right and that's what the enacting language will do and it will address some of the concerns that people have and by the way there are valid concerns you know what if somebody doesn't have an i d what if you can't afford an i d those are those have been addressed what if college student from arizona wishes to vote here and they have it a i from arizona what about grandma who is in a nursing home what about homeless shelters we've discussed all of these as it has gone through the process and debate it and we want to make sure that we address each and every single concern and i think that we've done that appropriately and in the state of minnesota elections happen to get close quite a bit we had several elections that came down to just a razor we had one of my friends king banyan a professor from st cloud he won by thirteen votes we had norm coleman versus al franken that went to a recount and a hand counted ballots just came down to a handful of ballots so if elections weren't close it probably wouldn't matter integrity is important and that's what we're after with the amendment roger chamberlain thank you to address the question directly at first is that what would we do to implement the constitutional amendment we passed legislation  house passed legislation the governor vetoed that legislation two thousand and eleven and is represent represented didn't mention we dressed all those issues almost shelters better woman shelters senior care facilities students and dorms and anybody the bottom line is anybody who is eligible to vote and wants to vote will be able to vote as represented dean said this has been implemented across the country many other states are experience has been positive there's been no voter suppression georgia several studies indicated that georgia and indiana had increasing voter turnout african american voter turnout in georgia one up by about forty four percent hispanic turnout went up sixty four percent that's from a study by leonard journal constitution the universe in missouri in delaware and new jersey conducted studies and came to the same conclusion so if you want to vote you can vote as far as cost the cost is estimated to be implement this in the first two cycles about five million dollars that can be supplemented with hobby farms that we have in the state so it's a common sense solutions to be protecting integrity of our voting system with such citizens have demanded by a large majority thank you thank you the question now goes to linda runback integrity in our voting system is crucial and i think we do that the evidence that i've seen indicates we do need to have voter id i mean when you think about all of the avenues by which somebody could fraud the system or defraud the system they're there they're there they're just there for the for the doing look at the registration form itself you can check a box and say i don't have any kind of id i have no form of id and no one is bothering to check that and to question that in two to say well we need to pursue this a little further you have the vouching system which i think currently allows that at one point fifteen people could be vouched for i think we're the only state in the nation that has a vouching system which really expedites that's the same day voting i mean i do believe in same be voting but we really if we're going to have it let's make it a process by which people can can prove up who they are and that they have a right to vote in our state so you look at there are systems currently there are a lot of flaws in it we know for example that that same day voter registration card when  followed up with a postcard to that address there are six thousand that couldn't be identified some of those addresses were an empty lot or a park we know there is fraud and i cannot really understand frankly why the legal and voters is just so adamantly opposed to this thank you the question now goes to tim henderson think you know the question is what are we going to do in two thousand and thirteen if enacted so i'm not here to talk for against it but i what i'm going to remind everybody this is unfinished legislation that we're voting on when i've been at the doors a lot of people asked me about the amendment and specifically this one and it takes me a while to to give them all the pros and cons if it was as simple as showing your picture with your name on it that's one thing but it's not and there's a lot of people confused a lot of people don't even know really what they're voting does yes mean this are no mean there so i'm trying to explain it to him but if elected and i'm part of the two thousand and thirteen legislature i want to make it is easy and transparent as possible for everybody to understand and i didn't i don't wan disenfranchise anybody out there there's a lot i've heard there's a lot of elderly there's a lot of people that don't drive they don't have photo ids are going to have to get one i've heard from a lot of me in this apologies that they can't afford to implement this so i want to make sure that the state has to pay for it and has to reimburse these counties and cities especially in rural minnesota where they're already been hit hard but in two thousand and eight minnesota were ranked the highest in the state of voter turnout and i don't want that to act i want people to to know they can go vote in it's a constitutional right now our constitution is about freedoms and liberties not restrictions so we've got to be very careful what we ask for in our constitution who we're not always going to be the majority we don't know what the majority is to be thank you our next question is on the marriage amendment and the question is did you vote for the marriage amendment or would you have voted for it why is this a benefit to our state and we'll begin with linda  lot of our folks are willing to think of it and i look at it as an attempt really to undermine religious beliefs and the freedom to express religious beliefs many many people do not believe that same sex marriage was according to their religious beliefs and once this would be in effect and have passed and we're already seeing indications that normal faith faith folks are going to find themselves possibly fired for expressing their beliefs because it would be of course against the law to two to oppose same sex marriage  people are already going out of business photographers who don't prefer for example to to shoot the wedding of a same sex couple we're going to see life changed dramatically and i think it is not  an act that is going to help in the ultimate our children our children being put first under a system which is being proposed so i think you're looking at one or two percent of the population that want to drive the agenda for the ninety nine percent thank you the question now goes to tim henderson thank you this is been another controversial one and had i been in session last year would be on the ballot i would have been working on creating jobs not divisive amendments but anyhow since it isn't we're going to be voting on it i'm against it and here's why it's kind of funny because lynn run back and i go to the same church and i did reach out to my pastor and i said hey what's going on here what do you think i need a little theologian logical wisdom  here and he said we're more neutral on it in our church it's incarnation luton church by the way and we're we're just neutral in you know and i said i quoted some bible things are heard and we talked about that but you know when i'm on the doors knock and i talk with people and i tell them when they ask me about it i'm not gay i don't get the gay thing ok but the gays don't get my thing and i don't want to discriminate people against people  i asked my paschal my going to go to hell if i support disavowal for he said no ok so i'm happy about that but i don't want to discriminate and once again our constitution is about freedoms and liberties i can i have gay people on my street i work with some gay folks they're all great people they're taxpayers i have a cousin to it's gay he's been met with his partner for fourteen years and they have two wonderful kids and there's they're in fact there's better than some a hetero sexual parents that i know but i don't get it they don't get me but the last thing i want to do is discriminated against them we're past that we move forward thank you the question now goes to great parasol let me take a moment now ask you to clarify the question the question is did you vote for the marriage amendment or would you have voted for it why is this a benefit to our state so if i had been in the legislature i would not have voted for it i don't i really do not see the benefit for it and i think as we see so many churches that are taking up their opinions and putting them in public we have churches that are for churches that are against and even within congregations there seems to be debate and discussion it doesn't belong in the constitution i agree with jim we're taking away rights we're trying to limit rights we've tried that once before but it didn't work in prohibition really the legislature does not have a responsibility in legislating what really seems to be a moral issue for some that is not the direction we should be going if we're looking to make changes if we want to make changes we do it within the legislature we are elected to represent you we are responsible to know what your opinions are what your desires are what your needs are and bring them to the legislature and discuss it with the other elected officials who are doing the same thing should happen in the legislature it should not happen in the constitution we do not have government like by referendum like california they let us do our job should be involved in that type of legislation thank you the question now goes to matt dean thank you this is a very important topic marriage is an important thing and it's also very controversial both in minnesota and across the country this is something that has been debated in other states and continues to be debated in the united states and we've passed this in the minnesota house it's been debated just isn't the first year it's been around for quite  and the question is not really is this a question for our churches or is it a question for the legislature it's really is a question for the courts because in other states courts have redefined marriage a handful of judges have been able to do that and therefore the states have stepped in and said that we're not going to allow judges to do that and so i think that it's an appropriate question of should it be in the hands of a couple of judges or should it be in the hands of the people we've answered that question now it is in the hands of the citizens of the state of minnesota where i think it's appropriate i supported it and was strongly supported in the legislature and i will vote for it and strongly supported going forward thank you and the question now goes to roger chamberlain i did vote for the marriage where there's a lot of talk here about restricting rights and what the constitution is for us the constitution is a limit government and that's what we like to do is limit government in many areas but as far as marriage in restricting so it is in current law constitutional amendments but who decides the court's seven supreme court judge that judges minnesota or should the debate go to the people were belongs right now is a difficult discussion it's not easy sometimes as he did a lot of times it's civil but the proper place for this discussion is in the hands of the people in the public square i think is much more important for people to have this discussion than have seven supreme court judges make that decision for us i believe is important to head this discussion to storage the legal construct of marriage is not who can get married but why is the government involved and that is simply has been vulnerable third parties that's how it always has been in that's what it is now so i think it's important for people to have this discussion in the end we will all bide by what the people decide whether it's supporting it or not thank you thank you our next question is on gun violence with the recent shootings that accident printing and other places do you have any ideas that will help us curtail this drug this gun violence and we'll begin with matt dean i support second amendment rights and in the our community we have a lot of sportsmen who have guns that they use both for for hunting as well as for protection and support and we want to be able to continue their freedoms to do that and allow them to move forward we have got a very good system in the state of minnesota with their next program of finding out how we appropriately obtain and in track weapons and moving forward with their law enforcement officials and the idea is a balance if you want to have a balance of freedoms with protections i think minnesota strikes a pretty good balance right now with those with our protections that we currently have and moving forward i would want to move forward very cautiously so that we don't infringe upon people's rights to continue to hunt and use guns and also to protect themselves and their families in their homes thank you the question now goes to linda runback well i have been a supporter of guns i guess in in my years in the legislature i don't actually own any guns but i have come to understand it i  am an advocate of freedom and i look at it as a proxy for freedom in our country if we allow the continual taking of private property which this is in the continually roshon of people's ability to to only weapons and own guns and and so on i think that we are going to see a change in our in our country that is not for the good now with freedom of course  comes risk and we've seen some very unpleasant and very sad and tragic situations and i you know is there a good solution for that i mean certainly there are some very  individuals who have used the weapon in such a tragic way and so perhaps there is a need to to have better licensing and better control of of who obtains a weapon and if there might not be some other way to deter individuals who are mentally unstable so i think we have to look at that it seems to be a characteristic but in general i don't think we need to l far to the left on this and to begin changing our whole statute and thank you the question now goes to tim henderson well once again i'm a big outdoor enthusiasts some of big supporter of the second amendment i don't support stand your ground rule the it's kind of working its way through certain states and legislation but in order to enact any any crime further gun restriction and laws we're going to have to infringe on the privacy of minnesotans and just let me give you an example the one i'm going to call him a nut job the one of those guys that was out of the colorado shootings or one of them places he it was  that there comes a time when we go look out for each other and if any of these professionals if you will hear that one other patients or somebody in their congregation or somebody a counselor at school i'm going to go blow somebody up or kill a bunch of people well i you know i think we got to start reporting that stuff and but then you know we don't want their license to get taken away but that's about the only thing i could see that we could do because i don't want to create new laws to restrict folks we've got enough laws out there but we've got to be smart with what we got in minnesota does a pretty good job thank you the question now goes to roger chamberlain all those all those events are tragic as representative ron big mentioned freedom comes with risk and challenges it's very challenging in there are risks to it i also am a strong a but you have to strike a balance we have plenty of gun laws out there point of a my own several firearms and i've learned to use them responsibly everybody i know that owns a firearm uses a responsible but there is a balance and if we do much more we will be infringing upon that second amendment right that many of us hold near and dear to our hearts for many reasons there are a lot of bad actors out there and i wish we could wave a magic wand or read a special formula and catch all of them but sadly and tragically that's not the case and if that's not the case than the rest of us have to be able to adequately defend ourselves in those situations so we can catch them off we can stop them off we can't get them through screening and kill it elation and models and we should be able to the rest of us responsibly own those firearms so we can i got to make an observation i'm sure many of you are aware of it you look worldwide many countries do not have this problem japan has maybe three shootings murders a year it's an interesting point perhaps there's something that we can be learned in other countries and other cultures i'm not against gun ownership i have my own gun or i was brought up with guns but we've got rules and procedures that are already in place and i think they just need to be reinforced and tightened up but one of the elements that really you have to look at that is the common thread that runs through most of these shootings is that there's an element of obvious mental illness something is askew with these individuals we need to make sure that we have resources available for the for them as individuals and for families that recognize that there is an issue with other family members we need to have services available and procedures in place where families can refer and refer their loved ones if they see activity that they think needs to be addressed service is available if an individual feels they need to speak with someone the mental illness element is the common thread that runs through all of it and needs to be addressed thank you question now goes to patrick davern for those of you don't know i went to crete high school in st paul and it's at the time when it was still military and when i was part of the shooting team i was part of the shooting team and junior junior as an as a senior and we went through a very intense training on how to deal with firearms and if there was even  screwing around or trouble those people were off like that i think we do have enough laws on the books i think that the police have to be aggressive in making sure that there are no mental issues or those types of things that happen i have a permit  also i was going to go i was many years ago i was going to work for an armored car company required to have a permit to carry so we need to make sure as we're going through that we that law enforcement has those two able to research and make sure that we don't that we actually minimize those issues from happening thank you thank you our next question is on education what are your priorities for education policy and funding and we'll begin with gr our schools that's just basic but it's really interesting if we look at the funding that schools are receiving right now and you're just for inflation our schools are being funded at a rate that existed back in two thousand and five two thousand and six so our schools are basically being asked to do more with less so if you look at funding you've got to look at a really close make sure that we're funding our schools adequately unfortunately we have seen the legislature use the schools somewhat as a bank to balance the best the budget for the past by any room for a school shift in funding was utilized so a lot of money was not paid to the schools forcing the schools to make adjustments in making in meeting their expenses some schools had rainy day funds that they could tap into so that it can cover it but that meant that meant money was being taken out of the classroom and not being available some schools had to borrow money now paying interest to cover expenses so we've got to be able to go especially when you old the schools it is greg mentioned using as a piggy bank that we owe two point four billion dollars to we definitely have to fund those schools because the kids that are growing up now are going to be the future of the state and the future of the country so we definitely have to make sure that the u s institutions are funded and not used as a piggy bank and make sure that we don't put schools in those positions of lessening their teaching or adding more kids cl so we need to make sure that we don't one of the problem because when recessions will come and go but the workforce has to be qualified for the future jobs five ten and twenty years from now thank you thank you the question goes to as far as the funding and certainly i've heard a lot about the borrowing and nobody wanted to do that i would i think people ought understand that because we fund education to the tune of fifteen billion dollars every by any  that's that's more than half of the budget of the state practically so that the borrowing was mounted to delaying payments it's two or three or four months into the following year and it's been done when we've had other recessions during the ninety's when governor carlson faced a recession he use that tactic and as soon as there were funds available that got paid back governor plenty used it as well in two thousand and three two thousand  four and as soon as that the new money became available that was paid back as well i've talked to school superintendents who say that we have made the adjustment to the current borrowing so they have adjusted their spending so it isn't as though they are waiting for this to come and they would prefer that it come in fairly even predictable amounts so that that helps them manage their budgets better but i'm looking to some reforms in the in the area of last in first out addressing seniority i think even teachers are interested in removing that law i think we need to focus more on online learning and how that can help students all across the board and mandates that we have known and have seen are tying up funds that and making it difficult for our school superintendents to manage the school that's just a few of them thank you the question goes to the now thank you let's just talk a little bit about the education shift  as represented runback it said this is been employed since the ninety's too particularly where we have times of deficit and it's been employed by democrat legislatures republican legislatures it's never something that you would like to do but it's better than cutting kids and cutting the funding formula as they've had to do in other states painfully so basically what it says is that you paper schools in twenty eight months what you call them in twenty four months it's  optimal we didn't want to do that but it was a compromise with one time money with the governor the governor was actually looking at doing a bigger shift at fifty fifty paying him fifty percent on time fifty percent late we compromised and move forward with one time money and we did move forward and now luckily we did move from a actually with with very good planning and some very difficult decisions we have moved from a deficit to a surplus the legislature voted to pay the shift back and unfortunately the governor rather than taking the money that we had in surplus and paying back the shift said that i would rather keep that money in surplus than pay it back to the schools that's the most cynical thing that i've seen in most disappointing thing that i've seen since i've gotten to the legislature i'm disappointed with the governor's actions and i'm quite ashamed of it thank you the question now  and a couple things that we've done the last legislative session we support a lot of bipartisan efforts for alternative teacher lysine licensing the life will bill is represented bring back and mentioned changing the reasons for  layoffs from strictly seniority to other things basic skills we remove three mandates from schools so they would could save money and use that money in other places trust fund school trust funds for the land that was revised reform so now there will be generating money for schools we've done a lot of good things for schools and the increase we also increased their funding by nine percent over the last biennium that's real money that's not inflation as this idea that the they can come in and use some sort of unusual math to say two in two equals five is ridiculous we increased their funding by nine percent fifty dollars per pupil we now get fourteen billion dollars for the next by any m you add to that a local levy another five billion dollars that's about nineteen billion dollars schools are getting for two years i would contend that we can fund and adequately educate all our children eight hundred twenty thousand of them for nineteen billion dollars that shouldn't be difficult so i think we're going the right direction nobody likes a school show has been happening in the past in it and it's not new money it's in the budget so it doesn't add to the deficit looking  b financial data you will not see that in the deficit it isn't there so it doesn't exist thank you question now goes to tim henderson first start with the education piece i'm a big supporter of pre k k through twelve and higher education we haven't been good stewards of the legislature funding these appropriately they cut higher education by one thousand point eight percent i believe which which raised to wishing for the  higher ad they haven't paid to schools their what they told them they they've deferred it in the schools have had to take out loans but i'm also be explicit porter special needs and i was just talking to to a teacher at the door the other day who teaches english and she was telling me all the problems she has with a lot of the immigrants that are coming in to minnesota and in the problems that they're having and some of them are passing tests are graduating they don't speak english language and and she may need more support teaching the english language i have a hard time believing that we're graduating people in our kids that can't speak english so i think we've got to focus a little they're talking about the funding the legislature old k through twelve two point seven billion the governor is not here to defend himself against comment but let me tell you there was there's two statutes there any surpluses have to pay back to school shift and the rainy day fund that's the reserve that one point two billion that the republicans are talking about with the surplus six hundred eighty million went to pay back the bare minimum w is six hundred eighty million and then the rest of that went to disk will shift thank you our next question is also an education school choice is being discussed a lot at the legislature please define what that means to you  income would it allow any student to attend any school public private or parochial of their choice how would you deal with testing special lead except or i would all private schools then need to provide all of those services and we will begin with roger chamberlain strong believer in school choice very strong believer and here's why minneapolis public schools and by the way and a discussion about this one day with our current they know how to do it no ne minneapolis there i have a two charter schools it's a harbison best those schools are in north minneapolis they don't reject any students they again if i may i take in minneapolis but was now developed a program to look at that model so i am a strong believer in choice to give all kids an opportunity whether it's online learning vouchers no we have open enrollment inning we can do to encourage and strengthen that choice i fully support because it had success not only here but across the country and o'loghlin in new jersey yes i think as far as testing of course and the any school that is our students and gets taxpayer money is going to be subject to seeing testing requirements are going to have to graduate kids that have meet their standard graduation requirements and i'm confident that our professionals at that level teachers and educators if parents can figure this out and get it done be the education starts at home and they will get it done with choice and the choice they're stuck in maybe a bit school system thank you thank you the question  minnesota has been a leader and an innovator in school choice and the charter school movement really began here in the state of minnesota and we continue to be a leader in choice for parents and kids and how they want to get educated but what we're really seeing now is jobs we're talking about employers that are saying that our kids that we're having graduate from either k twelve or from our university in minsk you system aren't prepared for the jobs that we currently have particularly high tech jobs so we're going to have to have a changing school environment that really prepares students for a changing workforce moving forward we're going to need more technical skills and we're also going to need more math and science and stem skills so we're going to have to have schools that are really reacting both to the needs of kids and their parents but also as in the needs of the changing workplace if we want to keep kids in the state of minnesota we have to have prepared for those jobs that are coming down in the next ten and twenty years so we really need to do is look at both ends but to say to a child that you have to be trapped in a school that is not serving you is not serving your parents simply because your parents live in the wrong zip code or don't make enough money that you don't have those choices is wrong other states are looking at us as a model i think we can do more and i think we're on the right track thank you the question now of us to tim henderson twelve and some of those mandates in the charter and homeschooling in the private schools aren't there so when you're we were trying to look at their funding and what's what's not working and what's working you know i was just talking to a teacher in a private school she didn't even have a teacher's license but she's a teacher ok and there's a lot of reasons why people would want to homeschool or or charter or go to private school or keep their kids in k through twelve public so i don't want to take away my choices but there's only so much dollars to go around and education is a big part of the budget so we can't make everybody happy and fulfilled everybody's choices so i do want to concentrate in emphasize the majority of the monies should be going to public pre k k through twelve and higher education and a little portion or a portion that we can we can find bipartisan support can go to the other ones but the mandates are a lot different and some of other areas that people have the choices to do so i think we need to be careful thank you the question now goes to patrick davern when i worked at the university of minnesota in health sciences one of the things that we did was to make sure that the curriculum was good and it was accurate as we brought in business people and we brought in executives from hospitals and physicians from hospitals to talk to make sure to make the connection as far as the curriculum in to make sure it is good as possible because we always want to make sure that that in order for the applicants that their coffin they leave they get the appropriate job that they're looking for so i was a volved in this quite a bit when we that facilitated meetings with outside business and educators to make sure that the curriculum was cast being updated and we should also extend that same situation to k twelve and also tech schools as well so i'm very big proponent of that thank you thank you the question now goes to great paris so choices for school very important and there are no better choices than looking at the public school that you have available in choosing the school board members that you want to represent you can actually run the system for you we've got mandates we've got guidelines we've got standards that are set for on a federal level and on a state level those are implemented  enforced through the school board we've got some of the best members of the community working on our school board locally our students here in the school system have a lot of choices in the classes that they have available in the preparation for college is is top top of the line and very good my theory is that if we continue to go towards a vulture system and spend time in the legislature pursuing it and investigating it would take away from the schools that we had no community and we'd lose control thank you thank you the question now i think it's obvious that we need a new paradigm when it comes to education and of course we've been hearing this for you know the last twenty years or more actually but i think school choice certainly is that innovative move that the state can make it implies first of all that there will be a lot of parent involvement because clearly parents going to have to know a lot more about what options are out there and if there's one thing that will i think improve i think the outcomes of our for our children is that parents are going to get involved so from that standpoint it's truly a positive it may be that for minnesota it becomes a requirement when a school district or a particular school has reached a point where i mean we call it failure i guess but where they're you know they are not living up to the standards appearance expect of them and something new must be done in the state of michigan for example a number of their cities have actually turned all of their schools over  to school choice school districts but within that there's many other ways in many other options and certainly at least that parents would have an option within their own school district to put forth some sort of ideas that might be forwarded and acted upon for that for the better teaching of their children so as i think choice is really going to be in our future and we just have to know how to how to implement it thank you it's time to move on to some questions of the budget please explain how one party can claim a one point two billion dollars budget surplus while the other party shiloh's a four point five billion dollars deficit and we will start with ten henderson well when we talk budget we're talking about a budget that we get that they just finished the eleven twelve now we're going to bonding then we're talking about the projected deficit for fourteen fifteen is four point five billion dollars and here's how we get the four point five billion there is a two point two billion dollar school shift that hasn't been paid there's a billion dollars projected  that we're walking into in two thousand and fourteen fifteen and then there's another billion built in to that for inflation and other measures so that your four point two billion i don't i don't agree with the four point five billion ok when the republicans want to talk in their talking points and in their lead about a one point two billion dollars surplus that surplus was revenues that were not projected in the eleven and twelve forecast in eleven it was six hundred eighty something million dollars that exceeded and then in twelve it was three hundred something million they had depleted the rainy day fund the reserves that the republicans so six hundred eighty million dollars of their so called surplus had to go back to replenish that and that's why the governor vetoed one of the g o p bills the remaining two thousand and twelve so called surplus went to back to pay the school shift so we do grim reality we are facing a four point two billion dollar deficit in fourteen fifteen thank you the question i'm sorry tim that completely lost me i'm sorry the numbers are purely fiction i can say this strongly enough if you go to the minutes sort of management and budget website you look up their numbers it doesn't exist the surplus is the result yes because we created a a budget that created jobs reduced unemployment down to five point six percent and  our revenue projections for to this biennium are up seven percent and they're projected be another three percent up in two thousand and fourteen from thirteen so for them to say that there's a four point whatever billion dollar deficit is pure fiction it doesn't exist that school shift already exist that is money already guaranteed in the budget to the schools so they're guaranteed it and it's just delay in payment does not increase the amount or decrease it so we have a surplus the surplus projections come from minnesota management budget that's how we get it that's where our math comes from the statute requires certain things be done with the surplus but as a surplus generated by a better economy because we have better government that generate more jobs and then create that revenue that goes into the state coffers and starts of paying our obligations so we are on the right track that other stuff doesn't exist thank you the question now goes to patrick davern how about stopping entirely the accounting shifts and for your coding in fuzzy math that it seems to me that that might be the better way to go here that would make things a lot clearer and one of the things i'd like to be able to see is to be able to do proper budgeting and proper accounting you know i think we could be appeared for ten hours arguing the budget but if we didn't do all this fuzzy accounting and shifting the numbers there wouldn't be that much of a debate because we'd spend the money that we have but i think this is the problem is that we could again be up here for ten hours arguing about about who shifting what to whom if we stop bills with fuzzy accounting practices i think we have a lot of accurate picture a lot better budgeting you the question now goes to linda runback well i'd like to say how about reducing spending i think a little history lesson would be of benefit here in the old nine ten by any i'm that started with a three point five or four billion dollars surplus deficit four billion dollars deficit and you two years of legislative sessions and those in the democrats were in charge both of those years and the most of they could find to reduce spending by was half and half a billion dollars so five hundred million dollars out of three point five billion dollars deficit ok and it never got resolved and so then you roll up to the buy any of that began after that and all of a sudden i mean truly kicking the can down the road so that's where we ended up with a six billion dollar deficit i mean folks this is real we went through a recession never since the great depression in the thirty's did minnesota personal incomes drop by five percent in one year ok and yet government and yet spending never thought it had to take any reductions and the leaders in the democrat caucus at those times couldn't bear to find places to cut well that's not reality for anybody ok so you know that's not what the republicans are doing we're looking the problem in the face we're fine in the ways to deliver services and with or reduce spending without cutting services and up giving you a better state government as well thank you the question i posed to matt thank you we faced a unprecedented budget deficit and just as folks are saying that today we have a billion dollar surplus people are saying well that's not a real surplus i wish i really wish that it in two thousand and eleven in the winter we could pretend that the deficit wasn't real but you know it guys it was real it was real we had to deal with it and we had to balance a budget and unfortunately when you're are staring at a tough challenge you've got to grab ahold of it and you've got to you've got to do it we balance a budget we had a very long and protracted discussion with governor dayton who wanted to raise taxes to balance that budget he wanted to raise taxes not just a little bit but a lot to make minnesota the undisputed highest tax state in the country creating a new fourth tier creating a new fifty here and that didn't even get halfway up the hill that didn't balance the budget so to think that somehow that this is some magic narry that we've gone from a deficit to a surplus are really disregards some very difficult things that we had to go through to get here i think most people that i talk to are now glad that we didn't raise taxes and make minnesota the highest tax state in the country moving forward i think we need to be judicious and i need to think we need to get the governor on board earlier in more of a reality mode and terms of problem solving and a budget solving earlier in this next thirteen session so that we have a better result thank you the question is too great parasol is that clear no i don't think so we could  continue discuss in debate whether there is a surplus or whether there is not but basically there is no surplus because that money any extra money that's coming forward is already allocated to cover what's been borrowed from the rainy day fund that has to go and if there's anything additional that's left that has to go to paying back the schools yes gomer didn't want to do put in some new taxes because it's a question of fairness when you look at the minnesota department of revenue they've got some statistics too they look at what the middle income taxpayers are paying on average for their income and it's up around twelve percent you look at the top five percent that governor dayton wanted to reach with that new tear their average tax is less than ten percent where's the fairness we've got an opportunity to look at some new revenue we've got to take into consideration all the options in raising taxes could be some of those options because we're going to get all the tax cuts the tax cuts that we've been looking at seem to be coming from the elimination of the homestead credit cuts in services to special needs is that what we're talking about cutting for seniors we can do better we can consider all options thank you the next question is also on taxes and the budget due to the recent cuts cuts in local government aid and the reduction of home state credits property taxes have risen these taxes are hurting small business and homeowners how can we correct this problem will begin with gre because counties and cities have had to make adjustments because yes they've lost payments from the state the state is cutting back on their budget because taxes have been reduced in the upper tiers if services are going to be continued the counties have to pass that on and where are they passing it on to unite as homeowners and small businesses my opponent as looked at trying to give property tax relief to big business and corporations all of that then has to be covered and has to be paid by someone and so that gets passed down and down to the property property owners looking at your tax bills you've seen the increases the only way that we can reduce property taxes is to go back to balancing the budget and using all options possible to to reach that balance and if that means reviewing tax revenues and looking for new revenue and perhaps pushing the fourth or fifth tier we've done this in the past arnie carlson yes he worked with the legislature and he put in to be put in new fact the tax rates that were effective and dealt with the problem then perhaps we need to go back  review what was working then when the legislature shorts the counties the counties have nowhere to go but to the property owners it's very simple so when the cuts happen or me unfunded mandates come from the legislature who's going to pay it's going to go to the counties the counties are going to go  to the property owners for it i would pursue reinstating the homestead credit that's one of things i've stated before i think we have to help promote economy and promote growth and i think that's what we should do immediately and we have to have all options on the table when considering budgets thank you thank you the question now goes to linda runback i would i ask to take a look back to you know if you keep your property tax statements like i do but they go back a few years and if you look at two thousand eight and two thousand and nine and then i've actually got the statewide figures as well both of those years saw greater property tax increases then in two thousand and twelve and those years were both years in which the democrats were running the show in the house and the senate so it seems a little odd you know that that we're getting the property tax thrown at us but something else also went on we had a housing bubble and a housing recession and home values have been decreasing for about three years straight in some of the counties around us you've got property tax values property values actually decreasing twelve percent over time over the last three or four years did your cities and counties actually reduce their spending like ways i mean that's the question the only people who can raise the taxes at the local level are the cities and i think it's just really instructive to remind them of that and let's stop the bellyaching let's live within our means that's really what we have to do as responsible elected officials the market value homestead credit program was a subsidy that helps cities spend nobody ever tracked it there was no accounting for it no reporting of it it's literally you know a slush fund let's just call it that we need to do local government aid but let's actually know what we're getting when we send them a billion dollars thank you the question now goes to roger chamberlain  go back to the spending side of it talk about taxes when people talk about new revenue how much do we spend every two years in the state we spend sixty three billion dollars every two years in this state that's all funds all forms so when somebody says we need new revenue i say well we're going to spend it should we look at something else first so that's probably this issue a now the tax instance incident report i read it i know it i know what page it talks about i know what he's talking about he's not correct the most regressive tax there is is the sales tax and that's one of the that's like the fourth seven tie in the country we have a seven highest sales tax to back a liquor and  g that's regressive income tax a very progressive if you like progressivity income tax progressive property tax we targeted thirty million dollars to the lower income folks for property tax relief that's a fact it's in the bill now for the homestead market value credit it still exists so you can try to reinstate it but it still exists it's still there it's just transparent no it's not a slush fund of cities in the count's it exists it's  transparent reduction in your property tax market value for property tax purposes and oil local folks and raise your property taxes so if they're doing that and that's their that's what they're doing that's where it's coming from but it still exists and if you try to reinstate it the league of minnesota cities and every city and town and county in the states can be on it because they didn't like it they came to us and said get rid of it or reform we reformed it instead of getting rid of it thank you thank you next to tim henderson here we go again pointing blame represented run back here did a good job of blaming it on the the democrats when they had the majority in the house and senate but who was governor under the god paul lenny in ministration the eight years property taxes rose three billion dollars and we all know all knew what he said no new taxes no new taxes and then he got hit with some surcharges on cigarettes or so on and so forth but he was the governor and ate three billion dollars in eight years mine tripled ok mine tripled and i'm sure a lot of yours tripled too and when you talk about the loss of the homestead value tax credit the seven county metro is not going to get hit that hard but you talk to the mayor councils and the county commissioners out rule minnesota triple triple digits triple increases it's sad ok there is hope and i tell you where the department of revenue commissioner myron france has been oh around the whole summer touring talking to legislatures talking to constituents and voters across the whole state and she's going to be he's going to be presenting a tax plan dealing with sales tax state income tax and property taxes you know there's fifty different categories of property taxes it's very complicated but i'm willin if elected to get in there and work with the governor and negotiate a new tax code that we all can understand and that we all have ownership and that's fair and equal thank you question now goes to matt dean thank you i guess the answer that we're hearing is higher taxes at the local level to fund more government higher taxes at the state level to fund more government passing that down instead of giving money back to the property owner either a business property owner or a homeowner to give that money to the local unit of government in hopes that maybe someday that that might translate into lower taxes for individuals and frankly we're just not seen that let's talk about some of these businesses that i would like to provide some relief for yeah you know what guilty as charged i traveled around the state of minnesota last summer i put about thirty five hundred miles on my car i traveled to twenty one difference places where we met with local businesses we met with chambers we met with cities and counties and we said how can we work together to improve business to improve the economy up in chicago i met a lady she said her kids can't sleep in their bedrooms because it's full of product she's got inventory all over house and you think well this is a really good thing to have but you know this business is thriving she wants to expand she wanted to expand an add on to her building and add eight jobs but she couldn't because she had another building in the city that she was paying property taxes on that was doing nothing she was being burdened with property taxes she's been burdened with income taxes she's trying to grow or government and everything at the local level was saying don't do that what we need to do is yeah we need to provide some relief to people who employ other people for jobs if we want to keep minnesota growing and we don't want to become an island in the midwest we better start thinking about jobs and yeah we better start providing some relief form are they are going to leave thank you we have many many more questions that we didn't get to but it is time to move on to closing remarks we will begin with our candidates for thirty eight b and we will start with great car if we raise taxes companies believe we'll lose jobs it's a myth it's it's never been proven art rolnick economist for the federal reserve has done a nationwide study he's not found any evidence for that happening anywhere we in minnesota we've got a culture the standard of living a way of life that offsets so many things and young they've done a study they looked at the the all the taxes that the business pays and they found that minnesota is in the top ten for best places for business to move to because their tax the tax environment is actually that good when you compare it nationwide the valspar just in today's paper they're expanding and they're not they're not moving  airlines in the same and the same page they're going to be expanding here in the twin cities they're not looking to move to suv sioux falls it's a myth taxes need to be fair all the way across the board for individuals and for corporations there you are my opponent i'll tell you that minnesota has the highest tax rate possible but he doesn't add that when you take into consideration the loopholes and the credits most corporations pay around three percent versus the tax rate of nine percent minnesota is a good place to work i want to i want your i want to go forward i want to represent you i want to be the local guy that comes forward with good ideas and to be your representative thank you i like to think the league and think everyone again for attending it's been a very good debate also for the candidates for running and also for their families for putting up with it and for helping them run a no it's a very big challenge this is a very big decision in the upcoming election and it's not one to take lightly i very much enjoyed getting to know the new district particularly folks in the white bear lake area white bear township area and north oaks area served in the legislature and represented areas of have since two thousand and four it's been great it's also been interesting to learn about the differences in the district the differences between white bear township and white bear the city of white bear and elwood north oaks we've got a great history we've got great people so it's been it's been very enjoyable and people have just been so welcoming to laura and i as we've been reaching out and meeting people so i want to thank thank folks for being so gracious in doing that we do have big decisions moving forward and it really is about jobs and the economy moving forward for our kids and for our grandkids to make minnesota and keep minnesota a great place to live work and raise your family actually we are in a fight of our life for jobs and we are losing jobs currently to north dakota south dakota iowa and wisconsin met with job providers all last year the year before that next year site selectors do not issue press releases when they move jobs they just move them and we don't want to be number forty three as we currently are and rich state poor state for rankings for a job friendliness if you truly believe the jobs will not leave if we don't do something about taxes and regulation i think you're ignoring the fact that we are in that fight for our life and we can't have a good schools we can't have a good culture if we don't have a good economy that's something that we all need to get behind i look forward to the work ahead and i thank you for your vote thank you thank you you will now he the closing remarks from the candidates for house district thirty eight a and we will begin with linda runback thanks very much for being here tonight it's been a good discussion and i always appreciate the chance to really  get into the issues with the league of women voters i'm really running for a couple of reasons i see a couple of trends in our state one is that we are losing the people who are creating the jobs who are paying the high taxes and we can't afford to do that the tax foundation has said that between two thousand and one and two thousand and ten minnesota lost two other states that have more favorable tax environments we lost three point three billion dollars in adjusted gross income  that's a big chunk of tax revenue that we didn't see at the same time minnesota over the last couple of decades has has really i think attracted to our policies people that are very dependent upon government and what you know is this going to provide a real or present a problem to us so my concern is that we need to be sure we keep the job providers the job creators and those people who are making minnesota a success and that means yes we need to you know we need to be concerned about the kind of taxes we're imposing on those people and how that impacts jobs as well so those are very real concerns i will not be supporting governor dayton tax plan apparently he is planning another tax hike we've got to keep on this agenda of continuing to ratchet down the size of our state and our local government and i'm very committed to doing that there there were some incredible proposals introduced last year most of which were rebuffed or or vetoed unfortunately but we don't see the state government innovating the way that the private sector does and it really needs to there are some big areas that need reforming and that's what i'm committed to i also very concerned about matching those people needing jobs with their education establishment and with employers so we've got to find a way to simplify that connection point thank you thank you state government doesn't work it hurts more than it helps one of the things i'm going to be approaching me is i'm going to promise no i'm going to try not to have any closures of state governments the other thing that i'm going to be going after is reinstatement of the home state credit i want to eliminate outsourcing of jobs and the incentives to outsource jobs and these are one of the thing these are things i think that we need to create more jobs to bring more revenue into the state and those who want to be the key things that i'm going to go after and i think these things are important because once we have more money coming into the budget we can start dressing these issues and not have to worry about cutting programs or causing problems so that's one of the bills or one of the main things that i'm to be doing with and i like to ask for your vote on november fifth  much thank you now we will hear closing remarks from our two candidates for senate district thirty eight we will begin with roger chamberlain thank you again and thank all of you for coming and i have enjoyed the conversation we have reforms have led to surplus pay back a school shift is lead to increased employment and better job climate but we're all in this together and baby would baby boomers and changing needs we can no longer afford to continue past practices we cannot do it we will fail we will go bankrupt we need to effectively address the long term fiscal problems of the state need to be serious about it we need to prioritize are spending decisions need valuate outcomes and make choices about what works what does not in the lemonade those that are not working in reform the others more taxing borrowing spending and growing government will not to job job growth and create an economy we need to continue into the future and solve these problems it will lead us to bankruptcy an economic collapse and it will lead us to we will rub people with need creative solutions to address these changing needs within our state we have to choose a different path government we need government we need to pay taxes but it needs to be reasonable and it needs to be responsible our state government must be practical and efficient we have to live within our means revenue collections are up seven percent through the brain and that should be enough most be fair we will speak fair to all and not force equal outcomes for everybody in the end we need to empower people and not government the solutions lie with the people whether schools or business that is where it is and not more government and more taxing thank you thank you now it is closing remark timothy henderson well thanks again to the league of women voters and thanks to all of you folks for coming out today i wish this place was full we've got to tears here  but thanks for coming out whether you're a republican a tea publican an independent a moderate democrat a lefty liberal whatever thanks for coming not enough people showed up but you know that's the way it goes and things  home and i want to thank the candidates in the incumbents i don't think enough goes out to all of us what we've we through our names out there and we're running for this i've never ran for senate before but tell you what it's exhausting and everybody up here is should be commended for all the hard work they put in regardless of what party they're from they've done a they've done a great job now that's that's enough for me being nice here and i do still like roger  and i like everybody up here actually we're we're all here on this earth to work together but i do want to ask all the voters out there they had their chance the incumbents and they didn't do a very good job i gave them a d in the distance for debacle ok they've all made it very clear they're not going to work with the governor today i'm willing to work with governor dayton greg and patrick are willing to work with governor dean we've got a commissioner from the department of revenue that's going to come in with a new tax code it's going to simplify it and when we talk about tax equality we can actually get there we can simplified tax code we've got a bonding session coming up we get a lot of good folks back to work that need good jobs by rebuilding our fixing our roads our bridges all right the traditional republican party and i'm actually saying this i feel sorry for my i we've lost some good republicans because the tea publicans are two right wing extreme thank you god bless america god bless minnesota and vote for tim eight am and seven pm sunday november fourth and monday november fifth at eight am and seven pm playback on the north oaks channel sixteen is at six pm every night from thursday until election day and play back the north metro guide published by the league of women voters or on them in the lobby on the table and remember to vote on november sixth thank you good night