of district fifty two i will be your moderator for this evening the league is a nonpartisan volunteer organization that encourages citizens to participate in government while the leaks studies and take stands on issues we do not support oppose or endorse candidates for public office the purpose of this forum is to provide an opportunity for voters to learn more about the positions of the candidates and to provide an opportunity to the candidates to make their views known the following candidates have accepted our invitation starting on my left for house district fifty three a this paul gardner and l true name correctly you did great the order of seeding has been determined by a draw and questions and statements will be rotated opening and closing statements will be given two minutes question answers one minute and then there will be a rebuttal time at my discretion of up to thirty seconds questions will be collected from the audience and they will be given a preference we will start with our senate candidates and roger chamberlain drew number one so we will start with roger chamberlain with his opening statement thank first thank you to the league and thank you for the city for hosting and thanks to all of you for showing up tonight as she said my name is roger chamberlain i'm running for a minnesota state senate district fifty three a little background about me i've never run for office before i never held elective office before i lived in line lakes with my family my wife grew up out here in white bear lake white bear township we salute church out here i'm a busy i do business taxation by day and the county by trade i've been doing it about ten years now to the serious stuff states in a in a big bind where sit facing serious economic and fiscal problems serious challenges we didn't get here overnight we've been doing this for about fifty years since one thousand nine hundred sixty the state state spending has increased on average eight point eight percent every year since the year two thousand we have increased state spending by nearly seven billion dollars since for the next by any i'm revenues are expected to increase by about seven half percent yet expenses are expected to go up another twenty five percent revenue collections since two thousand and one through two thousand and eight up twenty eight percent so we don't have a we don't have a revenue problem is a spending issue we have big big problems but we can get these problems fixed we have to take a new direction a new course if we continue where we're going we're going to end up  over a cliff we can fix the problems we've got to change direction now we simply have to renew if we if we change direction now we can renew the confidence in the state attract investment and create jobs revitalizing the private sector creating jobs and free enterprise that is the challenge that's what we have to do we simply have to reduce the size of government reduce spending and reform the tax code that is simply the only way we're going to get out of this mess there is no other way thank you thank you mr chamberlain and now with her opening statement is sandy rummel first of all thank you to the league of women voters for holding this farm and thank you to the audience for bringing your wonderful smiling faces four years ago when i ran for senate i said i was going to work on the issues that mean the most to minnesota thing at least during that time i've become a successful and recognized leader both on the education committee and the environment committee and the energy committees in education for example i have waged an uphill battle so that we have policies that will change us from a culture of testing to a culture focused on student success with the energy committee i've worked with my colleagues to pass the renewable energy standard and three years later jobs in the renewable energy standard are growing six times faster than jobs in any other part of the economy and then fin the courage to take on the chemical corporations i passed the b p a bill i passed the toxic toys the toxic free toys bill and even though they spent eleven million dollars against four years ago i promise you i put principle over politics that means making tough decisions i've been making tough decisions for thirty years as a business owner nine years and since word member four years in the senate i make my decisions based on the assumption that we each piece of the truth and it's my job to find our common tooth and move us forward from there i look back on my four years and i think i can honestly say i kept my promises i running for minnesota senate today because yes there are big challenges ahead of us we have a major budget problem we have a school economy that's recovering too slowly and we have crowded classrooms and running for senate today because i believe in the future i believe that we if we are courageous can attack the problems that face us both fairly and paying attention so that our children have a better future thank you that was sandy rummel with her opening statement and now we will go to the candidates from fifty three a and first with his opening statement is paul gardner i think very much and thanks to the league for hosting this tonight and also glad for a very good crowd we for two to your terms in the state house and i'm looking forward to asking for your support for a third term during what is a very difficult time for our state during the last two years of certain committees for health care policy taxes and environmental policy  in which i'm the vice chair and the tax committee i've worked in a couple of key areas to specialize one is in protecting our groundwater in our drinking water another one has been protecting our teens and young adults from prescription drug abuse may have seen some prescription take back events that were done recently that i helped set up also combating domestic violence in our district two out of the twelve women who were murdered in minnesota by their partners were actually in our district which is very unfortunate and i have also worked on the issues of paratransit these are dial right services i know that in white bear that's been and issue of concern in terms of our overall priorities for the state i would like to see us keep a focus on the big scale on the assets that have made minnesota an economically diverse and resilient place during bad times such as this and those are assets in education at all levels and efficient and smart health care system  infrastructure at all levels of specialty transportation and telecommunications and also prudent use of natural resources looking forward to hearing your questions and thanks for coming thank you mr gardner next with her opening statement from house to street fifty three linda running well thank you to the league for this the forum and a very nice to have all of you here my name is linda runback and i'm running for the house in fifty three a my family and i live in circle pines minnesota and our daughter brittany graduated from centennial high school and is currently working on a master's degree at johns hopkins university we became parents all over again this year with the through the fs program we have we are hosting a student from hungary who will be with us for the entire school year mark eva he is his name and he's a delightful young man my background includes seventeen years in the corporate sector my husband and i own a small business a very small business eight hundred employees i spent time in the nonprofit sector and yes i was also in government i spent twelve years in the legislature first in the house and then in the senate i left in two thousand to run for congress didn't make that so i  spent some years at the taxpayers league as president of the free market institute and and so i've had that sort of broad experience when i was in the legislature i led a major bipartisan effort that reformed the state's workers comp system i pulled together for folks from the house where folks from the senate and we got it done after about eight years that it had been it had failed in the process and it released a billion dollars for our businesses to increase wages increased benefits hire employees and expand their businesses it was truly one of the reasons in minnesota why we experience such a vital one thousand nine hundred ninety or a decade of the ninety's i should say i was also the first to introduce across the board income tax cuts in one thousand nine hundred eight those later became law under jesse ventura's administration and in a republican led house so there again we were able to save taxpayers individuals that is a billion dollars a year in their income tax bills so i consider myself a citizen representative in a taxpayer advocate and eager to be about that again thank you thank you very much mr on back now our candidates for district fifty three b and we will start with carole macfarlane thank you thank you also to the league for to hosting tonight it's always very important for citizens to be informed it's an honor to represent fifty three b since two thousand and seven my life experiences have led me to where i am today and give me a unique well rounded perspective my husband and i were raised in the community and we raised our family here i volunteered for over thirty years in our community and continue to do so while in office my father established our family business forty two years ago i was graduating from high school that year the oldest of four children i look back at the risk and the responsibility that he took to better our lives the collaborative governance council give me insight as to dealing with the challenges that our state faces my priorities include creating a healthy business climate to attract business growth in our state while retaining existing businesses and jobs we need to support innovation and entrepreneurship to strengthen minnesota's economy i'm a former wiper school board member and at the legislature i'm the minority leader on k twelve education policy and a member of the k twelve finance committee and high  ed workforce development committee i understand the need to look at the larger picture when it comes to producing and retaining a well educated workforce most importantly as a wife mother and grandmother for i want our state to thrive so our future generations will prosper thank you miss macfarlane now we will have our the opening statement from chris nop thank you good evening i'm honored to be running for state representative to serve the great people call white bear lake white bear township unorthodox home i want to think the league of women voters for sponsoring this debate i want to thank all of you in the audience for being here and i want to think carole macfarlane and the other candidates for participating in this i will be a new voice for us in the minnesota house i am running for state representative because i want to ensure that the american dream stays alive in minnesota where through hard work and playing by the rules we can achieve our goals and potential in life for too many of us the american dream is slipping away thousands of people in our communities have lost their jobs some of our children have forty students in their classrooms the cost of college is out of reach for too many people on a fixed income or struggling with rise struggling with rising property taxes the pain is very real as the american dream slips away we can rise to meet the challenges and create a better future we are nation of limited government and more government is not the answer to every problem but good government is essential part of our civic fabric on public institutions by far right republicans corrodes or civic fabric in tears us apart i'll be a new voice for us in the minnesota house i will set priorities for effective government now ensure that state government lives within its means just as struggling families live within their first my priorities are policies that promote job creation in the private sector including reducing taxes on the business investments providing the resources to our schools to ensure a quality education while demanding accountability from our school administrators and teachers for why it is a hard wise use of our dollars protecting our land lakes and rivers for hunting fishing hiking and biking so that everyone has opportunity to enjoy the great minnesota outdoors we live in challenging times i am confident however that our best days are ahead of us i will listen to you be an independent voice and work with all sides for common sense solutions with your help as your state representative i will do may my part to make minnesota a more prosperous place i ask for your vote november thank you thank you mr can we will now start with questions from the audience in this question will first go to the house fifty three candidates and we will start with paul gardner the majority of minnesotans feel that state funding of k twelve k twelve education is detrimental to the education process for children and that the system is sluggish and murder some burdensome for the individual school administrations and teachers how would you work to get the state off the backs of public education well you've got two things at play here we all like the idea of local control but we also like the idea of having standards so that  employers for example are colleges and universities know what they're getting so that's one reason we have academic standards you know i've worked a lot on environmental issues with the private companies in trying to solve environmental issues in the one thing they say that works is tell us what the goal is we'll figure out how to reach it i think that's actually a good maxim in education i think that we actually have a good set of standards at the state level what we need to focus on right now is restructuring education formula since roughly seventy percent of state funding education funding for local schools comes from the state is very different from the state right grew up in in virginia where almost everything came out of the property taxes so they asked apparent to me that that the legislature itself may be one of the problems there is just an incessant sense of micromanaging on the part of the legislature and it seems to me that we have we have hired  well trained and well educated professionals and that there should be far more decisionmaking allowed and able to happen at the local level i happen to like things like site based management i think i do think we need to shake up the system i really do it has been you know run for too long by well frankly education minnesota the teachers union which is not interested in reforms any reforms and so there needs to be a partnership between parents and teachers that really takes a hold of this and does make some serious changes i would like to see actually have more of a broad based bipartisan group also to to be an intermediary between the legislature and fact is that we're having problems with ms so used to be a fairly good strong educational state but the fact is that we have declining enrollment rising costs flat to declining outcomes so the question is what do we do with that i think we have to step back clearly clear the slate and see what works we've been working on a model is forty years old no child left behind is a burden i have spoke to many people and i haven't met one that like no child left behind so we had to slate clean coming from a new direction the teachers in the district are stuck in the middle between the state and the labor not taking on teachers here but they can innovate in that area and need to roll some of that back we need to say what's going to work let's give some more freedom but they're stuck in the middle and we're asking a lot of these people so you approach thank you thank you mr chamberlain is rummel i think  u we do balance the way we fund schools between property taxes and state taxes estate taxes are mandated through the constitutional amendment we're supposed to be providing equitable education across the stay for all students and two thousand two thousand and three there was a buy down of some of the property taxes so that the state assumed more responsibility for us for school funding unfortunately in the past few years that support from the state has been whittled away we have been underfunding our schools and the burden has gone back to property taxes which means there's an equitable amount of funding depending on the kind of a district you lead in last year i sponsored an innovative bill called community center schools where and fact i think we need partnerships between the schools and their communities to help relate how relieve some of the issues that  students face the obstacles they face coming to school and then on the other hand the steak and the schools can take over the achievement part of the responsibility thank you mr macfarlane thank you i've almost forgotten the question by this point read no i basically i want to reiterate just comment that i don't think education is a partisan issue and i hope people don't make it one i think that all of our children in our state deserve to have the best education they can so they can attain the best that they can but we need to have an equitable and sustainable funding system for those kids i did serve on the school finance reform task force in the house as the only minority member we came up with some language  when i did some runs on it it became very inequitable right away so that was not the answer we need to look for those solutions but one of the the other issues that get involved are the federal mandates in the state mandates and we need to address those and obviously i'm about local control as much as you can but also serving on the school board i know how little control we actually do have which is very unfortunate so thank you thank you for the  question to some extent i disagree with the premise of the question because in fact in the state constitution it requires minnesota to provide a quality education for every student so it is a primary obligation of the state to provide that education but over the course of the campaign there are three comments that i'd like to walk to bring home and things that need to be changed first the no child left behind act is creating unnecessary burdensome requirements that are teachers that do not help education there's  eileen a teacher who lives in town here in oak terrace and her special education teachers have to take math tests that are meant for the mainstream there's a there's a teacher out kelly who lives in the white bear township and for her for her continuing education for being a teacher she's she's learning how to how to teach test to kids as opposed to stimulating the creativity that now that's required of teachers in a final thing a comment from a retired teacher who lives in white bear township is that we're losing the fun but losing the fun in teaching so if we have a way with the mandates and allow the creativity will instill fun for our teachers and students thank you thank you anyone have any will move on to the next question and it and given the structural deficit what will you support to correct this deficit please include both revenue and expenditures if you choose to not raise revenue which is raise taxes please state how you will cut without harm to education and health care which right now is seventy percent of the budget in one minute the minnesota budget is broken we have a deficit of five point eight billion dollars last year we passed a number of cuts i think we cut about ten percent of the budget and it's possible that we may have to extend some of those cuts that there is no way that we can balance that budget without making some cuts we will also i think have to figure out new ways to do business there are a couple of counties that have kind of paved the way and southeast so to their twelve counties who have moved together to create cooperation between the counties better outcomes they will be measuring that what they're accomplishing in the also be improving services we need to do that across that across the board and then finally yes i think it's important that we raise some revenue there is no way that we can put rick like liquidity back into the system and keep our system whole without doing that thank you mr chamberlain we all understand there's a role for government in life and there's a role for taxation we first time we're broke we're dead broke the it's going to start with me it's going to start of the top i'm not going to take the deal i don't need a pension every department every agency use a look at what they do and evaluate what they do they should not expect that we're going to get any increases i'd like to be happy and fuzzy about this but if we don't fix this we're going over the cliff we have to fix this every one of us sr has a vested interest in getting this fixed so it starts with me we need to take a balanced approach to balancing the budget we can't tax our way out of this and we can't cut our way out of this hole either i see three things that we need to do first we need to raise revenue and that can be done in three categories one is to instill fairness in our tax structure the top one percent pays about nine point four percent of its income a combined state local taxes with a broad middle class pays about twelve point four percent if we instill fairness we can raise additional revenue for to meet the meet budget deficit secondly we can expand taxes and tobacco and alcohol and and permit a state authorized casino or seen no to raise additional taxes the key and the key in the tax area is not to raise not to increase property taxes on  on on homeowners and finally on the cuts i would hold two areas sacre sanct and the rest are open for cuts i would hold funding for schools and colleges protected and health care for the poor and working families protected and the rest of the budget is fair game thank you miss  farlane thank you first i want to start out by saying when i got into the legislature in two thousand and seven we had a two point six billion dollars surplus you have to wonder what's happened i think that just as private sector do does we have to live within our means and i think we need to look at that when i've sat on the on some finance committees i've been alarmed when i sit and look at the budgets and there's automatic increases on current programs and then we have made promises for new programs it without ever looking at the programs that we're currently doing if they're still working or if there's duplication or if they're even effective anymore and i think we need to take a closer look at that obviously we need to make sure that we set our priorities for the things that are covered in our constitution education transportation public safety and those issues like that we have to take a balanced approach but if i were to raise revenue i would i would say that the best way to do it  to have people be employed working in the state and give their fair share in taxes that way thank you miss runback i think we have a more serious problem than maybe we even realize i don't know if folks know that we  effectively added any more jobs in minnesota in the last decade we have in fact a few thousand fewer jobs in minnesota than in the year two thousand so that the problem is serious the revenue has to start regaining itself and  we are told by tom stinson the state economists that we aren't going to see a return to normalcy for many many years so it is time that this state decides to live within its means i think most people we talked to are saying government has expanded the mission creep is unacceptable it's time to take drastic action certainly we have to restructure that's the long long term goal we need a narrower more more narrowly focused government it'll be a government that works harder does better and really is more accepted by the public but restructuring is essential do not put taxes on the table because that's the only discussion you'll have at the capital if you say there's more taxes nope it's got to be no more money and we're going to really redefine and restructure thank you mr gardner a couple of things i think most minnesotans of realize that in order taxes mantra's actually shifted a lot of the responsibilities to the local level so for example in local government aid every dollar you cut sixty seven cents is levied back on property taxes in terms of where we've been just over the i've been in the legislature for four years and we've cut for three of those four years we've cut the general fund budget by twelve percent just in the last year so we have made some serious cuts and we're going to make some more to do the math if you get a six billion dollars cut if you extend what we have is a k twelve education shift with the paying back a little bit of it several hundred billion dollars to show a serious lead to districts that were serious about back to four and a half million probably enough to cut another two and a half billion including extending some one time cuts that we did this year and then i'd be looking at up to two billion in revenue i voted for up to a billion before but there's a lot of ways without necessarily increasing a tax rate that you can derive revenue by closing expenditure tax expenditure of loopholes and the like and my time is up thank you mr gardner i just anyone have any additional comments yes room yes i would like to push back a little bit on the idea of the jobs lost in the last ten years if you recall in two thousand we had major tax cuts those cuts were supposed to generate job growth in fact they did not and in fact in two thousand and eight we had a major recession and that recession was not brought on by government that was recession was brought on by carelessness and over reaching at the wall street and brought us to our knees we lost half a million jobs in minnesota just due to the recession last year minnesota legislator you know before the recession we would typically add thirty six thousand jobs a year last year the minnesota legislator legislature added thirty six thousand dollars or thirty six thousand jobs in one year thank you mr chamberlain i'll start with the last point first bonnie bills just create an illusion of prosperity you're borrowing from your wife to give you  haircut and so you created wealth bonding bills are simply taking out of my pocket transferring it to senator ramos and creating no new wealth and then you had to pay interest on top of that effective tax rate the top ten percent in this state pay a higher effective tax rate when you look at the study i've read the study i know the study his comments are in correct thank you thank you any other this round well actually during the recession since the recession of two thousand and eight the state lost one hundred forty one thousand jobs and actually the number of government jobs increased during the recession so we've we've were we're working against each other here as the and becoming more top heavy as we go so again my point about we we need a much much leaner government we have grown minnesota government during the good times and the bad times and now we're in for a long time of recovery it's we cannot bear the burden any one  minnesota needs an improved business climate create jobs what specific action will you take to increase private sector jobs in minnesota i think we have to look at removing some obstacles that our our businesses have one of them is a permit that our businesses have to go through and the regulations that are there regulations are good but sometimes they get in the way right now to start a business you have to go to many agencies many departments i mean it's just it's very cumbersome to start a business and the other thing that's is complicating things right now is a financial crisis that's out there in the banking and this is not anything legislature can help with but banks have gotten very skittish because the bank examiners are really clamping down on them about the equity that there is before they can loan money and so there are of people that would like to be expanding their businesses but can't get the loan from a bank to do this so i don't know if there'd be some i know we did have some jobs legislation that went through this past year and hopefully that will be a start but  we have to have an environment and also we have to have a tax environment in the state that does not penalize businesses for success thank you mr mcfarlane mr knapp i proposed for specific recommendations to help create jobs here in minnesota first to encourage startup businesses we can expand tax credits for investments in startups there's a medical device entrepreneur who lives on bald eagle eagle and he's looking for investors and if we can make it easier to reduce the taxes on the return for the investors in his business we'll create jobs here locally second we can help small businesses with health insurance for example we can remove the barriers that exist that prevent small pull small businesses together and they have cheaper health insurance that way by reducing the health insurance costs for small businesses we can improve the business climate here in minnesota thank you mr gardner thank you just some quick things that we have done just in the last year is create an angel investor tax credit so a lot of the startup businesses that we have in people's garages that could be the next big thing actually can get access to venture capital which has been mostly on the east and west coast and we also expanded our research and development credit so it applies to all businesses not just a very select group in terms of the big picture though since the private sector does create most of the jobs we do need some public private brainpower put together to figure out what it is that we are going to be good at what is going to make us unique and competitive compared to other countries and other states here in minnesota and i would argue that it's who we are and where we are that is going to make us competitive who we are really highly educated workforce where we are we have access to natural resources but we're also an agricultural state we're cold but there are various sectors of the economy that we could develop here so we don't lose in a competition with other states who are focusing  that have other advantages thank you mr nick we are currently well since night two thousand and two it actually lost fifty five thousand people who are our investment community people who have been successful in minnesota but who decided this was not a friendly place to live anymore because of the tax environment i think we have to address that we can't of continue to be a state that is out migrating the people what with resources and in migrating the people without resources but in terms of jobs we have to foster a pro growth environment to minnesota that starts from the governor on down i think we have to make sure that there's some policing about the legislature does it's a very chaotic environment we've got people that don't have an appreciation for job growth and for economics who are really creating trouble for our job owners i think in the legislature we have to reduce capital gains tax where one of the outliers in terms of gap agains taxes when you take a look at the training dollars you spend a lot in training dollars but those companies that are hiring don't actually get access to them very readily thank you mr and mr chamberlain jobs i want to refer to something did you hear what mr knapp said if we reduce the taxes will get the business to come back reduce the taxes you get the business to come back now tax credits let me tell you about tax credits lot of you may not know about that they are they pick and choose who will win and who will lose that's what tax credits do tax credits are tax cuts if you i wish i had a board i'd show you how that works we could cut the tax rate and give you another twenty five hundred bucks so don't be drawn into that little canard we have to read the budget the budget and the economy go together we fix this budget this fiscal situation we're go fix this economy and create jobs we have to reduce the size of government reduce the spending and reform the tax code sensible reasonable stuff but we don't need because we don't need government partnering with business business knows what to do believe me they know what to do we don't need government thank you thank you miss rummel i think you i'd like to challenge assumption of the question that we have a poor business climate if you go to the minnesota department of economic development our own administration's own website this is the governor's website it says the business taxes in minnesota are the sixteenth lowest in the country the corporate tax structure is competitive this is on department of education department of economic development website is competitive the per capita tax is similar to the states we compete with if you go to ernst and young minnesota ranks fifteenth from the bottom in terms of corporate taxes the market value of the top one hundred corporations grew by forty six percent in the last couple of years that's one hundred and thirty eight billion dollars we have a dynamic company economy because we have attracted a few years ago we had fourteen of the fortune five hundred companies in minnesota now we have twenty one that's a thirty percent increase we are a knowledge economy we need to invest in education so that we can continue to  clientele thank you additional comments anyone mr farland thank you i think we were looking at the facts about corporate taxes more taxes that a company has to incur than just corporate taxes you have to make a profit corporate taxes for one thing lot of our small businesses are unable to do that but you have unemployment taxes you have a worker's comp and property taxes property taxes and our business is getting higher and higher is for lowering the purse the property tax for homes and it's gotten out of control and i know because our business has experienced it and i won't go into that detail now but there is a lot more to it than just corporate tax thank you mr chamberlain i've run the chart just go to work and run the chart we have we have the six or seven highest corporate franchise tax rate in the nation business tax foundation rank is the seventh worst business tax climb in the country that's an independent organization not a government organization ernst and young i've read the report second paragraph it says these tax reductions these reduced collections are direct result of the recession no tax structural tax changes took place so again do not be misled by that thank you gergen mr chamberlain raised a point that i hope people will think about in the months to come we actually when we do give a tax credit or exempt certain groups or organizations or individuals from taxation that means you either have lower service or to get the same service everybody else has to pay higher taxes there are eleven billion dollars in taxes that we don't collect there's a one hundred page report that the department of revenue puts out all the time and we have looked at whether we have to end some of those either exemptions like to offer another specific suggestion for helping grow the economy here and that assist ranks in the link links between century college another committee colleges and with the business community here i know of many many people here in white bear that are are getting poverty is increasing faster in the suburbs than in the urban and rural areas according to census data what do you see as the best way to provide health coverage for some of our sickest and poorest residents including thousands of homeless veterans due to the changes in general assistance medical care well medical care for the indigent is certainly the the largest growing area of our health and human services budget the general assistance medical care program and problem that we have is that we've had a program doesn't the money doesn't come from the federal government we've had one of our own and there's been really an unlimited unlimited expenditures so with these individuals going to our emerge rooms and being offered the most expensive care well we've got a situation that is really out of control from as the budget sam point and that's why we we have to find a better way i think that's again we're asking in all these areas let's find that's do it different let's find a better way a more efficient way if we can connect these folks with clinics where they can have the coverage and the care at much much lower cost really we have to try to have a system that does that thank you mr gardner thank you general systems medical care traditionally has treated about thirty thousand people a year at any given time a little more than that and you're including thousands of homeless veterans who either don't qualify for veterans care or because of some mental health issues don't want to be in an institution and so general assistance medical care is covered costs are hospitals not just for emergency room care for it but for other types of here as well it cost us more when those folks are not covered because all of us who pay in private health care coverage end up paying higher rates because their hospitals and clinics end up writing off the cost and we have to absorb the rest of it we have a solution for fixing general assistance medical care after the governor on a lot of it and line and vetoed it and he wouldn't agree to anything until we got down to it was so small that now hospitals aren't accepting those patients best solution is for the next governor to sign an executive order accepting one point four billion dollars in federal funding for medicaid which came out of the health care reform bill current governors refused to do that thank you mrs rummel i think you i'll just build on what representative gardner just told you last year we struggled for hours and hours and days and days with the health care bill the bill that we finally wound up with did it to a certain extent predict protect the and the vulnerable in our communities and save some jobs it did reduce cost by one hundred fourteen million dollars for this coming  hundred fifty five million for the next by india and there were no costs cuts to nursing homes and the fastest growing part of our health care and human services budget is nursing home care it is not the end engine we were able to keep mental health system intact and the health care access fund is going to be a positive balance in two thousand and thirteen but as representative gardner said to fix for the g m c was a poor fix in adequate  and the best thing we can do is enroll in the early access the early enroll met for medical assistance that's one point four billion dollars to the state of minnesota thank you mr chamberlain there is a role for government here i'm not a mean guy i have family and i have people i know that are old and seniors and they need help we need to get them to help the most needy in this state need the help and we can get it to them and we should but all we're hearing is more proposals to do the same thing continue walking down the same path make marginal fixes i refer back to mrs rumbek we have to change what we're doing we have to step back and say what what are we doing wrong how we how can we get this right for the most needy can get what they need bottom line is individuals though cause they'll save you about you know two three billion dollars a year but you open up competition in the state for insurance companies and for the medical industry then you get the subsidies then you can save a couple billion dollars a year that's a new idea thank you thank you mr chamberlain mr not thank you make no mistake about it what happened in the past year with general assistance medical care was an absolute catastrophe for the thirty thousand of the poorest minnesotans that depended upon their program for health care plenty is out the tail of the legislation and the resulting confusion through their lives in in turmoil what is happening now is particularly in rural there were some good proposals that were out there and wanted to trade up a patient home to encourage more effective medical care unfortunately that it has not been funded adequately and are porous minnesotans are not receiving the health care they need thank you miss macfarlane thank you during this last section i session i took a lot of heat on the sustaining the governor's veto but there was a lot more to it than what people thought and i was standing up for change and i wanted i wanted both parties to be working together for a solution and that was not happening before and so i'm really happy that it happened when i look at yesterday i went and visited with brock nelson at regents hospital because i had heard that they really like the new plan that they've developed they have a coordinated care program for these for the vulnerable galt's they have set up in house clinics for the these people they come in and they divert them from the emergency room into where they need care he said this is really a good program for the people he said i wish more people would get into it unfortunately the other people have not taken to the stop or twenty but i think that there are good things we could not sustain what was going on before the night there needed to be a look at a better model is one we have now going to be the best no but it's a step in the right direction to take care of these people thank you additional comments anyone want to our next question and it will go first to mr chamberlain this is a question on revenue how will you replace and repay the one billion dollars back the one billion dollars of tobacco money that was borrowed by governor plenty to balance the budget and where are other revenue a study that indicated we're going to have problems two thousand and nine they published a budget trend study referred to the ninety five study and said we're still going to have problems and in two thousand and nine march of two thousand nine hundred to the budget problem we're going to have problems in january of two thousand and ten should we have to bite the bullet nothing's changed so how do we change that we've got to fix it structurally and no they should not be raiding other funds that are dedicated for something else but that's what they do and that's what they did the end of last session they raided funds to balance a budget instead of getting to work and beginning the session and solving the problem so how do we do it long term fixes started the top flat spending in the coming with some idea that we can't keep doing what we're doing and we don't need new taxes we've got enough money thank you thank you but i'm sorry i'm going to have to ask you to repeat the question it's a question on revenue sources how are you going to replace our repay the one billion dollar tobacco money that was borrowed by governor plenty to balance the budget and where are other revenue sources to match your make up that loss well contrary to what mr chamberlain said we don't not if money the the office of budget management is running short on cash flow and it's continually borrowing it's continually being put in the position to borrow money either from their schools or universities or other places where they have to give out payments i think we have a have to create a sustainable budget a budget that meets the obligations we have undertaken that doesn't mean we don't innovate that doesn't mean we don't do new things but we need a sustainable budget we need to bring in the kind of revenue that will give us the quality of life that we have come to appreciate minnesota and that has attracted other place other organizations to this state  we we have to pay off the shift to the schools we have to pay off all kinds of things this is going to be very difficult and it will involve cuts it will involve innovation and it will involve new revenue thank you mr gardner  thank you actually nobody's ever asked me how we would repay the tobacco the tobacco and dominate was rated in order to balance the budget without raising taxes because in two thousand and three part of the money from this well the settlement was because the tobacco companies were at a trial with minnesota as well as other states and they pretty much saw that they were going to be ruled against and they decided to settle because it would be cheaper and when given the opportunity to accept that settlement my opponent decided that  she'd have an amendment to not accept the money for prevention activities to keep teens and young adults from smoking i don't know how you pay back the endowment but i strongly support anti smoking secession efforts and i'm working on a bill draft right now that in our publicly funded health care programs that we have variable pricing so that if you do smoking or a public health care program you would pay a higher co pay in minnesota care thank you it's pick yes i think we're talking about revenue and how we're going to find some magic bullets and i don't think that there are any magic bullets on the tobacco settlement dollars came to our state and i'm not aware that there's any obligation to pay them back but we really have to just start from ground zero and make sure that we have all the elements to creating a strong economy it's going to take time it's not go happen it's not going to happen overnight we're going to have to put off some obligations we're going to have to delay some payments this is not going to be comfortable we're going to have to slow down spending we're going to have to reform it's  nop couple initial observations here you know and on one part this sort of republican approach is to effect deny that there's a problem here and that in fact that there is no budget deficit in there and there is no need to raise revenue i mean i think  the citizens of our communities in the state of minnesota are our adult enough to understand that when we tighten our belt that means substantial cuts in raising taxes in part of that raising taxes could be some additional revenue sources and one of those are  state sanctioned ever seen as are casinos to provide additional revenue for the state thank you additional comments anyone mr chamberlain again seven point five percent increase expected in revenue this next by a new twenty five percent increase in expenses how much is enough how many people out there got a seven percent raise this year and last that's what the state is going to get even in this current climate we know that there is a budget that is what we're talking about today that's why we're in this mess who started the spending isn't wasn't a fairy godmother it was people in the senate and this represented in the houses of this that we're part of a global economy we're part of a national economy and some of what is going on is it be beyond our control former governor carlson recently said that sixty percent of the problem that we are facing in our deficit has to do with the recession tom friedman told us that the robust economies of the ninety's were built on debt that we couldn't sustain and the bill has come  didn't create the recession representative mcfarlane or representative gardner we didn't create the recession we are dealing with the offshoot of a major global and a major national problem that we have to face together as a and it makes no sense whatsoever to put taxes out there first because then there are no reforms that come in now if we get to a point where we have the numbers and they're even of between the legislative members democrat republican and there's huge reforms that can be accomplished and the tiebreaker is that we have to raise some taxes i say we we can do that but it has to be negotiated and we have to get something for it we have to  get our government under control thank you mr gardner just to get back to the question we don't actually know that just to be clear we don't know that tobacco companies anything they put money in a settlement fun the state of the state raise the money and used it for other stuff the fund was supposed to be used for smoking cessation activities and paying for the cost to public health care programs of cigarette smoking and just to repeat again for the last three to four years i've been in the legislature we have cut spending  to balance the budget and the second thing is a lack of reality when you hear no new taxes from republicans what it really means for homeowners is an increase in property taxes so that's what you're facing here are increased property taxes and that's not what we should be doing thank you but move on to our next question and it goes to you mr not first what is your experience in building consensus among people of differing views and if you luck to it will you work across the aisle to get things done great thank you for the question i have my own small business where i help buy a land for parks and actual areas so i get to work with all different types of landowners from eighty year old widows to two large corporations and i work with all levels of government from townships to to the federal government and i what i do is get all parties singing from the same hymnal so in my day to day work i i actually bring people together for a common purpose for  construct of objective and i would bring that experience and that approach to serving in the legislature it's very clear that the people of minnesota want someone that's independent and reaches across across the aisle that the the problems with the six billion dollar deficit with a challenge to our school system require require working with all sides and i'm committed to doing that thank you mr macfarlane well this is what i thrive on and excel in  working and building consensus the best example i have is the work that i did with representative swales a democrat from woodbury and myself and we travel across the state to talk to school districts service cooperated and from that we developed we established a collaborative governance council which became law this year we brought together school districts cities counties telling ships the minnesota chamber sci you education minnesotan asked me to gather we needed to find our common themes that we could do this is not about partisanship this is about finding good solutions for our state in our community and what are the obstacles for from having collaboration and so we received recognition not just in the state but nationally for the work that we did and i'm really proud of it thank you miserable thank you i've been appointed chair of the clean water legacy fund and my job and i'm the only fresh n senator by the way was chair of a committee and my job on that particular subcommittee was to bring together via a very diverse group so i had the chamber of commerce over here and agriculture over here i had the hunters on a very complex bill and we did that we did it by listening to each other's i said before every one of us has a piece of the truth and for my work on that committee for my work in getting that consensus i was named a legislator of distinction two years ago thank you mr chamberlain you know we had to have consensus at what cost we work across the aisle and keep getting it wrong i will work across the aisle to get the answer t right answer i'm interested not in the political answer i'm interested in what the right answer is what's going to work for each one of you out here what can be worked best to keep this state going forward get it back on the road to prosperity and create jobs that will be the right answer now that means we can work across i'll get that that's wonderful and we should do that but i've been we're doing i don't work with groups and with people for since i was eighteen and join the navy just like all  have every day in your lives you have problems to find the problem get the people together get the data hash it out it's not rocket science really hasn't been doing it for several decades so we can get it done we go in the right direction  these problems but we've got to get it right that's the primary goal getting it right thank you thank you mr and so many people i've talked to are concerned that there's no opportunity for bipartisan consensus anymore in the on receptions hosted for the lobbyists and or by the lobbyist for the legislators there's really no opportunity to get to know your if your folks across the aisle in the legislature become a very angry and sort of great democrats to bring about the bipartisan work are calm perform and they were conservative democrats we worked in entire year legislative year to make that program happen so it can be done we have to just work to get to know one another and find where our common interests are thank you mr gardner just to use an example first i did work in the nonprofit sector getting folks in the public private and nonprofit sector is together people usually didn't agree but trying to find commonalities i use that in my work on prescription drug disposal so that we don't flush more pills down into our sewer system or to quick effects aquatic life or drinking water sources i sat down and stakeholder groups that i formed with doctors pharmacists hospitals nursing homes and then found out that there was a whole range of law enforcement issues related to controlled substances and i started work in the county sheriffs and chiefs of police the d a as well as various state agencies and we did find some areas of  consensus to put together some safe legislation or safe drug disposal legislation this year unfortunately it's been harder for me to collaborate with some members across the aisle because a lot of the green republicans have retired and the number of people who are there if you look two hundred nineteen bills were sent to the governor and a hundred ninety six were signed that means we agreed on a lot of things and i don't think the public even knows that and i wanted to bring that forward if you think there there need to be reforms to the legislative process itself and i would just cite an example one area of contention in the past had been the area of unemployment compensation and workers compensation and it would result in such such anger and vitriol on the floors of the respective house and senate that you know it boiled over it became things you couldn't work through and so what has happened now is that there's a bipartisan board equal numbers of democrats equal members of republicans and before any legislation comes to the body they have to first pass and be agreed to by this bipartisan board i think we need more of that we need more interview intervention actually thank you any other comments  this past year i worked on some legislation i i like to call it this mark government bill the point of the bill would be to give the legislature the capacity to make decisions based on solid independent research i will be working with  humphrey institute in five different foundations plus other participants so that we can hammer out the way that bill actually shape up for the legislature next year if we can at least start from a common ground of what th are i think we can start to move forward in a much more progressive and fluid way thank you so i was just going to strongly suggest that we not relax the gift ban that john marty championed we don't need a lobbyist paying for our food and liquor or for us to be able to get together with our colleagues we can certainly do that on anyone else well move on to our next question and it goes to mr gardner first what are your spending what are your spending priorities shortfall will the top but your priority would be ok through twelve that's an area that we tried to protect we didn't make any direct cuts during this very difficult budget session we did shift out was not a something i would have preferred to do it just means we defer payments to schools but that's the one area pretty much where we did not make a direct cut and we actually need to pay that shift back so if we do have new revenue on the table next year our goal would be to pay some of that shift back to keep our school districts whole so they don't start borrowing money and paying interest at the local level you know unfortunately had to make cuts everywhere else nursing homes are accepting public pay patients said below cost we have disability providers that have seen rate  be able to hold the ship together here during the next two years as the economy turns around keep education as a priority thank you mr mbeki i would agree that education has to be our number one priority within education i guess i'm in favor of taking a look at a number of the the pieces to the formula and finding out if there might be fairer ways more equitable ways to use to allocate that money but i do think another area of priority is the courts certainly we have heard from our chief  justices that retiring one in the new one that this is an area that's under a lot of stress especially during this difficult era and so the courts i think have to get our attention so that we can have a speedy justice i think a couple of areas where we need to actually look to find some spending savings and spending cuts would be in higher education and in health and human services i'm told that if minnesota was to have the same number of california was to have the same number of colleges and universities as minnesota they would have to build one hundred fifty campuses so we have a we have a very broad selection and availability of these but you know we need to look to see if really the the  y and the attendants and so on is what we want thank you mr chamberlain to get his priorities a government what's the government's primary role what's their primary responsibility and you know k twelve infrastructure public safety those things that are atop the list that there are obviously primary government responsibilities that be focused on k twelve in h h s obviously biggest budget items they consume almost including higher ed and some almost eighty percent of the budget we had to get in there reform we had to bring it to the table say let's squeeze something out let's look at new ideas let's be creative let's be bold about this because that's the only way we're going to get this done it's it's about reducing and reducing and reformulate again we just have to take a different look at this and come in from a different direction it's and you do that you'll get jobs and jobs help fix this problem so thank you thank you mis thank you the government has some basic core responsibilities their education transportation public safety public health and some minor but they're not minor really but the courts juvenile justice are also a major things that we need to address certainly education is a top priority because it is such a big part of the but the sections that haven't been then mentioned so far early childhood education we know that we get a much better return on our dollars we invest in children very early and then when they're small their brains are little sponges that can be channeled in the right direction so that they are ready for school and unlike this run back i think our universities are an engine that creates especially our research universities it creates jobs through the research and development they do so we can't we can't neglect the things that have made a strong in the past and i guess i would leave it at that thank you miss macfarlane thank you i would use the constitution as my guiding principle first of all education if we don't have a well trained workforce as we go forward our state will i have a tough future to me we also need to look at the workforce development including higher ed transportation our roads our bridges so we can have our commerce flow and our people can get around also public safety uniting coup police fire and the courts and that we also one do not want to forget the safety net programs for those vulnerable people in our in our state the disabled the children the aging population in those vulnerable people with mental illness the other part of that would be nutrition so that people can have a quality of life so they can get out and work in the future i would also use the state constitution is the guiding principle for establishing budget respect to early childhood education this is a an investment that returns sixteen dollars for every dollar invested according to the the federal reserve bank in minneapolis it's worth spending money in that area to save us money in the long run second with respect t transportation that is a core function in the state constitution that we need to support it was only the fact that governor plenty's veto was overridden that we were able to provide additional funding for say frozen bridges here in minnesota gardner i would just say voters may wish to seek from candidates what they are actually willing to do to make sure that we relieve pressure on key priority areas and a couple of us are willing to put everything on the table thank you thank you i just wanted to address the point about the our premier research institution which is the in the university of minnesota and certainly i think that state spending needs to make to make that a stronger area and focus on strengthening the university of minnesota and i think we also have to look at more efforts on the side on the part of patents and commercialization of the technology coming out of the university so that the best becomes a flow of  economic growth for our state thank you the science universities we have a number of wonderful community colleges and if you go by any community college campus today it is packed to the gills every one of our colleges has no more room the community colleges serve on multiple purpose some for some the decision between a high school education and a four year education for some it's retraining for new jobs i would said mr gardner actually so we'll put it on the table and and clean the slate and see what's there we can't just continue to blindly feed the beast because as we've been doing for forty years and it's not working too well we have to find a new way to do it there's a lot of value in our colleges and schools and i'm interested in the outcomes and what's best for those kids and students and we've got to work towards that then thank you anyone else i'm afraid that our time for questions has run out and so we will now begin with closing statements and we will begin with our candidates for the senate in the reverse in which they gave their opening statements and so we will start with sandy  you very much i open my remarks as an evening of reminding you of the four years ago i promised to work for things that minnesotans really care about they care about education the economy and energy and the environment and i also tell reminded you that i made promises to put principles over politics and i think that i have illustrated that i have kept my promises today we face some very difficult challenges we have a major budget problem we have a recovery that is coming along too slowly and we have an education system that is pushing for innovation and reform i have a record of leadership  all of those areas my opponent has given us some very interesting empty slogans i haven't heard any real solutions instead he has proposed old and failed policies strategies that have led us into the trouble that we are currently experiencing smaller government sometimes for me and for others that i talk to simply meads code word for cutting core services raising property taxes and creating greater disparity in the state the real question still remains will our state have the political will to elect leaders who will face and these problems honestly and fairly as your state senator i have not avoided any of the tough choices in the past and if reelected i will not avoid them in the future sure we have done some awfully good things in the last four years but there's still a great deal of work to be done i'm here tonight to ask you for your vote i'm here tonight to ask you to send me back to the senate so that i continue the work that i can so that i can continue the work that i have begun thank you very much thank you sandy ramel our next candidate for the senate is roger chamberlain in the fall on november second you will have a clear choice obviously senator romel and i have different views on how the government should be run the role of government and what true sympathy and empathy means to me empathy means a little something a little bit different i'd rather give a person i'd rather teach a person a fish and give them a fish that will take that person along the road a long way so you have a clear choice business as usual or something new is this is usual for the last forty years business as usual for the last four years with my opponent she's been in leadership where are we to do two billion dollars positive to six billion dollars negative eight billion dollars in the state eight billion dollars shift under her watch what  she done that's my question we got challenges we can we can take them on and fix them but we got to do that now we don't have the time to wait a vote for roger chamberlain be a vote to revitalize this private sector rekindle the sea kind of me create jobs and work in the private free enterprise system a vote for roger chamberlain will be a vote to renew confidence in the state to attract investment and create jobs lastly and most importantly of all to roger chamberlain is a vote to empower you i don't empower government i don't want to be empowered to rule your life i want to empower you that is where the solutions we have to reduce the science reduce the spending and reform if we don't do this we won't have much of a future district fifty three now we will hear from the candidates for senate for house district fifty three and we will begin with linda run back with thanks very much for all of you being here tonight i want to leave you with just a couple of thoughts i'm a person who believes in the free market system and the system of free enterprise i think that's what seventy percent of americans have come to believe is what makes america unique makes us strong makes us vibrant i'm a person who believes in limited government i think limited government is a challenge that we have to reach because i think it will be a better government it will serve more of us better and i'm a person who believes that  we can keep government spending low i'm a taxpayer advocate i have been and i will continue to be i will not go to st paul as someone who wants to see how many ways i can micromanage your life how many new costs and regulations and constraints i can impose on our businesses i will not be there to grow government i think it's a very critical time here in our country and in our state  and i'm experienced i have been in the legislature for twelve years i understand some of the foibles and some of the problems and the idiosyncrasies and why it's a fairly dysfunctional system we need to perform the process as well as reform  the spending but we need to legislature to be a much more active role and an agent in change and managing the existing programs that we have in our state so i leave you with that i think folks know that i have worked extremely hard in the past on the issues that i have taken up by i have been a good servant have been reliable in terms of constituent service and i will continue to do that as well but  grand closing speech but i want to touch on some issues that might help guide you as you consider your choice this november we didn't talk about a lot of different issues we only had seven questions but if you're interested in looking at some of my positions on the major issues you can go to my web site  debbie elect paul goddard or going to have my berkshire with my contact information in the back i also put a high value on not transparency it was a great mystery to me and what people were doing in the legislature on a daily basis and so i kind of did a little bit overkill and tell you what i'm doing on a daily basis on my blog the web the address for that is also in my brochure it also has a fact checker on there are the mail is started coming out this week from various interest groups and political parties and so on and there are some things that are always kind of misleading and so i try and get to the facts behind those and feel free to check that out i just appreciate the thought you're putting into coming out tonight i've really been impressed with the critical thinking that a lot of our constituents have when i go during knocking people have very in depth conversations when i'm in office people share with me their views their ideas from all walks of life and that's really helpful  to helping me learn and help make good decisions i always try and think he shoots through and not just have a hard and fast position on everything that's based in some rigid ideology i like to think things through thanks again for coming out tonight and i appreciate of women voters for sponsoring this debate i also want to thank you in the audience again for being part of the democratic process and i'd like to think carol macfarlane and the other candidates for their contributions this evening we need a new voice in the minnesota house of representatives i'm running it to make a real difference for real people i'm running for the entrepreneur who lives on bald eagle lake and is looking for investors for a start a business we should expand tax credits for these investors to promote job creation here in our communities and running for sherry who lives on golf you and lost her job that she held for sixteen years she sent out over five hundred resumes and is taking classes at century college to upgrade her skills must make college affordable and expand the links between students at her colleges and jobs at local businesses running for p high school teacher lives on dorothy avenue and my son john he has over forty suited citizen american history class and john has over forty students in his french language class we need to provide the resources to our schools so that we do not short change the next generation of the education that they need and deserve i am running for chad who lives on hope street and would like to bike safely along the north side of white bear lake with his two young children and running for larry a small business owner and hunter who lives there not a rich circle will have some creative ideas for making close to home hunting possible in the metro area for chad and larry we need to make sure that our state agencies recognize that small changes in the way they deliver services makes a big difference in the quality of life for real people in my day to day work i have a small business where i work to buy land for parks and natural areas i get people to work together for a constructive purpose i'll bring these skills to the minnesota house to cut through the existing gridlock and make a better future for larry chad pete and sherry and all the people in our communities and across minnesota who play hard work hard play by the rules and want to achieve the american dream we need a new voice in the minnesota house of representatives my privilege to serve you work for you and be the new voice i ask for your vote this november thank you thank you and now carole macfarlane thank you and thank you to everyone who came tonight and i thank you to the league of women voters voters in fifty three b have a clear choice on november second as a long time proven leader in our community in the state i know this community i care about the people in white bear lake wiper township north oaks and the state of minnesota constituent services are the most satisfying work that i do i've always been a connector in our community and now as i've been able to assist constituents business and businesses to resolve issues that they face i have built the relationships and i have the experience to best represent our communities at the legislature am committed to working on today's challenges and connecting people to real solutions my ability to problem solve respective brain opinions and use effective collaborative strategies are the strengths that i bring to the capital i've received endorsements from the minnesota police some peace officers association the united transportation union minnesota chiropractic association minnesota chamber of commerce leadership fund and the same paul building and construction trades council these endorsements recognize my ability to work with business labor and government sectors i understand the legislative process and how to get things done by working together for solutions it's an honor to serve the people of fifty three b and i ask for your vote on november second so that i can continue my public service and work on behalf of the citizens businesses and organizations in fifty three b thank you thank you for our candidate to our candidates for their participation tonight thank you to wipers like city hall for the use of their facility thank you to the ramsey washington cable commission and the production set up staff that worked on the sea vent and thank you to the league of women voters volunteers and you the audience for your attendance and interest cable rebroadcast of this for may be seen on channel sixteen of the following times mondays at nine thirty am wednesdays at one pm fridays it two pm or sundays at eight pm remember to vote on november second thank you and good night