good evening and welcome to the sleep of women voters forum for the candidates in the november general election for minutes on the legislature senate district forty three and house district forty three a my name is liz  am a member of the white bear area league of women voters but a resident of the city of grant and i will be moderating the form this evening as a trusted volunteer nonpartisan organization the league of women voters does not support or post political parties or candidates we sponsor forms like this to provide voters an opportunity to hear candidates views about issues of interest in the upcoming election for more information about the minnesota league please web site at l w v m and dot org the order speaking tonight has been determined by a drawing of numbers and will be rotate it randomly there after candidates room arts are being time to assure equality time questions are being collected from the audience there are two candidates for senate district forty three and two candidates for house district forty three a in alphabetical order the registered candidates are for state senator to wayne johnson and chuck weaver for house representative forty three a peter fisher and stacey stout will now begin with opening statements and we i thank you for coming out tonight my name is the wayne johnson i am running for the senate in senate district forty three i live here in white bear lake my wife and i moved here about a year ago and  her name is paul and with a little luck and keep walking the line sunday we will be celebrating our fortieth wedding anniversary on we have three adult children and seven grandchildren i work as an accountant after i got out of the marine corps i worked in several industries as a count for the last thirty years and the last five years i've been a tax accountant got an office over in maple grove minnesota seen the devastation caused on some of my clients by the high taxes and the poor economy in this area and that is the reason that i'm running for senate i am running on basically three three goals number one is to reduce the minnesota state budget we have it's getting out of hand and it needs to be reduced the second thing is to st loss of jobs in minnesota and create a next climate where all minnesota's can have a prosperous and enjoyable place to live the third thing is to prioritize the school and high educate higher education budgets so that we can develop more and brighter students in this area to draw new businesses into this area where a lot want to come here because of our educated populace thank you again for coming out tonight thank you next with his opening statement chuck leader hello everyone and to the viewers at home my name is chuck wigger i'm currently serving a state senator i'm a lifelong resident of fourth generation in this area raised in or st paul graduate of north high my educational journey took me to the university of minnesota to hamelin to the university of colorado boulder i have a bachelor of arts  law degree i'm an attorney i work at security in the largest private employer in st paul prior to that i manage several areas chamber of commerce i have five children their adult and three grandchildren and one on the way any minute i am running primarily for reelection for many of the same goals that you mentioned doing that being the jobs and economy there is no doubt that is the most important issue that we need to focus on and i would tie they didn't with education because you have to have a qualified workforce you have to match the skills with those that are out there and fact today we had a meeting with the white bear area chamber of commerce a number of representatives from the of higher education superintendents from different schools employers and talking how we can better match the skills that are out there with what's needed and i'm sure will have an opportunity to expand in terms of volunteer work i've been involved in whether it's on parks commission serving on my parish council for a couple of terms i chair the school board in or st paul maplewood oakdale i chair the ranch the soil and water conservation district i get involved in usually i'm put in a position of leadership because i'm a consensus builder and i do my very best to do that and i'll probably be pointing to some of those things during the forum if there's any point that's not cover tonight that you would like to more information or want to share a concern please call me my number is six five one seven seven zero zero two eight three or e mail charles dot yahoo dot com thank you those are your two candidates for senate district forty three you will hear opening statements from our two candidates for hostas truth forty three a and we will begin with stacey stone good evening thank you to the league of women voters for hosting this event and thank all of you for being here i'm stacy stout i live here in ma to meet i with my husband tim and archie boys jackson who will soon be five years old and ethan who is three years old our boys are fourth generation minnesotans and it's important to us to be raising them in this community we are members of st andrew's church and i'm on the white bear area y m c a community board i work at the minnesota farm bureau a grassroots organization and i handle federal legislative and regulatory policy there for over twelve years as an attorney i worked in  public policy i worked in the united states house of representatives the united states senate and the united states department of justice where worked with leadership of both parties and i understand the importance of having a solutions oriented approach in the legislat process i am running for this seat because i believe in service hard work discipline and personal responsibility my parents ran their own business and worked really hard to ensure that i would have a quality education and i'm the first person in my family to get a college degree i have a law degree and i was a while in law school i was a rotary scholar and i learned i grew as a leader in service to others and understand the importance of this role in serving our community as a representative i will work for quality education job growth fiscally responsible government and lower taxes i think it's my ability to problem solve to respectively not kenyans and i have a collaborative effective approach to problem solving our that those are the strengths that i'll take our state capital i'll be a principal voice for our community and i would be honored to have your belt thank you thank you next with his opening statement is peter fisher good evening my name is peter fischer i want to think the league for having this opportunity for us tonight you would that are here and you that are on that are watching us appreciate the opportunity i've had a great opportunity over the last few months to meet many of you in the district but there are some that i haven't met yet so i'd like to tell a little bit about myself my background where i've come from first of all i've grown up in the area i've got deep roots my great grandparents richie settled on a farm over off highway sixty one and thirty six we've got a lot of ties in the area i've been very active in the local communities i've served in the city of may put on the parks commission for over eighteen years and on the human relations commission for five years before that i served as chair of both commissions and i learned a lot of important things during that time most importantly is be able work together with people listening to people to be able solve the problems that we saw that we had before us on those commissions or some other areas of expertise that i bring that i think will be very helpful at the state capital is number one is i spent over thirty years in the small bit in the private sector working in businesses small businesses running and managing them learned a lot of different things and some of the challenges that businesses have five years ago i took a little change i went into the nonprofit world to help the homeless shelter that was suffering from state budget cuts i was able to go in and using my business background my degrees from the university of st thomas i was able to go in and financially save the organization turn around and was being done with a balanced approach taking a look at the hard decisions we had to make on the expense side and also on the revenue side and these are some things i think are very important it's something i think we've lost that the capitol last few years is bringing a balanced approach the spell's approach to solve our problems in terms of the revenue side in terms of how we address our education issues we've borrowed from our schools very heavily and we don't have a good answer for paying that back we all to our children to be able to do that i think that is one of the important things i bring i appreciate your consideration thank you thank you our first question is on health care what is the role of the legislature in making health care accessible and affordable and with chuck weaker it's very important that health care be accessible and affordable for everyone and i believe that has been declared at the national level very clearly in fact there is one quote i will just share at the conclusion of this we have a number of programs that provide a safety net but we still have people that can't get coverage and through the federal programs we've been able to finally for those people that have preexisting conditions there's going to be coverage students that may not have found a job yet or job that didn't offer benefits can be offered that type of coverage but i think it's very important that you have access to it a was summarized in actually i was going to use a quote about why we should do something at all levels and it was offered to very eloquently by mitt romney thank you next is peter fisher it's very important that we have accessible affordable health care from several different areas i think that number one it's important that we have our children covered i have three children right now that are in college and i'm glad that we have the change in the health law that know that i don't have to worry about what's going to happen in my kids health care as are getting through and finishing their degrees that's a very important number to our work with a segment of population that in the past too often has not had the opportunity for health care and the unfortunate part is when they don't have the opportunity for health care they end up in a situation where they're accessing health care through the emergency room the most expensive way of doing it i think we need to take a look at that making sure that we're focusing the resources and educating the people at the same time so they can learn how to access the health care system properly and also have the resources so they don't have to wait until it's a crisis the more preventative that we can be beforehand the better off we are and the healthy are and the lower costs we have in health care thank you the question next goes to wayne johnson well this is an area obviously that is quite important because tax season only and it goes for three months out of the year i have taken another part time job at target to just keep me busy during the year but also to get insurance but because of  care my hours have now been cut so that next year i might not be able to receive the insurance through target and this is why we have to really look at what we're doing when we pass laws to so that everybody gets can we can cover everybody but we have to watch out for those on those consequences that we don't realize are out there so we have to really really look at all sides of something before we pass a law that's going to cover everyone i hope this is the answer you're looking for but i am really concerned about health care of got a son who works in an emergency room he has for fifteen years and up and going to medical center thank you stacey stone i think i obviously we all agree that affordable accessible quality care is very important and we've actually done a really good job in minnesota we have one of the lowest uninsured rates of any state and our state ranks among the top tiers so i think what we want to be careful of is with the federal system coming into place we want to make sure that doesn't override what we're already doing right in our state because we want to ensure that the quality of care that we get it remains the same and the excess ability and therefore ability of it are in place for everybody who who needs medical care and so i think that's the main thing is that we just make sure that we keep doing right what we are and that we improve upon the things that can be approved improved upon but not at the expense of any anybody's access to quality care thank you oh no i'll give the candidates the opportunity for up to thirty seconds for  time so does anyone have any additional comments all right we'll move on to the second question there are about fifteen thousand people seeking shelter on any given night in minnesota and half of them are children what can you do to promote affordable housing and or prevent foreclosures and homelessness and we will begin with stacey stone it's the housing issue is a really it's in a very important critical issue at this time i've been door knocking through our entire district and i see a number of foreclosed homes i you know i know that people this is unlike any other time that we've seen as far as the number of people who are forced into another situation one that they did not forsee and in washington county we have about one hundred homeless youth and i think that there needs to be an approach on a number of levels one with the housing issue we've got to determine how to help people stay in their homes and but beyond that when they've already become homeless we've got to address those needs and help them get back into a situation where they're in their communities and able to succeed in in that community so that they can improve not only get back into their house but we have to address it from all levels as far as helping them get back to work and give them than this needs that they address the needs that they have so that they can get back into the community that their they live in thank you chuck we are first support those groups like at the east metro council and there's a number of programs right here in our neighborhood that are providing this safety net for people but how can that be addressed long term getting having good jobs is very important but we have people as well that have had good jobs but they have lost their house and that you mention the door knocking where people where the saddest thing i saw was where the babies toys and things everyone was out but they left that behind  it's just so sad the problem is that there were a lot of people that probably weren't suitable in terms of the amount of money they had for the mortgage and for those lenders that made those shame on them and for the bankers that allowed that type of a situation to happen and then just the greed got out of control we've got to have a sharper penalties in terms of the you know what's done in the whole practice for the mortgage process and then that will help prevent the problem that we had where people were a position where they were likely to fail thank you there's a number of components that go into homelessness having worked with homeless youth on a regular basis there's several things that we're facing it's not just the poor closers that are happening out there but it's also the cuts that have come through the state government over the last few years things that impact us greatly number one is a number of programs that used to help some of the  help some the homeless people have been cut down as a result they don't have the support of housing the need to be successful as a result they end up on the streets or in our local criminal justice system some of the other is that is greatly impacted is that in many instances where people have lost their homes they have problem finding affordable rental housing to go into that can house or entire family and as a result families are being broken up we need to find ways to get more affordable housing supporting affordable housing within the community that will provide enough bedrooms so that the families can stay together so being split apart it's a very complex issue but it's something that we have to work in partnership not only with the government but with local businesses and finding the solutions because not any one agency has it but by working together we can find the solutions to solve our problem thank johnson well i saw this quite a bit during tax season this year of people who had lost their homes and it's a very sad thing we have to long term obviously have a better educated populace in minnesota and more jobs short term i wish there was something you just put your finger on to say this will do it but there is and will have to work as  all of the groups that are working in the welfare area work together as a team to help these people to not only state it in a home but also to get the  necessary education they need to get to get another job because a lot of the jobs that they have lost are are going forever and it's going to take a combined effort of the government and welfare agencies and nonprofit organizations to fix this problem thank you does anyone have any additional comments and we'll move on to the next question our current laws have allowed mentally unstable people to buy guns and ammo with resulting loss of life how can we get control of the gun culture and restart a safe society and we will begin with peter fisher i think the first thing that we have to make sure to focus on is separate for any gun sales occurs that we're doing thorough background checks that's the number one thing whether it's through a registered dealer or whether it's through private hands i think that's one of the important things we have to take a look at we also have to keep a balance on so that we're making sure that we're not infringing on those who are in for hunting we have to make sure that we're also carrying out we're having coordination with people who are in the mental health arena making sure that as they're running into people who may have issues that it's getting into some kind of  database that is another area that we also have to keep in mind it's a complex issue but it's one that we have to work hard on because we can't afford to have people not only who may have the unstable but also have got violent criminal records in the background that also need to be kept in mind thank you wayne johnson i agree very much with one but there are fisher said that we have to somehow have a database where those who sell guns can quickly check and find out if this person is suitable to purchase of a gun and it has to be we have to work with other states also that somebody can't come in it's got to be tied in federally you can not real big on all of our personal information getting put on a federal data database but there has to be a way of checking to make sure that whoever purchasing a gun is not somebody who is prone to violence in our community thank you chuck leader i agree with mr johnson statement thank you says i i think it's a really important issue we do have a federally run system in the next system and i i applaud our law enforcement i think they do a great job and if i agree with what's been said it has to be a balanced approach we have a lot of hunters in our community and we want to make sure that they are getting their you know access to their gun and in a timely manner and so we don't want the regulatory process to override that but we want to make sure that we are weeding out people who should not be owning guns because that that's where the critical moment is in making sure that they're in the right hands and and again not infringing on anyone's personal right to own a gun thank you does anyone have any additional comment well i would just add the there was a lot of controversy when the legislature enacted concealed carry i did vote for that there was a large alarm that a lot of things were going to happen and accidents  and various killings that didn't happen and i think the key was that it was responsible implemented with background checks the due diligence that we had asked for with lots of training by those that would have it done with the record so with that little safeguards in place it's been implemented appropriately anyone else will move on to the next question what is the role of the legislature in managing our water resources and we will begin with stacey stout the the role of legislature is to work with the communities and our we have a number of agencies as well that should be involved as well as you know as everyone here knows we have serious problem with the the lake level in white bear lake and it's really important i know that all the communities around the lake and all the federal are all the state agencies that have any part of any part in this situation have been involved they've been doing a study we've got to make sure that we come we get to a point where we know what all the what the possible causes are and what the possible solutions are and it has to have we have to make sure that protecting our aquifers is is a main element in how we decide to move forward thank you chuck we are the quality of water the use of water is international issue and one of the biggest concerns actually confronting the planet and it's right here at home as well and in terms of involvement of the state we clearly as a planner and wanting to safeguard our natural resources want to have a very strong look in terms of what is put in place for and for our various policies that we have we look at the impact we for example through the metropolitan co have a development plan that's been put together on water resources commissioner victoria right here it's the chair of that and if you i get information on what's been inventoried right here at home we're awaiting now the results for a white bear lake  for the u s geological survey i just met with the city manager white bear today regarding that as well as the other communities they'll be a number of options but keep in mind we have tripled the amount of water that's pumped out with the pas generation and we can start conserving right now without any government involvement by doing more so it's a very important issue and will be before us next year thank you peter fisher several things that we have to keep in mind is in terms of managing water resources that it's comes from a number of different angles number one in basis species we've got a real problem with invasive species whether it's be zebra mussels or weeds that get into the area that go from one to another and cause it to be on an apple for our native plants and fish so we have to manage our resources from that angle number two we have to make sure that we're managing what's going to be happening in the future we have talk of sulfite mining may be occurring up in northern minnesota and other areas where this is occurred this is red led to pollution run up that  gone into the water system and damaged water systems we cannot afford to have that happen without the proper safeguards number three we've got to make sure that we're taking a strong look at what we're doing with our current awkward for us right here and it's not just here locally it has to be quarantined regionally because what's happening here will start happening in other parts of the metropolitan area and this is the time start be planning a wide range state approach by using this as our example having lived in arizona for a while and where there is no water do appreciate the water that we have in minnesota and also i remember back when rivers in i believe it was ohio used to catch on fire because  pollution that was dumped into it and we've come a long way since then but that doesn't mean we we quit now having seen what happened with white bear lake i think this is a clue as to what we have to do is get everybody who has an idea on it get them all together and find out what all the facts are before we jump into something and do something that's going to work against us in the future and that would be my approach thank you does anyone have any additional comments and we'll move on to the next question there are two constitutional amendments on the ballot this year what is your position on each amendment if one or both are approved what would be the financial and economic implications if any for the state and local governments and we will begin with dwayne johnson of number one they're they're already on the ballot so i don't have any control over that the marriage amendment if that does not if that we're going to say this right so it comes out right if it is not passed and we say marriage is between a man and a man or woman and one or whatever this is going to affect the tax laws possibly and that will have an effect on obviously on how much people and taxes i'm against it because i don't really want to change what god has said is marriage i met against relationships but we just have to put another name on it it's not marriage as far as the right to vote i think it's very unfair to people to have their vote canceled out by somebody who does not have a of a legal right to vote in this country thank you peter fisher i'm against both amendments and i think that one of the that for a number of reasons i'm against them is number one that in terms of the marriage amendment number one of the fails to fails in the selection nothing changes we're still left with the system where the supreme court has ruled that marriage is defined as a man purse and a woman my frustration is i have many of my friends who are same gendered relationships who are very committed in what they're doing and it bothers me that if something happens to one of them there's no guarantee that they can see their significant other there's no guarantee that their assets will pass from one to another in terms of the photo id i'm very concerned about the fact that it is not the best way to guarantee identity as i've seen too many cases when i used to work in the hospitality industry is those that wanted to get in to a bar under the age of twenty one were able to come up with bold idea and be able to do that i think we need to find a good way of making sure we have integrity but i don't think the photo id is the way to do it because people that want to are going to be able to find the policy ideas to make it work thank you chuck we're i voted no when it was before the legislature put it on the ballot i preferred that we focus on jobs during the session and i thought that was supposed to be a laser focus by the controlling party but we have this before us that said on the marriage amendment i support a person's right to enter a relationship and my position has evolved over time but as i have talked more and more to people and i'll say i'm a catholic and these are catholics also that support this and we are divided i understand as a community i thought former governor and carlson did a great job not only on this this issue but on the voter id issue doing you mentioned tax implications or the number of benefits and other items but the fact is it's already outlawed you know if you want to put a double lock on the door so be it's up to the voters i oppose the voter id that will cost money if it passes and even more tragically it's going to disenfranchise people some students it's going to disenfranchise some seniors and some military as well because there's too many unanswered questions thank you stacey stout i think that amendments both are important i do agree that i we're at a time when we have a very unstable economy there's a lot of other issues on people's minds and so i do question why we're having a constitutional amendment on an issue that's already our law that said i i think it's an important issue and i'm glad the voters will be able to vote as far as the voter id amendment i i think that's a little different in the sense that it's critically important that we protect a person's right to vote and that their vote is counted if somebody goes and cast a ballot about a vote at the ballot box fraudulent lee it cancels out a legitimate felt so on that issue i think it's very important that we get this into our constitution and again i i understand i don't think we should be amending our constitution on a regular basis i think there are a lot of issues that people are concerned about in our communities such as senator wicker mentioned the jobs and the economy and so i think we need to be very wise when we're amending our constitution thank you does anyone have any additional comments yes peter fischer first of all i've been  judging over a number of years and i've seen many times where i've turned away a number of people who i knew would live there locally and were entitled to vote but they didn't have the right i d they didn't have anyone there to vote for in the homeless you shelter workout in two thousand and eight most of our youth would not been able to vote because they did not have i d s because they couldn't get the birth certificates to get their i d s that is a problem and that manes those people would not have been able to vote in two thousand and eight and so what it does is it doesn't disenfranchise people does not allow it to vote we're going to lose more people that way than we have a voter fraud thank you or anyone else and now moderator if there's a problem then let's find nuts not be speculative that john would do it because this is going to be very costly and will disenfranchise i asked when we met with the washington county delegation and those legislators we meet with the county board i ask county attorney peter orpen how many prosecutions what's the issue it's not a problem in washington county i asked the same thing in ramsey county to the delegation to the election judges what's the problem it's not this is political thank you to understand nothing i was under the impression if there were people in washington county that had been  there they were prosecuted but i don't have the facts and figures right in front of me right now our days stacey and the comments will move on to the next question do you believe there is enough money with existing revenue and project growth along with possible cuts to some areas to fund our budget or do you believe we need a mix of tax increases in cuts to fund our state's needs and we will begin with peter fisher i think right now with the having worked in a number of different areas over the last few years that we do not have the resources available to meet the needs going forward structurally we have an imbalance we old two point four billion dollars towards schools that we still haven't paid from two years ago we also have inflation that's last be figured and that still leaves us in the hole another billion dollars we have to take a look at both sides with a balanced approach we have to take a look at the expense side but most importantly we have to take a look at closing at the revenue side and start closing the loopholes that are out there that allow some business to operate who are out of state advantage over local businesses and i think that's wrong and if we don't start addressing those things we start putting our local businesses at a disadvantage and miss out on opportunities to bring in that revenue to make our communities stronger and pay back to education thank you dwayne johnson i believe that our main focus has got to be on reining in our budget at this time there are areas that can be streamlined there are ways of prioritizing to bring that budget down so that we can live within our means each and every one of us here when times get tough we have to do that with our budgets at home and the state i feel has to do the same thank you stacey stout i think one interesting our budget needs all options should be on the table you have to look at the picture in its entirety and first of all i think we should start with making sure we're running our every government operation efficiently and that we're saving where we should be saving because we can always be doing a better job and so we need to be ensuring that we're doing that first i think it's important that we increase our revenue base by getting more people working that's how we get our revenue and then we have the resources to be addressing the critical needs that government should be addressing but in order to do that it works hand in hand you've got to get people working and we do that by ensuring that we have a business friendly climate and then once we've got that then our government should be operating efficiently and effectively to ensure that we're getting the best value as taxpayers thank you yes government needs to be efficient and we will go through the budget process where the constitution requires that it be balanced so it's not should it must be balanced i disagreed and voted against the borrowing that was put in effect to take money from classroom some modern meet i white bear and others by borrowing which is really going to have to be paid back and that's going to be before us next session we also have other issues in terms of programs that have needs and that would start first with our schools we also have nursing homes and options on health care in terms of making sure that people have access is there greater  will be made yes and spencer cronk to the commissioner for office management has got an ambitious program to put in a lot of things there's things we can do at the legislature i have sponsored in the past constitutional amendments so which would have reduced the size of the legislature and it did not get a hearing but i was fine with reducing that where we need to set that example so there's more efficiencies and they'll be made but we also can provide more does anyone have any additional comments shock since that's available i'm not a writer we need to have a fair taxation system and i don't believe it's fair for the middle america or the middle minnesotan in the middle class to be pain approximately twelve to thirteen percent of their income in taxes and there's a tax incidence study that document says it's nonpartisan and the middle class is paying about twelve to thirteen percent but those fortunate fortunate enough to be in the upper two percent and good for them their effective tax is going to be a ten percent that should be changed that is fairness and that will generate additional revenue thank you anyone else i guess i would just like to add right now minnesota's forty fifth least business friendly state so we don't want to increase taxes in any way to make it any worse it only go down by more thank you peter fisher you know several things number one is we do have positive things happening three i is locating many jobs and doing a major expansion in may put the biggest thing that i'm hearing is not so much on the tax side as making sure that we have people who have got these job skills which we have a chart shortage of we need to do that through education we need the funding available so that the people can get the jobs that the businesses have open and if we don't have the funds to do it they're not going to get trained we're not going to have the jobs we need to have government to be affective besides efficient thank you stacy do you have any comments for that we'll move on to the next question which is when one of the students who is here we are in the black box theater school i attend this high school and over the past four years have seen many classes condensed shortened or canceled altogether due to the lack of funding where does education stand for you and what do you plan to do about this growing problem and we'll begin with chuck we hear thank you to the student for sharing that to education is my number one priority i was first elected to the school board when i was attorney in hamlin at age twenty one and have been involved in school issues ever since our constitution article eight addresses the right for education in that we have a uniform system and it also says it's critical to our democracy in terms of a well educated population and there's a lot of rhetoric and bill of rights but what are we going to do we need to invest more in our schools and that is why there has been cutbacks because the resources so investing more in schools that's the bottom line with you're going to do it we need to provide assistance we shouldn't be borrowing as i mentioned earlier and i want to complement modern need eyes we're here the fab lab and other things are just exemplary of what we need to do to be looking at how we're going to be providing jobs and the whole stem science technology engineering math program you have here is great but we can do more and i hope we will thank you well as a mom i have two little boys who i want to see them have the best education possible and minnesota has done a lot of things right but we do have a lot of areas that we can improve and i think a lot of it comes back to the local level making sure that our school boards are able to make the decisions that they need to be making i think that we we need to make sure we've got quality teachers in the classroom and we have great teachers and they're doing a great job and we need to make sure that they have all the tools that they need such as the fab lab that senator we e been able to tour here at the high school and it's an amazing program they've got and i think it's it's really important that we're making sure we're preparing our students for the jobs of tomorrow it's it's tomorrow's workforce that arse our children will be entering into and we've got to make sure they're prepared so as parents and as community members i know it's and it's one of the biggest concerns on our mind and that's and we have to take all of those things into consideration whenever we're we're putting together our plan for a future education system thank you to enjoy this is something that does strike home with with us in our house because my daughter is a teacher in st paul part of the teacher union down there and is on a sabbatical right now the last two years she's been mentoring new teachers coming into the system to help them adjust to the from being in school classroom as a student to being in the classroom as a teacher teacher and unfortunately there's a few on that didn't make the cut in a way that's sad but in another way it's good because we've got better teachers in the school i spent  our sunday afternoon speaking with her about what does what we need to do in the educational system because she's right in it and there are areas that can be cut within the school system she talks about the fact that every time they come up with a new system they have to hire a group to come in and set up tests for these things and then the money goes for that instead of in the classroom where it should be thank you peter fisher education is very important to me there's a number of things that are impacting our ability to deliver quality education all three of my kids attended the public school systems in six twenty two north st paul minn would not help and over the last fifteen years as they went through that school system i saw dramatic change and was impacted by several things  the dramatic changes saws at the amount of classes that were offered in terms of fine arts are no longer available a lot of the support is no longer there because the budget cuts that they his had to make at the schools and this was being driven by a number of things and number one it was coming from the state inflation has increased substantially state funding has not state funded it it's only gone up by a fraction and as a result we're putting ourselves in a situation that is upside down at home we all have to make sure that we account for inflation in education we haven't and as result we've been cutting programs to make sure that we can keep within the budgets and that's going to have a negative impact on our students thank you anyone with additional comments and we'll move on to the next question which is also on education what are your priorities for education policy and funding and we will begin with wayne johnson well first of all we have to have  a funding source for the schools that the superintendents know and the school board to know how much money they can count on every year and it has to be something that is going to go from year to year to year the way when i worked  at nine sixteen several years ago working with their budgets it was it was difficult because every year you'd be getting a different amount of money and then you had to if we're losing money in one area how we going to pick it up someplace else we need a sustainable revenue for our schools and then we have to work with our schools in the high schools and the colleges to make sure that our students don't have to take remedial math and remedia english when they get into college that to me is just wrong it's a waste of time and money we've got to be able to train these students when they're high school level so when they get into college it's just a normal process and they don't have to learn the basics all over again thank you chuck leader for students we want them first ready for kids and that is actually a state goal and half the students are not ready  imagine how much greater the likelihood of success would be if most if not all students were ready and that means the most important person is going to be the parent the parents grandparents and others and what they can do the schools provide a number of programs and there's non profits but students first of all being ready for k and there's a huge initiative we talked about this actually today it one of the area businesses in the context of jobs leader the goal of the system is to achieve readiness for college post secondary education and hopefully that you are prepared to be a very good citizen and how do we fund that we provide stable funding we do not put the deep dependence on property tax that's wrong i support alternatives to that and overall that is very well summed up in what's been called minnesota miracle two which was offered by representative grayling and i will be supporting a measure somewhat similar to that next session thank you peter fisher education is very critical we have to work on restoring the funding and it comes across the entire spectrum we have to work from early childhood all the way through not just higher education but having opportunities for people to come back number one is returning veterans making sure we have retraining available for them as they come back from overseas number two the long term unemployed making sure that we're making retraining available to them because what's happening is an  or areas people are finding that certain industries are no longer viable and with technology things move rapidly and people need to retraining so they can get the education so that they can get the jobs so they can pay the taxes to help us in the future also on top of that if we have a strong early childhood then the kids will be ready when they go to school and eventually with the proper guidance throughout they will be ready when they get senior high and they'll be ready to start when they get to higher education because most jobs in our future will need a higher degree whether be a certificate a two year degree or a four year degree and if we want our children to be successful we've got to make sure we're supporting them in that process thank you stacey stout i think one of the first things we need to make sure we do is restore the funding to our schools our schools need to know what what they're how they're going to operate they need to be able to plan for that and second we've got to make sure we've got the best and most qualified teachers in the classroom and that we're maintaining them and beyond that is first funding goes we've got to make sure we've got a strong economy it comes back to making sure that we have the resources to fund the programs in our schools and make that available at the local level so that they have all options on the table that it's it's with a strong economy that will have options and opportunities for our students thank you does anyone have any additional comments yes i do in johnson another thing that  have run across is the fact that when some of our students graduate from a higher education they have a certificate or or they're trained in a certain area expression with a certificate when they go out and apply for a an area that certificate is no longer valid this is this this is not a good situation because a kid has wasted his time and money for a job that's not there waiting for him we've got to make sure that any certificates that we are handing out are valid in the industry thank you or anyone else i'd just like to add to that i think it is important that we're working with our businesses and making sure that the schools are are are learning what needs to be what the students need to have what skills they need to have in order to be ready for the jobs of the future because they are the future workforce and it's it's important i think wayne was touching on that in that when they come out of school that they're ready for the workplace and that only happens if we're working in coordination between the schools and the businesses thank you anyone else i just want to reassure everyone there's a lot of that dialogue that's been going on and  the superintendents the various teachers that are involved the businesses there the president century college they're talking there's a workforce consul in the syria i believe there's one thousand in the state they have a mandated expectation to be doing this type of dialogue to come up the plan in its core nude through the minnesota employment and economic development and there's programs on that website that show those policy goals thank you peter yes it's very important that we do this but it's going to take resources you know if we are going to have our children properly trained we need the resources represented many growing offered a plan that would close a number of loopholes to address that so we'd have the resources because without the resources there you can't provide the services to the youth and it is very critical that we do that because once they have the resources they will have the training and keeping that partnership that we have with businesses and developing the partnerships across the entire communities so that we've got a strong education program thank you all move on to our next question it is said that there are more dollars spent on corporate welfare than taxpayer dollars are spent on welfare programs to the poor or elderly how is your plan to reduce welfare programs better than that of your opponent and we'll begin with peter fisher well i think there is first of all in terms of corporate welfare when you take a look there are tax breaks that paper some industries over another we have to go in and address that and i think when i take a look at having worked with people at a disadvantage on a daily basis over the last five years what i find out most of these people are working very hard they've been put in terrible situations where banks of foreclosed on their homes families have been pro con up and kids have nowhere to go so we're suffering from a number of things these are people that are working hard all they need is a little bit of effort and support to be able to get to the next level we currently have the most of our to our systems limits as to how long people can receive that when one of the problems that we've had is over the last few years as some of the support systems that used to be there have suffered bit state budget cuts and they've closed down that has left more people homeless or in the criminal justice system at a huge cost over what they would have if we had couple systems thank you dwayne johnson well one of the things is if you give a large industry a big tax break to move in years indeed years state that indicates that yours state has a bad tax system and that's the only reason you're going to get him into that state  my tax clients are not they're get they're not telling me that they got a lot of tax breaks from and they're complaining because they're getting taxed to death and they're getting run out of business by rules and regulations that are costing them money that they can't recoup so  we have got to we've got to work on making this a fair state for businesses to come in to as i stated before where the forty fifth in the united states as far as being business friendly as stacey has said quite a few times if we get the economy running pretty good and get it back on track that that's going to take care of a lot of the welfare system thank you stacy stout well joining started my answer for me and it is true that we have to make sure that we've got a business friendly climate here in our state in order to grow jobs and when we grow jobs we've increased our revenue and it's only by being a prosperous state that we are able to address the needs of those who are in our system for a reason that we our government has a as a responsibility to provide for those who can't help themselves but in order to do that adequately and to really do them justice then we need to be making sure we've got the resources and by doing that the way we do that is by in improving our economy and so it works hand in hand i would i think it's very important that we are have a welfare system that is treating our treating those in need adequately and more than adequately we should not be providing inadequate services by having you know not putting the right resources into it and so by building a stronger economy then we have the resources and we address those needs as they should be addressed thank you chuck wigger earlier i stated my position on tax fairness i feel that it's not a level playing field it's not a level system right now and i won't say anything further on that other than that we should do something governor dayton has made that  clear commissioner france with the minnesota department of revenue as head here in the state and he has the three legged stool and shows how the revenue comes in through property sales in income and the how things are out of whack particularly on property and we talk about taxation for businesses that's there's injustices amongst businesses in terms of how they're treated so it should be fair it should be and it should be a level playing field in terms of working with area businesses i do that almost every day i manage the area chambers of commerce before i went to security and but in my role here as a senator i'm frequently talking to people i worked in a bipartisan way with senator chamberlain to sponsor the sales tax exemption on the purchase of capital equipment tax increment financing with the deal businesses and we will reintroduce that again next session thank you does anyone have any additional  or fischer first i want to say we need to have a balanced approach looking at always examining both the revenue and the expense side by i think what's really important is in terms of business climate what i remember correctly from running small businesses is the most important thing was having consumer spending if we didn't have consumer spending we aren't able to create the jobs and that's a big part of the problem right now is if the people in the middle class don't have the money they aren't able to spend it as a result you have  people buying things and that is where the biggest driver in our economy is and so that's what we have to focus on thank you or anyone else dwayne johnson this time and on the area of welfare we have to make that work to help people get out of welfare to not keep them i always want to say on the reservation and my wife says don't say that but we've got to help them get up get up and into the economy again and not keep getting them just enough to get by we've got to we've got to have some kind of a sliding scale so that when they start earning money their benefits don't just get cut off at a certain point thank you like to talk more about this but the work workers are needed and it's primarily in the high tech areas where those certificates need to stand and actually say what the employers need and that was the focus of our meeting today there are we need to improve and continue working on that connection between the work force needs here in minnesota and with education and then that ticket out of poverty and a win win situation helps the economy as well thank you  comments it is time to move to closing statements and we will begin with stacey stout ok well thank you again for hosting this event thanks to everyone for being here i'll just recap a little bit i mentioned before i live here in ma to me i with my husband tim and our two boys and community is very important to us our boys are learning to swim at the same y m c a that my husband learned to swim out many years ago and just really care about our community here i really feel like my experience having worked on legislative policy worked on cybersecurity telecom identity theft fraud lot of issues that are very important to all of us in our knitty i feel like that background and experience would serve us very well in a representative and i really am committed to making sure we have a quality education as a mom of two little boys who have their  whole education ahead of them i want to make sure we're doing the right things for our schools and putting our students first i want to make sure that we have a job friendly climate it's not up to government to create jobs but it's up to the government to foster an environment where we can grow jobs and we need that we need it desperately in the state so that we can get all that the government resources that we need to be addressing all the needs of our state and that it works hand in hand and so and along with that being a fiscally responsible government making sure that we're not funding programs we should be funding eliminating waste where there's waste and streamlining the programs that should be streamlined so that we're getting the best getting the best help educate us on the issues tonight i feel that i'm very uniquely qualified to be able to represent us in the future i have deep roots within the community that slow me to understand where we are where we've been and where we'd like to be going is important that we work together to make sure that we solve our problems it's not something that we're going to be able to be able to solve by combat and as we have over the last few years it's important that we build partnerships and relationships that's something i committed to something that i'd like to follow somebody that i think very highly of who's done well and that is carol mcfarland she's done a great job on that type of relationship between the parties and i'm hoping i can follow in her footsteps in doing some type of efforts going forward and that means using a balanced approach that means that  we're taking a look at the the before us in terms of finance and the financial expertise i have in terms of running operations from a business i can sit there make the hard choices and decide is it going to be good for us long term is going to good purpose short term and also what the compassion people so that we're making sure that we're supporting those working hard to improve themselves and life i feel that our community has real needs and we have to focus on them and i'm committed to making education jobs a priority again and that's why i'm asking for your vote tonight thank you and thank you for the opportunity thank you next with his closing statement to wayne johnson thank you again for coming out tonight and listening to us i appreciate it i would very much like to be your senator and represent you in this area and doing that i would bring fiscal responsibility to our state budget and i would also bring thirty years of working in separate industries into the equation i have worked with asked me i work with them for three years i have worked for school boards are now school boards excuse me nine hundred fifteen when it was special intermediate school district nine sixteen now century college i worked with nonprofit organizations where we had a school for kids that this was our last resort if they didn't make it there they were they were out on their ear period they didn't have any future so i worked with all of these different areas and i can bring i can see the different problems that each one of these have and i can work towards making a consensus and bringing us all together to solve the problems that are facing this country and this state and willing to make the hard decisions that go along with that so i appreciate your vote and thank you again for coming out tonight thank you next with his closing statement as chuck weaker thank you everyone for being here and thank you mr johnson i appreciate your being a true gentleman and a very honorable campaign and it's been a good to know you more i love public service i love this community it's  generations it's been an honor serving and i humbly ask for your consideration again you're not going to perhaps agree with me on every issue nor may you with your friends sign every single issue it's a complex divided society but i pledge and you know for those of you that know me well i'm very dedicated i work very hard and i'm a consensus builder and i do that when working with the chamber and with labor and that's how i worked as a school board member and it's perhaps why i'm indorsed by over twenty organizations representing a cross section from business to labor police firefighters and others it's and have i performed an office in terms of what i've said there's always going to be challenges well i have been recognized by a lot of the groups legislator the year by the american heart association during the past session on bringing up various public health issues recognition by various health organizations by veterans groups v f w and american legion legislator of the year environmental groups as well i only say that as i take this job very seriously and i communicate to have a regular cable i'm delighted to introduce the national president of the league of women voters elizabeth well thank you very much and thank all of you all for coming out here tonight thank you to the candidates for participating in this forum i have been traveling around the country during this election season encouraging folks to come out and vote and because this is going this is such an important election as all elections are and the proud tradition of the league of women voters it both here in minnesota and all across the country of bringing communities together in events like so that voters can ask their questions of candidates and get the information that they need to bring up to make up their own minds is a tradition that we've carried on for over ninety years and so i hope that all of you have had a good experience here this evening have learned a lot have the information or feel like you have the information you need to participate on election day to get out there and vote and encourage everybody in your community to get out and vote and as i understand from everything i'm learning here in minnesota over the last couple of days you all have a wonderful tradition of being the state with the high is voter turnout in the united states long may that tradition continue and i certainly hope that this debate this forum the sea evening has been of help to you because it certainly has been the pleasure of the league of women voters to bring you this opportunity thank you i'd like to thank the candidates for their participation tonight we also thank them on a meet i school district for the use of this facility the ramsey washington suburban cable commission production services department for videotaping this event plus our legal in tears and you the audience for your attendance and interest cable t v playback of this form may be seen on ramsey washington's cable channel eighteen through saturday november third playback will begin tuesday october sixteenth at eight pm and playback there after will be every tuesday thursday and saturday at ten am and eight pm a video of this forum will also be available shortly at the wildwood library and remember to vote tuesday november sixth thank you and good night vote two thousand and twelve live local election results and information tune in tuesday november sixth at eight thirty pm for live election coverage on ramsey washington cable channel eighteen vote on november sixth then watch vote two thousand and twelve live in local your best source for local election coverage in the northeast suburbs of ramsey in washington county a grey what are you doing in the bushes oh not then just doing some bird watching yeah yeah you know this doesn't seem like such a great place for birdwatching all right i was just trying to get a look inside my city hall i don't know any other way to get information greg you're such a silly man you don't have to be a creepy spy why don't you just watch g t g t n yeah yeah the government television network it's on cable channel sixteen they got a ton of information of everything that's going on in the twelve different communities in the northeast suburbs of ramsey and washington county no kidding so you mean i can get all this information by watching channel sixteen at my own home you better believe it and they've got all their shows on their website too that's dead or argy wow i should go check out channel sixteen right away and what he is doing over there