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Candidates debate, visit SCSU
Gubernatorial candidate Tim Penny (Independent) and his running mate, Sen. Martha Robertson, spoke with SCSU students Tuesday.
Students shared their concerns about financial aid, Pelle Grants and work study losses.
“Part of this is deciding what the formula needs to include,” Penny said. “We need to be clear about the state fully funding the formula, even if that means additional sales tax to honor the commitments.”
Tanash Lawrence, a graduate student from Jamaica, expressed anxiety about work study for international students. Penny offered to look into it.
Penny would also like to take the burden off of K-12 special education schools by funding them with state grants.
Penny and Robertson would also like to see changes in the high school graduation standards that require a basic curriculum and tests administered during class time.
“Let’s figure out what we mean by the basics, decide what to program, and fund it,” Robertson said.
When asked how he felt about succeeding Jesse Ventura as an Independent, Penny said, “We come at this with a public policy background. In times like this it’s good to have different views.”
No show
SCSU students were prepared for a visit from Roger Moe Monday. However, there was a miscommunication because Moe had never planned to hold a discussion; he wasn’t even in the state Monday. Moe did visit campus, briefly, after the debates at the St. Cloud Civic Center Tuesday afternoon.
The debate, which was sponsored by the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce and the St. Cloud Rotary, was attended by all four gubernatorial candidates: Penny; Moe; Ken Pentel; and, Tim Pawlenty. They answered questions while about 100 members of the community and surrounding area business leaders ate lunch..
“I’m the only one in the race that says we are not going to solve it (the budget deficit) by raising taxes,” Pawlenty said. “We have a situation here in Minnesota where we don’t have a spending problem; we have results problem.”
Pentel would like to budget and tax Minnesota’s natural resources. In his proposal, industrial water and individual car use would be taxed to prevent pollution.
“This economy that we are born into is an inflationary economy. The indicators are false,” Pentel said. “It’s a constant growth economy, so every time we throw something into an incinerator we are paying five to 10 times more taxes.”
According to Pentel, every time anyone turns on a light switch to depend on nuclear power, people are paying for 10,000 years of waste and are burdening future generations
“We are being sprawled to death in Minnesota. To maintain uniqueness we’re going to have to make sure that investments are based in the local economy,” Pentel said.
All of the candidates, except Pawlenty, support the North Star Rail that would provide transportation between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities.
“I’m not going to support a project that is 40 percent worse economically than Hiawatha,” Pawlenty said. “We’re going to put a measuring stick to these projects, say how many people is this going to help, how much will it cost, how does it compare to the other alternatives. That might be bus, that might be commuter rail, it might be redoing I-94, it might be Highway 65.”
Leadership style
According to Penny, a different leadership technique may be part of the solution to Minnesota’s problems.
“It’s pretty obvious that Mr. Moe and Mr. Pawlenty are 180 degrees apart,” said Penny. “So, if you elect one of them and they will be fighting day in and day out with their counterparts in the legislature. That’s the same old stuff. That’s not going to fix the mess.
“You have to have a leadership style to bring both sides together, put everything on the table, and to get this problem solved.”
For Moe, education is the key
“My single, highest priority is making sure that we capitalize on the full potential of all five million Minnesotans,” Moe said, “and you do that by having an education system that is second to none.”
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