Posted: 07/12/09 19:58, Edited: 07/12/09 20:02
by Dave Mindeman
We have talked about the appearances of Mark Dayton and Steve Kelley at the mnpACT! governor candidate forum series. We also had Susan Gaertner speak on June 12th which I haven't had a chance to discuss yet. I was tied up and didn't get to the venue till Kelley was speaking, so I recently listened to the tape of her appearance at this ThisWeekLive link.
I encourage you to listen to the appearance. It covered a wide range of topics and Ms. Gaertner gave some very candid answers. She was particularly effective when talking about her prosecutor's background. She gave some excellent ideas about how her efforts on truancy enforcement have had positive effects on graduation rates and juvenile crime.
She has been consistently strong on education issues. She wants ECFE (Early Childhood education) to be an intricate part of our school curricula. She is also very candid that we need to raise revenue to meet those needs. She is not afraid to indicate a willingness to tax clothing (although not second hand clothing and with rebates for low income earners) and she is open to taxing services.
On health care, she is not a direct supporter of single payer...although like Steve Kelley, she says she would sign such a bill if it crossed her desk. Not the same as pushing for single payer from the bully pulpit however.
On environmental issues she has trouble with the coal issue. She can't quite see how we can eliminate coal burning from the mix because of its abundance -- although she does recognize the harm it can cause with CO2 emissions. She is hoping that wind and bio-fuels will make coal burning unnecessary. She is also unable to committ to nuclear power stating that the feds must solve the storage issues before we can go forward.
(I heartily agree with that, although we may be forced to use nuclear before we are ready for simply expediency reasons)
But things bogged down as the inevitable RNC issues came up. Ms. Gaertner tries to deflect the issue by talking about how the MN Patriot Act (not its real name) needs to be amended. And although she previously noted that she had to make the "terrorism" charges because the Act applied....she now states that because of her "prosecutorial discretion", she has dropped those same charges because they would have been a "distraction" during the RNC-8 trial.
The problem still holds that her "discretion" would have been better served if the original charges had not been made.
Susan Gaertner is a good progressive candidate. I think she would make a great governor. But the RNC issues will be a drag on her candidacy...if she can resolve that issue to everyone's satisfaction, she could do well. Her candor is refreshing.
It might also explain why she ended her part of the forum with what she claims will be her only "pledge" of the campaign.....
The Republican National Convention will NOT return to Minnesota.
Please check out the video for yourself.
