Candidates field questions at Rochester gubernatorial forum

Feb. 23--About 200 people came to Rochester's Peace United Church of Christ Thursday night to hear from six candidates running for governor -- Republicans Bob Carney Jr. and Lance Johnson, and DFL candidates state Reps. Tina Liebling and Erin Murphy, state Auditor Rebecca Otto, and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz.

The candidates answered five questions -- four pre-planned, and one random question from the audience -- ranging from national issues such as immigration and DACA to more local takes on affordable housing and the role of the Mayo Clinic as an employer in Southeast Minnesota. They were also quizzed on broader topics such as climate change and how candidates see race relations.

1. As governor, what will you do at the state level to address the housing crisis in Minnesota? How will you ensure that the tax dollars invested in DMC become a win-win for our local community and not make the housing crisis worse?

Carney: While discussing a position he's taken about moving toward a system of automated transportation, he said, "We can actually move people's housing units from Rochester to Minneapolis ... as part of an overall system."

Murphy: Talked about a study linking health to having a safe place to live. "We need to continue the commitment that I have made to $100 million in a bonding bill, every time we do a bonding bill, so we are building affordable housing across the state of Minnesota."

Johnson: "Affordable housing: It has to be affordable, but people have to be able to afford it also. ... People need to have a reasonable chance to have a decent job that pays a healthy wage, and that does not happen today."

Otto: Agreeing with Murphy on a minimum of $100 million in bonding money for housing, she said, "We need senior housing. We need workforce housing. There are so many areas that we are behind the ball."

Walz: "There is no doubt DMC provides challenges and opportunities that will come with it. ... The people most impacted by these decisions we make need to be at the table when we make them." This includes builders who need an opportunity to make a profit to give them an incentive to build.

Liebling: "One of the big messages I've had through the entire campaign is affordable housing is related to what you're able to earn. The reality is wages have not gone up. We have to raise the minimum wage so that people have more opportunity to have their wages actually be able to earn them enough to live."

2. If elected governor, what will you do to fight the scapegoating and demonization and persecution of immigrants and refugees? Specifically, what will you do to work with the Minnesota Legislature to restore access to driver's licenses that were taken away by Tim Pawlenty in 2003?

Murphy: "I was in a church in 2014 in North Minneapolis where I made a commitment to vote for and support driver's licenses for people who are not documented here in the state of Minnesota. And as your governor I will keep that commitment." Murphy added that she will not allow law enforcement in Minnesota to become an extension of ICE.

Johnson: "I think it's helpful if we draw the curtain here and distinguish between those who are legal residents and legal citizens of the United States, and who are not."

Otto: While supporting efforts to allow undocumented workers to obtain driver's licenses and universal health care, she added, "I don't like hateful behavior. I don't tolerate it. I taught seventh grade. I taught 12- and 13-year-olds. They weren't allowed to say certain things in our classroom, and it's going to be the same thing with our president, and I will call him out if he does."

Walz: Talking about his first campaign where Rep. Steve King from Iowa campaigned against him, Walz said, "Two days after I was elected, I was in the church with Fr. Brixius in Worthington in the basement after the ICE raid there. Over the years, my office has helped resettle countless people into this community."

Liebling: Saying Gov. Dayton could have fixed the driver's license problem, added, "Let's just remember that children don't choose where they are born. They don't choose their families. People who are coming to this country and who are risking so much to do it without documentation are doing it out of desperation. They are doing it because America offered a promise to them, or at least they thought it did."

Carney: "Our biggest problem in this country today is we're so divided. It's a huge problem. I've never seen anything like it. I'm a Republican. I'm advocating President Trump resign or be impeached." Carney added, "As a de facto policy for the last 20 or 30 years, United States has basically said you come in and put roofs on our houses and don't get in trouble, you can stay. It is unjust to try to change that policy."

3. What specifically would you do as governor to make sure that the wealth and power Mayo has built up is used for the common good, making sure that rural health care workers at hospitals are treated with fairness and dignity? With Mayo announcing they'll have a new CEO next year, what would you say to this new person about how Mayo and other powerful corporations support workers in our community?

Johnson: "I was very disappointed the Mayo Clinic was not sitting down and making a more serious effort with the people in Albert Lea to work it out. We need to have jobs. We need to have education. We need to have medical opportunities in those cities. I think the Mayo Clinic is, without full knowledge of the facts, bullying the Albert Lea people just a little bit."

Otto: "We're living in an age of the politics of unfettered greed. And it threatens to erode our quality of life." She advocated capping the CEO pay of nonprofit hospitals.

Walz: The role of governors is to find solutions, he said. "What I would say to the new CEO is communicate with people. Be open and transparent. The issue with Albert Lea is everyone was taken by surprise. They did not know what was coming ... It goes back to my original statement that those most impacted by the decisions we make must be at the table."

Liebling: "The concentration of wealth and power in fewer and fewer hands is just enormous. It's been really sad for me to see over the years how Mayo has acted more and more like a Fortune 500 company and less and less like the nonprofit that it is." As a nonprofit, she added, Mayo has exemption from taxes, and she would "hold their feet to the fire" to make sure Mayo is there for the benefit of all people.

Carney: "In the 17th century, doctors used to use leeches. In the 21st century, leeches use doctors," Carney quipped. However, he said the Mayo Clinic model should be emulated around the county.

Murphy: When the new Mayo CEO is named, she would tell him or her, "Your reputation in the state of Minnesota is important, so be generous ... as you always have been." She added, the good Mayo does should not come at the expense of the people who work there.

4. As governor, would you commit to a future of 100 percent clean energy? How would you work toward that goal in your first term? And how would you work with cities like Rochester to achieve this objective?

Otto: Stated she already has outlined her Minnesota Power Plan. "But there's a twist in that we're going to put a price on carbon. All that revenue is going to go to Minnesotans -- it's not a tax -- in the form of quarterly dividend checks."

Walz: Touting his 2009 vote for cap and trade legislation, he added, "In southern Minnesota we made that case, and we've seen some of the strongest growth of renewables as any place in the country," thanks to production tax credits and an environmentally friendly farm bill.

Liebling: "Absolutely, we have to go to 100 percent clean energy. How can we do otherwise? The question is how fast," she said. Liebling said the first step is to stop investing in old technologies such as oil pipelines. "The first thing we have to do is stand up to those forces whose economic interest it is to continue with the oil and the other kind of polluting technologies."

Carney: Touting the potential of solar energy and the private sector to capitalize on solar and wind energy, he said, "Energy is money. ... We need to fight the special interests that are trying to stop it."

Murphy: Saying that the Koch brothers' interest in politics is spurred by their desire to protect their economic interests in fossil fuels, she added, "Let us invest in the electric vehicle economy. Let's make sure the state's fleet is electric."

Johnson: "I'm a realist, and I believe it's nice to have a goal that we will seek to have 100 percent clean energy. It's like living in a world without sin. That's not realistic, it's not going to happen."

5. What have you done in recent years to connect with minority communities in Minnesota including the Muslim communities?

Walz: Mentioning that his running mate is an Ojibwe woman, Walz said his campaign formed a team that has engaged with communities to bring their voices to the table "not about just going for a short time and asking for votes and leaving but asking what does it mean to be in the community, what does it mean to be in our schools?"

Leibling: Citing an opportunity gap for minorities, she said we need each other to move forward. "Recently, I've had the opportunity to have to counter some pretty nasty language about Muslims about immigrants, Latinos, constantly trying to answer back to people who come with these ugly messages."

Carney: "The opportunity to provide excellent transit for low-income and high-minority communities by automated driving is absolutely incredible, and we've got to concentrate on that."

Murphy: Recalling a woman who asked her to remember not everyone living in her district was born there, she said she has spent time with Muslim, Hmong and Jewish communities. "That ... was some of the best advice I got as a candidate, and it has served me very well as an elected official because I have spent time with people in learning about who we are and how we live through that lived experience."

Johnson: "I was a puny little runt when I was growing up in Zumbrota, Minnesota. I was picked on. I was bullied. ... I am unalterably opposed to any kind of discrimination."

Otto: Speaking about a good friend who has invited her into the East African Muslim community in the Twin Cities, she said, "They are the most generous people, and they want to live the American dream. I've spent time in that community to make sure I really understand and I can be the best governor possible."

Have some regional news from Houston, Goodhue, Wabasha or Winona County that you'd like to share? Contact Brian at 507-285-7715, or by email at [email protected].

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