Two of Minnesota's three major party candidates for governor went chair-to-chair Friday afternoon in Duluth at a candidate forum sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
About 700 executives and staff from dozens of Minnesota organizations heard DFLer Mark Dayton and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner field questions on issues ranging from poverty, education funding and immigration law to the state's budget deficit and volunteerism.
The event at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center was the 21st "debate" held among gubernatorial candidates this season with another 11 scheduled before the Nov. 2 election.
"Some states are having a hard time agreeing to one debate'' between candidates for governor, Dayton noted, adding that the ongoing candidate forums shows Minnesotans are engaged in their government and politics "beyond the 30-second sound bite."
A spokesman for Republican candidate Tom Emmer said he had a previous commitment in the Twin Cities and could not make it to Duluth in time for the forum.
ADVERTISEMENT
The format for the hour-long forum was fast-paced and saw the two candidates praise and agree more than bash each other. Both also heaped strong praise on the state's private, non-profit agencies that have worked to fill the gap for needy Minnesotans as government scales-back services due to budget shortfalls.
Private, non-profits are "really the test lab for a lot of ideas we need to incorporate into'' state government, Horner said. "We can't rely on government to be our sole source of solutions.''
Dayton agreed, saying he hoped to tap nonprofits to help fill state agencies under his tenure "to help find more innovative ways... to meet people's needs.''
When asked what criteria they would have to appoint commissioners of state agencies, Horner said they would have to have his shared values for service and "they have to be smarter than I am.''
Both candidates came out strong against the anti-immigration foment in some states, saying they would never support legislation to make legal Minnesota newcomers unwelcome.
"This is not a state that is going to be putting up barriers... like English-only laws,'' Horner said. "Do we need secure borders? Of course... But our future rests in new Minnesotans.''
Both candidates pledged to increase funding for Head Start and Early Childhood-related programs as an investment to improve school performance and the state's economy. And both said they would work to restore arts funding, including funding for arts education in schools which many districts have cut as budgets are trimmed.
"The opportunity for some students to discover their own genius is being taken away,'' Dayton said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Horner and Dayton did trade jabs over their respective budget-balancing plans. Dayton said Horner's plan to expand sales taxes to cut the state budget shortfall would hit hardest on the middle-class, while Horner countered that Dayton's plan to raises income taxes on the wealthiest 4 percent of Minnesotans wasn't politically viable.
