Walz’s challengers meet at forum
Christine Rupp — Staff WriterArticle Photos
FAIRMONT - With Democratic Congressman Tim Walz tending to business in Washington, challengers Brian Davis and Greg Mikkelson squared off Thursday in a forum at Fairmont City Hall.
Davis, a physician at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, has been on a leave of absence since May to campaign as the Republican candidate.
Mikkel-son, who farms near Lake Crystal and owns a grain elevator, is running as the Independence Party candidate.
Their answers Thursday showed where the two candidates diverge - and sometimes agree - on issues.
o What are your views on the nation's financial crisis?
"We do have a financial crisis, but I think it's a Wall Street crisis, not a Main Street crisis," Mikkelson said, "and that's where the blame is being shifted."
Both candidates oppose the bailout proposal.
Forum moderator Al Travis pointed out that although Walz wanted to attend, he is working on the bailout issue in Washington. Walz voted against the bailout on Monday.
Mikkelson argues that the federal government is asking "Main Street Americans" to share in a debt that's not theirs.
"There's really nothing constructive in there for Main Street America," he said.
Davis said lawmakers should look at fixing some of the underlying problems that led to the crisis. Experts are identifying that over the past decade, the government has made a policy of coercing financial institutions into making loans that are unsound or higher risk, he said. Those loans are now defaulting.
"The real question is should middle America Main Street pay for policies that have emanated from Washington," he said. "I think the answer is firmly no."
He said Washington needs to reform the mark-to-market ratio and clamp down on loan policies before considering a more modest bailout.
o What are your views on energy policy?
"I feel strongly that our energy policy at the federal level is very misguided," Davis said.
About 85 percent of the nation's energy comes from fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, he said. Technology allows people to burn those fuels more cleanly than in the past, but the country still needs access to clean and cheap sources.
It would be one thing, he said, if those sources weren't available. It's something else entirely when Congress upholds a drilling ban around 85 percent of the coast where the richest deposits of those fuels are found.
Mikkelson said he is in favor of offshore drilling, but even if the operation started today, it would take 5 to 10 years before the first drops of oil would be produced.
"The Congress and our government is failing us and we should have addressed these issues a long time ago," he said.
Mikkelson also pointed out that along with finding additional fuel sources comes reducing consumption.
o How should Congress address health care and insurance costs?
"We need to be personally responsible," said Mikkelson, adding that diet and lifestyle are major contributors to the rising cost of health care.
Until people take personal responsibility for their health, costs will continue to rise, he predicted.
Davis said it would help to have fewer state mandates so there's a more uniform market across the country. That would then make it easier for more insurance carriers to enter the market.
"We need to have more competition, rather than less," Davis said.
The undersupply of people in Washington with hands-on experience in health care doesn't help, he added, estimating that only 2 percent of those serving in Congress have that background.
o How would you have voted on the farm bill?
Davis said he was asked the same question at this summer's FarmFest, and he gave the same answer: He doesn't know.
He would have had to have been in Congress at the time the bill was formed to have a definite answer, he said.
Davis said he likes portions of the farm bill, namely the commodity support, but he also saw a lot of pork and special interests in the legislation. He used support for race horses and timberland purchases in Montana as examples.
Mikkelson, whose biggest concern is the national debt, said he would have voted against the farm bill simply because it increased spending.
There are several unnecessary programs in the bill, he said, and much of the bill doesn't even go to help farmers.
Mikkelson would have preferred the bill to be more market-oriented. The only reason there needs to be a farm bill, he said, is for when the government gets involved and causes embargoes and other market manipulations.
o What are your views on No Child Left Behind?
Both candidates said they want No Child Left Behind abolished.
Mikkelson said he has seen nothing useful come out of the legislation. He believes states and local school boards can make their own education decisions.
Mikkelson went so far as to call for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, stating the federal government hands down too many unfunded mandates.
"I see no purpose in making decisions at that level," he said.
Davis thinks some of the goals of No Child Left Behind are suitable, but they should not be mandated at the federal level.
"I believe the primary authority in a child's education are the parents," he said.
The most important factors in that education, he said, are the home environment and the order and discipline in school, neither of which the federal government should try to regulate.
The forum was sponsored by the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce, the American Association of University Women, and the Fairmont Women of Today. The forum will air in its entirety at various times throughout the day Sunday on local cable access Channel 13.
