Time

Entry

1:14 PM

Opening statements underway. Gloria Zaiger, Beth Fraser, Greta Bergstrom, Melanie McMahon and Matt Freeman so far.

1:16 PM Dave Pinto wrapping up. Standard stump speeches so far.

1:17 PM

Moderator Kathleen Vallenga: What do you think is the biggest economic obstacle to equality in Minnesota?

Beth Fraser: We need to increase the minimum wage and index it for inflation. "It more than pays for itself 1:19 PM in additional spending, and it more than pays for itself." Says if corporations get public subsidy, they need to pay living wage jobs. Greta Bergstrom: "We have income inequality that's off the charts in this state... It definitely starts with 1:19 PM raising the minium wage... We are not doing a good enough job to create living wage jobs... We have to hold businesses accountable." Melanie McMahon: "People in 64B understand its the right thing to do to raise the minimum wage...It's not 1:21 PM just the moral thing to do, not just the right thing to do." Says state should look at health and income disparities. Matt Freeman: "We need to be able to pull coalitions together. We need to expand education and job training... internships for high school students."

1:22 PM

1:23 PM

Dave Pinto: We also need to look at health care disparities, education disparities. "We need to raise the minimum wage."

1:24 PM

Gloria Zaiger: "I grew up in a low income family." Says speaking from experience and the heart can help sway people on issues like the minimum wage.

1:25 PM Vallenga: Talking about public safety. What about gun proliferation?

Greta Bergstrom: Any of us follow on the heels of Michael Paymar, getting guns off the street. I would lead 1:26 PM that effort. "I have two kids in the public schools, not a day goes by that you don't think about what could happen, what happened if a school shooting happened in our school."

McMahon: This district has had strong leadership on this issue. But its a marathon issue, we need to keep 1:28 PM going session after session to reach universal background checks. Maybe you close the gunshow loophole first. We need to build coaltions. Freeman: Howard Orenstein led on this issue. We have to work across our state, in communities different 1:29 PM than ours. It takes organizing, and building that political will to be able to get the votes to pass it. Other solutions: In Hennepin Co., they're doing a play on gun violence we need to think outside the box. Dave Pinto: My younger son is the same age as those kids in Newtown. As someone who has prosecuted gun crimes, I would have credibility with my colleagues.

1:30 PM

Gloria Zaiger: After Newtown, we thought "everybody gets it now." People misunderstand what the issue really is, that background checks mean we're going to take guns away from people. We need to include the 1:31 PM gun owners. I am a big fan of hunting. I know that the hunters are on board with this, we need to reach out to them and involve them. Fraser: I would work with community groups, like Protect Minnesota and Moms Against Gun Violence. I am 1:32 PM used to working in the legislature with people who are diametrically opposed and find common ground. We need to find areas where we can agree, move toward universal background checks.

1:32 PM Vallenga; What about sex trafficking and domestic violence?

McMahon: There's something about being safe in your own home. We have to have tough laws that 1:33 PM protect those people, and I have gotten Republican votes for such laws. We also need to treat victims of sex trafficking as victims. Freeman: We have leaders like Michael Paymar, Amy Klobuchar, John Choi, but if we look more broadly at 1:34 PM public safety, to support police and fire... we need to be putting more money into local government aid to fund those essetnial services. Pinto: I was recognized by the Minnesota Coalition of Battered Women, and the longest sentences in state history on sex trafficking have been in my cases. I am leading the statewide effort to change protocols and 1:36 PM train police and prosecutors to take on these crimes. We also need to think about the abusers and the traffickers. What cause them to do this? Zaiger: What about mental health advocacy? How can we follow the victims of child abuse to make sure 1:37 PM they don't become abusers themselves? I have been working on a program for pets of domestic violence victims, so they feel freer to leave their abusers. Fraser: I have worked on the Safe at Home program. There are currently 1600 people in the program, and we need to make it stronger. This is an issue that I already have a track record on.

1:38 PM

1:38 PM

By the way: there isn't a live audio feed available here. Tape will be available later. Look for detaisl later today.

1:39 PM

Bergstrom; We need to reduce income and racial inequality. Victims and survivors of abuse are often in ... communities that have been left behind by ecomomic opportunity in our state.

1:39 PM

Vallenga: Now, onto education. Lots of questions about testing. What do you see as a solution for the time testing is taking.

Freeman: Education is my #1 priority. I have worked in early childhood education, I have taught high school and middle school kids through the Close Up foundation. We need to focus on early childhood education, 1:41 PM because that's where we get the best bang for our buck. Testing: We need to do peer review and peer supports, teacher to teacher. We need to better connect to students, not punitive testing. Pinto: We have to have a way knowing how well our students are doing. But we need to respect our 1:42 PM teachers and work with them to find testing to make sure they're learning what they need to be learning. I also want to focus on wrap around services, like mental health serivces. Zaiger: My partner is a public school teacher, and we spend a huge amount of time on testing. I worry 1:43 PM about racial bias in these tests. We need the tests, but we need to look at what's in them, and how they're evaluated. Fraser: We need to put less emphasis on tests. The stress out kids, teachers teach to them, and they stress 1:44 PM kids out needlessly. Teaching ot a standardized test is not the way to go. We need to lower class sizes and close the achievement gap. Bergstrom: We need some testing, but teachers are professionals and they are trained and they are the ones that should be making decisions about there students. There is too much testing going on now.

1:45 PM

McMahon: Testing has gotten excessive, and is taking time away children need to get ready to enter the 1:46 PM workforce and college. Legislators need to listen better to teachers. St. Paul couldn't change testing without risking state aid.

1:47 PM Vallenga: Discipline problems, truancy prevention: what do we do to better prepare kids to come to school.

1:48 PM

Pinto: I volunteer in the homeless shelter at my church. I have seen the extracurricular issues myself. We need to see the linkages of all these issues to schools. Affordable housing is important.

Zaiger: Things like raising the minimum wage is an education issue, so parents can make enough to spend 1:50 PM time with their kids. Home visits by teachers can make a difference. I support the MN plan to end homelessness. Raise the minimum wage. Those are education issues. Fraser: We need more support staff: counselers, librarians, people that can support the classrooms. We 1:51 PM need employers to give parents a mimum of 8 hours of paid time off a year to attend to their childrens' education.

Bergstrom: The reason we have an achievement gap in our schools is the growing equity gap in our 1:52 PM country. We have to have economically stable families and communities. We can't solve all this in the schools. McMahon: My mom was a public school teacher. I know the challenges kids bring to school. We need to address homelessness, health care disparities, better school nutrition. All are education issues.

1:52 PM

1:54 PM

Freeman: Programs like Parents Academy, Sprockets summer programs, are the kind of community investments that can help kids outside the traditional classroom setting. We need to expand those.

1:54 PM Vallenga: Talking about the environment. How should the state deal with copper nickel mining?

Zaiger: My first job outside of college was with Greenpeace. "We need to fight like crazy to make sure the 1:55 PM Boundary Waters stay safe. I do not believe sulfite mining is safe." I get it that the Iron Range needs those jobs, but we need not to have this "deal with the devil." Fraser: " I cannot support the sulfide mining proposal in northeast Minnesota... I stand with the environment. We only get one earth and we can't waste it."

1:56 PM

Bergstrom: This is a false choice. As is Twin Metals. We need to look at solutions, find clean energy jobs. It's 1:57 PM a false choice to destroy the environment or lose jobs. What are the jobs we can create that can protect the environment. McMahon: It's not worth the trade off. Not worth the environmental trade off. We need to find other economic opportunities, other jobs in the north.

1:58 PM

Freeman: We need to look at this like a Boy Scout: leave the land better than you found it. This project 1:59 PM doesn't meet that standard for me. We need to work to provide those jobs. I have spent time on the Range, and how kids can't come back from school and work on the Range. But its not worth it. Pinto: I certainly agree that the risk is not worth the gain. We use these minerals, and we need jobs there. 2:00 PM But we need to find another way, like underground mining. Simply having money to pay for the pollution later is a real concern of mine when we're talking about something that's irreplaceable.

2:01 PM Vallenga: What are your health policy priorities?

Fraser: We need to look at the tsunami of baby boomers coming. We need to bolster elder care, have a full 2:01 PM work force, raise the wages in these home health care jobs, and help people live with dignity as much as possible.

Bergstrom: I'm a single payer supporter. We need to improve what Minnesota Care started. MnSure has a 2:02 PM path forward, to get an innovation waiver from the ACA to continue to build a single-payer model in MN to serve more people. McMahon: The ACA has started to break the link between work and health care. I am a single payer 2:03 PM supporter. That should be a long term goal. But I also think we need to address the cost. We can't have access and affordability otherwise. Freeman: We know about MnSure's problems. But it is starting to work. My step sister uses it. It needs to be improved and expanded to universal health care.

2:04 PM

2:05 PM

Pinto: We need to increase quality, access and cost. We have universal health care, but its the Emergency Room. We need to get people preventative care.

Zaiger: I would love to have a single payer system. I have a sinus procedure recently, and my doctor 2:06 PM couldn't tell me how much it costs. We need to make health care costs more transparent for everybody, the insured and uninsured.

2:07 PM Vallenga: What about mental health care?

2:08 PM Bergstrom: It's important.

2:08 PM

McMahon: We need better access. The Natioanl Alliance on Mental Illness is doing a good job of removing the stigma of mental health care.

2:08 PM Freeman: I'm for it, too.

2:09 PM Pinto: Health is health. We need to make sure health care is included in coverage.

2:09 PM Zaiger: We need to have more beds, more doctors, more availability for everybody

2:10 PM

Fraser: We need more resources. We need to remove the stigma of mental illness. Having access to care matters.

2:11 PM

Vallenga: There are two precincts that have very low turnout. We have one precinct along W 7th that has only have the delegates it could have.

McMahon: Paymar has been having open ours in the district. I would expand to the precincts that are 2:12 PM under representative. I think we need to have more family friendly events. We should have the legislature come to the district. Freeman: I think schools are a good resource. I think we could use better civic education. I think 2:13 PM doorknocking and meeting kids in their schools. I think we should extend voting to felons that are on probation. Early voting is key. Any way we can remove barriers, we should do that. Pinto: We all have to work together. A legislator can play a convening role, and we can organize around specific issues.

2:14 PM

Zaiger: I was the affirmative action chair in 66. We printed up posters in all these languages, and we went out and tried to do outreach: people asked, "representative of what?" We really need to start with better 2:15 PM education, like what a precinct caucus is. We need to do a lot more in the schools. We need to hire people in the Legislature that can speak the langauge and understand the culture. 2:16 PM Fraser: It's not just about having events. It's about knocking on doors and telling people that every vote does count. We need people that are fighting against voter intimidation.

Bergstrom: The campaign I worked on beat the voter ID amendment by 8 percentage points. We should 2:17 PM give felons on probation the right to vote. We have a substantive East African population also, and I think outreach matters.

2:18 PM Vallenga: What's the next step for LGBT issues?

2:19 PM

Freeman: in 2009, I went to Maine to work for marriage equality. Next steps here are Safe Schools. It should have been passed last session.

2:20 PM Pinto: I have fought in schools on behalf of LGBT kids, and we need to continue that work.

2:21 PM

Zaiger: We need to focus on homelessness with LGBT youth. 40 percent of our homeless kids identify as LGBT. We need to offer family counseling like New York City does, and get these kids off the street.

Fraser: I want to be a champion for the LGBT community. There are only two LGBT members in the House 2:22 PM now, and my election would increase that by 50 percent. I am also going to be a champion for women and choice issues, and reproductive rights issues.

Bergstrom: I am a big supporter of the Safe and Supportive Schools Act. I also think issues for LGBT seniors 2:23 PM are something we need to look at. We need places for them to live in. That's another thing the Legislature should take a look at. McMahon: People have said, we passed marriage equality, we're done. We're not. We need to address safe schools, HIV infection in rural areas, the correctional system.

2:24 PM

2:25 PM Vallenga: What about traffic on Randolph, Snelling and other feeder streets.

2:25 PM

Pinto: We need to address transportation in general. We need to plan on transit and transportation based on needs, rather than power.

Zaiger: I talked with someone who suggested that St. Paul would be well served by a neighborhood 2:26 PM circulator for seniors, going from senior housing to Highland Village. I also think we need to start planning for more transit. Fraser: I am a big supporter of the Move Minnestoa campaign. Clearly, we have under invested in our 2:27 PM infrastructure. We need to insure that we have public transit. I think we should increase the gas tax and have an increased Metro wide sales tax to pay for transit and transporation. Bergstrom: I think transit would help get some of the traffic on our roads. Central Corridor is a good start. I also support Move Minnesota.

2:29 PM

2:29 PM

McMahon: I support the half-cent metro sales tax for transit development and Move Minnesota. We need to maintain infrastructure and improve transit.

2:30 PM

Freeman: I can work across different levels of government. As we do redevelopment of the Ford Plant site, we need to be very intentional about what we do, to make sure it fits into our community.

2:31 PM Closing statements. I'll have a video of these up later today.

2:32 PM

I'll be ending the live chat here. Check back at the racefor64b later today for information on the full audio of this event and video highlights.