SMRs and AMRs

Friday, October 20, 2006

Walz, Gutknecht square off in Mankato

Walz accuses Gutknecht of lying about his views in attack ads

NOTE: The debate is available online and will be broadcast in its entirety on MPR at 7:00 pm Friday night, Oct. 20.

(Part 1 of 2 parts)

Like the football games that Tim Walz used to coach, there were two halves to his debate with incumbent Congressman Gil Gutknecht at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato last night. Gutknecht won the first half, but the second belonged to Walz.

Before a standing room only crowd of 200 in a classroom built for 125, with another 200 in a nearby room and hallway watching the debate on closed-circuit TV, Gutknecht and Walz went head-to-head on the prominent issues — Iraq, transportation, agriculture, energy, tax cuts, immigration, health care, education, social security and gay marriage. But the issue that elicited the most heat was political attack ads.

At first Gutknecht appeared the more comfortable of the two candidates, emphasizing the success of the economic recovery after 9/11. Walz, on the other hand, looked somewhat uncomfortable, referring to Gutknecht as "my opponent", noting Congress's and the Administration's failures, and stressing that there was a clear choice in this election between existing policies and real change.

Yet by the middle of the debate Walz seemed to be taking the offensive, accusing Gutknecht of lying about his positions in negative attack ads.

"All of my policies are in white papers online," he said. "You don't even put your policies on your website."

"I haven't even seen the ads you're talking about," Gutknecht said, eliciting a grumbling from the audience.

"You have to have," Walz countered. "They came from your campaign."

"Oh yes, those ads. I've seen my ads. But I haven't seen the Republican congressional committee's ads."

Walz was noticeably angry over Gutknecht's use of Project Vote Smart NPAT questionnaire information to give a false impression of his views. A press release from Project Vote Smart backs up Walz's position. (See "Project Vote Smart condemns Gutknecht for ethical lapse".) Among other claims, the ad states that Walz's policies will cost "the average Minnesota family an extra $2,396 per year."

"Look, that's bad math," said Walz. "That's like saying if you put Bill Gates in this room it makes us all millionaires." The audience laughed.

Walz noted that he advocates repealing the tax cuts for Americans making over $300,000 a year, which will reinstate nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars in tax revenue, and far less expensive tax cuts for the middle class.

Other issues the debate covered:

On Iraq: Walz noted that 70 American servicemen and women had died just this week. "Iraq is not moving to democracy," he said, adding that the U.S. needs to "disengage" and that it cannot go further with a military solution. Citing the failure of U.S. policy, he said, "If you're a male between 15 and 30 in Iraq, you have an 80% chance of being unemployed."

The U.S. needs to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and turn over the policing of the country to a multinational force. "Rumsfeld's been wrong on the war" and should be fired, he said, adding that the war has cost American taxpayers $360 billion so far with no end in sight.

Gutknecht allowed that the U.S. was "more optimistic than we should have been" before going into Iraq but noted the success of the Bosnia intervention and the relative peace and prosperity in the northern Iraqi territory governed by the Kurds. He reiterated that the U.S. needs to continue training the Iraqi army to take over the policing of the country.

While Saddam "was not the center of terrorism," he said, he paid off terrorists' families and drove the weapons inspectors out of Iraq, a claim that has been proven false. (Bush pulled out the weapons inspectors.)

On support for veterans: Gutknecht pays lip service to supporting veterans, Walz said, but his voting record indicates otherwise, which is why he has received an "F" rating from the Disabled American Veterans. Gutknecht answered that he doesn't know anything about the ratings.

On highways: Gutknecht noted the progress that's been made in the district, citing the completion of Highway 52 in Rochester and the improvements on Highway 14 between Mankato and Owatonna. Walz countered that Highway 14 should have been completed long ago and that the 1st Congressional District receives less highway funds than any congressional district in the state.

On the DM&E: Gutknecht reiterated his support for the expansion project because of the need for rail transportation to ship a projected one billion gallons of ethanol that will be produced in the district within five years. Walz said that Gutknecht failed the district by allowing the $2.3 billion loan provision targeted for the DM&E to "sneak through Congress in the dead of night."

Gutknecht allowed that the loan needs "due diligence", but that there are elements in the district that simply "want to kill the railroad."

On agriculture and energy: Gutknecht cited the future of ethanol production as a boon for farmers, noting that the demand for it should keep corn prices above the price guarantee level. He opposes the 51¢ per gallon blender's credit that goes to refiners "like Koch [Industries]," not farmers and producers.

Walz called for an "Apollo Program" for renewable fuels, stating that Americans can save $3.1 million a day in imported fuel costs by raising the CAFE standards on automobiles. He noted that Gutknecht has received $77,000 from the fossil fuel industry in campaign contributions and supported the recent energy bill and the subsidies it offers to that industry.

Both men agreed that emphasis needs to be placed on developing renewable energy resources, with Gutknecht citing Brazil as a country that has succeeded in declaring energy independence from OPEC. They also agreed that the Farm Bill, which is coming up for renewal next year, has been beneficial for farmers but needs changes to reflect the shifting agricultural and world trade climate.

(Part 2 to come)

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