In the newly-created State Senate District 29, the winner will serve an area that encompasses much of Wright County, including the Annandale-South Haven area. Veteran Republican Bruce Anderson of Buffalo is being challenged by DFLer Brian Doran of Monticello. The candidate questions are on page 6A.
Bruce Anderson (R): Anderson, 62, is a resident of Buffalo. Anderson is married to Ruth and he has five children and three step-children. Anderson has been the State Representative for House District 19A for 18 years. Anderson is retired from the Air Force Reserves. He was manager for Centra-Sota Cooperative and also worked for CESCO products. Anderson has a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern College in Business Administration. Anderson has volunteered his time for Functional Services, Wright County Community Action, Wright County Jail Services, Men of Faith, Celebration Community Church and Governor’s Council of People with Disabilities.
1. Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! The newly drawn Senate District 29 needs jobs, and I want to run to strengthen policies that support job-growth and government reform. Our citizens demand and need quality private sector job growth. Both the state and federal governments are ridden with debt and out of control spending.
We need to stop job-killing tax burdens, and provide structural reform for cost-efficiency and long term fiscal stability. We can improve Minnesota’s business climate by lowering taxes on job providers, incentivizing investment and expanding tax credits for research and development.
We need to encourage and enhance local control for our schools, and provide relief for unfunded mandates. I also oppose government-run health care, promote choice of insurance companies across state lines, and value the private health care marketplace. These are issues that I have supported in the past and will continue to support and promote.
2. My current and past experience of private, military and government work gives me a good understanding of the roles that government should be involved in and those it should not. As a servant of the people, I believe that people know that I care about their concerns and do my best to help in those situations where a state remedy is needed. Having served as a manager, leader and member of various boards from non-profit to government, I gained much experience in overseeing large and small budgets that are always facing challenges to stay viable. I know the value of a hard earned dollar and I respect the fact that those dollars sent to St. Paul should be spent wisely and efficiently.
3. I support spending cuts in these areas:
■ Consolidation of duplicate services
■ Stop funding sports stadiums
■ Reduce the Minnesota state motor pool,
■ Government reform – in 2011 and 2012 we proposed legislation to reduce the size of government by 15 percent in 15 years and Gov. Dayton vetoed the proposal.
4. Legislature should continue to advance more equitable school funding.
5. Yes, the state property tax that currently only businesses pay, but not the local property tax.
6. Promote tax relief for businesses and other job creators, homeowners and job seekers in order to make more capital available for investment, equipment, expansion, and additional employees. Reduce the cost of energy and regulatory costs in part by repealing coal and nuclear moratoriums. Change the environmental permitting process for businesses and individuals to make them easier and more timely to complete.
7. No, I do not support government run health care and do not want Minnesota to form a health care exchange to implement it. Industry competition will lead to lower health care costs and provide more choices with better options for individuals.
8. No, I’m not completely satisfied because I still get complaints from my constituents on the way the Fund was originally proposed – most of this money was supposed to be helping the environment but the end product was very different. Because this was a Constitutional Amendment it would have to go back to the citizens of Minnesota with a different statement as to how and what this fund should be used for!
9. We cannot afford commuter rail lines when ticket prices can’t cover the cost of operations. Commuters by car do not get subsidized operating costs, so why should others? Roads and bridges have long been the avenue for people getting around and we can’t continue to short change that area of our transportation system. We must continue to maintain the infrastructure of our current transportation system and provide for expansion in those areas where there has been large population growth.
10. Yes I agree that the voters of the state should have a chance to vote on both proposals that will be on the ballot this fall.
11. There are two copies of the Minnesota State Constitution under glass at the History Center. They are identical! Why, you ask? Because the Democrats would not sign the same copy as the Republicans who were the first to sign the document. We have come a long way since 1858 when the Constitution was signed. Today lawmakers are able to converse, debate and agree to disagree.
12. Lift the moratoriums on coal and nuclear energy, reduce taxes, repeal abortion, repair roads and bridges, cut the size of government.
Brian Doran (DFL): Doran, 56, is a resident of Monticello. For the past two years Doran has served the Foreign Service Institute as a trainer-mentor of military and civilian personnel deploying to Afghanistan. Doran is married to Denise and he has one son, Sean. Doran has a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Cloud State and a Master’s of Science from the University of Denver, College of Law. Doran served with the Army-Department of State for five years in Afghanistan and Iraq.
1. My extended families are Republicans and Democrats that lived in Wright County for over 100 years, and I could not have had a better place to grow up. My father and mother loved us and taught us the value of hard work. I was fortunate to have opportunities as a teen to find jobs in the Monticello area provided by small businesses and farmers, and a high school that prepared me for higher education.
I know how fortunate I am, and this gave me the desire to spend over five years being shelled at night and shot at daily in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan to bring democracy to people who wanted it. Now, given the opportunity, I’m eager to represent the people of District 29 to ensure their current and future opportunities can be fully realized – for this generation and those to come.
2. After law school, I started my career improving the court administrative systems with legislatures in Vermont, Arizona, California, Nevada and Minnesota at the city, county and state level for 16 years.
During 1999, President Clinton asked the United States Agency for International Development to find citizens with rule of law-governance expertise to help Kosovo become a nation. I left my position as Deputy State Court Administrator for the Nevada Supreme Court to become USAID’s lead person for the court administration program for 13 months.
After 9-11, President Bush asked USAID to find citizens with expertise in rule of law-governance to help Afghanistan become a nation, and I served for 20 months as the senior court administration expert.
During the Iraq War, President Bush asked USAID to find experts in governance, and I served for 19 months implementing administrative structure to district-provincial governments.
In 2010, President Obama asked USAID to provide civil expertise in rule of law-governance to support the military efforts in moving the Afghan Government through stabilization to transition, and I served for 14 months.
My entire career in the U.S. and overseas has been bringing groups with different agendas to a common goal of providing better services to their citizens. It did not matter to me if the best idea came from an Albanian, Serbian, Sunni, Shite, Democratic or Republican. Whoever brought idea forward, I worked to bring the groups together to share the burden and opportunities of implementation.
3. I believe a combination of ideas would work. Some ideas presented to me during my meetings with local businesses and citizens include increasing revenues by:
■ Closing corporate tax loopholes (this was suggested by both Best Buy and Target to reduce unfair competition from outside corporations who do not have on the ground operations in Minnesota).
■ Pass legislation that requires online sales tax to level the playing field (make online businesses collect sales tax like local business). We could also reduce expenses by moving responsibility and resources to townships, county and city officials where government is smaller and closer to its citizens.
4. I have met with Rockford, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Annandale, Maple Lake school boards and most of the other superintendents of Wright County. I support their recommendation, which is the state needs an equitable system where the tax burden on property with similar value should be uniform throughout the state. I will work to make this happen.
5. Yes.
6. I am a small business owner, and if I needed to improve my business now or later, I would do it now. With record low interest rates, the time for Minnesota to update our sewer, water, bridge and road systems is now. This will create short and long term jobs, because with better infrastructure, businesses will invest and expand.
7. I compare this act to requiring mandatory car insurance back in the 1970s. It forced individual responsibility for their actions and made citizens get "skin in the game." Individuals will ask more questions of their health care providers to keep their premiums low and search for better services. And just like the mandatory car insurance law of the ’70s, because everyone was required to have car insurance the customer base increased causing the premiums to go down. But just like the original mandatory care insurance law, the original affordable care act will need to be revised. On a personal note, I purchase my own family health insurance and am not part of a group, I have "skin in the game."
8. I am satisfied.
9. Yes, improve roads and bridges. Yes, appropriate more money for Metro light rail where ridership is proven. But for Northstar, increase times of arrival-departure from Big Lake to ensure optimum use before expanding or eliminating.
10. On a scale of what "the state should have been doing during the last legislative session" both of these amendments would not have been on my radar. My top 10 would have been jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, reduce the deficit, and did I say jobs. To me both amendments will create government jobs and are solutions looking for a problem.
The Constitutional Amendment I would have put before the citizens is a flat tax on personal income.
11. Yes, too much emphasis on party-special interest goals. Legislatures are not focused on a common goal of providing better services to their citizens. Whoever brings a good idea forward, I will work to bring the groups together to share the burden and opportunities of implementation.
12. First, all school boards in Wright County agree, pass a bill that makes the tax burden on property with similar value be uniform throughout the state. The other four would be bills my district’s townships, cities, and county officials believe will benefit our citizens.