Seven questions the DFL isn't asking

Here are the questions The Race for 64B submitted to the candidate forum on March 9th. As you can see, they didn't get asked at Macalester on Sunday.

But it would still be good to hear the answers:

For all candidates:

The DFL caucus in the House is typically divided into three factions: Minneapolis and its suburbs, St. Paul and its suburbs, and the Iron Range, including Duluth. A majority often requires two of the three: Minneapolis and St. Paul, or St. Paul and the Range. That's how the Vikings stadium passed: St. Paul and the Range voted for it. Given the needs of the East Metro, like redeveloping the Ford Plant and building out the Gateway Corridor, can St. Paul lawmakers afford to openly oppose copper nickel mining and risk losing allies in the Range delegation if Minneapolis won't support East Metro economic development? Are you willing to make that trade-off?

For Beth Fraser: 

You talk a lot about voting rights, and you talk often about your support of access to the democratic process. But in 2012, District 64B has some of the highest voter turnout in the state, maybe even the nation. Michael Paymar ranked 8th in vote totals in the House in the last election, and five of the seven above him were competitive races. Is moving ahead of DFLers Frank Hornstein and Paul Thissen in turnout really a priority for 64B? Why wouldn't you be a better candidate for secretary of state, where you could have a more direct impact on the issue?

For Melanie McMahon:

You're a committee administrator at the Capitol. You declared the same day your committee chairman, Michael Paymar, said he wasn't running again. He's since come out publicly in support of you. How do you respond to people to whom this looks like the machinations of Capitol insiders, or feel like the political machinery in the district excludes them if the DFL only puts you on the ballot in August?

For Matt Freeman:

Your voting record and your career show that you've worked practically all over the state.You're young and relatively new to the neighborhood and you're drawing a lot of support from outside 64B, from your family and from the mayor's office. The district already elected a former Duluth City Council member and Duluth mayoral contender. Why shouldn't 64B voters prefer someone with deeper ties to the district to succeed him?

For Dave Pinto:

You talk a lot about your work in the Ramsey County attorney's office to protect children and fight crime. These are important issues and 64B surely has some of these cases. But child abuse and neglect and sex trafficking are probably not as great a public concern in 64B that they are in other neighborhoods. You DID run for Ramsey County attorney in 2010: isn't your agenda more suited for that office, and can't you serve 64B better as a prosecutor?

For Greta Bergstrom:

You have a long history here and strong ties to the district. But you also work for TakeAction Minnesota and now have their endorsement. Their involvement has proven sometimes difficult for the DFL. Jeremiah Ellis lost in 65A in 2010, despite the party endorsement. In Minneapolis, Betsy Hodges battled to a no-endorsement with a former DFL party chair last year. Are you more than another TakeAction candidate for the Legislature? Can you give two examples a priority for 64B for you that's different from TakeAction's agenda? 

For Gloria Zaiger:

You have been very active in the DFL and in some local issues, like the city's capital budget committee and animal welfare. But you don't make a living in public policy or a related field. You haven't said much about experience working at the Capitol and its many constituencies. Why shouldn't 64B look for someone with more direct experience in state policy?

Video: Candidates wrap up the Macalester forum

You are NOT going to watch all 96 minutes of the 64B candidate forum. Really.

So, in lieu of the full buffet, have a look at the dessert. Here are the final statements from the District 64B candidate forum held at Weyerhauser Chapel at Macalester College on Sunday.

They're in the order in which they were presented:

Listen: Hear the full 64B candidate forum

The 64B Candidates (l. to r.): Dave Pinto, Matt Freeman,
 Melanie McMahon, Greta Bergstrom, Beth Fraser, Gloria Zaiger.

The six candidates vying for the DFL endorsement in District 64B on March 23 met at Macalester College's Weyerhauser Chapel today for a 90 minute candidate forum. They talked about health care, the environment, public safety, transportation, education and voter participation.

The forum was opened by Senate District 64 DFL Party Chair Elizabeth Wefel and state Sen. Dick Cohen. The discussion was moderated by former DFL state Rep. Kathleen Vallenga.

It was a pretty polite affair, without a lot of distinction between the two candidates -- and no direct interaction between the candidates. But you can hear a little daylight between them, at least stylistically, during the debate.

You can see most of the questions and responses, liveblogged in the previous post. If you want to actually hear what they had to say, well, we got yer debate right here:

Live: District 64B Candidate Forum at Macalester College

Hear this: The 64B candidate forum on Jan. 29th

The six candidates running for the DFL nomination for the 64B race met at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center last night for a pre-caucus candidate forum. We'll have some analysis of what they had to say later.

But in the meantime, for the record, here is the debate.

It ran from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and went in round-robin order, starting with Deputy Secretary of State Beth Fraser, attorney and House committee administrator Melanie McMahon, assistant Ramsey County attorney Dave Pinto, Take Action Minnesota communications director Greta Bergstrom, political organizer and campaign manager Matt Freeman and longtime DFL activist Gloria Zaiger.

Mitch Gordon, an former neighborhood candidate and DFL party official, moderated the debate. It's a long discussion. There's about 87 minutes of audio.





(Please note that there was a technical glitch at the 43:50 point and about 2 minutes of audio was lost in a Beth Fraser and Melanie McMahon response.)

Live feed: 64B candidate forum at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center

Beth Fraser addresses a standing room only crowd at the 64B forum.

The six candidates running for the 64B DFL nomination are at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center at a candidate forum before the Feb. 4 precinct caucuses. 

The audio will also be available archived on the web on Thursday, if you can't listen live to the debate.

Click here for the audio, streaming now.

Candidate forum tonight: Listen here at The Race For 64B

Here's the announcement from the Senate District 64 DFL:

Join us this Wednesday January 29 at 7:00 pm for our first Candidate Forum for the SD64 DFL B race. The Forum will be at the Jewish Community Center (1375 St. Paul Ave, St. Paul) starting at 7:00 pm on Wednesday. Please make sure to have a photo ID on you if you attend the Forum on Wednesday, it will be needed to enter the JCC. See you on Wednesday and bring your questions!

The Race for 64B will be streaming the debate audio live on this website (fingers crossed that the wifi holds up). The entire forum will be archived and available through the rest of the election, again through this site.