The St. Cloud Times recently conducted endorsement interviews with the candidates vying for the House District 15A and House District 15B seats.
In District 15A, the incumbent is Republican Steve Gottwalt vs. DFLer Joanne Dorsher. There is little doubt in my mind that Joanne Dorsher would serve the people far better than the hyper partisan Gottwalt. While Steve and his supporters would like to pretend that he has been good for education and has worked well across the aisle, the reality is that if he doesn't agree with you his response is little more than scorn and dismissal. As always, in my mind, education is the top issue and time after time Gottwalt has been an abject failure.
In District 15B, the incumbent is DFLer Larry Haws vs. Republican Josh Behling. Larry tells it like it is and has been nothing less than straight with me about where he stands even when that position is counter to my own. On the other hand you have Behling who appears to be little more than the ultra conservative drone who has little independent thought of his own (apart from perhaps a strong hatred for Hillary Clinton but that too is probably authorized by the "everything is Clinton's fault" wing of the ultra conservative coalition).I have cut the full interview into the subsequent questions. However, you will have to forgive the same introduction being added to each question so as to give proper source attribution.
Candidate Introductions:
Question #1: What are your specific plans for education funding?
Question #2: What specifically (taxes? formula? bill? idea?) are going to do to fix education funding?
Question #3: What are your specific solutions to fix the budget deficit? This portion covers ONLY 15B candidates Josh Behling (R) and Larry Haws (DFL).
Question #4: What are your specific solutions to fix the budget deficit? This portion covers ONLY 15A candidates Joanne Dorsher (DFL) and Steve Gottwalt (R).
My predictions, for what they are worth: Both incumbents ( Steve Gottwalt (R) & Larry Haws (DFL) ) get the endorsement from the St. Cloud Times. Who do you think will be endorsed and why? Who deserves endorsement and why? Who deserves to be elected and why?
