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A three-on-one debate Wednesday distilled both policy and style differences among the candidates seeking to be the next Minnesota governor, with a trio of Republicans calling for a stark shift in direction and the DFL hopeful saying her vast experience will be a vital asset.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the presumed DFL nominee, sat on a Farmfest stage alongside Republicans Lisa Demuth, Mike Lindell and Kendall Qualls. The series of questions revolved mostly around agriculture issues and concerns of greater Minnesota, but each used every opening possible to stand out.

The event comes less than a week before the Aug. 11 primary election as Republican voters grapple with who to pick as their party’s nominee. 

From the get-go, Klobuchar worked to show a been-there, done-that approach by citing measures she’s worked on in Congress, referencing places she’s been in Minnesota and ideas she’s put on the table this campaign.

“We know there are headwinds but they cannot be an excuse. I am going to transform this state government,” Klobuchar said toward the close of the hour-long forum. “And I am someone, that I think you know, when you put your trust in me I’m going to go ahead and do the work for you because I have been there with you through good times and bad.”

Demuth said it’s time to chart a new course from leadership by Democrats, who have been in charge of Minnesota’s executive branch since 2011.

“It is important to me that everyone in Minnesota, all parts of our state, has the opportunities to succeed,” the state House speaker told the sometimes-raucous audience. “And what will make that happen is an absolute culture change from how we have been led over the last 16 years.”

Lindell, who this week stepped down as CEO of MyPillow, put the stakes in more ominous terms.

“This is a spiritual battle of evil and good of biblical proportions,” he said.

And Qualls, a former healthcare executive who won the GOP’s convention endorsement, said he mixes the know-how with the fresh eyes of someone coming from outside the halls of government.

“We've been hearing from politicians from both sides for 20 years what they're going to do. The reality is we become an anti-business state,” Qualls said, adding, “when people leave the state, that's a decision based on what the Democrats have done and what the Republicans haven't done. It's time to bring outsiders.”

There were few direct exchanges between the candidates because of the round-robin format of the forum. Among the issues covered:

All four candidates said they would take a tough tack when responding to fraud in state government programs. A sample of their responses:

Demuth: “As speaker of the House, I established the Fraud Prevention and Agency Oversight Committee because no longer did I want Democrats in the state of Minnesota to be able to say that there was no fraud. From there, we added whistleblower protections, the Office of Inspector General.”

Qualls: “You hold people responsible that should have been responsible. This is a dereliction of duty in the Army. Okay, the guy the top, all the way down to the person who did it. There needs to be accountability. It's been eight to 10 years that it's been going on. The biggest issue is this: We have mega spending bills that funded the fraud programs. No more mega spending bills. One single bill item at a time, both up and down on those, so we have clear accountability.”

Lindell: “I micromanage and macro manage. And if I get a call — 300 people in my company on my direct number — if there's a deviation over here in sector three, I need to know right away. I'm making decisions based on that. Or if something's blocked. So that when getting in there, all these commissioners go on, they're all going to be held accountable in real time.”

Klobuchar: “My plan as governor will be to do this: Minute I get in there, I will launch a top-to-bottom audit of state government. I will root out the fraud. I'm going to make sure that we're vetting all the contracts. That there are surprise inspections. … And I will use my experience of running the biggest prosecutor's office in the state and in the private sector for over 10 years to get this done. People who commit fraud should go to jail.”

There were strong audience responses as candidates discussed how they would navigate working with the federal government as it relates to immigration enforcement.

The Republican candidates took issue with state and local elected leaders in the Twin Cities who they said didn’t do enough to help the Trump administration apprehend people during the winter enforcement surge.

“I will support our federal immigration laws regardless of who is in charge,” Demuth said, arguing the Trump administration needed to toughen security at the country’s borders after former President Joe Biden left office. 

Lindell agreed that if elected he would help facilitate the transfer of people serving jail sentences in the state to federal officials. He also raised concerns about local policies that prevent law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials.

“You cooperate with the federal government, and you say, ‘Pick these guys up,’” Lindell said.

“This whole idea of a sanctuary city, sanctuary state will be eliminated,” Qualls said. “We have one Constitution, one rule of law. We are a nation of laws, or we're not a nation at all. It starts right here with new leadership.”

Klobuchar condemned her Republican colleagues for not voicing concerns over the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers killing two American citizens in Minneapolis. She said she disapproved of additional federal funding to the agency that she said would be better used serving Minnesotans.

“(ICE) is bigger than the FBI now. It's bigger than the Marines. I did not support that,” Klobuchar said. “I think that $70 billion extra dollars should go to you for your healthcare. That money should go to you for your housing, and it should go on you for your child care.”

The line elicited a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd.

Asked about efforts to speed up permitting from the state, all four candidates agreed there is room for improvement when it comes to streamlining the process to get business and environmental permits.

“I am the first one to tell you that I enjoy knowing that we have clean air and clean water, but removing the amount of regulation and rulemaking that MPCA has and bringing that back into common sense, moving our state forward and eliminating the delays alone in permitting is a first step,” Demuth said.

Klobuchar has proposed streamlining state government programs and providing a refund — similar to Dominos Pizza — if the state fails to issue permits on the timeline it offered.

“If the state doesn't make a decision by then, you get your money back. This is not easy for people who are in small businesses and rural to deal with a state government that doesn't match your drive and your ambition,” Klobuchar said.

Lindell said he’d experience challenges with the state permitting process firsthand with his business MyPillow. 

“Our government holding these things back, these regulations to get rid of them and to get the permits out as fast as they can,” Lindell said. “It's cost everyone money. That's going to be one of my priorities.”

Qualls pointed to his background in business as well, and also took the option to highlight the fact that he was endorsed by Republican delegates.

“Voters in the Republican Party wanted an outside business candidate, and the majority of them got that. They wanted that,” he said. “The key next, the question next is this: Can we get someone elected, and we haven't gotten it done in 20 years?”

The candidates differed on what it might take to ease healthcare costs for people, especially farmers who often purchase their family coverage on a public marketplace.

Klobuchar said she would push to reinstate federal tax credits that subsidize premium costs for insurance shoppers and had a backup plan in mind.

“If they do not extend that tax credit on those individual marketplace plans to help you bring down your tax insurance, your insurance premiums, I will do it on the state level as your governor,” she vowed.

Demuth suggested she’d try to reel back things enacted at the state level, revisiting programs such as paid family and medical leave. 

“What's driving up the cost? And it is unfunded mandates, or it is business mandates. Again, paid family leave, the other pressures that put on all our business, all of our businesses, including healthcare,” Demuth said. “Those are Democrat-created issues here at the state level that need to be changed.”

Lindell previewed a forthcoming budget plan, which he said would come out Thursday.

“This primary direct primary care, it's amazing, especially for rural Minnesota and especially for the inner city, with both of them,” he said. “Because people are going to get direct care from their physicians that they didn't have before because of their doc or the deductibles that they didn't want to go take,” he said, leaving further details out prior to the plan launch.

Qualls said he would pursue an unspecified waiver and said healthcare is an example of a letdown by lawmakers in both parties. 

“When President Trump won in 2016, the key was we're going to repeal and replace (of Obamacare),” Qualls said. “We had the trifecta in the federal government to do that, and he got betrayed by our own party.”

The candidates were asked what they would do to hold down taxes, particularly those levied on property.

Demuth mentioned the state-government imposed requirements around time off and a clean energy mandate that she said was partly to blame. She touted recently approved property tax help from the Legislature.

Qualls said it comes down to dramatic change in how the state funds and delivers services, but he steered clear of specific proposals.

Lindell said his budget plan would address this, too.

“The first thing I'm going to do is spell and cancel all the unfunded mandates,” he said. 

He also criticized the way school districts seek funding and don’t deliver on student achievement. 

“When they need funding, they put bonds upon top of bonds. It's like a Ponzi scheme,” he said. “When they don't have the money, they raise your property taxes.”

Klobuchar adopted something of a no-new-taxes pledge.

“I'm very focused on what's happening with county property taxes. I'm not going to increase your taxes,” she said. “I'm going to make sure that we balance our budget. But the one thing that I'm going to do is make sure that the local government aid is there, county program aid, add to school credits that matter a lot for our rural schools.”

The Farmfest debate was the last before next week’s primary. It was moderated by WCCO political analyst Blois Olson.

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Democrat Amy Klobuchar shared a debate stage with Republican governor candidates Lisa Demuth, Mike Lindell and Kendall Qualls to discuss rural policy and what they’d do if given the title by voters.

Dana Ferguson | MPR News

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Opening tangle in Minnesota governor’s race shows contrasts between Klobuchar, 3 GOP rivals

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