The governor's race, by issues that interest me

The only thing I am sure of when it comes to the governor's race is that I will not be voting for Pawlenty. The reason is quite simple. Two years ago I was at the state fair on MPR day, and while at the MPR booth I saw that they were doing an interview with the governor and rushed over to listen. People were asking him what we would do for Katrina, how we could help....nothing of a political nature. But I got in line to ask a question which went something like this:

"Mr. Pawlenty, I voted for you in uh, what was it 2000? No 2002, and I was trying to figure out some reason to support you when you can't even hold to your most basic pledge to not raise taxes. Now before you go telling me you didn't raise taxes, I, as a non-smoker, can clearly see that what you did is raise taxes. Fees are taxes, I don't pay an income fee, or a sales fee, they are taxes. Because a fee by any other name is a tax."

He went into a five-minute hissy fit about how it is a fee, and refused flat out to answer my question. I believe that there are some honest politicians who will do what they say they will and he isn't one.

My eye wanders to Mike Hatch then. Running through his site I find no platform, no ideas for the state, but instead "Position Papers" -- page upon page of foot-noted essays seemingly written by college students for their thesis. So I have to rely on other sources to find how he feels about issues. The first issue that has been on my mind was the unconstitutional passing of the tax on Hennepin County to pay for the new stadium.

Addressing the issue of a Vikings stadium, Hatch explained he would need a “whole lot” of persuading to support state involvement in a stadium — he noted he would have signed the Twins ballpark bill.

So, he wants to spend my money, but not his, to fund a stadium. Since you love baseball so much Mr. Hatch, that's strike one. But let us move on to taxes, since that was my critique of the governor, what did Mr. Hatch have to say about that?

So far, Hatch has called for spending $10 million a year on stem cell research, $50 million a year for additional cops, and about $300 million a year to roll back tuition hikes. He has yet to release his education plan that may include "big-ticket items" such as all-day kindergarten.

Hatch said he'll get the money to lower tuition by ending the business tax break. He said they're using a loophole to hide their profits out of state.

Business groups view Hatch's proposal as a tax increase that would hinder job growth. Hatch acknowledges that his plan would increase corporate tax collections, but doesn't think it would drive Minnesota companies to other states.

"Sure, it's a business tax. It's a loophole," Hatch said. "It was a tax that's there by every other state, it's not going to encourage anybody to leave."

Well, seeing as my father's company moved to Michigan because of taxes back in 2001, I know this to be a lie. So does Mike Hatch. Whenever a company has its taxes increased they typically move to an area of lower tax revenue. In fact, see South Dakota's boom of businesses moving to just outside the Minnesota border. Strike two. But let's move on to education, since that seems to be a hot topic.

"The cost of college is stretching middle-class families to the limit," the Hatch ad says. "Tuition is up 50 percent in four years. Too many kids can't afford to go. As governor, I'll close a $300 million tax loophole that allows corporations to hide profits overseas. And I'll use every dollar to roll back college tuition."

That's one of the most specific education proposals from Hatch. The rest are short of details. Hatch says he supports early childhood education and all-day kindergarten. And he doesn't like the federal No Child Left Behind law or its testing mandates.

"I'm in favor of measurable outcomes, but right now we have too many teachers in too many classrooms teaching to a test," Hatch said. "In other words, they're not teaching kids to learn, they're simply teaching them to pass a test."

OK, so he believes that we need to spend money to fix the problem. Let us ignore that throwing money at problems doesn't fix it and go to the meat of the issue. College tuition should either be nothing or a market rate, not this in between, wishy-washy tax drama.

If you let the free market decide what college tuition should be, then the rates would drop as colleges would seek out students because they had a vested economic interest in them. Cut the government funding of colleges and allow them to charge what the cost is. There would be a cut in the administrative BS that exists, and the core college cost would drop when they eliminate that cost out of their system.

On the flip side, if we are going to fund colleges, they need to be funded 100 percent, there is no reason to say we are going to give money to all education outfits from kindergarten through master's degree, but oh, you have to pay extra for this part of it. Imagine if K-12 schools charged $1,000 per student per year, you would have an outcry from the masses. Strike three Mr. Hatch.

Well wait, let me give you a bonus swing. Education testing. If the test is what children need to learn, then why is teaching for the test wrong? If the test asks, "What is 2+2?" and children are taught to learn 4, what makes that wrong? Hit the locker room Mr. Hatch, yer out.

This has gone longer than I intended so I will make Mr. Hutchinson and other candidates in another post.