EDITORIAL: Rural towns should be key in race
Published 10:00 am Friday, June 26, 2009
The Austin Daily Herald’s editorial board received a visit this week from Minnesota State Sen. Thomas Bakk, a carpenter by trade who lives on Lake Vermilion near Cook, located roughly 330 miles due north of Austin.
Bakk was elected to the state senate in November 2002 after serving four terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The senator was in town as part of his media tour and discussed the state budget, Gov. Pawlenty’s recent unallotment as well as Bakk’s own candidacy for governor.
The Democrat senator’s tour also includes towns such as Albert Lea, Red Wing, Brainerd and Winona.
Minnesota has not had a rural governor since Rudy Perpich left office in January 1991. And for communities like Austin, we need candidates who know first hand about small business, farm land and what the needs are of the state’s rural towns.
On Wednesday, Bakk touched on how unemployment is a serious problem in Minnesota and how the key to rebounding the economy is not through cuts or through tax increases but by economic development and expansion.
He also said he’s been a long-time supporter of local government aid.
“I’m a really strong advocate of rural Minnesota,” Bakk said. “Rural Minnesota needs a strong advocate.”
The governor’s race will be long, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in some of the worst economic conditions in six decades.
Is Sen. Bakk the right candidate for the job?
It’s too soon to tell, and we also know it takes more to be qualified for governor than a rural address.
What we do like so far, however, is that Bakk has made an effort to reach Minnesota’s rural communities this early in the campaign.
We hope all of the gubernatorial candidates follow his lead because we want to meet them. In the end, we will support the best candidate for the entire state of Minnesota, from Brainerd to the Twin Cities and down to Austin.