The Wake

This election season, there are two “third-party” candidates running in the race to be Minnesota’s next governor, along with the Republican and Democrat nominees.

Independence Party candidate Peter Hutchinson and the Green Party’s Ken Pentel join Republican incumbent Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Attorney General Mike Hatch from the DFL. The Libertarian Party of Minnesota is not running a candidate since Sue Jeffers announced she’d run against Pawlenty for the Republican nomination in the Sept. 12 primary, in which she lost by a large margin. Voters will decide on Nov. 7.

Many think that a two-party political system limits voters. Maureen Reed, Hutchinson’s running mate for lieutenant governor and former member of the U’s Board of Regents, says, “we’re listening to what the electorate is saying and there’s no substitution for listening to their concerns.” She explained that in Minnesota, the Independence Party is considered a major party because of the percentage of votes it garners. According to a poll last winter, about 46 percent of Minnesotans define themselves as something other than Democrats or Republicans, Reed says.

Two days after the primary, Pawlenty, Hatch and Hutchinson gathered at a debate sponsored by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce to weigh in on the issues. Pentel was not invited to participate.

At the debate, Hutchinson showed his strength of character by challenging Pawlenty. “You don’t get the right to tell me what I said,” Hutchinson interrupted the current governor. Hutchinson continued, “I said $32 billion is enough,” in reference to total yearly state and local government spending after Pawlenty misinterpreted Hutchinson’s original comment.

Hutchinson, a Faribault, Minn. native, also described Pawlenty and Hatch as typical politicians. He called the two candidates an example of “politics as usual” and slammed Pawlenty’s budget management abilities and says that Hatch should be reprimanded for not standing up to Pawlenty in that respect.

Hutchinson is the leader of Team Minnesota, the Independence Party’s group of candidates this year and will serve as their “manager.” The team, which will includes the state’s next attorney general, lieutenant governor, state auditor and secretary of state, claims on their Web site that “politics is broken by close-minded partisanship” and that they plan to work together to overcome the broken system.

“Going Independent is the only way to get out of the gridlock” that Reed says Minnesota will be in if a DFL or GOP governor is elected this November. She says the Democrats and Republicans use wedge issues to divide and distract Minnesotans and that the Independent candidates have a good chance because “Minnesotans are so sick of the hand grenades and the gridlock.”

Team Minnesota is focusing on four issues: healthcare, education, transportation and the environment. Reed says that healthcare is the most important issue we face in Minnesota because “healthcare should be considerably cheaper than what it is now.” Reed also says that the best way to tackle the other three issues is to reduce healthcare costs, because then the state can devote what it’s currently spending on health issues to other concerns. “The best thing you can do is get health care costs under control.”

Reed spent Sept. 14 talking with students on the Washington Avenue pedestrian bridge. She said she enjoys hearing from students because they’re usually very direct and she says she’s concerned about rising tuition. “Our goal is to double the number of college graduates in Minnesota,” Reed says. She and Hutchinson are worried because only about 25 percent of today’s ninth graders will get a college degree. “We need to assure there’s financial aid for students of lower economic means.”

Reed, originally from Redwood Falls, Minn., is concerned by how many debates Pawlenty has cancelled this year. He has backed out of 11 of 19 scheduled debates, she says. She also doesn’t appreciate his refusal to accept state campaign funds so he could forgo spending limits. “The governor had so little faith in the voters of Minnesota that he chose to turn his back on voter money and turn to private interests and their money.”

Pentel, the Green’s gubernatorial candidate, is also concerned about how strong our democracy is. He wants to reform the election process through instant runoff voting and proportional representation. He also supports campaign finance reform because, as he says on his Web site, “the people should have more of a voice in our government than lobbyists.”

“We need to clean up our democracy,” Pentel says. There’s a massive amount of lobby money interfering with the democratic process of electing representatives, he explained. “There are commercial interests orbiting around policy-making that turn our government into a commercial vehicle.”

The process compromises our legislation, he says, and this is “no longer a government by and for the people.” The major party candidates “are not representing the best interests of the common good.”

Having the Green Party’s endorsement, Pentel obviously prioritizes environmental issues. He says that Minnesota needs energy independence and efficiency and that the state could become a leader in reducing dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Pentel’s green energy policy “fights global warming at home, not wars for oil overseas,” according to his Web site.

“We need to make the transition to sustainable practices,” Pentel says. He wants to do that through legislation and education by enhancing outreach programs, such as apprenticeships, to reward students who will contribute to a “reciprocal society.” His plan would stabilize economies and would recognize the importance of communities, he says. For example, sustainable farms would not have to pay property taxes, the candidate explained. “It’s a holistic plan.”

Pentel, in his third run for governor, is also prioritizing healthcare. He wants to go to a single-payer universal healthcare system and “get out of this craziness.”

When asked why a voter should choose a third-party candidate, Pentel says, “If you vote out of fear, you’ve lost and you lose democracy.” He thinks that voters shouldn’t consider a vote for a third-party candidate a wasted vote, because these candidates do represent voter’s values and don’t allow the major parties to control and intimidate their stances. “There’s a huge percentage of the public that’s disenchanted with the current system and parties,” Pentel says, so people should get away from the ”corporate, militaristic and anti-earth” candidates.

Instant runoff voting is a perfect example of what Greens have to offer, Pentel explained. Voters rank candidates and one must get more than 50 percent of the vote in order to be elected. If no candidate wins that much initially, then second choices are taken into consideration. Minneapolis voters will be able to choose if they want to go to an instant runoff system this November. Pentel says that Greens have been talking about the idea for at least ten years and that it’s now seriously being considered.

Third-party candidates frequently bring up “ideas voters would normally not hear,” Pentel says. Also, “third parties provide a pathway for people who would not normally vote.”

Most third parties do not accept endorsements or lobby money, Reed says. “When candidates seek endorsements, they have to make promises,” she says. Pentel agrees that too much of state policy is made up by corporate interests. “There’s only one endorsement we want,” Reed says. “The endorsement of the voters of Minnesota.”