Minnesota’s employment rose in June to pre-recession levels. The state’s 2012-2013 budget ended with a surplus of $463 million. Republican candidate for governor Kurt Zellers was Speaker of the House when the 2012-2013 budget was enacted and makes a modest claim to the state’s improved economic condition.
“The easy answer would be to point to all the numbers, but the simple answer is, we brought a calm and consistency to government that the business community responded to,” he said in an interview.
Zellers elaborated on the state budget and on other issues he would address as governor in an interview with MinnPost. Here are excerpts from that interview.
MinnPost: Why do you think the GOP control of the Legislature contributed to the state’s revenue improvements and lower unemployment rate?
Kurt Zellers: No new regulations, no new taxes, no wild, yahoo warehouse taxes that nobody else in the country has. It’s things like that that drive business people crazy. If you bring a consistency and calm to your business community, to your economy, people will respond. And, it’s not because of what we in government did on their behalf or for them, it’s what we didn’t do. It wasn’t creating new programs, it wasn’t adding new layers of government, regulations that. ... Wisconsin doesn’t even have. You let the private sector thrive on its own because it will then.
MP:What do you think will be the defining issue of the 2014 election?
KZ: I think it’s the competitiveness [of the state]. Watch what happens when a company decides they’re going to start a new plant. The Cargill [expansion] – there were at least a dozen states interested. It came down to Minnesota and Denver.
MP: But Denver offered Cargill big incentives, did it not?
KZ: They did, yeah. But having our corporate rate at 9.8 percent, which is among the highest in the nation, you can never even enter the conversation. If we can’t offer a big tax break like Colorado did, but we also can’t bring our corporate rate down, automatically, there’s really no incentive for them to look at us.
MP: In balancing the state budget, do you have a budget philosophy beyond holding the line on taxes?
KZ: It would be efficiency and effectiveness. You’ve got example after example; Michigan, Ohio, Indiana – there are examples all across the country of states that have been in worse financial conditions than we are, have made some common-sense improvements: going to an updated computer system, buying your products a different way, consolidating back-office operations. There are very simple but also very easy-to-implement solutions that don’t involve Draconian cuts.
MP: In what areas would you, as governor, make different spending choices?
KZ: Education would be at the very top of the list. We have got to demand better not only from our students but from our teachers and from our parents. I personally think we should focus on what has always been what Minnesota has been great at – the hard sciences, math, physics, geometry.
MP: How would you improve education outcomes in lower-achieving schools?
KZ: You’ve got to allow the parent to opt out of that school. They don’t have 10 years to change the system. By the time their kids get to sixth grade, a lot of these decisions and a lot of how they’re going to be affected going forward have already been made.
MP: How would you address transportation?
KZ: We’ve got to build roads. My priority would be on roads and on bus rapid transit versus more trains and trolley cars downtown.
MP: Would you support a gas-tax increase?
KZ: I wouldn’t and it’s not just on the old, ‘I don’t believe in taxes.’ It’s diminishing returns. As cars get more efficient and with more people on rapid transit, we’re not going to have as many people using gas.
MP: How would you modify the new health-care exchange?
KZ: The health-care exchange concept, which is a marketplace, where everybody is able to come in and compete, is a great model. What they’ve done, though, is put it into government hands, which is the worst possible place. I think the idea should be that we open it up.
Until the consumer is as involved in buying their health insurance, as involved in getting a good deal on their health insurance as their car insurance, we’re not going to get savings in the system.
If you’re going to have a health-care exchange, it should be a true exchange, which involves everybody in the state and everybody who would like to be involved is allowed to offer their product, not the government providing winners and losers and then deciding the price.
MP: You support rolling back the new income tax bracket and the new business taxes, but how would you cover the $2 billion hole in the budget if that happens?
KZ: The $2 billion, where would you get the money? Minnesotans will make up the difference for us. They will expand. They’ll grow jobs. They’ll bring their businesses back here.
It’s not as if we’re going back to the 1980s with this budget. This budget is going to be $39 billion. The budget we passed just two years ago is $34 billion.
At the end of the day, if we’re the No. 2 highest taxed or the No. 3 most regulated state, or the No. 1 most confusing state to do business in, we’re off the table. I’m not saying we go all the way down to 48, but I’d like to get out of the top 10.
MP: Would you support the legislative proposal to legalize medical marijuana?
KZ: I wouldn’t. Other states that have tried it are seeing spikes in crime. Law enforcement has said very clearly this is not a plan that has been well thought out yet. Until they can fully assess what the societal ramifications are, I put my trust in them in managing how safe our society is.
MP: Would you attempt to modify the new law allowing gay marriage?
KZ: It’s the law of the land. I think the conversation has been had, so I’m moving on to what most Minnesotans are talking about.
MP: Would you support further restrictions in Minnesota’s abortion laws?
KZ: Whether it’s going to be an abortion or a medical procedure, we want the health and safety of the mother and the child to be at the forefront, so if it is guaranteeing that, I would support it.
MP: Is there one thing you learned as Speaker that you think would serve you well as governor?
KZ: It’s understanding the intricacies of the budget and the time that you have from when you know the forecast and when you have to have the budget finished. That is invaluable. And, also knowing the limitations and the abilities of your political opponents and your political supporters.