Thursday's Forum at Mayo High School: January 24

The format of the forum was sent to me and is being posted with permission:

First, the candidates will each have 5 minutes to introduce themselves after the following prompt:

Tell us about yourself and why you are running for congress. Is there one issue or experience that motivated you to run?

Each candidate will be allowed a 4 minute response to each of the following 8 questions (in no particular order).

1. Describe your policy on education funding and more specifically your stance on No Child Left Behind.

2. Where do we go from here in Iraq and how do we do it in a fiscally responsible way?

3. With the National Debt over 9 Trillion dollars, students feel that older generations are passing the buck to us. What actions will you take to ease the burden on the next generation?

4. Today's youth will be entering an age where our competition is not sitting in the next classroom, but in China, India, and other developing nations. What plans and/or economic policies do you plan to implement that will keep jobs in the United States?

5. What will you take to stem the flow of illegal immigration and what rights should immigrants have in the United States?

6. What specific initiatives will you take to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?

7. The United States spends 17% of our GDP on health care, higher than any other industrialized nation, yet the soaring costs are too much for many Americans. What will you do to improve the system and lower the costs?

Candidates will also be given 4 minutes for Closing Statements

Also, candidates will be asked to respond yes or no to the following issues:

Do you oppose abortion?

Do you oppose civil unions for gay couples?

Do you believe that global climate change is caused by human actions?

Do you support the PATRIOT Act? (Yes, No, Yes, with some modifications)


Here is the schedule for Thursday evening:

6:00 Opening remarks by First District Chair of the Minnesota Teenage Republicans, Matt Payne

6:03 Senator Dave Senjem, opening speaker

6:15 Introduction by Simon Zais, President of Century's Young Conservatives (this will be very brief, candidates will be expected to introduce themselves in their opening statement)

6:19 Candidates begin opening statements and other questions posed by moderators. (Michael Hicks- John Marshall, Todd Nickel- Century, Katelyn Alexander- Lourdes, Britt Koball- Mayo)

7:30 Closing statement by Matt Payne

We hope to see you there!

Concerns About Our Latest Economic Indicators and Energy Costs

Increased Domestic Energy Production Needed to Sustain Economic Growth


For immediate release
January 10, 2008

(Rochester, MN) - Today, Brian Davis, Republican candidate and physician in Minnesota's First Congressional District, released a five point plan to put America on the path towards a sound energy policy. Citing the price of oil as leading our nation towards recession, Davis unveiled the plan on the eve of Republican debate in Rochester on Thursday.

Davis stated, "The current energy bill that passed Congress is inadequate, especially since the price of oil is pushing our economy towards recession. We need people in Congress with backgrounds in energy and those that have more faith in the free market system, than a system of government mandates. The politicians need to move away from rhetoric and take a level-headed look at the numbers and facts to achieve sustained economic growth and increased domestic energy production."

Added Davis, "There is a real possibility of a recession developing, because the cost of energy factors so much into our economy and contributes so heavily to our trade deficit, in fact, up to one-half of it."

The former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, remarked recently that the likelihood of recession is clearly rising, and that the unemployment rate for December increased from 4.7% to 5.0%.

Davis outlined the following proposals for us to move towards eventual energy independence:

• Open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Outer Continental Shelf for immediate exploration for oil and natural gas recovery.
• Continue developing alternative energy sources including ethanol, wind, solar power, and bio-diesel, but move away from mandates.
• Provide a stable regulatory environment that permits the development of nuclear power, an underutilized clean and safe source of electric energy.
• Remove automobile mileage standards and government imposed production mandates because they often work against the free market and have failed in the past. Let individuals decide what is best for them.
• Continue with laws to safeguard our air and environment from the known pollutants of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, lead and particulate matter.

"The bottom line: our government should be promoting policies which remove obstacles to increased production of the major sources of energy that fuel our economy: oil, natural gas, coal and uranium while still protecting the environment," said Davis.

Davis continued, "Our nation's energy policy and economic well-being should not be based on the deeply flawed theory that carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuel combustion will lead to catastrophic climate change. Eighty-six percent of our energy consumption is from fossil fuels."

"Congressman Walz is against opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration. He and others are just simply wrong about this," concluded Davis.

Dr. Davis, a physician in Rochester, was trained in nuclear engineering and mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He worked for several years in the electric power industry before entering the field of medicine. He and his wife, Lori, also a physician, live in Rochester with their four children.

For more detail, a letter to First District Republicans related to this topic is posted here.

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