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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

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Ward, Doty file

By MIKE O'ROURKE

Associate Editor

Two first-term DFLers, who were elected to the Minnesota House in 2006, filed for re-election Tuesday.

Rep. John Ward, DFL-Brainerd, and Rep. Al Doty, DFL-Royalton, both filed on the first day of filing.

Ward, 57, a retired Brainerd School District teacher, cited unfinished business at the Capitol as one of the reasons he filed for the District 12A seat.

"I want to go down and battle for education and health care and the economy and jobs and property tax and environmental and conservation issues," he said.

He said he was proud to have served during a session that many say was one of the most productive sessions in recent history. The Legislature, he said, balanced the budget, finished on time, improved education and nursing homes, provided resources for transportation and Local Government Aid that will help cities, counties and townships and help lower property taxes.

John Ward

"I just think we had results," he said. "We were results-driven."

While he said the economy is in tough shape now, Ward said it will bounce back.

Ward was endorsed the DFL Party and will run against the winner of a primary between David Allan Pundt of Baxter, the endorsed GOP candidate, and Chrissy Nakonsky of Brainerd.

Doty, 62, a retired educator who lives in Royalton, said health care and property tax relief were two of the biggest needs that were unmet last session.

"We got at least a little money into education," he said. "We need to redo the education funding formulas. There are some good proposals out there for that. Basically, outstate Minnesota is not getting a good shake. What we have is a series of outdated funding sources that all need to be gone through ...so every kid in the staete has a fair shot at a good education."

The nation, he said is basically rationing health care to people who are wealthy or who have good insurance. Individuals and employers, he said, were paying way too much.

Al Doty

Doty said Minnesota needs to quit pretending it's establishing no new taxes and acknowledge that policy has placed a strain on the property tax system.

"The distribution right now, there's an unfair burden on the senior citizens trying to stay in their homes and the young families that are in their first homes."

He said he had no regrets about spending the budget reserve down, since that's the purpose of the reserve.

"We very carefully did not raid health care access funds," Doty said of the final legislative agreement with the governor.

"Some things in there we don't like," he said. "Some things in there the other side doesn't like."

Doty was endorsed by the DFL Party for the District 12B set. He will run against Mike LeMieur, the Little Falls City Council president, who was endorsed by Republicans for that seat.

Filings close for county, judicial and legislative seats on July 15.

MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.

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