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Saturday, October 28, 2006
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Sluss hangs his hat on consistency, fairness MINNESOTA SENATE DISTRICT 12 Associate Editor Terry Sluss said voters perceive him as someone who is consistent and fair and that will help him defeat Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, for the District 12 Minnesota Senate seat.
The Baxter DFLer polled more than 80 percent of the votes at the DFL endorsing convention last April, running against Jessica Ringwelski, a 21-year-old Little Falls woman.
His interest in politics dates back to his college days at St. Cloud State University, when he served as treasurer of the student council and president of the Atwood Board of Governors, a student association.
Sluss, 58, also prides himself on participating in open government, returning constituents' phone calls and e-mails and making sure he represents the interests of central Minnesota.
"In my 10 years as county commissioner ... I don't hold meetings in closed session. I do all of my work in public."
In 1996 he defeated then-Commissioner Mary Koep to begin his tenure on the county board.
His door-knocking experience tells him that he'll receive votes from Democrats, a lot of independents and a certain number of Republicans. There are segments of the voters he terms as "persuadable independents" and "persuadable Republicans." Certain Republicans might vote for him because they're upset with his opponent, Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, after a primary battle, he said. Other Republicans might be impressed with his decade of service as a nonpartisan county commissioner. A third possibility, Sluss outlined, was that Republicans who were dissatisfied with Koering might not vote.
"Some will vote for me," he said.
Responding to a question, Sluss said he hasn't raised the issue of Koering's sexual orientation because he didn't see any reason to bring it up. (Koering announced he was gay in April 2005, just when Sluss was officially starting his campaign.) He sensed that some people were concerned with what possible impact Koering's sexual orientation might have on legislation he supports.
"It's not a non-issue," he said.
His opponent's greatest liability, Sluss said, is a pattern of inconsistency. Sluss said Koering took the no new taxes pledge but then broke it when he voted for budget legislation and originally pledged not to support a Twins stadium but then went back on that pledge.
"People are confused," he said.
Education, health care, jobs, life issues and same-sex marriage are among the issues that Sluss feels people are interested in.
"Education is a big one," he said in light of the Legislature's zero percent increases in both 2004 and 2005. "Literally every school district is cutting positions right now."
Sluss said Minnesotans' struggles to obtain affordable health care and good-paying jobs with benefits were on the minds of voters.
A teacher with a license in emotional/behavioral disorders, Sluss said he is pro-life from conception to death. His ideas on life issues were formulated by the deaths in Vietnam of three high school buddies who entered the service at the same time he did and by the suicides of his three brothers. Sluss said he would vote to place the Defense of Marriage Amendment on the ballot for people to vote on although he could see the possibility of supporting civil unions for same-sex relationships.
He said he didn't fill out the Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life questionnaire because the organization had already taken out big advertisements for his opponent and was endorsing Koering. He said he had not yet seen the legislation calling for a constitutional amendment to eliminate state funding for abortion but that he was inclined to support it.
Similarly, Sluss said he didn't fill out the National Rifle Association's survey, noting that he often doesn't fill out surveys for special interest groups.
"Voters have a serious concern about the power certain lobbyist groups have in St. Paul," Sluss said. "I have always kept an open mind up until voting. I don't want to be hog-tied."
If elected Sluss will ask to serve on the Education Finance Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee. He's critical of legislative cuts to education that forced many districts to seek referendums. Such referendums, he argued, are much easier to pass in school districts such as Edina and Minnetonka than in rural Minnesota. The cuts have created an inequity among school districts, he said, one that might be challenged in court.
"If we don't do something we're going to get sued," he said.
Sluss said he also was an opponent of the Legislature's Deficit Reduction Act, which resulted in cuts to many children's programs at the county level.
"We can't balance the budget on the backs of kids," he said.
The county commissioner would like to preserve the integrity of the Brainerd Regional Human Services Center as a mental health center, continuing to use it to serve veterans, the chemically dependent, those with traumatic brain injuries and Mille Lacs Academy. He said the campus is a natural regional location for health services.
MIKE O'ROURKE can be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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