MnIndy liveblog: Paulsen at the Humphrey Institute

A Minnesota Independent liveblog of state Rep. Erik Paulsen’s lunch hour appearance at the U of M Humphrey Institute met with a few difficulties. The event itself is over now but the liveblog is now available in a reconstituted version. This was the second of three such events with each candidate for Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district seat. (Ashwin Madia, the DFLer, was yesterday; Independence Party candidate David Dillon is Friday.) Check it out after the jump.12:00 noon: I’m running late but I’ll check in as soon as I’m in the hall. Here’s what I missed, as recorded on the Humphrey Institute’s Smart Politics liveblog: 

12:05 p.m. Paulsen says his reason for running for the 3rd District is that Congress is ‘broken.’ Paulsen also says he has learned civility from retiring Representative Jim Ramstad, for whom he once worked in D.C. Ramstad and Paulsen have criticized the Ashwin Madia campaign for its ‘gutter tactics’ in this race.

12:13 p.m. Paulsen says he was not a fan of the stimulus check that was sent out earlier this summer. He is opposed to these ‘short-term solutions’ and the country needs real economic incentives by making changes to the tax code, and making these changes permanent (he wants to make permanent the Bush tax cuts).

12:20 p.m.: Been here five minutes and already lost a liveblog post to the U of M’s wifi system. I’ll try to catch up. Paulsen is speaking, has referenced Sweden as lowering corporate tax rates and China (where Paulsen has visited) as a country where Schwan’s ice cream could sell its products to a billion Chinese.

12:25 p.m.: China, Japan, India, Sweden — he’s really touring the world with this speech. China has 1.2 billion people, will soon be the top English-speaking country in the world, will quadruple higher ed enrollment in next decade.

12:30 p.m.: Prof. Larry Jacobs asks crowd (of about 40, half of yesterday’s Madia event) to write questions on cards. Jacobs asks about what to do at the current moment in the financial crisis, if you’re fiscally conservative. Paulsen: As Republican, I’ve been frustrated with party members for not exerting fiscal discipline — a bipartisan spending spree. And that goes for Bush administration as well. It’s about living within your means, which is hard for legislators — to say no. Proposes sunsets for funding legislation. 

12:35 p.m.: (Another point where Paulsen echoes recent sounds from Madia camp: simplifying tax forms, a move U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel endorsed while in town to stump for Madia.) Fiscal responsibility, as he grew up as a good German Lutheran, means to conserve. Jacobs: Would you have voted for second bailout plan that passed. Paulsen: Reluctantly yes. Bill had improved with FDIC insurance limits fix, pricing corrections. But what’s going to happen next? Wants to make sure taxpayers see an upside with repayment in the future.  

12:40 p.m.: Paulsen makes two metaphors that might be seen as unfortunate, to Iraq and New Orleans. What is our economic exit strategy? He’s concerned that financial sector is moving from new York to Washington, D.C. Then he cites Hurricane Katrina (ouch!) as evidence D.C. can’t do stuff right. Paulsen gives example of the farm bill as one in which Republicans went along with legislation that isn’t financially sound. It’s wrong, and thinks his constituents don’t really support it. He supports agriculture, but not to the tune of subsidizing millionaire farmers. Pharmaceutical industry policy has been helpful, a good thing, although there’s still too much chaos or choice. Jacobs comes back to the cost side of it: Would Paulsen have voted for the program? Paulsen: Yes. (Notion of the government not being allowed to strike best deal with pharmaceutical companies isn’t raised by either Jacobs or Paulsen, although Jacobs seemed to be driving at that.

12:45 p.m.: Paulsen: Regular commercial banking industry is probably over-regulated. Jacobs: Clarifies that Paulsen wants regulation for unregulated areas of financial sector. Paulsen agrees. Jacobs: What about regulating credit card companies? Paulsen: I’m not a fan of regulation and wary of overstepping proper bounds. Jacobs: A new agency is being proposed to regulate consumer credit. Paulsen: To push home ownership towards folks for whom its unsuitable — there needs to be regulation of that. For me it doesn’t make sense that people would expect to buy a home with no money down and expect someone to buy their mortgage as part of a package. Jacobs: But would you be in favor of expanding regulation in subprime mortgage area? Paulsen: Absolutely. jacobs: Asks re: AIG, insurance industry. Paulsen cites states’ role in regulating insurance. So-called “too big to fail” companies like AIG … there didn’t seem to be a consistent standard on that from the Bush administration. 

12:50 p.m.: Jacobs: Conservatives seem confused about where nationalization of banks stops. Paulsen: i am suspicious of that. We seem to be in uncharted waters. Good to see G20 come up with a plan. Whether you’re conservative or liberal, question is what is the appropriate role for governement. Jacobs: So you would take into account functioning of markets in determining whether government should be involved. Some people seem contagion as different industries (airlines, health care) ask for help. Would you take these on case-by-case basis or is there an overall appropriate answer? Paulsen: Review each situation on its own, not ideologically.

[Several liveblog posts seem to have been lost to an Iffy U of M wifi signal. I’ll try to recover them and edit them back in.}

1:00 p.m.: Jacobs: Obama is president, let’s say. Support line item veto? Paulsen: Yes, no matter which party has presidency. It’s a good tool for eliminating pork. Jacobs: how do you propose to control rising cost of education for middle class? Paulsen: References his four daughters, and the cost of their weddings (joke) let alone education. Debt load for students is so heavy it could be next subprime mortgage crisis if job market can’t support them on graduation. Solution is financial aid, such as Pell grants and the state’s program. Jacobs; Regulate tuition hikes? Paulsen: I’d look at it. Is it over-regulation? The top-down model presents false choices between spending options. Jacobs: How do you increase the number of engineers, for example. Paulsen: Require higher math at younger age, although I’m resistant to idea of federal government doing more that asking states to set goals. Paulsen cites Chinese who get up a 6 a.m. to study. Jacobs: Support free trade? Paulsen: Yes. It was a travesty that Columbian free trade was sidelined by Congress. Special interests and unions got hold of that one.

1:10 p.m. Jacobs: Free trade losers raises question of what to do about those on the downside who are anxious or losing jobs? Would you support job programs? Paulsen: We’re always going to have workforce resources for retraining. Cites his trip to India to bring up retirement-like accounts that individuals and employers can contribute to for individual lifelong learning savings.

1:15 p.m.: Very small crowd is hanging out in animated conversation in the hall. A couple student reporters are interviewing others in the audience as the event breaks up. I’m going to repair to a table in the lobby where the wifi signal is better and try to reconstruct this liveblog from various peices that may be floating in cyberspace.

1:30 p.m.: Interesting example of market forces at work at the reception afterwards. There seems to be more pizza today than yesterday, perhaps in response to not having enough yesterday. But today there are fewer people to feed, so the extra pies reflect a basic difficulties in supply meeting anticipated demand. Perhaps government could step in at least temporarily to regulate pizza distribution for campus events — but if so they must act soon, because Independence Party candidate David Dillon will be here at noon on Friday for his turn to be grilled by Jacobs and student questioners. Will Dillon draw people who attended Madia’s event, or Paulsen’s? As in politics, the third party presents a catering conundrum: