Bonoff: People Want Change, Leaders Aren’t Listening

In early September, Terri Bonoff was focusing on her work in the state Senate, but when Jim Ramstad announced his retirement from Congress, reporters started calling her almost immediately.

Her first question for them was, “What are you talking about?”

But since deciding to enter the race, she has quickly assembled a financial nest egg and a crack campaign staff that have ensured that none of the other DFL names mentioned in initial speculation are opposing her.  She officially announces her campaign today; ahead of that announcement, she took some time last week to discuss her campaign and the issues facing not just Minnesota, but all of America.

When running for the state Senate last year, her slogan was “Uniting the Middle.” Bonoff said that the early theme of her new campaign is “listening, leading, achieving”:  “The essence of uniting is being able to hear what people are saying, understanding what they’re committed to, and allowing everyone to come together around that.  That’s true whether I’m at the Capitol, working across party lines, being a mother, a businesswoman – people are asking for change, and our leaders simply aren’t listening.”One big difference between serving in the Minnesota Legislature and Congress is having a vote on foreign policy issues, specifically Iraq.  Bonoff said that she favors a timetable for removal of American troops from Iraq, but could not support immediate withdrawal:  “We need to bring our troops home, the people have spoken on that.  Now, can they come home tomorrow?  I don’t think so.  We entered this war on false pretenses – but now that we’re there, we have to have a plan that minimizes casualties and chaos – we have to work with Iraq’s neighbors, whether they’re our allies or not, and we have to have Iraq committed to taking over the governing of their own country.”

Sticking with the wide-ranging theme of the interview, we moved from Iraq to another modern crisis:  health care in America.  Bonoff said she would have voted for the State Childrens’ Health Insurance Program reauthorization bill (the retiring Ramstad also voted for it).  She says we must have universal care, but favors a “market-based approach with a safety net”: “Universal coverage can be as simple as making sure every person in our country has health insurance.  If health insurance were mandatory, we’d get those 20-30 year olds who are much healthier into the risk pool, expand it, but still bring costs down.  People would have to pay for their own insurance, but we would have safety nets for those who can’t afford it.  Health care companies are not profit-based – it’s not in anyone’s interests to drive up costs.  Republicans talk about market-based approaches without a safety net – I’m for it as long as each and every person is covered.  We constantly have to ask ourselves what we’re doing to bring up the poor, and strengthen the middle class.

When I brought up President Bush’s education law, known in the common tongue as “No Child Left Behind”, Bonoff chuckled and immediately issued an “Every Child Left Behind!” retort, and continued:  “No Child Left Behind needs to be scrapped.  The government should keep its promise to fully fund public special education – their promise is 40 percent, and they’re currently providing 17 percent.  The feds should assist states in their efforts to make sure every child progresses.  The way NCLB is formulated, its focus is on the kids at the bottom, and it doesn’t look at teaching methods and outcomes to make sure America is staying competitive in a global marketplace.  Are we taking our brightest kids and moving them beyond?  Are we taking kids in the middle and moving them up?”

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of my interview with Terri Bonoff, in which we addressed wedge issues — see how Bonoff responded to a challenge question slipped in by yours truly….