House Speaker talks economy in Falls

On the day she signed the paperwork to officially run for governor, Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher spent the day Thursday in International Falls, speaking with local leaders, touring the Boise paper mill and enjoying a slice of life in the area.

“The opportunities along Borderland are just incredible,” the DFL leader said. “You have awesome quality of life here.”

“A community needs to have a good backbone to be attractive (to businesses),” she said, adding that the Falls was poised for success.

She spoke about quality medical care and technical infrastructure as being important pieces to growing the economy in this region. For example, she said, cell phone reception is important because it allows work to be conducted from anywhere — be that in town or on the water.

Kelliher said that she would be looking at current cell phone coverage maps to see if and where additional coverage may be needed in this area.

She said that she was impressed with the city and county’s plans for the foreign trade zone near the international border and railroad, saying that it was a “really sound idea.”

Another point of local concern that Kelliher said she would look into with her colleagues is wetland usage. She said she looks to strike a healthy balance between protecting natural resources and economic development opportunities.

State Rep. Tom Anzelc, who traveled with the speaker Thursday, said that Kelliher, Falls Mayor Shawn Mason and Koochiching Economic Development Authority Director Paul Nevanen were in agreement about what needs to be done to make Borderland an attractive place to do business.

She also said that the state as a whole, and this area, need to concentrate on having reasonably priced, quality higher education options, especially the two-year schools. For Kelliher, bringing down the price of college statewide would mean greater access for students and a stronger local work force.

“It’s important for International Falls and Borderland to continue having a productive work force right here,” she said.

The other two parts to her education proposal are funding early childhood education and equalizing K-12 funding throughout the state.

Kelliher recently announced the Minnesota House Jobs Task Force, an effort to create a job plan for the 2010 legislative session. The task force will have three chairs from Minnesota’s metropolitan, suburban and rural communities.

On the top of the task force’s agenda are capital investment bonds and increasing construction jobs statewide.

In order to answer statewide economic questions, Kelliher and other state lawmakers proposed a bipartisan Minnesota Leadership Summit, a project that would bring together current and former officials from both sides of the political table to tackle the issue of long-term statewide budget stability.

She said that this was important because it would gather what she called the best ideas from those who are, and have been, instrumental in making decisions. She noted that making this a bipartisan effort was an important way to bridge the gap in economic ideas.

“We need more respect and civility in the process of democracy right now,” she said.

Governor Tim Pawlenty, who was invited to take part in the summit, recently declined to participate.

Kelliher said, “It would take getting a new governor” to pass economic bills that she believes will work.

But, the speaker noted, sometimes the best ideas do not come from inside the government.

“We’re going to look at answers coming from outside the walls of the capitol, to areas like International Falls,” she said, to help re-grow the economy.

When asked by The Daily Journal what prompted her to run for governor, the economy was foremost on Kelliher’s agenda.

“Minnesotans are looking for a governor to grow prosperity in this state,” she said.

The gubernatorial candidate said that she wanted Minnesota to have a leader who would keep his or her promises. She mentioned the economy, education, health care and aide to smaller communities as important facets of her plan.

“There is a lot of work to be done in the state,” she said. “I am energized to do work with Minnesotans.”

To complete her tour of the area, she planned a visit Thursday night to the DFL fish fry and the International Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event.