Left to right, Sen. Doron Clark, Rep. Sandra Feist, Rep. Erin Koegel and Sen. Mary Kunesh at St. Anthony Village High School. (Mark Peterson)
On Saturday, April 12, Sen. Mary Kunesh (39-DFL), Sen. Doron Clark (60-DFL), Rep.Erin Koegel (39A-DFL) and Rep. Sandra Feist (39B-DFL) held a town hall at the St. Anthony Village High School gym and fielded written questions from the 50-person audience. Clark’s legislative assistant Mustafa Aweys read the questions, a number of which concerned national issues.
The first question: “How concerned do we need to be about what’s happening in Washington? It feels like a very dangerous time for our country. I am 68 years old and a retired IBEW member, and have never experienced anything like this assault on our democracy in America’s most vulnerable cities. Am I being dramatic?”
Kunesh replied, “I think we are all very, very, very concerned about what is happening out in Washington, D.C. Almost right away there were frozen grants and dollars that affected agriculture and schools. So things like farm-to-school programs were quickly frozen, and the dollars that were set aside for that or were promised to the schools just have not materialized at all.”
Feist said, on immigration, “It’s been really scary. The administration realized pretty quickly that they did not have the resources or the ability to identify and deport people who were here [illegally] in the United States so they decided to address that by making people lose their immigration status.“
Asked about Governor Walz’s requirement that state workers return to their offices, some of which no longer exist, for at least 50% of the time, Koegel said, “It was a legal decision that didn’t have any input from the workers or the legislature, which should have been involved in that decision.”
Clark said he would support a DFL bill to create a fifth tier of the individual income tax to offset lost federal Medicaid funding. He added that some exemptions to the state sales tax make sense, such as food and essentials like clothing and menstrual products. “Does it make sense to exempt luxury boxes at the US Bank stadium from sales tax? Does it make sense to exempt racehorses and aviation parts for Delta Airlines from sales tax? I think not.”
Kunesh pointed out that while Minnesota taxes are higher than a lot of states, “You get what you contribute. We have good roads, we have safe bridges, our infrastructure is relatively safe and we protect the environment.”
She expressed concern about new data centers that are considering building plants in the state, saying, “These data centers consume an enormous amount of water and electricity, which means they’ll be looking for deep aquifers. How are we going to control that energy consumption?”
Kunesh replied to a question about funding non-public schools: “Our responsibility is as stewards of the public dollars is to fund public schools, which we had to make a priority. We did make cuts to our non-public schools and it wasn’t an easy thing to do. I’m the product of parochial schools — elementary school, high school, college. I sent my kids to parochial school in Northeast Minneapolis. But we have to make sure that our primary efforts are on public schools, keeping them up and running in the best way possible. I do think we do need to have a deep dive in charter schools, making sure that they’re as successful as they can be.”
Clark was asked, “What are you doing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?” He said President Trump saying that the federal government is going to run the system with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) running the system with AI, “We just need to say it’s BS on its face, it’s wrong, and it’s not going to save any money. They simply don’t know what they’re doing.”
The final question: “How can we as constituents get involved to make a change when everything seems to be on fire?”
Kunesh replied, “Please try to stay as informed and look at the full picture of what is happening. We’re always happy to hear from you, as well. Oftentimes we hear unique situations or hear unique stories that allow us to reach out, either to the AG [Attorney General] or to special other support systems, and we just have to stick together and work together, because these effects are not going to just affect Democrats. They’re not just going to affect Republicans. They’re not just going to affect folks of color or the older or the younger. Just stay informed, and look for opportunities to support each other in our communities.”
Koegel said, “We have to move forward, making sure that we’re sticking up for our values but being kind, respectful and bringing more people in. We’re a big tent and we have lots of space.”