James Gibson is best choice in U.S. Senate
Posted Online 10/23/00
EDITORIAL ENDORSEMENT
Two years ago, Jesse Ventura, the candidate of the Reform Party, defeated well -known contenders, Republican St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman and Democrat Hubert Humphrey for Governor of Minnesota.
Minnesotans said part of the reason they chose Ventura was because they were tired of the negativism and the politics as usual. Ventura offered an alternative and a centrist choice for uncertain and first-time voters.
This year, another candidate for the Independence Party , James Gibson, a thoughtful and intelligent owner of a software company, offers a different choice than Republican Rod Grams and Democrat Mark Dayton.
After personally interviewing each of the three men, the ECM Publishers Inc Editorial Board has judged Gibson would best represent the interests of Minnesotans in the Senate for the next six years.
Unlike Grams and Dayton who are attacking one another, Gibson has stayed out of that fray. While polls suggest he trails both Grams and Dayton, his ideas and philosophy deserve a second look by voters.
Gibson’s grasp of the issues shows a lot of depth. He identifies problems and reasons them through to solutions rather than simply appealing to voters on hot-button issues.
A major theme of his campaign is intergenerational justice, which he describes as making policy decisions that look ahead to the next generation, not just to the next election. For example, Gibson believes 100 percent of the budget surpluses should be used to pay down the national debt of $6 trillion. Sen. Grams’ idea to use the surplus to cut taxes is illogical, says Gibson, because it would stimulate an economy that already is overheated
Gibson has the same long-term outlook for financing a $9 trillion unfunded Social Security liability and transferring it to retirees, He believes this liability should be transferred to the U. S. Government. In his words, "We need to make Social Security financially sound backed by real assets and not simply IOUs placed on our children."
Gibson has a good grasp on the needs of a future educational system which he says must be reformed to incorporate emerging technologies that will provide children with tools needed to compete in the new economy.
While Gibson offers a more centrist view. Sen. Grams and Dayton offer choices for the more partisan conservative and liberal voters.
Grams has served the state well, and his $500 child credit in the tax law deserves praise. His voting record and his rhetoric, however, have become so conservative, he has become a less effective U. S. Senator. For example, advocating a national sales tax is not in the mainstream of tax reformists. His solution to allow workers to divert 10 per cent of the 12.4 FICA tax into the private money market as a Social Security option is more extreme than what most economists advocate.
Rather than defend his record of bills passed and sponsored that benefit the state, he has chosen in this campaign to attack his opponent in sharply worded television advertising .
Dayton has served Minnesota well as auditor and as commissioner of two state agencies, as a staff member for Senator Walter Mondale and as a vigorous campaigner. He defines problems well but his solutions of spending more money lack conviction and details.
Capitalizing on the interest in third-party politics recent elections have generated, Gibson argues rightly that his third-party status would give him influence beyond that normally falling to a freshman senator. Gibson is a fiscal moderate with his own approach, one of fiscal prudence. Socially, his centrist stance should be comfortable for most Minnesotans.
Voters, it is your responsibility to look closely at all candidates. James Gibson deserves that second look. He is a man of considerable substance and should not be overlooked because he is not yet a household word. Of the three candidates Gibson shows the most promise for the future.
Editor’s note: This editorial is the product of ECM Publishers’ Editorial Board, which interviewed the three major candidates.
