MANKATO — Voters in and around Mankato will have to break a 10-election, 20-year habit on Nov. 7.

For two decades, they’ve been routinely electing now-retired Mankato East High School English teacher John Dorn to the state House of Representatives. The day after the election, the headline has always been some variation of “Dorn wins” ever since 1986 — way back when Ronald Reagan was president, the space shuttle Challenger exploded and Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault on national television.

Dorn decided this spring that 10 terms was enough, leaving first-time legislative candidates Kathy Brynaert and Luke Robinson to compete to be his successor. The contest for the open seat has been a very civil one with both Brynaert, the Democratic nominee, and Robinson, the Republican’s choice, avoiding criticism of the other while working to inform voters about their qualifications and philosophies.

“We’ve been getting along great,” said Robinson, a local attorney. “You maybe see that reflected a little bit in that we haven’t gotten a whole lot of coverage.”

Leadership skills

Robinson and Brynaert both believe they have skills that would make them strong representatives for District 23B, a district that’s dominated by Mankato but also includes Skyline, a bit of lower North Mankato, Mankato Township and Lime Township.

Brynaert, who grew up in Detroit, moved to Mankato with her husband, Tony Filipovitch, the chairman of the Urban and Regional Studies Institute at Minnesota State University. She quickly began to get involved in volunteer work and continued to work through a variety of organizations to promote healthy families and healthy youth.

“I have a solid education background,” said Brynaert, chairwoman of the Mankato Area Public School Board. “But what I think really recommends me most is I’ve been an active parent and an active citizen ever since I came here.”

That was 28 years ago, back when Robinson was a toddler in Mahtomedi. After graduating from Mahtomedi High School, the University of Minnesota-Morris and the William Mitchell College of law, Robinson and his wife, Shannon, moved here when he got a job with a local law firm.

As an attorney, Robinson said he’s trained to be an advocate and that’s what he would be for the Mankato area in the Legislature.

“Along with that, it’s really developing personal relationships with people and being able to reach a compromise that’s really in the best interest of citizens,” he said. “... Being able to find a win-win situation.”

Guiding principles

Neither candidate is offering a long platform aimed at solving each of the state’s problems. Both offer philosophies of the role of government and good governing.

“Really my theory on it is pretty simple,” Robinson said. “Basically just reduce the tax burden and get out of the way of business growth.”

He’s confident that lower taxes don’t, ultimately, leave state government with less revenue because economic growth produces tax-paying jobs.

“By holding the line on taxes, there’s more money available for businesses and people to spend, which grows the economy,” he said. “And when the economy grows, the state collects more tax dollars.”

Brynaert said when she announced her candidacy that it wouldn’t be about locking herself into preconceived ideas of how the state’s problems would be solved. What she offered was a commitment to studying issues and proposed solutions, listening to experts and seeking input from area residents.

“I’ve been in the community long enough to pick up the phone and know who I talk to and listen to,” she said.

This is the first time she’s run for a partisan office, and Brynaert said all of her community work involved working toward solutions with other concerned citizens regardless of their political affiliation.

She said she never cared if they were a Republican or a Democrat “as long as we were working together to address the community issues at hand.”

Different focus

Brynaert is concerned about rising property taxes and tuition rates, about inadequate transportation in outstate Minnesota, about uninsured and underinsured Minnesotans and about environmental protection. But mainly she talks about how issues tie together and how healthy kids and families are at the center of it all.

She points to the Children’s Project, Mankato Area Healthy Youth, good schools, good jobs, good roads — all as vital ingredients for a healthy community.

“Education is only a part of that,” she said.

Brynaert would look at more state funding for helping the most vulnerable kids succeed, saying that is a great investment because of lower long-term social costs from drug dependency, teenage pregnancy, criminal justice expenses and other problems.

“We really reduce costs down the line by preventing children from falling between the cracks,” she said.

Robinson lists economic development, health care and education as his top issues. Spending more isn’t typically part of Robinson’s solution, although higher education is an exception.

“That’d be the area where I’d invest it,” he said of directing any surplus state money toward tuition relief for college students. “That’s a priority to me.”

Robinson also proposes a textbook rental program for state colleges, saying the $400 to $500 per semester that many students spend on books is one of the top concerns he hears when campaigning in the dorms and student apartment complexes.

“It would require some money from the state to establish it,” he said.

In K-12 education, his focus would be on redistributing per-pupil funding so that Mankato schools get a larger share. Although he said there’s some justification for providing additional funds for poverty-stricken inner-city districts or districts with large numbers of non-English speaking students, the current formula creates too big of a disparity.

The home stretch

Robinson said his name recognition in Mankato was probably pretty low in April when he kicked off his campaign. People at his church, in the Rotary Club and in the local bar association knew him. Outside of those potential voters, he’s had to introduce himself to the community.

“We’ve hit pretty much all the doors in Mankato,” he said. “... The recognition has really improved — and the number of people who say ‘Yeah, I really support you.’”

His work has been noticed by Republican leaders, who are offering support and encouragement. Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, attorney general candidate Jeff Johnson and House Speaker Steve Sviggum, twice, have been in Mankato to campaign for him.

“We’ve been running a grass-roots campaign,” Robinson said. “But we’ve really caught the attention of the party and leadership in the House and the governor. ... Obviously we’ve been doing something right.”

Brynaert was well-known in Mankato even before her election to the School Board. And her connection with people was often in the process of volunteer work.

“Really everything I know and value about this community I’ve learned in a hands-on way,” she said.

If people want to make their government work better, they have to get involved because government is nothing more than citizens sitting down to try to solve problems, Brynaert said.

“My convictions about government are deeply rooted in the founding fathers,” she said. “Government is about doing together what we can’t do separately.”