— You’d be hard-pressed to find a more enthusiastic challenger than Steve Fausch.

The Democrat is running against longtime incumbent Bob Gunther, and he says District 24A and the state are ready for a change.

“I believe I’m a positive leader working to support good-paying jobs and for economic development,” he said. “I have been in business for 40 years. I’ll take a business attitude to the Legislature. I’m going to be fair, I’m going to be objective, but it’s going to be a business approach.”

His opponent has a business background, too.

Gunther and his family ran a grocery business with several stores in southern Minnesota.

And he says experience is the key to being an effective lawmaker. Each year, before heading to St. Paul, he says is an exciting time.

“It’s a challenge, I feel  exhilarated,” he said. “I get up every day and see if I can help people and help the state.”

Whomever voters choose, there’ll be big issues to tackle, the biggest of which is the budget.

Gunther calls the task “daunting” and cautions against across-the-board cuts. Some things, he said, can’t take more cuts.

“We should balance the budget the same way a family does,” he said. “If the state collects $31 billion from taxpayers every year, then the state shouldn’t spend more than that.”

He says follow Virginia’s example. Virginia, after analyzing its budget, determined how much revenue would be coming in and then looked back to a year when they spent that amount. That’s how much they plan to spend.

“My proposal is simply live within our means, just like families do,” he said.

Fausch said that with his background in successful negotiations, he can be successful balancing a budget.

“I can get this thing going,” he said.

Fausch formed a committee to generate ideas on how best to get the state back on the right track.

Among the committee’s ideas: putting a user fee on new car purchases.

“It would be, like, 1 percent,” he said. “On a $20,000 car, it would be $200. People can afford that.”

He said he’ll also look for waste in government operations. Where services are duplicated, he’ll look to eliminate.

On the subject of LGA, Gunther made it clear that in tough economic times, every line item on the budget that can share in the burden should share in it.

“LGA is a very big line item, and to say that local government shouldn’t share in that is probably wrong,” he said. “It’s being abused by some, and not being abused by most.”

Gunther said LGA was designed to help cities cover core services. But in some cities, it’s gotten much worse. Gunther said that in Duluth, LGA covers 83 percent of its budget, a figure he says is way too high.

He acknowledged it’s a hard problem to figure out.

In St. James, 40 percent are either non-English speakers or speak English as their second language. Gunther said they need more help with LGA, but is that kind of help a core need?

“It is for some, but not for most,” he said. “I think it has to be revamped. There’s no cookie-cutter approach that we can use.”

Fausch says he’s a very strong supporter of LGA. “Our communities need police and fire protection,” he said. “I would go to the Capitol and fight to try to maintain funding for those.”

Fausch says he’d also fight for jobs, and says that, while walking through eight parades over the summer, the topic brought up most was jobs.

“The bottom line is that it’s not bigger government we want, it’s not smaller government we want. It’s better government we want.”

With a bonding bill likely, or at least possible, both candidates see a need for projects in their district.

But Gunther said a recent emergency flood bill that passed, which included money to replace a community center destroyed last spring in a tornado in Wadena, is a good example of the bad that can happen with this type of legislation.

Capitalizing on an emotional situation and adding seemingly unrelated line items to a bill like that, Gunther said, is shady. And he hopes nothing like that happens with a bonding bill this year.

Fausch says he’s for a bonding bill if it will mean jobs for Minnesotans.

“I want to put Minnesota back to work, and if a bonding bill can do that, we need to take a serious look at it.”



Bob Gunther

Education: Attended Fairmont High School, degree in marketing from St. Cloud State University

Work experience: Owned Gunther’s Foods along with his brothers. Currently owns Fairlakes Transportation.

Community involvement: Member of the American Legion, Kiwanis, president of Fairmont Chamber of Commerce, Salvation Army Board, Opera House Board, Fairmont Futures, active with church.

Previous elected offices held or sought: Gunther has held this seat since 1996.



Steven C. Fausch

Education: Attended Fairmont High School, degrees from Minnesota State University in business administration, economics and finance

Work experience: Owner of Steve Fausch Auctioneers, Appraisal Associates

Community involvement: Member of Junior Jaycees during the 1980s.

Previous office held or sought: Ran for District 24A seat 33 years ago.