Battle for state House hot in Albert Lea

ALBERT LEA, Minn. – Rep. Shannon Savick was speaking at a seniors forum at the Good Samaritan Society last week when she slipped up and said she hadn't voted on the $90 million new state Senate office building, when in fact she had voted for a 2013 tax bill that authorized it.

The DFLer from Wells, Minn., later clarified that she meant she played no role in the building's details, which were hashed out by legislative committees in 2014. But the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, a Republican-aligned group, had already captured the moment on video and blasted out a press release attacking Savick, who is seeking a second term.

It was another indication of the fierceness of the battle for the House that even a forum before a few dozen senior citizens 100 miles south of the Twin Cities is drawing operatives and rapid-fire attacks.

Republicans, who need to flip seven seats for a state House majority, view victory as a bulwark against the possibility of another two years of DFL-controlled state government.

Savick, a retired manufacturing software saleswoman, isn't backing down and was quick in an interview to list what she said are important achievements for her district, which includes Dodge, Faribault, Freeborn, Mower and Steele counties.

After experience as mayor and council member for Wells, Savick said, she understands the struggles of outstate Minnesota and fought for $20 million in extra local government aid for outstate cities. She also won a $500 stipend for firefighters and other first responders to address a shortage of volunteers, while bringing home state aid for local projects, such as $7.5 million to dredge Fountain Lake and $1.7 million for the local community college.

Savick's opponent is Peggy Bennett, a first-grade teacher for more than three decades in the Albert Lea area schools who was named teacher of the year in 2011. Calling herself a "constitutional conservative," Bennett is making her first run for office. She often draws lessons from her first-graders and applies them to politics.

The Good Samaritan forum focused on long-term care issues, which are important in a district where 20 percent of the population is over 65.

Bennett said she knows elder care is an important issue, but acknowledged that she needs to learn more. "I'm a little bit out of the loop on regulations currently on nursing homes, but if it's anything like education," then streamlining is in order, she said.

Quickly tacking back to education, Bennett said that increasing state and federal oversight was becoming "counterproductive" and gets in the way of teaching. "We have reams of paperwork now," she said. "All these mandates, and especially unfunded mandates, are a huge issue for schools."

For Savick, the long-term care issue hits close to home. Her late husband was in a nursing home for 18 months.

Savick said if she wins re-election, she will look to propose a universal long-term care program similar to the federal Medicare program, paid for with a half percentage point increase in income taxes or perhaps the proceeds from legalized marijuana.

Both candidates have called for civility and said hardly a word about each other, but apparently the race has stirred the passions of the district. Connor Ravlin, an Albert Lea sixth-grader, became so incensed by radio ads about Bennett that he wrote to the Albert Lea paper:

"I was listening to the radio this morning, and this guy starts talking bad stuff about Miss Bennett, and I'm yelling at the radio like a mad man and said go stick your head down a toilet and flush it why don't you, for crying out loud."