MARSHALL — A recent forum of state legislative candidates put policy differences between Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, and Democratic challenger Doria Drost in the spotlight. Over the course of Wednesday’s forum at Southwest Minnesota State University, Drost, a Lynd resident and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate for House District 16A, took some opportunities to say where she disagreed with Swedzinski’s voting record.

In response to one forum question, Drost said she was disappointed Swedzinski voted against the $1.9 billion state bonding bill passed by the Legislature last week. The bill included $91 million in funding for the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities, and funds for renovation of the Marshall Readiness Center. Drost said she supported the bill.

“I think it’s very critical, especially at this time,” Drost said, because it was a jobs creation bill. “Creating those jobs is really going to help drive us out of the budget deficit created by the coronavirus, and the bonding bill also had bipartisan support just because of how well structured it was with funding allocations.”

Drost said the bonding bill helped support public safety, education and “a very large funding package” for infrastructure projects that will benefit rural Minnesota, like road improvements and replacing outdated drinking water systems.

Swedzinski replied that he did vote no on the bonding bill.

“And it was not necessarily for the content. I worked very hard to get funding for the water projects, road projects, local projects, the Readiness Center,” he said. Committees from the Legislature even came to southwest Minnesota to learn more about area funding requests. But the bonding bill that was passed had fundamental problems, Swedzinski said. Minnesota is facing a budget shortfall of over $5 billion in the next biennium, and the bonding bill “was not paid for, and it should have been.”

“These bills were not paid for in this biennium, and these bills were not paid for in the next biennium,” Swedzinski said. “I made that decision to vote no on this bill because it’s gonna make the job of balancing the budget that much more difficult in the next biennium.”

Swedzinski and Drost also differed in what they proposed to help small businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Swedzinski said he thought small businesses that have had to shut down because of COVID-19 shouldn’t be burdened with state business property taxes. As a member of the House tax committee, Swedzinski said, “We’ve done a lot of work to eliminate the bottom portions of the statewide business property tax, which goes to corporations, small businesses, cafes, boutiques and all the rest,” Swedzinski said.

“Until we get out of this, that would be a very basic thing that the state could do across the board,” he said.

“We definitely need to do more to support our small businesses, especially when we’re looking at communities right here in southwest Minnesota,” Drost said. The economic downturn caused by COVID-19 has permanently closed some Marshall businesses. However, she said Swedzinski had voted against one of the relief packages proposed by the state that would provide grant funding for small businesses.

“Moving forward, we need to make sure that we are providing this financial stability for our mom-and-pop shops, and we also need to be looking big-picture by investing in our infrastructure,” she said. Drost said she is proposing policy to make it easier for small businesses to start up, as well as lightening the tax burden on small businesses.

Swedzinski and Drost were not the only Minnesota House candidates speaking Wednesday. Representing House District 22A Rep. Joe Schomacker, R-Luverne, also took part in the forum. Schomacker’s opponent in the District 22A race, Chris Baumberger, DFL-Slayton, was unable to be at the forum Wednesday.

Schomacker discussed how he would work to address Minnesota’s projected budget deficit. Tax increases, especially during the current economic downturn, were not the way to go, he said.

“I do not believe that we are going to be able to balance the budget on the backs of the people we shut down for the last year,” Schomacker said. “When it comes to trying to balance the budget, I think the area of health and human services, which I’ve worked in for the last 10 years in the Legislature, is the area that typically gets affected the most.”

In order to get some savings in those areas, Schomacker said he thought Minnesota should get on board with the Nurse Licensure Compact, so nurses could work across state lines. He said he would also work for Minnesota to have more conformity with the federal Health Information Privacy Protection Act.