Photo by Deb Gau Keith VanOverbeke and Chris Swedzinski square off in Thursday's candidate forum

Gun violence is a problem in Minnesota, candidates for Minnesota House District 15A agreed. However, Rep. Chris Swedzinski and challenger Keith VanOverbeke differed in how they thought the problem should be addressed.

In a candidate forum Thursday night at the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University, Swedzinski, R-Ghent, called for stronger enforcement of existing laws.

“If you’re caught doing a crime with a gun, which most of the carjackings that are going down in Minneapolis right now are with a gun, I would say it’s an automatic no bail, automatic felony, automatic 10 years in jail,” Swedzinski said. “It’s getting new prosecutors who are going to do their job, they’re going to enforce gun laws that are currently on the books and not just pooh-pooh them.”

VanOverbeke, DFL-Marshall, said he agreed with Swedzinski that it was troubling to hear of teens committing carjackings. But he disagreed with Swedzinski’s proposed solution.

“I guess my problem with your solution of 10 years of jail . . . you have to figure out a way to change these communities,” VanOverbeke said.

He said that included putting a stop to gangs and drugs, but also supporting communities.

“Yes, you need to be very tough on the criminals that are bringing in the drugs, that are selling the drugs, that are profiting from the drugs. But you have to have some compassion for these young people who come up in these broken communities, and figure out another way to transition them to more positive lives.”

The two candidates answered questions on a variety of topics, ranging from public safety to environmental issues. One topic VanOverbeke and Swedzinski weighed in on was whether they supported Minnesota adopting the same vehicle emissions standards as California.

“I would say no,” Swedzinski said. “I do not want to turn our state’s rights over to bureaucrats in California.”

Swedzinski also criticized that the decision to follow stricter emissions standards was done through rule-making, instead of through passing legislation.

“We don’t have to follow California on every detail of this situation,” VanOverbeke said.

However, he said Minnesota needed to invest in renewable energy, especially as the technology and markets for it start to develop globally.

“If we want to get left behind, if we want to be increasingly in the dust of our competition around the world, well then we can blame everything on California and we can, you know, exaggerate things. But that’s not going to solve a thing.”

Swedzinski and VanOverbeke also spoke about how they would address the things the Minnesota Legislature didn’t accomplish by the end of this year’s session.

Swedzinski said he would like to address Social Security tax relief.

“That’s one of the first things that I’d like to see out of the gate,” he said. “I think setting an early example of getting things done is going to be important. So, I’m going to be advocating with leadership and hopefully a new governor to move something like that forward.”

In addition to tax relief, Swedzinski said his priorities included infrastructure, and reducing energy costs.

“One thing that we could do right off the bat, I think, is renter’s credits,” VanOverbeke said.

He said a renter’s credit could be put on the state income tax form, “So people with lesser means don’t overlook that credit.”

“I think the Social Security situation needs to be looked at a little bit closer. It needs to be means tested, to a degree,” VanOverbeke said.