Former Metropolitan State professor turned state senator speaks out on the issues

Andrea Jackley

In the months leading up to what promises to be an electric political year nationally, Sen. Ellen Anderson has some of her own home-grown concerns. And she’s certainly not afraid to voice them.

The former Metropolitan State University "Women and Law" professor turned state senator has lived in Minnesota for the past 30 years. Anderson graduation from the University of Minnesota Law School cum laude in 1986 and, after years of serving in the legal system, was first elected to the Minnesota Senate as a Democrat representing District 66, encompassing north and some of east St. Paul and Falcon Heights, in 1992. She was re-elected to the Senate in 1996, 2000 and 2002.

Anderson’s interests in the Senate have been particularly focused on energy and the environment. She has won several environmental action awards from various organizations and considers herself an environmentalist. Anderson chair’s the Senate Jobs, Energy and Community Development Committee and is a member of, among others, the Environment, Agriculture and Economic Development Budget Division Committee, according to the senator’s Web site.

Anderson believes we have a responsibility to protect the public’s health from environmental hazards and to ensure clean air and water. "I am most passionate about renewable energy," she said.

Anderson achieved some success this year with the passing of her Renewable Energy Standard bill, which she has been working on for six years along with the Global Warming Mitigation Actthatwill take affect in 2009.

Combined, these two bills should ensure "a 40 percent reduction in green house gas emissions, at least on the electrical side," said Anderson. The Global Warming Mitigation Act also creates a "cap and trade" program that gives companies that reduce their Carbon Dioxide emissions beyond the required state regulation credits, which they can then trade with other companies who need larger allowances.

Beyond that, the 2007 Minnesota legislative session experienced some very public strain between the DFL-controlled Congress and Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. When asked if both sides were happy with the outcome, Anderson said, "In some ways yes, in some ways no."

"It was a very disappointing year for transportation." There was no moving forward on public transportation, and we may even see budget cuts, said Anderson.

Concerning education: "We’ve made some progress; we’re starting to pay our bill for special education," said Anderson. According to the senator, special education is a huge drain on public schools financially and it’s swamping the system. But despite the costs, Anderson believes that "high quality education during the early childhood experience is the best possible preparation [for life]. I have two young children myself, so I see it firsthand everyday."

And of great interest to Metropolitan State University students, Anderson added, "Higher education is really important. When I first ran for office I had a lot of students working on my campaign." Anderson is a big believer in affordable tuition and accessible higher education for all people. The senator was a supporter of The DREAM Act, authored by Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, chair of the Higher Education Budget Division Committee. The DREAM Act was defeated by Pawlenty after he threatened to veto the higher education bill for its inclusion

The DREAM Act would have ensured that non-documented immigrant students who have resided in Minnesota for at least three years and graduated from a Minnesota high school be treated as in-state students when applying and paying for college. Currently, these students pay out-of-state tuition prices and cannot qualify for financial aid.

Anderson says The DREAM Act "makes sense for all kinds of reasons. Most people who come here stay here, it adds to the workforce.

"It’s about opportunity; demographers will tell us we have to embrace the immigrant population."

Having access to higher education is critical to today’s economy, said Anderson. "Most kids need to go to college to get a good job. We need to have an educated workforce to have a successful state economy. An educated workforce was one of Minnesota’s strengths over past decades; it resulted in higher median income."

Anderson fears the state of Minnesota is losing ground in key areas vital to the nation and the world. "It’s a huge concern; we are in danger of falling behind in education and transportation. We’re already starting to see the harm in our children."

In the end, the 2007 session came down to a partisan agreement to disagree. "[It was] frustrating working with the governor. We tried to gain ground, but he just cut, cut, cut," said Anderson. Over the last five years, Pawlenty has proposed budgets that cut funding for higher education, "So much!" said Anderson. "The U of M used to get two-thirds of its money from the state. It’s now down to one-half." According to Anderson, the governor insisted on funding his own education plan, ACHIEVE, "even after demanding spending cuts for DFL higher education plans."

The 2007 legislative session was criticized by the media for being weak on both sides of the aisle.

When asked if the governor made good on his 2006 election promises to work with the DFL-controlled Congress, Anderson was less than optimistic. "No, I really don’t think he did a fair share of compromise. We did most of the compromising. In the end, we met him more than halfway.

"We did the best we could with the resources we had. We were determined to finish the session and not go into overtime," said Anderson. "DFL’ers wanted more revenue for education; we’ve been under-funding it for years. Schools are funding themselves too much from tuition, fees and property taxes. There are a smaller percentage of taxes [paid] by people with higher incomes; we wanted to even it out.

"But the governor has been listening to a small group of his wealthy friends or CEOs, maybe keeping his eyes on the vice presidential office."

When asked what the biggest disappointments of the session were, Anderson said, "Quite a few...it’s hard to say. Transportation and the bonding bill; no money for the light rail and no money for the university system to fix-up buildings. We’re going to lose dollars from the federal government for public transportation. The [federal government] said they cannot help us unless we come up with some state leadership. They would have matched dollars, but now that money is going to end up somewhere else — Dallas, Atlanta, L.A. We’re way behind other metropolitan areas in public transportation."

And, of course, when asked about the biggest successes, Anderson said, "The energy bill was, in my opinion, the greatest achievement."