Congressman Collin Peterson makes stop in Hutchinson; Debate between Peterson and challenger won't air here

U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson flew into Hutchinson today to make several stops including the Leader office. The 7th District Democratic Congressman is up for re-election in a few weeks, and is challenged by Republican Glen Menze of Starbuck.

Peterson recently opposed the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan. He said people of the district agree and are angry about the bailout. “They feel like these guys were just a bunch of thieves and it just goes against their nature to help them out,” he said.

He disagreed with the concept of buying troubled mortgages, and prefers putting equity into financial firms. The Detroit Lakes resident is an accountant and member of the maverick “Blue Dog Democrats.” These conservative Democratic congress members believe in fiscal discipline. Peterson blames Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission for being “asleep at the switch,” and former Federal Reserve Bank Chair Allan Greenspan for making money too cheaply available.

He believes the economy is likely headed for a deep recession next year, but banks in this part of the state have money to lend and were smarter than those on Wall Street. Wall Street financial firms had departments making risky over-leveraged transactions known as credit-default-swaps, which are unregulated by the government. The temporary ban on another controversial transaction known as “naked shortselling” was lifted Oct. 13. Peterson believes the swings in the market this week are a result of lifting this ban.

Peterson is chair of the powerful Agriculture Committee in the U.S. House, which passed the Farm Bill in earlier this year. The Farm Bill comes up every five years. The House version of the bill included no earmarks or unrelated spending projects. The Senate added earmarks to its version, which were included in the final bill. The congressman said the House was able to bring down the quantity of earmarks in the Senate bill, but not eliminate them altogether.

The report from Washington was not all gloom. Peterson said switching the country to energy independence is the single most important thing Congress can do. And he believes it can be accomplished in 10 years. He said Brazil is currently running 26 percent ethanol in its gasoline, and has found that is the ideal blend to get the most miles per gallon. At 10 1/2 billion gallons per year now, ethanol is the third largest supplier of motor fuels behind Canada and Saudi Arabia.

If the U.S. increases cellulosic and corn-based ethanol production, marginal farm land could be used to grow the 10-feet tall switch grass plants here. Peterson said the grass is a perennial, doesn’t require much fertilizer and is great habitat for pheasants and deer. Increasing the amount of ethanol in automobile gasoline to 30 percent, requiring 15 percent of electricity to come from wind and solar, and using existing oil and coal fields would be enough to eliminate the need for all foreign oil. “We can do this,” he said.

A debate with Rep. Peterson and challenger Menze will air on Prairie Public Television from Fargo at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17. Twin Cities Public Television does not have the debate on its broadcasting schedule. A representative from TPT said the station does not have plans to air the debate. The 7th district is the largest in the state, and includes 35 of Minnesota’s 87 counties including McLeod and Meeker.