Politics & Government

Sen. Koch Visits St. Michael-Albertville High Government Class

Minnesota's Senate Majority Leader spent an hour talking state government, the 2011 budget crisis and Vikings stadium, and even touched on school lunch.

"It's kind of sad," the most powerful woman in Minnnesota state government said, "when it's news on the day I spend time in Wright County. But, that's the way it goes."

Sen. Amy Koch (R-Buffalo), to be fair, has probably as strong of roots to her district as anyone, spending all of her 40 years in Wright County. But she's seen the inside of Gov. Mark Dayton's office more than her hometown of Buffalo in 2011, thanks to the budget stalemate, government shutdown and Minnesota Vikings stadium.

The Senator took time out of her week to hit Monday, at the request of Shannon Schulzetenberg, social studies teacher. During fourth hour (about 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.), she talked with teens about everything from the government shutdown to the status of school lunch. She spent several minutes, at the behest of students Jesse Johnson and Mike Kessler, talking about the Vikings stadium discussion.

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"The bottom line is, the Vikings' lease is up," Koch said. "And no one wants them to go. The trouble is, no one wants the state to pay for it either. So you're getting mixed signals from people. But you don't want to see them go."

Koch said the special session, proposed by Gov. Mark Dayton for later this month, is still on the table. But, she wants there to be an agreement before legislators convene at the capitol.

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"The trouble is, you had a special session for the Twins in 1997, and it failed," she told the students. "You didn't see the stadium finally make it until 2006. You don't want a 10 year delay for the Vikings. We don't want that to happen."

Engaging the students through a question and answer session, the same duo that brought up the Viking stadium debate also hit on another issue popular with students.

"What can you do about school lunches," Johnson asked.

"We don't get into that," Koch said with a laugh. "We leave that up to your local school board. They're going to control that. I'll be there tonight, in fact."

The students voiced their displeasure for the replacement of regular French fries with sweet potato fries, and sweet potato-based Tater Tots.

"I'll put a word in tonight," Koch said. "I'll see what I can say."

Koch was also asked about her future plans, looking ahead to a 2012 election that could see the Sixth Congressional District seat left vacant by Rep. Michelle Bachmann. Or, would she like to challenge Dayton in the 2014 gubernatortial race.

"Right now, my focus is on keeping the majority we have in the [State] House and Senate in 2012. But you never know," she said. "We'll see."


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