October 20, 2002

(Prior Lake, MN) - The Luther for Congress campaign today released a ten chapter report on candidate John Kline's positions on a wide variety of issues. "We're releasing this information for one basic reason," said Luther's top aide, Bob Decheine. "John Kline is hiding from the issues and running away from positions he has taken in the past. In many instances Kline's views are outside the mainstream and represent the kind of extreme, radical viewpoints we rarely encounter in Minnesota."

The campaign pointed out that Kline has now made it a practice to avoid as many debates and public forums as possible. They released a list (see below) of nine debates from the 2000 campaign that Kline skipped or refused to take part in, and a list of nine debates, thus far, from the 2002 campaign that Kline has missed or forced to be cancelled.

"This is the third time John Kline has run for Congress and you'd think by now he would have developed some detailed positions on the issues," said Decheine, "and yet he avoids debates, has announced no initiatives or ideas of his own and doesn't even have perfunctory position papers on the issues. Fortunately, because Kline has run so many times, there is an archive of news clips, videotapes and audiotapes that outline his extreme positions on many issues. And this archive has provided us with the material for this report."

[JOHN KLINE'S SKIPPED DEBATES: 2000 - Stillwater High School, State Farm Insurance, Hastings Knights of Columbus, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, MSI Insurance, KDWA Radio, Inver Hills Community College, Minnesota Public Radio, Newsnight MN. 2002 - Ruth Koscielak Show, Access to Democracy 9/16, Almanac, Chaska Chamber of Commerce, Access to Democracy 10/14, Faribault Chamber of Commerce, Dakota County Citizens for Our Land and Water, MN Senior Federation, St. Paul Companies.]

CHAPTER 1: WHY IS JOHN KLINE RUNNING AND WHAT'S HIS AGENDA?

John Kline is now making his third run for Congress and he has changed over the course of those three elections. Initially, he ran as an insurgent candidate beating out an incumbent GOP State Senator for his party's endorsement over the objections of the party bosses in St. Paul and Washington, DC. His campaign raised very little money, but it was nevertheless all about him. These are 1998 quotes from John Kline.

"I just felt like it would be a good thing if somebody new got into this. Somebody with new blood, and a new face, who's not a politician. When I looked in the mirror, it was me." (St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5/10/98)

"The party professionals say a loss could end my political career. Hey, I don't have a political career, so ending it doesn't matter." (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 10/17/98)

Well, after Kline's loss in 1998 he apparently decided he did indeed have a political career and he started laying the groundwork for another run for Congress in 2000, this time with the full financial and political support of his party's establishment.

"…Congressman Tom Davis, Chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, has said that we can expect the full support of the Congressional Republican Leadership." (Kline Campaign Literature, 1999)

After losing again in 2000, Kline said he was finished and wouldn't run again. He got his first job here in Minnesota as the executive director of a conservative think tank and said he was finished with electoral politics. Then, the day the new district maps were released, Kline arrogantly leapt out of the gate by announcing his plan to run in the new 2nd CD even before the current 2nd CD incumbent, GOP Rep. Mark Kennedy, could announce his own intentions.

"We have the full support of the national party. My brother, Vin Weber, has briefed the White House." (Memo from Joe Weber to John Kline 5/17/02)

"Some of the party leadership in Washington talked to me and convinced me, and more importantly my wife, that if redistricting produced a district I was comfortable in, that I should run again." (John Kline in the Northfield News 6/1/02)

This personal interest in running for Congress, based on his own circumstances and interests is a theme that runs through much of the material you find about John Kline. It's not really about running to represent the 615,000 people in the district; it's about his own personal interests. This is true of his issue concerns as well. The issues he wants to work on are the issues he is personally interested in - not the issues of primary concern to the people of the 2nd CD.

"Military issues were the driving force to get me interested in politics." (John Kline to the Associated Press, 6/12/02)

While this may be the case, the fact is that military issues are not anywhere near the top of the list of concerns of the people of the 2nd CD. There are a few defense contractors in the district but there is no military base or installation and yet John Kline has made it clear that, if elected, he wants to serve on the Armed Services Committee. This makes sense for Kline personally because he has spent his entire career in the military and he probably has a lot of ideas about the role of the armed forces. Obviously he thinks so…

"Even as a freshman member of Congress, I can walk into the Armed Services Committee and I will have a higher level of experience than any one else on the committee. I can think of one exception -- but probably only one. There is a guy named Ed Schrock who represents the southeastern portion of Virginia where we have some large naval bases, but there is very, very, very little level of experience there. I don't want to start a disagreement with Congressman Schrock, but I maybe have even more experience than he does." (On Point - KQRS, 9/15/02)

In fact, over 1/3 of the members of the Armed Services Committee have military experience and another 1/3 have served in Congress for a decade or more. The House of Representatives operates on seniority and working with your colleagues. The attitude suggested by the above quote will not lend itself to being effective in Congress.

The first of the final three quotes in this chapter very clearly states how John Kline views the role of the federal government. The second quote suggests that John Kline doesn't understand that part of the job of being a Member of Congress is to serve as an advocate for the needs of the people and communities in your district. The third and final quote shows that even if he did understand that, he isn't planning to be around long enough to make a difference anyway.

"Bill Luther believes it's his job to go to Washington and solve the problems of the people, and I fundamentally believe we should get Washington more out of our lives than into our lives." (Apple Valley ThisWeek, 8/12/00)

"My job would not be to bring home to the district as much money as I can." (Apple Valley Library Forum, 5/1/00)

"I support term limits. I have already pledged that I will limit myself to three terms." (Ham Lake Chamber of Commerce, 10/21/98)

CHAPTER 2: SOCIAL SECURITY

This is a simple one. Over the course of his three campaigns for Congress John Kline has consistently favored the privatization of Social Security. This year, for the first time, he is quibbling about the use of the word 'privatization' but he is staying committed to the idea of taking billions of dollars out of Social Security and gambling that money in the stock market.

The 1998 Star Tribune Candidate Questionnaire included the following statement with which candidates had to indicate agreement or disagreement: "Social Security should be partially privatized so that participants can manage a portion of their own retirement investment." John Kline's answer? -- "Strongly Agrees". (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/30/98)

"He (Kline) also favors a limited privatization of Social Security, putting him in agreement with Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush." (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/3/00)

"Kline favors partial privatization." (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/20/02)

John Kline has also made it clear that he is interested in going far beyond the proposal being put forward by President Bush. But let's let him speak for himself.

"I don't believe that by making small adjustments and small modifications that we can preserve Social Security in its current form. I think the solution to Social Security is going to look something like the proposal that Senator Grams has put on the table. It is going to be a difficult step. We do need to look at what's happening with that Trust Fund money. We are going to need to use that money to make the transition." (Ham Lake Chamber of Commerce forum 10/21/98)

Even this year the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that John Kline has been supportive of something very similar to the radical proposal for full privatization put forward by former U.S. Senator Rod Grams.

"During his 1998 and 2000 races for Congress, both of which he narrowly lost to Luther, Kline spoke approvingly of Grams' idea but didn't endorse its specifics. In 1998, Kline said the final shape of Social Security 'is going to look something like the proposal that Senator Grams has put on the table.' In 2000, Kline said that he liked Grams' idea but that 'Grams would move faster than I would prefer to do - so I have endorsed proposals such as that proposed by Governor Bush.'" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune 8/6/02)

John Kline wants to end Social Security as we know it. His words speak for themselves but now in his 3rd run for Congress he's just being more cautious about letting his radical ideas show through.

CHAPTER 3: PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

There can be no question of where John Kline will line up when it comes to voting to protect the environment. He supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He thinks global warming, if it is occurring at all, is caused by the sun. He doesn't realize that the EPA's Superfund program has already cleaned up over 750 polluted sites. And he has described our environmental laws as "cumbersome", "crippling", "stifling", "restrictive", and "dampening". These are code words used in Washington by the most extreme anti-environment forces. These are Mr. Kline's words…

"We must endeavor to reform those restrictive environmental laws & regulations that cripple free enterprise and dampen the entrepreneurial spirit." (Kline Campaign Literature, 1998)

"Environmental protection must be balanced against a strong, job-creating economy. We should reform cumbersome environmental laws, which now stifle entrepreneurship, job-creation and growth. We should protect natural resources, but not at the expense of our individual rights or our nation's economic forces." (Kline Campaign Literature, 1998)

"We've created a very cumbersome system. We have passed environmental laws at the federal level that, in fact, have done nothing to clean up the environment. We have the Superfund, for example, that has done practically nothing to clean up the toxic waste, the hazardous waste, or the brownfields." (Stillwater Chamber of Commerce debate, 10/16/00)

"I think we should do that drilling in ANWR. I think the arguments that we are violating the pristine wilderness and that we are going to do great damage to the environment and hurt caribou and so forth are truly spurious." (Mike & Maggie Show -- KNFX 970 AM, 5/17/02)

"There are a couple of questions that we need to ask about global warming. One, is it going to prove to be catastrophic, is there a trend that's going to present some kind of catastrophe for us? And two, is it a result of human activity, of man's activity, and if so is there something we can do about it? I believe that there is not a catastrophic trend in the first place and in the second place, it is likely that any of this warming is much more likely to be the result of natural activity, such as sun activity, rather than man's activity or green house gases." (Cannon River Watershed Partnership debate, 8/3/02)

CHAPTER 4: TAXES

John Kline has very radical views on taxation - even for a conservative Republican. He believes that taxes are used for "social engineering" and he wants to scrap the federal income tax system for either a flat tax or a national sales tax. He avoids debates and detailed discussions on issues, so all we're left with is his extreme, right-wing think tank rhetoric like the following…

"Kline supported gun rights, prayer in school and abolishing the Internal Revenue Service." (Associated Press, 5/4/98)

"The primary purpose of taxation was to provide for essential government services but this ideal has been corrupted by Democrat-concocted 'New Deals'. Today the tax code is used to influence behavior, support social engineering and pay for a giant national job service for bureaucrats." (Kline Campaign Literature, 1998)

"Kline said he would not support expanding federal income-tax credits for child-care expenses. Even if they were expanded, Kline would oppose making them available to stay-at-home-parents." (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 10/19/98)

"If we could get a national sales tax tomorrow, I would take it." ( MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce debate, 9/29/00)

"Kline favors scrapping the current tax code. If he could replace the current code with a flat tax or a national sales tax, he would vote for either one of those in an instant." (Apple Valley ThisWeek, 8/12/00)

"It's not enough to just cut taxes - I believe in scrapping the entire tax code. There is no shortage of proposals to replace it - some bipartisan - we could have a 'flat tax,' a 'fair tax.' All of them have merit - as long as whatever we do gets the IRS off the backs of the American family." (Kline Campaign Press Release, 5/6/00)

Note: The "fair tax" is the 23% national sales tax proposal.

"As we know the tax code, the federal tax code, is enormously, enormously complex and the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) is just an example of that and I would have supported removing that alternative minimum tax. It harshly, harshly penalizes businesses and the American people and we ought to do away with it." (Cannon River Watershed Partnership Debate, 8/3/02)

Note: Kline made this statement in response to a question of whether or not he would have supported the 2001 economic stimulus package that included a retroactive repeal of the AMT.

CHAPTER 5: EDUCATION

John Kline's radical views extend into the education arena too. He supports the Minnesota State Republican Party platform that calls for the elimination of the federal Department of Education. And he has made it clear that he wants to reduce the federal government's role in education. He also supports diverting taxpayer dollars from public schools to private schools in the form of vouchers. His words…

"Does the candidate support allowing states to use federal funds for vouchers or scholarships for low income children who receive private and religious elementary or secondary education?" John Kline answered - "Yes" (Minnesota Taxpayers League Candidate Survey, 1998)

"Kline said he would vote to allow tax-sheltered accounts of up to $2,000 a year for education expenses, including the cost of parochial schools." (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/19/98)

"Responding to questions, candidates outlined further differences on education. Kline called for reducing the federal role in education." (Minneapolis Star- Tribune, 9/30/00)

"Asked about the role of the federal government in education, Kline said he supposed the federal government had 'some role' to play." (Anoka County Union, 10/3/00)

CHAPTER 6: AGRICULTURE

This is an important issue in the new 2nd Congressional District and John Kline has been trying to con people into believing that he is a family farmer with roots in rural Minnesota.

"A retired U.S. Marine colonel and family farmer, John Kline's roots are in rural Minnesota." (Kline campaign mailing, 2002)

The truth, of course, is that he just moved from Texas to Minnesota a few years ago and has really been a professional candidate for Congress ever since. The only roots he has in rural Minnesota belong to his second wife Vicki, and he has virtually no claim to being a farmer at all. On policy grounds, Kline supported the disastrous Freedom to Farm bill that devastated agriculture in Minnesota. His words…

Kline endorsed the Freedom to Farm Act passed by Congress in 1995. (Kline campaign literature, 1998)

"I'm really not that much of a farmer. My father-in-law had to teach me how to start a tractor." (Apple Valley Library Forum, 5/1/00)

"When I retired from the Marine Corps in 1994, my wife and I spent a short time with her parents on the family farm in Houston County, Minnesota, before we settled in Lakeville." (Kline campaign literature, 2002)

CHAPTER 7: FISCAL ISSUES/BUSINESS OVERSIGHT

John Kline is unabashed about his support for big business and corporate America. He even philosophically opposes the minimum wage. With all of the scandals in corporate governance how could we ever trust someone with attitudes like these to do the right thing in Congress? Kline's words…

"I understand that the business of America is business and I passionately believe that burdensome federal regulations, destructive taxation, punitive legislation, and attacks in court by trial lawyers -- strangle innovation and cripple expansion." (Kline fundraising letter, 8/98)

"Regarding the minimum wage, Kline suggested letting the free market determine wages free of government intervention." (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 9/30/00)

"The minimum wage is largely one of our problems in this day and age." (Metro North Chamber of Commerce debate, 9/29/00)

CHAPTER 8: MILITARY ISSUES AND HOMELAND SECURITY

When it comes to defense issues and foreign policy decision-making you would think that someone with John Kline's background would look at these issues strictly on the merits without concerning himself with partisan politics. And yet…

On August 7, 1998 Al-Qaeda terrorists bombed the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 224 people were killed and over 5,000 men, women and children were injured. The President immediately ordered strikes against Al-Qaeda training camps and facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan. Less than a month after the bombings, John Kline called for the resignation of our commander-in-chief and questioned the necessity and effectiveness of our counter-attacks against Al-Qaeda. (Letter to the Editor from Kline, Farmington Independent, 9/4/98)

"Kline said he couldn't have supported America's bombing of Yugoslavia because no clear outcome was ever identified." (Apple Valley ThisWeek, 8/12/00)

Now that there is a Republican in the White House, John Kline seems to have become much more comfortable with the exercise of U.S. force around the world. He was out very early supporting unilateral action against Iraq and advocating that the President did not need to seek Congressional approval before initiating military action. Kline has also eerily suggested the possible use of nuclear weapons in Iraq. His radical and extreme views on the situation in Iraq are not reflective of the balanced views of the people of the 2nd district.

"It's never been a question to me of if we'd go to Iraq; it's always been a question of when we would go. And I, for one, don't need any further evidence whatsoever to say that Saddam Hussein poses a threat to us on several fronts." (Burnsville This Week, 8/17/02)

"It's not a matter of how many allies we have or whether the Middle Eastern countries want us to go in there or not." (Jason Lewis Show, KSTP 1500 AM, 8/23/02)

"Saddam may not have, but we have, those weapons, nuclear weapons. We are the world's sole super power right now and the reason we have those weapons is we may have to use them sometime." (Jason Lewis Show, KSTP 1500 AM, 8/23/02)

It also seems that John Kline has no real problem with cuts to the defense budget as long as they're done at the right time..

"John Kline is not opposed to military cuts if done at perfectly reasonable times, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, for instance." (Northfield News, 6/1/02)

And finally, when it comes to his supposed expertise on homeland security matters, John Kline doesn't have a clue.

"I believe biochemical warfare and terrorism are serious issues and real threats to the United States, but I have no personal strategy or plan to address them." (Apple Valley Library Forum, 5/1/00)

"The Office of Homeland Security has made some good decisions and they've done some, frankly, some fairly silly things that I would hope we're going to get through." (Northfield News, 6/1/02)

"We created a new, a new agency to provide airport security. My own preference would have been to not make that a federal work force but certainly to provide federal supervision to it and use private sectors." (Access to Democracy, 7/12/02)

CHAPTER 9: TRANSPORTATION

John Kline's radical, extremist philosophy permeates his views on issue after issue including even transportation - an issue often free of partisan rancor. At heart he seems to be a socially conservative libertarian who believes the government, especially the federal government, should have virtually no role in our lives. It's almost like someone running for an office he or she would like to eliminate. Obviously, transportation, traffic, and congestion are huge issues in the south metro area. If John Kline followed his personal philosophy in this area we would see very little federal aid for new roads coming into the area.

"Ok, I suppose philosophically I would say, gosh, they [the federal government] ought not be involved in it [transportation]. But as a practical matter, because we have to deal with it practically, they are involved." (Columbia Heights Candidate Forum, 9/30/98)

CHAPTER 10: CRIME

John Kline's extremist philosophy extends to crime prevention too. Again he apparently wants no help from the federal government, even for law enforcement or to protect our kids from on-line pornography.

"I disagree however with Congressman Luther that we need incentives from the federal government to tell the community of Columbia Heights how and what to do about its crime situation. I don't think that the community of Columbia Heights needs incentives or guidance from the federal government." (Columbia Heights Candidate Forum, 9/30/98)

Unbelievably, John Kline doesn't even think there should be a federal government role in protecting our children from pornography. When asked if the federal government should do something about children having access to pornography, Kline said…

"I much, much prefer a solution that allows parents to control this [internet porn]. I think that is the direction we should look for a solution." (Ham Lake Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum, 10/21/98)

Families in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District want a Congressman who will work with them in meeting the challenges they face in their own lives - not someone who is pursuing his own personal interests and using their families to test his radical ideas and risky plans.