A Joint Project by Pi Sigma Alpha—The Political Science Honor Society—with the Mac Dems, Mac Greens, and Mac GOP


Every Thursday leading up to this Fall's election, Pi Sigma Alpha, in conjunction with the Mac Dems, Greens, and GOP, will be holding a dinner discussion about relevant political topics to the Macalester Community. Each week a speaker will present the various aspects of an election issue and participate in a discussion with the students in attendance. The goal of this dialogue is to facilitate debate on campus in order to encourage informed voting and more voter participation.

This past Thursday's topic, housing, is one that affects many Macalester students. Professor George Latimer, the guest speaker, provided his insight on the issue. The following are some of the candidate's positions on housing in the Twin Cities (provided by the Mac Dems, Greens and Mac GOP):

Democratic Party

Paul Wellstone (U.S. Senate): Senator Wellstone strongly supports affordable housing measures. In 2000, he co-sponsored legislation to build affordable housing and support low income families in purchasing a home. He co-sponsored a measure to decrease the estate tax repeal by $5 billion in order to provide low-cost housing, a bill that failed in the Senate. He also authored the ‘Homeless Veterans Assistance Act.' Enacted into law in 2001, the measure improves the living conditions of hundreds of thousands of American veterans. It treats homeless veterans who suffer from alcohol and drug addiction and provides one-stop shopping places for community-based care, mental health services, treatment, and assistance in getting affordable housing. (source: Wellstone.org)

Roger Moe (MN Governor): Moe backed legislative action that led to the appropriation of over $200 million over the last three years for affordable housing construction andmaintenance. As governor Moe promises to bring businesses, housing developers, government, foundations and non-profit organizations together to find solutions to the housing crisis. This will include working with builders and local officials to design affordable, energy-efficient housing units and calling on employers to participate in the construction of housing for employees. He supports continuing community rehabilitation, as well as tax and zoning incentives to promote affordable housing construction. (source: Moeformn.org)

Green Party

Ken Pentel (MN Governor): Pointing out that the Met Council now considers a $170,000 home affordable, Green Gubernatorial candidate Ken Pentel has proposed vouchers preventing anyone from having to pay more than a third of their income towards housing costs, rent control measures on apartments, mixed income requirements for all new developments and a putting limit on property taxes for people with fixed incomes.

Ray Tricomo (U.S. Senate): Green Party Senate candidate Ray Tricomo acknowledges a "housing emergency" and has also spoken out in support of using more recycled goods in building processes.

Republican Party

The Mac Republicans failed to collect necessary information to offer a policy position at this time.