Down the list

In 2006, then-Congressman Gil Gutknecht, a Republican seeking his seventh term in the U.S. House, sought to portray Democratic challenger Tim Walz as a pro-amnesty liberal in television ads than flooded the 1st District airwaves in the final weeks of the campaign. Walz, who said the ads blatantly distorted his stance, won.

But earlier this year, Walz traveled to Arizona for a border tour weeks after a Republican opponent — state Sen. Dick Day of Owatonna — had made a trip there and talked to anti-immigration activists. It appeared that 2008 was going to be Round 2 of the 1st District immigration battle.

That’s changed.

“I think it’s fallen down the list,” said Brian Davis, a Rochester physician who won the GOP endorsement to run against Walz. “... Clearly, the biggest issue right now is what people are paying at the gas pump. It affects everybody.”

Day, who is challenging Davis in the Republican primary election Sept. 9, has said the same.

Walz agrees the price of gas is the foremost concern of people. Like the Republicans, however, he said he’s still concerned about illegal immigration, wants the borders secured and supports a system that would allow businesses to verify that job applicants are in the country legally.

A needed workforce

State Rep. Bob Gunther, a Fairmont Republican who has represented Watonwan County and its large population of Latino immigrants for years, offers middle-ground attitudes about immigration.

Gunther is as forceful as other politicians in saying that the federal government needs to address its porous borders and that illegal immigrants should be deported when caught.

But the former member of the state Chicano-Latino Affairs Council said he also recognizes the economic realities of the situation.

“The Latinos are perfect workers,” Gunther said. “They’re a needed workforce.”

He disagrees with those who say the workers, with their low-paying jobs, are a drain on government welfare programs. The vast majority of Latinos in his district are legal and pay taxes and payroll deductions.

“The biggest cost of Medicaid — which is welfare — is senior citizens in nursing homes, and I don’t hear anybody complaining about them,” Gunther said.

“To me, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the Germans, Norwegians and Swedes of 100 years ago and the Latinos now,” he said.