Tim Engstrom, managing editor

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht in the race for 1st District congressman. The endorsement ceremony took place Monday during a lunch at Riverland Community College&8217;s Albert Lea campus.

About 15 people from the Albert Lea Chamber of Commerce attended the lunch.

Doug Loon, vice president of regional affairs and advocacy for the U.S. Chamber&8217;s Minneapolis office, said Gutknecht represents the interests of the business community in Washington. He pointed to issues such as commerce and health as reason why Gutknecht won the endorsement.

Gutknecht took the opportunity to tell a story about Sept. 11, 2001.

The Republican congressman was with a group of lawmakers getting ready for a budget committee meeting when they heard the news of a plane hitting the World Trade Center. The group was look at the budget surplus and projecting a

$1.5 trillion surplus over 10 years.

He recalled when he was elected in 1994, the budget faced a $2.5 trillion deficit, he said.

&8220;I wanted to stop spending our grandchildren&8217;s money,&8221; Gutknecht said.

Things had changed between 1994 and 2001 because, he said, the Republicans controlled spending and cut taxes. He said a $250 billion deficit became a $250 billion surplus.

&8220;While I was on the budget committee we turned the battleship of deficits around,&8221; Gutknecht said.

In the meeting on 9/11, word came that a plane hit the Pentagon. The lawmakers realized the world had changed.

&8220;We literally went from dealing with a $250 billion surplus to how are we going to deal with this,&8221; Gutknecht said.

He said White House aides came to Capitol Hill and wanted advice. Gutknecht said he told them: &8220;You got to get the president of the United States up to New York City.&8221;

A fan of World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Gutknecht told how the prime minister would venture into London following German bomb attacks to rally the public spirit.

Gutknecht said he might not have been the only one to suggest sending President Bush to New York but said he was among the first to suggest it.

The economy went into shock the first weeks after the attacks but recovered following the tax cuts of 2001, Gutknecht said.

&8220;The saying that more taxes are the answer to every question, I don&8217;t agree,&8221; he said.

Gutknecht said he attempts to visit businesses across the 1st District: Alumacraft in St. Peter, Brock Candy in Winona, Mrs. Gerry&8217;s in Albert Lea and he noted Hormel in Austin.

&8220;Every day they turn 18,000 pigs into Spam,&8221; he said.

Viracon in Owatonna, he said, provides windows for skyscrapers in the Far East, he said.

&8220;Not because of government but despite government,&8221; Gutknecht said.

Changing the subject to inheritance tax, he said the extremely wealthy &8212; like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet &8212; create trusts and nonprofit groups to avoid paying inheritance taxes.

The people who pay it are the hard-working owners of small and medium companies who end up dead and their families have to settle with the IRS in 18 months. Then they sell the company to a bigger company, which in turn cuts employees, he said.

&8220;They lose their jobs because the patriarch dies,&8221; Gutknecht said.

Gutknecht spoke on energy independence, saying by buying foreign oil America sends good-paying jobs overseas.

&8220;Imagine if we could keep half of those jobs. Imagine if we could see half of those jobs recycling through the economy,&8221; Gutknecht said.

He said greater ethanol production could make a major impact in Minnesota alone.

Gutknecht touched on Iraq. He said he taken sobering visits to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He said he asks the soldiers if America is doing the right thing.

&8220;They believe more in this mission than most Americans do,&8221; he said.

The Senate &8212; &8220;the graveyard of all good ideas&8221; he called it &8212; was to blame for not passing tort reform for American health care. He said health care in America will go one of two ways, and he said he would like it to be market-driven. He said he likes the concept of minute-clinics in department and grocery stores for simple sicknesses.

&8220;This is what every mother wants. It is &8216;consumer-friendly.&8217;&8221;

Gutknecht faces Democrat Tim Walz, a teacher from Mankato, in the Nov. 7 election.