ISSUES
The reason why I love Minnesota so much is not merely because I was born and raised here, but rather because we make the key investments necessary to make our state better. Better schools, healthcare, senior care, parks, trails, and services improve the quality of life for residents. I've traveled enough to understand how bad things are in states that fail to make these investments.
Repair our crumbling roads and bridges
Career politicians try to pretend they are fiscally responsible by not spending money to fix our infrastructure, but we need to hold them accountable for failing to do so. If your family car has squeaky brakes, you don't "save money" by not fixing them, that just leads to greater damage, a more expensive repair bill, and risking safety. You come together for the common good, spend the money you need to, and you fix what needs it.
Years of neglect have left Minnesota’s infrastructure in a dismal state of disrepair. When roads crumble, it costs everyone more in higher vehicle repair bills, costs small businesses in commodity damage, costs family farmers trying to get their goods to market, and when our bridges crumble, it can cost lives. We’ve kicked this can down the road for long enough. Our farmers and light manufacturers need to get their goods to market, and that means quality roads. Enough excuses by career politicians, enough trying passing the buck by blaming some project in another part of the state. Vote out the obstructionist politicians so we can get this done.
Increasing Incomes
It's getting harder and harder for families to get by. Wages have been dropping for 90% of Americans since 1980. 40% of Americans now have an income that is less than the 1968 minimum wage. If the minimum wage kept pace with rising worker productivity, it would be $20 an hour by now. In today's economy 90% of people on the minimum wage are not teenagers, over a third are older than 40, and the average age of someone depending on the minimum wage is 35. When big, greedy corporations pay their workers such low, low wages, is it any wonder that over half of them need some form of public assistance to scrape by?
Most folks are shocked to learn that half of all Americans have an income under $27,000 a year. That comes out to less than $14 an hour at full time. Half of all Americans have less than $45,000 in total wealth accumulated. We're behind third world countries like Cyprus and Kuwait in terms of median wealth. The richest 0.1% now have roughly the same total wealth as 90% of all Americans combined. These dengerous levels of wealth inequality cripple economic mobility, stagnate our economy, and turn The American Dream into a nightmare. Now is our time to increase incomes for hard working Americans. To show my commitment to this, I have vowed to only accept a salary of $27k/year. When your wages go up, my wages go up, not before.
Creating jobs
A nice side effect of raising people’s wages is that they have more money to spend, which leads to higher demand, and thus more jobs in the local economy. Passing a reliable funding source to fix our roads, bridges, and infrastructure will create even more jobs and bring more money into the local economy. Investments into renewable energy will create more good jobs. At the same time we can take other measures like developing our tourist infrastructure and greatly expanding rural broadband for more jobs out here, where we need them.
Rural broadband
Just like previous generations of Minnesotans that came together for rural radio, electricity, and television access, it is now time for us to make sure that everyone in small towns and the countryside has access to high speed internet. Border to Border Broadband is the key for small businesses and entrepreneurs who live here in rural Minnesota. This is the communications issue of our time.
Clean Lakes
Outside of the good folks that live here, the greatest natural resource of this region is our lakes. Clean lakes are the centerpiece of Minnesota, giving us our state motto. Senate District 8 has one of the highest concentrations of lakes in the entire nation. They increase our quality of life, give us recreational activities like fishing and boating, and bring in tourist dollars. Protecting our aquatic environment is critical to the well being of residents and the future of west central Minnesota. Failure to act has consequences. A high percentage of the waterways in southwest MN are now unsafe for swimming and fishing due to neglect. It's easy to pay lip service to our lakes, but we need action to ferociously protect our water quality. I will fight for good water quality.
Quality of Life
Public bike trails, parks, beaches, and boat launches are huge assets to our communities. Small but smart investments can go a long way to keeping people healthy and happy right here in West Central MN.
Tourism
Increased tourism is important for small businesses and job creation in the leisure and hospitality industry here in the Lakes Area. Tourists coming here to enjoy our clean lakes, clean air, and clean environment spend tens of millions of dollars that support thousands of local jobs. Tourists also contribute millions of dollars in local sales tax revenue which can be used to lower property taxes for full time residents. Increasing tourism is time treasured method of enhancing the quality of life of local residents.
Local Government Aid
LGA, County Aid, and Township Aid can account for half the budget of some local governments. It is how we can afford quality public services (like fire departments) while keeping local taxes low. It is critical that we increase LGA to help small towns in the countryside. Unfortunately, many career politicians in office now try to cut LGA or make excuses for not increasing it, which hurts towns in the district like Bluffton, Clitheral, Deer Creek, Henning, New York Mills, Ottertail, Parkers Prairie, Richville, Urbank, Vining, Wadena, Battle Lake, Dalton, Dent, Elizabeth, Erhard, Fergus Falls, Pelican Rapids, Perham, Rothsay, Underwood, Vergas, Alexandria, Carlos, Miltona, Nelson, and Osakis.
Fiscal Responsibility
We need to secure the revenue necessary to continue to make key investments and to generate a surplus, unlike some backwards states that give massive tax cuts to the rich and end up with large deficits. While everyone has to pay their fair share as a matter of principle, we need to shift the tax burden from regular working folks and small locally owned businesses to the rich and big corporations. I support lowering property taxes by restoring the Homestead Tax Credit. I understand the value of a dollar and personally know how to make money stretch with fiscally responsible decision making. For example, my only piece of formal attire is a sport coat I purchased at a thrift store 25 years ago for a dollar.
Education
Minnesota makes me proud with one of the strongest education systems in the nation. Education is the key to a brighter future for our entire state. We need to start early by offering Pre-K to 4 year olds. We need to defend All Day Everyday Kindergarten from being dismantled. We need to support Head Start. We need smaller classroom sizes, living wages for teachers, adequate support staff, and the positive work environment that comes from a secure job. We also need quality, affordable higher education, and I'll defend Alex Tech and M-State.
Seniors
Nursing homes are understaffed and workers are underpaid. This could have devastating consequences for Senate District 8 with our aging population if nursing homes have to close. Some politicians talk about voucherizing, privatizing, and profitizing Social Security and Medicare, but I will strongly defend the benefits that our seniors have EARNED through a lifetime of hard work. We need more money for nursing homes and home healthcare, and better wages for people that work there.
The reason why I love Minnesota so much is not merely because I was born and raised here, but rather because we make the key investments necessary to make our state better. Better schools, healthcare, senior care, parks, trails, and services improve the quality of life for residents. I've traveled enough to understand how bad things are in states that fail to make these investments.
Repair our crumbling roads and bridges
Career politicians try to pretend they are fiscally responsible by not spending money to fix our infrastructure, but we need to hold them accountable for failing to do so. If your family car has squeaky brakes, you don't "save money" by not fixing them, that just leads to greater damage, a more expensive repair bill, and risking safety. You come together for the common good, spend the money you need to, and you fix what needs it.
Years of neglect have left Minnesota’s infrastructure in a dismal state of disrepair. When roads crumble, it costs everyone more in higher vehicle repair bills, costs small businesses in commodity damage, costs family farmers trying to get their goods to market, and when our bridges crumble, it can cost lives. We’ve kicked this can down the road for long enough. Our farmers and light manufacturers need to get their goods to market, and that means quality roads. Enough excuses by career politicians, enough trying passing the buck by blaming some project in another part of the state. Vote out the obstructionist politicians so we can get this done.
Increasing Incomes
It's getting harder and harder for families to get by. Wages have been dropping for 90% of Americans since 1980. 40% of Americans now have an income that is less than the 1968 minimum wage. If the minimum wage kept pace with rising worker productivity, it would be $20 an hour by now. In today's economy 90% of people on the minimum wage are not teenagers, over a third are older than 40, and the average age of someone depending on the minimum wage is 35. When big, greedy corporations pay their workers such low, low wages, is it any wonder that over half of them need some form of public assistance to scrape by?
Most folks are shocked to learn that half of all Americans have an income under $27,000 a year. That comes out to less than $14 an hour at full time. Half of all Americans have less than $45,000 in total wealth accumulated. We're behind third world countries like Cyprus and Kuwait in terms of median wealth. The richest 0.1% now have roughly the same total wealth as 90% of all Americans combined. These dengerous levels of wealth inequality cripple economic mobility, stagnate our economy, and turn The American Dream into a nightmare. Now is our time to increase incomes for hard working Americans. To show my commitment to this, I have vowed to only accept a salary of $27k/year. When your wages go up, my wages go up, not before.
Creating jobs
A nice side effect of raising people’s wages is that they have more money to spend, which leads to higher demand, and thus more jobs in the local economy. Passing a reliable funding source to fix our roads, bridges, and infrastructure will create even more jobs and bring more money into the local economy. Investments into renewable energy will create more good jobs. At the same time we can take other measures like developing our tourist infrastructure and greatly expanding rural broadband for more jobs out here, where we need them.
Rural broadband
Just like previous generations of Minnesotans that came together for rural radio, electricity, and television access, it is now time for us to make sure that everyone in small towns and the countryside has access to high speed internet. Border to Border Broadband is the key for small businesses and entrepreneurs who live here in rural Minnesota. This is the communications issue of our time.
Clean Lakes
Outside of the good folks that live here, the greatest natural resource of this region is our lakes. Clean lakes are the centerpiece of Minnesota, giving us our state motto. Senate District 8 has one of the highest concentrations of lakes in the entire nation. They increase our quality of life, give us recreational activities like fishing and boating, and bring in tourist dollars. Protecting our aquatic environment is critical to the well being of residents and the future of west central Minnesota. Failure to act has consequences. A high percentage of the waterways in southwest MN are now unsafe for swimming and fishing due to neglect. It's easy to pay lip service to our lakes, but we need action to ferociously protect our water quality. I will fight for good water quality.
Quality of Life
Public bike trails, parks, beaches, and boat launches are huge assets to our communities. Small but smart investments can go a long way to keeping people healthy and happy right here in West Central MN.
Tourism
Increased tourism is important for small businesses and job creation in the leisure and hospitality industry here in the Lakes Area. Tourists coming here to enjoy our clean lakes, clean air, and clean environment spend tens of millions of dollars that support thousands of local jobs. Tourists also contribute millions of dollars in local sales tax revenue which can be used to lower property taxes for full time residents. Increasing tourism is time treasured method of enhancing the quality of life of local residents.
Local Government Aid
LGA, County Aid, and Township Aid can account for half the budget of some local governments. It is how we can afford quality public services (like fire departments) while keeping local taxes low. It is critical that we increase LGA to help small towns in the countryside. Unfortunately, many career politicians in office now try to cut LGA or make excuses for not increasing it, which hurts towns in the district like Bluffton, Clitheral, Deer Creek, Henning, New York Mills, Ottertail, Parkers Prairie, Richville, Urbank, Vining, Wadena, Battle Lake, Dalton, Dent, Elizabeth, Erhard, Fergus Falls, Pelican Rapids, Perham, Rothsay, Underwood, Vergas, Alexandria, Carlos, Miltona, Nelson, and Osakis.
Fiscal Responsibility
We need to secure the revenue necessary to continue to make key investments and to generate a surplus, unlike some backwards states that give massive tax cuts to the rich and end up with large deficits. While everyone has to pay their fair share as a matter of principle, we need to shift the tax burden from regular working folks and small locally owned businesses to the rich and big corporations. I support lowering property taxes by restoring the Homestead Tax Credit. I understand the value of a dollar and personally know how to make money stretch with fiscally responsible decision making. For example, my only piece of formal attire is a sport coat I purchased at a thrift store 25 years ago for a dollar.
Education
Minnesota makes me proud with one of the strongest education systems in the nation. Education is the key to a brighter future for our entire state. We need to start early by offering Pre-K to 4 year olds. We need to defend All Day Everyday Kindergarten from being dismantled. We need to support Head Start. We need smaller classroom sizes, living wages for teachers, adequate support staff, and the positive work environment that comes from a secure job. We also need quality, affordable higher education, and I'll defend Alex Tech and M-State.
Seniors
Nursing homes are understaffed and workers are underpaid. This could have devastating consequences for Senate District 8 with our aging population if nursing homes have to close. Some politicians talk about voucherizing, privatizing, and profitizing Social Security and Medicare, but I will strongly defend the benefits that our seniors have EARNED through a lifetime of hard work. We need more money for nursing homes and home healthcare, and better wages for people that work there.