While I believe that a representative should always push to improve the lives of the people in their district, civil servants must develop an approach to prioritize certain issues based on both constituent input and their own experiences. When elected, I plan to focus on improving the lives of Minnesotans by pursuing these issues:
Family and Community Support
Education
When children thrive, communities thrive.
Equipping children to grow, learn, and succeed means supporting them beyond a traditional K-12 education. To support growing families we need programs to provide free childcare and preschooling. We need to make sure that state colleges are accessible to anyone who wants to pursue a degree, and that we provide robust job placement and union run skilled trades programs for those who do not.
Food Insecurity
I cannot stress this enough: No person in America should go hungry. As a State House Representative I will work to make sure no family in our district worries about having food on the table today, tomorrow, or next week. Ours is a prosperous state, and I will support statewide programs that deliver food security to all of Minnesotans by sourcing more food locally in rural areas and paying small farmers for goods shipped into the food deserts of our cities.
Addiction
Our district, like many rural districts in America, is unfortunately home to many people caught in the clutches of substance addiction. Social and medical studies have repeatedly shown that the root causes of most drug dependency are feelings of hopelessness and depression, whether the resulting struggle is with illegal drugs like meth, or dangerous prescription narcotics like fentanyl. Helping people and reducing related crime requires a focus on addressing the conditions that lead to addiction and improving our step down and support programs. When I am in the State House, while I will remain supportive of holding people responsible for criminal actions taken while under the influence of drugs, I will also ensure we are providing individuals with rehabilitative opportunities so that they can recover and grow as valued and loved members of our communities. We already have seen success locally in Goodhue county through the “Drug Court” weekly rehabilitation and support program, and I would look to expand funding for similar efforts.
Mental Health Care
If you’re unconvinced that that inadequately addressed mental health crises are a widespread problem, ask any police officer, ambulance driver, or health care worker about the mental health-related situations they’ve responded to just in the past couple of weeks. Make sure you have some time to listen.
Unfortunately, we simply don’t talk about our mental health the way we do our physical health – and that’s a problem, because they’re equally important. Mental health is a complex and often uncomfortable topic, but it plays an important role in all of our daily lives, at home, school, and work. From providing community support for families living with mental illness to training our first responders to properly handle citizens in mental crisis to encouraging education of mental health professionals, I support a wide range of approaches and options to ensure Minnesotans get the help they need, and to remove the stigma associated with mental struggles.
Elder Care
Everyone deserves to remain independent and in their own homes for as long as they desire, and everyone deserves to participate in and contribute to our communities with dignity. As our state’s population ages, we need to look at expanding programs for in-home health care training, accessibility options for our communities’ public facilities, and wellness programs. Additionally, we must educate our family members and friends about criminal activity which targets the elderly – particularly online and over the phone – and equip law enforcement professionals with the means and training to prevent these crimes.
Veterans’ Care
As a veteran, I am particularly heartbroken by the stories of my brothers and sisters who feel that our country has abandoned them – especially because in many cases, they are not wrong. Many vets who have been severely impacted by their service, either physically or mentally, are falling through the cracks one way or another, and suffering too long and too alone. We must do better for them. Every town in our district has a veterans’ organization, and every one of those organizations has a dozen stories about someone who just never got the right kind of help. While I believe ultimate responsibility falls on the Federal Government to take care of my brethren, we must also use the resources we have at the state level to help the veterans among our neighbors and loved ones.
Personal Freedoms
The Place We Call Home
Farming and Agriculture
We are a rural district, our communities are tied to the land, our ability to work and export its bounty. I believe one of the things that makes our district so special is the number of small family farms that feed hundreds of thousands of people around the state and country. For our communities to stay strong, we must support and protect these family farms over large international farming interests.
It’s devastating to see companies exploiting the land of Minnesota and health and wellbeing of its people in the name of generating quick profits with no regard for long-term consequences for small towns and close-knit communities. When I am in the capitol I will make sure that we protect our local farms and push for programs that help more families sustainably work the land.
I believe that when anyone, including a farmer purchases something, it belongs to them. That means they should have the right to repair and maintain the machinery as they see fit, and I will fight to make sure Minnesota joins states with right to repair laws that protect people and empower local owned businesses.
Farmers NEED health insurance. While our state has programs to help small businesses with health insurance costs, these programs in many cases do not include family farms. I will make sure that quality healthcare is available at affordable costs to farmers, their families and workers.
Local Infrastructure
So much depends upon the things we all share and use every day.
We need to make sure our roads and bridges are well-maintained and can handle the weight and tear of the heavy machines we use to feed the world. Farms and other modern businesses require leading-edge infrastructure such as stable power and high-speed internet to succeed.
As your State representative I will make sure that our district has the funding it needs to keep our complex and interconnected infrastructure repaired. I will work to make sure we continue to keep our district connected by supporting laws empowering our locally owned broadband companies and co-ops to provide up-to-date capabilities at competitive costs.
I believe that we need to stop looking at what is cheapest in terms of raw dollars and start investing in more sustainable, longer-lasting infrastructure that will reduce the overall cost of upkeep and frequency of replacement.
Small Business Support
Locally-owned and operated businesses are vital to community growth. As your State representative I will make sure Minnesota is pro-small business, and will bring grants for business growth and new industry development to the people in our district. When businesses are owned locally they have an interest in the success of our communities, they are our neighbors. However, if the storefronts are part of a multinational corporation, our towns to them are just numbers, they don’t care about what happens to our covered bridge or corn festival. That is why our family owned shops and restaurants need to have strong support in the legislature to make sure they can compete equitably and are protected from corporate bullying.
Affordable Housing
We cannot grow our communities if people cannot find affordable places to live. Unfortunately, we find ourselves on the precipice of a manufactured crisis brought on by corporate greed that threatens the American dream of a family owning their home. I will make sure that our state laws are set to help individuals buy their own homes and stay in them. We must stop the predatory companies built on misleading business practices that leave Minnesotans in crushing unexpected debt or even homeless. I will do everything I can to make sure that families can afford to live comfortably and safely in our communities.
Do you live in Minnesota House District 20b? Take a minute to read my letter about why I’m trying to meet every person in the district, then fill out the form so we can start a conversation.