Dear Neighbors,

I am running for State House of Representatives in District 33B because I believe people are tired of politics as usual. 

Citizens deserve a government that is much more responsive to their needs and transparent in how it operates.  In 2010, we will continue to face even more difficult decisions regarding out state spending due to the economic downturn.  It is more important than ever that we focus on creating and keeping jobs in Minnesota, reducing healthcare costs, and adequately funding education. 

I have spent the last 5 years at the capitol working with legislators as a professional lobbyist for education and healthcare legislation.  In addition, I have served in my community on the Orono Planning  Commission and know firsthand the challenges of local cities/municipalities in providing services for their citizens. 

I will make our problems our opportunities:

• Create jobs without increasing taxes. Focusing on funding projects that capture Federal matching funds. In 2008 Minnesota missed out on $200M in Federal matching funds for transportation infrastructure. I'll make sure we don't miss this type of opportunity again and fix our transportation infrastructure. Creating tax incentives for business contributions to the Minnesota economy and tax disincentives for polluters and energy wasters.
• Halt property tax increases by stopping state education funding cuts from driving education costs into local communities. Education funding cuts since 2002 have driven billions of dollars of education funding into our property taxes or caused us to compromise the education we give our children. We pay state taxes to fund education and we need to stop the redirection of our taxes from education. I will properly fund education and halt property tax increases.
• Reduce healthcare costs by promoting wellness programs, to incent Minnesotans to exercise and make healthy choices. Move towards performance (outcomes) based compensation, as opposed to procedure based compensation for health care to eliminate costs from duplicate procedures and over use of new technologies, which account for 75% of annual health care cost increases. I will make Minnesotans healthier and lower health care costs.
• Protect our environment and create jobs by investing in mass transit, providing incentives for the development of green businesses and providing incentives for retrofitting or building more  energy efficient and environmentally sound homes and office buildings.

I have the experience and knowledge of the issues to make a difference immediately. I set my sights 5 years ago on becoming a legislator and went to work at the legislature, to learn the issues, learn what needs to be done and know how to get it done.

I hope my commitment to being the best candidate for this seat shows in what you read on this site and that you'll vote for me on November 2nd.