ADVOCATING FOR PRODUCTIVITY OVER POLITICS
Heading into the session and knowing that this was a huge election year in Minnesota with every statewide office being on the 2026 ballot, I predicted this year’s session was going to be high on theater, and low on productivity.
Minnesota’s elected Democrats are not disappointing on that prediction.
I believe Minnesotans expect us to run government more like a business: not wasting time, not wasting taxpayer money, and working efficiently. This is how I was raised. My background of growing up on a farm was no nonsense. Work needed to be done. Optimizing time in my sales business also proved to be the key to success as the opposite equates to lost revenue and low productivity.
That’s what makes this session so frustrating to date: the political theater and House Democrats’ reluctance to focus on logical fixes. There are many issues we all agree on and that should be approved of by a nearly unanimous vote. But, for political reasons, these good governance bills sit in limbo.
To prove this point, I offer the following three examples:
First, there is federal tax conformity, which happens normally with little to no opposition. The federal government approved a pass-through entity tax allowing small and medium sized business owners to receive a deduction on their federal taxes. They save thousands of dollars, and it doesn’t cost Minnesota a dime. Yet Democrats, to date, refuse to sign off on it because President Trump’s name is on it. This alone is currently preventing our business owners from receiving a tax credit.
Then we have another tax credit – up to $1700 – that would allow Minnesota taxpayers to donate money to a public or private school. This $1,700 would be returned to you as a dollar-for-dollar tax credit when you file your income taxes. It’s no loss to you, no cost to the state of Minnesota and a significant gain for your favorite school. I call that a win-win-win!
However, while the Democrats were OK with passing more than 65 mostly unfunded mandates on our local schools – resulting in many school districts asking property taxpayers for increased levies to cover these mandates – they don’t want public schools to take advantage of an unexpected funding source. This does not make any financial sense.
Finally, and what I think is one of the most atrocious derelictions of duty that spans across both Democrat and Republican administrations, there is the failure to upgrade the technology which operates our welfare programs in Minnesota.
Currently, Minnesota’s systems are using software developed in the 1980’s. Would any business run like this? Absolutely not!
This is so unsettling to me. The systems we are asking our employees to use can’t even utilize basic Excel capabilities. This means county staff literally must use a separate calculator for tabulation and then manually enter the data into the program.
Outdated technology leads to high error rates and wastes time while rolling out the welcome mat to fraudsters as they are undetected within the system.
As your state representative, I am working towards prioritizing better business practices and ensuring your dollars are going where they can be most efficiently spent. It is an honor to serve you in St. Paul, and you have my word that I will never stand for this level of incompetence in our state government.
I value the people of our state. I value how hard they work. I value their time and money which is entrusted to state legislators to spend in the most effective way. This is why I will continue to be your voice advocating for common sense legislation that emphasizes productivity over these tiresome political shenanigans.