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In times such as these

In times such as these I believe that leadership must come from those that can lead with dignity and respect. Dignity and respect are best demonstrated in the life of an average person with above average courage and desire to go for it, knowing the challenge is daunting.

In Minnesota we have languished in the past few years under a system that seems out of control because there is not thoughtful and helpful give and take and desire to understand where the best ideas come from. It has been my experience that the best and most noble ideas generally come from the everyday experiences that allow us as average citizens to navigate our lives with a desire to bring out the best in those we come into contact with every day.

I believe that the political process lacks integrity, respect, and dignity that is befitting the citizens of this state and nation. I believe that the political rancor of fanatic partisans keep us from the best that we have to offer one another. This coupled with the inability of us to allow each other the room to educate ourselves on the issues on all sides and sit down and decide which "best idea" will win the day, causes us to waste time, energy and money, and take away the dignity of the citizens we serve.

The defining moment for me to enter the race, was when I observed the way in which the state government, the legislature and the Governor chose to compromise the health care of roughly 33,000 working citizens in this state that are working hard to provide for their families on wages that just don't allow them to pay for health care.

That defining moment is repeating itself statewide, when those of us who have a comfortable life, are now realizing that providing basic health care for our families is a financial struggle that should not be. The system is broken. Government and Big business cannot ascertain where one begins and the other ends. Political parties are so busy arguing with each other that the citizen agenda is lost in the fray.

I am not willing to wait and see how quickly I will be unable to afford health insurance. I am not willing to wait and see how long it will take for our public servants to figure it out while arguing instead of compromising for what it the best plan for the most. I am not willing to wade through the muck and mud of the defamation of character that we are served up daily without standing up and saying "Enough is enough."

Minnesota is a state that needs to realign itself with its citizens. We are not all Democrats or Republicans. Most Minnesotans do not belong to a party. We are not a Red state or a Blue state. We are not an "instate" or and "outstate". We are not an urban state or a rural state. We are ONE state. ONE state that needs to pull itself together and re-aquaint ourselves with the values we have held dear since we became a state.

Government was not intended to be the PROBLEM. Government was set up to simply help citizens accomplish goals together that single-handedly we cannot accomplish on our own. Public Education, building infrastructure, public transportation, public safety are all things that we cannot do for ourselves but we can do together through responsible taxation and hard work.

We have lost our way when the issue of funding stadiums continues to come back for consideration year after year. That will not happen under my watch. Do I love the Twins? YES! Do I love the Vikings? YES! But I favor private funding for these stadiums and have a difficult time seeing how our lawmakers can waste time on this debate session after session. Affordable health care for our citizens and a first rate public education system has to be front and center.

Is there waste in the system? This is a good question to consider when we think about these issues and our current economic times. I can guarantee you that there is waste. But, I can also tell you that I believe that you get what you pay for. I do not think we should be funding education on property tax levies. That doesn't work. I think we have to run lean and smart and cut the fat at the middle management and administrative level and get the funding to the individual school sites.

Waste occurs when there is unbridled cronyism and nepotism, and when there are no checks and balances in place to expose where pockets of waste exist. I am a process person. This means that I believe that we can solve problems by studying and correcting the way in which we accomplish tasks. School districts should be audited annually for quality and waste. This does not just mean that we send in an auditor to look at the books, although that is an integral part of it. It means that we have experts look at the "way in which business is done" and decide if it is running lean, or did we hire a "middleman" to accomplish something that is unnecessary.

I think we are at a tipping point in Minnesota, where we are so concerned about someone taking our hard-earned money and that we might be in danger of raising the quality of life in our state. Do we really need to raise the costs of deer hunting licenses? Do we really need to raise the cost of fishing licenses? Do we really need to raise the fees to enjoy our state parks and wilderness areas? Or do we just need to make the upper crust pay some taxes too? Come on, why should the guy who is just scraping by, be saddled with the largest percentage of the taxation. I work hard, and believe in hard work too, but my philosophy is that to those that are privileged to have much, there is also much required.

I firmly believe an individual's dignity is wrapped up in hard work. SO, those who work hard enjoy the fruits of their labors and also have great respect for themselves. This is beneficial to society. I also recognize we need to have a safety net for those that are working hard, but cannot meet all of their needs. We need more affordable health care withgreater access to mental health care. We need to integrate this into the mainstream of healthcare rather than treating it as if it is some alien problem that is not physiological in nature and therefore not considered as a part of comprehensive health care.

We have many people on our streets that are mentally ill and have nowhere to go. We need to raise up those that are weak and need assistance. This means that we cannot continue to have the slash and burn mentality when it comes to taxation and ignore the weakest among us. There must be justice.

I believe that together with a more thoughtful approach to everyday concerns, through conversations statewide and shared ideas we can all work together to accomplish anything we put our effort to.

Will you give me a chance to lead and work in partnership with you to bring us a more sustained quality of life ?