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Dear Friends,
It has been a great honor representing my neighbors at the state legislature, but this week I announced that I will not seek another term as your state representative. In my time at the State Capitol, I have stood up for our East Metro neighbors, and I hope to continue that service in the community I live in and love.
Despite this announcement, I am laser focused on delivering for our community when the legislature reconvenes on February 12. Meeting the critical needs of our community and supporting family budgets are among my top priorities next session. I will continue advocating for East metro communities on infrastructure needs, from clean water issues to projects that enhance safety and economic development. Also, I will continue efforts to support veterans and their families with the Veterans Accountability Act to ensure every dollar we invest in Veterans health, healing, reintegration, and restoration is achieving the maximum effectiveness for those that have served.
As a member of the Metropolitan Governance Task Force, we have a rare opportunity to recommend constructive changes to the Met Council. The Met Council struggles with transparency, accountability and Minnesotans’ trust. We need an effective metro planning organization that is accountable, fiscally responsible, credible, transparent, collaborative, non-partisan, future-focused, and effective. This is an achievable bipartisan goal.
We must also find new and creative ways to provide economic relief for family budgets as they continue to be stretched thin by the rapidly rising cost of living. All of us are feeling the impacts of the failed fiscal policies we’ve seen in St. Paul—including higher grocery costs, more expensive energy bills, and much more. Minnesota is becoming unaffordable, and it’s clearer than ever that Minnesota needs a change in direction.
Remember, last year Minnesota had a historic $17.5 billion budget surplus and with it, the chance to give you much-needed tax relief. This relief would have meant more money in your family budget to help address the rising costs of living. Instead, Democrats spent the entire $17.5 billion surplus on growing the size of government, not growing your family’s budget. They failed to provide meaningful tax relief, breaking campaign promises like ending the tax on social security for all Minnesotans, and instead raised more taxes by nearly $10 billion.
Now all of us are paying the price. The November budget forecast at the end of last year projected a deficit for the 2025-2026 biennium. We need to rein in government spending to secure Minnesota’s economic future. I look forward to addressing these issues and supporting our community next session.
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