Candidates often state simple positions, never showing that they carefully considered the options. I have developed informed positions because I have done the research necessary to understand controversial, multifaceted issues and I always listen to my fellow constituents to improve them. Please consider my positions and write your feedback on my Contact page. I would love to hear from you!

Here are some of my key positions:

• Energy: Wind Energy is Already Cheap... Let's Use It
• Elections: Bring Democracy to America
• Health Care: It's a Universal Right
• Education: Spend More Wisely, Promote Responsiblity
• Transportation: Repair Crumbling Roads
• Economy: Create Meaningful Jobs that Pay a Living Wage
• Foreclosures: End Them
• Taxation: Fairness Matters
• Budgets: Balance in All Things
• Veterans: Treat Them As Our Own Sons and Daughters
• Reproductive Health: Find Common Ground to Reduce Abortions

Energy: Wind Energy is Already Cheap... Let's Use It

NO NEW COAL. I will freeze the level of coal consumption and fight for a decrease in the use of this toxic resource that pollutes our water and makes our fish inedible. The EU's January 2007 Energy study proves that renewable wind energy is far cheaper per kilowatt-hour than nuclear energy. Wind's variability can be made up for by energy storage and alternative sources as Xcel Energy is already planning. I will push for the state to expand its renewable energy inventory.

Our energy policy must center on increasing jobs and our competitiveness in the world. We must pioneer alternative energy in order to survive as an economic powerhouse in the world. If we fail to seek new and innovative technologies due to welfare payments to the old technology, then our companies will lose their ability to compete and provide gainful employment. Minnesota needs to join a "Manhattan Project" effort to seek cheap, clean, and abundant sources of energy and energy storage. I support the Apollo Project plan to create clean energy jobs in our state.

As for the "Drill Now, Drill Everywhere" meme that is gaining steam around the country, there will be no decrease in the price of oil from increased supply as long as the oil industry profits much more by limiting our supply and raising prices. They are not drilling in many of the leases we have already given them on our lands and they have tried to force out serious competition to drilling, such as creating oil from trash. The oil boom in Alberta's tar sands had no impact upon commodity traders bidding up our oil in spite of Canada becoming our top supplier because of it, so neither will the 300 days' worth of oil in ANWR. Unless we decouple profits from rising oil prices, prices will never drop by giving away drilling rights. We can drastically reduce oil imports by using a portion of our obscenely-large oil subsidies to develop clean technologies.

Algae, switchgrass, and solar fuel could produce both "green" gasoline and ethanol without affecting food prices. They would also provide rural landowners with an additional source of revenue for unfarmable land. Switchgrass can also be used to feed cattle at less cost than corn, lowering meat prices. Switchgrass serves as such an effective carbon sink that the carbon emissions generated from growing, harvesting, refining, and burning it are almost completely offset by the plants' photosynthesis.

Elections: Bring Democracy to America

Minnesota has the most lobbyists per capita of any state in the nation. Corporations know that every cent spent on political influence pays back tenfold in pork and lucrative contracts. It is long past time to end the feeding frenzy of corporations looking to make a quick buck at the taxpayer's expense. I believe all candidates should run without contributions from corporations or PACs representing special interests. I will accept no such contributions.

Our election system forces us to have poor and limited choices in candidates. On every level, politicians and corporations set up roadblocks to make our national dialogue inpenetrable and our electoral system unbalanced. We need instant runoff voting, campaign finance reform, public access to the airwaves that we all own, voting day holidays, open debates not run by party elites, and open source voting equipment that stands up to expert scrutiny.

If elected, I would also sign on to the popular vote movement and introduce a bill that would legally bind Minnesota's electoral college members to cast their votes for the popular vote winner. Any Minnesotan voting for a Republican or third party president never gets a vote that counts because of the electoral college. Other states are passing this same legislation because it is much easier than amending the constitution against the wishes of a few states that benefit unfairly from the current system.

Health Care: It's a Universal Right

My health plan can be explained simply. Health care is a right. If you see a man bleeding on the side of the road, you provide him with quality care whether he shows an insurance card or not. Americans need health care, not health insurance. One dollar spent on health should provide one dollar of care.

Minnesota is sick of "don't get sick" plans. We can not afford the cost to society and business of plans that have deductibles so high that many can't afford to see the doctor for a check-up when they feel ill. We all pay the cost of "don't get sick" plans by paying the cost in our medical bills for other people's emergency room visits that would've been unnecessary with preventative care.

Our top priority should be to control costs. To that end, I will wholeheartedly support Sen. John Marty's Minnesota Health Act (SF2324/HF2522) to provide a single, cash for services, universal health plan for all Minnesotans. Since this plan is premiums-based and charges on a sliding fee scale, there are no "free rides," nor are there incentives to not work such as we currently have.

Minnesota can provide any health service cheaper than private insurance can. HMOs have overhead figures averaging 20-30% of all health costs because of profits and a huge bureaucracy including overpaid executives. Medicare costs only 3%. This is why our legislators are satisfied with MinnesotaCare for their own care. It is why we can provide better services for a lower price without subsidies. We will also make insurance available for "preexisting conditions" such as pregnancy and autism.

Education: Spend More Wisely, Promote Responsiblity

The most critical factor in school success is the degree to which parents are engaged in the education of their children. This rapport between parents and education can be improved through state policies that give teachers and schools a reason to invest themselves in their school's long-term success. Benefits, perceived job security, and performance bonuses all help attract and retain teachers who will put the future of the school and students ahead of simply earning a paycheck.

Minnesota has had a top education system, but it has declined for many reasons. Our schools must teach content and critical thinking skills including personal responsibility, not simply regurgitation for tests. Our children must learn both fiscal and social responsibility including civics. We must make a concerted effort as a state to address the needs of English learners and must ALWAYS put education ahead of Astroturf for athletics!

Public university must become affordable again. Loan options, such as consolidation loans, are dwindling as our economy corrects the housing bubble and college may once again become a privilege reserved for the rich. Our state must make its commitment per University student more significant. We currently pay much more per inmate in state jails.

Politicians brag in glossy brochures how many dollars they've spent on education, but simply throwing money at a problem is never enough. I have a campaign staff of experienced educators and will listen to teachers in this district to produce an education plan that uses our spending wisely.

Transportation: Repair Crumbling Roads

Lakeville is a massive and growing city that benefits greatly from its interconnectedness. Last year our City Council passed a marvelous busing system that reduces congestion on I-35, providing a longer lane for buses and carpools and a cheaper route to work for Lakeville residents. Yet our incumbent failed to propose an I-35 transit system and fought against this one, even as transportation finance committee chair for many years.

Transportation is an issue I strongly differ with the incumbent on. Ms. Holberg has sought transportation options to avoid paying to fix our crumbling rural roads, opposing every funding bill over the last two years, while she spent over $100 million on the latest Cedar Ave project. I believe we can avoid crippling bond debt while making progress toward completing vital road and bridge repairs which we've put off for almost a decade.

Economy: Create Meaningful Jobs that Pay a Living Wage

The best way to improve our economy is to create, attract, and foster good businesses that provide meaningful jobs. As a philosophy of good government, we must not overly burden diligent employers who follow our laws and labor guidelines. We also must consider a preference for using local business in state government contracts.

Preventing crime and adverse state health and education conditions requires that we provide at least a living wage to our poorest workers. We must adjust and index the minimum wage to the rate of inflation so that it provides enough to feed and house a small family with at least the most meager, nutritious food and safe shelter available. This will also benefit our society by increasing the number of consumers and the quality invested in their finished work.

Foreclosures: End Them

Lakeville had dozens of foreclosures every week over a year. Foreclosures are only profitable because of the mortgage insurance and capital homeowners already have invested in a house. Banks do it for short-term gain even though it harms them and the entire economy in the long run.

Mass foreclosures are so bad for banks in the long-term that they voluntarily called a 30-day moratorium. The more banks foreclose, the lower house prices get. I would freeze foreclosures for longer to give our economy time to correct itself and to push banks to offer better fixed interest refinancing for adjustable rate mortgages. Losing millions of homeowners a year to default when the market is already flooded is unacceptable and short-sighted. These homeowners want to be able to pay their mortgages and be productive members of society.

I insist that we also call upon the attorney general to investigate and charge those predatory lenders who created the problem by committing criminal fraud. We must prosecute lenders who sought to securitize bad risk debt as safe, AAA bonds. It is shameful that we repeated the mistakes of the Savings and Loan scandal because we did not learn from them.

Taxation: Fairness Matters

Minnesota is a regressive tax state. We charge poorer people a larger percentage of income in total taxes and fees than we charge rich people. Our governor's own budget office produced these statistics in their annual "tax incidence study." We cannot allow our poor to carry the largest tax burden. This must change.

In order to protect hard-working, poor families, I promise taxpayers that I will never allow our state legislators to push most of the costs of state government into gas and property taxes. While the other parties ally with rich interests, I will always look out for the interests of the poor and middle class who pay the bulk of our state's expenses.

Budgets: Balance in All Things

We must work hard to ensure we aren't spending away our children's inheritance. Nowhere is this more true than in government. Our state cannot hide from its debts under bankruptcy, so we must seek balance in our budgets and avoid dangerous debt to give our children a chance to succeed. Our children deserve no less.

Veterans: Treat Them As Our Own Sons and Daughters

Our veterans need far better care than our federal government has offered. This starts with proper testing for depleted uranium and pathogen exposure and a ban on the use of DU around our unprotected soldiers and all civilians. 99% of all depleted uranium munitions are made right here in the Twin Cities and they are chemical, radiological weapons.

We must also provide an affordable education for our returning combat veterans, so that they may return to gainful employment.

Reproductive Health: Find Common Ground to Reduce Abortions

Most Americans generally agree that abortions should be minimized and that parents deserve to know when their children seek abortions. We should help our children make healthy choices with their bodies to ensure that they only become pregnant when they desire to keep the child. This means tackling the root causes of rape, incest, and teen pregnancy. This also means providing "abstinence plus" education and teaching our children about the critical importance of building healthy relationships based upon mutual respect.

I was raised Catholic. While the Church states that abortion is immoral, it does NOT dictate that women or doctors who seek the procedure should be hurt or imprisoned. When we look at nations that have banned the procedure like El Salvador and Nicaragua, we find that abortion is still widely practiced, but that the illegal procedures finance crime. A ban would be neither effective nor morally correct.