Why are you interested in serving in the Legislature? I want to do my part to preserve and enhance the quality of life for the people of our district and Minnesota. I will bring a balanced, common-sense approach to solving problems. I have the educational experience, life experiences, and importantly the experience of running my own business for 35 years to do the job effectively. I bring an understanding of the importance of education, and I believe this is the key to our future economic success when competing with the rest of the world. I have the leadership experience, work ethic, and perservance to be an effective senator.

What, if any, state revenue increases could you support? Describe an out-of-the-box solution to help the budget. If you were king (or queen), how would you balance the state budget? I believe we need to take a balanced approach to solving our state budget. This will require both cuts in spending and finding additional sources of revenue. This could include, for example, a combination of broadening and lowering our sales tax and some income tax increase. Without this balanced approach, Minnesotans will like face continued significant property tax increase, which I believe are neither fair nor bearable for the citizens of our district.

With the Vikings lease expiring after 2011, what state role do you support in building a new Vikings stadium? The state role for a new Viking stadium should be to encourage all the stakeholders to come together and work out a viable source of finance. The appetite for a significant amount of state funding for this, given our current fiscal situation, is low, and I believe would not be a wise use of tax dollars unless some alternate source of revenue could be found to support the stadium.