[0:00] [Music]

[0:09] [Music]

[0:21] [Music]

[0:39] [Music]

[0:57] hello and welcome to the Minnesota House of Representatives districts 57a and 57b

[1:03] candidate Forum brought to you by the Lakeville Chamber of Commerce I would like to welcome those in the room and

[1:09] those watching via live stream and through rebroadcast the chamber is hosting three

[1:14] candidate forums this year Lakeville city council Lakeville ISD 194 school board and a joint forum for the House of

[1:21] Representatives in districts 57a and 57b we'd like to thank the city of

[1:27] Lakeville for use of the city hall all for all three recordings of the of the candidate forums as well as help with

[1:35] live streaming and rebroadcasting the recordings throughout the selection season I'm Brady folad with Lake View

[1:40] Bank I'm the 2024 chair of the chambers board of directors and tonight I'll

[1:45] serve as the moderator the timekeeper for tonight's Forum will be Colleen labau of laau and Associates and

[1:52] Lakefield chamber access and issues group member it's the mission of the Lakefield Chamber of Commerce to serve

[1:58] as The Advocate resource and leader for nearly 600 members in the entire lakevi

[2:04] business community in accordance with our mission we conduct these forums each election season so that you can get to

[2:10] know the candidates who you would like to represent you and serve our businesses and our residents we invited

[2:17] all four House of Representatives candidate candidates to join us at this forum and we're happy that all are in

[2:23] attendance thank you very much candidates in attendance were seated via

[2:28] random draw start from my left we have John kosnik v v conet Jeff witty and

[2:37] Brian con thank you very much each of you for participating in this forum the

[2:43] format for tonight will be as follows candidates were sent a list of potential questions in advance and we will random

[2:50] draw the questions asking as many as we have time for with the understanding

[2:55] that I as the moderator have a discretion to ask one additional question if I choose to our live

[3:01] audience and attendance thank you very much for being here we will not be taking questions from the audience so we

[3:07] encourage you to reach out to the candidates individually if you do have questions on topics that we didn't

[3:12] address and you'd like more information we also ask that our in-person audience at City Hall please respect our

[3:18] candidates and our streaming viewers by refraining from noises and remarks that will disrupt the format and detract from

[3:25] the ability to meet each of our candidates each candidate will receive 2

[3:30] minutes for introductions and opening remarks 2 minutes to respond to each of the questions and 2 minutes for closing

[3:39] remarks back to timekeeping with 15 seconds remaining in each candidate's

[3:44] allotted response time the ekeeper will hold up a yellow card and when time is expired they'll

[3:50] hold up a red card if you continue past your lot of time I'll ask you to finish your

[3:56] statement with each new question we will start with the next clockwise candidate

[4:03] each question will be directed to all candidates this is a forum and not a debate we do recommend that you use your

[4:08] a lotted time to answer the questions as they relate to you and your candidacy and not to comment or respond to any

[4:15] other candidates answers we also ask that you respect each candidate and their lotted time and do not make

[4:22] comments during or directly following their answer period this form is intended for us to get to know each of

[4:29] you and why you want to serve our community any questions from our

[4:35] candidates all right we can get going with the Forum first one is easy opening

[4:43] remarks we'll be starting again to my left with John kosnik uh let's begin John tell us a little about yourself

[4:50] thank you Brady and hello my name is state representative John kosnik and it's a pleasure to be here with the chamber tonight I'd like to thank my

[4:56] wife Patty and two daughters and the community for their support Court I'm running for reelection to continue

[5:02] providing leadership and experience that delivers results for you I'm running on my record of delivering

[5:09] results results that support our police fire and Troopers I passed legislation that provides vital equin Mental Health

[5:16] Services to First Responders literally saving lives in Lakeville and improving

[5:21] Public Safety as the lead on economic development I delivered results with

[5:27] funding to enhance job growth and manufact uring improve industrial parks

[5:32] and funding $7 million to resolve the rail car storage issue I'm the chief

[5:37] author on plans to address Transportation needs at County Road 2 in Elco and the County Road 50 I35

[5:45] project families will see results in enhanced child tax credits nursing home

[5:50] funding education funding veterans designation and the same day drivers renewals all bills that I authored or

[5:57] co-authored I'm asking for your support to stand up against Democrat socialists and the tired old and failed ideas like

[6:05] being soft on crime increasing government spending and increasing taxes with renew with new programs programs

[6:12] that lack accountability that lack common sense and are filled with fraud looking over the last two years alone

[6:19] it's time for change in Minnesota's legislature it's time for a balanced approach and a transparent process that

[6:25] is missing under one party control we advocate for a true fiscally conservative manner to manage this state

[6:33] one that respects you the taxpayers and puts us on a better path

[6:39] I'm state representative John kosnik asking for your vote to bring my leadership and experience to continue

[6:45] bring in results for this District all right and

[6:51] vaita first of all I'd like to thank uh Brady and Colleen and all the members of

[6:56] the chamber for the opportunity to speak today at this forum I am also want to thank you for your

[7:03] work to support our business Community hello I'm Vita conet I'm a wife a mom

[7:10] and a grandmother and a retired teacher after 44 years teaching High School

[7:15] science 41 of them at Rosemount high but also a year in Minneapolis and two years in

[7:21] Wisconsin my husband alen and I live in rural New Market Township like many of

[7:26] you we settled here because of the fine Public Schools I'm running for the Minnesota

[7:33] house because I believe my district deserves better leadership leadership

[7:39] that will Leverage The Power of good government to improve the lives of all

[7:44] motans I'm building on Decades of experience organizing and leading in the

[7:51] dfl and in other groups in this district and around the state and as an educator

[7:57] Union member and activ to protect what we love in this District we love our rights

[8:05] and freedoms I will fight for the right of all of our children to have first class

[8:11] quality educations the right to a livable climate with clean air clean water and

[8:18] healthy food the right to Affordable comprehensive Healthcare and a thriving

[8:25] economy with good paying union jobs I will protect our right to love who we

[8:31] want to love to live how we want to live and to make our own reproductive

[8:38] decisions I'm proud of the work done by our dfl trifecta this past session but

[8:44] there's still much work left to do please join my campaign at

[8:51] v457 a.org and help me move Minnesota forward to protect what we love thank

[8:58] you and now over to the 57b side Jeff two

[9:05] minutes for opening remarks thank you Brady and uh thank you to the chamber um for hosting this event but also thank

[9:12] you to our audience and uh people online for uh uh participating in uh uh the

[9:20] Democracy of of uh the elections I also want to thank each of the candidates um you allow us our Lakeville residents to

[9:27] have choices um I'm Jeff witty I'm a retired Burnsville police officer and

[9:32] I'm your current uh state representative for 57b two years ago when I was asked uh to

[9:40] run for this position um it took a little bit of time to think about it and

[9:45] why I was asked to run and for me having a servant heart uh being a former

[9:51] Burnsville police officer for 27 years um where I served as a school resource

[9:56] officer um and also a crisis negotiator on our SWAT team that servant leadership

[10:02] was still in my heart and it gave me an opportunity to serve my community and my

[10:07] neighbors I've served on the Lakeville uh Planning Commission and actually in this seat uh is where I've uh uh held

[10:15] many meetings uh that's including as of the chair I currently serve on the

[10:22] public safety and taxes committee um last year uh when we needed a school

[10:27] resource officer fix I uh put my hand out and asked for a bipartisan solution

[10:33] talked about the importance of our school resource officers in our schools um to keep our schools safe uh so our

[10:40] children had a better uh education learning environment but also that our teachers staff and and kids were

[10:47] safe uh I currently work for the Minnesota Twins I do game day security

[10:52] and I also work for MTA my wife Jen and I um have lived in the district for 32

[10:59] years and we have three beautiful daughters uh thank you all again and

[11:06] Brian i' like to thank the chamber for hosting this forum Brady for you to for

[11:11] moderating and everyone for attending my name is Brian con I've lived here in

[11:16] Lakeville with my wife Patty for the past 10 years we have four adult children and one granddaughter who's in

[11:22] Middle School I've spent my career developing new products and improving the way the

[11:28] companies operate my ter parents taught me the importance of giving back and I've done that

[11:34] through events like Habitat for Humanity builds cooks for kids meals preparation

[11:39] I've also been an active participant in professional societies and of a longtime

[11:45] Master passion for master swimming I believe strongly in helping

[11:50] our kids and our grandkids get set up for Success we do that by investing in our public schools and making

[11:56] highquality education accessible to everyone one but Lakeville doesn't just need good schools we also need great

[12:04] parks and outdoor spaces for our families to enjoy we need to make sure that our families can afford to live

[12:10] here by reducing the cost of living and child care we need affordable and accessible

[12:16] mental health care we need to invest in our Public Safety and ensure that our First Responders have the resources they

[12:22] need to keep us safe we need to be free of worry that our love we our loved ones

[12:27] could be victims of gun violence and we need to keep our freedoms the freedom to choose who we love the freedom to choose

[12:34] if when and how to start a family and the freedom to make our own healthc care decisions we share common values here in

[12:41] Lakeville and across Minnesota and I'm committing to committed to working collaboratively as I've done throughout

[12:47] my career from these common values we want to identify problems work across the aisles and take steps to address

[12:54] them let's make progress together and improve our lives and I'm asking for your support this

[13:01] election thank you and thank each of you for uh keeping to the time limit that was great now we're moving on to the

[13:08] questions again you all reive the questions in advance and we've been drawing them from the Fishbowl over here

[13:14] first one it's going to go to Vita and it's on environmental

[13:20] permitting and the question is do you believe Minnesota's current environmental review and permitting

[13:26] system is sufficient or the current system system should be modernized and reviewed for changes so permits are

[13:32] processed faster with clear and consistent timelines again two minutes to you Vita thank you so some of this

[13:41] reform was accomplished in the last legislative session with a compromise

[13:47] bill that creates a more efficient and streamline permitting process that will

[13:53] Aid in the state's transition to 100% clean electricity by 2040 and I think

[14:00] this was definitely needed and will be very helpful in that transition so I'm

[14:05] all for for efficiency but we have to be careful not to sacrifice Environmental

[14:12] Protections for shortterm financial gain we are already paying a very high price

[14:20] for an environment for water being contaminated with pasas nitrates lead

[14:26] Mercury and other toxins and carcinogens that have been released into our

[14:31] environment from industrial and agricultural sources we must also

[14:37] consider cumulative impacts of our Industries on our Frontline communities

[14:43] that are already overburdened by it so the longterm sustainability also

[14:51] needs to be considered how we use our natural resources our groundwater for

[14:57] example if we do not start to manage that looking at it regionally there are

[15:02] parts of our state that are going to run out of water and need to find another source so I say yes we should look at

[15:10] permitting reform but we must be careful that we are not bypassing very important

[15:16] environmental and health and safety reviews for our workers and our families

[15:21] and our environment right we want healthy food thank you all right now to Jeff uh thank you

[15:29] um obviously last session uh there was a lot of uh debate on this um time frames

[15:35] that are if they're realistic or what kind of pressures they would be putting on our electrical grid um as science is

[15:42] proven I think the state should be working uh with businesses not against them and there's a lot of uh mandates

[15:50] that go on our businesses that make it uh difficult them for them to be

[15:55] successful in run their business um we need to get into a system of not uh

[16:02] punishing those that are trying to to com um that are not comply instead helping them to be compliant and

[16:10] sometimes with the uh the complex issues and the uh pering process it can be very

[16:17] timec consuming and it takes a long time to get a project off the ground uh we need to um make reviews

[16:27] more timely and don't keep keep uh moving the goal post on our businesses as they they achieve these goals one of

[16:34] the great things I I heard is um our farmers are great stewards of our property and I'm proud to be endorsed by

[16:41] our Farm Bureau but last session we heard how much uh their family farms

[16:47] were being under attacked on all these different regulations and we saw precious land become areas just for um

[16:56] solar sites and this is our Minnesota land so I do think uh we have to look at

[17:02] some of these regulations we're probably one of the most over regulated uh state

[17:07] in the country thank you thank you Jeff Brian thank you they

[17:13] say that we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors but that we borrow it from our children and because of that we

[17:20] need to be take a very conservative approach when we're looking at permitting to make sure that we are able

[17:26] to enjoy the great bounties of the state for for generations to

[17:31] come we also have a challenge here in this state that we have a DNR who has a mixed mission of U preserving the

[17:40] environment and exploiting at the same time and we need to find a way to break that apart so that um they do not have

[17:48] that inherent conflict of interest but I want to turn the table

[17:53] here a little bit and talk about a more general question here about improving government and government efficiency we

[18:00] have lots of opportunities to do that to make our government processes be faster

[18:05] more efficient um we've seen some good examples of that uh recently and

[18:11] certainly related to permitting that the state has invested in it systems to simplify and speed up the penting

[18:19] processes those of us that have gotten driver's licenses recently see that we have same day driver's licenses and I

[18:25] think we're working toward simplifying and and paying our tax returns is another thing that we could improve

[18:32] on I've spent my career doing continuous Improvement in process Improvement I

[18:37] want to bring that to St Paul so we can find ways to improve the efficiency of our government processes thank you

[18:45] thanks Brian now John thank you the permitting process doesn't need to be

[18:50] modernized and less drawn out Minnesota does have a reputation of being hostile

[18:55] to business growth and expansion thanks to our outdated but overly burdensome

[19:01] process I think all Minnesotan all Minnesota employees and job creators deserve a permitting process that's

[19:07] efficient and easy to follow this is not only true for clean energy sector but also other important industries like

[19:14] mining housing and construction Manu and Manufacturing permitting does not need

[19:21] to be an either or proposition Minnesota can and should maintain necessary environmental and safety standards

[19:27] they're important but we can also uh give job creators the certainty that

[19:32] they need to invest in our state and its people others have a radical position

[19:39] that encourages mining abroad with less environmental Pro protections and

[19:44] utilizes the sad practice and less safe conditions of child labor in China and

[19:50] the Congo I'm proud to be both farmer and labor endorsed because they

[19:56] understand and know that I have a balanced approach to permitting that protects the environment but also

[20:01] creates jobs and protects jobs with a new majority in the Minnesota house we

[20:06] can put motans back to work across the state and families back on the path to

[20:13] Prosperity thank you and our our next question is going to be on advocacy and uh Jeff Woody this

[20:21] is going to be for you first question is how do you plan to

[20:26] gather data and feedback back from our local businesses to assist you in advocating for the businesses in your

[20:36] District Jeff thank you um taking the time to talk to our local businesses

[20:42] owners and employees getting out there not and and hearing uh from the boots on the ground uh what's working what's not

[20:49] where can we help them out uh be present stop out patronize their business um a

[20:56] lot of times just being there means a lot recently we had an incident at the Stillwater prison and I stopped out

[21:03] after them coming out and just being there really kept the morale up uh we

[21:10] got to listen we got to learn and we got to understand the issues so we can lead

[21:16] with some purpose and focus too often we think we know what we need to do without

[21:21] asking the people that it affects um tell their stories by going

[21:27] out listening to their stories um at the capital if you're in a meeting if you're in a committee meeting or on the floor

[21:34] those have the most impact when you can talk about how things are being affected um that is that is how I'm

[21:42] going to try to lead and that's how I have led and I've gone out to our our

[21:48] businesses here in Lakeville and uh built those relationships I'm about the

[21:53] relationships and making those connections and that's what I'll continue to do thank you thank you and

[21:59] Brian yeah thank you first I'm I'm proud to be a member of the Chamber of Commerce and through

[22:06] that participation gives me an opportunity to meet with many of our local Business Leaders and business

[22:12] members and to me that's an important part of collecting the information about what is important to the bus to the

[22:19] local community and of course also participating in the various forums that the chamber puts

[22:24] on one of the things that I do in business is I work with companies to go

[22:29] out and what we call voice of the customer uh primary research and so I'm used to talking to people coming out and

[22:36] trying to learn what their concerns are so as representative Woody said the key

[22:43] is to get out and talk to the people that are most affected by um by the

[22:48] issues that are at the table so we certainly worked to set up meetings with those people have structures for those

[22:54] conversations to learn the most of course I'll also have an open door policy at my office in St Paul and

[23:01] certainly want to invite the local leaders to come and testify uh at our hearings and to be a part of the process

[23:08] of uh drafting the legislation so that we can get all of the sides uh at the

[23:14] table and understand all of the perspectives thank you John thank you uh

[23:21] I will continue to do what I've done for the last 20 years and even before that before moving to Lakeville and that's to

[23:26] be engaged with the chamber and The Business commun Comm I'm proud that I've been at Lakeville chamber since uh

[23:32] almost the day that I arrived in Lakeville in the early 2000s uh it's almost second nature and I

[23:38] think the community especially the business Community knows that they can reach out uh to me and share their

[23:43] concerns because I get a lot of emails and phone calls um to talk about things that they're concerned about whether

[23:49] it's the new cannabis regulation manufacturing uh some healthcare issues that they're facing workplace mandates

[23:56] uh they reach out to me uh my Cosmic connection newsletter that I do during

[24:02] the legislative session and other communication on social media uh and the town halls that I've done since I've

[24:08] been serving uh help solidify and solicit uh feedback regularly and it's

[24:13] this kind of leadership to being engaged in the business community that gives uh allows me to share my experience and

[24:19] deliver results for the business Community thank you now

[24:25] Vita as a career science teacher I know how to listen and gather data and

[24:31] analyze it and draw conclusions and that is something you need to do as a representative my door will always be

[24:39] open to all I will invite people into my office I will hold town halls I will

[24:46] hold coffee conversations on Saturday mornings in coffee shops for everyone

[24:52] because I want to be a representative for everyone in the district um I will reach out to small business owners and

[24:59] chat with them about their needs how is it going what is going well um I did

[25:05] this recently with a couple members of the business community and it was very insightful to me I learned about a small

[25:11] business owner who struggles still coming back from pandemic time and

[25:17] paying off loans and being able to pay her workers enough but is is there for a

[25:23] community and wants to keep going and so these are the people that I want to keep in touch with and work for and help them

[25:33] succeed thank you next question we are going to be starting with Brian and it's a workplace

[25:40] mandates some of these questions are really long so bear with me and I hope you have them in front of

[25:48] you all right Brian here here here it is do you think that state andos workplace

[25:54] mandates level the playing field between large and small employers do you think that the state should play a role in

[26:01] these types of competitiveness issues if yes should this take the form of

[26:07] establishing a one-size fits-all mandate implementing state determined floors or should the state promote small business

[26:14] exemptions to certain State imposed workplace mandates Brian two minutes two minutes I

[26:21] look like you two minutes to read the question pretty much

[26:26] um when there are things that we want as a benefit to be available to everyone uh

[26:32] in the state or in the country we have seen unfortunately that the free market

[26:38] system is not effective in doing that and we need to in to take on public

[26:44] programs in order to provide those benefits to be Universal and we've had

[26:49] some mandates for for decades I think people are happy with minimum wage our overtime laws and 40-hour week weeks and

[26:57] the work that organizations like OSHA do to help protect us and so yes those we

[27:04] those Universal mandates can in fact level the playing field and in fact at times it can make it more attractive uh

[27:10] for small employers there's some things that large employers can provide that may not be economically as viable for

[27:17] small businesses but when it becomes a requirement uh that they can do it but

[27:22] we have those times we need to also help our small businesses with the extra cost that they would have to take on so we've

[27:29] seen it with the subsidy that we have for small businesses to support the uh

[27:34] parental leave policy um and our goal in all of this um

[27:41] is that there is a role for the state also to help improve our lives for our workers and our employees and I think

[27:48] probably the most um important ones are some of these ones that we've had on minimum wages and workplace safety thank

[27:55] you thank you now to John thank you uh I think that the state should only be setting the floor for

[28:03] employment issues we have seen unbalance and extreme mandates that are crippling family-owned businesses and small

[28:10] businesses and those businesses are the engine of our economy large corporations do typically

[28:16] offer benefits and protections that help attract the workforce they need and they they innovate on their own to provide

[28:22] those benefits and the state doesn't always need to be involved in it many of the policies P without good transparent

[28:30] process lack the balance that understands the difference between businesses with 500 employees and a

[28:37] small business with five employees the state needs a republican house that will give Minnesota the

[28:43] common sense approach to help our economy innovate and that will allow families to

[28:50] thrive Vita well I think it depends on what the

[28:56] Mandate pertains to every worker deserves a safe environment

[29:02] safe working conditions proper training proper equipment to keep them safe every

[29:08] worker deserves the right to collectively bargain and to get a fair

[29:13] wage so those kinds of mandates I think we need and must continue but I could

[29:19] also see that there would be situations as John mentioned where you have a business with five employees where a one

[29:26] siiz all condition might not not fit so when I'm in office what I would do is

[29:31] look at the data and see if this is a a situation where maybe there needs to be

[29:37] an extension or an exemption or something that would help that s small business survive because we don't want

[29:44] to throw them under the bus right we need our small businesses they're vital to our community but we also need to

[29:51] protect our workers and their rights I am Union endorsed by the way by several unions and strongly support Fair wages

[30:00] and don't want wage theft I want to make sure we have good working conditions thank you thank you and now Mr witty

[30:08] thank you um I disagree with the the need for these uh mandates and one of the things that was just uh brought up

[30:16] about um being up at the uh capital and voting for some of these when there was

[30:22] one party control there wasn't the need for discussion and a lot of things went

[30:27] in some of these businesses we tried to get it at the federal level at 50 and we couldn't even get it and it would go

[30:33] down to the very little so a lot of times when it is one party control that's why I think we need to restore

[30:39] the balance um you can have these discussions find common ground and talk

[30:44] together we still need to be mindful of the cost we have no idea how much um a

[30:49] lot of these mandates are putting on our businesses right now um recently I talked to a a business here in Lakeville

[30:57] who's a restaurant the Mandate of earned sick in safe time which is a good thing is costing them

[31:05] 3% um their insurance costs are up uh the inflation for the food cost is up

[31:11] and their foot traffic's down because families can't come in what happens to those employees when that uh owner has

[31:17] to shut down we've seen it in restaurants in St Paul in other places I used to work for Ace Hardware the place

[31:24] with the helpful hardware person and uh um it was a great job to meet people in

[31:29] my community but the one thing I did was uh I working for the Minnesota Twins

[31:34] Every Spring when the kids came back from college the owner who was local um

[31:40] didn't have to be told by the government he gave me the Summers off and when the Twins were out of the playoffs and that

[31:46] was usually in September unfortunately I was back at Ace so we made it work

[31:52] without the government telling us what to do so I think it always sounds good

[31:58] but these mandates do are crushing our business and and especially the last session our small

[32:05] businesses thank you and thank you all for your time management this is going quite well let's let's keep it up please

[32:11] John this question is going to be coming to you first it's on Surplus so last session there was a

[32:20] surplus if Minnesota is faced with another Surplus during your term will

[32:25] you prioritize tax relief or we going to invest that into more programs if your answer is government programs what are

[32:33] those priorities John well the short answer is tax relief that's one of the

[32:39] main reasons that I uh became a member of the tax committee again and in fact

[32:45] uh the state is facing a structural deficit of 1.5 billion our spending is

[32:52] exceeding our revenues in 2023 Democrats spent through the entire $18 billion

[32:58] Surplus and raised taxes on minnesotans another $10 billion and then they spent that too

[33:05] growing government nearly 40% this session they decided that wasn't enough taxing and spending and

[33:11] RAM through nearly another billion dollars in taxes and broke ground on a $730 million

[33:18] Palace for politicians a new office building keep in mind that renovating the entire Capital only cost or not only

[33:25] but cost $300 million so half of that they're spending twice as much for an

[33:31] office building for themselves and they're doing that without a transparent floor vote and manipulated uh obscure

[33:38] rules to pass that this shows exactly why motans desperately need balance in

[33:43] the Minnesota Legislature in a more transparent process we're ready to lead on good

[33:48] governance to provide better education Transportation support our law enforcement but also importantly reign

[33:55] in the Democrats spending spree like I said the state is facing a structural deficit of $1.5 billion and

[34:02] we can afford more radical new programs according to the tax Foundation

[34:07] Minnesota ranks 44th near the bottom in overall business tax climate we can and

[34:14] should do tax relief to help families facing inflationary pressures to stimulate the economy and I'm glad my

[34:20] opponent agrees with me on the previous question the problem is is there we lacking balance and process at the

[34:27] capital that somebody would have the opportunity to voice a different opinion and be

[34:33] heard thank you v i support a thre pronged approach my

[34:41] dad was Depression era he had lived through that in the wars and always saved money for a rainy day right half

[34:48] of his salary so I think we need to save money for times when our economy is

[34:55] having a downturn because it very well could happen for another pandemic or other re reasons I also do believe we

[35:03] need to help cost burden families and businesses that are still

[35:08] recovering but thirdly we do also need to continue to invest in priorities that

[35:15] continue to improve our economy and the lives of all motans for example the

[35:21] child tax credit that was recently enacted will lift a third of our children out of poverty that's the kind

[35:28] of tax cut I want I also support eliminating taxes on Social Security

[35:35] benefits for all seniors we did it for a portion of them lwi income but it's time

[35:40] to do it for all seniors I support continuing tax credits loans and grants

[35:47] for small startups and small businesses I printed out two pages worth of

[35:52] programs that we have in Minnesota to do just that I support that I also after

[35:58] having a conversation with a business owner it would love to look into a new tax credit for businesses you know how

[36:05] businesses are always asked to sponsor the local team or the local club for their schools how about we make that a

[36:12] tax credit for a business so that they are free to help the community and not

[36:17] feel pressured like they can't meet their bills or or pay their employees our high quality of life in

[36:24] Minnesota is possible because of the Investments we've made in infrastructure

[36:30] public education Health and Human Services and protecting our environment

[36:36] we must invest wisely in programs that benefit us all and provide vital

[36:41] services that lift everyone up while making sure they're transparent and

[36:47] accountable thank you Jeff thank you I I believe in a tax

[36:53] release and cuts um to relieve some of the pressures off our families in

[36:58] businesses as John said there's a$ 730 billion doll or a million doll Palace

[37:04] for politicians being built right outside my window they took care of a um

[37:10] some trees a park and the one interesting thing is is um you go to St

[37:18] Paul and serve your community for five months that's how this was all sent up to be but I'm better served not in a a

[37:24] big Palace like that but at the front door isor knocking talking to my neighbors hearing what their uh issues

[37:31] are and the one thing I keep hearing is inflation the cost of the grocery bill

[37:36] the cost of their uh medical I was at a door of one of a senior citizen who's

[37:42] lived in their house for a long time but they're feeling the pressure because of a medical incident um we all made promises last

[37:50] time we got to keep our promises the number one promise was um eliminate the

[37:56] tax for Social Security and we got up there and that tax the wall um Governor

[38:01] wall said it the Democrat Party all we did on a Republican and we only went so far and it's those people's monies and

[38:08] those are the ones that are feeling the B biggest effect from inflation right now they're on a fixed income the true

[38:15] costs have not come in front of us yet and I've said that before on all that spending that we have our businesses

[38:22] have an uncertain uh predictability which makes it very difficult to do their business in this climate

[38:27] so I do believe that we have a budget but in Minnesota right now we have to um

[38:34] we have a spending problem and until we get that under control we can't do the tax cuts thank you Brian thank you I run

[38:42] a small business and we've had strong years and lean years last year was a

[38:48] pretty strong year we've had lean years we dip into our savings a bit and we have strong years the first thing we do

[38:54] is set money aside for that rainy day if we have something left over we might take on some one-time Investments so

[39:00] we've replaced our driveway we're going to replace some windows but we didn't take on any debt that was going to go on

[39:07] for years and years and years we need to do the same thing at the state level I think as as John has said we do not have

[39:13] a structural Surplus uh in our state budget so we shouldn't I'm not going to

[39:20] advocate for long-term plan uh spending that we need to go year-over-year so the

[39:25] first thing at the state is again let's make sure we have our rainy day fund filled up if we have money left over

[39:31] then we should take on one-time projects uh that we would spend the money and would help especially things that build

[39:37] up our infrastructure like accelerating the construction on our roads and our bridges improving the buildings and our

[39:43] Great Park system um investing in Broadband for the rural communities and building a more robust EV charging

[39:49] system so we can accelerate uh the transition to Green energy thank

[39:55] you thank you and the next question here will be first Vita it's on healthc

[40:03] care the question is do you think we need a state or federally run public

[40:08] healthare option available to all people that can compete with Health Care policies offered by private insurance

[40:14] companies or do we need to reduce mandates and taxes on health insurance policies and allow individuals and

[40:21] businesses to design plans that best fit their needs VA we just did a forum on on

[40:27] this last night and it was well attended our legislature commissioned a study to

[40:33] take a look at just this what would be the cost of a universal comprehensive

[40:39] type Health Care system and that would cover everyone in all medical expenses

[40:45] with no co-pay no deductibles and would not tie workers to their

[40:51] employers wouldn't that be wonderful so there's a study being done right now I'm very interested in the results

[40:58] I will be interested in seeing the results because our current system is quite broken it leaves far too many

[41:04] people without insurance or very underinsured where they have high deductibles and co-pays and can't afford

[41:10] to use it medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States

[41:18] and you know we pay more for health care in this country than pretty much any other industrialized country and we have

[41:25] worse uh mortality and lower lower life expectancy so we're not getting what we

[41:33] need for our money with the current system 34% of our health care cost does

[41:39] not go for health care it's pushing paper it's people that are doing billing

[41:45] coding marketing pre-authorizations denials executive pay shareholder return

[41:52] profits and lobbying so yes it is time to look at a new way to do do our

[41:57] healthare system I'm very interested in the results of this study and if it will show that we can save lives it's

[42:05] estimated 43,000 people die every year because they can't get the quality care

[42:10] they need they lack insurance or affordable insurance or health care so

[42:15] yes let's take a serious look at this and move Minnesota

[42:21] forward Jeff thank you um our Health Care system is broken and there's we

[42:28] have to figure out ways to do it uh different we focus too much on the process um we're so busy um in our

[42:36] health care System coding and paying and um and not and everyone else is getting

[42:44] rich the stakeholders everyone else but the American citizens they're paying more and they're getting less you go to

[42:51] Ridges Hospital and you can have an 8 Hour uh wait there um recently I had to

[42:56] take my mom in she had a fall we brought her in Via ambulance and the simple

[43:02] process of her going up to the hospital and then going down to get her outpatient surgery we had to check her

[43:09] out to go do the other surgery and then check her into another place it is so

[43:15] backwards and it would have been so much easier to transfer from one spot to the next but that is what our system allows

[43:24] and in payment so I definitely think we have to look at it but we also have to look at what's the root cause of um the

[43:33] chronic diseases that are epidemic what are we doing to solve those issues um

[43:40] businesses um have their health care um they're always going to be cheaper than

[43:46] um a Public Health Care system and right now even last year we passed the bill

[43:51] for um free health care um for those uh that uh came in illegally into the state

[43:58] and we have seen a rise in 5% that's put or we're number five in the country which is putting um a lot of pressure on

[44:05] our Hospital Systems right now for um the people that are paying so we do have

[44:11] to look at this this is a huge problem right now thank you and Brian thank

[44:16] you so Access to Health Care is a right that everybody should enjoy regardless

[44:21] of their income or employment status and in the long term there V has described I

[44:28] do believe that we should get to a single-payer system here in the United States I was listening to an interview

[44:34] with Justin Trudeau from Canada who said it a 10 20e journey to get there from

[44:39] here so we need to think about what it is that we can do now

[44:44] um uh Mr witty had described that government programs are being less

[44:50] efficient but we know that the administrative costs of Medicare are far lower than our private insurance uh plan

[44:57] plans so we know that it is possible to have an efficient government program and

[45:02] that we will eventually need I do believe we'll eventually need to go there in the short term what I'd like to

[45:08] see most is some help for our individuals and small business owners be able to take advantage of the Minnesota

[45:15] healthcare plan or minare uh so that they can take advantage of that lower

[45:20] administrative costs and get a more effective program now we do need to make sure that they are paying enough into

[45:27] that system so that we can uh reimburse at rates that are comparable to our

[45:32] private plans as opposed to the very low reimbursements uh that our Medicaid uh

[45:37] patients even Medicare pay we also need to make sure that our insurance regulations ensure that R's uh

[45:45] reproductive health care and Mental Health Care are truly at parody with other health care and that decisions are

[45:51] always made between doctors and their patients thank you thank you

[45:57] Mr kosnik thank you as far as a public option I would vote no um it would

[46:04] establishing it would cost about a half a billion dollars even Governor waltz's own Commerce Department sent a letter to

[46:11] the legislature that said a public option is not ready for prime time but

[46:16] because we have a lack of balance and ideas and approaches it was rammed through and we

[46:23] have the study uh but even the governor said said it would not be ready for

[46:28] prime time and we've got an out of balance and waste of money but even further than that there were Democrats

[46:35] that dis uh did not agree with the public option either and they can't even

[46:40] decide uh completely how to proceed with a public option or whether we should or not at as well I would advocate for Less

[46:49] mandates and more private Market options that fit Minnesota's needs that fit

[46:55] business owners needs to provide those benefits to their employees a public

[47:00] option will also cause hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars and also the clinics a lot of money we will see

[47:07] hospitals close and clinics close and you will have less options with the public

[47:13] option thank you next question is on Workforce and it's going to be going to

[47:20] Jeff first the question is attracting and retaining workers is a top priority for

[47:27] businesses in our community employers are increasing wages investing in

[47:34] training creating flexible work schedules supporting housing and child care and efforts to recruit and retain

[47:40] Workforce how will you support employers and help create Solutions related to

[47:46] Workforce challenges thank you uh obviously going out and talking to the uh business

[47:54] owners and the employees and uh learning and understanding the issues um once

[47:59] again I think that's how you're able to lead with a little bit of focus and purpose and see what the strains are on

[48:05] them and um a lot of times a bill comes from people that are living in a

[48:12] situation and that's the best way it doesn't have to come from St Paul trying

[48:18] to figure out how it fits we need to repeal and cut some regulations it's uh

[48:23] making it tougher on businesses to be successful um especially the last couple of years

[48:29] we um our business has been struggling from um all sides um from all the different mandates um things that have

[48:36] been piling on them and we have seen uh motans and businesses leaving our state

[48:43] we got to stop demonizing our business owners um they are not the bad people in

[48:49] all this they love and they invest so much in their employees and our Lakeville community and I think those

[48:56] are the steps that as we go through um and just being present so thank

[49:02] you thank you and Brian thank you we best support our employers and

[49:08] our businesses by ensuring that we have a great pool of workers that can fill

[49:13] those jobs that they need uh I work with a company that opened a facility down in FBO and they're struggling to find the

[49:21] people to fill those jobs they just don't exist down in that area so we need to do things to make sure that we are

[49:28] bringing the people into the state for that and to me it's a really kind of a two-pronged approach first we need to

[49:34] make sure that we are continuing to support our great public education system to make sure that we are training

[49:41] all of our students so that they are ready to take on those jobs of the 21st century we also need to continue to make

[49:47] Lakeville in the state an attractive place for people to come um they generally don't come here for the

[49:53] weather so we need to find other things that keep them here um and they come here you know because of the Great Park

[50:00] because of the Great Schools because of um the great climate and and

[50:05] friendliness of our people um but you know we have some things that we can do to make it more attractive uh for those

[50:12] people to come to the state and stay here tax breaks to help people with the cost of child care which is killing so

[50:17] many people a first-time home buyer credits to help them and also make sure

[50:22] that we are continuing to protect those freedoms so that we have a diverse work for us um in our

[50:30] state we attract people uh to come here by making it conducive for them to live also near their parents and near their

[50:37] families and for the older folks near our children so we need to make sure that we have uh affordable homes for

[50:43] people to move into and again help those firsttime buyers we also need to make sure that we're providing the services

[50:49] we need so our seniors can stay here thank you thanks Brian John thank you in

[50:56] order to to attract and retain businesses I will continue to support important tools that the state has to

[51:02] compete with our neighboring states to compete with other states across the country and really across the world I

[51:08] support the use of the Minnesota investment fund and the job creation fund for economic development uh

[51:14] departments to and and then also uh tools like the Innovative Innovation

[51:19] grants directly to businesses to uh start up and develop new ideas and

[51:24] companies that are in the healthcare sector and other Cutting Edge Industries

[51:30] we need to stop adding burdensome regulations and taxes that are pushing companies and entrepreneurs away I was

[51:36] able to tour a company here in Lakeville just outside the industrial park uh had

[51:41] four recently graduate college graduates that went to school here in Lakeville but luckily they came back and they have

[51:48] this Innovative idea hinley medical um don't want to get into their whole thing uh but because of we have the Innovation

[51:56] Grant they were able to continue to to develop their product and hopefully will

[52:01] start to make some money um but it's a really cool idea and those are the kind

[52:07] of things that we need to continue to invest so that businesses start up on I'm looking at the clock and uh if if we

[52:13] run out of one question that that was going to be asked was about um how do you cut through the uh partisan divide

[52:20] in the capital and I would suggest that just look at the rec my my record I'm proud of the work that I've done for the

[52:25] district and I'm I'm running for re-election on that record I've passed an incredible amount of bills as a

[52:31] member of the minority and you can't do that without working in a bipartisan fashion without building trust and

[52:37] relationships across the aisle it's not easy for sure but I choose to focus my efforts on areas that I think we can

[52:44] find agreement rather than The Fringe issues and that kind of leadership and experience will continue to deliver

[52:50] results for this District thank you Vita so one issue with having a uh being

[52:59] able to have a Workforce here is affordable housing and of course Child Care um we do lack affordable housing

[53:07] according to Minnesota Housing Partnership one in five Minnesota children live in cost burdened homes

[53:14] where their parents have to choose between paying for housing and other basic needs in

[53:21] 57a 85% of our renters are cost burden meaning over 30% of their salary goes to

[53:28] their rent for homeowners 177% in our district have a severe cost

[53:35] burden of more than 50% of their salary going to their mortgage so we have to create and have

[53:43] enough affordable housing and rental units that's an issue we need to work on because cost burdened families can't

[53:50] afford to give to our local businesses they're not going out to eat they're not doing those extra things that you can

[53:56] afford for if you're not cost burdened if our neighbors do better it lifts up

[54:01] the entire Community livable wages and affordable child care are also a must I

[54:08] will support Minnesota families that help lower income families with child care costs such as the CCAP the child

[54:15] care assistant program Early Learning scholarships postsecondary Child Care

[54:20] programs and military family benefits I also in looking at another

[54:26] question that we might not get to I'm not sure are we going till 8:30 we've got till 8:30 so I got plent of

[54:32] questions for you so I will I will stop there thank you sir I'll give I'll give my question second there you go thank you uh and

[54:41] this one Brian it's going to be you first and it is on partisan [Laughter]

[54:48] politics question is the political climate especially in recent

[54:54] years uh has has been pretty divided how would you work with your peers on both

[54:59] sides of the aisle to ensure that Minnesota businesses and residents are considered above partisan

[55:07] politics yes thank you as I've said I've spent my career um helping companies do

[55:14] better in product development and also in identifying what products to develop

[55:19] and the details and I run a lot of workshops for those people where we come

[55:25] in and people have very very very different ideas about how to move forward and how to you know what we

[55:31] should be doing so we always step back and say what are the problems we're trying to solve and understand what our

[55:38] core values are so that we can find a way to take a step together and I want

[55:43] to do exactly the same thing in St Paul every bill that comes should be there to resolve a problem we want to understand

[55:50] we agree on that problem I think we usually can and then let's find a way to make a step forward

[55:56] thank you thank you John well I won't repeat the whole previous question I thought we were going to Del at o

[56:03] clock um but yes I'm running on my record and I'm very proud of it the

[56:08] number of bills that I was able to pass uh even surprised me a little bit and

[56:15] that is you know over time you invest in the relationships across the aisle and

[56:20] find things that you can agree on that actually help your district and not work on the fringes um and so contrary to

[56:27] what the the public perception might be that we never get anything done um the

[56:33] process does matter um but you need to understand the process and how to work that process with leadership and

[56:39] experience I've been able to navigate uh significant uh bills and have them

[56:45] passed into law that benefit our district and I will continue to do that one of the bills uh is for a public

[56:52] safety training facility here in Lakeville the city still needs to do some work work on that um but I was able

[56:58] to get a $7 million actually representative witty was the chief author I helped design the bill and co-sponsored it another bill was for the

[57:05] rail storage issue here in Lakeville even being in the minority in a trifecta

[57:10] we were able to get this bill passed and I authored it to help address that rail storage issue in Lakeville the city

[57:16] again still needs to do the final work on that um but that's an economic driver that's going to help the entire region

[57:23] really um and the industrial park and uh the results uh that I have supported

[57:29] like I mentioned one of the bills that I'm very proud of is the equin mental health Bill uh that was something that

[57:36] wasn't brought to me by a lobbyist or any particular special interest uh I met with constituents and listened uh to

[57:43] some needs that they had and the what they were doing and I was able to help First Responders not only in Lakeville

[57:48] but unfortunately in the Burnsville um horrific tragedy uh many of the South

[57:54] Metro first responders were able to seek some help and with their mental health and Trauma based on that issue so thank

[58:03] you thank you Vita well I'm running to be a problem

[58:09] solver a solutionary someone who is there to put the needs of the people and

[58:16] the ecosystems that we rely on over partisan

[58:21] politics and also over moneyed interests there's going to be a lot of LOB OB marching through the capital and we need

[58:29] to be able to stand up to them and say we're working for the people because that is who we are working for I'm not

[58:34] working for the dfl I'm not working for any party I'm working for

[58:40] you so we need to listen to each other respectfully and then think oops sorry

[58:47] think through the lens Italian person here think through the lens of our own values right and make decisions that are

[58:55] sound decisions are going to be what we feel is best for our state uh I do have

[59:01] experience with this I'm a trained citizen climate lobbyist I have been many times to Washington DC and reached

[59:08] across the aisle to members of Congress from North Dakota from Texas that were

[59:16] very very strong Republicans but we were able to find Common Ground common value

[59:22] and talk about the need for a livable climate and I think that I can do the same thing at the capital that we will

[59:28] find our common values and we will work through and find

[59:35] Solutions as an educator of course I had to be Nar partisan partisan in the classroom right we're teaching data

[59:41] we're teaching facts we need to make decisions based on data and facts and also that reflect our values but we do

[59:48] it best when we work together we find the best Solutions when we work together

[59:54] which means reaching a across the aisle thank you

[1:00:00] Jeff you don't get anything done if uh you're on the far right or in the far

[1:00:05] left and I try to work in the middle I've earned a reputation for Reaching Across the aisle to find Solutions two

[1:00:12] weeks into the session uh the first bill that was uh given to me was on finding

[1:00:17] data for car carjacking we had a problem with carjacking after the pandemic I went over to representative Edon and

[1:00:24] from Idina and there's City had a huge problem and she grabbed my hand being a part of Public Safety and we got our

[1:00:31] bill passed and it then led to legislation on crimes and the great

[1:00:36] thing about it is I was just at the mpa violent crime Summit our carjacking stats are down last summer we had an

[1:00:44] issue uh the fix the school resource officer went through education there wasn't a transparency piece to it law

[1:00:51] enforcement brought to me and so with that um I just kept asking for a

[1:00:56] bipartisan solution 44 legislators said they knew what they were doing um we

[1:01:02] ended up coming together um making compromises working together I brought

[1:01:07] my caucus and law enforcement across and we found a solution to keep our schools teachers and our kids

[1:01:15] safe I'm a servant leader I'm serving my community my door is always open I will

[1:01:22] talk to anybody to find common ground and I've I've done that on multiple

[1:01:27] occasions there's people on the left that have come and talked with me I don't even serve in their in my district

[1:01:35] but I listened to what problems they had and tried to look for Solutions I joined the Suburban Solutions caucus for that

[1:01:42] purpose instead of attacking what's wrong look for that Common Ground Solutions when I was a police officer

[1:01:49] you had 911 response it didn't matter if you supported the police hated the police or were indifferent I still

[1:01:55] showed up at your house I'm proud to be um uh the police

[1:02:01] chief's legislator to year uh for the work that I did on the um school

[1:02:06] resource officer but also with the league of Minnesota Ci's uh distinction of legislate you don't get that done by

[1:02:13] yourself but as a team member thank you next one school support and we're

[1:02:20] going to start out with John kosnik on this one question

[1:02:26] how will you support school districts to ensure that all students receive educational and experiential

[1:02:31] opportunities which prepare them to be successful in the workforce or in furthering their education

[1:02:38] postgraduation John thank you well I think it's a great idea to provide students with exponential experiential

[1:02:45] learning opportunities that's how I probably learn best um and we should uh demand that students are Workforce ready

[1:02:52] when they graduate high school but ensuring or enabling that is the job of local school

[1:02:57] boards I support helping schools with more unrestricted funding schools have

[1:03:02] different needs and the legislature should not be a Statewide School Board under Governor Waltz literacy rates have

[1:03:09] dropped by 16% we need to not only get our students back on track but help them get caught

[1:03:16] up after years of learning loss in the last two sessions under Democrat control

[1:03:21] the state has taken away decision-mak powers from local educator and school boards so we should ensure that students

[1:03:29] are prepared for the challenges of the future by setting standards that focus on math and reading science and writing

[1:03:36] as core principles Democrats passed more than 65 new mandates on schools many of

[1:03:41] them unfunded and unnecessary Republicans offered a plan that under

[1:03:46] the exact same amount of spending the funding without the mandates would have

[1:03:52] increased funding to the Lakeville District approximately 5 million and so if they would have listened to

[1:03:58] the balanced approach maybe there wouldn't be the $4 million tax levy B uh

[1:04:03] ballot tax levy request on the ballot the Democrats if they would listen to the bill and had a transparent process

[1:04:11] our local schools need the flexibility to use their funding in a way that works for their own districts instead of being

[1:04:17] subject to a one-sized fitall St Paul Schoolboard thank you Vita

[1:04:25] well as a as a veteran educator I know that our teachers and our school district are working really hard to help

[1:04:32] our kids who did not get the quality instruction that we would hope during

[1:04:38] the pandemic and that we've made great strides but there's still work to do and

[1:04:44] I'm proud of the work that we've done so one thing that I would do is to make

[1:04:49] sure our schools have adequate per pupil funding which has not kept up with

[1:04:54] inflation and is much too low and also to offer a wide range of course

[1:05:01] offerings with highly trained Educators and support and we have to keep those

[1:05:06] class sizes down I just learned Lakeville High has English classes with 37 to 40 kids that's that's not a

[1:05:15] success story how do you get to those students as an educator how do you as a teacher grade all those essays and keep

[1:05:21] up with it so we need to make sure we're adequately funding our schools so we can

[1:05:27] keep that per pupil teacher ratio down we need to create mentoring and Career

[1:05:32] Training opportunities in our schools partnering partnering with our local Industries businesses trade schools

[1:05:40] community colleges and postsecondary education options we need to support

[1:05:45] teacher training programs at our state colleges and universities that teach

[1:05:51] things like culturally responsive teaching practices and and other best

[1:05:57] practice methods of teaching we have to attract and retain a highly qualified

[1:06:04] teacher pool with diverse backgrounds that fits the students in our

[1:06:10] districts and we need to offer them competitive salaries and benefits in order to do so that's how I would

[1:06:17] support education thank you Jeff um when I was a Burnsville police officer a school

[1:06:24] resource officer I started program called blue and the school where we interacted with our uh elementary

[1:06:29] schools and I used to always say it takes a village to raise a a child and we all have a role in that uh

[1:06:35] unfortunately we've seen our text scores from Reading go down 16% we've seen um

[1:06:41] math scores at 17% and science at 22% um with a lot of money going back uh

[1:06:48] on this last plan if we would have been able to um work together on top of the

[1:06:55] money that was brought back um to Lakeville we could have brought an additional $7 million back to Lakeville

[1:07:02] the problem that's happening is is this money is not getting down to our teachers and our students we are uh

[1:07:09] overloading our schools with mandates and a lot of the money is

[1:07:14] getting uh dropped at the uh Department of Education so we need that money to

[1:07:19] get to the the the people that really matters um

[1:07:26] today I got to be a part of the new mentorship program for the eighth grade

[1:07:31] boys at kenward Junior High this is an opportunity to uh make connections use

[1:07:37] some of my experience some of my wisdom from this gray hair and hopefully connect and help um the student I had

[1:07:46] recently came from uh Mexico and and it's great just to hear what his

[1:07:52] experience has been but where he needs to go and so we all have a role in

[1:07:57] helping out when I was with the Burnsville Police Department I ran a program called the Explorer post and it

[1:08:03] was opportuni for high school kids to get into police work and see what it was about as a recruitment way Lakeville has

[1:08:10] the Lakeville Works which is a hands-on experience that connects us to our um businesses and uh supports our

[1:08:18] businesses it's great program thank you thank you and Brian thank you thank you

[1:08:25] our education system sometimes feels like it's primarily a path to college and we need

[1:08:31] to make sure that we are supporting all of our students in all of the career directions that they want to go we're

[1:08:38] very fortunate here in Lakeville to have the Lakeville Works program thank you to the chamber and for members for working

[1:08:44] on that um so that our kids do get a chance to see what it's like to be in

[1:08:49] business we're also fortunate to be our children our students to be able to take Community College and voke and classes

[1:08:56] from the technical college because education is that ticket

[1:09:01] to success and uh too many families are uh denied some of that want to thank the

[1:09:07] state and that with for the Northstar scholarship program that was put in place last year to help lower income

[1:09:14] families uh be able to send their kids to school if we come back and say some of the things that I would specifically

[1:09:20] do to support our school districts um they need the funding so they can attract those highquality teachers um

[1:09:28] and the state needs to fully fund the ever growing uh costs of multilingual education and special education that are

[1:09:34] far underfunded um we do need to make sure that our teachers are getting paid the

[1:09:39] fair wage that they deserve for the amazing work that they do uh teaching

[1:09:45] and taking care of our kids these Partnerships uh with the business Community we certainly want to

[1:09:51] promote them find more opportunities so that the Community can allow our the students to learn about their own

[1:09:58] community and to teach them those valuable schools that they need in school and Beyond thank you next question is going

[1:10:06] to be going to Vita and as we read earlier uh I got to ask a question that

[1:10:12] maybe you weren't provided with in advance question is going to be for the business Community it's

[1:10:19] competitiveness currently we find ourselves in a country where uh geography is much less of a limiter than

[1:10:24] it was pre previously the in the business Community we find ourselves in this situation we have the highest

[1:10:31] corporate tax rate in the country we have one of the top five highest

[1:10:36] individual tax rates in the country we're one of the last remaining states

[1:10:42] that taxes Social Security and we're one of the few that still has an estate

[1:10:48] tax and as we look to place our businesses Minnesota has a higher cost

[1:10:54] of energy than our surrounding states what can you do to increase our

[1:11:02] competitiveness vaita so one thing that we can do is to

[1:11:08] take advantage of Ira funding there's a lot of federal money that can help with jobs right here in Minnesota and we see

[1:11:15] an example that in northern Minnesota where they're going to be building the uh parts for solar cells to go into

[1:11:22] solar energy projects we can take advantage of those funds which help jump start start our economy with good paying

[1:11:29] jobs they're doing it with uh Community solar projects that reduce costs where

[1:11:36] you can get help from the government to put solar or um heat heat pumps or

[1:11:42] things on your businesses and reduce your costs so there are ways to leverage that power the other thing I would say

[1:11:50] about taxes is I don't think we want to raise to the bottom we're in in a state

[1:11:56] where we want quality roads our infrastructure we want our our schools

[1:12:03] to be high quality when we look at some of the places that are low taxes there's also a much lower standard of living

[1:12:10] where people are not are we they don't have the things that we have in Minnesota that we expect and so I think

[1:12:20] sometimes you need to pay for things to to get what you want but I also think we need to be smart about how we're doing

[1:12:26] it and again take advantage of those Federal loans leverage them however we can um tackle our climate crisis in a

[1:12:35] way that is beneficial that is going to create good paying union jobs right here I think that's a big part of it we've

[1:12:41] got to have the Broadband so that we can have those Industries all over our state

[1:12:47] um there are some extractive industries that are not going to be as beneficial that are going to leave behind huge

[1:12:54] piles of of toxic stuff for us to clean up so we need to be smart about it but

[1:13:01] um I think that we can keep moving Minnesota forward thank you thank you uh

[1:13:06] Mr witty thank you uh first of all we got to reduce our spending um once we

[1:13:12] can reduce some of our spending get that under control we can cut taxes one of the things I found very unique when I

[1:13:18] got up to St Paul and uh I was on the tax committee um about 50% % of

[1:13:25] Minnesota pay tax and the other 50% don't so it goes on the backs of a lot

[1:13:31] of motans and a lot of businesses and our businesses um we got to quit

[1:13:36] demonizing them and we can't keep saying that they have to pay their fair share or other people their fair share when

[1:13:45] across the board some people don't even know the effects of what the taxes on them or cost we got to reduce the stress

[1:13:52] on the families and uh the businesses um they have so much going on on them

[1:13:58] right now and just look and and listen to our businesses you go out there and

[1:14:04] you ask them how they're doing they got mandate after mandate and we do still not know where that the end of that cost

[1:14:11] is going to be it could take us over a cliff and so that's what I would

[1:14:17] recommend is um get our spending under control because as a state families and

[1:14:23] businesses are living within their budgets and it's getting it's shrinking and we just keep spending thank you

[1:14:30] thank you Mr Cohen thank you I guess I see their picture of our economy here in

[1:14:37] Minnesota a little bit differently we are ranked by US News and World Report is number four place in terms of

[1:14:43] attractiveness for people to to settle and in terms of livability we are home

[1:14:48] to 19 Fortune 500 companies and private giants like carvil so this is a

[1:14:55] Minnesota is a good place to be in business we're also seeing huge Investments here in Lakefield uh we

[1:15:00] don't see them moving out of state and businesses are here because we have great workers and and we have great

[1:15:07] workers because we continue to invest in our great public education system and our parks and abundance of arts and

[1:15:13] culture and our clean air and water and I think to keep our businesses

[1:15:19] here we need to continue to attract people and we attract those people by making it like again conducive for them

[1:15:26] to live here live with their parents live with their children so we do need to continue to invest uh to allow our

[1:15:33] younger families to get those starter homes and we need to continue to make sure that we're making it uh a good

[1:15:39] place to live for our retirees thank you thank you John as I mentioned earlier

[1:15:45] the tax Foundation ranks the business climates and a variety other factors and Minnesota ranked 44th out of 50 to the

[1:15:53] worst business tax climate um your question is about competitiveness and uh if you're

[1:15:59] starting a new business or you're get to be a large enough business you're you're going to move away from Minnesota we can

[1:16:06] deny it but it's happening the report by can't remember who actually had the

[1:16:13] report um that there's about a billion dollars in Revenue to the state that's

[1:16:19] leaving migrating out um and we can deny that people are moving I know uh

[1:16:25] firsthand there was a family in Credit River so when I the boundaries reshuffled and and were redistricted

[1:16:32] that family had already moved uh so I lost a voter or two um but there was also a family friend in Apple Valley

[1:16:39] they moved also because of the tax climates and I talked to business owners here in Lakeville that they're doing um

[1:16:46] Estate Planning and seccession planning moving out if you go down to Florida there's a little cottage industry of tax

[1:16:54] accountants and ERS that are picking uh picking on Minnesota snowbirds and

[1:17:01] teaching them how to uh shift their assets out of Minnesota to for tax avoidance and so

[1:17:08] um we can't deny the fact that the our business climate is not friendly to business it's hurting um our schools

[1:17:16] it's hurting uh the revenues that we have uh we may have a housing boom here and a population growth in Lakeville um

[1:17:23] but that's not going to continue to uh be enough to help our state grow and so uh uh one other thing that I

[1:17:32] I would suggest uh for being competitive for businesses that are in Lakeville or

[1:17:37] in the area um is to utilize the Minnesota trade office I was sat on their board um a couple terms ago and

[1:17:45] they can provide assistance if you're looking to be competitive and move in other areas thank you and thank you all

[1:17:51] for joining us today we're going to actually now move into the closing remarks we'll be starting with Jeff here

[1:17:58] so in keeping with everything else we have two minutes uh Jeff you've got the

[1:18:03] floor thank you you didn't even ask the best question out there um uh thank you

[1:18:11] all for being here and thank you for holding this uh Forum um it's been an

[1:18:17] honor uh to serve all of my neighbors in uh Lakeville and

[1:18:23] um we need to restore the balance the common sense and

[1:18:31] integrity my door is always open and I'm always willing to listen learn and

[1:18:36] understand to find common ground for Solutions I'm proud to be endorsed by the Minnesota Chamber of uh and the

[1:18:44] Minnesota retailers the House of Representative seat is the people's seat

[1:18:49] I will represent 45,000 residents of Lakeville I will

[1:18:54] continue to work every day in St Paul to make sure Lakeville remains a safe place to live work and raise a family I'm Jeff

[1:19:03] witty and I humbly ask for your support so I can bring value our Lakeville

[1:19:08] values to St Paul thank you thank you and Brian your closing remarks thank you

[1:19:14] I'd also like to thank the chamber for hosting and for everyone who is attending or or

[1:19:20] watching our constitution begins with a phrase We the People to remind us that we live in a representative democracy

[1:19:27] and that we collectively are our government we've seen different Visions about how we embod by our government

[1:19:33] want to move forward this election therefore is about deciding what our Lakeville values are and how we want to

[1:19:40] use them to move forward I've talked to hundreds of people at the door this year and what I hear from them is their care

[1:19:47] values are around helping our kids get off to a strong start with a great education being a family friendly

[1:19:54] community enjoying the tremendous Open Spaces we have here in Lakeville and across the

[1:19:59] state being safe in our homes on our streets and in our schools and having

[1:20:04] the freedom to live our lives and make our choices without political interference I'm running to represent

[1:20:11] our great community and to work from our common values to build an even stronger Community we start by voting this fall

[1:20:18] you can vote early in person at City Hall by mail or at your polling place on Election Day on November 5th together

[1:20:25] let's keep Lakeville special thank you thank you John two minutes thank you

[1:20:32] and I would like to thank the communities in the district for the opportunity to get to know them and to

[1:20:38] serve your families but across the state and Country we have a polarized

[1:20:44] electorate I'd like to I'd like us to remember that we share many of the same values and we have good people running

[1:20:51] uh but we have different approaches to realize our hopes and live better well it's no surprise and I don't apologize

[1:20:58] for being a conservative fiscal conservative leader I have worked hard and bring leadership and experience that

[1:21:03] produces results for our state and our district but I also respect the ideas of

[1:21:09] others that have different positions but focus on the work that we can get done and I have the results to show

[1:21:15] it nonetheless our state is in desperate need of balance in both policy proposals

[1:21:21] and reforms for a more open and trans parent process retiring Democrat

[1:21:27] representative palowski recently said it would be a good thing for Minnesota if Republicans take back the house in 2023

[1:21:36] Democrats spent the entire $18 billion Surplus raiseed taxes another1 billion

[1:21:42] including a sales tax autot tab fees a delivery tax and increase the gas tax

[1:21:47] they increased government spending by nearly 40% and then came back last year adding close to another billion dollars

[1:21:54] in tax tax in the last minutes of session without without giving anyone

[1:22:00] the time to see a copy of the final 1400 page bill that's sad our state is at a

[1:22:07] Crossroads and the abuse to the legislative process to push a partisan agenda that increases the cost of living

[1:22:13] for all motans and makes your life more expensive and less affordable is something we should all be ashamed of

[1:22:20] I'm asking for your vote to bring a balanced approach that we will create a better Solutions and better serve all

[1:22:26] minnesotans I look forward to fight keep fighting for you to put Minnesota back on the right path together we can

[1:22:32] realize Better Lives more prosperity and a hopeful future for those that come behind us thank you and

[1:22:40] Vita I want to once again thank the members of the chamber and you all for being here today in this forum I'm vaa

[1:22:48] conid and I want to work for you in the Minnesota house I'm running for Kaden

[1:22:55] Andrew small business owners in Elco New Market who provide food and Medicine in

[1:23:00] our community for Tim and Brent farmers in New Market Township who care for the

[1:23:06] soil that will continue to feed us all for Aaron and Britney teachers in our

[1:23:13] Public Schools who make sure our kids get the very best education we can offer

[1:23:20] for Kay and Debbie who volunteer many hours to protect our pollinators reduce

[1:23:26] toxic waste and leave our kids and grandkids a healthy and safe environment

[1:23:32] for Brad and Luke with the Lakeville and Scott County police departments and all our Public Safety workers who keep us

[1:23:40] safe and deserve our respect and support for Katie Laura and Cadence my daughters

[1:23:47] and granddaughter that their ability to make decisions about their Futures and

[1:23:53] their bodies is respect Ed and I'm running for you the voters of

[1:23:59] 57a to protect what you love and to continue to move Minnesota forward my

[1:24:06] experiences as an educator and a proven leader in our community and our state

[1:24:11] have all prepared me for this moment I will work for you I will listen to you

[1:24:17] and stay connected to you I will reach across the aisle for common sense

[1:24:23] solutions that benefit benefit us all because when our neighbors when our

[1:24:29] neighbors are able to have healthy productive lives and get the health care

[1:24:35] they need and be housed and fed and our communities are safe and welcoming for

[1:24:40] all of us we all benefit I'm Vita conet and I humbly ask for your support honor

[1:24:46] before November 5th thank you and thank you all on behalf of the

[1:24:52] businesses and residents of Lakefield and the Lakefield Chamber of Commerce I'd like to thank each candidate once

[1:24:58] again for your desire to serve and for participating in our forum tonight in 57a we have candidates John kosnik and

[1:25:06] Vita canet conet sorry and on the BS

[1:25:12] side for 57 Jeff Woody and Brian con thank you each for joining us I'd also like to thank the city of Lakeville and

[1:25:18] the staff for use of the facility and helping us record these forums as a reminder again the Lakefield

[1:25:24] Chamber of Commerce is hosting three candidate forums this year Lakefield city council ISD 194 Board of Education

[1:25:32] and this forum for 57a and 57b in the Minnesota House of Representatives all

[1:25:37] candidate forums are being conducted and broadcast live with rebroadcast on lgtv

[1:25:43] Channel 180 on Charter and on the city of Lakeville and Lakeville Chambers

[1:25:48] YouTube channels you may contact the chamber at 952 4692 20 for the

[1:25:55] link an important announcement at the end here the Lakefield Chamber of Commerce has not and will not endorse

[1:26:02] any candidate in this year's election on behalf of the Lakefield Chamber of Commerce board of directors I want to

[1:26:08] thank you for watching and please remember to vote Tuesday November 5th thank you all thank you for watching and

[1:26:15] have a good evening

[1:26:28] [Music]