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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 10-15 Meet the candidates for state House MAPLEWOOD REVIEWIT-TT1141irm- Peter Fischer Stacey Stout Meet the candidate,,, 0 tor state House 1 ern Faklis and Joshua Nielsen 5 21 V Review staff North St. Paul and Maplewood are represented by three districts in the State House: 43A, which includes the northwestern portion of Maplewood, Dis- trict 43B, which includes central, Maplewood and North St. Paul, and 53B, which includes the south - em leg of Maplewood. Voters who go to the polls Nov. 4 will choose Who will represent them for, the next two-year House term. The Review asked candidates for their bio- graphical information as well as prioritization of state issues, and offers their responses below. To find out which district they're in and find precinct locations, voters can go to www. co. ramsey.mn.us/elec- tions and click on "'Voter & Election Information" or call 651-266-2171. Polls will be open Tuesday, Nov. 4 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. District 43A District 43A includes the northwestern portion of Maplewood, the south- ern portion of White Bear Lake and Mahto- medi. It has been repre- sented by Peter Fischer, DFL -Maplewood, for the past term. He is being challenged by Republi- can Stacey Stout; the two also met in the 2012 elec- tion, when Fischer pre- vailed at roughly 53 to 47 percent. Peter Fischer, 56, lives in Maplewood and is married to Kristin. He has worked in small busi- ness and the past seven years has been director of finance and operations for a homeless youth shelter in North Minne- apolis. He holds a bach- elor's degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas. Fischer sees the "unsustainable use of ground water in the area, which has had an impact see Candidates on page 2 L'u, on White Bear Lake" as the most pressing issue in his district for the upcom- ing legislative term. "As a leader on local water issues there are many things that can be done," Fischer says. "I would lead efforts to determine who would benefit from "the solu- tions and then work to establish a fair system to raise funds to pay for the solutions." Fischer said his reasons for running for represen- tative again stem from his original initiative to run for office, when the state government was in the midst of a shutdown. He saw it as an injustice to the people,, and a rea- son to get involved. "We had borrowed bil- lions from our schools and cut funding to* nurs- ing homes," he said. "People told me that they wanted their elected representatives to work together to move the state forward. Since then, we have restored cuts made to nursing homes, -paid back our schools, reinvested in education and I have been recog- nized for leading a bi- partisan group of legisla- tors to address regional water issues. Using my proven bi-partisan leader- ship I would like to con- tinue the work we have started." Stacey Stout is a Mahtornedi resident with 14 years of experience as a legislative advisor, including five years as an attorney at the Depart- ment of justice. The 41 -year old holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Tulsa, and also spent time at the University of Leiden -- Netherlands, as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Currently, she works as a legislative counsel for the State of Minnesota. She cites her experi- ence in both the work- place and at home as evidence for a successful vote. "As a wife and mom of two young boys, I under- stand the challenges families face and the need for common sense solutions," she says. "As a legislative advisor for 14 years, including five neering will bring the years as an attorney at much needed skills of the Department of jus- systems analysis, per- tire, serving in both the formance evaluation Bush and Obama Admin- and strategic planning istrations, I have covered to every purrent govern - many issues including cluding ment program and all cybersecurity, transpor- future pieces of legisla-, tation, consumer fraud, tion." taxes, and public safety." Rather than singling' Her highest priority is out one particular issue, education. She says get- Whitethorn said the big - ting a high quality educa- gest problem the state tion is paramount for the faces is the government future of the state. itself, and new leadership "We have a strong is needed. tradition of education "The most pressing excellence in Minnesota, issue we face is an irre- yet we have a serious sponsible and inefficient achievement gap," she government," V%rhitethorn says. "Through'innova- says. "The State must tion, prioritized funding,' respect and protect the and higher standards, rights of the individu- every child can learn als and our community. without limits." The local governments must be allowed access to District 43B District 43B includes a central portion of Maple- wood, all of North St. Paul and Oakdale north of Tenth Street. Leon Lil- lie, DFL -North S. Paul, has represented the dis- trict including North St. Paul for 10 years; he is being challenged by Republican Justice Whitethorn. Leon Lillie, 53, of Nortb,St. Paul, is mar- ried to Missy and holds a bachelor's degree from Luther College in Deco- rah, IA. He served on the North St. Paul City Council prior to,his election to the Legislature in 2004. Lillie says he sees edu- cation and transports - tion as the most pressing issues facing the Legisla- ture next session. .He says public educa- tion -- from early child- hood througb`the K-12 system, and on up to higher education -- needs to provide the skills nec- essary for Minnesota youths to become suc- cessful adults. State col- lege's and -universities "need to be affordable and meet the needs of all their students," includ- ing people who "have to retool their skills to meet the changing job mar- ket,"he says. He adds that the state education system needs "to ensure that local job creators are able to find employees able to meet their changing needs now and into the future," Regarding transporta- tion, he said the qual- ity of roads and bridges needs to be improved upon, and if infra- structure issues aren't addressed in the next few years, they will "continue to cause huge problems." " Republican challenger Justice Whitethorn, 45, of Oakdale has a master's degree in organizational leadership from the Uni- versity of Northwestern - St. Paul. He and his wife, Blia, have six children. He owns Whitethorn Consulting and previ- ously served in the U.S. Marine Corps. "As a veteran I will serve with courage, honor, loyalty," he says. "My education and back- ground in systems engi- state resources to develop unique solutions tailored to its members. "Power must be put back into the hands of parents and teachers at the .local level for the sake of our children," Whitethorn says. District 53A District 53A includes the southern leg of Maple- wood, Oakdale south of Tenth Street and Wood- bury west of Interstate 94. There, Republican Lukas Czech is chal- lenging DFL incumbent JoAnn Ward, who has held the seat for one term. Lukas Czech, 34, of Woodbury, has a bach- elor's degree in criminal justice and a B.A. in reli- gion from Hamline Uni- versity, and an associate's degree in architectural drafting and design from Dakota County Techni- calCollege. He works full time as an LG experience expert at Best 'Buy in Oakdale. Czech says the state -needs a health care sys- tem where Minnesotans are able to decide the best care for themselves and their families. He said the state previously had one of the best health care systems in the world, but now has an over -priced and confusing system that has not worked as promised. "MNsure needs to be more transparent, and we must allow actual health care profession- als'to serve on the board to help make important decisions," Czech says. He says the state should use mon * ey more wisely to maintain its roadways and bridges, and make them safer, "instead of spending valuable tax dollars on an unnecessary office build- ing." Czech says he sup- ports transportation proj- ects like bus rapid tran- sit over "fixed position, highly subsidized light rail projects." If elected, Czech says he would focus on helping new businesses start up and thrive, and help exist- ing businesses by reduc- ing current regulations. "We cannot afford to ,see any more local busi- nesses and good paying careers leave our state for more business friendly climates." He said education would be another top priority as a legislator. He believes more needs to be done to strengthen the state's schools at the local level to better pre- pare students for what- ever secondary education they choose to help ready them for the working world. JoAnn Ward lives in Woodbury 'with hus- band Joe. She has a mas- ter's degree in human resource development from the University of St. Thomas. Ward says she believes Minnesotans should con- tinue to have the option to obtain high-quality health care through the state's health insurance marketplace. In, 2015, she says, MNsure will provide the lowest pre- miums in the nation for the second year in a row and will continue to" pro- vide tax credits to further reduce health care costs. "We should not turn back to the dark days when insurance com- panies could cancel our coverage if we developed life-threatening medical conditions like cancer, charge women higher premiums than men, cap the amount of care we can receive or ban young adults from staying on their parents' coverage* until age 26," she says. Ward said improving roads, bridges and public transit in the east metro would continue to be a top priority if re-elected. She said she would work to increase frequency of bus service in the region, and improvethe interchange where interstates 94 and 694/494 meet, a fr6quent traffic bottleneck. , "The people and busi- nesses in Woodbury, Maplewood, Oakdale and Landfall deserve safe,' efficient, convenient and affordable transportation options." To pay for those proj- ects, Ward says the state should use a combina- tion of revenue sources to generate funding, includ- ing efficiencies in spend- ing and partnerships between federal, state and local governments, as well as user fees. Ward said some pri- orities in her next term w ' ould be expanding access to early childhood education, nutrition and medical care; reducing, student debt for college graduate -s- improving senior care; enhancing roads, bridges and tran- sit; and partnering with businesses and vo-tech communities to expand the workforce. Joshua lVielsen can be reached at jnielsen@1il- lienews.com or 651-748- 7822. Tl n Fahlis contributed to this report. You can reach Tim Faklis at 651- 748-7814, at tfaklisalil- licnews.c6m, or on Twitter @tfa7elisnews. `