Across our state and nation, we’re faced with economic and societal challenges not witnessed in decades, some say since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Job losses and a stagnant economy are impacting families across Minnesota and the pain is felt even more severely in the rural counties of greater Minnesota.

Spurring the development of good jobs in our communities is the number one reason I am running for State Representative. We must retain the jobs we have and showcase rural Minnesota as an excellent place for business to start, grow and expand.

My Story

For the past 20 years, my brother and I have operated our own small business, BW Incorporated. BW Incorporated serves as a distributor of recreational and consumer products to customers in all 50 states, Canada, and Mexico.

Like countless other entrepreneurs, we began our business with the hope and dream that with hard work and persistence, we would achieve success. Unfortunately, in the early years, that wasn’t the case. Through a series of poor financial decisions and business setbacks, we found ourselves in debt to our vendors for $300,000.

We made a decision at that moment that we were not going to declare bankruptcy but pay our debts in full. We had created the problem and we were obligated to solve the problem, not cut and run by going bankrupt. To this day, it was the best decision we ever made.

After years of sacrifice and many hours of hard work, in February 2006, we completely paid off the last dollar of that debt. We are grateful our debtors gave us the opportunity and terms to repay them and to this day, we retain business relationships with most of those same companies.

What I Learned

That experience provided me with first-hand knowledge as to why it is so important for individuals, families, businesses and governments to live within their means by setting priorities. We learned that when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. This led to poor planning, unnecessary expenditures and a loss of focus on our core mission.

Many of the same principles can and should be applied to our state. It, too, has not stayed focused on its core mission. Minnesota business development climate is not as strong as our neighbors to the west. Regulations, taxes, fees, and a slow and burdensome bureaucracy are crippling both Minnesota born and out of state businesses from creating jobs in our state. Our district has potential for a vibrant future. Agriculture is our core. The world need for more food and new forms of renewable energy place our community at the center of Minnesota’s future wealth creation. The state must foster viable opportunities with a less cumbersome system. I will work hard to apply the wisdom I have gained in our business for growth.

I also learned that our employees became our best asset. Their strong work ethic and commitment to the job were key reasons our company became profitable. Over the years, we’ve been able to steadily grow our company and the number of jobs we provide. We’re proud to have 14 hardworking employees, and we hope to sustain our growth and add more jobs in the years ahead.

What Can Lawmakers Do?

Our story is similar to thousands of others just like it across greater Minnesota. While our counties, cities and state work hard to attract the high profile employers such as a large high technology or manufacturing firm, let’s face it, those successes are rare. Instead, it’s the home grown businesses; the small firms that are already operating that generate most of our job growth; one or two jobs at a time.

These are the jobs that are long term and sustainable. Every new employee added by a small firm is a new employee paying taxes and helping fund the education, transportation and health care priorities of our state. Every business expansion means the business pays more property and sales taxes, income that too will help fund needed government services.

The first thing lawmakers can do is to work diligently to keep the jobs and employers we now have. This can be accomplished by working to enact a tax and regulatory climate that encourages economic expansion and the extension of capital by banks to small businesses. Job growth can also be stimulated when the state ensures a level playing field without favoritism for one industry or employer over another. And, perhaps most importantly, rural lawmakers especially need to use the “bully pulpit” of their office to champion job growth.

On this issue, my opponent, Andrew Falk has failed, not once, but twice. Because of his unwillingness to advocate for the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, 200 good jobs were lost when the facility closed. This was the largest employer in his legislative district, and instead of fighting for those jobs, Falk bowed to Twin Cities labor bosses who adamantly opposed a non-union prison operating in Minnesota.

And when a consortium of power companies proposed the construction of the Big Stone II power facility to supply up to 600 megawatts of clean coal power for Minnesota and the Dakotas, Falk sided with environmental extremists who opposed the project. Had Big Stone II gone forward, hundreds of high paying engineering and construction jobs would have been created and the accompanying economic activity would have had a huge impact on strengthening the economies of towns throughout western and southwestern Minnesota.

The Legislature Needs More Small Business Owners

Minnesota’s job creation and economic development climate can improve through the enactment of job-friendly legislation. The problem is that the House and Senate contain very few small business owners (of either party). Balancing the books, making payroll, managing inventory, hiring employees, scheduling, paying state, local and federal taxes, obtaining permits, pleasing the customer, complying with environmental and health code regulations; these are all skill sets small business owners bring to the legislature.

These are the strengths I will bring to Saint Paul on your behalf to make Minnesota friendlier to the small businesses that create the jobs so vitally important to our children, our future and our rural way of life. When businesses grow in a community, so does that community. People will stay home to work rather than move somewhere else. New people move to the community. The tax base increases. New opportunities are born. And, the cycle continues. My track record is one of success at creating good jobs, our most vital need in western and southwestern Minnesota, and I respectfully ask for your support and vote on November 2