Steve’s Priorities
Lower Costs. Stop the Waste. Put Our Communities First.
A focused agenda built around family budgets, accountable government, strong schools, public safety, and local control.
What Steve Will Fight For
Practical priorities for families, taxpayers, schools, farms, and local communities.
Steve’s agenda focuses on the pressures people feel every day and the basic responsibilities government must handle well: affordability, accountability, education, public safety, and decisions made close to home.
Why does life keep getting harder to afford?
Groceries, gas, energy, housing, insurance, child care, and property taxes keep going up. Steve believes St. Paul must respect the family budget again by controlling spending, reducing unnecessary taxes and fees, stopping costly mandates, and making Minnesota a place where families, seniors, farmers, and small businesses can afford to stay.
- Control state spending and focus on core responsibilities.
- Reduce pressure from taxes, fees, and expensive mandates.
- Support affordable energy, housing, and a competitive business climate.
Where did all the money go?
Taxpayers deserve to know where their money went and whether it delivered results. Steve will fight for stronger oversight, real audits, earlier fraud prevention, tougher consequences, protection for whistleblowers, and recovery of stolen taxpayer dollars wherever possible.
- Stop fraud before money leaves the door.
- Require transparent audits and measurable results.
- Hold agencies, contractors, and offenders accountable.
Why are property taxes going up?
Too often, St. Paul creates programs and mandates, then leaves counties, cities, schools, and townships to pay the bill. Steve saw this pressure firsthand on the Lonsdale City Council. He will oppose unfunded mandates and fight to stop state government from shifting its costs onto local property taxpayers.
- Require honest cost estimates before new mandates pass.
- Protect local taxpayers from state cost shifting.
- Give cities, schools, counties, and townships flexibility to solve local problems.
Are our schools preparing kids for life?
Every student deserves a strong education that prepares them for the real world. Steve supports reading, math, science, history, discipline, safe classrooms, parent involvement, good teachers, and more career, technical, trades, and workforce opportunities.
- Focus classroom time and dollars on student achievement.
- Respect parents and support effective teachers.
- Prepare students for college, trades, agriculture, health care, manufacturing, construction, technology, public safety, and small business.
Do families feel as safe as they should?
Families should feel safe at home, at school, at work, and in their communities. Steve supports law enforcement, firefighters, first responders, victims, and local departments. He will push for accountability for repeat and violent offenders, stronger action against fentanyl and drug crime, and practical support for mental health and addiction recovery.
- Stand with law enforcement and first responders.
- Hold repeat, violent, and drug offenders accountable.
- Make sure local departments have the tools and staffing needed to serve.
Who should make decisions for our communities?
The people closest to a problem usually understand it best. Steve believes parents, local officials, farmers, small businesses, teachers, and community leaders should have a stronger voice than distant bureaucracies. He will stand up for farms, local roads, broadband, affordable energy, clean water, and responsible local control.
- Protect clean water without punishing farmers.
- Support growth without burying small businesses in red tape.
- Respect local schools, city councils, township leaders, parents, and residents.
A Practical Agenda