Minnesota House District 18B

Candidate Biography:

I have lived in Minnesota my whole life of which over 35 years have been in the Mankato area, with most of that time being in Mankato. I was born in Minneapolis and eventually graduated from Minnetonka HS in 1980. I attended Gustavus Adolphus College for 2 years, then transferred to MSU – Mankato. I had health problems which caused me to withdraw from college, therefore I never graduated. I worked a few different jobs in Mankato, then moved to the cities to help my parents run their drycleaning businesses. In 1997, I moved back to Mankato after marrying Dave Vosburg who has lived here his whole life. I love the Mankato area, so it was natural and easy for me to move back here. We do not have any kids, but I am aunt/great aunt to over 50. I have been selling real estate for over 27 years and own my own brokerage, manage my parents’ self-storage business, plus I am part owner of a thermography business, all here in Mankato. Being a small business owner has always been in my blood, as my parents have owned multiple businesses since the 1960’s.

Candidate Questionnaire:

1. Why should voters elect you to serve the position you seek?
I have always been a problem solver and will plan on bringing those skills to the Capitol as we have some big challenges that we need to work on this next session. I am willing to stand up for what is right and not let politics get in the way. I am a results and goal driven person and want to focus on the issues that matter most.

2. What would you say are the key issues facing the city/district/county/state you seek to represent and how would you impact them from this elected position?

Eagle Lake is in need of an upgraded waste water treatment facility as it is aging and they are having problems with manganese in the water, which can cause cancer. This needs to be approved in the next bonding bill.

Inflation and high gas prices need to get under control. We can help to solve this by attacking wasteful government spending and to return any future budget surplus to working families. I will also work towards lowering taxes for individuals and businesses. Minnesota is one of the highest taxed states and not as business friendly as it needs be to attract and keep employers. I would also support eliminating the social security tax as most of our seniors are struggling to make ends meet.

We need safer communities by increasing the penalties for violent crime and to make sure that law enforcement agencies are fully funded so they can keep and attract police officers. Mental health and chemical dependency also need to be a part of this discussion.

Parents want to be more in control of how and what their kids are taught. We need to work together to figure out how to promote excellence in our schools and to prepare them for success in life.

More issues we face that need to be addressed would include affordable housing and health care, just to mention a few.

3. In your view, what is the role of the body/office you seek in supporting business vitality and economic development?
The role of a legislator is to be fiscally responsible with individual taxpayers’ and businesses’ money, as well as to pass laws. The more money everyone has in their pocket, the more robust our city and state economies will be. We need to focus on attracting new businesses, instead of watching them pass us over, plus encourage investment and innovation. Small businesses and our downtown area need to be supported also. We need to make sure that we have ways to train and keep employees in the workforce. Parents need more daycare options and everyone needs better access to good, affordable health care.

4. The effective and efficient use of public tax dollars is a key component to serving in public office. What experience do you have dealing with complex budgets? When presented with a budget that will often be several hundred pages in length, what will be your process to determine if it is a good budget? What improvements would you recommend to improve the fiscal responsibility for the body/office you would represent if elected?

I currently operate my businesses through 2 S-Corporations and 2-LLCs so I am familiar with budgets, P&L’s and balance sheets, although they are not nearly as complex as a state budget. I would love to tackle the challenge of working with the state budget and would be open to being on one of the finance committees so I can be aware of the spending that occurs and help keep us fiscally responsible to our constituents. One of the things that concerns me is that there is duplication in many areas, such as having over 20+ software systems to run the departments. The state needs to be run like a business. The attitude of spending all of the money allotted for a line item, or you won’t get it in the budget next year needs to change. I know there will always be tough decisions as to what programs or services to support or cut out of the budget.

5.  Compromise and consensus are a crucial part of bringing conflicting views/positions together to get decisions made in a democracy. How will you go about working with other elected officials of varied political backgrounds to build the consensus necessary to govern for the benefit of citizens?
I have been involved in well over 1000 real estate transactions so I know how to guide people towards compromise and have always been able to “think outside of the box”. Trying to decide what programs should be funded through the state will be a difficult task as there is only so much money to go around. Most constituents are not willing to pay more in taxes. I have always been known as being fair and able to see the view from both sides, which can help bring a consensus. My district is pretty evenly split politically so I have an obligation to listen to both sides. I have always been active in my community and will continue to do so and strive to do more as their legislator. We all need to work towards common ground as most of our citizens are frustrated and feel that nothing ever gets done in Government.