RESTORING LEADERSHIP & TRUST

Strengthening Economic Security for Young Adults and Families 

Dwight will champion efforts to reduce taxes on the lowest two income brackets to help young adults and families.

Children are our future, so doubling Minnesota’s Child Tax Credits and expanding the K-12 Education Credit are two easy ways to help struggling families and Dwight will lead on these issues.

   Ending the Tax on Social Security 

You paid into Social Security your whole life; your withdrawals should be tax free.

Minnesota is one of only 9 states that tax Social Security.

Dwight will lead the charge to make all social security income tax free....it's the right thing to do.

 Doubling Minnesota’s Nuclear Energy Output 

Dwight will champion efforts to repeal the current Nuclear moratorium.

Modern nuclear powerplants are safe, carbon-free, and particulate free.

Dwight supports wind and solar to help meet the 2040 carbon neutral pledge, but the only way we can achieve this lofty goal is to modernize our nuclear facilities to have reliable energy while keeping customer costs down.  This will take bipartisanship, and Dwight will lead efforts to get consensus for our future energy goals.

 Advocating For and Funding Clean Water Initiatives 

Our previous senate representative and our current house representatives, including Dwight's opponent, have missed many opportunities to help Woodbury's water crisis.  He will take charge and will work with others in bipartisan fashion to provide relief to the City of Woodbury by working with other legislators to obtain a Sales Tax exemption for materials and construction of the new water treatment plant and water tower associated with the 3M settlement.  We didn't ask for dirty water from PFAS, but we can sure save millions of dollars simply by obtaining this exemption (finally).

 Reducing Minnesota’s Business Taxes to Compete and Grow 

At 9.8%, Minnesota has the highest tax of all 50 states and a higher tax burden than surrounding states.

Wisconsin’s rate is 7.9%, nearly 20% less than Minnesota’s.

Dwight will advocate for business tax cuts to keep and attract small businesses and corporations – MN must be competitive.

 Working Every Day for Our Community 

Dwight will vigorously pursue new bonding bills for Maplewood's East Metro Public Safety Training Facility and for the La Lake Restoration and Development Project in Woodbury.  These two projects total nearly $7M and are important and highly sought after requests for our respective city's.  These highest priority projects have been ignored, but Dwight will get them across the finish line by working with our local House members and both sides of the aisle.

  Keeping Zoning Decisions Local 

Dwight's opponent has tried to push legislative zoning for housing onto our communities.  This is the job of the City governments of Woodbury and Maplewood...and they do a great job of ensuring a variety of residential zoning to meet the needs of our respective residents.  Dwight will stop any efforts to push any housing legislative mandates onto cities.  He fully supports the respective city councils to continue to make the great decisions that they already are accomplishing on a daily basis.  Woodbury already ranks 6th in affordable housing construction in the Twin Cities, and that's because of dedicated, local elected officials.

 Protecting Seniors in Assisted Living and Nursing Homes 

Costs are skyrocketing, and Medical Assistance is crucial.  Dwight believes that private competition drives better service and better prices, just as competition plays out this way in all other areas of life and business.  While his opponent tries to push more government-only options, he will fight, instead, to streamline regulations and barriers which prevent more private competition.  Minnesota's senior population is growing, so we need to ensure high quality, affordable options for them.  

 Growing Minnesota’s Economy for the Future

Minnesota now has the highest business tax in the entire country, recently taking that dubious honor from New Jersey.  It's not surprising that Minnesota's economy has grown at half the pace of the national average in the past few years.  Dwight will lead efforts to reduce Minnesota's business taxes by 20 percent, which would put our great state on par with Wisconsin.  Imagine what another 20 percent could do.  Businesses will be able to expand, hire more employees, and ultimately increase the tax base, benefitting the companies, workers, the state, and local communities.  It's a win for everybody, and it's a common sense way to quickly put Minnesota back on track again.  

 Restoring Excellence by Prioritizing Reading and Math

As a public school teacher, Dwight sees firsthand how our legislature is failing our children.  Currently, only half of our public school students can read or do math at grade level, yet Dwight's opponent voted for 65 new mandates for our schools, with scant little going to reading or mathematics.  The total cost was approximately $1Billion, and many of the mandates were approved without associated funding, further adding to increased taxes.  Reading is the cornerstone of success as an adult as it underpins all future life endeavors, and mathematics is crucial for us to maintain our edge in society.  Dwight's desire is to sit on the Education Policy committee in the senate, and vigorously fight for our public school children to set high standards and enact proven programs to get us back on track.  Minnesota's children deserve the best education our tax dollars can provide, and we can make public education our greatest legacy again if we focus on these basic skills.    

Prioritizing School Safety with Action, Not Delays  

Dwight will clarify School Resource Officer (SRO) standards to encourage SROs in all public schools.

Ensure SROs are fully funded so no school is lacking in safety.

School safety is paramount, so we must take preventive measures ASAP.

Dwight will act now.

 Bolstering Minimum Sentencing to Keep Communities Safe

Small crimes without consequences leads to larger crimes; mandatory consequences are required.

We must strengthen Minnesota’s criminal code to break the cycle of bad behavior.

Public Safety is the most important role of government and Dwight intends to follow through for Minnesotans.