Former Dayton city council member and two-term House of Representatives member Eric Lucero, a Republican, is seeking to re-election to the Minnesota Legislature. He’s challenged, this year, by new DFL-endorsed candidate in Margaret Fernandez, a professional Realtor from St. Michael.
State House of Representatives seats are two-year terms, and serve during the Legislative Session at the Minnesota Capitol and via various committee meetings held throughout the year. They do make an annual salary of $31,140 annually.
Here’s a look at the two candidates:
Margaret Fernandez
Website for background information and platform: Margaret Fernandez for House
Minnesota’s business climate seems to be succeeding, but the overall consensus is “things could be better.” How? What role can the state Legislature play in helping our businesses succeed heading into the next decade?
This is a big question and it is a value question. We as Minnesotans need to decide whether we want to continue to be a leader in the country. We were recently voted the number one place to grow up by the Washington Post. I want to see our district continue to grow and we have a big opportunity to do so. We do not need to raise taxes on the middle class but we need to reprioritize spending.
With regard to the last session there were a few opportunities where we should have spent taxpayer dollars on taxpayers. Also, to get the middle class back on track we need to look at MNsure, Education at all levels, Taxes, wages, transportation and broadband.
First, education and taxes, from a property tax perspective we have successfully passed many school referendums and do not have the state funding other districts in the state are receiving. I moved here 15 years ago because of the great schools. It is a value our community has believed in. I would like to fight for additional funding for our schools to ensure that we are receiving our fair share of the funding that is already set aside to go to education. We need to be competitive and keep class sizes down, hire qualified teachers and ensure that we have a special education system that works for all students. I am not looking to raise taxes but to advocate for our schools and our children’s future. Last session, the GOP voted for $32 million in in tax cuts for the tobacco industry instead of health for Minnesota kids. They also voted for millions in tax breaks for multimillionaires and corporate property owners that don’t live in the state. What value is this for the taxpayers in Minnesota? These people don’t even live and invest in our local economy. We don’t need to raise taxes we need to reprioritize our efforts.
In terms of higher education, I have a child preparing for college. My husband and I saved some money to help with the crippling cost. I know this isn’t an option for everyone and we need solutions. My teenager had the opportunity to participate in the Post Secondary Education Option. She will graduate high school with an associate’s degree and potentially complete her college degree with little college debt. We must continue to look for creative ways to address the cost of higher education so future generations can receive an education and come out debt free. This would substantially help the middle class.
Likewise, Our insurance rates are spiraling out of control and Minnesotans are left to make life and death decisions everyday. Lets not forget before MNsure premiums were going up 25% annually. I believe that no child or individual should die of a preventable disease in America. Within my own family, health care premiums have gone up significantly. If one of us were to get sick we would pay approx. 1000% more then 20 years ago in healthcare costs. Our salaries have not kept pace. It is the profits and salaries of insurance executives and the inflated prescription drug prices driving up cost. This is serious greed. Going back to the old system would put Minnesotans in an even bigger predicament. Premiums would still increase, existing conditions would not be covered and many people would not have health care coverage. The uninsured would resort to emergency room visits and the costs would fall right back on the taxpayers to pick up the bill. We need a focused negotiator that will fight to lower prescription drug costs and the insurance companies high premiums. There are over 5 million Minnesotans and if the insurance companies do not want to start focusing on patients instead of profits they can leave. I am for profits but this is just greed. We will find a reasonable insurance company that puts patients before profits. Two more years of inaction from our current representative would put all of our families even farther behind. We also need to look at ways of supporting small business and their employees. Some of the tax cuts for the big corporations should be diverted to help small businesses with this burden.
Wages are another issue we are facing as a country. Our unemployment in Minnesota is low, however wages for working class families have not kept pace with the economy. Minnesotans are working longer and producing at a higher level but are expected to do more with less. It is my belief that that nobody should be working full time and live below the poverty line. What happens when families can’t make a living wage is the taxpayers have to subsidize these hard workers. We are a consumer society. I am a Realtor, when my clients are making a good living wage they have the ability to be independent and buy a home. Homeowners that are looking to upgrade or downsize have the ability to sell the number one biggest asset for the average American at a good price. New construction grows with low inventory and contractors have jobs as well as cities grow their property tax base. This is a win/win for all involved. In terms of a higher minimum wage, I am for a federal minimum wage. This way we wont lose business to other states that we are competing with. Also, we need to consider how to protect small business with tax breaks that protect them from this change. Really I am for a higher minimum wage because we have a choice, we can support hard workers that want independence or taxpayers pay for welfare.
Finally, my family has two incomes. I was fortunate to have sick time and paid family leave when I had my children. All of us that are parents know this is important to the healing of the mother and baby. Likewise, sick time for full time employees is crucial and fosters a healthy, productive work environment. As a first world country, we are one of the only countries that don’t offer paid family leave. Countries all over the world including, China and India offer family leave. We as a state and nation must decide together if this is something we value.
Wright County is experiencing growth in business, housing, transportation and more. What would you do in St. Paul to keep things rolling in what is – mostly – the right direction, particularly for small businesses?
I addressed a few of the key changes and opportunities to support small business in the first question. We need to reprioritize spending to support small businesses as we look to reform healthcare, wages and employee benefits. There are two more issues that Minnesotans need to address. They are transportation and broadband.
First, not only is it costing us money as we sit in traffic and do not have easy access to work but it is dangerous not to have roads and bridges that are not safe. I want you to think about how many bridges you cross on a daily basis and how long you sit in traffic from day to day. I know the importance of the need to update this infrastructure first hand. My husband is a first responder who was one of the first fire trucks called in to help pull children and adults from the 35W bridge collapse. I was a professional sitting in traffic everyday during my commute into Minneapolis for 9 years. How much is our time worth? Every time we sit in traffic for an hour or two that is an hour or two not spent with our families. The average family in our district makes approx. $44 an hour. What does that cost us in traffic everyday? We have some decisions to make to fund our transportation infrastructure, however I will not sit by like our current representative and not do anything to improve our transportation system.
Broadband is another value we as Minnesotans need to decide if we value growth. Do we want our small businesses to compete on the state, national and global level? Do we value education for rural areas and want a future educated work force? Where I work we always say, “you have to invest in something for it to be successful.” If we as a state want to continue to be successful we have to invest in ourselves. We have a 2 billion dollar surplus. There is no reason we can’t invest in tomorrow.
What can be done to bridge the partisan divide at the STATE level? It’s clear people are sick of “politics as usual,” yet compromise seems to be truly a lost art. Where can we come together and make Minnesota better by 2020?
As a citizen of our community, I am frustrated with the gridlock like many others. The role of our legislators is to be the voice, negotiator and advocate for our district. I support reforms making the process more open to the public. Every bill should get a 24 hour review from the public prior to a vote. Our current representatives were unwilling and unable to get measures passed from MNsure reform, education funding, tax reform supporting the middle class, small business reform, transportation and broadband funding. It is time to send a leader with a no nonsense business background to Saint Paul.
Eric Lucero
Website for background information and platform: EricLucero.com
Minnesota’s business climate seems to be succeeding, but the overall consensus is “things could be better.” How? What role can the state Legislature play in helping our businesses succeed heading into the next decade?
Government needs to get out of the way. Hardworking Minnesota families and businesses across our great state need immediate relief from crushing taxes and burdensome over-regulation. The Tax Foundation’s recently issued 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index ranked Minnesota’s business tax climate the 46th-worst.
Business owners and job creators are fleeing Minnesota. According to the results of an independent study included in an article titled “Minnesota’s Great Wealth Migration” recently published in Twin Cities Business Magazine, more than 12,000 Minnesotans are expected to exit Minnesota by the year 2020. Many of the 12,000 fleeing Minnesota are business owners and job creators and are taking a combined total $5.2 billion in taxable income with them.
Earlier this year I was among the Republicans in the House that passed a three-year, $801 million tax relief package that was subsequently vetoed by Gov. Dayton. I will continue working hard to create a more business friendly, lower tax, lower regulation climate to stop the exodus fleeing Minnesota.
Wright County is experiencing growth in business, housing, transportation and more. What would you do in St. Paul to keep things rolling in what is – mostly – the right direction, particularly for small businesses?
Continuing the 3-lane expansion of I-94 to Albertville and funding other roads and bridges transportation is critical for our community. Congested roads increase costs for businesses and as a licensed real estate agent people repeatedly tell me convenient access to roads and ease of commute are among the top factors people consider when making housing and employment decisions. As a member of the House Transportation Committee I’ve been working hard to redirect existing state revenue away from wasteful programs such as the Metropolitan Council’s Southwest Light Rail toward proven transportation programs such as Corridors of Commerce. I will continue to fight for increased roads and bridges transportation funding while at the same time working to stop gas tax increases.
What can be done to bridge the partisan divide at the STATE level? It’s clear people are sick of “politics as usual,” yet compromise seems to be truly a lost art. Where can we come together and make Minnesota better by 2020?
Due to competing values and ideas, the legislative process can absolutely be frustrating at times, but there is no better system than our Constitutional Republic. Nevertheless, working together on important issues through compromise is NOT a lost art. I’m proud to work with my legislative colleagues on important bi-partisan legislation such as equity in education funding and k-12 student data privacy protections.
Moreover, now that Gov. Dayton this month admitted Obamacare / MNsure is “no longer affordable,” adding that Obamacare / MNsure have “some serious blemishes and serious deficiencies,” my hope is Democrats will be more willing than ever to work together with Republicans to fix the broken healthcare system by adding free-market solutions proven to empower individuals and businesses with choice, increase efficiency, increase innovation, and decrease cost.
At the same time, naturally there are areas where there is less Republican-Democrat agreement. I strongly believe in protecting innocent life from conception to natural death and protecting the individual right to keep and bear arms, as two examples. The great people of our community can count on me to continue standing strong for individual liberty and the core values of our community including pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.