MEET THE CANDIDATES
Feature
State Representative
Steve Jacob
DISTRICT 20B
Why are you running for State Representative and how does your experience qualify you for the position? The reason that I became involved in government stems from an incident where government overreach landed me in a court case where I learned very quickly about government dysfunctions. Fortunately, the judge saw things in my favor, but it was still an expensive lesson for my family. I didn't want anyone else to go through what I went through, so I ran for and won a County Commissioner position. I quickly became known as a government
watchdog and have subsequently run four campaigns based on stopping the expansion of government. I consider my path to the Minnesota House of Representatives to be a path that God has put me on, and has prepared me well for. The district that I represent is largely a rural and agricultural district. Being a 4th generation family farmer and a ten-year county commissioner who has sat on as many water resource boards as I could over the last dozen years has prepared me well to represent this district. What are your top two priorities/issues as a candidate for State Representative? My top priorities include defending the taxpayers from an ever-expanding government while simultaneously working to reign in government regulations. It is heartbreaking to hear long-time business people from my area talk about needing to leave Minnesota in order to escape high taxes and overbearing regulations. Going into our last biennium the state of Minnesota had an 18-billion-dollar overcollection of taxes. Not only did democrats fail to refund the overcollection, but they raised taxes by an additional 10 billion dollars on top of that. This is breaking the backs of hard-working Minnesotans, and these people need someone in the legislature fighting for them, and against further expansions of government. How can the state government improve to best serve both the business community and its citizens? Minnesota needs to become more business friendly. My vision for Minnesota includes seeing a sign as you enter our state that reads "Welcome to Minnesota, Open for Business". Being business friendly helps our citizens and taxpayers as much as it helps our businesses. We need to loosen overbearing regulations in order for businesses to feel welcome in our state. As a farmer, I see firsthand how overregulation is driving agriculture out of our state. It is very disheartening to watch family farms try to expand here in Minnesota as they run into obstacle after obstacle standing in the way of their dreams to expand the family farm so they can continue to protect our environment and feed the world, all while they are driving our local economy. In my district farming is a good example of regulatory overreach, but the same issues face nearly every business in our state. We can absolutely protect our environment without driving business out of Minnesota.
14 | ROCHESTER AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ADVANTAGE MAGAZINE — OCTOBER 2024
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