My name is Erik Mortensen and I am running for the MN House to change the course in St Paul. I grew up in Shakopee and my wife and I chose to raise our two children in this community.
For years, I heard Jason Lewis say it was crazy to start a business in today’s political climate. But I didn’t listen to his advice at the time and started a restoration company. We’ve been quite successful over the past couple years, but between taxes and unnecessary regulation, I understand why Jason gave that advice.
I’m a fighter though and believe in fixing problems. That’s why I’m running for office. It’s time to change course.
Issues:
St. Paul Cronyism
The only concern of most politicians is winning their next election. My first, last and only concern is stripping power from government and restoring it to where it constitutionally belongs – with the individual.
Not only will I be fighting for restoring individual liberties in any and all possible ways but I pledge to expose the cronyism at the Capitol. I’ve already been told that I’ll need to toe the line but that’s of no interest. My interests lie in overhauling the culture of government and ensuring my Republican colleagues practice what they preached while campaigning.
School Board Accountability
We need the ability to hold our school board accountable at all times.
Our school board has been an embarrassment. From embezzlement to losing $4,000,000 our school board’s incompetence has left the community at odds with our public school staff. The result will mean higher taxes, larger class sizes and fewer teachers. This pressure shouldn’t be felt between the community and teachers, the pressure should fall directly onto the school board. I will champion legislation to permit communities to recall school boards or school board members between election cycles when extreme incompetence has been demonstrated.
Battling the education lobby is a difficult fight but it’s a worthy fight.
Reduce Taxes
Politicians keep growing government, which means taxes stay high. It’s your money, you should be able to keep it.
Taxation is legalized theft! Imagine the outcry if instead of government taking your tax dollars out of your check, you had to pay your income taxes to government in the form of a check. This is why I signed the MN Taxpayers League Pledge to never raise your taxes. And I’ll go a step further at the Capitol and work to reduce the current tax liability so Minnesota is more welcoming to businesses and retirees.
Stop the Debt!
Politicians tell us they want to shrink government, but they end up voting for massive billion dollar bonding bills. For the future of our children, it’s time to change course and shrink government.
Bonding bills are being used to justify even further spending on pet projects. Our legislators use bonding bills similarly to omnibus bills, for back-room deals made to trade votes with one another. They tell us bonding bills allow us to pass the costs of large projects onto future generations that will benefit from them. But if that’s the justification why aren’t all roads, bridges and large projects paid for through bonding?
The truth is we have no need for bonding bills. Bonding bills have been equivalent to around 2% of our biennium budget. Certainly we can find ways to trim 2% of our budget and eliminate the supposed ‘need’ for bonding bills entirely.
Protect the Unborn
Politicians talk a good game about protecting the unborn, but when large spending bills get passed, taxpayer money keeps getting sent to fund abortion clinics. I will vote against these bills.
Planned Parenthood aborts roughly 900 unborn babies per day! Yet for every issue other than abortion our liberal friends repeatedly use the line “1 death is too many” as an excuse to get any of their other agenda items done. Talk about hypocrisy! One of the few legitimate roles of government is the protection of life.
I believe punishing the unborn is never the right answer. In a state where many parents would love to adopt we should be focused on making adoption easier and promoting the value of life.
Gun Rights
I’m a firm believer that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. In fact I have pledged to sponsor Stand Your Ground legislation. It’s time for Minnesota to join many of our fellow states and pass a Stand Your Ground law!! Our founding fathers’ were most fearful of government power, this is the very reason for the 2nd Amendment. With government ever increasing in size and scope it’s more important than ever to fully preserve this God given (NOT government-granted) right. We are entitled to protect ourselves where ever necessary. Our current requirement to retreat leaves our most vulnerable at risk.
This content was originally published at http://mortforhouse.com/