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My Point of View by Joe Pacovsky

I am Joe Pacovsky and I am running to represent you in the Minnesota House of Representatives District 23B. As a result of redistricting in 2022, District 23B now includes Hayward and Myrtle as well as six townships in eastern Freeborn County, Shell Rock, London, Hayward, Oakland, Moscow and Newry.

I grew up on a farm east of Glenville, the oldest of six. I graduated from Glenville High School, and from Riverland in pre-engineering and the University of Minnesota in Mechanical Engineering.

After college I worked in the Hormel Engineering Department. I developed an interest in energy conservation which led me to pursue a graduate degree in Industrial and Management Systems Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For the last 26 years of my career, I served as the Utility Manager of the Marshfield Municipal Utility in Marshfield, Wisconsin. This municipal utility is like the Austin or Blooming Prairie Utilities.

My wife Katherine and I have three daughters and 10 grandchildren. I decided to run for this seat because we have told our daughters and grandchildren that you can’t complain if you are unwilling to fix the problem. My career was solutions-oriented, and I want to bring those skills to the legislature.

My primary goals are to promote economic development in our district, protect women’s reproductive rights and protect the environment.

Promoting economic development has many components. We need accessible and affordable medical services, including reasonable health insurance rates for independent business owners and farmers. A strong public education system provides the foundation for peoples future. Accessibility to affordable childcare is essential to allow everyone to participate in the economy. We need to keep farmers, particularly beginning farmers, competitive. One issue which is primarily a federal issue, but the state should review is the current weak anti-trust regulation. Farmers have limited competition for their purchases or output.

A bonding bill was not passed during the last session leaving critical unmet infrastructure funding needs in our local communities. State bonding money for the Austin Wastewater Plant would reduce reliance on hefty increases in local property taxes and utility rates to protect our access to clean water. Another missed opportunity was funding for the cryo-electron microscope at the Hormel Institute which would enhance their level of biomedical research to fight cancer and add highly skilled jobs to our local economy. This funding fell victim to the Republican’s obsession with policy differences rather than bringing our shared priorities to fruition.

Republicans are attacking women’s reproductive rights nationally, and Minnesota would be no different if Republicans like the current 23B representative gain control of state government.

Iowa’s six-week ban just went into effect, taking away women’s freedoms only miles from our district. Some women don’t even know they are pregnant at six weeks much less whether they might experience complications. Women should have the freedom to make health decisions privately without interference from the government!

My career included energy conservation which helped protect the environment by using less carbon-based fuels. It’s a matter of physics that increasing carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere causes temperatures to rise. The extreme weather events we have been experiencing reinforce the need to continue to reduce the use of carbon-based fuels and switch to renewable energy sources and other non-carbon fueled generation.

Our rights are under attack by Republicans. Just review their project 2025 manifesto which numerous former Trump administration officials helped craft. It would ban abortions without exceptions, ban some forms of contraceptives, eliminate unions and worker protections, cut Social Security and Medicare, give even more tax breaks to corporations and the richest 1%, and end climate protection.

The Republican agenda has become extreme, impractical and out-of-touch with our values.

Please vote for me to be your 23B representative and to protect your rights as a Minnesotan.