Braxton Seifert, Republican candidate for State Senate District 15, visited New Ulm Friday to discuss the issues impacting voters.

NEW ULM – Braxton Seifert, the Republican endorsed candidate for Senate District 15, visited New Ulm last Friday to meet with voters.

Seifert said he has a goal to visit every city in the district and meet with any constituent to discuss the issues.

“The big golden nugget that I am hearing from people across the district is the waste, fraud and abuse going on in Minnesota,” Seifert said. “There is a lot of frustration right now because it seems like the Legislature is stuck in the mud on a common solution.”

Seifert feels the fraud issue comes down to making sure state commissioners and budget were overseen properly. He supported the appointment of an inspector general to review the budget. Along with the inspector general, Seifert wanted to see mandatory audits, prosecution and restitution.

Seifert believes that without meaningful prosecution and sentencing, it would only incentivize further financial abuse.

Another issue Seifert has heard a lot about is the high cost of living in Minnesota.

“I hear it a lot with young people is they can go to South Dakota and Iowa and the cost of living is a lot lower,” he said.

As a business owner, Seifert said one of the highest costs is for utilities. He believed the higher costs were caused by energy mandates driving up costs.

“We need to get back to a common sense solution, that is an all of the above approach that includes renewable resources as well as nuclear resources and give a solution that meets our needs at a reliable and affordable perspective,” he said.

The third largest concern Seifert is hearing is the tax and regulatory issues caused by the state. He specifically pointed to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), which he said was attacking farmers and preventing operations from growing.

“As a business owner who is trying to grow their business, wants to raise a family and wants to have a quality education available and have opportunity available for all Minnesotans, it comes down to what Minnesota has to offer,” he said. “High taxes, high taxes and big government is not the solution; it is the problem.”

Seifert said another issue he was hearing across the district was concern about the new Minnesota Paid Family Leave program. He said the issue came up while talking with the New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce and other businesses.

“It is a very expensive program,” Seifert said. “There are many signs that it will lead to extensive fraud and there is little oversight on this program.”

Seifert would like to see exemptions in paid family leave for small businesses with 12 or fewer employees. He explained that if an employee of a small business leaves for an extensive period, the business is required to leave the job open while hiring an employee to backfill the position.

“It puts a big bind on the business owner in terms of expenses and availability,” he said.

In general, Seifert believes there needs to be more off-ramps for businesses to take. Instead of being mandated to use the state’s plan, allow businesses to offer similar or alternative plans.

While in New Ulm, Seifert also heard concerns regarding the needed repairs to the Hermann the German monument.

“Fixing Hermann the German is a big one on the priority list; specifically to New Ulm,” he said. “An easy way to pay for that is through the Arts and Culture fund that is paid for through a small percentage of the sales tax. Herman fits perfectly into that.”

Seifert believes Minnesota is a very generous state and believes the funding for Hermann was out there through a variety of grant programs; it was just a matter of finding the funds.

Seifert said another issue he would like to work on is Minnesota’s tax on charitable gambling. In his work as an auctioneer, Seifert has helped raise funds for nonprofits and part of that is through charitable gaming, but the state has a high tax on charitable gambling. He said on projects that raise over $157,000, the state will take 33% of it as a tax.

Seifert said this was a large cut out, something that was going to charitable work and arguable was saving the taxpayers’ money.

“If you want to donate by playing a game for a nonprofit, that money should be going to the nonprofit and St. Paul should not be getting a cut of it,” he said.

On education, Seifert said he wanted to make amendments to the North Start Promise program. The project helps fund post-secondary education for those who cannot afford it. Seifert said this was a great program for rural Minnesota, but he would like the program to have a residency requirement. Anyone benefiting from the program would need to stay in Minnesota for at least three years.

Another issue with education are the budget shortfalls impacting public schools, like New Ulm Public, which recently cut $2 million from its budget.

“I am hearing across the board that school districts across Minnesota are offering referendums and this is not all for capital, but for budget shortfalls,” Seifert said. “A lot of it comes down to it is unfunded mandates.”

Seifert said under funding is a state and federal problem that needs to be resolved.

“If we want to have quality education and quality schools and [the government] wants to mandate things, they have to pay for it,” he said.

Seifert also spoke on the day care shortages facing Minnesota. He said it’s a problem he hears about from across the state.

“Day care is expensive for a lot of families,” he said. “A big chunk of it is regulatory issues.”

He praised the pod model day care created in New Ulm. He said many other communities are looking into the pod model and encouraged them to do so.

“I think that is a good balance of the free market that works with some government help,” he said.

Seifert said with day care shortages, the Republicans want to say it is all regulatory and Democrats say it is all spending, but he believes it will take a combination of both to provide a solution.

“Really, [day care] is the foundation of a growing economy,” he said. “Do you have young people in your community who can have kids and have availability for day care? It takes every piece of the puzzle to be successful.”

Seifert said he was inspired to run for the state senate because he knew of many young people who love Minnesota, but are being forced to leave because they do not have the resources they need.

“I am running for all the people who want to live in this state, have jobs available, have housing available, have quality education available, can raise a family, get the government off their back, grow their farm, grow their small business and be proud of their state,” Seifert said.

Seifert works as a loan officer at a family-owned bank, as an auctioneer and owner of a growing storage business. He is a member of the Lyon County Corn & Soybean Growers Board, the Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce, an active member of the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Marshall and a youth mentor to high school students through the CEO program.