Itasca County 2026 Primary Election Guide

Contributed

Incumbent: No

Age on Election Day: 45

Community: Deer River

Employment: Fish Tales Bar and Grill, cook

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

I served for 10 years on the Deer River City Council, 10 years on the Itasca Nursing Home Board, and 7 years on the Itasca Soil and Water Board.

Why are you running?

I feel we need to see big changes happen in our county. People's taxes have risen far faster than the cost of living. We need to look at ways to reduce the burdens on our citizens. As our homes have to tighten budgets, so too, should our government. I want to leave this county in a position where my kids can afford to raise a family here too. I'm running for change!

Why should voters choose you to advance to the general election?

I am an experienced leader, I have always been proud to serve the public, and humbly ask for the support of the voters. We need a change!

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

I can't necessarily say I admire any public leaders. I admire honesty, a willingness to listen, and someone who will vote for the best interests of the taxpayers.

What are the three biggest issues your county is facing?

Taxes are too high, we need to encourage new businesses to invest in Itasca County, and desperately we need to slow or stop the rising size and cost of government.

Which of those three issues is most important to you, and how would you address it if elected?

Taxes are by far the biggest issue, high taxes stifles the economy and discourages business investments. I will always prioritize less government cost and control to encourage business.

What would be your top spending priorities and savings priorities in the county budget?

All spending should be scrutinized. I would start by reducing commissioner wages, and end the taxpayer funded health insurance provided to our elected officials. As our families struggle with healthcare costs, I don't believe those very citizens should provide insurance to elected public officials.

How should counties best use limited resources to root out potential fraud?

Question everything, we need to scrutinize budgets, and processes that affect those budgets.

Contributed

Incumbent: Yes

Age on Election Day: 48

Community: Squaw Lake

Employment: Self-employed/current county commissioner

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

Outside of budgeting my own personal business, the nearly four years of being a commissioner has gained me the experience and knowledge of what it takes and what the commitment of being a county commissioner is. The connections I have gained through our legislators to help get the constituents points across so they too can advocate for us in St. Paul.

Why are you running?

I am running again because the work that I have been committed to isn't done yet. I feel we have gained a lot of ground but there is more ground that needs to be covered. I will continue to fight against nonfunded state mandates that are one of the factors that drive taxes through the roof. It is not sustainable that St. Paul thinks that any county, let alone rural counties, can continue down this path. And as always, continue to be mindful of our budget making dollars stretch as far as we can stretch them while still maintaining services that the county needs. I will continue to work with department heads on restructuring departments where we can to not only be more proficient in the way in every aspect of county government.

Why should voters choose you to advance to the general election?

I feel that I have been transparent through the nearly four years in office which is very important this day in age in government. I have always put the county first including my trip to Washington D.C. where I testified on Capitol Hill and brought attention to this great county and what it offers to the people across the United States. I am passionate about getting new well-paying jobs to come into this county. I am very happy with the work that we have done to get Mesabi Metallics set up to succeed which is going to be a great asset to this county. We have had some very good conversation with privately held companies that are very interested in building facilities in our county. I also have been working hard with our partners on getting our logging industry back on the map in Itasca County.

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

Ronald Reagan. The fact that he ended the Cold War should be enough, but he restored great confidence in the United States.

What are the three biggest issues your county is facing?

Tax increases, lack of funding for road and bridges and rural ambulance and hospital funding.

Which of those three issues is most important to you, and how would you address it if elected?

Tax increases. Continue to push our legislators in St. Paul to fight against nonfunded mandates. Continue to work with our Land Department to sell more of our tax-forfeited land to get it back on the tax roll. Continue to try to find ways to do more with less and continue to explore every grant opportunity that will help the county.

What would be your top spending priorities and savings priorities in the county budget?

Outside of the mandated services that we are mandated to pay, which is a large chunk of our budget, in no particular order would be our roads and bridges and public safety. On the savings side, we need to continue to think outside the box when it comes to how we run departments. Cutting down on the county's footprint by selling buildings and properties that are no longer needed and continuing to work with our great partners to achieve grant funding when we are able.

How should counties best use limited resources to root out potential fraud?

Where a lot of these issues come in to play would be our Health and Human Resource Department and also in IM Care. They are heavily mandated with audits; some are monthly, quarterly or yearly. I think our internal audits are very good and have been very good at catching things that don't add up. Our third-party audits have accounted for every penny.

Contributed

Incumbent: No

Age on Election Day: 65

Community: Unorganized township on the North shore of lake Winnie

Employment: Small business ownwer ( North Winnie Landing ) in the winter months , Retired from a 38 year construction career .

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

For 28 years I estimated and managed up to multi million dollar construction projects . When I estimated these projects and I was the low successful bidder that estimate became the budget with no options to pass a levy or pass over runs on to anyone else . If cost went over, the company I worked for absorbed the cost , not good for me . These estimates included materials ,equipment , man hours ,subcontractors ext.That responsibility taught me how to plan carefully , control expenses and stay in front the cost .I successfully complete many many large projects on time and within budget ,I managed hundreds of employees on multiple projects at the same time . Hiring and laying off making cuts to stay in budget was a daily event . I negotiated owners union contracts for 24 years for the Laborers , Carpenters , and Masons .

Why are you running?

I am a 64 year resident of Itasca County I know what Itasca county is missing and needs help with and the only way I can help is to be on the inside . I want to build our logging community back to the numbers it was most my life . We have a natural resource here that we are not taking full advantage of .I want to bring more Industry into the area . By doing those things we can lower our property taxes or at least slow the increases . I want to find away to freeze property taxes for seniors so they are not pushed out of there homes and I have had people tell me there is nothing I can do about that , What I know about that is they are correct if I do nothing . Those are my Goals and priorities .

Why should voters choose you to advance to the general election?

Look at the resumes carefully . I have owned my house on lake Winnie for 35 years . I retired from a 38 year union career in construction working over 77'000 hours . I have 28 of those 38 years in construction in management of business , equipment , materials , labor and negotiations of multi million dollar projects . After retiring I started with a partner a small business ,( North Winnie Landing ) which has a face book page if anyone would like to see what our customers think of us there . Very positive page . I have managed my life , my work and my business all successfully no matter how big it got .

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

Pete Stauber , First off this is totally bipartisan nothing to do with red or blue ! I like his commitment to mining , industry , the unions , the people in Northern Minnesota . I had a almost 40 year career working in mines , paper mills , power plants and board plants and got to see with my own eyes how much money and change has gone into cleaning up the air and water in all the processes . The science and the testing is there I stand behind the people that defend our way of life .

What are the three biggest issues your county is facing?

A lack of Industry and the livable wage jobs that come with it . The escalating property taxes and the mechanism used to increase them is impossible to plan for . The logging is so important to get back on track .

Which of those three issues is most important to you, and how would you address it if elected?

I think Industry helps all 3 to a certain extent . I would have a goal of a OSB Plant starting to build in the first year I'm in office . I would not let them stumble around and make things difficult to navigate like Huber went through . I will take them by the hand and walk them through the neighborhood and show how welcome they are here . Estimate 300 in plant jobs , possible 250 logging related jobs and a new tax base to help our property taxes .

What would be your top spending priorities and savings priorities in the county budget?

If I had to spend it needs to pay me back and I would be willing to help an OSB plant come to Itasca county . It doesn't mean that the spending will be cash it could be land it could be timber there are things other than cash that are meaningful . Savings I would need time with department heads and better observation to have an honest educated opinion on that . I've been around long enough to know sometimes you cut and it cost and I won't do that . My cuts will show earnings every time .

How should counties best use limited resources to root out potential fraud?

Limited resources may very well be the problem if there is fraud .First you have to identify the fraud and how extensive it is to put a measurement on how to control it . In most cases I can think of it takes person to person observation to say yes they are doing it correctly or not . This is such a wide open question because fraud is the potential of every department and so many different ways per department its just not a one cop fix .