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Rep. Gene Pelowski occupies the social studies classroom adjacent to Pfeilsticker’s at Winona Senior High School. Pelowski has also occupied Winona’s seat in the Minnesota House for 21 years.
In fact, Pfeilsticker got her start teaching at WSHS by substituting for Pelowski while he was on leave in the Legislature. Now she hopes to join him in St. Paul, too.
“I tease him and tell him: It’s because I miss you,’ ” said Pfeilsticker, 35.
But Pfeilsticker lacks one thing Pelowski has in abundance: political experience.
The bid to represent House District 28B is Pfeilsticker’s first foray into politics.
“You’ve got to start at some point,” she said. “Why not go into it when you’re fresh, and you’ve got the ambition and the desire?”
Pfeilsticker hopes voters want “a fresh face” to replace Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, who is stepping down after holding the seat for 29 years to take over the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.
“Now that it’s wide-open, it gives an opportunity for somebody with a different perspective,” she said.
It should be no surprise that Pfeilsticker’s No. 1 concern is state funding for secondary and higher education.
“I think about my nephews,” Pfeilsticker said. “We can’t keep funding education at this level and expect them to have the same quality of education I had.”
To pay for such an increase, Pfeilsticker says the state should re-examine its current tax structure, both for businesses and individuals.
“It’s always good to review how fair is our tax system? Is there any group of people that are overburdened?” she said.
Pfeilsticker also says increased transportation funding should be a priority, particularly in southern Minnesota, where the roads are rated among the worst in the state. The additional dollars could come from a variety of sources, she said, including bonds and/or a new gasoline tax.
Local Government Aid a program that distributes state tax dollars to local municipalities also needs to be restored to its pre-2003 levels, Pfeilsticker said.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty led the effort to trim the program just after being elected as part of his pledge to balance the state’s budget. But Pfeilsticker says the resulting shortfall in local budgets has spurred regressive property-tax increases in the years since.
“Goodview, we know, has absolutely been devastated by this, and their property taxes are proof of that,” she said. Goodview last year raised its local tax levy 23.4 percent.
After starting “from scratch” just weeks ago, Pfeilsticker has been preaching these platform points daily in a whirlwind campaign tour.
“The thing I have worked hardest to do is get out to communities and talk to voters,” she said. “I am in at least one community every day.”
Pfeilsticker even has her own following of WSHS students on facebook.com, a Web site where members post personal profiles and form groups for common interests. Her group was up to 207 members Friday.
All the attention has Pfeilsticker feeling a little overwhelmed and flattered at the same time.
“Sometimes,” she said, “it just kind of cracks you up.”
Linda Pfeilsticker
PARTY: Democrat
AGE: 35
RESIDENCE: Wabasha
OCCUPATION: Winona Senior High School
social studies teacher.
BACKGROUND: First bid for elected office.
PLATFORM:
ONLINE: www.lindapfeilsticker.com
Tuesday is election day
On Tuesday, voters will choose between Republican Steve Drazkowski and Democrat Linda Pfeilsticker to replace Steve Sviggum as the District 28B representative in the Minnesota House. Sviggum, a Republican, stepped down after 29 years in the House eight as speaker to head the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.
District 28B encompasses the northwestern portion of Winona County, including Goodview, Lewiston and St. Charles, as well as parts of Wabasha and Goodhue counties.
Contact Mark Sommerhauser at (507) 453-3514 or at mark.sommerhauser@lee.net.
