, 
There are races in the Luverne City Council Ward 2 election and in the Minnesota House of Representatives District 21A election.
To assist voters in their General Election choices, The Star Herald reached out to the candidates with questions for them to respond to with the intent to be published.
City Council candidates answered the questions, “Why are you the best candidate for Ward 2 City Council?” and “If elected, what would be your top three priorities and why?”
They were directed to respond to these questions, plus provide biographical information about themselves in 750 words or less.
Those responses are below.
On the opposite page, Minnesota House candidates were asked to provide their top three priorities and also answer the question, “What specifically will you do to improve the partisan divide and ensure that legislative responsibilities are completed within a normal session timeline?”
The two city candidates and two state candidates will face each other in a televised forum on Thursday, Oct. 20, starting at 2 p.m. in Luverne City Hall council chambers.
Meanwhile, the 18 candidates seeking election to five seats on the Luverne School Board have been video-interviewed and those can be found on the Star Herald website, www.star-herald.com. No subscription is necessary to view them.
Joe Schomacker (incumbent) candidate for Minnesota House of Representatives
Joe Schomacker, seeking re-election to Minnesota House District 21A seat as the Republican candidate
Biographical information
I am a Main Street business owner. My parents, brother and I operate Schomacker Cleaning, Schomacker Home Galleries (selling flooring, appliances and mattresses), and The Sewing Basket.
I understand what it means to make payroll, how it feels to have Governor Walz say my business is not essential and close my doors, and how gas prices affect every portion of the local economy.
I am honored to serve the people of southwestern Minnesota in the Minnesota House.
I have focused on Health and Human Services, serving as the policy committee chair when Republicans were last in the majority.
I work on rural health care needs and do so on a bipartisan basis. This is how I earn the endorsements from nursing homes with Care Providers of Minnesota as well as the leading health care labor union, SIEU Healthcare.
I am asking for another term as Rock County’s state representative because we need a responsible, common-sense approach to the nearly $10 billion budget surplus. I prefer to return the surplus to the taxpayers, starting with the Social Security income tax. If we don’t have the votes to get that done, I could support road and bridge funding or water infrastructure as long as it took care of the issues for the next generation.
I’m not running with a backup plan to get a job in the Governor’s administration after the election or anything like that. I sincerely respect the values of southwest Minnesota and appreciate bringing that to St. Paul. I hope the voters are gracious enough to send me there again.
In this campaign I have earned the endorsements of other bi-partisan and non-partisan political groups including the pro-life group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), Minnesota Doctors (MEDPAC), the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association and Minnesota Farm Bureau.
Top three priorities:
Law enforcement is under attack, yet we wonder why crime in our state rises.
I talk with constituents daily who don’t feel safe going to a Twins or Vikings game, or express concern for their friends and family that live up there.
I support stiffer penalties on criminals. That includes repeat offenders of violent crimes, fleeing law enforcement recklessly, fentanyl dealers and carjackings.
I support more grants and funding for programs that support law enforcement and promote more good actors in the system. I support funding the police.
Skyrocketing inflation affects our pocketbooks hard. We should not use state funds to subsidize inflation like they did in Washington. We must find ways to reduce spending and decrease demand. We can’t stop inflation on our own, but we can avoid contributing to it.
A global recession is on the horizon. We can fend some of it off with tax incentives that encourage private investments in local economies, keeping them strong. We cannot spend our way into prosperity.
Our education policy decisions get taken away from parents by activists in St. Paul. We need to ensure that parents take back their child’s public education and that local school boards have the power to make more decisions.
What specifically will you do to improve the partisan divide and ensure that legislative responsibilities are completed within a normal session timeline?
I will request that those negotiating the bills have jobs outside of the Capitol to get back to when session wraps up. A full 20 percent of current legislators list their occupation as “retired” or “legislator” – both Republicans and Democrats. If being in St. Paul is their full-time job, they’re going to drag things out.
It’s especially a problem in the current environment where politicians think that the other side must lose in order to win. I’ve been in business long enough to know that’s not the case. I was involved with training this summer on strategies to get beyond winners and losers in negotiations.
We need to break down the large spending bills and portion them out so when it’s ready, it can be voted on. So much time is wasted trying to bring these omnibus bills together just to consolidate power over the bill. We’ll also see more bi-partisan votes on bills this way.
Finally, I am advocating for a House Rule which requires budget bills to only have language in them that affect the budget spreadsheet. This will reduce policy from being slipped into bills and make it easier to pass the bills.
Even with the partisan divide and the social media lies that stir up the base and the amount of money that pours in to persuade legislators, it remains a privilege to serve the people of this state.
Patrick Baustian candidate for Minnesota House of Representatives
Patrick Baustian is seeking election to Minnesota House District 21A seat as the DFL candidate
Biographical information
I was born in Luverne and raised on our family farm northwest of Luverne with my six other siblings by my parents, Walter and Jean Baustian. I graduated from Luverne High School and entered the United States Air Force in 1981, where I served on active duty for five years and three months as an Electronic Warfare Systems Specialist.
Upon my honorable discharge from active duty, I enlisted with the South Dakota Air National Guard where I continued to work in avionics for the next 14 years and the last 19 years in cyber systems, network infrastructure, and finally as the Chief Enlisted Leader for the 114th Fighter Wing Communications Flight. I deployed five times in direct support of military contingencies throughout my career.
I retired from the South Dakota Air National Guard as a federal technician in January 2020 and militarily in May 2020, attaining the rank of Chief Master Sergeant with over 38 years of military and federal service to our country.
I have been happily married to my wife, Katie, for over 31 years. We have four grown children, all of whom have been born in Luverne and graduated from the Luverne Public School system. They are also all currently serving in the Minnesota and South Dakota Air National Guard.
I served as a Luverne City Council member for eight years and was elected as the mayor of Luverne for the last 12 years, for 20 consecutive years of civic service to our community.
If elected, my top three priorities would be to:
1. Address the ever-growing statewide day care shortage that has significantly affected growth in Greater Minnesota communities for the last 20 years. Lack of day care is affecting economic development in many communities and has affected families that want to have more children but are told they can’t or must wait because no infant slots are available.
For many parents the decision has to be made to either both continue to work or decide that one parent will stay home to take care of the children. Some couples decide not to have children at all.
The farming community is the most recent area that day care is affecting. Young farm families are voicing concerns about where they can take their newborns for day care, which is directly affecting our family farming operations.
2. Address inflation. Financial experts have stated that the inflation peaked in January 2022 at 27 percent and currently inflation is at or below 5 percent. This is affecting the bottom line of many businesses, farming operations and working families. During the last legislative session, Minnesota had a $9.4 billion dollar surplus. We are lucky to have a state with such a robust economy. My priority would be to support the tax cuts that were agreed to by the House, to support the elimination of the state income tax on social security, and to work on how to best reduce income tax on those that it affects the most.
3. Support public education: I would work to ensure local, high-quality public education is funded to the highest degree possible and to ensure that our schools have the tools and funding they need to teach our children. I would also work to get more young adults to go into teaching to help the teacher shortage issue. We need to be creative with this so we don’t have a train wreck with the lack of teachers in the near future.
What specifically will you do to improve the partisan divide and ensure that legislative responsibilities are completed within a normal session timeline?
One must look at last year’s legislative session that has been referred as the “do-nothing session.” This is one of the biggest reasons that I am running. When the current elected legislators don’t listen to their constituents’ priorities and issues and instead take the priorities of their caucus over them, one must ask if we are truly being represented out here in District 21A.
If elected, I intend to represent everyone. I have always tried to work with everyone on local issues because that’s the only way we move forward. Relationship-building across the aisle pays many dividends and will be a tool that I use to get things done. You can agree to disagree, but on the legislative items you agree on, then legislate them into law.