Elections matter, and residents of the old Mike Parry district are seeing a clear difference in their new senator, Vicki Jensen (DFL-Owatonna). Whereas Parry's caustic tweets and abrasive personality used to draw statewide attention, Jensen's workhorse effectiveness is gathering a following.
The Grand Forks Herald reports on the freshman senator's work for small business in Job, tax plans could benefit rural Minnesota. Danielle Killey writes:
. . .Sen. Vicki Jensen, DFL-Owatonna, proposed a broader plan she said would not only bring in new jobs, but also will help businesses stay in greater Minnesota and retain jobs. It would replace the Job Opportunity Building Zone program.
Jensen would give rural Minnesota businesses some sales and property tax exemptions when they expand or come to the state and offer income tax credits based on pay and the number of employees, encouraging new hires.
“We need tools in greater Minnesota,” President Barry Wilfahrt of the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce said.
He said there are business incentives in neighboring North Dakota that can draw companies away.
Jensen said while there are other job and economic development programs in the state, she wants some specifically focused outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
“I’m not willing to just sit back and cross my fingers this (other) legislation will work in rural Minnesota,” Jensen said. . . .
Jensen said program such as angel investment credits, which provide a break for those who give money to startup companies, work well in the metropolitan area. But she said more than 90 percent of that funding goes there rather than to rural Minnesota.
“Greater Minnesota needs different tools,” Ahlgren said.
Read the entire article at the Herald. In the Owatonna People's Press, Jensen reports back to her constituents in Owatonna legislator looks back on her first three months as state senator:
. . .I recognize that being an effective legislator involves listening to constituents, translating their concerns into workable proposals, and building bipartisan consensus to implement bills into law.
Some here at the Capitol have advised me that freshman often hold back on questions and may be more inclined to vote along party lines. However, when I ran to be your senator, I promised all of you I would do my homework, ask tough questions, and make legislative decisions to the best of my abilities in representing all of you.
To that end, I was especially honored to be recognized in the Capitol Report publication as one of three majority party freshmen who have made an immediate impact. They reported that in each new class of lawmakers, there is a small group of standouts — “freshmen who arrive at the Capitol with a knack for the job.” Freshmen making major strides by the middle of their first year on the job, tackling major pieces of legislation, forging relationships across the aisle and even bucking their caucuses on occasion. . ..
Jensen quotes the Briana Bierschbach article in PIM, adding:
I share this with all of you not because I want any further recognition, but rather I want you all to know that lawmakers in St. Paul are hearing from District 24 and I will do my best to ensure they keep hearing from our district.
Jensen has scheduled regular in-district meetings with her constituents in Waseca, Owatonna and Faribault.
Photo: It's not the sort of negative attention that Mike Parry brought to the district. From the Grand Forks Herald: "Barry Wilfahrt, Grand Forks and East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce president, tells Minnesota senators Monday, April 8, 2013, that a program to give greater Minnesota businesses tax incentives would help rural cities attract and keep companies. Beside him is bill sponsor Sen. Vicki Jensen of Owatonna." (Forum News Service photo by Danielle Killey).
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