Pictured from Left to Right: Meg Litts, Jason Weinerman, Dustin Simmonds and Senate District 9 Chair, Tom Schulz.
The Senate District 9 DFL Convention was held at the Browerville Community Center on May 22, 2016. We are pleased to announce the endorsement of the DFL candidates for Senate District 9 and House Districts 9A and 9B. Those candidates are as follows:
Senate District 9: Jason Weinerman. Mr. Weinerman has been a resident of Little Falls for the past ten years. During that time, he has been employed by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources where he works with local governments to protect the State’s water resources while meeting the needs and interests of the local elected boards and citizens. He has gained an understanding of how the State interacts with local governments and who best to meet the needs of the citizens to ensure they achieve the future they would like.
In addition to working with the Board of Water and Soil Resources, Jason also teaches at St. Cloud State University and Anoka-Ramsey Community College. He teaches both political science courses and college success strategies. He views his role as a college instructor as providing students with the solid foundation upon which to build his students’ future academic and professional careers. In these teaching positions he has come to understand the needs of today’s college students as they struggle to balance learning, working and pursuing life outside of the classroom.
Mr. Weinerman has a degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University and a degree in Public Administration from the University of Baltimore. He has been married for ten years to Cari Kenner. They enjoy traveling around the state visiting small towns, enjoying museums and staying at the state parks. They also like to bike many of the state trails and can be regularly found on the Paul Bunyan Trail and enjoying a stop at one of the many stores in Nisswa.
Mr. Weinerman understands rural Minnesota’s needs in education, transportation, local government aid, women’s rights, civil rights, and the need to work together with the rural and metro elected for the good of all of Minnesota.
During the Question and Answer Session, Mr. Weinerman stated he feels the rural area in Senate District 9 needs more funding from the State to drive down property taxes and increase base salaries. He feels there should be no more funding for stadiums in the Twin Cities when businesses locally are going under. When asked about the “Bathroom Bills,” his response was “Kill ‘Em!” In addition, with the family farms disappearing there is a need to foster movement into sustainable agriculture. When asked about Single Payer Healthcare, his response was, “I love it!”
Mr. Weinerman’s email address is weinerman4mnsenate@gmail.com; his phone number is 218-330-2527; and his website is www.jasonweinerman.com. He can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jason.weinerman.
HOUSE DISTRICT 9A: MEG LITTS. Meg Litts was born in Iowa and lives in Staples. She is a school leader, educator and wholeheartedly believes that the children in our schools are “all our kids. In addition, she feels “if you want something done – DO IT!”
Meg believes the rural areas of Minnesota need true high speed internet and better public transportation. She would like to see more funding in the rural areas in order to decrease property taxes.
Since Ms. Litts was born in Iowa she feels we all need to keep an eye on what’s going on there, so we can do better here in Minnesota.
HOUSE DISTRICT 9B: DUSTIN SIMMONDS. Mr. Simmonds is a native of Little Falls. In 2014 he served as a State Delegate at the DFL Convention in Duluth. He helped start the College Democrats of Minnesota and served as the second Vice Chair. In 2015, Mr. Simmonds joined the Young Democrats of America and was also Treasurer of the National Rural Caucus.
As Chairman of the Youth Task Force, Vice Chair of the College Democrats of Minnesota, and Treasurer of the Young Democrats of America’s Rural Caucus, Dustin came to understand the needs of our people. With so much at stake in St. Paul, we need a strong and energetic representative who will fight to ensure our area gets its issues heard on the House Floor.
Mr. Simmonds we have experienced an economy that is not working for everyone. People of all ages are unable to find work. He is committed to working to bring new economic energy to our area and feels Sate investment in job training programs will be good for both workers and business.
With regard to the infrastructure, Mr. Simmonds believes our rural areas are often last on the list to receive the critical infrastructure updates to keep our roads safe for both our businesses and our people. It’s time we have a representative who will fight to get our needs on the agenda.
Mr. Simmonds will answer Governor Dayton’s call to give our families in Minnesota paternity leave so that businesses can allow both mothers and fathers to be with their child in his or her first weeks of life.
Minnesota was recently named the top state for business and Mr. Simmonds feels it was attributed to our investments in education. When our local schools have the resources and control, they achieve great things. Additionally, solving Minnesota’s achievement gap is crucial to ensuring our state remains competitive into the future.
Mr. Simmonds can be reached at 320-232-8182. His e-mail address is SimmondsforMinnesota@gmail.com and his website is www.DustinSimmonds.com.
