Todd Podgorski
Name: Todd Podgorski
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 6513300584
Campaign Website: Toddpodgorski.com
Twitter handle: Todd Podgorski @ToddPodgorski
Facebook Page: Podgorski for Senate53
Candidate Bio
Public service and elected office are callings for me. Public service when done with integrity is honorable in its ability to improve the common good. As a former SSP School Board Member I helped improve our community by supporting an operating levy that helped reduce class size and brought in All Day Kindergarten years before the state of MN funded it. As a City Council Member I helped pass and bring our community together to vote yes for a Parks Bond Referendum. This helped improve Kaposia landing, Woog arena, and the Mcmorrow soccer fields.
I have a proven track record of bringing people together from across the political spectrum to improve our community. I have a passion for listening to our residents and delivering the results they want.
My 28 year career as a Peace Officer working for one of the largest and most diverse counties in the state has giving me important knowledge and experience in public safety. I understand the system and know we can make needed improvements to improve public safety.
Education: A.A.S -Law Enforcement, A.A.-General Studies-Inver Hills C.C.
B.A. – Political Science-International focus. Minor-Sociology. Magna Cum Laude. Winona State University.
What are your top three priorities if elected, and how might they be affected by growing uncertainty around state and federal funding?
There are many important priorities that are needed to help improve our state. Listening to our residents they are rightly concerned about the American Dream slipping away for so many of our younger generations. First-State Government must regain trust that our taxpayer dollars will be protected from fraud and abuse. Trust when broken is hard to regain. I have a history of protecting and serving as a Peace Officer. Second-More affordable single-family homes need to be built. This helps create wealth for the homeowner and they have skin in the game to maintain our community. My wife and I have been fortunate to build and purchase several homes over the decades and want others to be able to do so as well. Third-Public Safety is a passion of mine and I know to bring more justice to our criminal justice system and our larger communities we also need to improve our education and public health systems at the same time. We need more both/and solutions than either/or solutions. Affordability of housing, healthcare and education among other concerns will be worked on.
How would you characterize the business climate in the East Metro? Please elaborate on your answer.
Business owners are rightfully cautiously optimistic. A number of small business owners have stated they are concerned about the current environment. They are concerned about how the new paid family leave will impact them. Now interest rates are rising, and gas prices are up, which will likely lead to increased inflation and an impact on their profitability. Overall, they seem to be cautiously optimistic about that their business can maintain what they have now and are more concerned about future growth in this environment. I am hopeful that with new political leadership in St. Paul that believes in reasonable regulations and taxation it will encourage businesses to work more on expansion here in MN instead of looking elsewhere. As a SSP Councilmember I take pride in the assistance we have given a number of our local businesses so that they could invest and grow in our community. I will take that same work ethic to the State Capital.
Please characterize your perspective on the ideal collaboration between government and the business community when it comes to tackling challenges such as education, housing, workforce development, or other priority areas.
Collaboration is key, communicating to one another about what one’s needs are is critical in then meeting those needs. Government and business need one another for both to be successful. It is an irony for some but a reality we must confront with frank discussions.
As a former SSP School Board Member who helped implement an in-school suspension room at the H.S. for students that disrupted other students from learning I believe we need high expectations for both behavior and academic excellence. Schools need to help students learn consequences not only for their sake but for the sake of teachers and school staff that want to work in an environment that values learning over managing bad behavior. Schools need to listen to what Businesses want and need not just for job skills but also the soft skills of being a good reliable co-worker.
With the cost of a four-year degree becoming more difficult for many students and families we need to encourage more to enroll in two-year degree programs. This includes many of the two-year trade degrees that offer rewarding careers.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address our state’s critical labor shortage?
Historically, Minnesota has drawn in more residents than those that leave. Those numbers are changing and not for the good of our state economy.
To bring in more workers from other states we need to have affordable single family home options for them and their loved ones. The American Dream is meant to be lived and not just dreamed about. This takes action and the State must help housing developers build on more 40-50 foot lots with new state zoning and subsidies for these smaller more affordable lots and homes that are then built on them.
The labor shortage can also be helped by ensuring that our high school and college graduates have the skills needed to get hired and be productive. This is helped when these schools have standards of excellence. It is concerning that our high school graduates have lower tests scores on standardized tests like the ACT than previous generations. Graduating students that do not have skills to be employable is not compassion.
Minnesota has historically benefitted from immigration from not just other states but other countries. With declining birth rates, we have to understand that growth is more difficult with a declining population. I support immigrants that come her legally and follow our rule of law. The federal government needs to reform and allow more legal immigration in an orderly and thoughtful way. This needs to be done in coordination with our business community that focusses on labor shortage areas, so our local residents are not displaced. We can have a win win in how we address our labor shortage. I will gladly work with our federal legislators on how we can do this.
The Legislature enacted several new workplace mandates in recent years, including Paid Family and Medical Leave, Earned Safe and Sick Time, and Worker Misclassification standards. If elected, how would you evaluate the impact of these policies on the East Metro economy and workforce, and what principles would guide any changes you'd seek to make?
I would listen to both workers that benefit from the time off but I would also listen to the employers on the impact to them and their bottom line. Listening and learning are critical components of leadership. One of my guiding principles is sustainability. Is the current program sustainable with the current amount of taxation allowed to fund it? If not, how do we make it more affordable so it can be maintained in some form that is more of a win win for employees and employers? With the current amount of fraud occurring at the state I would also want to ensure that there are safeguards in place to not have this program taken advantage of.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your district and the state?
Public safety is a passion of mine and I am proud to have served for over 28 years as a licensed Peace Officer. Public safety is a basic responsibility of government. It is important that we support good policing.
When the State recently reduced prison sentences from 2/3 to ½ of the time sentenced with the remaining time being on parole they did us a disservice. They did us a disservice by not focusing on recidivism -those who commit crimes again and again and again. If we are not going to repeal the ½ time back to its 2/3 time served we need to focus on recidivism sooner rather than later. If an offender has committed three crimes or more in the last 10 years they should not be allowed to have probation or concurrent sentencing. Plea deals for recidivists or career criminals with violent crimes, in particular, should be greatly reduced or eliminated as often charges are dropped at the expense of a victim getting the justice they deserve.
With the difficulty in hiring and retaining qualified peace officers the state needs to continue to support alternative pathways to become and peace officer. I will gladly support state grant funding for these programs to our local police departments to help ensure they can hire new officers. With the shortage of qualified candidates for both police and fire departments and the concern to reduce property taxes we need to offer public safety consolidation grants so police and fire department can consider merging with a neighboring department. This will help with both affordability regarding property taxes and the ability to properly staff departments.
No matter where one falls on the political spectrum it should be a given to want to live in a safe community that values justice for all. I look forward to working at the state capital while keeping our residents safe.
How would you work to improve transportation options in the district/state, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
Providing safe roads and bridges is another basic responsibility of state and local government. As a SSP City Councilmember I am proud we have added significant funding to our infrastructure fund to help maintain our city streets. The state needs to continue to assist local cities and counties with funding that the local communities use to make improvements to the roads. With the state funds and the redevelopment of the streets the locals and state often work together to look at what safety improvements on the road should be made. Coordination on how best to make improvements takes some time by working with local governments and their residents but we often get a better result from working together and taking into account different perspectives.
From myself riding local transit options like the MTC busses and light rail over the years I know there are a number of safety concerns there. MTC needs to make their riders feel safe so more people will then ride the public transit options.
As someone who enjoys biking I support state funding for bike lanes and will let the local elected officials decide how best to use the funds or not.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
As someone who has gained wealth from owning and building homes, I want others to have similar opportunities to own a home and gain wealth. We need to encourage more affordable homes by having new home developments zoning for smaller lots of 40-50 ft wide. These lots may need to be subsidized so housing developers don’t see the new zoning as an unfunded mandate on them. Encouraging Manufactured homes on smaller lots will help with affordability. We also need to look at our building codes and compare them to our neighboring states to see where we can be more flexible in addressing affordability. To help with affordability for first time home buyers the state could expand its down payment subsidy options. Housing and the American dream go hand in hand, and we cannot let that slip away from our youngest generation.
Minnesota's current two-year budget shows a surplus, but state forecasters project a significant structural imbalance beginning in the 2028-2029 biennium. What steps would you take to address this long-term challenge? Please include specific ideas for reducing spending, increasing revenue, or reforming state programs.
To reduce spending and avoid state staff layoffs we should look at a hiring freeze in a number of agencies with the exception of public safety agencies such as the State Patrol, BCA, and Department of Corrections. Another consideration for reducing spending would be to compare our public assistance spending to the five-state Midwest average and see if we should adjust our current benefits. I prefer to look at data and make some problems a math problem knowing budgets have a moral implication. Regarding increased revenue I would be open to discussions on expanding the sales tax base and rate while keeping food and clothing exempt from increases like we currently do now. If we are serious about property tax reform, we will need to have this discussion. I’m also open to “sin tax” increases on tobacco and alcohol if we are in a budget shortfall. When it comes to reforming state programs it’s important we have more accountability for ensuring our taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and not lost to fraud and abuse. Department heads at the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education, in particular, need to be held accountable for the dollars we trust them with. Expecting our state programs to look at reforms that do more with less as many of our taxpayers have less due to our challenging economy is not unreasonable.
Minnesota has faced several high-profile fraud cases involving public programs in recent years. The Legislature recently passed a new Office of the Inspector General on a bipartisan basis. Beyond this new office, what additional steps would you support to strengthen fraud prevention and rebuild public trust in how the state manages taxpayer-funded programs?
As a Peace Officer who knows humankind is not always kind we need to verify need over greed with common sense enhanced verification processes. Some examples include inspections of organizations that receive our taxpayer dollar grants on an annual basis. New grants should not be awarded until after a site visit has been conducted. Individuals should have their incomes and assets verified when they are given assistance. We should conduct more audits of departments that hand out state grants to ensure they are being used as intended. Department heads of state agencies and their staff that distribute state grant funds need to be held accountable if they do not follow the proper safeguards and procedures.
I wake up every day going to work protecting and serving and holding offenders accountable for their actions. I will gladly work to protect our hard-earned taxpayer dollars from further fraud and abuse. Thieves that steal our public taxpayer dollars should face consequences that include mandatory prison terms. Too often white-collar crime is not aggressively investigated or prosecuted. The state will need to hire additional investigators to help ensure fraud and abuse is properly investigated when red flags come up. Restoring trust will take time, new internal policies, new laws, and some newly elected legislators that believe in protecting our tax dollars from being abused.
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 6513300584
Campaign Website: Toddpodgorski.com
Twitter handle: Todd Podgorski @ToddPodgorski
Facebook Page: Podgorski for Senate53
Candidate Bio
Public service and elected office are callings for me. Public service when done with integrity is honorable in its ability to improve the common good. As a former SSP School Board Member I helped improve our community by supporting an operating levy that helped reduce class size and brought in All Day Kindergarten years before the state of MN funded it. As a City Council Member I helped pass and bring our community together to vote yes for a Parks Bond Referendum. This helped improve Kaposia landing, Woog arena, and the Mcmorrow soccer fields.
I have a proven track record of bringing people together from across the political spectrum to improve our community. I have a passion for listening to our residents and delivering the results they want.
My 28 year career as a Peace Officer working for one of the largest and most diverse counties in the state has giving me important knowledge and experience in public safety. I understand the system and know we can make needed improvements to improve public safety.
Education: A.A.S -Law Enforcement, A.A.-General Studies-Inver Hills C.C.
B.A. – Political Science-International focus. Minor-Sociology. Magna Cum Laude. Winona State University.
What are your top three priorities if elected, and how might they be affected by growing uncertainty around state and federal funding?
There are many important priorities that are needed to help improve our state. Listening to our residents they are rightly concerned about the American Dream slipping away for so many of our younger generations. First-State Government must regain trust that our taxpayer dollars will be protected from fraud and abuse. Trust when broken is hard to regain. I have a history of protecting and serving as a Peace Officer. Second-More affordable single-family homes need to be built. This helps create wealth for the homeowner and they have skin in the game to maintain our community. My wife and I have been fortunate to build and purchase several homes over the decades and want others to be able to do so as well. Third-Public Safety is a passion of mine and I know to bring more justice to our criminal justice system and our larger communities we also need to improve our education and public health systems at the same time. We need more both/and solutions than either/or solutions. Affordability of housing, healthcare and education among other concerns will be worked on.
How would you characterize the business climate in the East Metro? Please elaborate on your answer.
Business owners are rightfully cautiously optimistic. A number of small business owners have stated they are concerned about the current environment. They are concerned about how the new paid family leave will impact them. Now interest rates are rising, and gas prices are up, which will likely lead to increased inflation and an impact on their profitability. Overall, they seem to be cautiously optimistic about that their business can maintain what they have now and are more concerned about future growth in this environment. I am hopeful that with new political leadership in St. Paul that believes in reasonable regulations and taxation it will encourage businesses to work more on expansion here in MN instead of looking elsewhere. As a SSP Councilmember I take pride in the assistance we have given a number of our local businesses so that they could invest and grow in our community. I will take that same work ethic to the State Capital.
Please characterize your perspective on the ideal collaboration between government and the business community when it comes to tackling challenges such as education, housing, workforce development, or other priority areas.
Collaboration is key, communicating to one another about what one’s needs are is critical in then meeting those needs. Government and business need one another for both to be successful. It is an irony for some but a reality we must confront with frank discussions.
As a former SSP School Board Member who helped implement an in-school suspension room at the H.S. for students that disrupted other students from learning I believe we need high expectations for both behavior and academic excellence. Schools need to help students learn consequences not only for their sake but for the sake of teachers and school staff that want to work in an environment that values learning over managing bad behavior. Schools need to listen to what Businesses want and need not just for job skills but also the soft skills of being a good reliable co-worker.
With the cost of a four-year degree becoming more difficult for many students and families we need to encourage more to enroll in two-year degree programs. This includes many of the two-year trade degrees that offer rewarding careers.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address our state’s critical labor shortage?
Historically, Minnesota has drawn in more residents than those that leave. Those numbers are changing and not for the good of our state economy.
To bring in more workers from other states we need to have affordable single family home options for them and their loved ones. The American Dream is meant to be lived and not just dreamed about. This takes action and the State must help housing developers build on more 40-50 foot lots with new state zoning and subsidies for these smaller more affordable lots and homes that are then built on them.
The labor shortage can also be helped by ensuring that our high school and college graduates have the skills needed to get hired and be productive. This is helped when these schools have standards of excellence. It is concerning that our high school graduates have lower tests scores on standardized tests like the ACT than previous generations. Graduating students that do not have skills to be employable is not compassion.
Minnesota has historically benefitted from immigration from not just other states but other countries. With declining birth rates, we have to understand that growth is more difficult with a declining population. I support immigrants that come her legally and follow our rule of law. The federal government needs to reform and allow more legal immigration in an orderly and thoughtful way. This needs to be done in coordination with our business community that focusses on labor shortage areas, so our local residents are not displaced. We can have a win win in how we address our labor shortage. I will gladly work with our federal legislators on how we can do this.
The Legislature enacted several new workplace mandates in recent years, including Paid Family and Medical Leave, Earned Safe and Sick Time, and Worker Misclassification standards. If elected, how would you evaluate the impact of these policies on the East Metro economy and workforce, and what principles would guide any changes you'd seek to make?
I would listen to both workers that benefit from the time off but I would also listen to the employers on the impact to them and their bottom line. Listening and learning are critical components of leadership. One of my guiding principles is sustainability. Is the current program sustainable with the current amount of taxation allowed to fund it? If not, how do we make it more affordable so it can be maintained in some form that is more of a win win for employees and employers? With the current amount of fraud occurring at the state I would also want to ensure that there are safeguards in place to not have this program taken advantage of.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your district and the state?
Public safety is a passion of mine and I am proud to have served for over 28 years as a licensed Peace Officer. Public safety is a basic responsibility of government. It is important that we support good policing.
When the State recently reduced prison sentences from 2/3 to ½ of the time sentenced with the remaining time being on parole they did us a disservice. They did us a disservice by not focusing on recidivism -those who commit crimes again and again and again. If we are not going to repeal the ½ time back to its 2/3 time served we need to focus on recidivism sooner rather than later. If an offender has committed three crimes or more in the last 10 years they should not be allowed to have probation or concurrent sentencing. Plea deals for recidivists or career criminals with violent crimes, in particular, should be greatly reduced or eliminated as often charges are dropped at the expense of a victim getting the justice they deserve.
With the difficulty in hiring and retaining qualified peace officers the state needs to continue to support alternative pathways to become and peace officer. I will gladly support state grant funding for these programs to our local police departments to help ensure they can hire new officers. With the shortage of qualified candidates for both police and fire departments and the concern to reduce property taxes we need to offer public safety consolidation grants so police and fire department can consider merging with a neighboring department. This will help with both affordability regarding property taxes and the ability to properly staff departments.
No matter where one falls on the political spectrum it should be a given to want to live in a safe community that values justice for all. I look forward to working at the state capital while keeping our residents safe.
How would you work to improve transportation options in the district/state, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
Providing safe roads and bridges is another basic responsibility of state and local government. As a SSP City Councilmember I am proud we have added significant funding to our infrastructure fund to help maintain our city streets. The state needs to continue to assist local cities and counties with funding that the local communities use to make improvements to the roads. With the state funds and the redevelopment of the streets the locals and state often work together to look at what safety improvements on the road should be made. Coordination on how best to make improvements takes some time by working with local governments and their residents but we often get a better result from working together and taking into account different perspectives.
From myself riding local transit options like the MTC busses and light rail over the years I know there are a number of safety concerns there. MTC needs to make their riders feel safe so more people will then ride the public transit options.
As someone who enjoys biking I support state funding for bike lanes and will let the local elected officials decide how best to use the funds or not.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
As someone who has gained wealth from owning and building homes, I want others to have similar opportunities to own a home and gain wealth. We need to encourage more affordable homes by having new home developments zoning for smaller lots of 40-50 ft wide. These lots may need to be subsidized so housing developers don’t see the new zoning as an unfunded mandate on them. Encouraging Manufactured homes on smaller lots will help with affordability. We also need to look at our building codes and compare them to our neighboring states to see where we can be more flexible in addressing affordability. To help with affordability for first time home buyers the state could expand its down payment subsidy options. Housing and the American dream go hand in hand, and we cannot let that slip away from our youngest generation.
Minnesota's current two-year budget shows a surplus, but state forecasters project a significant structural imbalance beginning in the 2028-2029 biennium. What steps would you take to address this long-term challenge? Please include specific ideas for reducing spending, increasing revenue, or reforming state programs.
To reduce spending and avoid state staff layoffs we should look at a hiring freeze in a number of agencies with the exception of public safety agencies such as the State Patrol, BCA, and Department of Corrections. Another consideration for reducing spending would be to compare our public assistance spending to the five-state Midwest average and see if we should adjust our current benefits. I prefer to look at data and make some problems a math problem knowing budgets have a moral implication. Regarding increased revenue I would be open to discussions on expanding the sales tax base and rate while keeping food and clothing exempt from increases like we currently do now. If we are serious about property tax reform, we will need to have this discussion. I’m also open to “sin tax” increases on tobacco and alcohol if we are in a budget shortfall. When it comes to reforming state programs it’s important we have more accountability for ensuring our taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and not lost to fraud and abuse. Department heads at the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education, in particular, need to be held accountable for the dollars we trust them with. Expecting our state programs to look at reforms that do more with less as many of our taxpayers have less due to our challenging economy is not unreasonable.
Minnesota has faced several high-profile fraud cases involving public programs in recent years. The Legislature recently passed a new Office of the Inspector General on a bipartisan basis. Beyond this new office, what additional steps would you support to strengthen fraud prevention and rebuild public trust in how the state manages taxpayer-funded programs?
As a Peace Officer who knows humankind is not always kind we need to verify need over greed with common sense enhanced verification processes. Some examples include inspections of organizations that receive our taxpayer dollar grants on an annual basis. New grants should not be awarded until after a site visit has been conducted. Individuals should have their incomes and assets verified when they are given assistance. We should conduct more audits of departments that hand out state grants to ensure they are being used as intended. Department heads of state agencies and their staff that distribute state grant funds need to be held accountable if they do not follow the proper safeguards and procedures.
I wake up every day going to work protecting and serving and holding offenders accountable for their actions. I will gladly work to protect our hard-earned taxpayer dollars from further fraud and abuse. Thieves that steal our public taxpayer dollars should face consequences that include mandatory prison terms. Too often white-collar crime is not aggressively investigated or prosecuted. The state will need to hire additional investigators to help ensure fraud and abuse is properly investigated when red flags come up. Restoring trust will take time, new internal policies, new laws, and some newly elected legislators that believe in protecting our tax dollars from being abused.