_ Rocco

“I will use scientists the way a grown-up uses a mechanic: for facts I can check, not for a sermon I must obey. Before a vote I want the data, the method, and who paid for the study. I will listen to engineers on a bridge, physicians on a viable child, and crime statisticians on charging policy. I will not outsource the vote to a “consensus” that changes when the party does — defund then deny you defunded, “mostly peaceful” then the insurance bill, nutrition programs that billed meals no scientist could find on a plate. Science is measurement. Policy is judgment. Scientists do not get a veto because a coalition stamped “follow the science” on a tax, a flag, or a gun bill. If the claim cannot survive an audit, it is not science. It is marketing.

Stop voting in the same people that placed us in this mess in the first place. If you have had enough too, stop voting blue no matter who, vote red instead, vote Rocco, and together we can make a better tomorrow.”

KEYWORDS: evidence, audit, judgment

“H.J. Res. 140 did not drop a mine in the canoe country. It overturned a 20-year federal leasing ban on about 225,000 acres of Superior National Forest so copper and nickel projects can go through review instead of a political lockout. I support that. America needs critical minerals. Minnesota miners should not be told to sit down while the same politicians import the metal from countries that do not share our rules. A mine still has to survive state and federal environmental review. That is the watershed policy: engineer the tailings, monitor the water, shut a bad design down — do not ban the district because a bumper sticker said so. Governor Walz’s later state halt is the same reflex as the flag and the streets: veto first, science second. Protect the Rainy River headwaters with permits, bonding, and real monitoring. Do not confuse a wilderness selfie with an energy policy.

Stop voting in the same people that placed us in this mess in the first place. If you have had enough too, stop voting blue no matter who, vote red instead, vote Rocco, and together we can make a better tomorrow.”

KEYWORDS: minerals, review, watershed

“If a community water system is over the federal limit, treat the water. That is not a vibe. That is a pipe, a filter, and a bill. I will back testing and treatment where the chemistry is actually over the line — 21 systems is a list, not a speech. Charge the manufacturers and sites that put the stuff in the ground when the proof is there. Do not turn every household sponge and fire truck into a new tax while the contaminated well waits. What I will not do is let “forever chemicals” become the next omnibus excuse: ban a thousand products, grow a consultant class, and skip the plant that would clean the tap in a real town. Science here means measurement against a standard, then engineering. It does not mean a politician declaring your cookware a crisis to pass a fee. Protect residents: test, treat, pursue the responsible party, publish the numbers. SD 65 should be able to drink the water without paying for a slogan.”

KEYWORDS: treat, polluter, standard

“A hyperscale building is a factory for computers. Treat it like one: power, water, taxes, and who pays when the bill shows up on a family’s electric statement. I will support projects that buy their own juice and water at a price that does not raise rates for West Saint Paul. If a company wants a special rate, a secret PILOT, or a quiet claim on a river, the Legislature should see the contract. Assess grid load and water before the slab is poured — not after the ribbon. Local governments should keep a real yes-or-no on land use. I will not let St. Paul “streamline” a deal that dumps the cost on every other ratepayer. I will not ban data centers as a religion. Jobs and tax base matter. I also will not pretend an empty slogan about “AI safety” is a substitute for an amp and a gallon. Measure the impact. Publish it. Make the tenant pay it.”

KEYWORDS: rates, water, contract

“University research that produces a treatment, a material, or a trained engineer is worth defending. A grant that produces a paper no one can replicate is a jobs program for the campus, not a public trust. I will support federal NIH and similar awards that Minnesota earns on merit. I will not vote to photocopy $700 million onto the state income tax if Washington changes a line item. We already run high taxes and a fraud problem. St. Paul is not a second NIH. State policy: fund applied work the state actually uses — water treatment, mining safety, crop science, trauma care — with contracts that have a deliverable. Demand universities show the job and the output, not just the press release. No political litmus test that bans a lab because the topic is unfashionable, and no blank check because the letterhead says “science.” Jobs from real research are welcome. Overhead and ideology are not a reason to raise your tabs.”

KEYWORDS: merit, deliverable, federal

“A 28% drop from 1,392 deaths is good. It is not finished. People are dying because fentanyl is cheap and dealers are not afraid. Some communities are hit harder. The answer is not a separate justice system. It is the same rules enforced where the bodies are. What I will support

Treat dealers like dealers. Trafficking and pill presses get prosecuted, not diverted into a workshop. Let cops be cops. Treatment that has a bed. Detox and follow-up that can take someone this week. Audit vendors. If a program is kicked off for alleged fraud, no other state program until that conviction is overturned. Naloxone in the hands of officers and families — a reversal is not a policy if the next bag is on the same corner. Tell the truth about the street. Sanctuary habits and soft charging make it easier to move product. That is not compassion for Indigenous or Black Minnesotans. It is how the disparity stays.

Keep the trend down by shrinking supply and getting a real cot under the addict — not by writing a racial appendix onto a crime.”

KEYWORDS: fentanyl, prosecute, treatment