Vance Norgaard

January 14, 2008

To the Northfield News:

Dear Editor,

Thank you for running my pre-paid ads and for your basic election coverage. Overall, I want to thank all of the media in and out of the district and the special forums and interviews for providing overall fair coverage to the voting public. I further want to thank all of the real resident tax paying voters for getting out to vote and to congratulate Mr. Dahle on his victory.

My statement on the election is this: I believe the election results were based more on an emotional party vote than on issues or on the experience of the candidates.

Further, I would like to thank my consultants, Making Words Work and Dancing Sun Multimedia for working me into their schedules on short notice and for their product. I want to thank all of the voters who voted for me and what I represent. While it would have been nice to carry the day, I accept the way my campaign turned out. The voters had a third choice in this very short election period, and this third choice packed experience with a whole new set of perspectives and realities.

Vance Norgaard

Send a Message: Stay tuned. Keep studying.

www.vancenorgaard.com

Do I have a one-tracked mind? There are many issues in our district’s world. There are many issues on the table in the current state session. I am asked questions about many issues. One reporter made the statement that my focus is on “Peak Oil,” and that I either am not aware of other issues or lack interest in the other issues. So I have had to think about this and ask myself if I have a one-tracked mind. The answer is “no,” but “yes.”

In my education, training and experience, I have learned that certain paths lead to “results.” Sometimes these paths have names like common sense, critical path and strategic path. For example, in constructing a building, one starts with a foundation and then goes on to structural members in that order. The foundation must happen first as it supports all of the next steps. If you do not build the foundation, you are unable to continue towards the end result.

A second example could be an aircraft. The example could be any aircraft, but I will use a single engine, four passenger aircraft as most readers see them flying overhead in our district on a regular basis. This aircraft is a tool sitting on a ramp next to a runway. It has been designed, built, tested, maintained, inspected and has many hours of flight time. It is ready to go, almost. All it has to do is overcome drag and gravity. In order to overcome drag, it needs thrust; in order to overcome gravity, it needs speed. This is the beginning of a critical path.

What the aircraft needs now is fuel. The fuel will be converted to thrust, and the aircraft will overcome the drag. The more fuel consumed, the more the speed increases, causing the lift of the wing to overcome gravity. With fuel, the aircraft can move from point A to point B. Without fuel, the trip cannot begin and it cannot end. From this point of view, the pilot has a one-tracked mind. He knows he needs fuel to begin the trip and that when his fuel gets low, he will have to stop and refuel to continue. He must confirm that there will be fuel at points along the way. There are many other issues to flying the trip, but he knows nothing happens without fuel and proper management of that fuel. He must manage that fuel so he may arrive at a landing area, navigating the aircraft to a proper landing. He knows that if he runs out of fuel short of the landing area, he will be forced into landing in an unknown place. Often, this choice ends in a tragic mess. Again, the pilot has a one-tracked mind. Fuel is his driver, and he is the rider: best he take care of his driver.

There are some options for the pilot when he begins the flight with a full tank. He could fly the first part of the trip at a high throttle setting, reaching point B quickly. With this choice, he will burn all of his fuel. Another choice would be to use a much slower throttle setting, reducing his fuel consumption and increasing his range and his thinking time. Perhaps point B is fogged in, and by reducing his fuel consumption he can reach point C. Even if C has no fuel, the pilot will have flown farther and will have had more time to concentrate on creative options, enabling the continuation of his trip.

In a similar way I have a one-tracked mind. I believe that fuel drives the economy. Fuel is necessary to get the economy off the ground and keep it flying, at least in the sense that we know an economy. A healthy economy is necessary to provide fuel for a state budget.

I recognize there are many other issues. I am interested in all of the issues. However it is difficult for me to discuss raising the budget for any issue when we are being told that we now have a budget shortfall and that the economy is waning. In our system you cannot spend more than you bring in. Sure, we could borrow or use mirrors, but in the end we must pay. Let’s not even flirt with becoming another Enron.

That is why some of my answers are short. If someone asks me about increased education funding, usually my answer is that I will support not cutting current education funding. That is because I see more of a fight coming on what budget item is going to face cuts rather than what budget item is going be increased. What more is there to say? I feel I am being realistic, rather than lacking interest.

From the context that things are working in our district, I do want to focus on what will keep them working. What keeps things working are the rules of law, the right to own property, and a functioning economy. Without any of these three empowerments, things change drastically.

So no, I do not have a one-tracked mind. I know there are other issues. And yes, I do have a one-tracked mind. Foundations and drivers come first.

Send a Message: Norgaard understands the TRUE picture!

Vote Norgaard for State Senate

www.vancenorgaard.com

It has taken me a long time to learn that I cannot do everything by myself. You have heard me speak of a 30-year transition or mitigation plan that would prepare us for and guide us through bringing into balance sustainable energy resources and their demand. Along with my ideas for a basic structure of this plan, I also want to get ideas from our state legislature and District 25 residents. This is not business as usual. Asking for your input through the use of internet and telephone polls, your information would be used to develop a “community narrative.” This “community narrative” would form the basis of a process known as open sourcing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_democracy), one definition of which is the process of constituents helping to shape a political direction.

Open sourcing originally referred to a set of principles and practices used to write computer software. Let me give you an example. Bill Gates has the web browser “Explorer” for which we have all paid dearly. Mozilla Fire Fox is (some say) a superior browser. It was not developed in a corporate for-profit context. It was developed by very adept people communicating over the net with their ideas until they morphed their ideas into a user-friendly (and free!) browser. And the people did it for free because of their beliefs.

I believe the 30-year transition plan must follow a similar path. By capitalizing on the request for input, we all have the opportunity to help shape a plan that balances the supply and demand for sustainable energy resources. Natural acceptance of the plan can then follow.

Send a Message: We’re all in this together!

Send Norgaard to St. Paul

www.vancenorgaard.com

Dear People,

With hope for the future, I am running for the State Senate because I believe in future generations, our children and our grandchildren. I want them to experience the best life possible. My beliefs, assets, and experiences will lead Minnesotans to become aware that in facing a changing world, we need to make conscious choices that lead to adjusted lifestyles. My positions on the issues are well covered on my website. Please study vancenorgaard.com. Today I want to talk about trust and experience.

In my careers I have worked next to and across the table from laborers to corporation officers. I have been both a laborer and a large company officer. As a laborer, I expected to be paid for my work. At that time, minimum wage was about $3.00 an hour. Young and inexperienced, I could see only the three dollar wage rate and not beyond.

When I was a company owner and officer, I learned the “beyond” part! I experienced all of the responsibility and accountability that it took to employ individuals. When I hired a seasonal person, that person trusted that I would provide a job with a safe working environment that would last the season. This employee also expected that I, on behalf of my company, would pay all wages on time and in full, ensuring all benefits, trust funds, and compliance with union rules. When I hired an administrative employee, that person trusted that the job would be secure for years to come, plus all of the same trusts in me that the laborer had. In turn, I trusted the laborer and the administrative employee to show up for work and give me their best, quality and consistent efforts.

When I signed a multi-million dollar contract with a utility corporation officer, he trusted that our company would use the safest and highest quality standards to install thousands of natural gas service lines and millions of feet of main ground pipe in highly-populated areas. Service lines and mains carry and deliver natural gas which is combustible and explosive, and there was no room for error. In turn, I trusted that the officer would make sure that my company was paid in full and on time for the execution of the work. Many times work would begin before the signature ink was dry on the legal contracts. I trusted the utility would live up to their agreements.

When I purchased equipment to do the work, the equipment suppliers trusted that they would be paid for their equipment, even though many times the equipment was being used on the job site before any paperwork was signed. All it took was a phone call. And trust.

When I bid a job, all of the employees, all of the suppliers, and all of the utility companies trusted that the job would be bid correctly; however, correctly meant different things to different people. The employees trusted that the contracts were not bid too high; otherwise, there would not be work. The suppliers trusted that our company would get the bid so they could continue to get paid on the equipment they sold us. The utility company trusted that we would bid the contract low enough to fit their budgets, yet bid high enough to ensure a peak quality job.

Financial institutions trusted we would repay them. Surety companies bonded our company, guaranteed our performance, and trusted the people that owned and administered the company.

Now that is experience. You be the judge.

Send a Message: Trust Norgaard’s experience—professionals do.

Vance Norgaard for Senate

www.vancenorgaard.com

I am a candidate who really shoots a gun, who shoots at targets and clay pigeons, who harvests legal game, who cleans that game, and who eats that game. I am a candidate who really has one of those permits. I am not a candidate who just poses for pictures, holding a gun. Remember, the Second Amendment supports the First Amendment.

Send a Message: Protect the freedom we have to agree to disagree.

Send Norgaard to St. Paul

www.vancenorgaard.com