Leading up to the Nov. 3 General Election, the Roseville Reporter will publish Q&A responses from candidates on the ballot. Readers can get to know the candidates and learn about their goals and stances on current issues to make an informed decision come Election Day.

Candidates sent their responses to the Roseville Reporter via email. The Roseville Reporter remains neutral and publication of a candidate’s responses does not indicate endorsement.

Allen Shen

Candidate for House District 40B

House District 40B represents Roseville precincts 01 through 07 and 11 as well as Shoreview precincts 1 through 4.

Background

City of Residence: Roseville
Occupation: Marketing Communication

I’m Allen Shen, I was raised in this neighborhood and graduated from Mounds View High School. After high school I enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in the Minnesota National Guard and later in the Army Reserves to serve my country. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, I moved overseas to take a job at the French company Chauvin-Arnoux Group. I moved back to this neighborhood in 2018 and now I am planning to be your next legislator to fix state-level problems and restore our state back to the Land of 10,000 lakes, not the Land of 10,000 frauds.

Minnesota has experienced fraud. What specific safeguards and checks and balances do you intend to develop and support to see that this does not continue?

In fact, the state already has regulations and guardrails to prevent fraud, I think they weren’t being implemented. We had a whistle blower Faye Bernstein, a Minnesota DHS employee, she stepped forwarded and reported on the fraud, but instead of investigate into the fraud, she was banned from DHS and was told to keep it quiet. It’s not that we don’t already have the checks and balances to prevent fraud, it’s that the guardrails weren’t being implemented. Therefore, we have to hold the top leaders responsible for the fraud, they turned a blind eye to the fraud.

Given the current economic situation, what ideas do you have to help with affordability issues?

Just like us, government should live within its means and be responsible when spending our money. The Fraud had also contributed to this affordability issue, since the State lost billions to fraud, now the State is trying to make the money back through raising taxes on gas, sales taxes, property taxes and car tabs. When we are having this affordability issue, we don’t want the government to take more money from us. Tax payers shouldn’t be responsible to pay for the State Fraud.

1. Eliminate the state income taxes and social security taxes, put a cap on car tabs at $100, and no more property taxes after the age of 65. 
2. Reduce building code regulations that builders will come to Minnesota and can build houses faster and cheaper.

Identify and expand on three major initiatives you would like to work on in the upcoming session. How do you plan to work across the aisle to gain support for your ideas?

1. Voters from across the aisle support Voter ID and you must have a proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. 
2. I have been investigating on foreign government espionage for the past few years, I think that’s a non-partisan issue, I hope both side of the aisle should agree that we shouldn’t let foreign spies to operate in Minnesota
3. Improving our students’ academic performance. Minnesota’s education had dropped significantly post-COVID; there had been many procedures didn’t fulfill the aimed target coming out of COVID. We should come back to the drawing tables to look at how we can have our students to achieve reading, math and science at grade level.  

Read from the other District 40B candidate here: