After his final loss to Rep. John Dorn in 1988, Piepho essentially retired as a player and became a political coach. He worked in local Republican politics, helping other candidates try to topple Dorn and Sen. John Hottinger and working as the Blue Earth County director of statewide and national campaigns — including working on the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in 2004.

Young Republican volunteers even told of Piepho relaying war stories from previous campaigns like he was a grizzled veteran. The reality is that Piepho started in politics at such a young age that he even now — after an 18-year sabbatical from running for anything other than Skyline mayor — is still substantially younger than several area legislative candidates.

“It’s rewarding in a lot of ways,” he said of being back on the campaign trail.

For people who knew him back when, Piepho said there have been some subtle changes.

“I think I’m a little bit more realistic, maybe a little more pragmatic,” he said. “Raising a family, running a business (Piepho Moving and Storage) ... There is a pragmatic side to getting things done.”

Values and priorities

Piepho believes his values and philosophies mesh well with the people of District 23, which includes Mankato-North Mankato but stretches all the way into Sibley County.

“I think we’re representing the majority with our values,” said Piepho, who supports the constitutional amendment defining marriage and opposes abortion except in cases involving rape, incest and the health of the mother.

He promises to be a strong promoter for Mankato-area economic development, particularly renewable energy resources such as biodiesel, ethanol and wind energy. And he will push for a small-government, low-taxes business climate.

“We need the environment for all this to grow and prosper,” he said. “You need to keep a lid on taxes. It’s a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”

Supporting education, higher education and transportation improvements are at the top of his agenda.

On K-12 education, Piepho said schools have received decent support from the state — with per-student funding increasing more than the inflation rate — in the past 15 years.

The colleges in the district are key to the region’s economic growth, he said. Along with producing educated workers for area businesses, the institutions conduct research that can be an important contribution to the local economy.

He points specifically to the research at Minnesota State University in automotive engineering, particularly in regard to using renewable fuels in vehicles.