Drazkowski says Best Villain Award a "badge of honor"

City Pages recently announced its best of awards and GOP Rep. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa won the title of "Best Villain of 2011."

Why Drazkowski? According to the City Pages article, "Drazkowski first made waves last year by calling for an Arizona-style immigration law in Minnesota. Since then he's shown the kind of hustle you'd expect from our best villain, sponsoring laws that would make English the only official language, require welfare recipients to submit to humiliating drug tests, and repeal the Pay Equity Act, which makes sure local governments don't pay women less than men for the same work. He's no Bachmann, but the kid is just getting started."

And besides his politics, City Pages notes Drazkowski's nickname of Draz "has great villain potential."

So what does Drazkowski think about all this? He said some people sent him a link to the story and he considers his best villain title "a badge of honor."

He added, "If it makes me a villain to point out the fact that fiscal responsibility is not happening in areas of government and identify and suggest models of government that aren't working, I guess that's a good title."

He said he is also happy to join previous Best Villain winners former GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.