Minnesota politics: House Speaker Sviggum stumps for outstate GOP candidates
by Leigh Pomeroy
Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum is friendly and energetic. He has more than once been confused for 1st District Congressman Gil Gutknecht, and though Sviggum's hair is shorter and slightly graying, their facial features and personality similarities might lead an observer to think that they are brothers or at least cousins. And politically they are not dissimilar either, both wearing the mantle of conservative Republicanism, though in this election both have seemed to downplay that association a bit.
Sviggum, from rural Kenyon about 40 miles northwest of Rochester, holds what is considered to be a safe seat, so this gives him time to travel to parts of rural Minnesota, particularly in the south where he is well known, to stump for a new batch of GOP candidates. Two of these are Luke Robinson and Andy Davis, both running for open seats currently held by retiring DFLers.
Robinson is facing longtime Mankato school board member Kathy Brynaert in District 23B, for the seat that's been held by John Dorn for almost 20 years. Dorn has been known as a moderate DFLer and is respected for his quiet style and ability to secure bonding funds for Minnesota State University Mankato. It appears Brynaert, who is Dorn's contemporary, would follow in the same tradition.
Robinson is much younger, a lawyer, a relative newcomer to the community, but also moderate and low-key in style. Perhaps feeling that Mankato is too solid a DFL stronghold, the GOP hasn't put much effort into his campaign.
Andy Davis, on the other hand, who is running in the more competitive District 23A, has been given more attention by his party along with a better chance to win. The district includes the cities of North Mankato and St. Peter, as well as rural Nicollet County. The seat is currently held by Ruth Johnson, a dynamic and tireless campaigner known for her ebullient style, upbeat attitude and red campaign boots. The seat has vacillated in recent elections between parties, with Johnson having held it twice, her tenure interrupted by a campaign for Lieutenant Governor and a loss to Howard Swenson.
Davis is young (25), an Afghanistan and Iraq war vet, a student, and co-founder of a group that student veterans. He is also part of the Davis family of St. Peter and nearby Le Sueur, which owns Davisco Foods International, Northern Plains Dairy and Cambria, which manufactures and sells quartz countertops. The Davis family has a long history of supporting Republican candidates and causes.
Davis's opponent, Terry Morrow, is a professor of communications at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and is Chair of the St. Peter school board. He holds both a Ph.D. and a J.D., and has been a St. Peter resident since 1995.
During Sviggum's visit to North Mankato, the Speaker stressed the importance of sending representatives to the legislature who would represent rural interests. Electing DFLers from southern Minnesota, he emphasized, "would only enhance the liberals in St. Paul." He stressed that he wanted to send a "positive message" that "Minnesota works," and that Governor Pawlenty had turned a $3.5 billion deficit into a $1 billion surplus in less than four years.
Sviggum supports the proposed MVST constitutional amendment, which would dictate that state vehicle sales taxes go for transportation issues. Yet he cautioned that its 40% requirement for transit funding was written in as a minimum, and that without strong rural representation in the state legislature, Minneapolis and St. Paul would grab more of the appropriation for transit issues, starving outstate Minnesota of much-needed roads and bridges.
One reporter in the small gathering asked if the national political climate, where it appears that Republicans are on the verge of losing several major congressional races, will affect the chances of Republicans running for the state legislature. Sviggum replied that because of the Foley scandal Minnesota Republicans were facing a "headwind" but that it was unfair to relate the scandal to state races.
He acknowledged that there were twenty to thirty key races he was focusing on in the state. Though he didn't seem to have the same level of confidence about the outcomes that he has had in previous election years, he maintained his upbeat, positive demeanor even as he said goodbye to the last, straggling members of the media interviewing him. Then he jumped into a small, blue American-made sedan to head west for more visits and into a headwind and a gathering snowstorm.
Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum is friendly and energetic. He has more than once been confused for 1st District Congressman Gil Gutknecht, and though Sviggum's hair is shorter and slightly graying, their facial features and personality similarities might lead an observer to think that they are brothers or at least cousins. And politically they are not dissimilar either, both wearing the mantle of conservative Republicanism, though in this election both have seemed to downplay that association a bit.
Sviggum, from rural Kenyon about 40 miles northwest of Rochester, holds what is considered to be a safe seat, so this gives him time to travel to parts of rural Minnesota, particularly in the south where he is well known, to stump for a new batch of GOP candidates. Two of these are Luke Robinson and Andy Davis, both running for open seats currently held by retiring DFLers.
Robinson is facing longtime Mankato school board member Kathy Brynaert in District 23B, for the seat that's been held by John Dorn for almost 20 years. Dorn has been known as a moderate DFLer and is respected for his quiet style and ability to secure bonding funds for Minnesota State University Mankato. It appears Brynaert, who is Dorn's contemporary, would follow in the same tradition.
Robinson is much younger, a lawyer, a relative newcomer to the community, but also moderate and low-key in style. Perhaps feeling that Mankato is too solid a DFL stronghold, the GOP hasn't put much effort into his campaign.
Andy Davis, on the other hand, who is running in the more competitive District 23A, has been given more attention by his party along with a better chance to win. The district includes the cities of North Mankato and St. Peter, as well as rural Nicollet County. The seat is currently held by Ruth Johnson, a dynamic and tireless campaigner known for her ebullient style, upbeat attitude and red campaign boots. The seat has vacillated in recent elections between parties, with Johnson having held it twice, her tenure interrupted by a campaign for Lieutenant Governor and a loss to Howard Swenson.
Davis is young (25), an Afghanistan and Iraq war vet, a student, and co-founder of a group that student veterans. He is also part of the Davis family of St. Peter and nearby Le Sueur, which owns Davisco Foods International, Northern Plains Dairy and Cambria, which manufactures and sells quartz countertops. The Davis family has a long history of supporting Republican candidates and causes.
Davis's opponent, Terry Morrow, is a professor of communications at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and is Chair of the St. Peter school board. He holds both a Ph.D. and a J.D., and has been a St. Peter resident since 1995.
During Sviggum's visit to North Mankato, the Speaker stressed the importance of sending representatives to the legislature who would represent rural interests. Electing DFLers from southern Minnesota, he emphasized, "would only enhance the liberals in St. Paul." He stressed that he wanted to send a "positive message" that "Minnesota works," and that Governor Pawlenty had turned a $3.5 billion deficit into a $1 billion surplus in less than four years.
Sviggum supports the proposed MVST constitutional amendment, which would dictate that state vehicle sales taxes go for transportation issues. Yet he cautioned that its 40% requirement for transit funding was written in as a minimum, and that without strong rural representation in the state legislature, Minneapolis and St. Paul would grab more of the appropriation for transit issues, starving outstate Minnesota of much-needed roads and bridges.
One reporter in the small gathering asked if the national political climate, where it appears that Republicans are on the verge of losing several major congressional races, will affect the chances of Republicans running for the state legislature. Sviggum replied that because of the Foley scandal Minnesota Republicans were facing a "headwind" but that it was unfair to relate the scandal to state races.
He acknowledged that there were twenty to thirty key races he was focusing on in the state. Though he didn't seem to have the same level of confidence about the outcomes that he has had in previous election years, he maintained his upbeat, positive demeanor even as he said goodbye to the last, straggling members of the media interviewing him. Then he jumped into a small, blue American-made sedan to head west for more visits and into a headwind and a gathering snowstorm.
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