Class of ‘02 has advice for rookies

By Dane Smith and Patricia Lopez

Star Tribune Staff Writers

Attention was focused last week on the 26 new members of the Minnesota House. Largely out of the spotlight was the much larger, battle-hardened freshman class of 2002, whose 43 members have been seasoned by two sessions of extraordinary pain and futility.

The heavily Republican class of 2002 helped impose record budget cuts in 2003 and sputtered through the historic gridlock of 2004, which generally is considered one of the least productive sessions in history. Republican rookies paid a price: Six out of 30 newcomers lost their bids for reelection.

The Star Tribune has been following six of those 2002 newcomers for the past two years. As they crossed the threshold from rookie to veteran status, they offered these observations about what went wrong and right, along with advice to the next class.

Doug Lindgren

R-Bagley

An easygoing gas station owner known for his car-parts sculptures, Lindgren narrowly lost his reelection bid last fall -- the only one of the Star Tribune six to lose.

He attributes his loss to a huge presidential election turnout in a rural northwestern district that has tended to vote DFL. He also might have suffered from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's clashes with Indian tribes; precincts in the Red Lake Reservation voted against Lindgren by about a 9-1 margin despite what Lindgren describes as his good ties with the community. It also didn't help, Lindgren said, that Pawlenty tended to blame the entire Legislature for the 2004 disaster instead of focusing on DFLers.

Still, Lindgren has no regrets and is already considering a comeback in 2006. "It was the biggest learning experience of my life ... And by far the best thing that happened was the relationships I made with people down there. All this talk about the family of legislators, well, when you get in that family, it's unbelievable. ... And I made some very close Democratic friends."

Lindgren said he is proudest of the role he played in moderating legislation regulating all-terrain vehicles and ownership of exotic animals. He was least happy with late campaign ads that suggested he was sleeping or inactive because he didn't give many floor speeches. "Most people should know that it all happens in caucus and committee," he said.

Cy Thao

DFL-St. Paul

Coming into the minority as a freshman legislator, Thao didn't expect to wield great power. But his biggest surprise, he said, was learning that "whoever is in control is in total control." The last DFL budget proposal, he said, "never even got a hearing. That shocked me. Maybe I was just naive. I figured, we were elected, the same as them [Republicans]."

This year, Thao said, with House Republicans leading DFLers by a mere two votes, "I hoped they'd be willing to work with us more, but things are still stacked against us. It's very discouraging for me."

Thao represents the heavily Hmong Frogtown district of St. Paul, and his seat is considered safe. His advice for the incoming rookie class is twofold. To DFLers, "Learn the process well." For the new Republicans? "Be more inclusive of the minority. Who knows? They might have good ideas."

Karen Klinzing

R-Woodbury

The worst coincided with the best for this high school social studies teacher. A problem pregnancy in 2003 left her bedridden for months. She delivered a son, William Gregory, in the fall of her first year, but he died a month later. During this time, almost every day for three months, fellow legislators or staff members delivered meals to her home and helped her with shopping or in caring for her two other children, Klinzing said. "Our lowest point coincided with our highest point ... I was writing thank-you notes every day."

Klinzing happened to serve on one of the few committees that got its work done in 2004. Her education policy conference committee produced a compromise on the state's graduation standards that revamped science and social studies standards.

The only one of the six to have signed a pledge not to vote for tax increases, Klinzing faced a strong challenge from DFLer Len Price, a former state senator. Several suburban Republicans in similar circumstances lost. Klinzing said she prevailed in part because she "was never anything but honest with her constituents. I never tried to mask where I stood."

Another factor, she said, is that she wasn't targeted with the blizzard of negative mailings that other Republicans received. Price ran a positive and clean campaign, Klinzing said.

Michael Nelson

DFL-Brooklyn Park

A former carpenter, Nelson said he viewed legislative work as "somewhat mysterious." What he found was that "it's not a lot different from any job. You just get in and do the work." Nelson is proud of the fact that amid last year's gridlock, he managed to get a bill passed that prevented insurance companies from canceling the policies of homeowners offering day care in their homes. "It went into effect Jan. 1," he said. "That felt pretty good."

Nelson's biggest complaint is the same as Thao's: "The partisanship was definitely the worst," he said. "We got treated like we were insignificant, like we didn't even count. They could pass what they wanted without a single Democratic vote, so the attitude came across as 'we don't need you.' " Among his disappointments, Nelson said, was the seeming inability to get to know opposing legislators. As he starts his second term, Nelson said he is telling incoming freshmen to "get to know people from the other side. Know them as people. Talk to each other. See what you can work on together."

Michael Beard

R-Shakopee

When DFL legislators began going after Rep. Arlon Lindner (defeated in November) over comments that gays and lesbians found offensive, Beard said, "it wasn't so much genuine indignation by DFLers as it was seeing an opening and leveraging for all it was worth. The blinders came off and I realized this isn't a Sunday school, it's the roughest legal game in town."

Beard, publisher of the Minnesota Christian Chronicle, admits that his own GOP caucus plays the same games on some occasions. Nevertheless, he said he is "proud of this institution because what we do here is a high-minded and normal thing."

His best moments were being able to co-sponsor (unsuccessfully so far) legislation providing for a constitutional ban on gay marriage and establishing himself as a member who does things with a "philosophical underpinning." But he also feels he left a mark on less ideological fronts, including the advocacy for a coal gasification plant on the Iron Range. "It's good for the state and good for the Range, and I got to play with some DFLers, cross-aisle bipartisan stuff."

Beard broke with his caucus and supported an increase in license tab fees, but learned a lesson when he eventually was forced to "fall on my own sword and vote against my own outstanding bill."

Dan Severson

R-Sauk Rapids

This retired Navy pilot and substitute teacher, a decidedly conservative voice on social issues, says he never accepted the idea that 2004 was a bipartisan failure, so he fought hard against that charge with editorials and campaign literature that put the blame squarely on Senate DFLers. He expanded his 2002 margin of victory in his St. Cloud district from about 315 votes to about 5,000.

Severson says he thinks he was re-elected in part because he was able to balance his personal convictions with constant "working to try and find out what peoples' concerns were." He broke with his caucus on no new taxes and supported a cigarette tax increase.

The acme for Severson was advancing a bill that relaxes a state moratorium on new hospital beds, a crucial issue in his growing district. His nadir was in the 2004 breakdown, "the frustration of working hundreds of hours in hearings about bonding requests and then seeing it not happen."