June 16, 2009 NewsletterIn this issue:Help Celebrate the 4th of July with Congressman Oberstar on the Range!Oberstar Campaign Hires New Campaign Manager Stimulus Spotlight: The World's Most Advanced Neutrino Project Join Our Letter Writers List Governor's Race 2010: Matt Entenza Help Celebrate the 4th of July with Congressman Oberstar on the Range!Congressman Oberstar will again be attending the 4th of July parades on the Iron Range this year.Are you interested in walking with Jim Oberstar in the parades this 3rd and 4th of July? 
Get the chance to meet Jim, walk in the parade(s), and show your support for our Congressman. We’ll be doing the Aurora and Gilbert parades on July 3rd, then Eveleth, Nashwauk, Keewatin, and Biwabik on July 4th. (Find a complete schedule below.) If you’re already planning on attending any of the parades, why not be in the middle of the action? Contact Bryan at bryan@oberstar.org if you’re interested in walking. We’ll have t-shirts, stickers, and buttons for our volunteers. Below is our parade schedule. The parade typically starts about an hour after the lineup time, so you can figure that you’d be finished by about an hour and a half to two hours at most after the lineup. If you can make any, some, or all of the parades, please contact us and we’ll get you the rest of the details.
Oberstar Campaign Hires New Campaign ManagerBryan Yunis, a member of the Oberstar campaign team since 2006 working with the website and communications, will be the campaign manager for the 2010 cycle. Yunis, a native of Duluth, will fill the vacancy left by Blake Chaffee."Jim was a tremendous inspiration to me growing up, and I am honored to be able to work alongside the hundreds of Minnesotans who devote their time and energy to electing Congressman Oberstar every two years," Yunis said. Yunis attended the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth and has been involved with numerous issue-based and political organizations in the past, including Grassroots Campaigns, America Coming Together, The Student Campaign for Child Survival, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The new campaign manager will be located in what is currently the campaign’s headquarters, 222 W. 1st Street in Duluth. People interested in volunteering or getting involved with the campaign are encouraged to stop by the office. "We have so many summer events –there’s always a lot going on in Northern Minnesota during the summer—that we’re always looking for folks to help us with an event, whether it be a parade or county fair, or even something like writing a letter to your editor." To get involved, contact the campaign at info@oberstar.org. Stimulus Spotlight: The World's Most Advanced Neutrino ProjectAs part of our ongoing series on the Economic Recovery (Stimulus) Package, each month we’re bringing you stories of how the legislation is affecting the economy in Northeast Minnesota. Last month, we detailed record road construction in Minnesota and stimulus funds to unemployed Minnesota workers. You can read that story here. This month: The world's most advanced neutrino project.
By now, Oberstar Democracy Project readers are aware of some of the projects the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has funded in Northeast Minnesota--airport improvements, highway resurfacing, and water sanitation projects to name only a few.But last month, Congressman Oberstar and Congressman Bill Foster joined officials from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Minnesota, and the U.S. Department of Energy near Ash River, MN, to break ground for the creation of a detector facility to help investigate the role of subatomic particles known as neutrinos in the origin of the universe. "This project is part of a bold, visionary initiative which will have profound implications for our understanding of the structure and evolution of the universe," Congressman Oberstar said. "The billion-year-old rock formations in Northeast Minnesota are helping researchers unlock mysteries of the origins of the universe." Local authorities welcome the federal government's investment at a time when the economy has been shedding jobs. Mayor Joseph Long of Orr is looking forward to the project and the benefits it is expected to bring to the area. "It's been a major plus for Sudan because it was a mining town at one time... this is something that took its place," Long said. Long said he hopes the physics lab will help retain jobs and people in the community. Once complete, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory will send an intense neutrino beam from the Lab in Illinois to the NOvA Detector Facility in Ash River. A 15,000-ton particle detector to be housed in the Ash River lab will be the main instrument of research. It will enable physicists to explore the mysterious behavior of neutrinos by examining the pulses coming through the Earth from the Illinois facility. "The planning for the NOvA Facility has been years in the making, and we’re very excited that it is becoming a reality,” said University of Minnesota physics professor Marvin Marshak. “This project will provide tremendous opportunities for University of Minnesota faculty and students to work with experts from around the world on important research.” The project is expected to create 60 to 80 jobs, plus purchases of materials and services from U.S companies. Help the Oberstar Campaign: Join Our Letter Writers ListWe’re always looking for folks who want to be a voice in their community and help us spread the word through letters to their local newspaper. It enables our strongest supporters to serve a vital role in our campaign by responding to a recent event in the news or set the record straight.Join our Letter Writers list today and we’ll let you know when we need your help. We’ll provide you with all the information you need to write a strong letter to your local newspaper. Governor's Race 2010: Matt EntenzaLast month, as part of our effort to introduce DFL governor candidates to our readers, we profiled former Sen. Mark Dayton. You can find that article here.Today, we're continuing our series in no particular order with former Rep. Matt Entenza. Matt Entenza Lives in: St. Paul Previous political experience: Representative to the Minnesota House from St. Paul, Minnesota House DFL Leader, Founder of Minnesota 2020. It's hard to talk about Matt Entenza without talking about a town in southwestern Minnesota called Worthington. Worthington is where Matt spent summers growing up, playing by the creek near his grandmother's house and learning small-town values. Worthington provided a home for Matt when his father's alcoholism drove his family to near-bankruptcy and the loss of their home in California. Worthington is where Matt met a local judge who became a trusted mentor and showed him the law could be used to promote equality and social justice. And Worthington Senior High School is where Matt received the public education that allowed him to pursue his dream of becoming an attorney working in public service. Early Life and Influences Matt Entenza's Minnesota roots reach back to the 1870s. Matt's great-great grandfather, John Silvernale, fought for the Union in the Civil War and later became a homesteader, receiving 80 acres in western Minnesota near the town of Marietta. Times were difficult for the Silvernales their first year in Marietta, but the growing community of homesteaders stayed together, weathering crop failures and leaky sod homes. When times got better, they pooled their money and built a church and school. At the height of the Great Depression, Matt's grandmother, Louise Mowrey, got a job as an assistant bank clerk at the First State Bank in Rushmore. At the time, the country was experiencing a great wave of bank failures, so President Roosevelt had begun using federal funds to keep local and rural banks afloat. Louise's first job at First State Bank was to write letters to account holders telling them the government had deposited $100 in everyone's account. Louise would eventually rise to become vice president of the bank, with her office doubling as the town's library. She retired at age 84. Matt's mother, Georgia, was raised in Rushmore and Worthington but moved to California after the war to work as a nurse. Matt was born in 1961 in Santa Monica, Calif. His father suffered from alcoholism and was never able to provide stable financial support for the family, putting them heavily in debt and eventually abandoning them. When Matt was 15, his family’s home was foreclosed on, leaving him, his mother, and younger brother and sister homeless. With nowhere else to turn, the family moved back to Worthington and into Louise's house on Clary Street. With a roof over her children’s heads again, Georgia began putting their lives back together. She enrolled the children in the Worthington Public Schools and returned to nursing to help pay the bills, though her husband's debts continued to haunt the family. It was while attending Worthington Senior High School that Matt met Gary Crippen, a lawyer, former county attorney and judge who became a trusted mentor. At Gary's urging, Matt visited the local courthouse. Matt's only previous exposure to the law had been the various lawsuits and foreclosure notices served on his father. It was in Gary's courtroom that Matt grew to understand the law was really about justice and equal opportunity. Education and Early Career Matt graduated from Worthington Senior High School and won a scholarship to Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., with an eye toward eventually going to law school. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Macalester College in St. Paul and was elected student body president. He received a degree in environmental studies with honors. After graduating, Matt worked for former Minnesota Governor Elmer Anderson and his son Tony at the H.B. Fuller Foundation. Matt still recalls the former governor's observation that the reason Minnesota was so prosperous was because of the great education the state provided its children. Matt left the Foundation in 1984 after being recruited to work on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign by a Carleton College professor named Paul Wellstone. Later in 1984, Matt married Lois Quam. Matt and Lois met at a high school speech competition in Pipestone, Minn., shortly after Matt moved to Worthington. (She won.) Their paths crossed throughout high school, and after graduation, they began dating. After they married, the couple moved to England, where Lois attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. While in England, Matt studied law at Oxford and taught law and politics to high school students. After returning to Minnesota, Matt enrolled at the University of Minnesota Law School and worked at the Hennepin County Public Defender's office as a law clerk, where he successfully organized the clerks as an AFSCME branch. After Matt and Lois’s first son, Ben, was born in 1989, Matt balanced his law school studies with being a stay-at-home dad while Lois began a career at UnitedHealthcare that would focus on providing health care to underserved and vulnerable populations. Twins Will and Steve joined the family in 1991. After graduating from law school with honors, Matt took a position at the Minnesota Attorney General's office. As an assistant attorney general in the charities division, Matt shut down an adoption agency that was fleecing Minnesota families. He successfully sued two Texas ministers who had stolen money from families with children in need of organ transplants, and he exposed a sham charity that was pocketing donations meant for local law enforcement. Following the attorney general's office, Matt went to the Hennepin County Attorney's office, where he served as an assistant Hennepin County attorney prosecuting white-collar crime. While at the attorney general's office, Matt began serving on the Merriam Park Community Council and his neighborhood co-op. St. Paul was just emerging from the recession of the early 1990s, and the local schools desperately needed greater investment. Matt never forgot how much he benefited from public education and strongly believed education was the key to Minnesota's future. With son Ben about to start school, Matt felt the need to become more involved in ensuring Minnesota schools remained vital. When his district's seat in the State House of Representatives became vacant in 1994, Matt decided to run for the seat and was elected that November. Elective Office During his time in the legislature, Matt fought for increased investment in schools and was an outspoken opponent of the state's participation in the federal No Child Left Behind program. He helped pass many of the consumer protection laws currently on the books and championed property tax relief for low- and middle-income Minnesotans. Partnering with AARP, Matt took on the telemarketing industry and passed Minnesota's "Do Not Call" law, which placed restrictions on phone solicitations. A report he authored revealed waste and abuse of taxpayer funds by charter schools, and a subsequent law Matt passed created more strict financial accountability for these schools. By 2003, the House DFL caucus had fallen 28 seats behind the Republican caucus. Clearly seeing the need for change, Matt’s colleagues chose him to be House DFL leader. In the 2004 election, Matt coordinated all House DFL campaigns under a common platform of refocusing the state on quality education and access to affordable health care. The result was a 13-seat gain for the DFL, putting the caucus just two votes shy of a majority. In the subsequent biennial budgeting process of 2005, Matt was instrumental in delivering on the promises made during the 2004 campaign. Matt provided strong, effective leadership during the government shutdown of 2005, even when others urged capitulation to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's extreme agenda. Because of Matt's work and that of other DFL leaders, tens of thousands retained healthcare they otherwise would have lost, local governments received the aid they required to keep property taxes down and ensure they had adequate police and fire services, and schools received crucial funding increases, reversing Republican cuts. Given his record of effectiveness challenging the GOP, it is no surprise Matt has been a frequent target of Republican attacks. The GOP and its allies have filed more complaints against Matt than any other DFLer. Every one of these partisan complaints has been deemed without merit by independent review boards. Matt's legislative accomplishments have been honored by organizations including Children's Defense Fund, the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, the Minnesota Farmers Union, the National Child Support Enforcement Association, the League of Conservation Voters, the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, the National Coalition to End Child Hunger and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In 2006, Matt decided to leave the legislature to run for attorney general. In preparation for his campaign, he hired a firm to provide background information on the inner workings of the AG's office. Unfortunately, the campaign became focused on this and other side issues. In the spirit of party unity, Matt withdrew his candidacy. Minnesota 2020 In 2007, Matt created Minnesota 2020, a progressive think tank dedicated to fostering discussion and debate in four key issue areas vital to Minnesota's future prosperity: education, health care, transportation and economic development. In 2007, Minnesota 2020 proposed a rural economic development plan to encourage the creation of new businesses. The plan subsequently won bi-partisan support and received $20 million in state assistance. Though progressive in outlook, many of the common-sense ideas and proposals coming out of Minnesota 2020 have won support from moderate Republicans like former Rep. Dan Dorman and former Speaker of the House Dave Jennings. Matt Entenza Today Matt lives in St. Paul with his wife, Lois, and twin sons Will and Steve, who are juniors at St. Paul Central High School. Their oldest son, Ben, attends Colorado College. Matt is a licensed pilot and long-suffering Timberwolves fan. Lois is the founder and CEO of Tysvar, a new green economy and health care reform incubator (www.tysvar.com). She and Matt will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in 2009. Matt's work at Minnesota 2020 has afforded him the opportunity to examine the issues critical to Minnesota's future and to travel the state talking to Minnesotans about their concerns. Not surprisingly, people are worried about the economic recession, their jobs, cutbacks in school budgets and rising health care costs. Driven by the unprecedented series of crises gripping the state, in early 2009, Matt decided to explore a campaign for governor. Matt believes all Minnesotans can enjoy a great future if we work together and embrace a common vision for growing our economy. He’s concerned we’re neglecting public education at the expense of our future and believes Minnesota schools need to focus on teaching real skills, not just on testing. Matt wants to make sure everyone can access quality, affordable health care and work to create thousands of new jobs through investment in alternative energies like wind and biomass. Most of all, Matt wants to work for the Minnesota values that helped make his hometown of Worthington – and other towns across Minnesota – great. |
|