Rukavina officially announces his candidacy for Governor of Minnesota

Duluth MN (Sept 7, 2009)—Minnesota’s working families need a Governor who will be honest and stand up for them, according to State Representative Tom Rukavina (D-5A), who announced his candidacy for Governor today at the annual Labor Day Picnic at Bayfront Park in Duluth.

Rukavina, a Virginia native who is serving his twelfth term in the Minnesota House, was first elected to the legislature in 1986. He is one of the most popular political figures in Minnesota, consistently getting 75 to 80 percent of the vote in his home district.

Rukavina believes his “working person’s ethic” and refreshingly honest approach will have strong appeal to voters across the state. He describes himself as a passionate progressive, true to the original spirit of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party.

“For 24 years, I’ve stood up in the Minnesota House for working families—

Little boxes...

I had a great moment the other day as Tom and I were driving through some of the western suburbs of the Twin Cities. Tom was talking about how, although it's great to see so many people prospering here in MN, it's hard to see all the family farms down there that have been turned into strip malls and housing developments. As he was talking about the houses looking so similar and being packed in right next to each other, I started singing, "Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes made of ticky tacky..." And as I sang, Tom joined in. We sang all the way through and then laughed at our impromptu duet.

It's nice to be able to share those light moments on the trips, but this also served as a poignant reminder of the terrible situation facing family farmers here in the upper midwest. It's time for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party to come back to its roots and remember the core groups of people who have made Minnesota great over the decades. It's been the family farmer and the hard-working union members who have built this state up, and sometimes it feels like that part of our state is getting left behind. Big Agro-businesses don't live in their local communities and positively affect the lives of those around them, but our small family farmers do. Let's remember to take care of them after everything that they've done for Minnesota.

Little boxes...

Final day at the state fair

Although I wish I could spend the entire week there, today will be the final day at the state for Tommy and me. It's been a great experience so far, and I'm sure today will be just as amazing. I broke my diet a little bit this week, but I can't go to the state fair without getting an order of cheese curds and a pronto pup. It's an annual tradition, so I did what I had to do lol. At least I've got Tom there to heckle me about my bad eating habits and help me stick to my diet.

If you're going to be around the fair today, make sure you stop by the DFL booth on the corner of Dan Patch and Cooper to see Tom and me at our table. Also, Tom will be in a DFL candidates' debate at the AM 950 booth at the corner of Cooper and Randall. Should be great to see Tom in action against the rest of the DFL field.

After that, we will be heading up to the northwestern part of Minnesota to see some capital bonding projects. Tom will be meeting with students and faculty at MSU-Moorhead on Thursday at 1:30 if you're in the area and you want to stop by. More information can be found here.

I hope we get to see you around!!