Editorial: What does it mean? Longtime GOP leader to speak to local DFL

02/19/2008

Marshall, MN

Tony Doom had the look of someone who had just scored a coup on Friday, and in a way, that was sort of true:

Doom, the local DFL party activist, announced that David Jennings would be the keynote speaker at the Senate District 21 fund-raiser April 5 at Jackpot Junction.

Senate District 21 includes Lyon County.

This is interesting news inside the world of Minnesota politics, but is also worth noting outside that world. For years, Jennings was a leading Republican lawmaker in Minnesota — and now he’s speaking at a DFL fund-raiser.

To show you how Republican Jennings’ background is, consider these two points:

• He served in the state House of Representatives from 1979-86, and was the speaker of the House in the early 1980s — one of the state’s highest-ranking elected Republican officials.

• Then, in 1996, Jennings was the campaign manager for Rep. Marty Seifert’s first run for the legislature. Seifert, of course, is himself a prominent Republican and House Republican leader.

So what gives with Jennings?

Doom said Jennings has been frequently saying recently that he hasn’t changed his political or ideological beliefs, but the Republican Party has moved right past him — changing more than he’s comfortable with.

Also, we’re guessing, is Jennings’ recent career as a public school administrator.

For a while after leaving the House, Jennings lived and worked in Marshall as an official at the Schwan Food Co.

He then became the top financial officer for the Minneapolis School District, then the interim superintendent in Minneapolis and now is superintendent of schools in Chaska.

He has been vocal in criticism of K-12 funding under the Pawlenty administration. There have been cuts, funding has remained flat in some years, and the governor says it’ll likely be another “stand-pat” year for schools this year.

A couple years ago, Jennings predicted Pawlenty’s suggested cuts for the Minneapolis district would have “catastrophic” results, and the governor pulled back some.

This winter, Jennings has been defending the state’s public schools — in part because he works for one, in part because, he said, he and his family all got public school educations and turned out fine.

In a recent piece in the Minneapolis paper, Jennings made these points:

• Public-school students score as well or better than their private-school peers on achievement tests.

• Public-school students are just as likely to go to college as private-school students.

• Public-school students are just as satisfied in their jobs and are just as engaged in civic activities as private-school students by the age of 26.

In the first week of the 2008 legislative session, both the Republicans and DFL dashed quickly behind their party lines and partisan rhetoric — there were ugly ultimatums over transportation funding, and the same old feelings about a lot of things. All in the first week.

Again, that makes Jennings’ appearance before the DFL on April 5 all the more interesting. We’ll have to see what he says, and see what people think it means.