Lourey may try again for governor

10/04/2005

Patricia Lopez,
Star Tribune
October 4, 2005

Three years after her first gubernatorial bid ended in defeat at the state DFL endorsing convention, state Sen. Becky Lourey of Kerrick said Monday that she’ll probably run for governor again.

Lourey said her formal announcement will come later, “when I get my ducks in a row,” but she added: “I’m very, very serious about this.”

Lourey, 62, would be the only woman in a growing field of DFL candidates that includes fellow Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins; nonprofit leader and one-time legislator Bud Philbrook; real estate developer Kelly Doran and perennial candidate Ole Savior. Attorney General Mike Hatch also is contemplating a bid and is expected to announce it later this month.

Recent months have been rocky ones for Lourey, whose son Matthew, an Army chief warrant officer, died in June when his helicopter was shot down over Iraq. Then Lourey, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Family Security Committee, was embroiled in a bitter special session that turned on possible cuts to health care and ended with a “health impact fee” on cigarettes.

In August, Lourey traveled to a dusty road outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, substituting for antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan at a high-profile peace vigil. Now, Lourey says, she’s eager to take on a new challenge.

At a family gathering on Saturday, she said discussion of her renewed political ambitions drew mixed reviews.

“Some of my daughters said: ‘Darn, we don’t want you to do it. We want you to be grandma and be with us more.’ “ she said. “But as we talked about it, we decided that if this is where I can make the greater difference, this is where they’re ready to make the greater sacrifice.”

Lourey, who has 11 surviving children, said that feedback from friends and others has been “incredibly favorable.”

While her name had been mentioned before as a gubernatorial possibility, Lourey said she did not begin thinking about it in earnest until a month ago. “It’s one thing when some people say, ‘Please run,’ “ Lourey said. “It’s another when a group says, ‘Please run. This is why it’s your responsibility and we’ll put your campaign together.’ “

In her last campaign for governor, Lourey argued that Minnesota was losing ground on health insurance for all its citizens, on education funding, on environmental protections, on escalating college tuition, on affordable housing and on living-wage jobs. While she did not elaborate on her policy goals Monday, she has said that health care, education and the environment remain front and center issues for her.

One of the Senate’s most reliably liberal votes during her three terms, Lourey styles herself as a Paul Wellstone populist, but also has said she cannot be put in an ideological box.

During her 2002 run, Lourey said: “I’m pro-choice, but I adopted eight children. I support our current gun laws, but I have a close relationship with my .30-06 Model 70 Winchester [rifle] with a dot Weaver scope that my father gave me in 1958. I’m a citizen volunteer. I’ve farmed for eight years. I’m a business owner. I support transit and I’m from rural Minnesota.”

Lourey ended that 2002 bid after losing a three-way endorsement battle with State Auditor Judi Dutcher and DFL Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, who gained the endorsement but lost the general election to Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Lourey’s formal announcement is expected later this month.