State Representative Steve Wenzel
Steve Wenzel

PRESIDENT BUSH APPOINTS REP. WENZEL TO TOP USDA POST

President George W. Bush has named Little Falls Representative Steve Wenzel to be Minnesota State Director of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The announcement is being made today at 3:30 p.m. in Washington. Rep. Wenzel, in a statement issued today, accepted the appointment from the President.

"I have not made this decision lightly but rather with the greatest consideration of where I believe I can now best serve the people of my district and the people of rural Minnesota," Wenzel said.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for me to play a hands-on role in promoting our rural economy and helping rural communities create new jobs and build infrastructure," Wenzel said. "I've always fought for the best interests of family farmers and Rural Minnesota in my time as a legislator. This position will let me work directly with rural communities and I believe truly make a difference in the quality of life for rural people."

The Rural Development office manages federal programs for infrastructure projects in rural communities, providing grants and loans to improve water and sewer systems, develop new multi-unit family housing and support creation of new businesses and cooperatives in rural America. The agency has 16 regional offices throughout Minnesota, with a staff of 125 employees and handles several hundred million dollars a year in grants and low-interest loans to rural communities and businesses.

While the position is officially non-partisan as most federal jobs are, Wenzel's appointment comes from President George W. Bush. Wenzel praised President Bush for his commitment in naming Democrats to serve his administration in an attempt to reach across party lines in the interests of national unity. "I share the President's values and his vision for a greater rural America, and I have every confidence in his judgment, his integrity, and his ability to lead our great nation."

Wenzel also expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Congressman Gil Gutknecht (R-Rochester) who recommended him to the President for nomination to the position.

Wenzel is one the most senior members in the entire Minnesota Legislature. First elected in 1972 at the age of 24, he has been re-elected 14 times - each time by a margin of 60 percent or more. He was unopposed for re-election twice. In his almost 30 years of legislative service, Wenzel compiled one of the highest attendance records in the legislature, missing only one session day due to the illness of his late mother, Anna Wenzel. Wenzel also serves as an adjunct instructor in political science at Central Lakes Community College in Brainerd.

His legislative worked focused on four major issues - agriculture, crime prevention and public safety, protection of unborn life, and special infrastructure and public works projects for his central Minnesota district. Wenzel also worked closely on education issues with his local school districts over the years and authored special legislation on their behalf.

Wenzel served on the House Agriculture Committee for the entire 29-year span of his career, including 16 years as Committee Chairman in 1981-85 and 1987-99 when DFLers held the House majority. Since 1999, he has been the ranking minority member and Lead Democrat on the committee. He also serves as a member of the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council, a panel created by legislation he authored in 1996. The council's mission is to improve the quality and accessibility of vocational agriculture education at the high school and college levels.

Among Wenzel's other key legislative achievements were:

* A major overhaul of Minnesota's criminal sentencing system, enacted in 1989, which featured significantly increased penalties for a wide range of violent crimes, providing the most sweeping changes in Minnesota's criminal code since 1963. In the 1990s, he chief authored legislation establishing life-without-parole sentences for the murder of a police officer and murders committed in connection with a rape or kidnaping.

* The Minnesota Over-Order Premium law, which sought to boost dairy farm incomes through a surcharge on processors. The measure raised $7 million for dairy producers before the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated it. Wenzel frequently lobbied members of Congress to overhaul the federal dairy price support system, which he criticized as discriminatory to Minnesota producers.

* Legislation protecting unborn human life, including bills requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions and a ban on partial-birth abortions. He was an author or co-author on most major anti-abortion legislation introduced since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Wenzel also earned a formidable reputation for being able to obtain millions of dollars in state funding for important infrastructure projects in his legislative district in areas of education, transportation and environmental projects. Wenzel said one of his proudest achievements is establishment of the Minnesota Veterans Cemetery at Camp Ripley.

"I intended this to be 'Minnesota's Arlington,' a place of beauty and tranquillity that would honor the sacrifices and memory of the Minnesotans who have served their country," he said. "With strong support from local veterans organizations, and state and federal funding, we have been able to create a beautiful and fitting memorial."

In the most recent legislative session, Wenzel won passage of a bill banning commercial billboards from the Hwy. 371 bypass around Brainerd - the first highway to be declared a billboard-free zone since 1959. The bypass was named in honor of Crow Wing County native Gov. C. Elmer Anderson under a bill Wenzel carried in the 2000 legislative session.

Also this year, working closely with local school officials, Wenzel passed legislation providing a total of $510,000 in a special appropriation to straighten out errors in state aid to the Little Falls School District, and legislation for a study on making the Dr. S.G. Knight School in Randall a state-supported "laboratory school."

MAJOR LEGISLATION CHIEF-AUTHORED BY REP. STEVE WENZEL

AND PASSED INTO LAW

1987, 1991 and 1994 - Agriculture Omnibus bills that provided a multitude of services to Minnesota farmers and funding for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, including special legislation for Minnesota's dairy farmers (Over-order Premium Law, 1994).

1981 - Legislation that provided mandatory prison sentences for use of a gun during the commission of a felony crime. The same law also reclassified the definition of first degree murder which resulted in significantly more convictions of that crime.

1989 - Legislation that made the most sweeping changes in Minnesota's criminal code since 1963 which substantially increased penalties for all violent crime in Minnesota, including homicide, armed robbery, and violent criminal sexual assault. Signed into law by Governor Rudy Perpich. In addition, Rep. Wenzel was able to further amend this law as follows by chief authoring the following provisions:

1992 - Persons convicted of murder during the commission of a rape are sentenced to life without parole;

1993 - a person who kills a peace officer is automatically charged with first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole if convicted;

1998 - the "Paul Antonich" amendment automatically carries a sentence of life without parole for persons convicted of murder during a kidnaping

- Legislation that created the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council to enhance agricultural curriculum at the University of Minnesota. MAELC is also charged with enhancing vocational agricultural programs, curriculum and FFA at Minnesota's K-12 schools. As a result, Minnesota's first urban agricultural high school was created in 2000.

- Pro-life legislation and laws to protect the rights of unborn children

- Many infrastructure and special projects for Morrison and Crow Wing Counties including:

- the creation of the Minnesota Veterans Cemetery and the Military Museum at Camp Ripley;

- $500,000 for improvements and expansion of the historic Carnegie Library in Little Falls;

- Co-authored the $27 million major expansion and addition to Central Lakes Community College in Brainerd;

- funding for major transporation projects in Morrison and Crow Wing Counties

- Worked closely with Governor Rudy Perpich in 1988 for expansion of Highway 10 to four lanes between Cushing and Lincoln ($10 million); and co-authored the Transportation Finance bill in 2000 providing $654 million for new road construction; also obtained $52 million for expanding Highway 371 to four lanes between Little Falls and Brainerd (set for construction beginning in 2002 to 2006).

- $900,000 for a special grant to the Little Falls School District for construction of fiber optic technology to provide interactive television between schools in Central Minnesota, including Central Lakes College in Brainerd (1985);

- $3 million to build the Education Center at Camp Ripley (1993);

- $1.5 million for improvements to Hennepin Paper Company (1994) in order to avert the closing of the plant, saving 175 jobs for an additional three years;

-$175,000 for expansion and operation of the Military Museum at Camp Ripley (2000, 2001);

- $700,000 for improvements to College Road Drive in Baxter (1999);

- $50,000 to begin enhancement and preservation of the Little Elk Heritage Preserve north of Little Falls (2001);

- $350,000 to clean up the Mississippi River north of Little Falls; an additional $100,000 grant to the U of M's St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Lab to design a plan for the dredging of the Mississippi River (1996);

- $900,000 for a storm sewer improvement project for Pierz (1978);

- $800,000 special appropriation for the Little Falls School District in both the 2000 and 2001 sessions to restore lost aid taken by the State due to errors on pupil counts;

- Legislation that saved the City of Little Falls $1.2 million by changing the law to allow the re-sale of bonds for another purpose which became necessary when the Denmark cheese plant was to be built in Little Falls, but later withdrew from the project causing its cancellation;

- A state loan in the amount of $500,000 to the Little Falls Ethanol Plant (1999).

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Transmitted by: Tom Smalec

House DFL Media

(651) 296-5524

tom.smalec@house.leg.state.mn.us