No More Moe...For Now
Rare is the two-term legislator who is well-liked, well-respected--and
thus assumed safe in future elections in a swing district--who decides
to call it quits.
Rare is Rep. Frank Moe (DFL-Bemidji).
Moe shocked both his district and the Capitol crowd by announcing to DFL endorsing delegates last week that he's done. Moe was candidly cool about the major reason he's retiring to the Park Rapids Enterprise's Lou Ann Hurd-Lof, "Moe said the reason for his decision was to keep his marriage strong. 'My parents were divorced four times,' Moe said, talking about how difficult it has been to leave his wife, Sherri, every week and drive to St. Paul."
I enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with Moe in his office this week. When Moe was first elected, he and his wife, Sherri Moe, had eight sled dogs (a wide mix of breeds from a shelter where they were abandoned). Now they have 22 sled dogs, along with eight acres to keep both the couple and the dogs happy. The Moes also bought a floral shop in Walker, Grey's Floral Shop, where business is much better than they expected. Moe concluded that it simply wasn't fair to Sherri to be down in St. Paul so much, along with running around the district he loves so much when he is home.
Typically, legislators announce their retirements on the floor in the waning days of the legislative session. That was Moe's plan, as well (he had made the decision to retire months ago). But then, after the nominating speeches were given, when Moe was expected to accept the nomination, he got to the podium and looked out at all the faces who worked so hard to elect him. "I simply had to come clean," he says.
Asked what the worst part is about serving in the Legislature, Moe quickly answered, "Long floor debates and amendment after amendment." But when Moe is feeling cynical about the process, he checks himself by remembering Winston Churchill's words, "Democracy is the worst form of government except all others." Moe adds, "You can't stop the debate...People have the right to be as stupid or as brilliant as they want, and you never know when stupid or brilliant will happen."
The worst vote he ever took? In 2005, post-Dru Sjodin's abduction and murder, there were many amendments on legislation increasing penalties for sex offenders. One amendment would have required sex offender identification on license plates. Moe voted for it, for political reasons (who wanted to be known as being easy on sex offenders?). "I felt gross, like I had to take a shower." Moe says that vote taught him to vote on an issue thinking how it will play, politically.
That conversation sidetracked into the difference in prevailing political winds in the northern part of the state, "People where I live just want to be left alone," notes Moe, and that has driven a lot of his thinking on issues where he's not toeing the DFL party line.
The legislator who has been most important to him in his four-year career? Moe declined to single out any one legislator, but the question did flag a moment Moe found particularly gratifying. Tiny Cass Lake (population 860 in the 2000 U.S. Census) was having a crime problem. Moe brought the city's crime blotter to then-House Tax Chair Republican Ron Abrams, who said the blotter looked like it was from Minneapolis. Abrams made sure that $100,000 in a local government aid cut was restored to Cass Lake in that year's tax bill.
Moe's retirement highlights a serious problem Politics in Minnesota has a long history of flagging: Serving in the Legislature is extremely difficult for younger legislators with families. How to solve the problem? Moe thinks the interim hearing schedule was "too aggressive," and that the Legislature should conduct its business Monday through Thursday, which would build in one full day to be with constituents and at least one full day for family only.
Moe, 42, and Sherri don't have any children "yet........but that was simply out of the question serving in the Legislature and trying to run our businesses." Congrats to Moe on being awarded a Bush Fellowship. He's completed all the coursework required for a PhD in Education at the U of M and now will have the time and means to focus on the written exam and his dissertation.
Rare is Rep. Frank Moe (DFL-Bemidji).
Moe shocked both his district and the Capitol crowd by announcing to DFL endorsing delegates last week that he's done. Moe was candidly cool about the major reason he's retiring to the Park Rapids Enterprise's Lou Ann Hurd-Lof, "Moe said the reason for his decision was to keep his marriage strong. 'My parents were divorced four times,' Moe said, talking about how difficult it has been to leave his wife, Sherri, every week and drive to St. Paul."
I enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with Moe in his office this week. When Moe was first elected, he and his wife, Sherri Moe, had eight sled dogs (a wide mix of breeds from a shelter where they were abandoned). Now they have 22 sled dogs, along with eight acres to keep both the couple and the dogs happy. The Moes also bought a floral shop in Walker, Grey's Floral Shop, where business is much better than they expected. Moe concluded that it simply wasn't fair to Sherri to be down in St. Paul so much, along with running around the district he loves so much when he is home.
Typically, legislators announce their retirements on the floor in the waning days of the legislative session. That was Moe's plan, as well (he had made the decision to retire months ago). But then, after the nominating speeches were given, when Moe was expected to accept the nomination, he got to the podium and looked out at all the faces who worked so hard to elect him. "I simply had to come clean," he says.
Asked what the worst part is about serving in the Legislature, Moe quickly answered, "Long floor debates and amendment after amendment." But when Moe is feeling cynical about the process, he checks himself by remembering Winston Churchill's words, "Democracy is the worst form of government except all others." Moe adds, "You can't stop the debate...People have the right to be as stupid or as brilliant as they want, and you never know when stupid or brilliant will happen."
The worst vote he ever took? In 2005, post-Dru Sjodin's abduction and murder, there were many amendments on legislation increasing penalties for sex offenders. One amendment would have required sex offender identification on license plates. Moe voted for it, for political reasons (who wanted to be known as being easy on sex offenders?). "I felt gross, like I had to take a shower." Moe says that vote taught him to vote on an issue thinking how it will play, politically.
That conversation sidetracked into the difference in prevailing political winds in the northern part of the state, "People where I live just want to be left alone," notes Moe, and that has driven a lot of his thinking on issues where he's not toeing the DFL party line.
The legislator who has been most important to him in his four-year career? Moe declined to single out any one legislator, but the question did flag a moment Moe found particularly gratifying. Tiny Cass Lake (population 860 in the 2000 U.S. Census) was having a crime problem. Moe brought the city's crime blotter to then-House Tax Chair Republican Ron Abrams, who said the blotter looked like it was from Minneapolis. Abrams made sure that $100,000 in a local government aid cut was restored to Cass Lake in that year's tax bill.
Moe's retirement highlights a serious problem Politics in Minnesota has a long history of flagging: Serving in the Legislature is extremely difficult for younger legislators with families. How to solve the problem? Moe thinks the interim hearing schedule was "too aggressive," and that the Legislature should conduct its business Monday through Thursday, which would build in one full day to be with constituents and at least one full day for family only.
Moe, 42, and Sherri don't have any children "yet........but that was simply out of the question serving in the Legislature and trying to run our businesses." Congrats to Moe on being awarded a Bush Fellowship. He's completed all the coursework required for a PhD in Education at the U of M and now will have the time and means to focus on the written exam and his dissertation.
Morning Reports
