January 6th, 2007

Thoughts and Reflections on the New Beginnings in Washington and in St. Paul

Tim Penny, senior fellow, co-directs the Humphrey Institute Policy Forum. He represented Southeastern Minnesota's First Congressional District from 1982 through 1994. He served on the U.S. House agriculture and veterans affairs committees and the Select Committee on Hunger, heading the foreign agriculture and hunger subcommittee. While in Congress, Penny founded and co-chaired the Democratic Budget Group and drafted deficit-cutting initiatives. He continues to work in the areas of federal budgeting, agricultural policy, trade issues, and rural development. He is a board member and policy chair of a budget watchdog group, the Concord Coalition, and is an advisory board member for a clean-campaign project, the Minnesota Compact. Co-author of two books, Common Cents and Payment Due, he is a regular public speaker, radio commentator, and editorial writer.Penny has a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Winona State University. Email - tjpenny@mchsi.com

Professor Chris Gilbert from Gustavus Adolphus College – cgilbert@gustavus.edu – Dr. Chris Gilbert, professor of political science, has taught at Gustavus since 1991. He teaches courses on U.S. politics, political parties, religion and politics, and research methods. His research interests focus on religion and politics, third parties in the United States, and Minnesota politics. He has authored or co-authored numerous articles and book chapters as well as four books, most recently Seeds Upon the Ground: The Political Influence of American Churches (Cambridge University Press, 2007), based on a two-year study of political activity among ELCA and Episcopal clergy and congregation members; this study was jointly conducted with Dr. Paul Djupe (Gustavus class of 1993), Denison University. Gilbert is the recipient of two all-campus outstanding teaching awards from Gustavus students and faculty. Since 1992 he has served as a national and state political analyst for Minnesota Public Radio, and he also offers political analysis for WCCO radio, the Star-Tribune and Pioneer Press, and some national media outlets. He was selected as a Humphrey Institute Policy Fellow for 1995-96, and has spoken at several Humphrey Institute conferences and symposiums. Gilbert received his B.A. degree in 1986 from Moravian College, located in his hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1990. His doctoral dissertation, Religious Environments and Political Actors, received the 1991 E.E. Schattschneider Award from the American Political Science Association, for the outstanding dissertation in the field of American government.