November 9th, 2008

Former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny

Former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny is the President of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Tim Penny 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: timp@smifoundation.org

also...

Author and Columnist Barry Cassleman

Barry Casselman holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Iowa. He founded and published his first newspaper in Minnesota at age 29. Covering Minnesota and national politics since 1972, Casselman is now a nationally syndicated columnist who contributes regularly to many of the leading public affairs and political analysis publications. He is currently the CEO of the Preludium News Service and resides in Minneapolis.

North Star Rising traces the impact Minnesota's politicians have had on national politics, from its first territorial governor, Alexander Ramsey, to Vice Presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale. Filled with colorful, little-known anecdotes and unusual historical connections, North Star Rising is a highly readable, often humorous, frequently surprising account of how the nation came to take notice of this northern Midwestern state. The book concludes with a look at recent Minnesota political figures as well as a peek at some of the rising stars of the DFL, Republican, and Independence parties. It depicts Minnesota's political involvement on the national stage from the state's infancy to its hosting of the Republican National Convention in 2008.

Click on the following link to learn more about and order Barry's books: North Star Rising also Republican National Convention 2008.