Gil Gutknecht

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Gil Gutknecht, Jr.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 1st district
Term of office: 1995 - (term ends 2007)
Political party:	Republican
Preceded by:	Tim Penny
Succeeded by:	Incumbent₁
Religion:	Roman Catholic
Born:	March 20, 1951 Cedar Falls, Iowa
Spouse:	Mary Catherine Keefe
	₁Tim Walz defeated Gutknecht in the 2006 elections and will replace him in the House on January 3, 2007.

Gilbert William "Gil" Gutknecht, Jr. is an American politician. Gutknecht is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives first elected in 1994 to represent Minnesota's 1st congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota. Gutknecht lost his 2006 reelection bid to DFL candidate Tim Walz, and his term will end in January 2007.

1 Biography
2 U.S. House of Representatives
- 2.1 Elections
- 2.2 Congressional positions
3 Term-limit pledge
4 Events of 2006 and election
5 Electoral history
6 References
7 External links
8 See also

[edit] Biography

Gutknecht was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He graduated from high school in 1969 and was the first member of his extended family to attend college, graduating with a degree in business from the University of Northern Iowa in 1973.

After college, Gutknecht was a school supplies salesman for 10 years. He went to auction college in 1978 and conducted his first real estate auction in 1979.

In 1983, he was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, where he served until 1994. He was the Republican floor leader for three years.

Gutknecht is married to Mary Catherine Keefe. The couple has three grown children and has lived in Rochester, Minnesota for more than 30 years, where they are members of Pax Christi Catholic Church.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

[edit] Elections

Gutknecht was elected to the U.S. House in 1994 with 55 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat John Hottinger (DFL - Mankato). The two were running for the seat left vacant when six-term Representative Tim Penny (DFL) retired.

Gutknecht was re-elected in 1996 with 53 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Mary Rieder (DFL - Winona). In 1998, he defeated Tracy Beckman (DFL - Bricelyn) with 55 percent of the vote. Facing Rieder again, he was re-elected in 2000 with 56 percent of the vote.

In 2002, Gutknecht defeated Steve Andreasen (DFL - Rochester) with 62 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2004 with 60 percent of the vote, against Leigh Pomeroy (DFL - Mankato). In 2006, a difficult year for Republican incumbents, Gutknecht was defeated by Tim Walz (DFL - Mankato), gaining 47 percent of the popular vote to Walz's 53 percent.

[edit] Congressional positions

Gutknecht has served as chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Operations Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry; vice chairman of the Science Committee; and as a member of the Government Reform Committee.

In August 2002, Gutknecht voiced his support for expansion plans by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, despite opposition from many constituents in Mankato and Rochester who were concerned about noise and traffic problems.

He was the only Minnesota Republican to vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement. He cited the sugar beet growers in his district as one reason to oppose the trade bill, which ultimately passed by a vote of 217-215.

He also sponsored legislation that would have legalized drug imports from other countries, despite opposition from the Food and Drug Administration. It passed the House but the provision fell from the final version, largely based on White House opposition and an administration report critical of imports.

In January 2006, Gutknecht further opposed GOP leaders when he called for new elections for all leadership posts except the speaker. He said Republicans needed to win back the trust of the American people in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal.

In mid-2006, after returning from Iraq, Gutknecht said that the U.S should partially withdraw troops from that country.

Gutknecht is considered to be the third most conservative member of the Minnesota delegation in the 109^th Congress, scoring 92% conservative by a conservative group^[1] and 7% progressive by a liberal group.^[2] Minnesota Congressional Districts shows the scores for the entire delegation.

[edit] Term-limit pledge

Gutknecht ran for re-election in 2006. During the 1994 campaign, he had signed the Contract with America, which called for a Constitutional Amendment to limit congressional terms to 12 years. The "contract" called for a vote on this amendment. "If we ever break this contract, throw us out."^[3]^[4] In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton that congressional term limit laws are unconstitutional, so a constitutional amendment is the only way to implement term limits. Gutknecht voted for such a proposed amendment in 1995, which failed to muster the two-thirds vote for it to move on to the Senate. ^[5]^[6]

After Gutknecht was elected in November 1994, he pledged to serve no more than 12 years.^[7] In March 1995 he drafted a bill that would bar House members from accruing additional pension benefits after they have served for six terms. "The purpose is to provide one more incentive for people to stay no longer than 12 years," he said. ^[8]

In November 1999, Gutknecht said he was not sure he would abide by his past recommendation that legislators serve no more than 12 years. He still likes term limits in principle, he said, for all public officials, including federal judges, but he noted that the topic was no longer a front-burner issue in the public mind.^[9]

In March 2005, when Gutknecht announced he was running for a seventh term, the Associated Press reported that Gutknecht had "backtracked" on his 1995 pledge in May 2004, saying then that term limits hadn't been universally applied and voters should be the ones making the decision.^[7]

[edit] Events of 2006 and election

In March 2006, Gutknecht told a group of Minnesota State University, Mankato College Republicans and other students that role they would take on in the elections in 2006 would be just as pivotal as the part played by Minnesota’s 1st Regiment to hold the line at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. “We’re asked to stand in that gap and there are big stakes in this election,” Gutknecht said. “And remember, had we lost the Battle of Gettysburg, we might have lost the war.” ^[10]

Gutknecht has always chosen to submit filing petitions when running for Congress to highlight his fiscal conservatism, instead of paying a $300 election filing fee. Gutknecht was the only major party candidate in Minnesota to submit filing petitions in 2006.

In early August of 2006, Louis Reiter of Elgin, Minnesota, filed papers with the state Supreme Court seeking to disqualify Gutknecht from having his name appear on the September 12, 2006 primary ballot. The filing was prepared by DFL election attorney Alan Weinblatt, and argued that all candidates are subject to a time limit for petitions, and that most of the petition signatures were gathered before the July 4-July 18, 2006 period that the lawsuit claimed was applicable. Gutknecht filed the petitions on July 5, 2006, the first day possible for such filings. He had never previously been challenged on this point. ^[11] The Minnesota Supreme Court heard the case on August 22, 2006 and denied the attempt to disqualify Gutknecht the same day.^[12]

It was reported by WCCO News in Minneapolis, on August 17, 2006, that members of Gutknecht's campaign made edits to this Wikipedia article. They replaced part of the page with his official congressional biography, removing references to his term-limit pledges.^[13]

Gutknecht defeated Gregory Mikkelson in the Republican primary on September 12, 2006, 87%-13%.^[14]

Gutknecht was unsuccessful in his bid for a 7th term against Tim Walz.

[edit] Electoral history

2006 Race for U.S. House of Representatives - 1st District
- Tim Walz (DFL), 53%
- Gil Gutknecht (R) (inc.), 47%

[edit] References

^ Congressional Voting Scorecard 2005 (pdf). SBE Council’s Congressional Voting Scorecard 2005. Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (June, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
^ Leading with the Left. Progressive Punch. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
^ USATODAY.com - Term-limit pledges get left behind Accessed August 12, 2006
^ Weak Republicans pick expediency over principle - Term Limits MyDD Accessed August 22, 2006
^ Library of Congress, Text of H.J. Res. 73, March 2, 1995
^ Roll Call of Votes on Term Limits Constitutional Amendment Clerk of the House of Representatives March 29, 1995
^ ^a ^b "Gutknecht won't seek U.S. Senate seat, announces House campaign", Associated Press, March 4, 2005.
^ "Minnesota delegation mostly backs term limits; no consensus on bills", Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 30, 1995
^ "Gutknecht reflects on drama, disappointments of Gingrich era", Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 29, 1999
^ Benjamin Marti, "Candidate Seeks Student Voter Action: U.S. Senate contender Mark Kennedy visits MSU, promotes political involvement", Minnesota State University, Makato, Reporter, March 28, 2006
^ "Court to hear challenge of Gutknecht: The secretary of state says the lawsuit over petition signatures has no merit, but other elections law experts see some validity", Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 16, 2006
^ Martiga Lohn and Brian Bakst, "Bid to scrub Gutknecht from ballot fails", Associated Press, August 22, 2006
^ "Gutknecht Caught Attempting To Edit Wikipedia Bio", Associated Press, August 17, 2006
^ Congressional District 1 election results, September 12, 2006, Minnesota Secretary of State

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Congressional staffer edits to Wikipedia

Preceded by: Tim Penny	U.S. Representative from the 1st Congressional District of Minnesota 1995 – 2007	Succeeded by: Tim Walz (Representative-elect)