Political life after the Bertram brothers
Laura McCallum, 10/3/96

The November election marks the end of an era in one rural central Minnesota district. For the first time since 1980, neither former State Senator Joe Bertram of Paynesville, nor his brother, Representative Jeff Bertram, will serve in the legislature. Joe Bertram resigned in January, prior to pleading guilty to shoplifting, and Jeff Bertram decided not to seek re-election amid allegations of harassing and threatening behavior. The two were a strong force in District 14 politics over the years, and their departures mean a major shift in the races for their two seats. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...

Joe and Jeff Bertram had a virtual lock on politics in district 14 over the past decade - the two conservative D-F-L'ers were able to grab votes from both Democrats and Republicans, and often ran unopposed. Now that neither one is actively involved in politics, a two-party system has re-emerged...

("Politics becomes fun again!")

Jim Read chairs the D-F-L party in district 14, and teaches government at Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict...

("With the Bertrams gone, what you'll have is both a stronger Democratic party and a stronger Republican party...I think the parties and the issues that parties try to focus on and campaign on will become clearer.")

Read testified at Jeff Bertram's House Ethics Committee hearing in March, describing instances when Bertram spread rumors as a political tactic, and Read called for Bertram's expulsion. He says with new candidates in district 14, he hopes the practice of "campaigning by rumor" will end...

("That's really what I've found to be kind of a political sickness in this district, that that kind of campaigning was possible. And I'd like to see all the candidates not only agree not to engage in those things themselves, but make sure that all of their supporters, anybody that's working on their campaign, refrain from doing that kind of thing.")

The two candidates running for Jeff Bertram's House seat say they're running a positive campaign, one focused on issues. Republican Doug Stang of Cold Spring, a recent Saint John's University graduate, says people in district 14 are looking for fresh ideas, and will be relieved when the November election is over. Stang says voters are most concerned about taxes and less government, but some also consider ethics an issue...

("They're looking for an honest candidate, someone with integrity and a strong work ethic... But I think there is concern in a lot of people's minds regarding the DFL and the ethics problem that really plagued them in the last session. And I've come across many DFL people who said they're fed up with the party and they're voting Republican now so it has come up.")

Stang's opponent, Paynesville Mayor Joe Voss, says the state D-F-L party is committed to keeping Jeff Bertram's seat, and has given him some manpower and money. Voss says he's trying to knock on every door in the district to spread his message, something the often-unopposed Bertrams didn't have to do...

("I know, having gone out to many places in kind of the remote areas of the district, you knock on the door and people will say, 8 to 10 years they've never seen a politician at their door, or had seen any literature stuck in their door, nobody's ever bothered to canvas that area. And so they're very appreciative that we finally came to introduce themselves and tell our story.")

Voss says despite the Bertrams' ethical problems, many people remember their commitment to constituent service, and he says their successors will also be expected to quickly respond to residents' concerns. Joe Bertram's Senate seat was filled by Republican Michelle Fischbach of Paynesville in a February special election, and she's running for re-election against D-F-L'er Lynn Schurmann of Cold Spring.

As the November election approaches, District 14 is dotted with a mish-mash of Fischbach, Schurmann, Voss and Stang yard signs in interesting combinations - Schurmann and Stang are more common in their home-town of Cold Spring, although they're running on different tickets, and Fischback and Voss signs are prevalent in Paynesville. It's yet another indication that the once-predictable politics of this rural district have become much more lively. In Collegeville, I'm LM, MPR News.