Tarryl was once shy…

…No more.

Friend,  

As couples across Minnesota celebrate their relationships on Valentine’s Day, Tarryl and I have an extra reason to celebrate. On Thursday, we also celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary. Many of you know the story of our family; Tarryl and I met in high school and, while becoming good friends, were too shy to ask each other for a date. We finally found the courage just after college (THANK GOD!), and got married 2 years later.

During our marriage, we discovered each of us felt a passion for building better communities and, in the words of the Pledge of Allegiance, seeking liberty and justice for all. This passion has become a crucial part of our personal, professional, and political lives.  
You can see these values throughout Tarryl’s work across Central and Northeast Minnesota over the past 25 years. Tarryl has dedicated herself to building our communities whether it was: helping to found a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, working to promote diversity with our Girl Scout Council, representing seniors on legal issues for the Senior Citizens Law Project, fighting for a better future for our kids at the Children’s Defense Fund, or helping local areas support each other as the Executive Director for the Community Action Association. In 2005, Tarryl was elected to the Minnesota State Senate and was soon selected to be the Assistant Majority Leader. Tarryl spent 5 years representing her Senate District and visiting communities across the region to promote DFL issues and values. In the Senate, she built a clear record of fighting for kids, seniors, veterans, and liberty and justice for all. 

Help send Tarryl to Congress!

During these years, she also found time to raise a family that lives the same values; our oldest son Colin works with young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders while Nathan organizes charitable events for Harpoon Brewery in Boston.

As we enter 2012, the need for someone who knows how to fight for our communities is obvious. Tea Partiers like Chip Cravaack are more concerned with dividing Americans against each other and protecting their super-rich donors than fighting for average Minnesotans. If we are going to take our country back, we need leaders who live our values, like Tarryl, representing us in Congress. I know she will fight for the priorities of our families and communities because I’ve seen her do it for the last 25 years. 

But Tarryl can’t do it alone. Join us in fighting to take back Congress.Making phone calls, writing letters to the editor, and talking to your friends, families, and neighbors about supporting Tarryl are just some of the things you can to restore the priorities of our families and communities in Congress.  

Happy Valentine’s Day,