Politics In Minnesota Goes To China

Seriously! PIM Publisher Sarah Janecek--with PIM Publisher Blois Olson's dubious blessing--figures that, in the Internet age, why not try publishing 6,293 miles from Minnesota? Beginning November 12, she'll file daily reports, which will be published front and center, on PoliticsInMinnesota.com.

More About The Mission

Led by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the "Minnesota Mission to China" will be the most ambitious China trip any state has ever made: 218 people, 93 different events, six days and four cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen). Organizing such a trip boggles the mind. Masterfully leading all that organizing is Tony Lorusso, director of the Minnesota Trade Office.

To make the trip productive, the delegation was divided into different sectors, each of which will have its own, separate itinerary. For example, the Medical and Healthcare delegation will visit one of China's leading cardiology centers (Fu Wai Hospital) and the country's largest cardiovascular manufacturer (Microport Medical). Meanwhile, the Information Technology delegation will visit China's Silicon Valley (Shanghai Zhangjiang High Tech Park). Many of the delegations have pre-arranged one-on-one meetings with Chinese businesses.

Another striking aspect of the trip is the diversity in who is going. U of M President Bob Bruinnicks is leading the education delegation, but also going are people like Kevin Kopishcke, president of Alexandria Technical College, and Melissa Krull, superintendent of the Eden Prairie School District. Seven top high school students were chosen and you can read the journals they've been keeping about the trip. The Food, Agriculture and Renewable Energy, led by Dept. of Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson, includes people and companies like Brad Millerbernd, who runs Millerbernd Design and Fabrication in Winstead and Lynn Gordon, the founder and president of French Meadow Bakery. For our readers who are unfamiliar with French Meadow, it's a place in south Minneapolis where the hemp bread is baked daily and the politics spoken are heavily left. Two other delegations not yet mentioned are Environmental and Steel and Mining.

The Perpich, Pawlenty And Hatch International Travel Past

The year was 1990. One of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's first serious political endeavors was trying to get then-Ecolab lobbyist Jon Grunseth elected Governor. Rudy Perpich was the DFL incumbent. Mike Hatch (who served under Perpich as Commissioner of Commerce) challenged Perpich for the DFL endorsement and in a primary (which Perpich won). The clincher? Both Grunseth (in a message fine-tuned by Pawlenty) and Hatch used Perpich's extensive international travel as an issue against him. Years later, Pioneer Press business columnist Dave Beal may have said it best, "His [Perpich's] zeal in urging Minnesotans to recognize the realities of the global economy helped him into the history books as more of a visionary than a quack."

That zeal also made him the subject of the new book by long-time Star Tribune top political reporter, Betty Wilson, titled Rudy! The People's Governor. Neither of your publishers has managed the time to read it, yet, but we're told Wilson wrote in rich detail a terrifically good read (and that's where the Beal quote came from). For our younger readers, 1990 was one for the history books. Grunseth withdrew because of sex scandal allegations; then-GOP State Auditor Arne Carlson was placed on the ballot; Carlson beat Perpich and served two terms. Get the Wilson book and read more about it!

Few Media On Mission

When Jesse Ventura led the last state delegation to China, lots of political reporters went along for the ride. As one grizzled Capitol veteran put it, "Everyone sort of expected, and truth be told hoped, that Ventura would cause an international incident." Not so this trip, and that's a shame. Making the 2005 trip are Pioneer Press business reporter Jennifer Bjorhus and staff photographer Sherri LaRose, Star Tribune medical technology reporter Janet Moore and business photo editor Glen Stubbe, WCCO Radio's Eric Eskola, photographer Val Doherty and Sue Halena, business editor for the St. Cloud Times. Bully for that paper in sending Halena.