What makes them run: Matt Entenza wants to reclaim Minnesota’s role as national policy leader

In this installment of PIM’s series of interviews with major party candidates for governor in 2010, we’re featuring former DFL House Minority Leader Matt Entenza. This week (after getting the once-over from Eleanor Roosevelt, Entenza’s nine-year-old Retriever mix), we sat down with Entenza at his St. Paul home, which is currently doubling as his campaign HQ.

Matt Entenza/vitals

Born: 1961, Santa Monica, CA; Education: B.A., Macalester College (Enrvironmental Studies); J.D., University of Minnesota; Political career: Served in Minnesota House of Representatives, 1995-2006; selected DFL minority leader, 2003; ran for Minnesota attorney general, 2006 (withdrew); founded think tank, Minnesota 2020, in 2007; campaign website.

PIM: Why are you running for governor?

Matt Entenza: We need to have a vision for where Minnesota is going. Minnesota always used to be a leader in education and health care and job creation, and we’re not a leader anymore. We’ve had executives whose sights seemed to be set on something different than where Minnesota should be going. Instead they seem to be interested more in where their political careers should be going. I want to make sure that Minnesota becomes a leader again.

PIM: What are the two or three most important challenges facing Minnesota right now, and what would you do to solve them?

Entenza: The economy is very difficult. I think we have to have a vision for how we’re going to make the economy work. I believe we can become the Silicon Valley of clean energy. Minnesota’s best resources in many ways are wind and solar and biomass, and I think we can create tens of thousands of jobs and build up a vital new economy based on those things that also will help the environment and make sure that things like hunting and fishing and others aren’t destroyed by the loss of wetlands or by pollution.

Secondly, Minnesota’s always been a leader in education. Now we’re at best middle of the pack. I think we need to reinvest in education.

And finally, Minnesota historically was tops in health care. Now the number of uninsured is growing and the cost of insurance is growing. I think that obviously is a huge impediment to people who get stuck in a job–it’s one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy. We have to grasp that issue and get our leadership back there again.

PIM: How many campaign events have you held so far?

Entenza: I declared at the end of April, and I’d say on a weekly basis, at least 25 a week. Counting our events and events I go to, then probably at least 30 a week. I’m campaigning seven days a week.

I’m from rural Minnesota originally, and we’ve been going all over. Last week, for example, I was in Winona, Caledonia, Rochester, Becker, St. Cloud, Paynesville… Most days there are at least three or four events I’m going to. And most days it’s more. I’m sort of running from event to event to event.

PIM: What are the main messages you’re hearing from Minnesotans as you campaign around the state?

Entenza: People are worried that they’re going to lose their job, that their spouse is going to lose their job, that they can’t pay for their health insurance. They’re worried about their mortgages. So the economy is certainly the top issue. And health care fits right in there, of course, because health care just keeps getting more expensive. So if they do have it, they’re worried about paying for it.

PIM: If you don’t get your party’s endorsement, will you run in the primary?

Entenza: I’ll absolutely abide, as long as all the other serious candidates are abiding as well. We all need to play by the same rules.

PIM: Who, or what, would you say are the most important influences on your life and outlook?

Entenza: When I was growing up, without a doubt my mother and grandmother. They raised me. My father was an alcoholic who left when I was a teenager, and my grandmother took us in and she was a huge influence on helping me to learn that you’ve got to make the best of what you’ve got. She made it through the Depression, when the family lost the family farm, and I learned a lot from her.

The other sort of major person when I was younger was Gary Crippen, who is now a retired judge. He was a judge in Worthington, and he was a remarkable man who grew up down in Worthington and really taught me a lot about the importance of people sticking together in a small rural town.

PIM: What’s the first thing you can remember wanting to be when you grew up?

Entenza: The first thing I recall wanting to be was a firefighter. Then I wanted to be a veterinarian, and sometime when I was in high school–after I’d gotten to know Gary and spent time with him and his family–I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, because I thought lawyers had the ability to represent people and help people who were being ground down by the system. I think coming from a family that had lost everything–we had lost our home, and we were pretty impoverished for a long time–I was pretty impressed by what he had done for a lot of people in our town.