Rybak: Next governor has to solve budget, Capitol ‘chaos’

Throughout the summer and fall, one prominent subject of chatter among observers of the fast-developing 2010 gubernatorial race was when R.T. Rybak would officially join the fray. The Minneapolis mayor had made no real secret of his intentions, telling a crowd of supporters back in July that he was “very likely” to run.

As it turned out, Rybak filed his campaign committee just two days after winning a second term as Minneapolis mayor in November. Despite his comparatively late entry, Rybak received a boost less than two weeks later when a Rasmussen poll on the 2010 field found him tied with Mark Dayton for the early lead on the DFL side. Both garnered 30 percent; the next-highest finisher was House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, with 8 percent.

Capitol Report talked by phone with Rybak early this week. (You can find our earlier 2010 gubernatorial interviews archived here.)

Capitol Report: Why are you running for governor?

R.T. Rybak: I was born in a great state and I don’t want to retire in a mediocre one. I think everything we’ve accomplished in Minneapolis over these last eight years, and most of what everyone around this state has gotten done, is jeopardized because the state Capitol is in chaos. Nothing is getting done, and we need to get it moving–especially to create jobs.

CR: What are the two or three most important challenges facing the state, and what would you do as governor to solve them?

Rybak: The most important is to create jobs, and to improve our schools. We also need to deliver health care reform at a state level, and finally we have to fix the budget mess.

The most important of those are jobs and the budget, because they go together and until we get the economy growing, we’re never going to get the state out of this mess. I’d like to encourage people to go to my website, because I go into detail on all these things. The three big issues I’m focused on are jobs, schools and health care. And all of those are dependent on reforming the budget.

CR: What are the main messages you’re hearing from Minnesotans as you get out and campaign around the state?

Rybak: Minnesotans right now are worried and frustrated, especially about the economy. They feel government should be doing more to help. And they don’t expect many solutions from the state Capitol. They also believe in Minnesota and Minnesotans, and think we should be doing better.

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

Rybak: I will absolutely support whoever is endorsed.

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

Rybak: I would say the most important is my mom, who raised us, and my experiences at our family’s drugstore growing up. Especially after my dad died. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood, but once my dad got sick, we’d spend all our time after school until we went to bed at a drugstore in a neighborhood where there were some real deep challenges.

So from a pretty early age, I recognized that not everyone had everything that I had. And I think it had a lot to do with coloring why I decided to go into politics. To fix that.

Watching my mother keep our family together in pretty tough times showed me that tough people can do some pretty tough things. But I also was able to see that when she was really down, there were a lot of people around to help. So it taught me that in tough times, you have to be tough, but you also, in Minnesota, have a lot of people around who you can depend on.

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

Rybak: A Minnesota Twin. My three goals as a kid were, I wanted to play for the Twins, I wanted to be mayor of Minneapolis, and I wanted to write for the Star Tribune. So I’ve gotten two out of three, and having watched Brett Favre, I’m not ruling out number three. Honestly. [laughs] If this gig doesn’t work out, who knows?