WINONA, Minn. – One of the grand old men of the Legislature, Gene Pelowski of Winona, looks with disappointed dismay at the current legislative gridlock. Pelowski, retired now at age 72, said he’s never seen such a level of partisanship. “I was always asked, over my 38 years in the House, how I served the district and how I would run an election, and my response was always this: ‘The first thing I look at is representing the district. The next is the state.’” Last is the party, said Pelowski, a Democrat. His comments were in an interview with Rochester television station KTTC. Pelowski also applies his Party Last principle nationally “It goes district, state, nation, and party last.” People on both sides are putting party first over the districts that elected them, he said.
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Pelowski. A high school civics teacher. Also taught political science classes at Winona State University.