WAYZATA, Minn. –Former Governor Al Quie, who represented southeast Minnesota in Congress from 1958 to 1979, died at a senior-living home. He was 99. Quie was a moderate Republican known for working across the aisle. In 1980 he was on Ronald Reagan’s shortlist as a running mate for vice president. He also was also considered for Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1974. Quie had been in declining health in recent months but still enjoyed meeting and greeting people. At a family gathering two weeks ago, his son Joel daid, he read aloud to his great-grandchildren from their favorite storybook.
Quie’s personal history
Quie grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Goodhue County. He was a Navy fighter pilot in World War II, although he never saw combat. After the war he returned home to resume farming. He earned a political science degree from St. Olaf College. Death came for Quie a few days before what would have been his 100th birthday. His family used his 99th birthday celebration as a dress rehearsal for what his 100th. His son Joel said his father’s goal for his 100th birthday was saddle a horse. He had been an avid horseman and last rode at age 92. When Quie turned 97, Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, proclaimed it Al Quie Day. On that occasion, Quie, the World War II pilot, flew in an open cockpit plane, albeit with another pilot at the controls.
Quie. Served single term as governor. Elected 1978. A Republican. Earlier served three terms in Congress from southern Minnesota’s MN-1.
Verbatim
Quie, in his farewell address as governor: “I entered public life with a strong, though still-developing belief in the sanctity of the individual, the centrality of the family, and the compassion and good sense of people in neighborhoods and local communities. I believed that all people have infinite worth, and that all people possess gifts that can be known fully by no one, My belief in these ideas gained in strength as the years passed and I better saw their worth, and as they withstood the doubts of skeptics and the strain of great change. Nothing … has successfully challenged my early — and lasting — belief in them.”
Political and public service record
Quie ran unsuccessfully for the Minnesota House in 1952. He was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1954. He won a special election for the vacant MN-1 southern Minnesota congressional seat in 1958 and was re-elected 10 times. He developed legislative expertise on education and agriculture. In a bid for statewide office in1978 Quie unseated Democratic Governor Rudy Perpich. Quie’s single term as governor didn’t go well. A budget shortfall worked against him. So did the fact that Democrats controlled the Legislature. He chose not to seek a second term. And Perpich, deja vu, succeeded him.
Quie in rift with GOP
In 2010 Quie broke with Republicans ranks and endorsed centrist Independence Party candidate Tom Horner for governor. Horner’s campaign faltered, and Tom Emmer won. Emmer never forgave Quie. GOP leaders banned Quie and 17 other Republicans from party activities for two years. In the end Emmer lost the governorship to Democrat Mark Dayton. Emmer, meanwhile, has found his way to Congress from MN-6, which covers western and northern Twin Cities suburbs all the way to St. Cloud. Emmer now has climbed his way to being majority whip in the U.S. House.
Later years
Quie, a Lutheran, remained active in church affairs after leaving office. He was a national leader of the ministry Prison Fellowship. In 2006, he led a commission that recommended steps to keep the state’s judiciary independent and nonpartisan after some Republicans sought to bring politics into judicial elections.