With a new governor comes a change in the leadership of our
state's agencies. Governor Dayton recently completed his final
cabinet appointments, thus ushering in a new administration to lead
our state forward. His selections have been widely praised for
their expertise. A few of the new commissioners are highlighted
below.
Agriculture: Dave Frederickson
It's been 15 years since we've had a new Commissioner of
Agriculture as the former commissioner (Gene Hugoson) served in
that position under the Carlson, Ventura, and Pawlenty
administrations. Commissioner Dave Frederickson brings a strong
background in agriculture and public policy to this position. A
farmer from Murdock, Minnesota, he was elected to the Minnesota
Senate in 1986 representing Swift, Yellow Medicine, Lac Qui Parle,
Chippewa, and Redwood Counties. He chaired the Agriculture and
Rural Development Subcommittee on Agriculture Resources for two
sessions.
From 1991 to 2002, Frederickson served as president of the
Minnesota Farmers Union. He then went on to serve as president of
the National Farmers Union from 2002 to 2006. Most recently,
Frederickson worked as agricultural outreach director for U.S.
Senator Amy Klobuchar.
The Department of Agriculture is tasked with protection services
such as food safety, pesticide and fertilizer management, plant
protection and laboratory services, agricultural marketing
including export and promotional programs.
Commerce: Michael Rothman
The mission of the Department of Commerce is "to ensure
equitable commercial and financial transactions and reliable
utility services by: regulating and licensing business activity in
more than 20 industries; investigating and resolving consumer
complaints; advocating the public's interest before the Public
Utilities Commission; and, administering various state
programs."
The 20 industries include banks, real estate, energy, securities,
insurance and collections. As Commerce Commissioner, Mike Rothman
is the state's chief insurance regulator and, as such, he is in
charge of implementing the federal health care law requiring
Minnesota to create a health insurance exchange.
Commissioner Rothman brings to the position many years of
experience in dealing with the insurance industry, having most
recently worked at as an attorney at Winthrop & Weinstine,
P.A., where he was co-chair of their Insurance & Financial
Services practice group. From 1988 to 1992, Rothman was a staff
member for the Minnesota Senate where he worked on a legislative
project to overhaul Minnesota's insurance laws.
Human Services: Lucinda Jesson
Human Services Commissioner Lucinda brings a varied background
and depth of legal knowledge to this position having spent time as
an attorney in both the public and private sectors.
Early in her career she served as Deputy Attorney General where she
represented the Department of Human Services and other
health-related agencies on a broad range of issues. Later, Jesson
served as Chief Deputy Hennepin County Attorney where she worked on
child support, child protection and juvenile justice issues. On the
private side, Jesson was previously a partner and of counsel to
Oppenheimer Wolff and Donnelly, as well as the founder of her own
law firm in St. Paul, Jesson & Pust P.A. Jesson is the founding
director of the Health Law Institute at Hamline University.
The Department of Human Services is the largest state agency, and
its programs include
Medical Assistance (MA), General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC),
MinnesotaCare, Minnesota Family Investment Program (Minnesota's
version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
program), General Assistance (GA), child protection, child support
enforcement, child welfare services, and services for people who
are mentally ill, chemically dependent or have physical or
developmental disabilities.
As commissioner, Jesson will be in charge of implementing an early
expansion of Medicaid in Minnesota as part of the federal health
care law.
Minnesota Management and Budget: Jim Schowalter
Governor Mark Dayton didn't have to look far to find the new
Commissioner of Management and Budget; Jim Schowalter was already
serving as deputy commissioner. Viewed by many as a non-partisan
budget expert, his past experience with the agency will prove
useful as he approaches a multi-billion dollar deficit forecast for
the next biennium.
As deputy commissioner at Minnesota Management and Budget, he
coordinated the agency's financial, debt management, human
resources, and labor activities. Previous roles at Minnesota
Management and Budget included assistant commissioner and state
budget director.
A Wisconsin native, Schowalter worked as regional economist at the
Boston regional office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, and as budget officer at the U.S. Office of Management
and Budget.
Pollution Control Agency: Paul Aasen
Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Paul
Aasen comes to this position from the Minnesota Center for
Environmental Advocacy, where he served as its advocacy director
beginning in 2007.
Past experience includes director of government relations and
policy for Governor Jesse Ventura, executive vice president at
Global Volunteers, Department of Public Safety assistant
commissioner, Division of Emergency Management director, and
Minnesota Emergency Response Commission executive director. Aasen
was also an environmental scientist at the Metropolitan Waste
Control Commission.
Aasen has stated that his top priorities include cleaning up state
rivers and lakes and improving air quality in the metro area.
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