Two former legislators take on national politics

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories that will seek to track former political figures well-known to Capitol Report readers, catching up with what these politicos done since leaving office, or their formerly prominent roles, and what they might plan to do next.

David FitzSimmons
former GOP representative,
House District 30B

Not long after taking a new job earlier this year, David FitzSimmons noticed that characters from TV were coming to life. There, in hallways, elevators and meeting rooms, were people like Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), John Boehner (R-Ohio) or Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — respectively, a former vice presidential nominee, the U.S. House speaker and his much-derided Democratic predecessor.

It could have been heady stuff for a former hog farmer from Albertville. But there was no time for that.

“Everything moves so fast, you don’t think about it,” FitzSimmons said. “You just feel it, in a little way, while it’s happening.”

The proximity to political big-wigs came thanks to FitzSimmons’ position as U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer‘s chief of staff, a position he earned after shepherding Emmer’s campaign in the 6th Congressional District, formerly represented by Michele Bachmann, during the 2014 elections. FitzSimmons had a background in campaigns, having run Emmer’s unsuccessful 2010 bid for governor, and got to know the policy side of things during his own two-year stint in the Legislature in 2013-14.

But neither compares to his new job, where he manages a staff of more than a dozen and has to juggle topics that span the globe from moment to moment.

“In the morning you could have a meeting with corn growers,” FitzSimmons said. “And then next, there’s a meeting with the [Multiple Sclerosis] Society, about health care. Then you meet with credit unions about banking. It can be half a dozen jumps like that in a single day.”

FitzSimmons has become a quick study, learning, for example, about the history of the United States’ relationship with Cuba, and the arguments for and against expanding American trade with that country. Emmer has taken a lead role on that effort, giving cautious support to a notion proposed by President Barack Obama.

“The Cuba-embargo bill, that’s probably going to be a couple-year process to get done right,” FitzSimmons said. “But you have to start somewhere.”

The idea of staking a moderate position where others won’t tread is a familiar one to FitzSimmons, who famously backed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2013, effectively ending his legislative career; sensing the will of Republican delegates in that conservative district, he stepped aside from the endorsement process rather than seeking re-election.

The 37-year-old does not regret that move, or any others he made in the Legislature, though he admits that the rapid change in career paths has been a whirlwind.

“How my life has gone in last five years, I’ve given up on making any long-term predictions,” FitzSimmons said. “I just try to do the right thing where I’m at, with what I’m given.”

Terry Morrow
former DFL representative,
House District 23A

A career change in 2013 led to a rather sudden expansion of Terry Morrow’s constituency. As a three-term legislator from St. Peter, Morrow, an attorney and college professor, had become a legislative expert on regional transportation needs and the state’s higher education system.

When he left in early 2013 to take a job with the Uniform Law Commission, a Chicago-based legislative drafting agency, Morrow’s district, as it were, was slightly larger. As in, all 50 of these United States.

“It was really fascinating,” Morrow said. “And it was a great civics lesson, to understand how different state legislatures approach the legislative process.”

The commission’s aim, as stated in its title, is the drafting and advancement of identical bills across each state, with the goal of achieving uniformity and simplicity on statutes that have implications across state lines. The work meant Morrow worked  directly with lawmakers in New York to change the commercial code there, and traveled in Illinois, North Dakota and Nebraska to push for legislation aimed at stopping sex trafficking.

Morrow said his six years in the Minnesota Legislature prepared him well — “I felt Minnesota legislators took things very seriously,” he said — for his commission work, though he had to adjust to widely disparate pace of other governing bodies.

“Some states meet for a very short, compressed period of time,” he said. “Others are year-round legislatures, and you could see how slowly things might move in a state that has an entire calendar year.”

The work was rewarding, but it kept Morrow away from his family, which was still based in St. Peter. He essentially spent two years commuting from Chicago back to southern Minnesota, and Morrow said the travel and sense of disconnection wore on him over time.

Earlier this year, he got a chance to move back home, though that job, too, has a national bent. In May, Morrow accepted an offer to become DFL U.S. Rep. Tim Walz’s re-election campaign manager, revisiting a working relationship the two had established during Morrow’s legislative tenure.

The new job meant Morrow had to acquaint himself with federal elections and campaign law, and get used to a different size, both geographically — the 1^st Congressional District contains the whole of the state’s southern border — and as measured by finances and staffing.

“At the state legislative level, I didn’t have a campaign office,” he said. “I was the campaign office.”

Walz already has one Republican opponent, Jim Hagedorn, whom he defeated comfortably in 2014. (Another possible entrant, Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, considered a challenge to Walz, but ultimately decided against it.) Morrow is confident of the DFL moderate’s chances in 2016, saying he had heard of Walz’s work ethic prior to taking the position. Even still, he is still impressed by what he sees on a daily basis: On Thursday, when Morrow spoke with Capitol Report, he had met to discuss issue with Walz early that morning, and was scheduled to hold a second meeting later that night.

“I’m getting a greater appreciation for how much [Walz] studies issues as we get to talk with one another,” Morrow said. “It’s amazing how much he knows about the key issues of the day, and the studying he does. I’m learning a great deal — I feel like I’m getting a tutorial in this job.”