Relph remembered for kindness, acuity

Sen. Jerry Relph, 76, a state senator described by his colleagues as compassionate, kind and collaborative, died on Dec. 18 from COVID-19.

Relph, R-St. Cloud, a former St. Charles city attorney, had been hospitalized for several weeks before his death. He cast no remote votes during the year’s final special session on Dec. 14.

Ironically, Relph introduced the Legislature’s first COVID-19 response bill on March 3. It appropriated $21 million to prepare a public health response for what was still considered a potential COVID-19 outbreak. Gov. Tim Walz signed it into law just a week later, on March 10. A week after that, the Legislature went into a nearly monthlong pandemic recess.

Yet Relph was no fan of Walz’s use of peacetime emergency powers. During the first special session in July, he rose to urge other senators to terminate the governor’s peacetime emergency authority. At the time, infection rates were on a downswing.

“We have ended the need for the emergency to be dealt with on the basis of one person making decisions,” Relph said that day. “It is time to get back to normalcy as much as we can.”

The GOP Senate caucus has released few details about Relph’s death, opting to reconfirm information released last month. The caucus said Relph went into quarantine on Nov. 10 after learning he had contact with another senator who contracted the virus.

Relph tested positive on Nov. 13, the caucus said. That day, he experienced symptoms and sought emergency treatment. On Nov. 14, he again sought emergency treatment. He was sent home both days.

It has been widely reported that Relph attended a Nov. 5 caucus leadership meeting, followed by a post-election party that night attended by more than 100 people. Senate Majority Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, and senators Dave Senjem, R-Rochester and Paul Anderson, R-Plymouth, also reportedly experienced COVID-19 symptoms in the days after those meetings. They have recovered.

In a statement Saturday, Gazelka called Relph a “true friend and colleague” who “rolled up his sleeves and tackled tough issues.” Gazelka said he would have no further comment on Relph’s death.

Man of many causes

While Relph never compromised his conservative bona fides, colleagues said Monday, he nonetheless was willing to work across the aisle on things that mattered to him.

Those issues included the Veterans Restorative Justice Act, a bill with DFL House authors that would steer returning veterans, in trouble with the law because of combat-related mental health or chemical addiction problems, toward treatment and away from prison. That bill has yet to pass.

Relph also championed a successful 2017 juvenile justice bill, “McKenna’s law.” It requires kids aged 10 or older to be advised of their right to seek counsel during child in need of protection or services proceedings. Relph also counted domestic violence prevention, mental health and long-term care among his voluminous legislative concerns.

He authored a 76-page civil commitment reform that authorizes a pilot project for mental health engagement services, which proponents said could create an alternative to police intervention during mental health crises.

The legislation prevents people under civil commitment from automatically losing their status if their paperwork gets lost. The bill passed as part of an omnibus human services policy bill during the June special session.

Sue Abderholden, executive director for Minnesota’s National Alliance on Mental Illness chapter, said that reform was three years in the making. It benefited greatly, she said, from Relph’s behind-the-scenes work, generating legislative support when proponents could no longer lobby because of COVID-19.

His work on that bill and others got Relph selected NAMI Minnesota’s Legislator of the Year for 2020. Despite his illness, he accepted the award during the group’s online annual conference ceremony on Nov. 14, Abderholden said.

“Anytime we went to him,” Abderholden said, “we’d say, ‘We know you’re carrying a lot of bills, but would you please be the chief author?’ He always said yes. He literally never turned me down.”

Apparently, he didn’t turn down many such requests. During the 2019-20 biennium alone, Relph authored 97 bills. Three of them, as standalone bills, became law. In 2017-18, he authored 120 bills, seven of which became law.

‘Done it all’

Relph served on the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety committee throughout his entire term in office. He also was a member of the Senate Capital Investment, Family Care and Aging, Human Services Reform and Local Government committees.

Before he became a lawmaker, Relph was a real estate and tax attorney, though he stopped practicing around 2014. A graduate of William Mitchell College of Law, he had served as an editor of the school’s first law review, according to his campaign website. He went on to work for a time as St. Charles’ city attorney.

Before he became a lawyer, he was a U.S. Marine, rising to the rank of first lieutenant and seeing action in Vietnam. He also co-founded a business, LakeMaster, which markets topographical GPS lake maps to aid in fishing. He sold that business in 2012.

“This guy had done it all,” said Sen. Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, who served with Relph on Judiciary. “It was just astounding from one person. Jerry lived it. He didn’t just dabble in things, he went all in.”

That included legislative work, where Relph would delve into the details, Johnson said. “Anything from civil law to child care to health care issues,” Johnson said, “he knew the bills; he knew what was coming. He knew everything, it seemed like.”

Two of Relph’s favorite catch phrases were, “I don’t want to get into the weeds,” and “Briefly…,” Johnson recalled, but they were rarely to be taken literally.

“Those were two cues that you’d better buckle up,” Johnson joked, “because you’re going into the weeds and it’s going to take a while.”

Other recollections

Former Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, who recently survived his own bout with COVID-19, worked with Relph on bills dealing with long-term care, durable medical equipment and public safety. They also served together on public safety conference committees.

Zerwas said that unlike some senators, Relph never copped what might be termed a “powdered-wig attitude,” despite all he had experienced and accomplished in his long professional, political and military career.

“A lot of senators act as if they’re step above or better than House members,” Zerwas said. “Jerry wasn’t like that at all. He came into the Senate and onto those committees, truly, as a humble man who just wanted, at the end of the day, to help.”

If Relph was willing to work across party lines, his conservative credentials nonetheless were solid. He opposed the Sentencing Guidelines Commission’s decision to cap probation terms, opposed DFL gun-safety reforms that he felt failed to protect due-process rights and called a bill to legalize recreational marijuana “not ready for prime time.”

“There was no question when it came down to partisan issues and procedural votes and stuff like that, he supported his caucus,”  said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, the Democrats’ lead on Judiciary. “But he was not a raging partisan.”

Latz called Relph a gracious, productive, problem-solving participant on Judiciary who brought with deep legal knowledge to the committee’s work from his previous career.

“Certainly, just in terms of human-to-human interaction, he was very approachable,” Latz said. “Obviously, I came to different analytical conclusions than he did on many occasions, but it was an intellectual exercise to get there. And that was worthy of him and his training and his commitment to public service.”

Sen. Melisa Lopez Franzen, DFL-Edina, served with Relph on Health and Human Services and regarded him as “just a kind gentleman.” She said that while she had heard from colleagues in recently that Relph remained ill, his death came as a surprise.

“It’s sad,” she said. “It’s family, regardless of party, in my opinion. It’s unfortunate that we’ve had to experience a loss like that in our Legislature.”

Relph narrowly lost his re-election bid on Nov. 3 and would have left the Legislature at the beginning of 2021. He served just one term.