Elwyn Tinklenberg
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Elwyn "El" Tinklenberg (born February 26, 1950) has been an American government official and candidate for public office. He was Commissioner of the
Minnesota Department of Transportation The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees Transportation in Minnesota, transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Cabinet (government), cabinet-lev ...
, a city council member and mayor, and a two-time candidate for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination for
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from Minnesota's 6th District. Tinklenberg was born in
Princeton, Minnesota Princeton is a city in Mille Lacs and Sherburne counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota, at the junction of the Rum River and its West Branch. It is north of Minneapolis and east of St. Cloud, at the intersection of Highways 169 and 95. ...
and grew up on a farm in
Pease, Minnesota Pease is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 238 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Pease was established in 1894, and remained in operation until 1994. Pease was named by railroad officials ...
, a small, Dutch farming community in central Minnesota. He earned his undergraduate degree at the
University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the University of Minnesota System. UMD offers 17 bachelor's degrees in 87 majors, graduate programs in 24 different fields, a tw ...
in 1973. Afterward, he enrolled at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in
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. He completed his Master of Divinity at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in 1977. He served as a
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minister in
Blaine, Minnesota Blaine is a suburban city in Anoka and Ramsey counties in Minnesota, United States. Once a rural town, Blaine's population has increased significantly in the last 60 years. For several years, Blaine led the Twin Cities metro region in new home ...
, from 1977 to 1986 before being elected to the Blaine City Council and then Mayor of Blaine. He was appointed Minnesota Transportation Commissioner in 1998.


Career


Blaine mayor

In the 1980s, Tinklenberg was elected to the Blaine City Council, and in 1987, he was elected Mayor of Blaine, serving until 1996. Tinklenberg was a crucial player in the construction of the
National Sports Center The National Sports Center (NSC) is a multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota. Its site includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a meeting and convention facility, an eight-sheet ice rink (the Super ...
in Blaine, a multi-sport complex that includes a soccer stadium with a track, over 50 youth soccer fields, a golf course, a meeting and convention facility, and an eight-sheet ice rink, the Schwan Super Rink.


Minnesota Transportation Commissioner

In 1991, Tinklenberg headed the North Metro Mayors Association, which worked to improve the transportation systems and business opportunities of its member communities. During that time, he gained a reputation as an expert of transportation and infrastructure issues, which led to his appointment as Transportation Commissioner by then Governor
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in 1998. In that role, Tinklenberg worked with Ventura to support aggressive construction and improvement of highways statewide. He worked with the
Minnesota State Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenni ...
to create bipartisan support for a regional commuter plan for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. This plan included the construction of the METRO Blue Line (the state's first light-rail line) and the
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commuter rail line. In 2002, Tinklenberg oversaw the implementation of the Mn/DOT 511 service, an integrated internet and phone system for travel information. The 511 service is used by Minnesota travelers to receive information on conditions and amenities. According to Mn/DOT, it is 10 times faster than its predecessor. After Tinklenberg announced his plans to leave Mn/DOT in 2002, the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 census, it is the state's most populous city. Located in the state's center near the eastern border, it ...
published an editorial praising his record and service. The editorial noted that Tinklenberg told Minnesotans "not necessarily what they wanted to hear but what they needed to hear. His frequent explanations helped lift the interwoven issues of roads, transit, housing and development to the top of the state's agenda."


House campaigns

Tinklenberg has been a candidate for the Minnesota's 6th congressional district twice: in 2006 he was a candidate, but was not nominated; and in 2008, he was nominated but lost the general election.


2006 campaign

Tinklenberg was one of two DFL candidates for the sixth district seat in the
U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
in the 2006 election. A former
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minister and manager of the Divisions of Public Services for Anoka County, he ran on a platform that supported jobs, education, transportation and as a socially conservative Democrat who opposed legalized abortion and supported a Federal Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage. He had been selected to receive support from the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises funds and organizes races in ...
and had received the early endorsement of several important labor unions. Tinklenberg's opponent for the DFL nomination was
Patty Wetterling Patricia Lynn Wetterling (born November 2, 1949) is an American advocate of children's safety and chair of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Her advocacy particularly focuses on protecting children from abduction and abuse ...
. Another candidate, Scott Mortensen, dropped out in March 2006. Tinklenberg originally entered the race only after receiving assurances from Wetterling, the DFL's 2004 candidate, that she would not run. Wetterling changed her mind after struggling to gain momentum in her campaign for the open Minnesota
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seat and after getting encouraged by constituents who wanted a DFL alternative to Tinklenberg. On May 13, 2006, Tinklenberg dropped out of the race and endorsed Patty Wetterling after losing the DFL endorsement.
Michele Bachmann Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican P ...
was the Republican candidate for the
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
Sixth District seat, which was vacated by Mark Kennedy so he could run for the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
. The Minnesota Sixth District covers the northern suburbs of the
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and extends northwest across rural areas to include St. Cloud. Bachmann, the Republican nominee, won the election.


2008 campaign

On September 28, 2007, Tinklenberg announced his plans to again challenge Bachmann for the seat in 2008, along with two other announced candidates, Bob Olson and Bob Hill. Following Tinklenberg's entrance into the race, Hill dropped out. Tinklenberg received strong support from unions, receiving endorsements from all of the labor organizations that become involved in the election. Throughout the Senate District conventions in March and April, both Olson and Tinklenberg campaigns claimed having a lead in the delegate count. Closer to the Sixth District DFL Convention, Olson's critiques of Tinklenberg grew sharper. Tinklenberg was accused of supporting the use of taconite tailings in transportation aggregate. Tinklenberg contended that, indeed, he did support the use of western Iron Range taconite tailings in transportation aggregate through a University of Minnesota
Natural Resources Research Institute The Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) is a United States (U.S.) based research institute founded by the Minnesota state legislature within the University of Minnesota Duluth. NRRI is a non-profit, applied research organization, establi ...
program, which was backed by the
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. The University's research concluded that taconite tailings from the western side of the
Iron Range The Iron Range is collectively or individually a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants ...
were safe for use in road construction, unlike the by-product from the eastern side of the Range, which had been linked to an increased risk to cancer. Tinklenberg reiterated that he would only support the sustainable use of western Iron Range taconite tailings as long as the research showed it to be a safe practice. Tinklenberg was also accused by congressional opponents, including Bob Olson of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, of not complying with lobbying registration regulations. Through his work as a transportation consultant, Tinklenberg had been hired as an adviser to a number of counties and municipalities. Because his work required him to have contact with state legislators, Tinklenberg was required to register as a lobbyist in the state of Minnesota. On February 27, 2008, Eric Zaetsch, a local liberal blogger, filed a complaint with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board. The Board found Tinklenberg to be in full compliance with the law. On April 26, 2008, Tinklenberg received the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (Minnesota's Democratic Party), garnering 72% of the delegate support on the first ballot — 12% above the required 60% threshold. Olson immediately withdrew, and Tinklenberg received the unanimous support of the Convention. On the evening of October 17, 2008, Tinklenberg's opponent, Bachmann, appeared on ''
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.'' She said she was "very concerned that
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may have anti-American views," and called for the news media to "do a penetrating expose" on "the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?" Tincklenburg's total fundraising before the Bachmann appearance was approximately $1 million, under $720,000 of which was from individuals. Prior to Bachmann's remarks, Democrats had already planned to spend $1,000,000 against the Republican incumbent after Tinklenberg had reached the milestone of raising $1,000,000 on his own. Nevertheless, Bachmann won re-election, by just under 3
percentage point A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points (altho ...
s.


2010 campaign

Although he had set up a website for a 2010 run for the seat, Tinklenberg announced that he had withdrawn from the race to allow the campaign against Bachmann to be conducted in a unified manner by DFL supporters.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinklenberg, Elwyn 1950 births State cabinet secretaries of Minnesota Minnesota Democrats Living people University of Minnesota Duluth alumni Northwestern University alumni People from Mille Lacs County, Minnesota Mayors of places in Minnesota Candidates in the 2008 United States elections People from Blaine, Minnesota Minnesota city council members People from Princeton, Minnesota Candidates in the 2006 United States elections American United Methodist clergy 20th-century Minnesota politicians