It's hard to talk about Matt Entenza without talking about a town in southwestern Minnesota called Worthington. Worthington is where Matt spent summers growing up, playing by the creek near his grandmother's house and learning small-town values. Worthington provided a home for Matt when his father's alcoholism drove his family to near-bankruptcy and the loss of their home in California. Worthington is where Matt met a local judge who became a trusted mentor and showed him the law could be used to promote equality and social justice. And Worthington Senior High School is where Matt received the public education that allowed him to pursue his dream of becoming an attorney working in public service.
Matt Entenza's Minnesota roots reach back to the 1870s. Matt's great-great grandfather, John Silvernale, fought for the Union in the Civil War and later became a homesteader, receiving 80 acres in western Minnesota near the town of Marietta. Times were difficult for the Silvernales during their first year in Marietta, but the growing community of homesteaders stayed together, weathering crop failures and leaky sod homes. When times got better, they pooled their money and built a church and school.
At the height of the Great Depression, Matt's grandmother got a job as an assistant bank clerk at the First State Bank in Rushmore. At the time, the country was experiencing a great wave of bank failures, so President Roosevelt had begun using federal funds to keep local and rural banks afloat. Louise's first job at First State Bank was to write letters to account holders telling them the government had deposited $100 in everyone's account. Louise would eventually rise to become vice president of the bank, with her office doubling as the town's library. She retired at age 84.
Matt's mother, was raised in Rushmore and Worthington but moved to California after the war to work as a nurse. Matt was born in 1961 in Santa Monica, Calif. His father suffered from alcoholism and was never able to provide stable financial support for the family, putting them heavily in debt and eventually abandoning them. When Matt was 15, his family’s home was foreclosed on, leaving him, his mother, and younger brother and sister homeless. With nowhere else to turn, the family moved back to Worthington and into Louise's house on Clary Street.
With a roof over her children’s heads again, she began putting their lives back together. She enrolled the children in Worthington Public Schools and returned to nursing to help pay the bills, though her husband's debts continued to haunt the family.
It was while attending Worthington Senior High School that Matt met Gary Crippen, a lawyer, former county attorney and judge who became a trusted mentor. At Gary's urging, Matt visited the local courthouse. Matt's only previous exposure to the law had been the various lawsuits and foreclosure notices served on his father. It was in Gary's courtroom that Matt grew to understand the law was really about justice and equal opportunity.
Matt graduated from Worthington Senior High School and won a scholarship to Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., with an eye toward eventually going to law school. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Macalester College in St. Paul and was elected student body president. He received a degree in environmental studies with honors.
After graduating, Matt worked for former Minnesota Governor Elmer Andersen and his son Tony at the H.B. Fuller Foundation. Matt still recalls the former governor's observation that the reason Minnesota was so prosperous was because of the great education the state provided its children. Matt left the Foundation in 1984 after being recruited to work on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign by a Carleton College professor named Paul Wellstone.
Matt and Lois met at a high school speech event in Pipestone, Minn., shortly after Matt moved to Worthington. Their paths crossed throughout high school, and after graduation, they began dating. In 1984, Matt married Lois Quam. After they married, the couple moved to England, where Lois attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. While in England, Matt studied law at Oxford and taught law and politics to high school students. After returning to Minnesota, Matt enrolled at the University of Minnesota Law School and worked at the Hennepin County Public Defender's office as a law clerk, where he successfully organized the clerks as an AFSCME branch.
After Matt and Lois’s first son, Ben, was born in 1989, Matt balanced his law school studies with being a stay-at-home dad while Lois chaired the Minnesota Health Care Access Commission, which led to the creation of MinnesotaCare. Twins Will and Steve joined the family in 1991.
After graduating from law school with honors, Matt took a position at the Minnesota Attorney General's office. As an assistant attorney general in the charities division, Matt shut down an adoption agency that was fleecing Minnesota families. He successfully sued two Texas ministers who had stolen money from families with children in need of organ transplants, and he exposed a sham charity that was pocketing donations meant for local law enforcement. Following the attorney general's office, Matt went to the Hennepin County Attorney's office, where he served as an assistant Hennepin County attorney prosecuting white-collar crime.
While at the attorney general's office, Matt began serving on the Merriam Park Community Council and his neighborhood co-op. St. Paul was just emerging from the recession of the early 1990s, and the local schools desperately needed greater investment. Matt never forgot how much he benefited from public education and strongly believed education was the key to Minnesota's future. With son Ben about to start school, Matt felt the need to become more involved in ensuring Minnesota schools remained vital. When his district's seat in the State House of Representatives became vacant in 1994, Matt decided to run for the seat and was elected that November.
During his time in the legislature, Matt fought for increased investment in schools and was an outspoken opponent of the state's participation in the federal No Child Left Behind program. He helped pass many of the consumer protection laws currently on the books and championed property tax relief for low- and middle-income Minnesotans. Partnering with AARP, Matt took on the telemarketing industry and passed Minnesota's "Do Not Call" law, which placed restrictions on phone solicitations. A report he authored revealed waste and abuse of taxpayer funds by charter schools, and a subsequent law Matt passed created more strict financial accountability for these schools.
By 2003, the House DFL caucus had fallen 28 seats behind the Republican caucus. Clearly seeing the need for change, Matt’s colleagues chose him to be House DFL leader. In the 2004 election, Matt coordinated all House DFL campaigns under a common platform of refocusing the state on quality education and access to affordable health care. The result was a 13-seat gain for the DFL, putting the caucus just two votes shy of a majority.
In the subsequent biennial budgeting process of 2005, Matt was instrumental in delivering on the promises made during the 2004 campaign. Matt provided strong, effective leadership during the government shutdown of 2005, even when others urged capitulation to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's extreme agenda. Because of Matt's work and that of other DFL leaders, tens of thousands retained healthcare they otherwise would have lost, local governments received the aid they required to keep property taxes down and ensure they had adequate police and fire services, and schools received crucial funding increases, reversing Republican cuts.
Given his record of effectiveness challenging the GOP, it is no surprise Matt has been a frequent target of Republican attacks. The GOP and its allies have filed more complaints against Matt than any other DFLer. Every one of these partisan complaints has been deemed without merit by independent review boards.
Matt's legislative accomplishments have been honored by organizations including Children's Defense Fund, the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, the Minnesota Farmers Union, the National Child Support Enforcement Association, the League of Conservation Voters, the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, the National Coalition to End Child Hunger and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
In 2006, Matt decided to leave the legislature to run for attorney general. In preparation for his campaign, he hired a firm to provide background information on the inner workings of the AG's office. Unfortunately, the campaign became focused on this and other side issues. In the spirit of party unity, Matt withdrew his candidacy.
In 2006, Matt created Minnesota 2020, a progressive think tank dedicated to fostering discussion and debate in four key issue areas vital to Minnesota's future prosperity: education, health care, transportation and economic development.
In 2007, Minnesota 2020 proposed a rural economic development plan to encourage the creation of new businesses. The plan subsequently won bi-partisan support and received $20 million in state assistance.
Though progressive in outlook, many of the common-sense ideas and proposals coming out of Minnesota 2020 have won support from moderate Republicans like former Rep. Dan Dorman and former Speaker of the House Dave Jennings.
Matt lives in St. Paul with his wife, Lois, and twin sons Will and Steve. Their oldest son, Ben, attends Colorado College. Matt is a licensed pilot and long-suffering Timberwolves fan. Lois is the founder of Tysvar, a new green economy and health care reform incubator. She and Matt celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 2009.
Matt's work at Minnesota 2020 has afforded him the opportunity to examine the issues critical to Minnesota's future and to travel the state talking to Minnesotans about their concerns. Not surprisingly, people are worried about the economic recession, their jobs, cutbacks in school budgets and rising health care costs. Driven by the unprecedented series of crises gripping the state, in 2009, Matt decided to run for governor. After a long and spirited primary campaign, Matt conceded on August 10th, 2010 to Mark Dayton.