Ten Eyck looks forward to serving in state Senate

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Jan. 5, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Dave Ten Eyck, an attorney from East Gull Lake, will take office Tuesday, along with 66 other state senators-elect, representing Minnesota Senate District 4 for a four-year term.

The state Senate will undergo much the same ceremony that will take place in the House that Gail Skare of Bemidji will experience. Lt. Gov. Joanne Bensen will preside over the Senate ceremony, however, whereas Secretary of State Joan Growe will preside over the House's.

Ten Eyck, the DFL-endorsed candidate for District 4 who won a narrow race by fewer than 500 votes in November, campaigned on issues such as property tax reform, strong public schools, financial security and affordable health care for working families, a voice for senior citizens, promoting a clean environment and strong intervention with juvenile offenders.

In a telephone interview Friday, he said he wants to focus on these same issues now that he is in office, but he did not have defined ideas as to what legislation he would like to see come out of the 1997 session.

"I just want to be a good, hard-working senator and serve my district," Ten Eyck said. "You've got to go into these things with an open mind and represent the people in the best fashion you can."

In a larger sense, he said he would like the Senate to learn to put aside its partisan differences when considering legislation. "I want to see a process without partisan attacks and politics."

He also said he wants to enter into state-level government with a commonsense approach and wants to cut bureaucratic "red tape."

Another concern of Ten Eyck's is to maintain exposure in all parts of his Senate district that encompasses parts of Beltrami, Wadena, Itasca and all of Hubbard and Cass counties. One possibility is that he will set up regular constituent visits throughout the district later in the year.

"I intend to maintain some visibility throughout the district," he said. "I have spent a considerable amount of time in Bemidji since the election, and I don't think that will change."

With Tuesday's ceremonies, the Bemidji area finds itself with two newcomers to the legislative process. The Senate 4 district has been without a state senator since July, following the conviction and later resignation from the Senate of Sen. Skip Finn, DFL-Cass Lake. Finn is appealing his federal conviction of charges involving an insurance scam he oversaw in the 1980s for the Leech Lake Reservation.

And Skare replaces longtime Rep. Bob Johnson, DFL-Bemidji, who didn't seek election after his 1995 convictions on three drunken-driving charges and censure a year ago by the Minnesota House.