Dear Friends,

I have been honored to meet many fantastic people over the last 14 years serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives, including three as the Republican Minority Leader. Last week, I bid farewell to the Minnesota House of Representatives. Although emotional and humorous at times, I tried to not talk about politics, bills, amendments, roll calls or issues that divide Minnesotans. Rather, I wanted to just visit with my colleagues and the people of Minnesota about the special people in my life and the need to move forward as a father and citizen.

My history is to not write down speeches, but at most, refer to a few notes. Someone was kind enough to transcribe my farewell speech (below) and you may also watch it at this link: Seifert Farewell Speech.

I still have some bills to pay from my unsuccessful run for Governor. If you are able, I would appreciate any donation that you might be able to make. You can donate on-line by going to www.SeifertforGovernor.com or mailing a check to: Seifert for Governor, c/o Diane Johnson, Treasurer, 31840 Lakeway Drive NE, Cambridge, Minnesota 55008.

Please stay in touch. While I am done in elected office, I still enjoy visiting with fellow Minnesotans about public policy, solutions to our problems and the great people who live in our tremendous state of Minnesota.

I think all of us in this room-I think a lot of you know I like stories. And I can look around the room and I can tell a little story about everybody in the room. Maybe I saw you in the hallway or in a committee or in the bathroom or somewhere in the backroom or whatever and I can tell a little story about every single person in here on both sides of the isle; maybe I just talked to you for a minute or two. And I think it’s important for all of us to do that. We don’t do it. I’m surprised at the number of people who don’t take the time to meet the human beings in this room. All fantastic people.

So we gotta to do that. We gotta get to know our people. Did you know (Representative) Mary Murphy babysat (Representative) Dan Severson when he was a little tiny baby? And Mary said it was the cutest baby you ever babysat. Mary you told me that. A lot of people don’t know those things.

And we need to learn about each other.

We need to take the opportunities given to us in the Chamber. When Representative (Jeff) Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) invited me to come to the Sabathani Community Center, an old lady said, “I’ve worked here since 1976 and I’ve never seen a Republican in this building.” You could have brought a giraffe in there – they’ve never seen one of those in there either before. (laughter) But what honor it was to listen to concerns people had that I hadn’t had the opportunity to ever learn before.

We need to learn about each other. And I think we do know little things about everybody in the room. Who wears orange all the time? (laughter) You know, Representative (Kate) Knuth. I mean we all know these little things about each other and I take that with me as I leave this body.

I’ve got some recommendations. One is that if you don’t want to miss a vote, and you need 20 to 30 minutes, just wait until Representative (Torrey) Westrom starts putting his jacket on and that’ll buy you about 15-20. (laughter) And so that’s a lesson, I think, for those of you who have things to do, that’ll buy you some time. (Representative Westrom is known for giving very long speeches).

One thing, seriously, that I would like members on both sides to take a look at is something I did when I had the honor of chairing a committee. And that is regardless of seniority, regardless of party, regardless if you like the person or not , whether you know them or not, that every single member get a hearing on their bill and a fair vote. And it was sad when I learned I was one of the few Chairmen that did that. And if you don’t have time, make time. And I didn’t care if it was (then Representative, now Congressman) Keith Ellison who needed a hearing on a bill or if it was a senior Republican. And it’s not something, members we should have to put in the Rules to force us to do it, we should do it because it’s the right thing.

It’s interesting, some of the stories that we like to tell. On a Friday night, it was particularly late and my wife told my son, “Dad’s coming home tonight.” And put him to bed. He climbed out of bed and was sleeping on the floor-by the garage door-at midnight-waiting for me. A three year old. There’s not a lot of people who know how that feels week after week.

The other thing: I want to send appreciation to is the human side of everyone in this room. When my dad died, the first memorial I got for a little dedication at FarmFest – there was a little card attached – from Minneapolis Minnesota – I still have it: “Marty, our thoughts and prayers are with you on the death of your father. Signed: Margaret Anderson Kelliher." It was the first card that I got. Neither one of us held any position of authority other than being rank and file members of the House.

I had to put a positive spin on my loss when I ran for Governor to my daughter. She’s smart for her age. So the positive spin I put on it was “Brittany I lasted one ballot longer than Leslie Davis.” (laughter and applause). It gets better. She said, “Daddy, that guy doesn’t even drive a car.” So I tried to put a positive spin on it, but she’s too smart, even at her age of 7 to know better.

The day of the state convention, Braxton had a big scrape on his nose. And we were getting ready to go on stage and a reporter asked and you remember this (Representative) Mary (Kiffmeyer) - the reporter asked “What happened to your nose – this huge gash?”

He said, “I fell off my bike last week and daddy was not there to catch me.”

I’ve had a great time at this House located at 100 Martin Luther King Boulevard. But the house where I belong is on East Lyon Street in Marshall, Minnesota.

Thank you, God bless you and may God bless the great state of Minnesota. 

Best Wishes and God Bless,