Venezuela RPCV Bob Kierlin retires as Minnesota State Senator



Over the course of his career as a lawmaker, Kierlin was worn down by things beyond his control. He navigated budget deficits, special sessions, and the embarrassing partial government shutdown the Legislature caused when it deadlocked in 2005. He grew frustrated by the pace, eventually coining what he called the Rule of Five: it takes the Legislature five times longer than business to get anything done.

Venezuela RPCV Bob Kierlin retires as Minnesota State Senator

Businessman-turned-senator to concentrate on Winona

By Brian Voerding / Winona Daily News
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The way Bob Kierlin tells it, his public life began rather serendipitously.

The 67-year-old Fastenal co-founder and Republican state senator from Winona was giving a talk about venture capital in the late 1990s. Afterward, people asked him why he had never run for office. They said his advice on business and examples of successful enterprises would translate well into public service,

Kierlin had never run simply because he had never considered it, and the idea stuck. In March 1999, state Sen. Steve Morse accepted a job as deputy commissioner for the Department of Natural Resources, triggering a special April election. Kierlin entered the race and won.

The way Kierlin tells it, his 2005 decision to retire from the state Legislature was equally determined by chance — more specifically, by a painting.

He and wife, Mary Burrichter, who is the city of Winona’s finance director, were looking for a painting for their home — a big painting, to fill a plain white wall 8 feet tall and 14 feet wide.

“(Mary and I) have no interest in art, generally, so where do you go to get a big picture?” he said. “The only thing I could think of is museums have these heroic paintings and things, so maybe if we just got on the Internet and saw what was there, we’d find something dynamic.”

Kierlin searched Google and eBay, trying keywords like “large” and “huge” before the word “painting,” to no avail. Later, they dug through old art magazines a neighbor had happened to give them, and one painting, which featured a marine scene by John Stobart and was large — 5 feet by 8 feet — caught their eye. It was for sale, and the couple purchased it.

Eventually one marine painting became two, then four, then 347.

Kierlin and Burrichter used their burgeoning collection to help launch the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, scheduled to open this fall on Riverview Drive. They’ve also become curators, a full-time summer job, taking the time to prepare legends and texts for each of the pieces that will rotate through the museum.

Kierlin’s investments in Winona, both financial — the museum, as well as in Signatures restaurant and Winona Golf and Dining, which he formed in 2005 after purchasing the former Winona Country Club n and community service n he serves on the Hiawatha Broadband Communications and Kwik Trip boards — led him to re-consider his priorities and ultimately abandon plans to run for the District 31 senate seat in November.

“I want to do something worthwhile, and particularly I want to do something worthwhile for the people in this area, because I love the area,” Kierlin said. “I legislated to see that other people have the same opportunities I had. Now I’m working to foster economic development in this area, and I’d rather spend my time doing that now.”

Modest leader and fiscal sage

In his three terms as a legislator, spanning seven years and eight sessions, Kierlin utilized the same modesty he brought to Fastenal operations, assiduously avoiding the posturing he saw in other law makers—as well the spotlight. “A lot of speeches were made not to shed light on an issue as much as to get your face in front of the camera,” he said.

Kierlin’s business experience gave him a de facto role as an avuncular tutor on budget projections and economic forecasts, and he had one of the most visible assignments as a member of the capital investment committee, responsible for preparing the list of state construction projects funded by bonding bills.

Early in his tenure, Kierlin helped pass a bill that had statewide reach, allowing foundations and nonprofit organizations to sponsor charter schools. Still, he only drew extended attention for a bill he co-authored in 2005 to legalize medical marijuana, which died earlier this spring.

Over the course of his career as a lawmaker, Kierlin was worn down by things beyond his control. He navigated budget deficits, special sessions, and the embarrassing partial government shutdown the Legislature caused when it deadlocked in 2005. He grew frustrated by the pace, eventually coining what he called the Rule of Five: it takes the Legislature five times longer than business to get anything done.

Bringing it all back home

Although senators typically serve four years before re-election, Kierlin ran three campaigns in as many years. He ran a full campaign in 2000, a year after the special election, and then had to run again in 2002 because of redistricting that added much of Fillmore County and other rural areas while removing northern Winona County from his district.

And for the man born and raised in Winona, who has only been out of town twice for more than two consecutive weeks — two years in the Peace Corps in Venezuela and five weeks in the hospital — it was difficult staying weekdays at the Kelly Inn in St. Paul and returning home only for weekends.

When he announced last July that he wouldn’t seek re-election, local supporters were disappointed, but not surprised.

Kierlin is still technically a state senator until early January, when the winner of the three-way November race for his seat (see sidebar) is sworn in, but the 2006 session is over and Kierlin is back in Winona full-time, his public work limited mostly to administrative tasks and meeting with constituents.

He spends his days at Fastenal, where he serves as board chairman and keeps an office, though he isn’t involved in day-to-day management any longer. And his interests lie where they always have: locally. He talks about the Marine Museum opening this fall, about fostering economic development through tourism, about promoting arts and culture by networking events in small towns across southeastern Minnesota.

“You can’t do everything in the limited hours of the day,” he said. “And I can do more for the people here now by staying here.”

Reporter Brian Voerding can be reached at (507) 453-3514 or at bvoerding@winonadailynews.com.

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