Steve Sviggum | |
---|---|
56th Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives | |
In office January 5, 1999 – January 2, 2007 |
|
Preceded by | Phil Carruthers |
Succeeded by | Margaret Anderson Kelliher |
Minnesota House Minority Leader | |
In office April 17, 1992 – January 4, 1999 |
|
Preceded by | Terry Dempsey |
Succeeded by | Tom Pugh |
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 28B, 26A, 25A district |
|
In office January 3, 1979 – July 17, 2007 |
|
Preceded by | James F. White |
Succeeded by | Steve Drazkowski |
Personal details | |
Born |
Minnesota |
September 15, 1951
Political party |
Independent-Republican Republican |
Spouse(s) | Debra |
Children | 3 |
Residence | Kenyon, Minnesota |
Alma mater | St. Olaf College |
Profession | educator, farmer, regent, legislator |
Steven A. "Steve" Sviggum is a Minnesota politician, a former member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, and an executive assistant to and communications director for the Republican caucus in the Minnesota Senate. A former Speaker and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Sviggum represented District 28B in the southeastern part of the state. The area was known as District 25A until the 1982 legislative redistricting, and then as District 26A until the 1992 redistricting, and has included all or portions of Dakota, Dodge, Goodhue, Olmsted, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Winona counties.
Of Norwegian-American ancestry, Sviggum was born in September 1951. He received a B.A. in mathematics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, and later worked as both a teacher and a farmer.
Sviggum was first elected to the House in 1978. He served as minority leader from April 17, 1992 to 1999, and became Speaker after the 1998 elections, when the Republicans took control of the House. He began his speakership under unusual circumstances, as 1998 also saw the election of Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura as governor while the Democrats retained control of the Minnesota Senate. Sviggum was the leader of the Republicans in a government divided among three political parties.