Matthew Torgerson – who claims to be a lawyer, I think – claims that “15% of Minnesota GOP legislators have a college degree”.
Here’s one of several tweets on the subject:
Now, Torgerson, like many DFLers, confuses “education” with “schooling” – but beyond that, he’s utterly wrong.
Here are the notes on legislators’ education, taken from the Senate and House bio pages, broken down by district, chamber, party, legislator and level of education.
Dist Chamber Name Party BA 1 Sen Stumpf D MPA 1 A Fabian R BA 1 B Kiel R - 2 Sen Skoe D BA 2 A Eken D BA 2 B Hancock R BA 3 Sen Saxhaug D BA 3 A Anzelc D BS 3 B Mcelfatrick R RN 4 Sen Carlson R BS 4 A Persell D MA? 4 B Howes R - 5 Sen Tomassoni D BS 5 A Rukavina D BA 5 B Melin D JD 6 Sen Bakk D BA 6 A Dill D - 6 B Murphy D BA 7 Sen Reinert D MS 7 A Huntley D PhD 7 B Gauthier D MS 8 Sen Loury D BA 8 A Hilty D MA 8 B Craford R BA 9 Sen Langseth D - 9 A Lanning R MS 9 B Marquart D MS 10 Sen Hoffman, R RN 10 A Nornes R Cert? 10 B Murdock R - 11 Sen Ingebrigtsen R AA 11 A Westrom R JD 11 B Franson R BA 12 Sen Gazelka R BS 12 A Ward D MA 12 B LeMieur R - 13 Sen Gimse R - 13 A Anderson R BA 13 B Vogel R - 14 Sen Fischbach R JD 14 A O'Driscoll R BS 14 B Hosch D MA 15 Sen Pederson J R MBA 15 A Gottwalt R BA 15 B Banaian R PhD 16 Sen Brown R BA 16 A Erickson R BA 16 B Kiffmeyer R RN 17 Sen Nienow R - 17 A Daudt R - 17 B Barrett R BS 18 Sen Newman R - 18 A Shimanski R AS 18 B Urdahl R BS 19 Sen Koch R BS 19 A Anderson R BS 19 B McDonald R AA 20 Sen Kubly D MD 20 A Falk D BS 20 B Koenen D AA 21 Sen Dahms R BS 21 A Swedzinski R BS 21 B Torkelson R BA 22 Sen Magnus R BS 22 A Schomacker R MPS 22 B Hamilton R - 23 Sen Sheran D MS 23 A Morrow D JD 23 B Brynaert D MA 24 Sen Rosen R BS 24 A Gunther R BS 24 B Cornish R - 25 Sen DeKruif R - 25 A Gruenhagen R ChFC, CLU 25 B Woodard R MBA 26 Sen Parry R - 26 A Kath D MS 26 B Fritz D LPN 27 Sen Sparks D BS 27 A Murray R MBA 27 B Poppe D MS 28 Sen Howes R BS 28 A Kelly R BS 28 B Drazkowski R M.Ed 29 Sen Senjem R MA 29 A Quam R MS 30 B Norton D BS 30 Sen Nelson R ME 30 A Liebling D MS 30 B Benson R MNA 31 Sen Miller R AAS 31 A Pelowski D MS 31 B Davids R BS 32 Sen Limmer R BA 32 A Peppin R MBA 32 B Zellers R BS 33 Sen Olson R BS 33 A Smith R JD 33 B Doepke R BA 34 Sen Ortman R JD 34 A Leidiger R MA 34 B Hoppe R BA 35 Sen Robling R - 35 A Beard R BA 35 B Buesgens R BS 36 Sen Thompson R JD 36 A Holberg R BA 36 B Garofalo R BS 37 Sen Gerlach R MBA 37 A Mack R BA 37 B Bills R MA 38 Sen Daley R MBA 38 A Anderson R BS 38 B Wardkiw R JD 39 Sen Metzen D BA 39 A Hansen D MS 39 B Atkins D JD 40 Sen Hall R BA 40 A Myhra R BA 40 B Lenczewski D BA 41 Sen Michel R JD 41 A Downey R MIS 41 B Mazorol R JD 42 Sen Hann R BA 42 A Stensrud R BA 42 B Loon R BA 43 Sen Bonoff D BA 43 A Anderson R BA 43 B Benson D MA 44 Sen Latz D JD 44 A Simon D JD 44 B Winkler D JD 45 Sen Rest D MBA 45 A Pederson D BS 45 B Carlson D BS 46 Sen Eaton D RN 46 A Nelson D - 46 B Hilstrom D JD 47 Sen Kruse R BA 47 A Dittrich D BS 47 B Hortman D JD 48 Sen Jungbauer R BA 48 A Hackbarth R - 48 B Abeler R Doc Chiropractic 49 Sen Benson R MBA 49 A Scott R Cert 49 B Peterson R - 50 Sen Goodwin D BA 50 A Laine D MA 50 B Knuth D MS 51 Sen Wolf R BA 51 A Sanders R BA 51 B Tillberry D MA 52 Sen Vandeveer R BS 52 A Dettmer R MA 52 B Dean R BA 53 Sen Chamberlain R BS 53 A Runbeck R BA 53 B McFarlane R AA 54 Sen Marty D BA 54 A Greiling D MA 54 B Scalze D - 55 Sen Wiger D JD 55 A Lillie D BS 55 B Slawik D MPA 56 Sen Lillie R MPA 56 A Lohmer R - 56 B Kieffer R BS 57 Sen Sieben D BS 57 A Kriesel R - 57 B McNamara R BS 58 Sen Higgins D BS 58 A Mullery D JD 58 B Champioin D JD 59 Sen D 59 A Loeffler D BA 59 B Kahn D MPA 60 Sen Dibble D BA? 60 A Greene D MBA 60 B Hornstein D MA 61 Sen Hayden D BA 61 A Clark D MPA 61 B Hayden D BA 62 Sen Torres Ray D MPA 62 A Davnie D M Ed 62 B Wagenius D JD 63 Sen Kelash D MPA 63 A Thissen D JD 63 B Slocum D BA 64 Sen Cohen D JD 64 A Murphy D MA 64 B Paymar D MA 65 Sen Pappas D MPA 65 A Moran D BS 65 B Mariani D BA 66 Sen McGuire D MPA 66 A Lesch D JD 66 B Hausman D MA 67 Sen Harrington D MA 67 A Mahoney D - 67 B Johnson D MA
Note that of 109 Republicans in the House and Senate, 91 have some sort of post-high school education,from certificates or RNs or AAs up through JDs and PhDs. 28 Republicans have graduate degrees – MA, MS, MEd, MBA, PhD, and so on – alone, to say nothing of the 51 BA and BS, plus a variety of RN (which may or may not be four-year degrees), AA, AS and certifications.
And of 18 who don’t list post-high-school education, 14 are listed as business owners – the rest are farmers or tradespeople…
…and, most importantly, all of them convinced a majoirty of the people in their district that they should be in the Legislature,which is the only “credential” that means jack.
We’ll see if Torgerson changes his “story”.
UPDATE: Torgerson apparently believes 74 GOP legislators are lying about having degrees on the legislative bio pages. He’s sticking his (koff koff) “story”.
UPDATE 2: He’s now saying he spoke in “gest”, which is I think a way of saying “jest”.
Mitch, can you post a link to Torgerson’s story? He needs to be buried underneath a pile of smelly, stinking…ridicule.
Because, like, everybody knows you have to like, have a degree to be really, really smart. Just look at Bill Gates. Jeez.
Way to fight that “elitism” charge, DFL!
He’s now saying he spoke in “gest”, which is I think a way of saying “jest”.
You only get 140 characters in Twitter, so I assume “gest” is actually “digest,” because he definitely had to eat that claim. What a maroon.
Boy Mitch, you have a stronger stomach than I if you read that cretin’s tweets.
In “gest”? Hmmm, must have been a Liberal Arts major. (He would have to have some kind of post-secondary indoctrination in order to cast aspersions on those who don’t, right?)
No, casting aspersions is an equal opportunity inclination. It starts with “those people” and escalates.
For someone who’s concerned about our legislators’ education levels, you’d think that Mr. Torgerson’s spelling would be a bit better, wouldn’t you?
Barry also has an advanced degree. Educated, but too smart by half!
He must have wanted to believe that statistic pretty badly.
Just not badly enough to check on it and make sure it was true.
“And of 18 who don’t list post-high-school education, 14 are listed as business owners – the rest are farmers or tradespeople…”
And I will take any of them for a leader over someone who spent $120,000 getting a World Citizen degree at Macalster.
. . .the rest are farmers or tradespeople
So Humphrey’s Democrat-Farmer-Labor party no longer considers farmers and laborers capable of serving representing the interests of the people?
You really can’t satirize this.