If the old saying "third time’s a charm" holds true for DFL 1st Congressional District candidate Mary Rieder, then Rieder should be headed to Washington in January of 2001.

Friday, November 05, 1999

If the old saying "third time’s a charm" holds true for DFL 1st Congressional District candidate Mary Rieder, then Rieder should be headed to Washington in January of 2001.

Rieder was in Austin this morning to announce her third run against Congressman Gil Gutknecht. In 1996, Rieder ran a tight race against Gutknecht, losing by a 5 percent margin. In 1998, Rieder dropped out of the race before the election.

"To tell you the truth, I dropped out because I just didn’t have a compelling issue," Rieder said. "I couldn’t win."

This time Rieder has more than one "compelling issue."

"I don’t think we’re getting the kind of representation we deserve here in southern Minnesota," Rieder said in front of a small gathering in the Austin City Hall. "… We all know that fewer kids in a classroom means better discipline and a more orderly, safe environment for our children. But just last week, the Republicans in Congress voted against funding that would have allowed local school boards to hire more qualified teachers to reduce class size in schools here in Austin."

The first DFL member to announce her candidacy, Rieder went on to address the issue of family farms.

"Family farms are the backbone of our communities in rural Minnesota and a way of life that we all respect," she said. "Yet, the Republicans in Congress passed a farm bill that is forcing family farms out of business. As an economist, I know a pure market system will never work for agriculture … What has our Congressman proposed? Despite being on the Agriculture Committee – nothing."

Rieder then pointed to a recent newspaper article on the 1999 Farm Spending Bill in which Gutknecht was quoted as saying "he has to look at the big picture for congressional spending rather than advocate for one specific sector of the economy."

"Certainly the representatives from New York City and Los Angeles will not advocate for family farms," she said. "If our farmers cannot count on our representative, Mr. Gutknecht, who can they count on?"

The DFL supporters and media people were joined at Rieder’s press conference by two of Gutknecht’s "Truth Team" members, Lee Aase and Elizabeth Blosser, who are following Rieder on her announcement tour today.

Aase said they were there to make sure Rieder was accurate in her claims about Gutknecht. Although neither called Rieder on any of her comments, Blosser said several of Rieder’s "issues" – which also included campaign finance reform, the DM&E railroad expansion, protection of Social Security and the paying down of national debt – had pretty much been resolved.

Rieder has spent the last 30 years as a Professor of Economics and Finance at Winona State University. She has also served on the MnSCU board, acted as director of the Division of Health Care Cost Estimates at the Health Care Financing Administration and as a Federal Budget Intern with former Congressman Tim Penny. She is the mother of four grown children and her husband is Dr. Edmund Rieder, a Child Psychiatric Consultant at the Mayo Clinic.