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Strolling down memory lane with Murphy

For years I considered my college days as the best part of my life. But as the years gone by, that part of my life seems to have faded a bit.

I lived four years on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus working on my journalism degree. In the summer of 1982 I left Oshkosh for McHenry, Illinois to start my newspaper career. Thirty-five years later, I now realized my memory is slipping a little. Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Erin Murphy recently helped me realize that.

She was campaigning in southwestern Minnesota last month. Her aide asked if I would meet with the Democratic candidate. Still fairly new to Minnesota and its politics, I quickly did some research on Google and discovered we are fellow Titans. We both attended UW-Oshkosh.

As soon as we settled down inside the Independent conference room, she asked the first question.

“Tell me a little bit about you,” Murphy asked.

“Well, we have similar backgrounds,” I said. “I’m originally from Wisconsin.”

“Where?” she asked.

“I grew up in Neenah. I went to Oshkosh for college,” I answered.

“So did I,” she said. I tried to look surprised.

Then I found out she has ties to the town I grew up in.

“I did some clinical practice in Neenah. I learned to be a nurse in Neenah at Theda Clark (Medical Center),” she said.

UW-Oshkosh is considered to have strong journalism and nursing programs. And we discovered that we were both attending UW-Oshkosh at the same time. While I graduated in 1982, she earned her diploma in ’84.

She soon started to test my poor memory. “So where did you live on campus?” she asked.

“Ahhh,” I said, as I worked my memory bank. I recall exactly where my dormitory was located on campus. And I remember being on the second floor. I just couldn’t remember the name of my dorm building.

“You don’t remember?” she asked. “I lived in Stewart Hall.”

“That’s so funny,” she said, smiling.

We went on with the interview. I wanted to know why a nurse would get into politics. I found out she lived in the small Wisconsin communities of Columbus and Janesville as a young girl. And that’s where the roots of her political career started.

“I would hang out with the adults when I was a little kid while they played cards,” she said. “They would talk about John Kennedy. They would talk about what was happening in the little town of 3,000 people.”

She went to explain that she eventually worked on a state senate campaign in 1983 in Janesville. She said she soon realized that nursing is a lot like politics — taking care of patients and taking care of constituents. She eventual moved to Minnesota for good when she got a job at the University of Minnesota as a surgical nurse. Her career eventually took a detour.

“I left the bedside to work for the nurses union, the nurses association to work with more policy. That’s how I got started,” she said.

And then I interrupted her. The light bulb in my head came on.

“I just remembered the dorm was Taylor,” I said.

We laughed, and then resumed the interview. “So what about our roads and transportation?” I asked.

“It’s all part of our infrastructure being important to the way we live and our economy, maintaining our schools, our public universities, broadband, etc.. It’s critical on how we live. I get frustrated when we communicate with Minnesotans that we are doing the job when we really aren’t,” she said.

“Whether you live in St. Paul, where I live, or along Highway 14, 23 or Highway 19, we see and experience disrepair. I would prefer we dedicate the funding to transportation so it’s reliable and sustainable.

“I think for too many years we have been playing a lot of games with things like bonding and transportation funding in a way that maybe helps with campaign literature, but it’s not solving problems. And I’m really frustrated with that. I think Minnesotans are too. That’s what they are telling me when I talk to rural voters. Actually, when I talk to Minnesotans all over the state. They are frustrated because because they know there is too much focus on the short-term focus on how we get through the next election.”

I asked what she would do to help rural school districts like in southwest Minnesota.

“I want to make sure that kids if they live here in Marshall or in Eden Prairie get the same high-priority education,” she said. “We did some work when I was the majority leader (in the House) to equalize the funding. We have made progress there, but wherever we live in the state of Minnesota, we want our kids to get a good education. High-quality public schools are our anchors in communities. I think especially in communities where people don’t think kids are not getting the best education we have to pay attention to that.”

Of course, she knows a thing or two about health care. And she doesn’t at all like what is going on in Washington, D.C.

“I think what they are talking about in Washington is a real threat, not only to individuals, but rural hospitals, our hospitals who take care of a lot of real sick people and to jobs. Hospitals, nursing homes and clinics are really strong employers in smaller communities,” Murphy said. “So how they are playing with that piece of our economy in such a significant way, is pretty breathtaking to me. My background as a nurse drives me to that conclusion.”

Murphy was the first to announce her gubernatorial candidacy way back in November. Since then she claims to have made several trips to southwest Minnesota and plans more in the future.

“I grew up in a small town. So being in a smaller, more conservative community is familiar territory for me. And I like the people. And I like to talk to them. Getting to know them,” Murphy said.

I enjoyed getting to know a fellow Titan. I don’t have any evidence, but I’m willing to bet she could be the first UW-Oshkosh graduate to become governor of Minnesota. And she could be first woman governor in Minnesota.

Not bad for a Titan.

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