It’s not too often that area legislators from the past and present are able to meet together under one roof to talk about the experiences they’ve had in office.

On Jan. 24, District 27A Rep. Robin Brown, former state Sen. and Congressman Tim Penny, former House Rep. and Sen. Paul Overgaard, and former House Rep. Bob Haukoos met at the Tribune to answer questions.

The goal of the interview was to see how these individuals were alike or different and to see what they learned from their legislative experiences.

The following are the questions and answers from that day.

Q: What years have you served and where did you serve?

Brown: “I was elected in 2006 and started serving in 2007 in the Minnesota House.”

Penny: “I was elected to the Minnesota state Senate in 1976 and served there through 1982. In 1982 I was elected to Congress and served there for six terms, 12 years total.”

Overgaard: “I was elected in 1962 to the state House of Representatives, where I served three terms. I was elected to the Senate in 1970 and served there for two years.”

Haukoos: “I was elected to the House in 1979 and served until 1994.”

Q: How did you get into the Legislature? What motivated you to seek election? What were some of the hot issues at the time?

Penny: “I can’t say there was any specific issue …. This is kind of where my roots are. I went off to college and just wanted to get into public service in some fashion. I ended up working for a local state legislative candidate, Henry Kalis … I was first elected at age 24. A lot of it was youthful enthusiasm to serve my home area and serve my neighbors and friends my whole life.

“I became an advocate for student financial aid and also had a lot of interest in rural transportation issues.”

Overgaard: “I was involved in the young Republican activity, and in 1961, the state Republican organization kind of gave the young Republican organization a challenge to work on electing legislators …. We had an incumbent here that most everyone felt couldn’t be defeated. I thought I could do that and ran for the Legislature.

“My boss at the time told me it was my job or that. I had to quit my job in order to run. I ran successfully, and in that year 44 freshmen conservatives were elected. At that time it was liberal or conservative, not party designation ….

“During that time I was involved with highway issues …. We gained approval for a vocational school in Albert Lea at that time, and also expanded our state park. It was interesting, during my time in the House I also managed Gov. LeVander’s campaign. He was successful …

“I think public service is one of the things that should be on everybody’s mind and everybody’s heart. I count that period of time in the Legislature as one of the great opportunities.”

Haukoos: “I was on the Albert Lea Fire Department, and we had pension issues at that time … We were trying to change those. Three different times we went up to pass legislation. And it was interesting. I got to visiting with the legislator who was there, Henry Savelkoul, and he gave me books.

“We started a small ball team of teenage Republicans and I just got more active into it …

“I had lupus, and the doctor said I should look for a different line of work. I saw Henry was moving out of the district, and then I ran.”

Brown: “I probably came from a different perspective from anyone who has served before.

“I’m a mother of six children and was really happy raising them and being a mom. I went on to teach, which I consider a very important part of public service.

“I’ve been involved in politics kind of in the background since Jimmy Carter’s election. I never really had a desire to be in the foreground and be in elected office, but I had multiple people who had approached me and told me they saw characteristics about me that would be a real positive addition to the Minnesota House of Representatives and encouraged me to run for office.

“I thought about it for a long time. This was something I had been approached multiple times over a couple year period. Certainly I did know the district. I was a farm girl, but I had taught in town. I had both the city and the country.

“With a push from friends and family and those issues I felt were very important, I decided to run.”

Q: What were you expecting of the position when you first started? Is/Was it like you thought it would turn out to be, or is/was it different?

Overgaard: “I can’t really say I really expected anything. It was a total new experience. I was kind of in awe of the whole process.”

He said he had interest in elected politics but not the process behind them. When he first started, he was able to discover how the process worked.

“Since we were 44 newbies, we organized a freshman study club and began contacting department heads and asking them to come and speak.”

He said the incumbents ended up thinking he and his colleagues were trying to take over the caucus.

“I was wanting to learn how to be a player, but all of the sudden I was thought of as being a rebel. That of course dissipated but not immediately.

“We were just eager to be players, so we did a lot of learning, listening to department heads, and it was an awesome kind of experience.”

Haukoos: “We spent the first month in who was going to be in charge of which committees.

“Going in there and seeing for the first time a lot of the different bills and stuff, it was very, very interesting. Some of the stuff I never had any inkling what it was. After the first year, I had gotten it.

“It was very interesting, and I appreciated serving up there.”

Brown: “When you go initially, it’s hard to say what your expectations are because there’s really no way to anticipate what’s happening.

“People are going to get you where you need to be. They’re going to make sure you show up where you need to be …

“Both parties, certainly in conference committees, are very similar in what we want for our families and for our lives. We want to have a decent job and have our children go to the schools they desire. We’re all wanting the same things, and I still found that to be true. I’ve really appreciated my friendships on both sides of the aisle — the camaraderie and the ability to work together.

“What happens in committee and what happens in the real conversations in what happens in making law are different than what’s shown on TV.”

Penny: “Before being elected I had worked in and around St. Paul. I wasn’t as green as maybe a lot of other freshman. But still, at 24, you’re sort of like, ‘Why am I here? How did I get here?’

“I came in with a fairly large class. While I was maybe the youngest of the bunch, we were taken very seriously from the start.

“I also had the good fortune of having some really good mentors — starting with my neighbor and friend Henry Kalis — that I leaned on because they represented districts like mine.

“It wasn’t as partisan then as it’s come in recent years. I never really had a sense that many issues would break down along party lines … I felt like I was stepping into a very collegial environment.”

He said his biggest concern was that he had only one suit.

“I was like I’m not going to wear a suit and tie everyday.”

He said his seatmate leaned over to him and when he heard him complaining about the dress code, he said, “Don’t raise a fuss, just get another suit, get another tie.”

Q; How do you/did you go about forming your decisions for votes?

Overgaard: “When I got up there, there were no offices. Your office was your seat on the floor. There was a secretarial pool. When you answered mail you tried to get into the seat when your seatmate was not there.

The other thing I think that changed, we selected our seats by lottery, and it was not by party it was by lottery. We ended up dispersed throughout the House chamber. I had a seatmate who was a liberal on one side and a vocal conservative on the other side of me. That constant integration I think led to more collegiality or camaraderie.”

He said the feeling on the House floor at that time had to be more informal because they didn’t each have a place to retreat to.

Haukoos: “When I was there, the top floor had clippings from every newspaper and the different studies from all over. I would go and study these authors. A lot of times I didn’t line up with my party because I had studied it out and felt different than some of them.

“In the evenings we’d sit around and talk about things. They’d bring up a point and we’d check it out.”

He said the lobbyists would also come around and bring up a point, so he’d always check out there viewpoints as well.

“There’s a lot of good information available if you take the time to look at it.”

Brown: “I think House research is important. It’s nonpartisan. It has really good information. I use that a lot.

“There’s so much information available online now. You can do a keyword search on many sites. It will give pros and cons.”

E-mail has also been an important way to communicate with constituents, she said.

“I have very specific people in mind right here in the district that I know will have opposite sides of an issue and call them up and listen to their expertise … I think the local contacts are very important and seeking out the areas of expertise.

“I still need to have conversation with the people in the Cities, too. Since my area’s so different than people in the metro, you need to know how it’s going to affect the whole state.”

Penny: “Fundamentally, people elect you and continue to elect you because of your judgment. The way you make decisions is comfortable to them. A big part of that is whether you seek out information and whether you tend to be thinking things out.

“Like you (Brown), I relied on people in my home area.

“Obviously your own philosophy as a politician comes into play. I don’t think you should violate your convictions on any issue. The problem with some legislators is that they think every issue is of conviction. You’re going to be guided by that and not glued to that.”

“And then public opinion. I don’t think you’re a good legislator if you do what’s popular at the moment. You shouldn’t be afraid to buck popular opinion … Then you have to educate your constituents about why.”

Along the lines of partisan consideration, he said if a legislator disregards his party too much he becomes discounted. If he goes along too much, people ask whether he can think for himself.

“I think all of those things are factors about what people elect you for.”

Q: What are/were some of the most challenging aspects of the position? What are/were some of the most rewarding aspects of the position?

Brown: “I think some of the most challenging has to do with what was built into the process, which is the slowness of the process. There’s a difference in being able to make a decision at home and having that decision come into play.

“That can happen fast in the home situation. At the Legislature I could have a brilliant idea and then I’d have to pursuade (the other members of the House and the Senate) and the governor. It could be years for what I see as being very beneficial to the state and to the district to come into play … Even though I think the government is set up the way people intended it to be, not making big changes fast. I think there is some frustration that things you see that could be really helpful to the state can’t be implemented fast.

“The reward part, I’ve had the opportunity to experience the fruition of previous legislators’ dreams in previous sessions.

“The positive side is that work does get done, and I look forward to that happening in terms of education funding as well.

Penny: “The degree to which decisions on a big issue are increasingly defined by interest groups on the right and the left. It makes it far more difficult to find common ground because the debate always starts on the extremes. I think it’s unfortunate and that’s why it takes so long because you have to take people off of the extremes. Getting to where we need to get in thinking has been impeded because of the degree of which we’ve become an interest group society. I think that’s an ongoing challenge if you’re really trying to get things done.

“To me, the reward is of serving my home turf. This is where my family has been for generations. There’s the honor of serving in your home area.

“There are a few things during my state and federal career that I got done, but the most rewarding piece to me as a legislator was when we actually buckled down and got some big things done. It’s when we really tackled some difficult stuff and really took some heavy lifting. That’s when I felt like I was doing what I was sent to do. I always felt the most rewarded, the most useful, the most purposeful, when we actually buckled down and tackled a big issue in a responsible way.”

Overgaard: “The frustration and the partisanship tends to dim after 40-some years.

“One of the frustrations for me … when I was in the Senate, I was pushing very hard for an ethics reform bill. When I ran for the Legislature, the lobbyists would come around with briefcases that had cash in it. They’d hand out that cash to campaigns.

“In the House, the vocational school in Albert Lea was probably one of my most significant accomplishments. When I think about it, we were very much in battle with Austin for that issue.

Haukoos: “You get there and you have people in your district who talk about different things they feel should be changed. So you go to St. Paul and you talk to other legislators, and they say, ‘Oh, that will never work, that will never work,’ … then a few say, ‘Maybe it will work,’ … but you can’t convince enough people you should put in a bill.

“The satisfactions are different bills you do get passed that affect your people in your district and all over the state. Things that should be and are easily passed because they’re common-sense things.”

Q: Do you have any regrets?

Penny: “I don’t have any major regrets. There are several votes where if I could change that vote today I would.

“I think there was some trade-related vote my very first year in office. It didn’t really go anywhere but … I tried to be consistent about voting for free trade, but there was a time that first year I didn’t.

“I can’t think of too many issues and certainly not any major issues over time where I’ve had regrets.

“I had misgivings about the Gulf War vote in 1991. I always felt the war was justified, but I didn’t end up voting for it. My reasons — not because I didn’t think it was a just war, but because I didn’t think we had prepared America for the war.

I was in Germany on a return flight from Russia on the eve of that vote. I saw the hundreds and hundreds of medical cots that had been set up in Germany to receive the wounded from that war … I got to thinking, ‘Have we told Americans we’re expecting this many casualties?’”

Overgaard: “I don’t recall any votes that I would say I regretted. There were a lot of throw-away votes when the bill was going to pass with a two-thirds majority … I probably went along with some of those because going against it wouldn’t have accomplished anything.”

Haukoos: “After you vote on certain large bills and issues and stuff like that, you kind of go back to your office and you sit back and think about it a lot.

“I don’t regret any votes I made because I felt at the time with the information I had that that was right.”

Brown: “I think all of us work with the idea that you do the best you can with the information you have at the time. I have never lost sleep over any votes I’ve made.

“I think most of us are serving with the idea that the decisions we make are based on good information, and that’s what you do.”

Q: Do you think there are any misconceptions that members of the public have about elected officials?

Haukoos: “I’m sure there are. I would come back after five months in the Legislature. You’d run into somebody downtown, and they’d say, ‘When do you go back to work?’

“I think there’s a misconception that they think you’re done for the year after the first five months. There’s a lot more things you do in the next seven months.”

Brown: “I think that serving right now, I probably hear this one comment more than anything else.

“The misconception I see … there’s a part of the public that say the elected officials are in it for the money. I’ve seen a number of people who have gone back to their private lives for exactly that reason. It’s difficult to raise a family on what we’re paid.

“I’m not claiming we need a raise. Both parties, both chambers, they ran for office because they want to serve.”

Penny: “I think one misconception about politicians … people believe that we have more power than we really have. When you’re one of 134 House members. When you’re in the Senate, you’re one of 67. We have a voice and we have a certain amount of influence, but there’s a limit.

Q: Any additional comments?

Penny: “I would suggest if you look at the four of us here, we’re all locals, we have different careers.

“We’re part of the community and we were selected by this community to go on to the state or national level.

“We’re just like everyone else out here.”