Arne Carlson (24 September 1934-) was the Republican Governor of Minnesota from 7 January 1991 to 4 January 1999, succeeding Rudy Perpich and preceding Jesse Ventura.
Biography[]
Arne Helge Carlson was born in New York City, New York in 1934 to Swedish immigrant parents. He went to college in Minnesota and served on the Minneapolis City Council from 1965 to 1967, in the state house from 1971 to 1979, as state auditor from 1979 to 1991, and as Governor from 1991 to 1999. A moderate Republican, he increased school funding, transformed a $2 billion state budget deficit into a $2.3 billion surplus, banned LGBT discrimination in housing, employment, and education, and overcame opposition from Allen Quist's Christian right faction of the party during his 1994 re-election campaign. He remained politically active in retirement, helping propose a nonpartisan budget commission to resolve the 2011 state government shutdown and endorsing Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden for President.