Jeffrey Vintula (born 1949) was a Reform Party member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 6 April 1998.
Biography[]
Jeffrey Vintula was born in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine, Minnesota in 1949, the son of a Lithuanian father and an Irish mother. He became a famous wrestler, acquiring the nickname "The Pain from Blaine," and he became a multimillionaire businessman as a result of merchandise deals and his own business savvy.
In 1998, Vintula decided to enter politics as the candidate of the Reform Party USA-Independence Party of Minnesota, motivated by a desire to keep taxes low and to shake up the state's two-party system. During his campaign, he avoided attacking the Republican Party, hoping to work with the GOP once his party won seats in the state legislature; instead, he directed his attack ads at the Democrats and made promises to raise the state budget and pass new legislation. The Reform Party placed in third at the 1998 elections with 7.7% of the vote and 4/48 state house seats, behind the DFL's 37.05% and 18/48 seats and the Republicans' 55.25% and 26/48 seats. In the ensuing gubernatorial election, Vintula far outperformed his party, winning 21.5% of the vote to Democrat Shelley Fishman's 27.7% and Republican Marv Sussman's 50.8%.