Warren Spannaus: A Profile in Courage

 In this day of incumbent protection, it is proper for us to remember those who served us with courage.  Warren Spannaus, a former Attorney General of Minnesota, literally put his political life on the line when he repeatedly fought for sensible gun safety laws.

I so well remember Tom Berg carrying the Spannaus bill in the House of Representatives. Somehow this piece of legislation turned into a highly charged public war and it ended the ambitions of two of our finest public servants: Warren Spannaus and Tom Berg. And, we the public were losers because both would have been superb Governors.

This nation was founded on the notion of competing ideas but somewhere we got derailed into an environment of absolutes. In that world, compromise and the exchange of views is unacceptable.

To his credit, Warren Spannaus always stood by our fundamental values of decency, kindness, and respect for the views of others. He was a first rate of politician and a revered public servant.