"With R.T.'s common sense leadership, Minneapolis' crime rate has gone down, its employment rate has gone up, government has been streamlined and made more effective, and thousands of young people have gotten educational and career opportunities thanks to the Minneapolis Promise."
The Rybak Roots
 The Rybak Family |
R.T.'s Minnesota roots go back more than 150 years to New Prague, Minnesota, where you can still see his family name carved in stone on a building on the main street in town. That was the site of the general store that his great-grandparents opened when they helped settle the town with other immigrants from what is now the Czech Republic.
Rybak family members ran that store and other businesses in New Prague for three generations, until Ray Rybak, Sr. moved to Saint Paul, and later Minneapolis, to attend the University of Minnesota.
After he got out of school R.T.'s dad opened his own drug store. The first Rybak Drug was torn down to build 35W and reopened in 1967 at Chicago and Franklin Avenues in south Minneapolis.
R.T. was born in Minneapolis in 1955. His mom Lorraine and dad Ray ran the store until R.T. was 10. That's when R.T.'s father died, and Lorraine ran the store by herself while also taking care of R.T., his brother and sister. Running the store alone was too much, especially after armed robbers broke into the store more than once. Lorraine decided to sell the store, and got a job at the Breck School in Golden Valley. When she went to work at Breck, R.T.'s mom didn't have a college degree, but with Breck's help she finished college herself, put R.T. and his brother and sister through college, and taught R.T. a lifelong lesson about the value of education.
Getting Started
After graduating from Boston College in 1978, R.T. immediately moved back to Minnesota and got his first job - as a reporter and editor for the Sun Newspapers, where he covered St. Louis Park, Edina, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. For eight years after that he was a journalist at the Star Tribune, covering public safety, the western suburbs, business and architecture. As a reporter, R.T. learned to listen hard, ask lots of questions, and follow the facts. He also learned how to give voice to the stories of Minnesotans. At the Star Tribune, R.T. joined the Newspaper Guild and helped organize striking workers to fight for better wages.
His entrepreneurial spirit led him to a career path that included work bringing new businesses to Minneapolis, starting his own marketing business, serving as Publisher of the Twin Cities Reader, and helping run Internet Broadcasting.
Megan, Grace and Charlie
R.T. and his wife Megan O'Hara live in the East Harriet neighborhood of Minneapolis where they raised their kids Charlie and Grace, who are both now in college.
Megan was born in Redwood Falls, raised in Rochester and graduated from Bloomington Lincoln High School. Her parents Ed O'Hara, who was a salesman for Hormel, and Marian O'Hara are from Glencoe, Minnesota. Her grandfather, Joe O'Hara, was a Congressman from western Minnesota and her other grandfather, Art Tessmer, was sheriff of McLeod County. Her grandmother, Alma Tessmer, ran a cafe on the main street of Glencoe.
Megan majored in journalism at the University of Minnesota, and went to work in public relations at Dayton's and then Abbott Northwestern Hospital, where her work included handling media relations for a series of groundbreaking artificial heart transplants. When Charlie was born, Megan became an independent public relations and writing consultant to give her more flexibility while raising the kids. Her clients have included the Walker Art Center, Minnesota Public Radio, the Minnesota Historical Society and Allina Corporation. She has also worked in communications for the Center for Environmental Advocacy.
In the 1990s, Megan wrote two series of children's books for Mankato-based Capstone Press on topics including Charles Lindberg and Minnesota artist Wanda Gag, and a series on Minnesota historical sites including Split Rock Light House, Historic Forestville and Fort Snelling.
Megan has also been involved in a wide range of volunteer community activities, including the board of Tubman Family Alliance and Open Eye Figure Theater, chairing Minneapolis Mosaic and helping to start Save the Water in Minneapolis (SWIM).
Two other volunteer projects are a current focus for Megan. One is developing a statewide network of professionals and parents promoting deeper connections between children and nature. The other is Homegrown Minneapolis, which partners farmers from around the state with markets, restaurants and schools in Minneapolis.
A Movement. A Mayor.
Throughout R.T.'s career he was a community volunteer and activist. Then in 2001, after years of fighting City Hall, R.T. ran for Mayor and helped start a movement to change the way the entire city did business. R.T. ran without the support of the city's old political guard by putting together a grassroots coalition of progressive and independent citizens hungry for change.
Although he was outspent 4 to 1 and barely known in parts of the city, R.T. was elected with more than 60% of the vote. He took office with the city's government reeling from the economic crisis brought on by 9/11, a city debt that was deep and growing, and a political culture rocked by ethics scandals.
Although the challenges were daunting, R.T. rolled up his sleeves and went to work. First he passed into law a tough new ethics policy. Next, he cleaned up the city's budget, instituting policies that have helped the city balance eight budgets in a row without accounting gimmicks, and paying off $116 million in debt. He reformed city services, streamlined every city department, and also made important investments in public safety, safe roads and bridges, and jobs.
The voters of Minneapolis resoundingly elected R.T. to a second term in 2006. Barely a year later, the 35W Bridge collapse shook the city and the state. R.T. earned praise from across the nation for how he handled the city's response as well as for the policy decisions in its aftermath. He said, "During times like these we realize we really aren't all that separate after all. We realize that in the middle of a tragedy, and every moment of every day, we all share common ground. This horrible incident taught us that lesson, but there is also a special message for us in government: when you invest in quality government you get quality results. When you don't invest, there are consequences."
How Common-Sense Leadership Matters
R.T. has spent every day as Mayor working to keep the city's neighborhoods safe. He put more than 100 new police officers on the streets and provided new technology to help them fight crime - and now the crime rate is lower in every neighborhood in Minneapolis. Working with the community, Rybak implemented the groundbreaking juvenile crime-prevention strategies that have reduced youth crime by almost 40%. Minneapolis' Youth Violence Prevention Blueprint is now being used as a model for other cities across the state and nation.
Even before the current economic crisis, R.T. was focused on growing jobs and attracting business to the region. He has redoubled his efforts during this crisis. He helped bring 1,400 new Allina jobs to midtown Minneapolis, and 500 jobs to the new Coloplast headquarters in North Minneapolis. He has also implemented job placement strategies that have helped more than ten thousand workers find good jobs, a program that's received national recognition. He is now expanding job opportunities through his Green Jobs Initiative, which is helping make Minneapolis a leader in creating the clean energy jobs of the future. This work is part of the reason that Minneapolis' unemployment rate has fallen below the region's, the state's, and the nation's for the first time in memory.
R.T. has also made it a priority to build Minneapolis' rising generation. Working with students, parents and community leaders, he created the Minneapolis Promise, which has put privately funded career centers in every public high school, provided over 7,600 youth summer jobs, and brought government and businesses together to provide tuition for nearly 1,000 students to attend college.
A Longtime Statewide Leader
President Obama has said that R.T. supported him for President before he even began running for President. R.T. spent the better part of two years as Obama's most prominent and active Minnesota supporter. When you add in his record of enthusiastic support for Democrats like Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, you see why R.T. was named a DFL elected official of the year. Progressives in every corner of Minnesota know him well because they've seen him fighting for their values. That's one reason the Draft R.T. for Governor group - a volunteer organization acting entirely on its own initiative - came together earlier this year and quickly found thousands of members.
R.T. Rybak has the record, the experience, the commitment, and the vision to be Minnesota's first great Governor in more than a generation.
