Penny, Timothy J., 1951-

Timothy J. Penny was born November 19, 1951, the third of seven children born to Jay and Donna Penny. His father's family were of Scotch-Irish descent and had come to Minnesota from Delaware in the mid-1800s. His mother's family, the Haukooses, emigrated from Norway in the 1870s. Penny grew up on a farm in Mansfield Township, located in Freeborn County, Minnesota, where the family raised soybeans, corn, dairy cows, hogs, chickens, and sheep until his grandfather sold the bulk of the acreage in the late 1960s. As the Pennys were one of the few Democratic-Farmer-Labor families in a town of Republicans, Tim was politically aware from an early age. His mother was active in local DFL politics and encouraged his political awareness.

After graduating from Kiester High School in 1969, Penny attended Winona State College as a political science major. It was during his college years that Penny held his first office, that of student body president. Penny's formal entry into politics was not long delayed. At age twenty-four he successfully ran for the state Senate, becoming the first Democrat to represent his district in fifty years. After serving six years in the state government, Penny went on to represent Minnesota's first congressional district. In winning the seat in Congress, Penny became the first Democrat to represent Minnesota's conservative southeastern district in ninety years.

Penny, a self-described "raging moderate," soon showed that he was not afraid to go against the party grain. He gained a reputation as somewhat of a troublemaker in the party, often voting with Republicans on spending and other budget issues. Committee assignments included Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and the Select Committee on Hunger. He served as chair of the Subcommittee on Foreign Agriculture and Hunger (1993-1994). His frequent run-ins with the Democratic House leadership over appropriations bills are said to have cost him a much coveted seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

In addition to agriculture, rural development, and trade, Penny's major area of interest and influence was fiscal policy, particularly the fight against deficit spending and "pork-barrel" politics. As a newcomer in Congress Penny persuaded his fellow freshmen to form a task force on the budget, which later evolved into the Democratic Budget Group. The group gained significant influence, frequently attracting top executive branch policymakers to its Wednesday morning meetings. Despite his disappointment with President Clinton's failure to follow through with the painful cuts Penny believed necessary to significantly reduce the federal deficit, he was instrumental in getting the president's 1993 budget passed. Not long afterwards, worn out by what he described as the hypocrisy, excessive partisanship, and manipulation rife in Washington politics, Penny announced his decision not to run for re-election in 1994. Penny also cited his and his wife Barbara's desire that his four children--Jamison, Joseph, Molly, and Marcus-- live and go to school Minnesota.

After giving up his congressional seat Penny returned to southeastern Minnesota with his family. He took positions teaching at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and the University of St. Thomas, in addition to consulting for Himle Horner, Inc., a public relations firm. Penny also joined the board of the Concord Coalition, the organization founded by former senators Paul Tsongas and Warren Rudman and dedicated to achieving a balanced federal budget. He became chair of the Minnesota Democratic Leadership Council and is a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserves. In 1995 Penny, with the help of Washington Times reporter Major Garrett, wrote Common Cents: A Retiring Six-Term Congressman Reveals How Congress Really Works--And What We Must Do to Fix it.

Biographical information in this sketch came from newspaper and magazine articles on Penny, the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs' world wide web site, and from the collection.

From the guide to the Timothy J. Penny Congressional and Legislative papers., 1977-1994 (bulk 1983-1994)., (Minnesota Historical Society)