Mar 18 Meet Teresa Collett, Candidate For US Congress, 4th District

I first met Teresa Collett at the House District 64B Precinct Caucuses in February of 2010.

I told her how many followers I had on Twitter, and she told me that Karl Rove was following her on Twitter. An auspicious beginning, to be sure. We met again at the Minnesota Organization of Blogs party last Saturday night. It seemed like a good idea to introduce Teresa to the True North community.

Teresa is a professor at the University of St. Thomas Law School, and has been there since 2003. (Full disclosure: I am a former St. Thomas faculty member, and while Teresa and I chit-chatted about various St. Thomas issues, none of them have anything to do with what I'm about to tell you about her.) How did she get to St. Thomas? She and her husband Bob (they've been married for 31 years, 3 adult children, grandchild on the way) started a small wholesale tuxedo business in Oklahoma in the early 80's. As small business owners, they had interactions with lawyers from time to time. Teresa observed what the lawyers did and thought "I could do that." She graduated from U. of Oklahoma Law School (with honors) in 1986. She started working for the largest law firm in Oklahoma, when a faculty member at the Law School died suddenly in a car crash. Teresa filled in on very short notice, not knowing at the time it would blossom into a successful career as a legal educator and scholar (20 years teaching, 4 books, numerous articles and presentations). Her specialties are property rights, professional responsibility and bioethics.

Teresa has had experience with legislation from multiple perspectives. She was involved in the drafting of the Oklahoma Guardianship Act (1989). The fact that it hasn't been changed since its drafting is a testimony to how well it was written. She has testified before both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on multiple occasions, and testified before a number of State legislature committees, including Minnesota. She has served as a Special Attorney General (I said "designated hitter?" She said "hired gun.") in defending certain state laws from legal challenges in Oklahoma and Kansas.

St. Thomas actually spent two years recruiting Teresa, and the reason is that she combines the practice of law and education with an active, living faith. Consider some of these positions she holds or has held:

 

• Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family


• Director, Prolife Center at the University of St. Thomas School of Law


• Vice-president, University Faculty for Life


• Member of the Federalist Society Professional Responsibility Practice Group Executive Committee


• Board of Advisors, Alliance for Marriage


• Biomedical Ethics Committee of the Archbishop of the Diocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis


• Past Board of Directors, Christian Legal Society


• Past Member of the Board of Governors, Ave Maria Law School

Some Minnesota bloggers have looked at Teresa's credentials and said "Another social conservative, just what we need." But I'm here to tell you she gets it about fiscal conservatism being a moral issue. I'm here to tell you that Teresa Collett is a vigorous, intelligent, skillful advocate for conservative ideas in the 4th District. But hey, don't take my word for it. Come to the 4th District GOP Candidate Forum tonight at Joseph's Grill, 140 Wabasha Street South (just across the river from downtown St. Paul) The shmoozing starts at 5:30.