Arne Carlson

Arne Helge Carlson (born September 24, 1934) is an American politician who served from 1991 to 1999 as the 37th governor of Minnesota. Carlson is considered a liberal Republican. He served as Minnesota State Auditor from 1979 to 1991.

Born into poverty in New York City, he attended the Choate Rosemary Hall preparatory school on a scholarship. After graduating from Williams College, he went to graduate school at the University of Minnesota. In his first race for elected office, Carlson was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 1965 as a Republican. He served until 1967. With the Republicans in the majority, Carlson also served as city council majority leader. In 1967, he ran for mayor of Minneapolis against incumbent Democratic mayor Arthur Naftalin. Carlson lost the close election.

Carlson served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1971 until 1979, then as the Minnesota State Auditor from 1979 until 1991. He launched a bid for the Republican nomination for governor of Minnesota in 1990. He lost the primary election to businessman Jon Grunseth, but Grunseth became embroiled in two separate scandals weeks before the election and withdrew from the race, whereupon Carlson became the nominee. He defeated incumbent governor Rudy Perpich. In 1994, he easily won reelection to a second term. Since his return to private life in 1999, he has actively and exclusively supported Democratic (DFL) candidates while remaining a Republican.

Born in New York City, Carlson is the son of Swedish immigrants from Gothenburg and Visby. He attended New York City public schools P.S. 36 and DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx before gaining a scholarship to attend The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Williams College in 1957 before taking graduate courses at the University of Minnesota.

Carlson served one term on the Minneapolis City Council from 1965 to 1967, and was the Republican nominee for mayor in 1967, losing to Democratic-Farmer-Labor incumbent Arthur Naftalin. He was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1971 to 1979. In 1978, he ran for and was elected state auditor. He was reelected in 1982 and 1986. As state auditor, Carlson worked to create uniform accounting for cities, counties, townships, and special districts, making Minnesota a leader in uniform accounting. He also overhauled the state's multi-billion-dollar pension investment portfolio to allow private sector management, which significantly improved the rate of return.

Carlson's long tenure as auditor, in addition to his noted speaking abilities, made him a leading contender for the Republican nomination in 1990. But although he initially led in public opinion surveys, his status as a moderate or even liberal Republican made him unpopular among party activists. They instead backed Carlson's primary rival, businessman Jon Grunseth, a younger and more right-wing candidate who had never held elected office.

Grunseth defeated Carlson in the primary. In the general election polling, Grunseth was the favorite to defeat the incumbent governor and DFL nominee, Rudy Perpich, the state's longest-serving governor. But a scandal arose in mid-October, three weeks before the election, after the Star Tribune published a front-page article with an account that, in 1981, Grunseth had invited three then-teenaged friends of his stepdaughter, as well as his stepdaughter herself, to go skinny-dipping in the pool at his home. Although three of the four girls corroborated the report, Grunseth denied any improper conduct, and suggested that Perpich had orchestrated the allegations.

On October 15, 1990, with 15 days of campaigning left before Election Day, Carlson revived his campaign for governor as a write-in candidate, and took part in an unusual three-way debate broadcast by Twin Cities Public Television, which became the highest-rated locally produced program in the station's history. Grunseth initially refused to drop out, thus splitting the Republican vote and providing an opportunity for Perpich to win reelection. But nine days before the election—after vacillating for days and after another Star Tribune article reported that Grunseth had a lengthy extramarital affair—Grunseth withdrew. As the runner-up in the primary, the Independent-Republican Party Executive Committee declared Carlson the Republican nominee. Five days before the election, in a 5–2 decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that Carlson was eligible to appear on the ballot. In the November 6 general election, Carlson defeated Perpich by 3.3 percentage points, 50% to 47%.