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I've been covering state politics as long as Mark Dayton has been governor, so I thought I already knew a lot about the guy. 


But in researching and interviewing people for 

, I learned a ton I hadn't known before. He's the scion of a prominent family and has been in public life for 40 years, after all, and I'd only been around for the last eight. 

sharp elbows, balanced budgets

40-year career that saw as many losses as wins

Here are five things I learned about Dayton that I didn't know before: 

1) He tried to hide his identity during his teaching days in NYC

It's usually a line in any Dayton biography: He taught in tough schools in New York City for a few years. But only one that I found, published in the Star Tribune in 2000, noted that he also tried to conceal his identity from his students during that time. 


"In New York, he lived, for a time, in a poor family's tenement flat, sleeping on the floor. When his parents would visit New York, he'd carry his one good suit in a paper bag to Grand Central Station and change in a restroom before meeting them at a fancy East Side restaurant," according to the article. 

But two "enterprising" students still discovered his family's name in "Who's Who in America," according to the article. "Dayton was crestfallen. 'My cover'd been blown,' he recalled. But one of the young investigators offered this consolation: 'It's OK, Mr. Dayton, you can't help where you were born.'"

2) He asked to stay in a haunted hotel room once


During the 2010 campaign for governor, Dayton launched an 87-county tour in 87 days, and Katharine Tinucci was his driver for most of that time. It was a grueling slog, she said, and sometimes they had very few options for places to stay in the far-flung regions of the state. One such place was the 130-year-old Calumet Inn in Pipestone, Minn. 


It's supposedly haunted. Guests have complained about a jukebox playing late at night and paranormal groups have booked rooms to try and catch ghosts in action. Tinnuci, on the other hand, was far less enthusiastic about staying there.

"We were the only people staying in this hotel, it was so scary," she said. "He went back down and switched his room to the most haunted room. He thought it was hilarious." 


They survived and didn't see any ghosts. Tinucci said Dayton let her have his Blackberry for the evening in case she saw a ghost. 

3) He used to throw extravagant parties at the DFL convention

Dayton isn't exactly the most extroverted politician out there, but in the 1980s, Dayton would spend tons to host extravagant parties for the party's convention delegates.

He hired the help of "master hypester Paul Ridgeway," according to a June 1990 Star Tribune article. 

"In 1982 and 1986, thousands jammed the old depot in Duluth for railroad-theme parties, with a grand fireworks finale over the harbor in 1986. And in 1988 in Rochester, it was back to the '50s with bobby socks, tailfin cars and Annette Funicello film clips. Host Dayton was at the door, shaking hands and eagerly thanking people for joining the party before they could thank him for throwing it." 

But by his 1990 run for state auditor, he'd backed away from the big parties. He was trying to run his campaigns more frugally, the article noted. He didn't even hand out buttons at the convention that year.

4) He considered being a Protestant minister

As a young boy, Dayton considered a life as a Protestant minister, and he routinely relied on his faith to pull him out of tough times. After his first treatment for alcoholism in the 1980s, Dayton said his "life's wheels came off, my axle broke, and I crashed into a deep, dark pit," according to a prayer breakfast speech he delivered in 2016. 


He enrolled as a special student at United Theological Seminary in New Brighton to study Christian ethics. "I had figured anyone involved in politics could use a refresher course in Christian ethics," he said. He started keeping a spiritual journal that had gotten to 3,000, single-spaced pages, he said. 


"In my line of work, while I'm locked in fierce political combat, that often presents a significant spiritual challenge," he said. "To love the person with whom I'm arguing. Who's blocking my agenda. And who I just know is wrong, but refuses to be persuaded. Those moments really test my faith."

5) He cut his salary to $1 as state auditor


During his time as state auditor, Dayton's office was facing budget cuts, after the Legislature slashed his office's allocation by about $60,000. Two employees out of 120 were facing layoffs, so Dayton cut his own $65,437 salary to a single dollar.

No one found out he'd done it until an anonymous letter printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, after which Dayton acknowledged he was "uniquely fortunate" to be able to take the pay cut.

Politics and Government News

NewsPartners

Briana Bierschbach

Author

From haunted hotel rooms to railroad-themed parties, here are five things we're guessing you didn't know about the outgoing governor.

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton speaks at a press conference.

5 things you probably didn't know about Mark Dayton

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