Rep. Melissa Hortman’s mentor remembers her rise to House Speaker
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Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was the third female Speaker in Minnesota history. Margaret Anderson Kelliher was the second.
Kelliher held the gavel from 2007 to 2011 — and was a close friend, colleague and mentor to Hortman, who was found with her husband Mark, both fatally shot in their home early Saturday morning.
Kelliher spoke with MPR News host Catharine Richert about her friendship with Hortman.
Press play above to listen to their conversation, or read a transcript below, edited for length and clarity.
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How did you get to know former House Speaker Melissa Hortman?
Well, that started early when she expressed interest in running for the House, and it took Melissa actually three times to make it to the Minnesota House of Representatives. I met her through each of those campaigns, going out door-knocking with her, meeting with her, strategizing with her.
We are very much almost the same age, and our kids are exactly the same age. So as moms of young kids, we had a bond.
Once she was finally elected, how did your working relationship develop?
She came in with a spunkiness and a spark. You know, her training as a lawyer was really evident right away. After the 35W bridge collapse, Melissa was our point person on the Minnesota House floor when we did the override of that transportation bill.
And that moment, I think, really defined her in so many ways for a lot of people — they saw her leadership come through.
As you watched her manage this huge piece of legislation, did you see a future speaker?
Oh, absolutely. Melissa was absolutely one of the people that I thought could be a future speaker. She invited me each time when she was sworn in as speaker, it was such an honor to be there.
And on the third time she was walking up to the rostrum to take her oath of office, she turned to me and said, “I'm sorry I broke your record.”
And I said, “I am not sorry you broke my record.” It’s just such a such an accomplishment to have a woman serve for three terms as speaker. It’s something that was never done before in our state. I’m just so proud of her to do that.
You are the second female Speaker of the House in Minnesota. Melissa Hortman was the third. Dee Long was first.
Dee was always a great adviser. That carried forward in my friendship and guidance to Melissa. If she called, I answered the phone. That is the way this works. It’s a small group of people who’ve held these roles, and we have an honor-bound tradition to help each other.
There is relatively little security at the Minnesota State Capitol. Do you think we need to revisit this as a state?
We value our openness in government in Minnesota; it’s a really important value. I will also say that Melissa’s assassination, and Mark’s assassination and the attempted assassination of others has brought back a lot of memories for me.
I did have death threats. I did have people come to my house. And I will say, I think we do need to re-examine some of these things. We can keep openness, and we should keep openness, but the world has changed.
