MINNESOTANS FOR A SINGLE-HOUSE LEGISLATURE:

Minnesotans for a Single-House Legislature (MSHL) was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1999, apparently as a successor to the Citizens Committee for a Single-House Legislature, by former Republican state senator George Pillsbury and former Democratic state senator Gene (Eugene) Merriam. Pillsbury and Merriam served as co-chairs of the organization. Minnetonka business executive Charles Slocum served as general manager, and St. Paul businessman Stan Donnelly III as finance chair. MSHL maintained that the establishment of a unicameral legislature in Minnesota would increase the openness, accountability, responsiveness, and effectiveness of state lawmakers. To that end it hoped to convince the public to pressure the legislature to place a proposed constitutional amendment accomplishing this before the voters. The unicameral initiative enjoyed the active support and involvement of many key Republican and DFL leaders, several former governors, and then-governor Jesse Ventura. An independent lobbying group called Citizens Committee for Legislative Reform was also established, with James C. Erickson as its director of government relations.

MSHL maintained an office in suburban Fridley, Minnesota, organizing citizen forums, petition drives, and similar "educational" activities. Volunteer teams/local chapters were established in Rochester, Mankato-Fairmont, Willmar, St. Cloud-Brainerd, Alexandria, Moorhead, and Duluth. Ventura made several tours around the state speaking in favor of unicameralism.

A bill asking that a constitutional amendment establishing a unicameral legislature be placed before the voters in the November 2000 general election was authored by Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum and Democratic Senator Allan Spear. The Sviggum-Spear plan called for a 135-member unicameral legislature to be known as the "Senate" with its members serving staggered four-year terms (half of the members would be elected every two years). The bill was introduced in both the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives during the 1999-2000 legislature. Both versions of the bill, however, died in committee in May 2000 as a result of maneuverings by political opponents, and the proposed constitutional amendment was never put before the voters.

Pillsbury and Merriam's first attempt at advocating for a unicameral legislature, in 1997-1998 under the name Citizens Committee for a Single-House Legislature, met with a similar fate: the bills died in committee. The unicameral effort was revived under the name Minnesotans for a Single-House Legislature after the election of Ventura to the governorship in 1998, and the selection of unicameral proponent Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) as speaker of the house.

Charles Slocum joined the unicameral effort on April 1, 1999. Slocum was born in Madelia, Minnesota on February 27, 1947. He served as chairman of the State Republican Central Committee from 1975 to 1977. In later years he was president of The Williston Group, an Edina, Minnesota-based management consulting organization, which was retained in April 1999 to work with Minnesotans for a Single-House Legislature and with Citizens Committee for Legislative Reform. Slocum's career also included work for various Minnesota corporations and nonprofit organizations, among them the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, Honeywell, the Minnesota Business Partnership, Metro Cable Network /Channel 6, and the Minnesota Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

Most of the above information was taken from materials contained in the collection and from Slocum's monograph A Pox on One House: The Architect of the Lobbying Effort for a Unicameral Government Explains What Went Wrong, which is found in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.

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These materials were kept by Charles A. ("Chuck") Slocum as general manager of Minnesotans for a Single-House Legislature. The collection includes correspondence and memoranda, literature promoting and providing information about the unicameral initiative, agendas and minutes of meetings, newspaper clippings, two bumper stickers, and a VHS videocassette narrated by former Minnesota congressman Tim Penny extolling the benefits of unicameral legislatures. There is information about contributors and the organization's finances; periodic "head counts" taken to gauge support for the unicameral initiative among members of the legislature; meetings with Dean Barkley of Governor Ventura's staff; Ventura's trips around the state speaking in support of a one-house legislature; and about opponents of the movement, and their reasons for opposing it. There is some information about the Citizens Committee for Legislative Reform, and there are some materials of predecessor organization Citizens Committee for a Single-House Legislature. Correspondents include Slocum, Pillsbury, and Merriam; various state legislators and political operatives; Ventura staffers; and contributors and other supporters.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesotans for a Single-House Legislature Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,757

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, August 2003

Catalog ID number: 990017381160104294

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Charles Slocum's papers are in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

Slocum's monograph, A Pox on One House: The Architect of the Lobbying Effort for a Unicameral Government Explains What Went Wrong, is in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.

George S. Pillsbury's legislative papers are in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Constitutional amendments -- Minnesota.

Legislative bodies -- Minnesota -- Reform.

Lobbying -- Minnesota.

Nonprofit organizations -- Minnesota.

Representative government and representation -- Minnesota.

Places:

Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1981-.

Persons:

Andersen, Elmer L., 1909-2004.

Barkley, Dean, 1950-.

Donnelly, Stan.

Merriam, Gene.

Penny, Timothy J.

Pillsbury, George S.

Slocum, Charles.

Ventura, Jesse.

Organizations:

Citizens Committee for Legislative Reform (Minn.).

Citizens Committee for a Single-House Legislature (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Minnesota. Legislature.

Types of Documents:

Bumper stickers.

Videocassettes.

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