20 Facts About Gil Gutknecht

Gil Gutknecht lost his 2006 reelection bid to DFL candidate Tim Walz, and his term ended in January 2007.

Gil Gutknecht graduated from high school in 1969 and was the first member of his extended family to attend college, graduating with a degree in business from the University of Northern Iowa in 1973.

Gil Gutknecht went to auction college in 1978 and conducted his first real estate auction in 1979.

In 1983, Gil Gutknecht was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, where he served until 1994.

Gil Gutknecht was the Republican floor leader for three years.

Gil Gutknecht was elected to the US House in 1994, running for a seat left open when six-term Representative Tim Penny retired.

Gil Gutknecht served six terms, in the 104th, 105th, 106th, 107th, 108th, and 109th congresses, but in the November 2006 election lost his attempt to continue for a seventh.

Gil Gutknecht was the only Minnesota Republican to vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Gil Gutknecht sponsored legislation that would have legalized drug imports from other countries, despite opposition from the Food and Drug Administration.

In January 2006, Gil Gutknecht opposed his party's leadership when he called for new elections for all leadership posts except the speaker.

Gil Gutknecht said Republicans needed to win back the trust of the American people in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal.

In mid-2006, after returning from Iraq, Gil Gutknecht said that the US should partially withdraw troops from that country, again deviating from the Republican administration's stance.

Gil Gutknecht voted for such a proposed amendment in 1995, which failed to muster the two-thirds vote for it to move on to the Senate.

In November 1999, Gil Gutknecht said he was not sure he would abide by his past recommendation that legislators serve no more than 12 years.

Gil Gutknecht said he still liked term limits in principle, but he noted that the topic was no longer a front-burner issue in the public mind.

Gil Gutknecht had always chosen to submit filing petitions when running for Congress instead of paying the $300 election filing fee, calling this a more fiscally conservative approach.

Gil Gutknecht was the only major party candidate in Minnesota to submit filing petitions in 2006.

Gil Gutknecht filed the petitions on July 5,2006, the first day possible for such filings.

Gil Gutknecht had never previously been challenged on this point.

Gil Gutknecht was unsuccessful in his bid for a seventh term, losing to DFLer Tim Walz.