Former state Sen. Bob Lessard has thrown his fishing cap into the ring of candidates seeking election to the state’s chief legal office.
Lessard, who May 18 celebrated his 87th birthday, filed last week for election as the Minnesota attorney general. He represented Borderland in the Minnesota Senate for more than 25 years and is a member of the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame.
He is in a large field of candidates seeking the AG office and will face off against two other Republicans — Sharon Anderson and Doug Wardlow — in the Aug. 14 primary. Also filing for the office are five DFLers — Keith Ellison, Tom Foley, Debra Hilstrom, Matt Pelikan and Mike Rothman.
The Minnesota Constitution does not require the state attorney general to have a law degree.
Lessard did not return a call or email to The Journal in time for this report.
Listing his address as St. Paul, Lessard filed with the Minnesota Secretary of State as a Republican, however some media reports have said he plans to seek the office as an independent. He was elected to his last Senate term, which ended in 2003, as a member of the Independence Party.
He was first elected to the Senate in 1977, serving Senate District 3 first as a DFLer. The Minnesota Legislative Reference Library said he was a resident of International Falls when first elected and lists his occupation at operator of Viking Cruises, a hunting, fishing and scenic cruise operation on Rainy Lake.
It also notes his military services as United States Army Intelligence, Security Agency, Korean War/Conflict, 1951-54.
He has served on many state boards, commissions and councils, including serving as the vice chairman of the Minnesota Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board. His first bid for state office was an unsuccessful write-in candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives against incumbent Irv Anderson in the 1974 election.
His most recent employment has been as the special assistant to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner.
He may be best known for his involvement in promoting allowing voters to decide whether to dedicate a portion of the state’s sales tax to fish and wildlife needs. Lessard promoted the idea at least 10 years before 2008 lawmakers agreed to take the question to voters. As a result, Minnesota voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the state constitution, which raised the state’s sales tax 3/8 of 1 percent.
One-third of the funding from that Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment goes to the Outdoor Heritage Fund that is dedicated to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife.
The group charged with annually making funding recommendations to the Legislature — the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council — is named after Lessard and Staples area Sen. Dallas Sams, who died in 2007 and with Lessard worked toward the dedicated funding for both outdoor and cultural programs in Minnesota.
Lessard’s passion for the outdoors, future generations, and property rights has not changed over the years, he told The Journal in 2017:
“Nobody in this state has been more about land owners’ rights than I have,” he said, citing his history of fighting for private land rights from when he was first elected to the Legislature in 1976. He fought the establishment of Voyageurs National Park as a national park, favoring instead it be a national recreation area allowing multiple use and access by many.
He also fought to keep the Bigfork River from inclusion in the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers system, and in 1979 to include the Upper Mississippi through condemnation into the system.
“We said we could do it better, cheaper and more efficient” with local control, he said. A call from President Jimmy Carter led to the federal government backing away from the Mississippi proposal and allowing local control, he noted.
