MAPL: Where new leaders of our advocacy community emerge.

Spring 2009-MAPL Guest Speakers

Mary Bellman is a labor educator with the University of Minnesota's Labor Education Service. Originally from Minnesota, she has lived in Latin America and the southwestern United States. She earned a bachelor's degree in Government and Spanish from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., and a Ph.D in Political Science, with an emphasis in comparative politics and international relations, from the University of New Mexico. Her primary interests are political economy, immigration, and building solidarity across borders. Se habla espanol.

Peter Benner is the former Executive Director of Minnesota Council 6 (now part of AFSCME Council 5). He joined the International union's staff in 1974 and was elected council director in 1982 and International Vice President in 1992. He has served on many public and private boards and commissions seeking ways to improve health care and public service delivery.

Daniel Fanning is a 2008 graduate of the MAPL Program. Before serving as Campaign Manager for Senator John Marty's Gubernatorial Campaign, Daniel worked as a Community Organizer at CHUM in Duluth, as well as  Program Coordinator of the Mentoring Works Program at Men as Peacemakers. With an Undergraduate Degree in Political Science from UW-Superior, Daniel has always been interested and involved with social justice and politics. He is a combat veteran of the Army National Guard and active with Veterans for Peace and other progressive organizations. He currently lives and works in St. Paul, MN.

Glen Fladeboe is a media consultant who is currently running a statewide public relations campaign regarding how Minnesota cities will be affected by the proposed state budget cuts. Previously, he coordinated media efforts at the Minnesota House of Representatives as a Director of Public Affairs and before that worked at WCCO TV as a planning and assignment editor.  He graduated from Hamline University with a degree in communications and political science. Glen is also an auctioneer and owner of Fladeboe Auctions.  The company works with over 150 non-profit clients across the country by consulting and conducting charity auctions.

Mayra Gomez, PhD, is the Coordinator of the Women and Housing Rights Programme with the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an international human rights organization dedicated to the promoting housing rights for everyone, everywhere.  Grounding its work in principles and norms established under international human rights law, the Women and Housing Rights Programme addresses and champions the right to adequate housing for women through a participatory and holistic programme of activities. Mayra has extensive international travel experience and has traveled to dozens of countries in every region of the world and at every stage of development. She has participated in numerous human rights fact-finding and training missions both domestically and abroad, addressing issues of discrimination against women and violations of human rights. Mayra has several years experience advocating for human rights at the UN, and lectures frequently to students, human rights activists, policy makers and representatives of international organizations.  She has authored over thirty human rights articles, books and reports.  With Amnesty International USA, Mayra currently serves on the Board of Directors, Chairing its International Committee.  She is a member of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Advisory Group of AIUSA, and served for four years on the AIUSA Women’s Human Rights Steering Committee, co-Chair the Committee for two years.

Mayra has travelled and worked internationally, including in Austria, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Finland, France, Gambia. Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel/Palestine (West Bank), Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Netherlands, Rwanda, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan (Darfur), Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Zambia).

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Dr. Richard Levins is Professor Emeritus of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He is an award-winning author of books about policy and market power issues affecting the food system. His articles have appeared in major newspapers across the country, in leading industry publications, and in professional journals. His writing draws upon a 25-year academic career involving both advising on-going businesses and teaching economic principles at the college level.

Levins is the author of "Middle Class, Union Made" which examines the economic forces of price gouging, wage cutting, and excessive debt that are weakening the middle class and leading us toward a landlord society that benefits none but the very few. The income distribution in the United States is now as tilted toward the hyper-wealthy and against the middle class as it has been since the Great Depression.
Government must help in reversing the trend, but it cannot do it alone. Strong and effective unions are an essential part of any strategy that will restore and maintain the American middle class.

He now maintains an active practice in consulting, writing, and public speaking.

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Senator John Marty represents seven suburbs north of St. Paul. Marty chairs the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee. He is author of the MN Health Plan, a bold initiative to ensure that all Minnesotans have access to affordable health care.

Senator Marty first became known statewide for his work in ethics and campaign finance reform. In 1993, he authored successful legislation to reduce the impact of special interest money on the political process. John was also the author of legislation that prohibited lobbyists and interest groups from giving gifts to public officials. He has been a tireless voice for government reform and continues pressing for legislation to end the clout of special interest money. He was the only member of the entire Senate to stand up and vote against the massive 1999 and 2000 tax cuts that led to our current budget deficit.  Senator Marty voted against them to prevent harmful cuts for schools and higher education, to health care and the poor that have occurred as a result.  While most DFLers would now admit that those cuts were a mistake and that Minnesota's economy and our future were damaged by them, John had the courage and foresight to stand up and speak out at the time. 

Marty has consistenly been an articulate voice for cutting waste in government spending and stopping costly taxpayer subsidies for private businesses. He is a strong advocate for public investments in education that enable people to reach their potential and contribute to the economy.

Senator Marty was an early and a consistent supporter of equal rights for gays and lesbians, regardless of the political risk. He is the co-author of  the Marriage and Family Act, a bill that would make marriage laws gender neutral in Minnesota.

Senator Marty is co-chair of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty and works for legislation to ensure that workers receive a living wage for their work.

Marty is a graduate of St. Olaf College with a B.A. in Ethics. John and his wife Connie have two children, Elsa and Micah, and live in Roseville.

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James Oberstar Jim Oberstar was born in Chisholm on Minnesota’s Iron Range. He graduated from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. with a double major in French and Political Science.  He continued his education at the College of Europe in Belgium then moved to Haiti where he taught French and Creole to U.S. military personnel and English to Haitian officials.

In 1963 Jim began working for Representative John Blatnik, who represented Jim’s home town of Chisholm in Congress.   Blatnik assigned Jim as a clerk for the Subcommittee on Rivers and Harbors.  In 1970, Blatnik rose to become chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Jim became administrator of the committee.  Today that committee is known as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  

In 1974, when Blatnik announced his retirement, Jim sought and won his first term in Congress, becoming the second native of Chisholm to represent Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District.  Every two years, the people of Northeast Minnesota have returned Jim to Washington.  Now in his 17th term, he is the longest serving member of Congress in Minnesota history.

In the 34 years he has served in Congress, Jim has become known as the body’s leading expert on transportation policy.  From 1989 through 1995, he chaired the Subcommittee on Aviation, passing important legislation that has led to better maintenance and safer aircraft.  Later, as the ranking democrat of the full Transportation Committee, he worked in a bipartisan manner to take the Highway Trust Fund off budget to ensure that gas taxes are used to fix roads and bridges and not to make the budget deficit look smaller.

In January 2007, after voters returned control of Congress to the Democratic Party, Jim was elected chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  He is also the first member of Congress to have served both as a committee’s administrator and its chairman.

Tom Renier is the founding President of the Northland Foundation since its inception in 1986.  Prior to going to the Foundation, he was with the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission for 11 years, working primarily in economic and community development.  In 1985, he was the founding President of the Northspan Group, a non-profit economic and business development organization which still serves this 7-county region.

Current affiliations of Mr. Renier include:

1. Board of Trustees, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
2. Board of Directors,  Area Partnerships for Economic Expansion (APEX)
3. Board of Advisors for the School of Business and Economics of the University of Minnesota – Duluth

Mr. Renier is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a lifelong resident of Duluth.

Lorraine Teel has worked to shape a more positive and progressive society for over 30 years. In June of 1990, Lorraine became Executive Director of the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP). Her achievements at MAP include overseeing the growth of the organization and expansion into new programming areas for nearly 20 years. During this period of time, Lorraine has guided the organization as it expanded its work in advocacy, prevention and services.  Her work on AIDS-related advocacy included active participation on many local and national committees, including AIDS Action Council in Washington, DC, where she served on the Board of Directors and as Co-Chair of the Public Policy Committee. She has also served as a member of the Minnesota Commissioner’s Task Force on HIV/STD Prevention and as Co-Chair of the Minnesota HIV Services Planning Council’s Needs Assessment Committee. 

Prior to her work with MAP, Lorraine’s work in human services has been extensive. She was one of the founders and served as Executive Director for Eden Programs (now known as RS Eden), a groundbreaking drug abuse treatment center. She served as one of the first Board members for the national organization, Therapeutic Communities of America. She has been recognized as a leader in the field of drug abuse treatment, most notably for her work with those addicted to illicit drugs as well as those with both chemical dependency and mental health problems. She also has served as a consultant to non-profits in the areas of criminal justice and women’s issues. Throughout her career, Lorraine has worked with communities that fall outside of the American mainstream: communities of color, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, & transgender communities; impoverished persons; felons; and those with substance abuse problems.

Organizations that have benefited from her commitment in addition to those mentioned above, include the Institute on Black Chemical Abuse (now African American Family Services), La Oportunidad, Progress Valley and Pyramid Mental Health Center.

Bret Thiele received his JD, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School.  He is the Coordinator of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Litigation Programme with the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an international human rights organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.  Bret is an international human rights lawyer with extensive knowledge of economic, social and cultural rights, with particular focus on the justiciability of such rights as well as on the right to adequate housing. Bret regularly conducts investigations into housing rights violations, facilitates community organizing and mobilization, has conducted several workshops on ESC rights and strategic advocacy around the world, and has litigated ESC rights before such entities as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the European Social Committee.  He has also worked extensively with United Nations human rights bodies, including the Commission on Human Rights; the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights; the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Human Rights Committee; and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and has trained individuals with respect to these bodies as well.  He has lectured on ESC rights at the University of Minnesota Law School, the University of Chicago, the University of Minnesota – Duluth, the University of Wisconsin – Superior, Åbo Akademi (Turku, Finland), l’Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationales (University Institute for Higher International Studies) (Geneva, Switzerland) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (Copenhagen, Denmark) as well as for Amnesty International and Global Rights.

Bret has travelled extensively, including spending time abroad for months in duration.  International travels include trips to and work in Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, the Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, occupied Palestinian territory, the Philippines, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Viet Nam.

See past Guest Speakers