Marlene Johnson

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Marlene Johnson

In office
January 3, 1983 – January 7, 1991
Governor(s) Rudy Perpich
Preceded by Lou Wangberg
Succeeded by Joanell Dyrstad

Born January 11 1946
Braham, Minnesota
Political party Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party

Marlene Johnson (born January 11, 1946) was the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and the first woman to hold that office. She was elected with Governor Rudy Perpich, and held the position from 1983–1991.

Born and raised in Braham, Minnesota, Johnson's selection caused some controversy for the Perpich campaign in the final days of the 1982 campaign, when the campaign for Republican nominee Wheelock Whitney revealed that Johnson had two criminal charges on her record: unlawful assembly stemming from a civil rights demonstration and shoplifting $6 worth of sewing materials from a Sears store. However, the news did little to damage Perpich's campaign as he trounced Whitney by over 300,000 votes.

In 1993, after leaving office, Johnson ran for mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, but lost in the primary election. Later that year, she was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton to serve as associate administrator at the General Services Administration.

She has also since served on the executive committee of the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange and on the advisory council for the University of Minnesota’s College of Human Ecology.

Johnson currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Preceded by
Lou Wangberg
42nd Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota
1983 - 1991
Succeeded by
Joanell Dyrstad