Tina Liebling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tina Liebling is a politician and attorney from the U.S. state of Minnesota. She currently represents Minnesota House District 30A, which consists entirely of the city of Rochester, in the Minnesota House of Representatives. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Liebling was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of noted photographer Jerome Liebling. After her family moved away from the area, she returned to attend the University of Minnesota, earning a B.A. in Spanish and graduating magna cum laude. She went on to attend the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, receiving an M.S. in Public Health, then went to Boston University School of Law, graduating cum laude with a J.D.. She married her husband, Mark, shortly after law school, and moved to the Chicago area, where her three children were born. In 1994, she moved to Rochester, where her husband was hired as a consultant for the Mayo Clinic, and she began a solo law practice focused on criminal law.
Her political career began in 2002, when she first ran for the seat she now holds, finishing second behind former state representative Carla Nelson in a three-way race. She ran again in 2004 and defeated Nelson with 50.75% of the vote. Liebling and Andy Welti, a DFL representative from neighboring district 30B, were part of large DFL gains in the Minnesota House in 2004. The two are the first Democrats to represent Rochester, a traditional Republican stronghold, in many years. She was inaugurated on January 4, 2005. In 2006, she was re-elected with 52.76% of the vote, again defeating Carla Nelson. Liebling currently serves on four committees: Taxes, Public Safety Finance Division, Health and Human Services, and Health and Human Services Finance Division.
