Tom Rukavina

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Tom Rukavina
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 5A district
In office 1986 -
Preceded by	Dominic J. Elioff

Born	August 23, 1950 (1950-08-23) (age 57)
Political party	Democratic Farmer Labor Party
Spouse	Lenore
Residence	Virginia, Minnesota
Alma mater	University of Minnesota

Thomas 'Tom' Rukavina (born August 23, 1950) is a Democratic Farmer Labor Party member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, representing District 5A since 1986. His district 05A is the Mesabi Range.

Rukavina graduated from the University of Minnesota at Duluth, with a Bachelor of Art degree, cum laude, in political science. He was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives during the elections of 1986, at the age of thirty-seven as a DFLer. He has been re-elected ten times and began his eleventh term in the Minnesota House January, 2006. He is currently on the Capital Investment Finance Division; Education Finance and Economic Competitiveness Finance Division; Finance; Higher Education and Work Force Development Policy and Finance Division; and the Taxes Committee. Since the 2006 election, Rukavina has chaired the Higher Education and Work Force Policy and Finance Division.

Rukavina was arrested on July 31, 2004 for driving drunk.[1] He was cited for fourth degree drunken driving. His blood alcohol level was 0.15. He had been an opponent of lowering the blood alcohol level from .10 to .08. The state legislature in 2004 approved lowering the level beginning August 2005.

Rukavina garnered brief national attention from the Fox News Channel on March 16, 2007 for a bill he had introduced to ban the sale of foreign-made American flags in Minnesota. The bill has since passed into law.