Rookie lawmaker Tomassoni inks two-year deal Jack Kemp. Bill Bradley. Mo Udall. Even One would suspect his on-ice renown ­ staff, and his new constituents giving him time Gerald Ford successfully made the jump into particularlyin the puck-happy Iron Range cities to grow into the job. the electoral arena after hanging up his sports of Hibbing and Chisholm - gave him a leg up Past experiences also have taught himhow to jersey for good. on the competition for the District SB seat. roll with the punches, explore alternative meth­ Add Rep. David To­ But it was an unsuccess£ul run for a county ods to achieve a goal, and to just relax when the massoni to the list of commissioner's post four years earlier that To­ situation wanants. former athletes who've massoni credits for allovving him to emerge "I was over there [in Italy] for 16 seasons and turned to politics. A from a crowded primary field last September in that time they made 16 different rules for high school and colle­ and to roll to an easy vvin in November. foreign players," he said. "There were 16 differ­ giate standout, andlater "The '88 race gave me some important name ent regular season formats and 16 different a defenseman in the recognition," he said. "That was my first taste of playoff formats. Italian hockey leagues, politics. I didn't win but I liked what I got "I never knew which team I could play on Rep. David Tomassoni Tomassoni is perhaps involved in. I can't tell you exactly why we won from season to season, so I signed 16 separate the first former Olympian to gain a seat in the this time - we ran a real issued-oriented cam­ one-year contracts. This is my first two-year Legislature sincevVendell Anderson cameto the paign and it just worked." contract ever." state Capitol in 1962. Because of the overwhelming impact taco­ -Dave Price But what makes Tomassoni's athletic career a nite miningplays in the lives ofhis constituents, bit unique is that he played for the Italian Tomassoni said revitalizing the often-belea­ District 56 Olympic squad in 1984 - not Team USA. guered industry will be among his chieflegisla­ Tomassoni, 40, also had a National Hockey tive eoncerns. Population: 32,467 Distribution: 100 percent of residents live League tryout with the New York Rangers after "The focus has to be to save what [jobs] we in rural areas * graduatingfrom DenverUniversitywithabach­ have and try to find somethingelse" andplan for County: St. Louis elor of science degree in business administra­ the future, he said. "We have to figure out how Largest city: Hibbing tion. Returning to Minnesota for good in 1990 to compete worldwide." Location: northeastern Mi nnesota 1992 presidential election results: with his wife, Charlotte, two sons, Dante and Tomassoni said he expects to make some Clinton/Gore: 61 .2 percent Danny, and daughter, Chauntell, he set upshop tough decisions as he andhis colleagues work to Bush/Quayle: 18.6 percent as an insurance broker and also filled in as an get the state's balance sheet back in order. He Perot/Stockdale: 19.6 percent Other: 0.6 percent assistant coach for the Chisholm High School said the task has been aided by a talented caucus * U.S. Census definition hockey team. March 19, 1993/ SESSION WEEKLY 19