RogueOn Minnesota endorses Dan “Doc” Severson for Secretary of State.
Dan is a native of the St. Cloud area. Graduating from St. Cloud Tech in 1973, he attended St. Cloud State University and married Cathy Jo Pederson in 1975. He completed a BA in Physics with a Math and Computer Science Minor.
In 1979 Dan received a commission in the United States Navy at Pensacola, Florida and was awarded his Navy wings after completing Naval Aviator training in Meridian, Mississippi in December 1980. After receiving his wings, Dan was a flight instructor in basic training for Jets for 14 months before going onto fleet duty.
Dan successfully completed training in single seat attack aircraft, the A-7E Corsair, and received orders to fly off the deck of the USS Midway home-ported in Japan. On subsequent tours he went on to transition into the Navy’s new FA-18 Hornet strike fighter stationed in southern California. Tours of duty include: Officer in Charge of F/A-18 Squadron VFA-305, Bureau of Naval Personnel working on officer promotions and policy for the Naval Reserve.
As a Commander, Dan also worked in Washington DC as Supervisor for Pers 913 which dealt with Naval Reserve enlisted issues force wide and Pers 911 working with Naval Reserve officer retention and policy enforcement. As Executive Officer of Weapons Test Squadron China Lake, California, a 220 person squadron, Dan flew both the FA-18 Strike Fighter (Hornet) and the Metro-3 commuter turbo prop aircraft.
Dan has been awarded the Navy Achievement Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and (2) Meritorious Service Medals, as well as numerous other service medals. The first Meritorious Service Medal was awarded by the Chief of Naval Operations for innovative leadership while in Washington, DC, and the second was for outstanding Leadership in the Executive Officer role at NAWS China Lake Research and Development Squadron.
“Commander Severson’s aggressive leadership was the critical element in the successful implementation of the single most important change in legislation affecting Naval Reservists in 50 years.” – Adm. Johnson, Chief of Naval Operations
“His leadership during [these] extensive operations was instrumental to the superb squadron safety record, culminating in receipt of the 1999 Naval Air Systems Command Safety Award.” – Admiral Dyer, Naval Air Systems Commanding Officer
Dan also completed Strike Leadership Advanced Tactics School in 1992. This was a course for Navy leaders that dealt with appropriate use of force for the identified target and strategies for force deployment. Dan also completed Top Gun Adversary training in Miramar, California, 1992-3. This course equipped pilots to deploy the aircraft in training scenarios to support fleet readiness operations. Dan retired in October 2000 and moved back to Minnesota with his wife Cathy Jo, where they got involved in the business sector in a start-up company.
Dan and Cathy Jo and John Pederson worked on and were awarded a patent involving modulated lighting as a means of free space communications. Dan ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives and was elected in November 2002. Dan is serving his 4th term as State Representative for District 14A, which includes Stearns and Benton counties.
Dan currently serves as the Republican Minority Whip in the MN House of Representatives. Elected as part of the leadership team, the Whips responsibility is to help generate vision for the direction the caucus is going and work to ensure that each member is part of the team. As part of an overall success for 2009 session, the Republican Caucus worked to bring meaningful reform ideas, shrink the size of government and promote sustainable economic solutions that can make Minnesota prosperous again.
Dan’s other caucus positions of leadership include Minority lead on Housing Public Health Finance committee and past Vice Chair on Government Operations and Veteran Affairs.
Dan has focused his efforts on championing Veteran issues that have made Minnesota a model in the nation in many areas for our returning warriors. Educational initiatives and employment opportunity improvements have helped our war fighters transition back to civilian lives.
Dan has authored many veteran friendly bills and continues to fight for all veterans and honor their sacrifices. Dan is also a strong believer in the nuclear family and legislation that promotes strong family values. Dan was the author of the 2005 Marriage Amendment that passed in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The link below will connect you to Dan’s legislative web site and you can browse the bills and information dealing with his legislative initiatives this session. If you want to look at past sessions you can go to the archived information on the web site.
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10785
For more information, visit Dan’s campaign website Dan Severson for Secretary of State or his Facebook page.
Update: Dan was endorsed unanimously by the GOP at the state convention on April 29th.
