He received his Bachelor of Accounting with a minor in Business Administration and Math from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, on May 21, 1983. He was graduate cum laude.
He passed the CPA exam on July 30, 1990. There has never been a Minnesota State Auditor who has been a Certified Public Accountant.
Jeff has worked for the State Auditor’s Office for 26 years and has audited townships, small cities, large and small counties, and the City of Minneapolis.
Although he is required by state law to pay fair share dues, Jeff is not a member of a government union and has not been for many, many years. He decided long ago that neither government unions nor professional organizations have municipalities’ best interests in mind; therefore, he has decided to maintain “Independence in Appearance and in Fact” by not joining either one.
Jeff and his wife Sandy have been married for 26 years. They have two children, Krysti, age 18, and Kayti, age 12. Sandy is a practicing physician.
Jeff has been active in the GOP for many years. He was the Treasurer for Mary Kiffmeyer’s successful election to Secretary of State in 1998.
Jeff has developed a Plan to solve the problems that have plagued the State Auditor’s Office for 36 years. The problem is this: The State Auditor’s Office has an unfunded mandate to audit all first class cities and all counties. Twenty-eight counties, including Hennepin County, were released from this unfunded mandate. This means that the Office of the State Auditor allowed these 28 counties to be audited by private CPA firm. His Plan releases the remaining 59 counties and 3 first class cities from the unfunded mandate under the condition that audits of these municipalities go through a well-regulated peer review process administered by the State Auditor’s Office.
Jeff was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Duluth East High School in 1979 in the top 6% of his class. At the age of 17, Jeff got his private pilot’s license. From a family with four siblings, he was an only son, and he spent most of his spare time hunting and fishing with his dad. One year Jeff and his dad spent 26 weekends in the Superior National Forest, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, or Northwestern Ontario. He grew-up eating moose, whitetail, and fish.
Jeff’s dad was a union bricklayer. When they were not hunting and fishing, Jeff was behind a mud mixer or tending his dad and other bricklayers. This was the way he was able to fund his flying, hunting, and fishing habits (hobbies).
Jeff met his wife, Sandy, at Lakewood Town Hall’s New Year’s Eve Party in 1983. Her family was the family band performing that night, and she was playing the accordion. Because there were no single girls at the party, Jeff asked Sandy to dance. With permission, of course, from her dad and because her dad and sister were also playing the accordion, she was able to get away for a while without disrupting a polka, schottische, or waltz. In the interest of full disclosure, Jeff played the accordion for many years while he was growing-up, too.
At the end of the night, Jeff said goodbye, and Sandy said, “How about going to Perkins for a sundae?” Jeff often tells people that Sandy asked him on the first date. What he doesn’t tell people, until now, is that he asked her for the first dance, and they have been dancing ever since.
Jeff graduated from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in 1983, and started working for the Office of the State Auditor on June 25, 1983. On October 8, 1983, Jeff and Sandy were married. Yes, that is true. After knowing her for nine months and 8 days, they were married and have been married ever since. Their first child was born eight short years later on March 26, 1991.
1983 was a busy year for Jeff and Sandy. The economy was still struggling from the Jimmy Carter recession. Sandy was a baker and cake decorator, and she could not find work in the Twin Cities Area. They solved the problem in the traditional all-American way; they started their own bakery in Coon Rapids. Eventually, they hired two employees. Jeff would bake cakes before going to work and clean the bakery, pots and pans, when he got home from work.
In 1987, Jeff built his first home in Elk River with a lot of help from his dad and brother-in-law. Jeff’s mom drove his dad down from Duluth for many weekends. Jeff has been called, “a Jack of all trades.”
One day when he came home from work, Sandy told Jeff that she wanted to sell the cake shop and go back to school. So, after seven years of running a small business, they sold the cake shop and Sandy went back to school. Jeff passed the CPA exam that same year.
Shortly after they sold the cake shop, Sandy became pregnant with their first child and Krysti was born on March 26, 1991. You could say that they were very busy trying to get their feet on the ground from 1983 to 1991.
While Sandy was going to school, Jeff found himself playing another role. This time he was called “Mr. Mom.” He worked full-time and raised a little girl while Sandy studied to become a medical doctor. After eight years of schooling and a three-year residency in St. Cloud, Sandy eventually became a practicing physician in St. Louis Park. During that time they had their second child, Kayti, who was born on March 16, 1997.
On August 11, 1997, Jeff’s dad passed away. Like 1983, 1997 was a year that Jeff will not forget. He saw the birth of his second daughter and the death of his dad. Fortunately, his dad got to see all of his grandchildren before passing away.
In the summer of 2001, Sandy completed her residency and started her practice. Jeff and Sandy sold their house and moved to Minnetonka. In 2004, Jeff started building their second house. Without his dad, Jeff decided to act more as a general contractor instead, and the house still took two years to build. Jeff did a lot of the work himself; he did all of the tile, woodwork, hardwood floors, fireplaces, exterior painting, and landscaping. Sandy designed the house, including the lighting and decorating. She also sanded and painted all of the interior walls. On August 15, 2006, they got their Certificate of Occupancy.
Jeff is now interested in his
next challenge. He would like to
become the elected office holder at the State Auditor’s Office, and he is
asking for your support. Please
take some time and read his Mission Statement and Plan. The Plan has been with Jeff since 1994,
and he believes that it is now time to elevate the qualifications of the State
Auditor to a CPA status. There has
never been a MN State Auditor who has been a Certified Public Accountant. To Jeff, not having a CPA as State
Auditor is like not having an attorney as Attorney General. Do you think the Attorney General
should be an attorney? Why
yes. Then, why do we have a State
Auditor who is not a CPA?
