Dean was first elected in 2004,and was reelected in 2006,2008,2010,and 2012. He served as the Majority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013,having been selected by his caucus for the position on November 6,2010.[1][3] Dean was the chair of the Health and Human Services Finance Committee. He was also considered a leader of the conservative wing of House Republicans.[4]
Dean briefly campaigned for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2018 before dropping out in January of that year,citing the desire to unify the party around one candidate. He declined to run for reelection to his seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.[5]
Electoral history
Dean campaigning during his 2018 gubernatorial run
In May 2011,author Neil Gaiman was invited to speak at the Stillwater Library in Minnesota. Gaiman has a fixed policy of charging very high speaking fees for his appearances,believing that such fees will discourage most people from requesting he speak,leaving him more time for writing.[6] Gaiman's fee was taken from a special fund established to bring authors in to speak at local libraries. Dean took issue with the expenditure,saying that Gaiman was an author he hated,and describing him as a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota." The actual fee was $40,000.[7] Gaiman pointed out that he had donated his speaking fee to charity long before Dean's comments.[8]
After some press coverage,at his mother's urging,Dean apologized for being a "name caller".[9][10]
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