Doug Wardlow

Douglas G. Wardlow (born July 3, 1978) is an American attorney and politician who served as a Minnesota state representative from District 38B. Wardlow was the unsuccessful Republican candidate in the 2018 Minnesota Attorney General election.

Doug Wardlow
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
from the 38B district
In office
January 4, 2011 – January 7, 2013
Preceded byMike Obermueller
Succeeded byRedistricted
Personal details
Born (1978-07-03) July 3, 1978
Eagan, Minnesota, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Jenny
Children3
RelativesLynn Wardlow (father)
EducationGeorgetown University (BA, JD)

Early life and education

Wardlow graduated from Eagan High School in Eagan, Minnesota, where he was one of the four valedictorians of his class. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., studied Mandarin Chinese at Beijing University in Beijing, China, and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Political Theory with a minor in Mandarin Chinese.

Wardlow earned his J.D., cum laude from Georgetown Law Center. During law school, he also spent a summer clerking at the law firm of Lee and Li in Taipei, Taiwan. He also returned to Beijing University, completing English-language coursework on Chinese law.[1][2]

Career

After graduating law school, Wardlow served as a judicial law clerk for Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Following his judicial clerkship, Wardlow worked as a litigation attorney for Minneapolis law firm of Parker Rosen, where he specialized in eminent domain, employment law and business law.[3][1] Wardlow also worked in international trade law.[4]

Minnesota House of Representative
Wardlow on the floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2011.

Wardlow was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2010. He served on the Civil Law, Judiciary Policy and Finance, and Taxes committees, and on the Taxes Subcommittee for the Property and Local Tax Division.[5] He narrowly lost his bid for reelection in 2012 to Democrat Laurie Halverson, in the newly created District 51B.[6] Wardlow wrote a bill that sought to prohibit the creation of health care exchanges that were a component of the Affordable Care Act.[7] Wardlow's bill did not become law.[7] Wardlow also unsuccessfully pushed for a state constitutional amendment (known as a "right to work" amendment) that would have banned employers and unions from requiring employees to become dues-paying union members.[7]

Alliance Defending Freedom

Wardlow worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy non-profit based in Scottsdale, Arizona; he left the group when he launched his bid to become Minnesota Attorney General in 2018.[7][8] In 2017, Wardlow testified in an Anoka-Hennepin school board meeting against allowing transgender students to access facilities in accordance with their gender identities,[9] stating that such policies would "expose children to members of the opposite sex in restrooms or in locker rooms."[7] Wardlow has argued that transgender students using bathrooms reflecting their gender threatens the safety and privacy of other students, and that requiring students to refer to transgender people in accordance with their gender identities violates students' free speech rights under the First Amendment.[10] In 2016, Wardlow won a federal case in which the court ruled that "a metro Detroit funeral home did not discriminate against an employee when it fired her for transitioning from a man into a woman [because] transgender individuals are not a protected class under federal employment laws [and because] the funeral home [could not] be forced to make employment decisions that go against its sincerely held religious beliefs".[11][12]

2018 Minnesota Attorney General election
Main article: 2018 Minnesota Attorney General election

On August 14, 2018, Wardlow won the Republican primary for Attorney General of Minnesota. He faced Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison.[13] Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party candidate Noah Dilly Johnson has endorsed Ellison, but will remain on the general election ballot.[14] Wardlow had previously been endorsed by the Republican Party at its June 2, 2018 state convention.[15] Wardlow lost the election to Ellison by a 49-45% margin.[16]

During his campaign, Wardlow stated that he would enforce same-sex marriage laws;[4] however, Wardlow previously opposed gay marriage[17] and the Obergefell v. Hodges decision,[18] which he described in 2015 as a "tyrannical impulse".[19] Wardlow has stated that he would not join other Republican attorney generals who sued to overturn the Affordable Care Act.[4] During his campaign for Minnesota Attorney General, Wardlow stated the office is not a "policymaking position" and would refrain from anything "legislative in scope."[4]

Wardlow stated that, if elected, he would "fire 42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat" from the Attorney General's Office, leading to concern that he might politicize the office and make hiring decisions based on political loyalty rather than merit.[20]

Controversy arose around Wardlow during the 2018 campaign. Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson remarked, after learning that Wardlow had maintained a politically conservative legal blog during his time as a law clerk, that “I found the conduct of Mr. Wardlow so egregious, so undermining of the ethics and the standards we have on the court I thought he should have been terminated immediately.”[21] In addition, a high school classmate of Wardlow's, Ryan Durant, accused Wardlow of anti-gay bullying during high school, also claiming that Wardlow had mocked him after Durant returned to school following a suicide attempt.[22]

Wardlow admitted to committing campaign finance violations in the 2018 election by exceeding his authorized spending limits by more than $46,000. Wardlow agreed to pay this amount to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board as a fine.[23]

Personal life
Wardlow with wife Jenny in 2008.

Wardlow and his family have long been active in government and politics. While attending Georgetown University, he volunteered at the offices of U.S. Representatives John Kline and Gil Gutknecht, and also worked as a volunteer legal research clerk for U.S. Senator Charles Grassley. His father, Lynn Wardlow, also served as a Minnesota State Representative for the same district from 2003 to 2009.[1][2][24] Wardlow resides in Prior Lake, Minnesota with his wife Jenny and three children.[25]

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References
  1. "Wardlow, Douglas "Doug" - Legislator Record - Minnesota Legislators Past & Present". www.leg.state.mn.us.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Parker / Rosen". www.parkerrosen.com. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  4. Van Berkel, Jessie. "Doug Wardlow says he'll set aside partisan past if elected attorney general". /www.startribune.com. Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  5. "Wardlow, Douglas "Doug" - Legislator Record - Minnesota Legislators Past & Present". www.house.leg.state.mn.us.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Doug Wardlow says he'll set aside partisan past if elected attorney general". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  8. "Douglas G. Wardlow - a Scottsdale, Arizona (AZ) Business & Commercial Law Lawyer". pview.findlaw.com. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  9. Alliance Defending Freedom Through The Years. Southern Poverty Law Center, 2017
  10. "ADF warns school districts: Minnesota Dept. of Education guidelines violate student privacy rights - Alliance Defending Freedom". www.adfmedia.org. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  11. Federal court upholds firing of transgender funeral director. Detroit Free Press, 18 August 2016
  12. https://www.mied.uscourts.gov/pdffiles/14-13710opn.pdf
  13. "Statewide Results for Attorney General". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  14. Van Berkel, Jessie (October 15, 2018). "Legalize Cannabis candidate endorses Keith Ellison for attorney general". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  15. Van Berkel, Jessie; Rao, Maya (June 2, 2018). "DFL endorses Pelikan for AG after Swanson drops bid for party nod". Star Tribune. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  16. 2018 Minnesota midterm election results.
  17. "Faith leaders denounce Wardlow mailers attacking Keith Ellison". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  18. Supreme Court disavows truth about marriage, pits faith against law. Fox News. Doug Wardlow, June 26, 2015.
  19. Marriage equality is a ‘tyrannical impulse,’ says Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer. Colorado Independent. Kyle Harris, June 26, 2015
  20. Wardlow says he'd fire Democrats in Minnesota AG's office. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 12 October 2018
  21. "Minnesota attorney general race attacks continue as campaign counts down to finish". Star Tribune. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  22. "Doug Wardlow, LGBT rights and the gay man he allegedly bullied in high school". Twin Cities. October 27, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  23. "Doug Wardlow fined $46K for excess expenditures in attorney general run". Star Tribune. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  24. "Wardlow, Lynn - Legislator Record - Minnesota Legislators Past & Present". www.leg.state.mn.us.
  25. https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2018/08/06/gop-pick-attorney-general-doug-wardlow-hones-central-minnesota/914094002/
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