Pat Shortridge
Republican lobbyist in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pat Shortridge is a Minnesota lobbyist, former Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota and founder of Conservative Solutions Project.
Pat Shortridge | |
|---|---|
| Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota | |
| In office December 31, 2011 – April 6, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Tony Sutton |
| Succeeded by | Keith Downey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Party | Republican Party of Minnesota |
| Alma mater | Macalester College |
| Occupation | lobbyist |
Early life and education
Shortridge was born in Winona, Minnesota. He attended Macalester College.[1]
Political career
After graduating from Macalester College, Shortridge became an intern, then paid staffer, of Texas Representative Dick Armey,[1] eventually working for him for eleven years.[2] He left Armey's employment in 2001 to become a lobbyist for Enron, a position he held for approximately six months before the company went into bankruptcy as a result of the Enron scandal.[1][3]
After the brief position at Enron, Shortridge returned to Minnesota to work for Representative Mark Kennedy for five years.[2] He ran Kennedy's campaign in the 2006 senate election, which Kennedy lost by over 20 percentage points to DFL candidate Amy Klobuchar.[4]
In 2011, Minnesota Republican chairman Tony Sutton abruptly departed among controversy.[5][6] Shortridge was elected by 350 party delegates at a meeting on December 31 in St. Cloud, Minnesota over two other candidates.[4] The Republican Party of Minnesota faced a debt of over $2 million at the time of Shortridge's election, which he managed to reduce significantly during his first year as chairman.[7] He insisted that he would only serve out the remainder of Sutton's term expiring April 6, 2013, when party delegates would select a new chair.[8] He was succeeded by Keith Downey.[9]
Personal life
Shortridge resides in Lino Lakes, Minnesota.[1]