About four years after leaving the state legislature, longtime area legislator Tom Bakk has shut down his campaign fundraising account.
According to published reports this week, the former State Senator closed down his campaign fundraising his account for governor, with the bulk of the remaining funds donated to a charity connected with Cook’s hospital.
Bakk ran for governor in 2010, but has kept the fundraising account in place for more than a decade-anda- half.
The account was finally shut down this year, with Bakk doling out $21,250 in leftover funds.
Most went to the WC Heiam Medical Foundation, which received $18,000, which works to support programs, services and facilities that serve the medical needs of Cook health care area residents.
Another $2,500 went to a regional charity known as Never Surrender, while Bakk also donated to DFL State Sen. J ohn H offman a nd another $250 to the Senate DFL.
Bakk, who is from Cook, was Senator majority and later minority leader for the DFL from 2011 to 2019.
During his final two years in St. Paul, Bakk broke from the DFL caucus and identified as an independent while caucusing with Senate Republicans.
Bakk was first elected to the Minnesota House in 1994 and succeeded the late Sen. Doug Johnson in the Senate in 2003.
