7th District candidate wants voters to look beyond his past

Alan RoebkeFormer farmer Alan Roebke plans to challenge incumbent Congressman Collin Peterson in his 2008 re-election bid.

Roebke wants to revamp American farm policy, slashing billions in what he sees as shamelessly wasteful subsidies.

Roebke faces considerable challenges. Peterson has nine terms under his belt and is chair of the House agriculture committee. Unless Roebke can secure the Republican Party’s nomination, Peterson can probably easily outspend Roebke’s campaign.

According to Roebke, when he announced his candidacy on Jan. 24, he had a balance of about $4 in his checking account. Speaking with the Leader last week, he said, “I’ve got to tap some donations pretty darned quick … My focus right now is I’ve got to get some money coming in.”

He hopes potential campaign donors will listen to his ideas, not judge him over his prior felony conviction. Roebke said his illegal 2003 sale of grain — pledged as collateral for a government loan — was a form of protest.

“I’d been living as a multimillionaire, before my life came apart, because I challenged the system,” he said. “I was trying to break a law that was broken.”

“My biggest challenge is to address my critics before they kill me,” he added. “They have to allow a person like myself that is outside-the-box a fair shake.”

For more on this story, see the Leader’s Feb. 5 print edition.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)