Going into his second term, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton will have new commissioners in two top posts.
Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans will take over Minnesota Management and Budget from longtime finance staffer and commissioner Jim Schowalter, according to documents obtained by the Star Tribune and confirmed by Dayton's office. Frans' deputy Cynthia Bauerly will take over the Revenue commissioner spot.
Frans and Schowalter have been trusted Dayton advisors.
Schowalter, who had also worked in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration, oversaw the state's budget and finances, through a massive deficit and contentious government shutdown and to its current standing with nearly a $1 billion surplus.
"I have relied heavily on his wise counsel, and the entire State of Minnesota has benefited greatly from his outstanding service," Dayton said of the departing Schowalter. Schowalter, who has been with Minnesota's finance agency for two decades, will become the president and CEO of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans.
Frans is the oft-smiling former tax attorney, who left the private sector to join the Dayton administration in 2010. He worked with the governor on crafting the state's 2013 tax package, which raised income taxes on the wealthy and others, and a large package of 2014 tax refunds and tax credits.
Bauerly, an attorney, only joined the Dayton administration in 2013, after she left her role as a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission. She is well versed in the ways of Minnesota, she has worked with the state's politicians, including now-U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and earned her bachelor's degree from Concordia College in Moorhead.
"During the past four years, Commissioner Myron Frans has shown his superb ability to manage our State's finances, as Commissioner of Revenue," said Dayton said in a statement.
