HOT PURSUIT

As I watched Sen. John Jasinski perform his physical therapy regimen last week at a rehab facility in Plymouth, it became clear to me how eager the veteran lawmaker is to get himself back in shape physically.
“Put on some more weight,” Jasinski told the physical therapist during one of his exercises.
Jasinski is making great strides as he improves from a freak snowmobile accident a few weeks ago in northern Minnesota. After initially tipping off the snowmobile, Jasinski stood up and was ready to roll again when he was hit from behind.
“It hit me in the back of the waist,” Jasinski said. “Otherwise I would have been right up laughing about missing a turn.”
Even while laying in the snow, Jasinski kept his sense of humor. He joked about redistricting and asked one his fellow senators if he was going to knock on doors for him in Northfield, which is known for being a liberal community. Jasinski, who is Republican, is used to his conservative district spanning Steele and Rice counties.
As it ended up once redistricting boundaries came out last week, Jasinski doesn’t have to worry about campaigning in Northfield this year after all. Northfield will be in District 58 and paired with a big chunk of Dakota County.
Asked how he’s feeling, Jasinski said with a laugh, “Healing.”
Jasinski broke his left pelvis, three ribs and L5 vertebrae. He’ll be doing a lot of shuffling and sliding around for the next two months as he has been told to not put any weight on his legs.
In between therapy sessions, Jasinski said he thinks about what has happened over the past few weeks. “It makes you think about how bad it could have been,” he said, adding he is expecting to make a full recovery.
Rehab isn't the only heavy lifting going on in Jasinski’s life.
In the past couple years, Jasinski has become a force to be reckoned with when it comes to Minnesota politics. He currently serves as assistant majority leader in the Senate.
When he was working out Friday morning in the rehab facility shortly after the news broke about the death of Congressman Jim Hagedorn, Jasinski’s cell phone rang. It was another fellow senator inquiring if Jasinski was going to run for Congress. Jasinski shrugged off the notion.
I inquired again later after he was done with rehab. Jasinski told me he had no interest in running for federal office and was quite content with Minnesota’s political landscape.
I pressed him a little further about a possible run for governor some day. Jasinski didn’t rule that out and indicated he would be more interested in doing that than running for office on the national level. But it definitely will not be this time around.
Jasinski has carved out a niche with getting things done around the Capitol. He is proud to be the chief author of a bill helping police officers suffering from PTSD. He said it has a good chance of passing in a larger bill. He is also working to get funding to attract non-tradition people into the police profession.
When it comes to governing, Jasinski said: “I just do what I think is best.”
One thing Jasinski has learned since taking office in 2016 is “the squeaky wheel gets the attention.”
Jasinski said he pulled out all the stops and used all the tricks while working on legislation to expand Highway 14, which he found to be the biggest issue with residents while campaigning. “I was told we would never get it done,” he said. “Every chance I got we worked on it.” Highway 14 opened last fall.
I wondered what invigorates Jasinski to do what he does.
He smiled, “Getting things done. It gets contagious.”
And that probably explains why Jasinski is adding extra weight to his rehab exercises. He wants to desperately get back to the Capitol in the worst way.
“It’s driving me nuts, especially with election year and redistricting,” he said. “I’m anxious to get back in my normal routine in the Senate.”
The senator expects to be back at the Capitol in a wheelchair and in hot pursuit of legislation within the next week.