Austin Gerth
austin.gerth@ecm-inc.com
Former Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak will appear at North Folk Winery in Harris on June 23 to promote his new book, “Pothole Confidential: My Life as Mayor of Minneapolis.”
At North Folk, Rybak will read from and sign his book and mingle with attendees. The event will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and include a buffet of wood-fired pizza, salad and dessert. Wine and other beverages will be available to purchase separately. Tickets can be purchased in person at Scout and Morgan Books in Cambridge or by calling 763-689-2474.
Rybak was Minneapolis mayor from 2002 to 2014, serving three terms. He had previously worked as a journalist for the Star Tribune as well as an internet strategist and marketing consultant. Rybak says he wrote the book as an attempt to put forward a depiction of public servants as real people.
“Too often people have been willing to buy the idea that the people we vote into office have rotten motivations,” he said.
“Pothole Confidential” is a memoir. Rybak said he had the idea to write a book like it even while he was in office as mayor, but he was “more motivated by TV shows like ‘Scandal’ and ‘House of Cards’ that paint a really cynical picture” of politics since leaving the job. 
Rybak emphasized that the book portrays mistakes he made while mayor as well as moments of success.
“What you read in there is a picture of a very flawed human being,” he said.
Since leaving office, Rybak has become executive director of Generation Next, an organization that works to increase the number of Minneapolis and St. Paul students meeting educational benchmarks at key points from elementary school to college.
Rybak was an acknowledged poor student in school, but he says one teacher, Steven Kingsbury, helped him “get back” to himself with a good grade on a paper.
Wanting to get in touch and thank Kingsbury for the positive impact he had on his life, Rybak turned to Facebook to see if anybody could help find Kingsbury. Initially someone got back to him with a clipping saying Kingsbury had died. Happily for Rybak, this turned out to be a misprint. Rybak eventually found out Kingsbury lives in Stacy. He is hoping Kingsbury will be at the North Folk Winery book signing.
“Pothole Confidential” includes Rybak’s accounts of events like the I-35W bridge collapse and the negotiations for the new Vikings stadium. Rybak says he misses some parts of being mayor, including the ability to help people and the budget, which he likens to a giant puzzle.
“The only thing I don’t miss is that once you get the word ‘politician’ by your name, people start to question your motives,” Rybak said. When he was the first mayor of a major city to endorse Barack Obama for president leading up to the 2008 election, it was assumed he was angling for a job in Washington.
Rybak is uncertain whether he will run for elected office again, but he is certain he will continue to work to serve Minnesota.
“You can do public work without being a public figure,” Rybak said. In addition to his work with Generation Next, Rybak is a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, and in May he was named CEO and president of the Minneapolis Foundation. “I’ll be doing public work in Minnesota for the rest of my lifetime.”
During his time as mayor, Rybak was known for certain personal quirks as well as his handling of the job’s serious business, for example, his rhymed tweets about Minneapolis’ winter snow removal parking policies and a few occasions when he body-surfed crowds at events.
Rybak says the first time he crowd-surfed was at a get-out-the-vote event at Minneapolis music venue First Avenue. His teenage children had told him beforehand, “Please don’t do anything to embarrass us here.” Rybak says he is less apt to crowd surf now, though he did do it at his book’s April release party.
North Folk Winery is located at 43150 Blackhawk Road, Harris. Scout and Morgan Books is located at 114 Buchanan St. N., Cambridge.