Tyberg Making Run At Obey's Job
Tyberg Making Run At Obey's Job
Jeff Tyberg loves to sing. And he's not bashful about how he feels about God.
But the timing of the release of his new CD containing Christian music in four languages and the announcement he intends to run against Dave Obey for Wisconsin's Seventh congressional seat in Washington may come as some surprise.
On April 2 Tyberg announced at the Republican caucus that he's intending to seek the party's nomination to run against Democratic incumbent Dave Obey.
This last election Obey had no competition for the job but Tyberg says he believes there may be one or two more persons interested in the job.
"I'm running for the Republican Party nomination and I may have to win a primary election," said Tyberg,
He's fond of saying he is 36 years old and was born the same year Congressman Obey first took office 18 campaigns ago.
So why, without political experience, does he think he can win?
"Paul Wellstone proved it can be done," he says. The late Senator Wellstone was a professor at Carlton College in Northfield, MN when he decided to run for office.
Tyberg says he's calling for "fiscal responsibility" in the federal government as his main agenda item.
"It's been the failure of the Republican party to put someone in there last year," that got him thinking about the job.
"A customer came to me and suggested I run for the office and I have not been able to get it out of my head," Tyberg said.
He knows the congressional district is large and that will mean lots of traveling, to fairs, parades and many other events across the state.
"I will try to get recognized," Tyberg said.
The fact that President Bush took District 7, albeit by the narrowest of margins, gives Tyberg hope it can be done.
He grew up in Grantsburg and his family lives here.
When asked why he doesn't start at a "smaller job," he says,
We've got good boards and two Republicans: state representative Mark Pettis and Senator Sheila Harsdorf. "This is where I fit, I hope," he laughed.
"So far, I've had lots of encouraging comments from friends and acquaintances."
Tyberg, who sings in Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish and English on his new CD, spent two years in the Ukraine. He went there with a music ministry to do concerts on a two-week tour and stayed much longer. In the second year he was asked to come back to do concerts in churches and he stayed three years doing concerts and he joined the orphanage ministry, choir in the church and started an English Club.
And there he met his wife Tanya. The couple don't have children.
He financed his way through the Ukraine from people who supported his ministry. "The money came in when I needed it and just as much as I needed," he smiled.
Now, he'll have to raise a lot of money to conduct a campaign against the 36-year incumbent Dave Obey.
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