LEA mourns the loss of our friend, long-time supporter, and former board member, Tim Utz, who passed away April 18, 2021. Tim was a tireless champion of liberty and our founding American principles. He confidently espoused a conservative and Christian worldview, and was not afraid to talk to people from different backgrounds or political parties. Blue-collar to the core (a carpenter since the age of 20, who also had construction businesses and worked security on the side), Tim was enmeshed in his community — active in Lions Club, Toastmasters, Emergency Response, and the local charter commission. He was a candidate for mayor of Columbia Heights in 2016, and ran several times for the Minnesota House of Representatives. Tim was much more about issues than party. He was on the November ballot as a Republican Party nominee for State House in 2008 and 2010, as a Constitution Party candidate for State House in 2012 and 2014, and as an Independent candidate for State House in 2018.

Tim worked hard on his campaigns, using them as an opportunity to speak up for important principles. Here is how he summed up his reason for running for public office:

“Government needs citizens involved who are committed to the oath of office. People who recognize the Constitutional limits of power a public servant has in our Republic form of government. People willing to hold to those principles no matter the winds of resistance.”

He chose to spend money on a recount in a race where the margin wasn’t close, just to see what fraudulent activity might have coincided with the voting in his district. In his emphasis on election fraud he was ahead of his time.

Tim Utz served on the LEA board of directors from 2013 to 2015. The picture of Tim and his wife Nadine above was taken at an LEA annual banquet. LEA board member and former chairman John Augustine comments that “Tim let you know what he thought, even if his opinion wasn’t likely to prevail in the end, and he didn’t hold grudges if you didn’t agree with his opinion. He also made his residence available for hosting meetings when the need arose for an alternate location. Heartfelt condolences to his wife Nadine and other family and friends.”

Tim was a giver, a doer and a man of principle. He will be sorely missed.