Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
BLOUIN, Michael
BLOUIN, Michael. (Jacksonville, FL, Nov. 7, 1945- ). Iowa Representative. Blouin graduated from LORAS COLLEGE in 1966 and taught at the elementary level in Dubuque before working as an advertising consultant. He served in the Iowa House of Representatives in 1968 and 1970 and in the Iowa Senate in 1972. He was elected to the 94th and 95th Congresses (January 3, 1975, though January 3, 1979) making him Dubuque's first citizen in sixty years to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was one of eight House members to participate in a British-American conference in London in 1975 and served on the Science and Technology Committee.
On November 21,1977, Republican State Representative Thomas TAUKE announced he would challenge Blouin for Iowa's Second District seat. This established the first intra-city election battle since the 1848 elections saw George Wallace JONES campaign against Thomas S. WILSON. In an upset, Tauke defeated Blouin in November 1978, by winning in ten of the eleven counties in the district.
Blouin returned to Iowa and accepted a position at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, He remained there for six years and then worked twelve years with the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. He moved to Des Moines to become CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership for four years. In January 2003, Blouin was named director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development by Governor Tom Vilsack.
In 2007 Blouin was recruited to become president of the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation. He was instrumental in community development including attracting IBM to the city in 2008.