For immediate release: Contact: John Wodele Friday, December 1, 2000 651-296-0001 John Hultquist 651-296-0019

GOVERNOR APPOINTS THREE TO FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT BENCH

(Minneapolis, MN) - Governor Jesse Ventura today announced the appointment of Margaret "Peg" Daly, Jeanne Graham and Lloyd Zimmerman to the Fourth Judicial District trial court bench in Hennepin County.

The openings occurred with the retirement of the Honorable Peter Lindberg on September 30, 2000, and two new judgeships that take effect on January 1, 2001. These new judgeships were created by the 1999 legislature.

Daly, Minneapolis, has been a Fourth Judicial District Court Referee in Hennepin County since 1993, presently assigned to the drug court. Daly was an assistant Hennepin County attorney from 1988 to 1993, and an associate attorney with the law firm of Robins, Zelle, Larson and Kaplan in Newport Beach, California from 1983 to 1985. Daly was a volunteer staff attorney in the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in 1982 and clerked for the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1981 to 1982. Daly earned her Juris Doctorate degree cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in 1981 and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul in 1977.

"Since becoming a court referee Peg has developed a reputation for hard work and handling the cases she is assigned in a very professional manner," Governor Ventura said. "She has earned this judgeship."

Daly is the recent co-chair of the Fourth District Family Violence Coordinating Council and a member of the Hennepin County Fatality Review Advisory Board and has given numerous lectures in the area of family law, chemical dependency and domestic abuse. She also volunteers for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Minneapolis, and the Grace House in Minneapolis.

Daly, 45, was born in St. Paul, and currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Dennis Liudahl and her two children, Sam, 15, and Ben, 13.

Graham is an assistant United States attorney and chief of the major crimes division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis. She has been an assistant U.S. attorney since 1989. Graham was a special assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General's office in St. Paul from 1986 to 1989 and a judicial clerk for United States Magistrate Janice Symchych in St. Paul from 1985 to 1986. Graham earned her Juris Doctorate degree cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1985 and her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter in 1980.

"The reputation of the lawyers in the U.S. Attorney's office is that they are smart, dedicated and have a solid work ethic," Governor Ventura said. "Jeanne is one of the reasons they have that reputation. She will bring this work ethic to the Hennepin County bench."

Graham has given numerous speeches and written articles in the areas of drug, firearms, federal domestic violence, child exploitation and computer crimes. She is also a judge of the student court middle school restorative justice program, and a volunteer for VOICES, a civics curriculum for sixth graders.

Graham, 42, was born in Cleveland, Ohio and currently lives in St. Louis Park.

Zimmerman, Minneapolis, is a senior trial attorney in the office of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Minneapolis. He has been an attorney with the EEOC since 1979. Zimmerman was a lawyer for Legal Services Corporation based out of Little Falls from 1978 to 1979. Zimmerman earned his Juris Doctorate degree from New York University Law School in 1978 and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1975.

"Lloyd comes across as a very mild-mannered, soft-spoken person," Governor Ventura said. "He will be a fair and compassionate judge. But don't be fooled, I know he also has what it takes to be firm and decisive."

Zimmerman is currently chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, has provided legal advice to Sharing and Caring Hands and the Salvation Army's downtown Minneapolis homeless shelter. He has been an adjunct professor teaching employment discrimination law at the University of Minnesota Law School and has been a speaker on employment discrimination and litigation at numerous continuing legal education seminars.

Zimmerman, 46, was born in Chicago, Illinois and currently lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Rebecca Palmer and their two children, Cole, 15, and Chelsea, 12.

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