Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced the appointment of Dave Kleis to the Commission on Judicial Selection.

Kleis, of St. Cloud, is the mayor of St. Cloud, a position he has held since November 2005. He served in the Minnesota State Senate from 1995 through 2005, and was the ranking minority member of the Senate Crime Prevention Committee for six years. Kleis owns the Central Minnesota Driving Academy, a driver’s education business in St. Cloud. He is a nine-year veteran of the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserve, and a 1989 magna cum laude graduate of St. Cloud State University. Kleis replaces Carrie Ruud as an at-large non-attorney member to complete a four-year term that expires on January 3, 2011.

The Commission on Judicial Selection solicits judicial candidates, evaluates applicants and recommends three to five finalists to the governor for district court and Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals vacancies that occur during the term of a judge. The commission consists of 49 members; 27 appointed by the Governor, and 22 by the Supreme Court