Born June 8, 1952 to an elementary school teacher and a tool and die machinist. He was the youngest of 5 children. His family moved to Circle Pines, Minnesota before he started school and he spent the remainder of his childhood residing there. He attended Centennial Senior High School, where competed in football, basketball, and baseball. Married in 1972 to his wife Barbara, they have 4 grown children.
Education
After graduating from high school Roger attended St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He resumed his pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications following his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1977. In the late 1980s he augmented his education by earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.
Crawford served in the U.S. Navy as a journalist on the U.S.S. Oriskany from 1973 to 1977. The Oriskany was an aircraft carrier that deployed with approximately 3,500 men. As a journalist, he was responsible for putting out a daily newspaper, running the radio and television stations, anchoring the nightly news, conducting tours while in port and working on the ship's yearbook.
Political career
1997-2002 Mora City Council
*As a new council member in 1997, Crawford voted against closing the Mora swimming pool until a plan was in place to build a new pool. Subsequently, a plan was approved to a build a swimming pool with private and public contributions of $1 million. $200,000 was borrowed for slides and has since been paid off.
2002-2006 Mayor of Mora
*Created a Mora Economic Development Authority.
*Attempted to publish minutes from city council meetings and televise city council meetings.
*Initiated a quarterly newsletter to citizens of Mora
Crawford was first elected to the House in 2010 from district 8B. He defeated the incumbent, Tim Faust, by a margin of 8673 to 6786. Crawfprd ran on a platform of improving the Minnesota business climate, controlling spending and keeping taxes lower.
Committees
Commerce and Regulatory Reform
Education Reform
Taxes committees
Taxes Subcommittee for the Property and Local Tax Division.
Bills authored and co-authored
Bills Authored:
Bills Co-Authored: Crawford was one of seven legislators featured in an August 2011 story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for taking pay during Minnesota's government shutdown that summer. The paper and other media outlets had reported in June that Crawford was one of seventeen Republican House members who would not take their salary in the event of a state shutdown. Crawford said in August that his words had been misinterpreted. "I believed it wasn't right to receive a paycheck if others were not able to work through no fault of their own," he wrote. "I haven't now changed my mind and chosen to take the pay. I have always said I was deferring pay during the shutdown but thought I should receive the pay after it ended."
