The office is almost bare.

The pictures of Robert F. Kennedy have been put away as well as the bust of John F. Kennedy.

The walls were once a gallery to behold. Skip Humphrey here and more photographs there. Degrees, certificates and other two-dimensional images of the man's career.

Books are cleared from their shelves. Only a calendar and telephone remain atop the desk in the office he inherited from his father.

It is the Friday at the end of Austin's version of Camelot.

In this Irish-Catholic tale, there is no fairy-tale ending.

It's all real.

"I absolutely loved the Legislature and it's been a tremendous honor," said State Rep. Rob Leighton (DFL-Austin).

The boyish-looking man in blue jeans and sweater sitting behind a huge desk is leaving politics -- for the time being --and it's an emotional event.

"When I first ran, I thought if the voters would have me, in my own mind, I would serve for three or four terms and that's what it was," he said. "I ended up serving four terms. I can't believe how quickly the time went.

"In 1994, when I first ran I had no wife and no kids. My life was totally different."

Leighton did not seek re-election to a fifth two-year term in the 2002 election campaign.

The seat in the Minnesota House that Leighton inherited from Leo Reding, who inherited it from Pat Piper, who inherited it from Tom Nelson, who inherited it from the DFLer before him, is now held by a Republican.

Jeff Anderson, an Austin High School teacher, defeated Jeanne Poppe, the DFL challenger in November.

Leighton and his wife, Shawn, have sold their home on Fourth Street NW. He will become a partner with the St. Paul law firm of Nolan, MacGregor, Thompson.

"I'm going to be focused on civil law, mainly representing plaintiffs, and I will do quite a bit of environmental law," he said.

But leaving the firm that once employed a father and two sons is hard.

"It's sad. I love this law firm. I love the lawyers I've worked with," Leighton said. "My dad passed away in 1995 and I came back in 1993 to work with my dad and my brother and I am so glad I did that. I had the opportunity to work with him for a couple of years before he passed away. I was able to see him every day and learned a lot from him."

The Leighton family will live in Eagan. The couple has enrolled their twin sons, Taylor and Tanner, 6, in the Adams Spanish Immersion School in St. Paul. Shawn is pursuing a career in real estate.

Kris Leighton, his sister, teaches school in the Twin Cities. His only brother, Scott Leighton, works for a Washington, D.C., law firm.

Only their mother, JoAnn, remains in Austin.

There will be no "Leighton" in the Leighton, Meany, Cotter & Enger law firm at the familiar building along N. Main Street.

This changes everything.

"I can definitely say I haven't lost any of my liberal, progressive views," he said of the last eight years as a Minnesota legislator. "Perhaps, I'm a little more cynical today than I was eight years ago. I think eight years in politics adds a little more cynicism, but I've tried not to let it warp me too much."

Somewhere, Robert J. Leighton, his father, is smiling.

The father's political ambitions are well-known, but unfulfilled.

The oldest son, Scott, was better on the sidelines: a bulldog-style political activist. Daughter Kris pursued other interests. That left Rob, the University of Minnesota graduate, who also attended the University of California-Berkeley for his juris doctorate.

Since 1978, when he was only 13, he numbered among his heroes: liberal politicians, civil rights leaders and others.

"My dad, first," he said. "Paul Wellstone, definitely.

"I grew up in a very strong Kennedy household. The typical Irish-Catholic family always had a lot of pictures of the Kennedys. Civil Rights leaders, too. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and, of course, as a lawyer, Clarence Darrow is my all-time favorite lawyer."

His first experience on the political trail with his father, Robert J., is also an important lesson he learned.

"I had met local candidates before," he recalled, "but a very impressionable event happened when my dad took me down to the Austin Labor Center in 1978 to meet Wendell Anderson, who was running for the U.S. Senate. He had been one of the most popular governors ever in Minnesota's history. I was so excited because I loved politics, even as a little kid."

Elected in 1994 for the first time, Leighton was re-elected to two-year terms in 1996, 1998 and 2000. He was the youngest legislator ever elected to the Minnesota House in 1994 when he was only 28.

An unabashed "Irish Catholic liberal," Leighton nonetheless served in the Minnesota Legislature under a Republican, Arne Carlson, and a Reform Party/Independent, Jesse Ventura.

At the end of the 2002 legislative session, retiring legislators give farewell speeches to their fellow legislators.

"You remember the personal things," Leighton said. "What I talked about was the kids. Taylor and Tanner.

"My kids spent so much time at the Capitol. They were well-known by everybody. They were at the age where they could trounce around everywhere and actually cast a few votes. They would sit on my lap and push the button. First, they would ask whether they should vote 'Green' or 'Red,' and I would tell then the color and they would cast the correct vote.

"I moved out of my St. Paul capitol office two weeks ago. Shawn and the boys went with me. Their art work was still adorning my walls. They wanted to be there. They helped me carry out the boxes."

It is after hearing Leighton talk at length about his family that one realizes how much a factor being a full-time father -- no commutes between Austin and St. Paul anymore -- is to him.

His first memory of going to St. Paul to serve in the Minnesota House eight years ago, sounds like a first-day-of-school story.

"Shawn drove me. She drove me to the capitol for orientation that first year in the legislature. She dropped me off in front of the capitol and I walked up the stairs. Afterwards, she said she felt like a mom dropping off her kid for the first day of kindergarten on the first day of school," he said, laughing.

What might his successor, Anderson, expect? Leighton said the capitol building itself provides lasting memories.

"You walk into that building and you have no idea what to expect," he said. "We have one of the most beautiful capitols in the country. It's absolutely gorgeous. I thought that eight years ago and I still think that eight years later."

Some of Leighton's favorites are the opposition: Republicans Greg Davids, Dan Dorman and Ron Krause.

Some of his least favorites -- everyone else's too -- are those who spoke on the House floor too long.

"Those are people who feel they have to talk on every single issue," he said.

Leighton said he authored several very strong pro-labor pieces of legislation that passed in the House and Senate. However, both Gov. Carlson and Gov. Ventura vetoed them.

There were legislative victories, too.

The first state bonding bill funding Leighton obtained for District 27B came in 1995 -- his first year in the House. It was money for the Shooting Star recreation trail across Mower County.

It also afforded Leighton the initial opportunity to meet the Prairie Visions volunteers, who sponsored the recreation trail.

"That is just one of the neatest groups of people anywhere," he said. "They're doing what we need to do more of and that is taking people from different towns to focus on an area as a whole. People in rural Minnesota need to do more of that.

"We can't compete with Minneapolis and St. Paul. We can't even compete with Rochester. It's very frustrating. If we band together and model our selves more like Prairie Visions and work more cooperatively, I think we'll be able to do a lot more."

What kind of legislator was he?

"It was always easy for me to go to bed at night because I reconciled," Leighton said. "I truly believed the way I voted was what I thought was right and it was also consistent with the majority of the people in the district."

The House seat only may be only the beginning for the young liberal lawyer.

"I have had certain ambitions perhaps beyond the state legislature," he admitted. "I've got to know a lot of people and worked very closely with them, but what I realized at my current stage in life, these kids, my sons at this age, now is certainly not the time to run any state-wide race of my own."

Twice Leighton was considered a strong prospect to be the DFL Party's candidate for Lt.-Governor.

The second time it was Judi Dutcher's gubernatorial bid, when, once again, Leighton surfaced as a likely running-mate.

As far as the future, there may be a sequel to this abbreviated tale of Camelot-like proportions.

"To be a part of a governor's administration would still be something I would be interested in," he said. "That's where the action is. I think I'll still be politically active. Who knows what the future holds?"

And somewhere his father is still smiling.

Lee Bonorden can be reached at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com