While living in Brasília, Dutra shared an apartment with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also a Congressman and the future President of Brazil.

At that time Brazilian electoral law did not allow the dispute of a second round if any of the candidates failed to achieve more than half of the valid votes.

Dutra's administration was criticized for its intervention on the public transportation system, what generated bad relations between the City Hall and the bus concessionaire companies, forcing[citation needed] the government to pay them an indemnification.

Dutra's term as governor was marked by the suspension of agreements to open (General Motors and Ford) car manufacturing companies in the state.

Dutra was politically worn out during his term, suffering an extensive, defamation campaign promoted by (Rede Globo's local affiliate) RBS media and major defeats in the State Assembly.

Dutra's reelection campaign was rejected in the Workers' Party primaries, where the then-Mayor of Porto Alegre Tarso Genro was selected.

In 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president, and appointed Dutra as Minister of Cities, a then recently created office.