Hennepin County Elections: Commissioners & Sheriff

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twincitizen
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Hennepin County Elections: Commissioners & Sheriff

Postby twincitizen » December 12th, 2013, 7:12 pm

Longtime Commissioner Gail Dorfman is not running for re-election to the Hennepin County board in 2014.

District 3 covers Downtown & Southwest Minneapolis, and all of St. Louis Park.

Several folks have already officially announced their candidacy (I will edit in links later):

Marion Greene: former State Rep for a single term, got redistricted into Frank Hornstein's district & lost, worked on Mark Andrew's mayoral campaign

Katie Hatt: was Marion Greene's opponent for the DFL nomination in 2010 (endorsed by Gail Dorfman in that race), former McLaughlin staffer, Loring Park resident, volunteered for Lisa Bender

Ben Schweigert: attorney, Kingfield resident, has some early urbanist support

Anne Mavity: current St. Louis Park Councilperson, former Dorfman staffer, rumored to be wanting this seat for years

Discuss.

While Marion Greene briefly held elected office from 2011-2012, it seems more likely that Katie Hatt could secure support from both McLaughlin and Dorfman, should they choose to endorse. Katie Hatt could also get Lisa Bender's endorsement, based on the work Katie did on Lisa's campaign. Marion Greene will no doubt get some establishment DFL support, from her prior service, as well as DFL connections from recently working on Mark Andrew's mayoral campaign.
Minneapolis greatly outweighs St. Louis Park in the population makeup of this district, so Anne Mavity will need to find supporters beyond SLP's borders. Ben Schweigert has not previously held or run for elected office, but at this point he has the most complete campaign website.

The DFL convention will take place in the spring, followed by a "Top 2" primary on August 12. The top two finishers in the primary will continue on to the general election in November. Unlike Minneapolis elections and their silly "party or principle" 3-word allowance, Hennepin County races are truly non-partisan, meaning no party identification is listed on the ballot.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner race - 3rd District

Postby David Greene » December 12th, 2013, 9:39 pm

Katie Hatt would be my preliminary choice. I was very impressed with her when she ran against Marion for the 60A endorsement.

I like Marion too, even had her over to my house for a pre-endorsement conversation. However, she's been a vocal opponent of SWLRT (not the alignment _per_se_, but she does not want to lose a "park") and during our conversation several years ago she didn't strike me as very well-versed in transportation and land use issues.

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Nick
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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby Nick » December 16th, 2013, 5:05 pm

Got a mailer from Marion Greene today. The copy is as follows:
I wanted you to know.

If you haven't heard, I'm running for Hennepin County Commissioner. That probably isn't a surprise. While in the State House, I fought hard for equality and economic justice, early childhood education, and health care, and those issues are central to the work of the County Board.

I'll be giving you a call in the next few weeks. I want to hear about what you look for in a County Comissioner, and if you'll join me in this campaign. It's early, but I wanted to let you know.

I'm looking forward to it.

[backside]

Our current County Comissioner Gail Dorfman has announced she's not seeking reelection in 2014. She's done a great job; I've been particularly impressed by her work addressing homelessness in our community.

I'm excited about being able to continue her work, and I'm also looking forward to doing cross-disciplinary work on health care, human services, transit, and other areas, so that the sum of our decisions is even greater than their parts. By thinking comprehensively, we can truly help families and our community thrive.
Does this read...not well to anyone else?
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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby woofner » December 17th, 2013, 12:24 pm

Listen up, bitches.

You live under a rock in a damp cold cave and the man who brings you your lunch tray hasn't told you yet that I'm going to be your next Hennepin County Commissioner. No fire has ever burned as hot as my passion for hearing my own voice, and since the neanderthals that infect my district couldn't recognize my genius and instead sent The Troll-Beast That Shall Not Be Named to that hovel in Saint Paul, I'm forced to stoop to the next largest governmental body in this frozen lump of a state.

When the cube in your pocket makes the sound like coins, I want you to press the green button. Don't think it will be me. I will be neck deep in a mixture of nutritional yeast and mud heated by a geothermal spring deep beneath an unnamed mountain in Colorado. Rather it will be one of my minions demanding tribute, and the appropriate response would be to return your child's Christmas gift to Wal-Mart and send me the proceeds.

Do not ignore my summons.

[backside]

I'm told that others in the past have filled the office to which you will elect me. I pledge to build a bonfire out of all of the chairs in the tomb-like tower that I will be forced to visit on occassion, and my first act as commissioner will be to sit for a measuring so that I can ensure that my replacement chair will be of the finest ergonomic quality.

For far too long the rabble of Hennepin County has gathered in dingy taverns eating dry, stringy beef and quaffing moldy ale while farting and singing songs with strange lusty lyrics. Only I can show them the true light. You can not escape me. You will not resist me. I am already inside you.
"Who rescued whom!"

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby RailBaronYarr » December 17th, 2013, 2:37 pm

^ Post of the year? I'll at least nominate it for most amusing thing I've read in my wholly unproductive afternoon of work award.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby degersblogg » December 17th, 2013, 3:44 pm

I haven't decided on who to support yet, but my shortlist is narrowed down to Anne Mavity and Katie Hatt. I will not be supporting Marion Greene. I have heard good things about Ben Schweigert, however I question his electability. In conversations that I have had with others regarding this race, I've actually heard really good things regarding Anne Mavity, so I decided that I have to see for myself and will be meeting with her later this week.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby MNdible » December 17th, 2013, 3:54 pm

When deciding between these candidates, I'm not really sure you need to worry about electability. It's not as if, if you support the wrong one, we're going to end up with Phil Krinkie walking away with the election.

While I was amused with Woofner's post, I'm not exactly sure what about the original letter was so deserving of satire and how different it would be from anybody else's letter under similar circumstances. And while I haven't decided who I'll be supporting, I've found Marion Greene to be exceedingly capable and very pleasant in my dealings with her.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby Nick » December 17th, 2013, 7:30 pm

While I was amused with Woofner's post, I'm not exactly sure what about the original letter was so deserving of satire and how different it would be from anybody else's letter under similar circumstances. And while I haven't decided who I'll be supporting, I've found Marion Greene to be exceedingly capable and very pleasant in my dealings with her.
I guess when I read it in my head, it sounded a little presumptuous.
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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby degersblogg » January 13th, 2014, 11:41 am

Gail Dorfman is resigning to become the new Executive Director of St. Stephen's Human Services, effective March 3rd. This will trigger a special election within 56-77 days of the vacancy occurring. A primary election will be held 14 days before the special election unless no more than two candidates file to run. Whoever wins the special election will have to run again in November.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby twincitizen » January 13th, 2014, 2:58 pm

You forgot to mention the part where it will cost the public an extra $100,000 for the special election since Gail Dorfman couldn't be bothered to do her job for 4 more months. Special elections are not necessary for vacanies under 6 months. After 15 years in office, she couldn't stand the thought of serving until May to save the taxpayers 100 grand?? Un-friggin-believable.

We have got to get a law passed stating that if one volunatarily resigns from elected office and triggers a special election, the cost of that special election will be taken out of the elected official's pension.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby nerdljos » January 13th, 2014, 5:13 pm

On the Marion Greene end of things, there were some suspicious Twitter goings-on during the lead up to the Minneapolis election. Unclear if she was involved, but she was one of the first followers (http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2013 ... ccount.php)

It will be interesting to see how campaigns react in the next couple days to this news though. Keeping an eye on it...

streets.mn

Streets.mn Voter Guide – Katie Hatt

Postby streets.mn » January 22nd, 2014, 10:59 pm

Streets.mn Voter Guide – Katie Hatt
https://streets.mn/?p=10077

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby twincitizen » January 23rd, 2014, 8:01 am

Letter of the Day yesterday criticizing Gail Dorfman's early departure and the extra expenses taxpayers incur when politicians force unnecessary special elections: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/lett ... 83401.html

I agree, finish your term or pay up.

streets.mn

Streets.mn Voter Guide – Ken Kelash

Postby streets.mn » January 24th, 2014, 6:16 am


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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby sad panda » January 24th, 2014, 2:38 pm

Southwest Journal has a Q&A piece with the five candidates. A lot of dodging on the SWLRT question.

http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/go ... fmans-seat

twincitizen
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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby twincitizen » January 29th, 2014, 8:04 pm

$155K cost to Hennepin County for Dorfman's resignation. Again, this just seems unfair to the taxpayer, even though in the grand scheme of things, it's not a ton of money. It's almost just the idea of it that stings more than the actual dollar amount. We could probably do something about this at the legislature...

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby Nick » January 29th, 2014, 8:26 pm

Since it posted while the site was done, I'll manually share Ben Schweigert's Voter Guide:

https://streets.mn/2014/01/28/2014di ... chweigert/
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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby talindsay » February 1st, 2014, 10:36 pm

$155K cost to Hennepin County for Dorfman's resignation. Again, this just seems unfair to the taxpayer, even though in the grand scheme of things, it's not a ton of money. It's almost just the idea of it that stings more than the actual dollar amount. We could probably do something about this at the legislature...
I understand your annoyance, but be realistic - anybody might have a reason they're unable or unwilling to continue in a job and we shouldn't expect otherwise from elected officials. Would you rather make it punitive for people to resign so that people essentially hold the job simply to avoid the punishment? If somebody needs or wants to leave then they're not going to do a good job continuing to serve simply out of duty, and as a constituent you want to be represented well. This is a price of citizen governance and one we have to be willing to pay.

Besides, Gail has certainly given her all in public service for a very long time. I don't know what her personal reasons may be for leaving but she has certainly done more than her fair share for what the public entrusted her with. She has taken the brunt of the SW debacle for the last several years too.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby bermanp7 » February 3rd, 2014, 6:50 am

Does anyone have any last-minute pitches or advice to make before tomorrow's caucuses? Multiple candidates seem educated, experienced, accomplished, and committed. And by-and-large they seem similar on policy. (It's not as if there's a pro-homelessness candidate I can vote against.) A quality field, but how to pick one? At this point I lean Katie but would like to see more substantial discussion, comparisons, contrasts by smart people such as those on this forum. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

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Re: Hennepin County Commissioner - 3rd District

Postby FISHMANPET » February 3rd, 2014, 8:01 am

Ben Schweigert is "endorsed" by his brother in law Yonah Freemark, who is a fairly prolific transportation blogger/twitterer, if that matters for anything. I'm still not sure if I'm caucusing or not, not sure if I'm ready for another knock down drag out Phyllis Khan nomination fight in my district...

E: And, of course it doesn't matter for me, because Peter McLaughlin is my commissioner.


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