urbanMSP

Has anyone heard anything about any of the suburban Hennepin County Commissioners retiring (or getting challengers)?

County Commissioner for Districts 1, 5, 6, and 7 (the non-Minneapolis ones) are all on the ballot.

I would love to see someone from Brooklyn Park or Robbinsdale challenge Mike Opat in District 1, even if they ran on an anti-LRT (Bottineau) platform. Their election would probably come too late to have impact on either planned LRT extension in the county, and just because this hypothetical person would be anti-Bottineau would not necessarily mean they were a Republican. I have no idea what the political temperature is around there, but it's high time Opat sees a strong challenge, no matter which direction it comes from. Opat may be a DFLer in name, but he's no lefty as far as I know.

I've long been curious if a DFLer would step up and challenge Randy Johnson in Richfield/Bloomington. Serving since 1979(!!!) he's probably as truly non-partisan as one could be. I think officially he's a former republican, current independent, but he is always on the side of the majority. Not that the county really has too many contentious votes that would potentially have 4-3 or 3-4 outcomes...I think any votes that aren't 7-0 are probably Jeff Johnson on the wrong side of 6-1 votes. Back to Randy Johnson, I don't think anyone knows a ton about him, but holy shit is it time for him to step aside. If he does run and win another 4 year term, he'll have been in the seat for 42 years (1979-2021).

On a general note, it would be really good to get another commissioner to form a solid majority voting bloc with the 3 Minneapolis commissioners, to really push the envelope on making county roads better. Like I said, Mike Opat is a DFLer in name, but he hates Minneapolis with a passion. Why exactly, I'm not really sure, but it's true. If not for getting Jan Callison on board, the Washington Avenue reconstruction with protected bike lanes would not have passed. She provided that crucial 4th vote, but I don't think can be relied upon to join the "Minneapolis 3" on everything.

Jan Callison and Jeff Johnson probably are staying put for another 4 years.

Real quick side note: Hennepin County Commissioner is probably he cushiest public service job in the state. They make nearly $100k per year (compared to roughly $40k for state legislators ($31k base + per diem)), much of the work they do doesn't get a lot of public attention or scrutiny, and once they are elected, they can mostly keep getting elected with very little opposition.

I'm not criticizing how much they get paid. I'm a big fan of paying public servants more money. I just think it's interesting.

Agreed. I would buy a house in Richfield today if I thought I could have Randy Johnson's job in November.
(Assuming retirement, I wouldn't be foolish enough to run against him)
Hard to compete with this: http://www.hennepin.us/your-government/ ... h-district
It's essentially a job for life, as long as you don't screw it up, because literally nobody knows who you are or what you do. It's the most invisible branch of government, which is crazy considering their budget and what they're responsible for.

I'm going to assume all 4 suburban commissioners run again in 2016.

I was talking to someone about Midtown rail corridor last night, and though there are a host of other issues with making that line a reality (which I'll describe later in the Midtown thread), a huge issue is getting majority support on the county board.

On this topic:
First, I'd encourage people to sign up for the Hennepin County Citizens Academy. It's free, once a week for maybe 10 weeks, at sites around the county. @sdho and I went through it a couple years ago and it was generally interesting and informative.

Regarding getting more of an urban voting bloc on the Commission: For this to happen, I think we need to see the inner suburbs realize their future lies more in line with the interests of Minneapolis than the interests of Medina or Rogers. I think we could get there someday, but it's difficult with the way districts 1, 5, and 6 capture suburbs with diverging interests (Richfield and E.P, Robbinsdale and B.P, Hopkins and Long Lake). Anyone paid attention to how these districts are drawn in the past?

I already signed up for Citizens Academy in the fall, if anyone else wants to join. Spring 2016 is already booked up.

I generally don't take issue with the way the districts are drawn. They've never struck me as unfair. As it is, Minneapolis is damn lucky that we have 3 commissioners who represent substantial swaths of the city - it could very easily be redrawn so Minneapolis has 2 commissioners, maybe with a 3rd commissioner taking a tiny corner of the city but mostly representing suburbs. Linda Higgins and Marion Greene (whose districts contain Minneapolis AND suburban areas) both actually live in Minneapolis, so that's good too! The way the districts are drawn, it would theoretically be possible for Peter McLaughlin to be the only actual Mpls resident on the board. Thank heavens that isn't the case! 3 Minneapolis residents out of 7 commissioners ain't bad (43% vs. only ~33% of the county population). The more I think about it, we should probably be damn grateful for the way the districts are currently drawn...I mean there's basically only one real Republican on the board. Could be a lot worse.

The larger point stands though, getting a "Minneapolis-friendly"* commissioner from the Richfield/Bloomington/EP district could make a difference. I don't think Randy Johnson is bad at all, I think he's fine. But there is certainly the risk that someone terrible could replace him. It's imperative that doesn't happen.

*You know what I mean - favoring bikes, transit, density, etc.

Keep your eyes peeled here for candidate filings over the next two weeks: http://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/Candi ... didateid=0

Jan Callison and Mike Opat previously announced that they are running. Jeff Johnson and Randy Johnson (serving since 1979!!) are TBD, but I assume both are running. I'm actually glad Randy Johnson is running again in Richfield/Bloomington/southern EP - that gives me 4 more years to prepare (after I move into the district of course)!

It's crazy how little attention these county races get. Once you're in, it's basically a cushy lifetime appointment for as long as you keep your head on straight. Hennepin County commissioners are one of the highest paid (possibly the highest paid) elected positions in the state (not including statewide offices)

Jan Callison and Mike Opat previously announced that they are running. Jeff Johnson and Randy Johnson (serving since 1979!!) are TBD, but I assume both are running. I'm actually glad Randy Johnson is running again in Richfield/Bloomington/southern EP - that gives me 4 more years to prepare (after I move into the district of course)!

Looks like Randy Johnson reversed course and is retiring after all: http://www.startribune.com/randy-johnso ... 379885011/

Yeah I'm pretty sad about the whole thing. I was really building up the fantasy that I would have made a serious run in 4 years.

I would expect multiple announcements soon from current Richfield/Bloomington/EP officeholders, including city councilors, Mayors, and MN Reps/Senators. Why wouldn't you take a crack at a near-$100k/year cake job for life?

EDIT: Richfield Mayor Debbie Goettel just filed. Unless a well-known state rep/senator gets in, she is likely the favorite.

Ann Lenczewski is retiring from the MN House for a lobbying gig, otherwise I'd put money on her.

Debbie Goettel would be a great commissioner.

Looks like Opat (1), Callison (6), and Johnson (7) all have easy paths to reelection.

In District 5 (Richfield, Bloomington, Eden Prairie), there are 6 candidates for the August 9 primary election.
Luckily (I think) for Debbie Goettel, at least 4 of her 5 challengers appear to be on the right, several "libertarians" even.

Still, in a 6-way primary, she needs to place in the Top 2 to make it on the November ballot. While on one hand she has the advantage of being a sitting Mayor (who is reasonably well-liked and has connections in the DFL), she has the disadvantage of being from Richfield, rather than vastly more populous Bloomington and Eden Prairie. Turnout on August 9 is likely to be very, very low. She will need to get the word out over the next 3 weeks.

She appears to be the only candidate in the race who would support policies that many of us would consider to be pro-city, pro-urbanism, etc. Regardless of any other flaws, she has a strong track record of being pro-bike infrastructure in Richfield. Following completion of Portland Ave, (and 66th Street in 2 years), the city will have added dozens of miles of on-street and protected bike lanes during her 3 terms as Mayor.

So if you know anyone in Richfield, Bloomington, and EP, make sure they're voting on August 9!

There is a very fragile urban/suburban ideology balance on the county board, and this seat is critical.

This hasn't been updated in a while. In D5, Debbie Goettel has been endorsed by the Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/richfield-ma ... 398263221/. In the primary, Goettel got just under 50%, with the conservative vote split among the other candidates. Scallen-Failor did the best of those and is Goettel's general election opponent.

Goettel has a lot of big-name endorsements, although certain prominent conservatives have endorsed Scallen-Failor (outgoing Randy Johnson, and Rich Staneck).

Looks like Debbie Goettel won, in about the only good piece of news from last night.

I voted for Debbie! Good thing I remembered the discussion above^.

Yes. Even if things go to shit at the state, we at least have a Hennepin County government that will work with, rather than against Minneapolis (though to be fair, Randy Johnson was always a big believer in a strong core being necessary for strong suburbs, given his status as an Arne Carlson-type Republican). Now if we could just get Peter McLaughlin to have a more open mind...he's just so stuck on proving himself right about CTIB and everything transit related. He is so firmly established as the "expert" on transportation, it seems to leave little room for our other Mpls reps (Greene and Higgins) to have any opinions of their own. It would take a miracle, but it would be kinda awesome to replace him with someone who supports transit funding just as much, but "gets it" a little better and isn't such an old-school DFL hack.

[Sorry for the disorganized thoughts, but I think most of you know what I mean. Peter is generally good, but can be extremely frustrating at the same time, and I'm not even talking about the SWLRT route or anything that specific, just the general way he governs and is so sure of past decisions being right]