"A New Voice"

My lawn signs and campaign literature will call my candidacy "A New Voice." 

One practical measure of what this means is that Andover has had a very stable Council representation in recent years, and I propose that my election will infuse a new perspective - a new voice in decision-making on that body.  Don Jacobson, who is running for re-election, has been on the City Council since 1998 (although he lost a 2004 contest for Mayor to Mike Gamache).  Julie Trude, who is running for re-election, has been on the Council since 2000.  Mayor Mike Gamache was also first elected to the Council in 2000.  Council member Mike Knight has held office since 1992.  The lone newcomer is Sherri Bukkila, who voters chose in 2008 to succeed Ken Orttel, a 26-year Council member who retired.

From 2000-2008, the same five members of the Council held forth.  Four of the current five members of the Council have served together the entire past decade.  These Council members have been good stewards for Andover this past decade - a period of considerable growth until the past two or three years.  But now Andover voters should weigh whether those representatives are best suited to steward this City the next four years, a period in which the City must recognize the stagnant home-building and home-buying and selling markets, the necessity for new types of economic development, and the obligations of finding ways to complete the parts of the City that are missing its finishing touches.  These include bringing mass transit options - the MTC - into Andover, improving the quality of arterial roads that travel northward through the City, providing safer travel in the City - such as partnering to add right-turn lanes to our main key routes across Andover, and further developing the Station North and Clocktower Commons sites, as well as addressing blighted parts of the community, such as the Round Lake Blvd. & 161st Ave. intersection.


Yes, there is an anti-incumbency sentiment at work in many election contests this year.  I don't know that this necessarily reaches to a City Council election in 2010.

I will be presenting voters with a new voice this fall.  At the most basic level, I bring a different background and perspective than my opponents.  I am a union member - and activist - in AFSCME - the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (public employees' union).  I am a public employee - I have been a public school teacher and I work in the human services department of Hennepin County.  I have been an active Republican in my youth (in the pre-Reagan years), and an active Democrat/DFLer as an adult (in the Reagan years and beyond).  I am a progressive on social issues, and practical-minded on economic/financial issues. 

But at the level of governing and decision-making in Andover, my political leanings and labor background are not the critical determinants of whether or not I can serve the city well on the Council.  You need a Council member who will hear your concerns , take time to study and consider the issue, then reach a decision.  I will do my best to be that Council member, and to be your new voice on the Council.

This blog is my way of reaching out to you, and for you, the voter to dialogue with me  - at least through November 3rd.  In the future, I will be talking about union/labor issues, especially AFSCME issues in this space, and if elected, I will be here commenting on Andover-related concerns.