2014 City of Andover Candidate Filings are Complete for Mayor and Council - My Endorsements for November

Below, you will find the 2014 field, as found at the MN Secretary of State's Office site. 

We have two capable, experienced Council members, both women, running for Mayor in 2014.  Having run against and lost to Julie Trude, I developed a strong appreciation in the 2010 race for her representation of our City.  I can not picture a better representative voice for our community.  She is a leader, she is thoughtful in her position, she reaches out for many opinions, and she makes pragmatic decisions based on the information has collected on the concern.  I respect Sheri Bukkila, who begins many issues in a different perspective than I do, but I am less certain about her ability to reach out and represent the various communities and opinions of Andover residents.  For that, I strongly endorse Julie Trude for Mayor of Andover in 2014.

For City Council, a friend and long-time Andover resident and community leader, Val Holthus, has filed for what is basically the Trude vacancy on the Council.  There are two city-wide Council seats on the ballot this year.  I strongly endorse electing Val Holthus to one of those seats.  Val has worked tirelessly on the City's Planning Commission for many years, she has been a long-time teacher in Anoka-Hennepin and works hard to better our education community through the teacher's association.  And she and her family represent Minnesota values - a look at her Facebook page shows both a proud fishing champion and a proud Mother, whose daughter has been pageant royalty this past year.

Of the remaining three candidates, I don't know Tonya Kostick and will be pleased to meet her and read more about who she is and why she is running.  I posted about James Goodrich last month.  Mr. Goodrich is doing a lot of good campaigning - prominently displayed signs, strong web page, etc.  He is clearly part of the political community I strongly oppose and abhor.  He may be a good fit for many Andover residents.  Certainly, our Republican-Democrat polling results reflect that.  Nonetheless, Andover does not need a second Hennepin County Sheriff's Deputy on its Council, representing the same religious right, pro-gun, heavily-tilted law enforcement viewpoints that Councilwoman and possibly Mayor Bukkila addresses right now.  I will not vote for or recommend a vote for James Goodrich.

Depending on what I learn of candidate Kostick, I am tentatively supporting and recommending the re-election of Tony Howard to fill the other Andover Council seat in this election.  Tony lost in 2010, as I did.  He came in third, I believe behind Julie Trude and Don Jacobson.  When Don resigned soon after, Tony was appointed to fill the term and then won election for two years in the 2012 Special Election.  Tony is a man of good character, a strong family man and community leader, a successful businessman, and another realist, who does not seem to be carrying an agenda in serving the community on the City Council.  I am most likely voting for Howard and Holthus this fall.


http://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/CandidateFilingResults.aspx?county=2&municipality=1486&schooldistrict=&hospitaldistrict=&level=3&party=0&federal=True&judicial=False&executive=True&senate=True&representative=True&title=&office=0&candidateid=0

2014 State General Election Candidate Filings

Use this candidate finder tool to find candidates running for office in the November 4, 2014, State General Election. Candidates for federal, state and county offices are added as filings occur. Candidates for local offices may continue to be added after the filing period. Candidate Filing Periods: Federal, state and county offices, and local offices that hold primaries: Tuesday, May 20–Tuesday, June 3 Other municipal and school district offices: Tuesday, July 29–Tuesday, August 12 Contact your local clerk for the correct filing period for your city or school district. Filing offices will be closed Monday, May 26, in observance of Memorial Day. Learn more about becoming a candidate and filing for office.

Candidates Search Results Andover Mayor (Andover) Candidate Name Party Website File Date SHERI BUKKILA Nonpartisan www.sheribukkila.com 7/29/2014 JULIE TRUDE Nonpartisan JulieTrude.com 7/29/2014     Council Member at Large (Andover) (Elect 2) Candidate Name Party Website File Date JAMES GOODRICH Nonpartisan electjamesgoodrich.com 7/29/2014 VAL HOLTHUS Nonpartisan 8/12/2014 TONY HOWARD Nonpartisan 8/6/2014 TONYA KOSTICK Nonpartisan 8/1/2014

New Letter to the Editor - Why I Oppose Peggy Scott for 35B

I'm sending this new Letter to the Editor to the ABC Newspapers for publication in August, as an edited version (there is a 350-word limit) of the pro-Perske and pro-Perovich letter appeared in the July 9 issue of the Anoka Union Herald.  This is a response to the flyer we received from Peggy Scott in the mail on Saturday.  I take exception to it - in my opinion, it is shaded with false statements and innuendo.

To the Editor –

 

In her July campaign flyer disguised to appear like an official “2014 Legislative Report” to the voters of District 35B, Peggy Scott shares common Republican half-truths and lies.   Minnesota DFLers are proud of their 2013-2014 accomplishments, so what is the real record Scott is shading?

 

Peggy Scott falsely accuses paying for Obamacare will ‘drain’ $207.96 Million from our schools the next three years.  In reality, DFLers balanced the budget and repaid the $2.8 Billion which Scott and the Republicans “borrowed” from our schools when they were in charge.  DFLers provided funding for all-day kindergarten and hot school lunches.  They increased funding for early childhood family education and froze public college tuition for two years.  We can have Obamacare and smart school funding, too.

 

Peggy Scott finds it easy to criticize Obamacare, even while voting to prevent it from succeeding.  But health care changes have been very successful in Minnesota.  Over 180,000 Minnesotans are now covered by health plans, as our uninsured rate is down to 4.9%.  Over 50,000 seniors are saving hundreds for prescription drugs.  Over 35,000 young adults can remain on their parents’ insurance.  Over one million of us receive preventive health coverage with no additional co-pays.

 

Peggy Scott’s Republicans opposed the first increase in the minimum wage in a generation.  Over 300,000 state workers will receive a higher minimum wage of $9.50 in 2016.  Low-paid health workers will benefit greatly.  Low-paid child care workers who receive government funding seek higher rates and benefits through the opportunity to unionize.  Peggy Scott opposes giving this particular group the right to even vote on unionization – a right all workers should have.  Under the DFL leadership, over 100,000 jobs have been added, and unemployment is at a seven-year low.  Forbes Magazine rates Minnesota the 3^rd best state in which to make a living.  The DFL ensured equal pay for equal work would strengthen women’s economic security in the years ahead.

 

My candidate in 35B is Coon Rapids small-businessman Samuel Beard.  Vote to keep the successful DFL stewardship of Minnesota in place for the next two years.

Learned of a New Candidate for Andover City Council Today - No Firm Opinions Yet - Another Law Enforcement Conservative?

James Goodrich of Andover had a parade presence in today's Andover Family Fun Fest.  I'm just starting to learn about James Goodrich and what he stands for as a candidate for City Council.  I will be supporting Val Holthus, but there will be two seats to fill this Fall.


Based on what we the candidate states at his page, we are not on the same page.  Coming from someone who has worked for the government for 29 years, I'm disappointed with his presumption about Smaller government. 

Andover has been led by conservative-minded, fiscally-responsible leaders for many decades.  Andover is about as tight a ship as you can imagine - frankly, I think its employees deserve more pay right now by continuing to do more for the residents with less. 

Our City Administrator has no waste in that annual budget here.  The current Council makes it nice for us as residents - continually reducing our City property taxes.  I'd like to see less bare bones - which frankly means more tax revenue.  Maybe our rising house values, after seven years of lower and lower valuations will lead to more revenue.



Here is information about candidate Goodrich from his web page....

http://electjamesgoodrich.com/about-jim.html


A little about myself, I've lived in Andover for 20 years, what a great town!I've worked for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office for 28 years.I've been married to my beautiful wife Janna for 23 years. I have three great kids, Zachary, Emily and Miriam. I'm a member of Constance Free Church in Andover.

I'm an avid bow hunter and competitive archer.




Why in the world do I want to run for Andover City Council? Well, several reasons. I'm going to retire from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office after 29 years this fall and I want to bring my fiscal and social conservative values to local city government right here in Andover.  Ok so what does that mean? Well, the Andover annual budget is approximately 9 million dollars and over 7 million dollars of that is gained from our property taxes. I want to make sure our hard earned money is spent wisely. 

Spending can get out of control even on a local level. I want to make sure we're conducting the types of business that local government is supposed to.  Taking care of our infrastructure, wise ordinances, smart tax increment finance for business. Good Police and Fire services.
Assessments, who likes assessment's, I don't, but they are necessary as Andover grows. So, I want to be smart about it and bring them about as necessary and give residents as many options as possible to deal with them.
Metropolitan Council, the more we take their money the more they can tell us what to do. This would be a bad thing.

The smaller the Government the more we can make our own decisions.  I look out my window and see our liberties and freedoms that made this country great flying away at an alarming rate.  I want to do whatever I can at a local level to stop this.

I'm very capitalistic pro free-market oriented. I want to provide a business friendly environment to attract business to Andover and all the jobs and goods and service's that come with it.  Including the revenue.

If we want to gain more revenue for Andover it should come from a prosperous and growing economical environment, not through raising your property taxes. This is what I call a "No Brainer"

At the end of the day I'm your representative, I always want to hear what everyone is thinking about where your property taxes should go.