Hennepin County sure to get new leadership

Three Hennepin County Board seats that have long been held by Republicans are up for election on Tuesday, and at least two are sure to be occupied by newcomers next year.

Those open seats are District 6, now represented by Linda Koblick, and District 7, now represented by Penny Steele. Neither is seeking re-election.

Randy Johnson, the board chairman from District 5, is going for his 10th term on the board and says he's as eager as ever to tackle county issues.

Johnson, a moderate who has been on the board for 29 years, is already the longest-serving commissioner in the county's 156-year history. This year, he has endorsements from the Republican Party and four union groups including the AFL-CIO. It's a combination not often seen these days, but Johnson said party affiliation doesn't mean much on a board where coalitions shift depending on the issue.

"I always say there's not a Republican way to plow a road or a DFL way to plow the road," he said.

In an election where exciting races for president and U.S. Senate and House dominate the news, candidates said they've gotten some blank looks as they've door-knocked and told voters they're running for county board.

"Everyone wants to talk about the economy, and nobody wants to talk about the county," said John Cooney, who is running in District 6.

If candidates do get a reaction, he and others said, it's often from people who are still irate about the board approving the new Twins stadium.

Four of the five non-incumbents seeking board seats have political experience ranging from city councils and city planning commissions to the Legislature. Only one -- newly retired county information technology worker David Nyberg, who is challenging Johnson in the district that includes Richfield, Bloomington and much of Eden Prairie -- is a political rookie.

Nyberg said he decided to run after being outraged that the board approved the ballpark without going to a referendum. Though he has no visible campaign, Nyberg got more than 2,200 votes in the September primary, or 22 percent of the vote, thus knocking a third candidate out of the general election.

"I'm not out trying to get supporters," the Bloomington resident said. "I'm a retired man and I can't afford to get out and distribute posters and stuff."

Nyberg thinks the county wastes too much money on things like the troublesome brick plaza outside the Government Center that has had to be repaved. He also thinks the county shouldn't be cutting employees in vital places like human services, and should look for savings in other places.

Johnson, who is on the governing board of Hennepin County Medical Center, said the center is critical to health care in the metropolitan area and that he wants to continue to work on those issues. The merger between library systems in Minneapolis and the county still needs work, he said. And the biggest issue facing the board, he said, is trying to do more with less as federal and state support to the county shrinks.

"I think we're a well-managed county, but we need to keep our top AAA bond rating," Johnson said.

District 6

In District 6, Cooney, the former campaign manager and political director for Rep. Jim Ramstad, is running against Minnetonka Mayor Jan Callison. District 6 includes the county's wealthiest area, stretching from Edina and Hopkins on the east to Shorewood and Orono on the west.

Though he has deep political experience, Cooney has never run for elective office. He said good county roads and keeping taxes low are priorities. Endorsed by the Republican Party, Cooney described himself as a moderate. His many government contacts could help the county find partners as it copes with funding cutbacks, he said. He also said he would not accept the recently approved raise board members gave themselves for next year.

Callison has endorsements from both DFL and Republican officials and said running in a nonpartisan race is "a joy." A Harvard Law School graduate, she has worked on environmental, energy and affordable housing issues and said she is a strong supporter of light rail. Developing partnerships to buffer the county from state and federal funding cuts and showing taxpayers that the county spends its money well should be priorities, she said.

She and Cooney both said the county should not get involved in raising taxes for a new Vikings stadium.

District 7

District 7 is the county's largest and includes its most rural area. Former Champlin City Council Member Joan Molenaar and former three-term Republican state Rep. Jeff Johnson are competing for the seat, which serves towns that sometimes feel left out when urban needs seem to gobble up much of the county's budget.

"We have two cities that wanted to secede from the county [in the district]," Johnson said, referring to St. Bonifacius and Rockford. "Sometimes the feeling is that we pay a lot in and get little back. So when it comes to county roads and libraries, we need to make sure we're not completely ignored."

Johnson -- who has been endorsed by the Republican Party -- said he would work to make sure that roads are in good repair before the county invests millions in new projects like more light rail. He said he thinks the county should be able to live within its current budget.

Molenaar -- who says she's a Democrat but shares many of the priorities that the conservative Steele emphasized -- said she, too, would emphasize good roads, but that her first priority is to be responsive to residents. She said 30 years of community leadership and working on family and children's issues has convinced her that investing in stable families and early-childhood programs pays off. But she said her own experience of living on a tight budget with a husband who is fully disabled has given her a pragmatic and frugal approach to budgeting.

"We have to look for ways to improve programs and better deliver and redesign services," she said. "We need to be fiscally responsible for what we have."

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380