Last Tuesday, while addressing the Anoka County Board, Rhonda Sivarajah twice inadvertently referred to fellow Commissioner Dan Erhart as "Mr. Chairman." She's unlikely to make that mistake again come January.
Sivarajah, a fiscal conservative who had been in the minority on the board, will be its next chairwoman. In the Nov. 2 election, when five of the seven commissioner seats were on the ballot and three newcomers were elected, the board got a political nudge toward the right.
The selection of the board chair isn't official yet. But Commissioner-elect Andy Westerberg, who was considered the swing vote, called Sivarajah recently and confirmed that he would vote for her over longtime Commissioner Jim Kordiak.
"It's a reflection of voters across the state of Minnesota and across the country," Westerberg said of the recent conservative wave that modified the political landscape.
"People are being fiscally conservative and there's more belt tightening to be done on the county level. We're trying to be responsive to voters, showing that we're listening to what they are saying."
Sivarajah had the support of Robyn West and newly elected Matt Look, both fiscal conservatives. Erhart, a former chairman, tried to persuade Westerberg to align with Kordiak, who also counted on the support of Carol LeDoux, the third board newcomer.
LeDoux won a special election to succeed her husband, Scott, who is battling ALS and resigned as commissioner in May for health reasons. Because she is completing an unfinished term, she was sworn in and already has begun her commissioner's duties.
Look and Westerberg will not be sworn in until January. They'll succeed Dennis Berg, the current chairman, and veteran commissioner Dick Lang, who are retiring from the board at the end of the year.
