The article by Peter Bodley is online, here.
Three seats of seven are up this cycle.
FIRST: Nobody has yet filed to oppose Dan Erhart. Come on folks, let's show some civic spirit.
I don't live there but I would pay the filing fee if I did just to see Ehhart being opposed by someone. I cannot do that. Somebody reading perhaps can, and will. There might even be a solid and sound opponent - the best we could want.
Filing does not end until July 15, so there is time for action.
There are two contested seats at present.
SECOND: Incumbent Scott LeDoux, Andover, has opposition from Becky Fink, Coon Rapids.
Becky has long been active in housing needs and solutions - something that is a most appropriate skill set in today's housing situation.
My unofficial foreclosure meter, the County Union legal notices of foreclosure, today spanned two print sections, 42 pages altogether. Housing ills exist in our county and it would be nice to get someone on the county board with a brain oriented that way.
We need solutions. We don't really need Scott LaDoux.
A long time Anoka County public servant, former state senator and former DNR head, Gene Merriam is Becky's campaign treasurer, proving good guys stick together.
That Fink vs. LaDoux contest is District 5, the eastern part of Coon Rapids and four precincts in Andover.
THIRD: The other challenged seat is held by incumbent Rhonda Sivarajah, challenged by a Kevin Ryan. The seat is District 6 which covers Centerville, Circle Pines, Columbus, Lexington, Lino Lakes, Linwood Township and two precincts in Blaine.
What I know of Sivarajah, she was great on opposing the stupidity of taxing us to build a Zigyville shopping center - Vikings Stadium complex, with the league paying something, citizens paying a lot and Zigy paying little. Taxing for millionaire beneficiaries never struck me as a good idea, and it would have been developers installing their crabgrass in a nice wetland area.
Sivarajah was downright awful on the Carlos Avery expansion snuffing. A willing seller, a willing buyer, a great general public benefit, and idiots on the county board killing it because the local town cried over tax base impact. Dumb and dumber.
However, for Kevin Ryan, all I could find with a Google is he ran for something before and reportedly did not get his financial disclosure paperwork in on time. Who needs more of that if the charge was true? Anyone with knowledge, including Mr. Ryan, is invited to post a comment clarifying things.
It looks on the face of it that Ms. Sivarajah deserves to remain, even with a bad stance of the wetlands expansion needs of the area.
BACKTRACK: Back to Becky Fink, googling online gave these hits where she was mentioned, or organizations she was affiliated with were: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Those items and news reports cover a time span, so I do not know where Becky Fink is now, but I have reason to expect she still is in housing advocacy and housing services.
