Mayor, Bob Ramsey won by a large margin.
At large, Jeff Wise won in what I thought was a surprisingly tight contest - not close, but surprising.
Ward 2, Andre Champagne won his precinct, Colin McGlone won his by a bigger margin, Colin McGlone won the seat.
Ward 4, By a substantial margin, David Jeffrey retains the seat.
Okay, new guys, don't screw it up any worse than the last bunch.
At least there is a new mayor, but that was assured going into the election.
I think Bob Ramsey winning was the best result possible, over all the contests.
Bob and I disagree on many things, but I respect his capability.
I think there has to be a cut away from the old ways. The EDA consultant has to be evaluated in January, whether there should be a change.
The old "crowd" should retire, not trying to get on boards or commissions.
The Tinklenberg consultancy relationship should be terminated ASAP. It offends.
______UPDATE________
My major thought - the term "public servant" should never be forgotten as it was during James Norman - Kurak - Gamec imperial times. We never again should be subject to the shame of castle building by "public servants" without putting the castle question to the public, by referendum. That commitment by mayoral candidate Cleveland, that if any public spending were to be proposed for a community center, the question should go to a referendum, was, in my mind, her strongest talking point. I hope it is taken to heart by the new folks on council. Ditto, for any thoughts of an opulent train stop.
The term "public servant" means serve, don't dictate, especially don't dictate dumb things. It means listen to a broad spectrum of citizens, seek out a broad spectrum, not just chums or connected individuals. It means don't put cronies into consultancy contracts that bleed the public treasury without any real point or purpose, except to favor cronies. It means don't play games, respect transparency, and don't again treat the people like mushrooms. It means televise again the work sessions, where the decision making happens, and do not just televise the official dog and pony show afterward, where the unanimous vote after unanimous vote are logged after things were aired out in a meeting the public could attend, but not view at home on the Ramsey QCTV community channel. Televise the finance committee. Televise the public works committee. Televise the EDA. They are worth seeing more than the Park Board, which is televised.
_______FURTHER UPDATE_______
The Anoka County website is again online, as of 8:30 am, Wed., Nov. 5, with the race-by-race results county wide here. Results on a precinct-by-precinct basis are given, for example, see the Ramsey mayor results, here, or the Ramsey Ward 2 results, here.
