I met Laurie while she already was on the Nowthen city council, but had declared as a DFL candidate in old Senate District 49, where Mike Jungbauer was then the incumbent.
Peter Perovich won the DFL's Senate endorsement and Olmon at the convention dropped from that race endorsing Perovich, and entered her name as a House district DFL candidate. She won that endorsement, eventually and unfortunately losing the general election to GOP incumbent Tom Hackbarth. Laurie and her husband have become personal friends and I regret her not feeling able to continue in office as actively as she believes the office deserves. Below is her press release which you can enlarge and read. Laurie is one of the good people who enter politics entirely as a civic responsibility, and wholly without any personal or family agenda of conflicting interests. Because we sometimes have seen land speculators crassly seeking office to further advance personal or family pecuniary agendas, it is good that most folks running for city council in the north metro are, like Laurie, not in that camp.
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| click the image to enlarge and read |
My hope is to still be able to exchange email with Laurie over issues and events, for years and years. And that, health permitting, she may again hold office. Please read her thoughts in the press release.