First, City website, this "ELECTIONS" link, for election info. Of note, early voting [still on the city website anachronistically termed "absentee" voting] is already open. You can go to City Hall at your convenience, and vote between now and the at-large primary date, Tuesday, Feb. 13.
While the above detail may help local readers, the City website link has more info, so check it out:
http://www.ci.ramsey.mn.us/elections
Please, do not vote if you are ignorant of the four candidates. Voting while declining to be informed would be a disservice to the four people who are willing to serve.
So, how can you be informed? The League of Women Voters, (LWV-ABC; this website: http://lwvabcmn.org/) held a Jan. 10 candidate forum, so all attendees pass the non-ignorant test and get a voter gold star. Unfortunately that event went under my radar, and I missed it.
FORTUNATELY, QCTV has archived the LWV session, it is a tight but good view of the candidates, taking only 45 min to view, this link:
http://reflect-qctv.cablecast.tv/cablecastapi/embed?show_id=7725
The change from a five member council -all seats at large - to a seven member council - mixed at large and by ward - was a boneheaded mistake that should be undone but the seven-member council so far has been disinclined to revisit the matter. That said, the boneheadedness of it is that Chris Riley, currently Ward 4 rep, is ready to move out of Ward 4 and is "forced" in a sense to throw his hat into the ring now, even while on council presently.
That said, it is not in any way an endorsement of Riley, who's been fine enough during his tenure. My vote, favoring contriarian views about taxation and growth, and being a planning skeptic, will in the next few days during the early voting time, be for Ida Theis.
That endorsement of sorts comes with a big-time caveat. When Matt Look first got on council as a contrarian I viewed it as helpful, but then the Bob Ramsey - Landform - Darren Lazan stuff grew from that root, and it was a costly disaster with Matt moving to the better paying County Board before the fan loaded up.
I was wrong then, in 20/20 hindsight. Still, given the mood of the present council, (discussion of an 8% tax increase during the forum) suggested leavening would help. Riley, however, during the LWV forum noted he was the sole NO vote on that tax hike.
What was appalling was how with tax creep and with hell-bent growth touted and fostered in the past, developers having prospered, special steps were required for something as fundamental to the governance as road upkeep. That happened, with a retrogressive "franchise fee" tax idea even being floated but killed by citizen unrest. Ramsey was concentrating on fluff, not the roads, and growth was being promoted by greater taxation of existing residents while road maintenance languished. That to me was government priorities upside down and defective.
I regret the dumb ward system has caught up Chris Riley, but Theis will get my vote.
Again, a minority contrarian voice on council is what I see as beneficial; with the worry being history where the "Matt Look tail" ended up wagging the dog, for a time.
In closing, BOTTOM LINE, any one of the four candidates would be alright. So, watch the LWV forum, take the 45 min for that, or don't vote.
UPDATE: While discussing Ramsey, this ABC Newspapers report is relevant but of less consequence than a councilmember vote. Also, a new lawyer.
This is important and necessary, and again, for all the Ramsey-related coverage we owe a hat tip to ABC Newspapers for being a true newspaper, in all that word entails.
FURTHER: If you watch the LWV forum, Theis got the arguably trick question "Bill of Rights" correct answer; three others, possibly not understanding the question, passed. Huh?
FURTHER: Shedding tears for Chris Riley's ward-system-related plight should not be overdone. In the next general election with the other at-large seat up, Riley can run against John LeTourneau, and if winning the seat, there would be, in my view, a council upgrade. Ditto, in all likelihood, for whichever ward Riley and family move to. Personally, I'd not change mayors, but that is yet another path Riley has open.
FURTHER: While admittedly ignorant of filing deadlines, if deadlines permit Chris Riley running for Anoka County Board District 1 that would be a dynamite idea. The upgrade should he run and win stands as patently self-evident. Chris Riley would not be a polarizing local political factor, if making such a decision, while the County Board cries out for greater diversity of outlook.