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Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Innovation or more of the same? Anoka County Board District 1 contest will move to the general election.

https://www.hometownsource.com/abc_newspapers/community/anoka/heinrich-and-oberry-will-race-for-open-county-seat/article_c65f4544-59e2-11ef-a35b-c35043150628.html 

In the primary for the vacant County Commissioner District 1 Seat, Betsy O’Berry and John Heinrich have secured their spot on the primary ballot with 1,684 votes and 1,936 votes, respectively. 

Andre Champagne will not move on, coming in third at 269 votes.

This is the seat held nearly forever by Matt Look, who vacated to become City Administrator of City of East Bethel, where he got a larger paycheck. 

Heinrich is running for the seat after ouster from the leg via a loss to Zach Stevenson, and is seeking this other government paycheck.

Stevenson is a good man. 

Heinrich, while in the leg, coauthored a Draconian anti-abortion bill limiting women having reasonable access to RU-486 (mifepristone), i.e. he supported government interference with women's right to choose and to manage their own physician-patient matters free of interference by the state.  

Session 92 (2021-2022) HF 3900 - read it. 

Believing decisions over unwanted pregnancies are not for legislators to police and dictate, that there are limits to authoritarian interference into people's private lives, Crabgrass suggests even at a county government level Heinrich's dogmatic biases against freedom are a clear and ongoing danger. Yes. at a county government level patriarchal mischief is less possible, despite the will, but freedoms are always in need of stern defense against rogue and overreaching powers of state action.

_________UPDATE_________

Of interest in Anoka precincts O'Berry, in total, outpolled Heinrich. Anoka P1 and P2 strongly favored O'Berry.

Heinrich lives in Anoka.

In the general election the Crabgrass hope is more young people will vote, countywide, where the young are a voter segment among whom abortion rights may be most strongly appreciated. 

People need to know who's running, and how they think.

An educated GOTV effort will always be best.

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________

VOUCHERS: Heinrich graduated from Meadow Creek Christian School in 1998. He has had no postgraduate education.

In his most recent legislative session he coauthored HF 4744, obliquely titled, "EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS FOR STUDENTS ACT," which, had it passed, would have authorized openly spending of public money for religious or private school students, a/k/a a bill for vouchers, however disguised, where public education, publicly funded, is enshrined in Minnesota's Constitution, as a social good funded even by childless citizens, to assure an ongoing universally educated class of voting citizens. Crabgrass believes undercutting public education in any manner is bad policy, and this bill would have siphoned off money from public education.

Voters need to know what candidates would do, if allowed the chance, where an educated GOTV is always best.

FURTHER: O'Berry supplied Ballotpedia Candidate Survey Responses. Heinrich declined to do so, but may reverse that decision. Believing informed voters vote best, Crabgrass hopes Heinrich will overcome the deficiency so voters can see and compare qualifications and intentions before casting general election ballots.

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Crabgrass favors O'Berry as more qualified, and better intentioned, with such disclosure given so that readers can know opinions and inclinations underlying the post. Providing such disclosure is being fair to both candidates who are advancing to a final vote. Crabgrass has done a detailed post in the belief that even while this is a down-ballot contest in November, the seat in question is important locally and deserves attention of anyone in the Board District voting in November.