Rice County Republicans

From the desk of the BPOU Chair …

In this election year, we’ll have many choices of Republican candidates in the various races.  In our own Rice-Scott County BPOU, we have several members running for office.

The Northfield School Board election will have Kevin Budig and Jeff Quinnell looking to win a spot on the Board.  We know both of these men to be fine, upstanding individuals, both with a keen interest in seeing accountability to the students and taxpayers.

In the Rice County Commissioner race to fill in the 5th District seat currently held by Jim Brown, who is not running for re-election, we have Gary Bruggentheis and Mike Piper.  Both Gary and Mike have shown their deep concern for the fiscal, economic, and environmental health of the county.  Other candidates for this seat are Jeff Docken and Gerry Anderson.  While not a part of our BPOU, we understand they are worthy of our consideration as well.

In the Faribault Mayor’s race, John Jasinski is known to be a conservative, business savvy candidate.  We feel he could handle the mayor’s duties quite well.  And as with the above candidates, we feel that this office could be a stepping stone to higher office in the future.

For House District 25B, Lonsdale’s current Mayor, Tim Rud is making a strong run to unseat incumbent Democrat David Bly. Tim’s Team meets every two weeks to update volunteers and plan the upcoming activities.  He has participated in several city parades, Belle Plaine’s BBQ Days and Planning Meeting regarding Hwy 169, the Rice County Fair booth, Lonsdale’s 4th of July celebration and Fireman’s Day.  He has been door knocking in Belle Plaine and Lonsdale. His stickers, T-shirts and literature piece are all being used, and his yard signs will go up after August 1st. He has formed a vibrant, energetic team under the direction of Campaign Manager Barb Cole.

Otto Luknic, running for the second time against Democratic incumbent Patti Fritz for House District 26B is also carrying out a vigorous campaign.  Having completed his final parade of the season, he now can concentrate on bringing in diverse groups to support his campaign.  He has a supporter who is working in the Hispanic community, and a Somali who is working for Otto in his community.  Having completed door knocking in Blooming Prairie, Medford, Ellendale and Morristown, he now is door knocking in Faribault with the help of his aide Adam Donahue.  During the Rice County Fair, he not only worked at the Republican booth, but also at the Bethlehem Academy food booth, the MCCL booth, and he called bingo for Divine Mercy Catholic Church.

Congressman John Kline visited our Fair booth on Friday the 18th, and spent 1 1/2 hours visiting with fairgoers.  We appreciate the time he spent with us, and those he talked with seemed pleased as well.  His opponent, Steve Sarvi of Watertown was at the DFL booth for a short time, and has been in only a few parades.  In Sarvi’s hometown parade last week, Cong. Kline’s supporters numbered 62 while Sarvi had about 20.

While Al Franken, running against Rep. incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman appeared at the Fair, onlookers said he didn’t come to talk to voters, but rather to use the Fair as a backdrop for his CNN interview.  Even some DFL’ers told us they were upset that he didn’t spend time talking to the local people. But he did get CNN coverage and a front page picture and story in the Faribault paper.

Our own Sen. Coleman was unable to visit our Fair due to other commitments and a need to get back to Washington, DC.  We did distribute his materials and got volunteers signed up to help his campaign.  We do need to put more effort into the Coleman campaign; the thought of a “Senator” Franken should energize us all to help Norm with donations, letters to the editor, and yard signs!

There was much interest in the Presidential race, and before the Fair was over, we ran out of John McCain signs and bumper stickers.  We have a list of people to call when we receive more. The surveys that visitors filled out at our booth indicated their main concerns are: taxes/fiscal issues, and family values.  In descending order from there, the issues were: war on terror, immigration, education, environment. This was a sampling of about 75 entries, but it gave us an idea of what is on the voters minds.

The next opportunity to help our Republican candidates is Sunday at noon in Montgomery.  That is when the Kolacky Days parade steps out.  Cong. Kline, and State Rep. candidate Tim Rud need EVERYONE to come and walk in the parade with them.  Wear a red shirt for Cong. Kline, a white shirt for Tim Rud.  State Rep. Laura Brod needs your support too!

See you there!

Kathy Dodds