I don’t live in Golden Valley, but I do live next door in Crystal, and I do care about what happens to our neighbors. Especially considering we’ll be sharing a light rail line someday. (Or better yet, working to stop one.)
Golden Valley has its city council elections in off years for some reason, which means that there’s an election in 2013, on November 5.
There are two races this year, a special election to fill out the remainder of Mike Freiberg’s term (through 2015), and a regular election for two at-large seats (through 2017).
Special Election
This one is an easy one. There are only two candidates, John Giese and Steven Schmidgall. Schmidgall was appointed to take Freiberg’s place when he was elected to the MN House, so he’s kind of the incumbent. But all he’s really managed to do during his short time in office was embarrass himself and the city by making news for wanting to eliminate the Pledge of Allegiance because it made him “uncomfortable.”
Giese is a long time active member of GV, a military man, and a small business owner.
This one’s not even close. Vote Giese.
Regular Election (Vote for 2)
There are nine candidates in this race, and you get to vote for two.
While the race is technically non-partisan (as are all municipal races) there are a number of candidates who have been endorsed or “pseudo endorsed” by political parties on both sides.
On the GOP side, Jacquelyn Smith and Paul Scofield were “recommended” or “soft endorsed” by both of the GOP BPOUs (45 and 46) in Golden Valley. This means that the executive committees of the BPOUs took a vote and decided to recommend them as candidates.
Two other candidates who are worth considering are Simon Gottlieb and Chris Miller. Both are going out of their way to remain non-partisan in this non-partisan race, but you may find their take on the issues to your liking.
Larry Fonnest and Andy Snope have been endorsed by the DFL. Bob Hernz serves in the Dayton administration.
