Jun. 24—ROCHESTER — Three former state elected officials are encouraging local candidates to avoid seeking support from political parties.
Rochester Mayor Norton and Olmsted County commissioners Sheila Kiscaden and Dave Senjem cited concerns after Olmsted County DFL organizing units contacted Rochester City Council candidates in two races.
"This has us concerned," Kiscaden said. "We are all experienced elected officials who served in the (Minnesota) Legislature in partisan positions for many years, and we all really appreciated and enjoy and feel it is much stronger to have nonpartisan government."
Norton and Senjem echoed the commitment to nonpartisan government, pointing to the need to represent all residents, regardless of party affiliation.
"I think we are concerned they do not have the additional influence of a party position or party platforms or other party elected officials, rather than just being available to everyone," Norton said, adding that local officials frequently need to work with state and federal officials on both sides of the political spectrum.
Senjem, who is serving his second year on the county board after more than two decades in the Minnesota Senate, said the polarizing nature of party politics gets in the way of local needs.
"The interjection of party politics, on either side, into the governments of Olmsted County and the city of Rochester would be a tragedy and great misfortune, in my opinion," he said
The three elected officials said their concern stems from plans for the Olmsted County DFL organizing units to talk to Rochester City Council candidates in two races.
"The DFLs of Olmsted County have been requested to issue Letters of Support for the Rochester City Council At Large (council president) and Ward 2 races," states a June 20 email sent by William Harvey, chairman of Olmsted 20/24 DFL.
The email sent to all candidates in the two races invited them to join in an online review process on Tuesday, June 25, which is three days before the start of mail-in voting.
Mark Liebow, a director of the Olmsted County DFL organizing unit, said it's not the first time such a call to local nonpartisan candidates has been made, but he also said it's not routine.
"Usually we don't even think about doing it, unless somebody approaches us about the possibility of doing it," he said.
On the other side of the political spectrum, Olmsted County Republicans Deputy Chairman Jim Niehoff said he's not aware of the GOP organizing unit offering official support of a nonpartisan candidate in the past.
"There is no current plan to endorse anybody at this point," he said.
When reached by the Post Bulletin, none of the contacted candidates said they specifically requested a DFL letter of support, but council president candidate Randy Schubring and Ward 2 candidate Nick Miller said they inquired about the process after the issue was raised by others in the community.
Both said they plan to run nonpartisan campaigns and want to serve as nonpartisan representatives, if elected.
Ward 2 candidate Loring Stead was the only other candidate that said he might consider participating, adding that he'd stress to the DFL committee that he's committed to the nonpartisan nature of the City Council.
Kiscaden said she's aware of unsuccessful campaigns in the past that touted reported support of the local DFL organizations, but she worries about partisan politics slowly entering local campaigns, which could lead to more fractured local elected bodies.
She said a "letter of support" is likely to be seen as an official party endorsem*nt, which are typically reserved for races with candidates running by party affiliation.
"It's semantics," she said of the definition of the support.
Under state guidelines, county, city, township and school board offices are elected through a nonpartisan ballot, with the potential exception of cities with a population of more than 100,000 people. The larger cities, known as Cities of the First Class, have the option to establish partisan council and mayor races.
When Rochester was on the cusp of becoming a City of the First Class, the City Council approved an ordinance to affirm city elections would remain nonpartisan, and later councils have not opted to change the city's charter, which states "partisan ballots shall not be used in any election for any city elective office."
Kiscaden said she plans to seek similar support from other county commissioners to emphasize the nonpartisan nature of county races.
"We don't have anything official," she said of county rules.
For now, Norton, Kiscaden and Senjem are encouraging candidates to bypass potential DFL support and run their campaigns without party interaction.
"We understand both sides of the equation," Norton said of serving in partisan and nonpartisan roles. "We understand what it is to be involved in party politics ... and the three of us are committed to leaving that where that belongs."
