The Commish

When Penny Steele announced that she would not seek reelection to her seat on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, there was concern that her departure would leave a void on the local political scene. Steele is a rare stalwart of common sense and responsibility and was often the lone voice on the Hennepin County Board willing to stand athwart Utopian visions of the future yelling "Stop!". God only knows how many bureaucratic boondoggles would have been foisted on the taxpayers of Hennepin County with little or no discussion or debate if Steele hadn't been on hand to provide a much-needed sanity check.

We appreciate Penny Steele's years of service and will definitely miss her feisty attitude on the Board. However, it looks like we're going to have an opportunity to replace her with another excellent public servant.

Jeff Johnson has announced that he will seek the seat being vacated by Steele in 2008. Last time we heard from Jeff, he was being caught up in the Democratic wave that swept over Minnesota in the 2006 election. Despite being one of the strongest Republican candidates anywhere on the ticket, he was defeated in his bid for Attorney General by Lori Hatch Mike Swanson Lori Swanson, who's already managed to alienate her staff, get the Legislature to call for an investigation of her office, and anger one of the Democrats key constinuencies (they put the L in DFL).

Among the Republican candidates in Minnesota who deserved a better fate in '06, none were more worthy of victory than Jeff Johnson. It was a crying shame that a man of his qualifications, integrity, and committment would get swamped in a tide of blue. But that's politics for you.

It's great to see that Jeff is back in the game, ready to fight the good fight once again. At this early stage, it looks like aught-eight is not shaping up to be a great year for Republicans, but we are confident that this time around, it will be for Jeff Johnson.