The Ramsey County Soil and Water races have long been the most partisan in the Twin Cities. Both the Green Party and the DFL have endorsed candidates for the district 1 and district 4 seats.
Ramsey County District 1 (Incumbent Karen Eckman is not running for reelection)
Three candidates are vying for the district 1 seat, Janelle Anderson, Vaios Eleftheriou, and Paige Wein.
Janelle Anderson
Janelle Anderson is the DFL endorsed candidate for the district 1 seat. She is a Civil Engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
We can see her appeal to the DFL in this quote from her MASWCD questionnaire:
“We must start in our neighborhoods, educating our neighbors on the importance of keeping our water sources clean and not polluting our soils with chemicals and over-fertilizing our lawns.”
I have news for you Ms. Anderson; all matter can be considered a “chemical”. Soil itself is a chemical. You would be against polluting soil with … soil? No wonder you received the DFL endorsement, you seem to want to use the bully pulpit of the soil and water conservation board to hector into unattractive lawns.
Vaios Eleftheriou
Vaios Eleftheriou is an electrician who is endorsed by the Green Party.
Normally we applaud brevity in candidates, but Mr. Eleftheriou answers the five questions in his MASWCD questionnaire with a grand total of five sentences (and one sentence fragment). He has a website sponsored by the Green Party, but it contains no more information than the questionnaire. Clearly he is down playing his radical green agenda. Barrack Obama may have gotten away with hiding his agenda, but if Fraters Libertas has anything to say about it, Mr. Eleftheriou will not.
Paige Wein
Not only is Paige Wein unencumbered by left-wing endorsements for the supposedly non-partisan position of Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor, but she also has the most impressive soil and water credentials.
Ms. Wein has a degree in biology (with environmental science option) summa cum laude. She is also the permit coordinator for the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (not to be confused with the Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District).
Ms. Wein is an up-and-comer in the soil and water community and clearly the best choice for Ramsey County. Fraters Libertas endorses Paige Wein for Ramsey County District 1 Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor.
Ramsey County District 4 (Incumbent Carrie Wasley)
Incumbent Carrie Wasley is being challenged by Gary Carlson, Mark A. Roosevelt, and Robert “Bob” Simonet.
Carrie J. Wasley
Incumbent Carrie Wasley is endorsed by the DFL. Ms. Wasley has the look of yet another big government DFL soil and water conservation district supervisor. Frankly, that’s all we need to know.
Gary Carlson
Gary Carlson is a pharmacist and is endorsed by the Green Party. He shares a web-site with fellow Green Party endorsee, Vaios Eleftheriou here. The web-site is sparse to say the least. Soil and water candidates generally did a poor job promoting their campaigns on the internet. Future candidates would be well advised to emulate the campaign website of Scott County candidate, Ryan Love.
Mark A. Roosevelt
Mark A. Roosevelt was the Republican candidate for State Representative, district 66B, in 2008. He was shellacked 78% to 21% by Alice Hausman. Now he has set his sights on the soil and water conservation board.
Fraters Libertas generally frowns on candidates who lose elections for other offices and then come “slumming” to soil and water. Especially if they, like Mr. Roosevelt do not even bother to fill out their MASWCD questionnaire.
Robert J. “Bob” Simonet
According to his MASWCD questionnaire, Bob Simonet has: “Extensive environmental science background, including: undergraduate and graduate degrees, field studies, published research and applied work experience.”
Mr. Simonet appears to be the small-government candidate in this race:
“Voluntary compliance by landowners is the ideal. Court ordered compliance (i.e. Eminent Domain) is the direct opposite. Often the difference between the two is education and dialog. While regulations exist for the common good of all, they should be put into effect only as a last resort.”
We also like that Mr. Simonet goes by “Bob” and not the stuffier “Robert”. Fraters Libertas endorses Robert J. “Bob” Simonet for Ramsey County District 4 Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor.
That rounds out our Soil and Water endorsements for 2010. Later this weekend we will post our Soil and Water sample ballot. You can print it out and bring it to the polls to ensure that you don’t throw away your precious soil and water vote.
