Question about (Hennepin) county commissioner

[question everything]

Now that I have a sample ballot I am looking at the candidates for this office - district 7. Both are supposed to be nonpartisan but one of them - Penny Steele - has a couple of yard signs on my neighbors' yards. The problem is, one of them replaced an earlier B/C sign so.. I can't help but considering Penny Steele guilty by association. Does anyone know anything about her, or about her opponent Steve Gill?

Thanks.

[question everything]

1. So, no one knows. I tried google her opponent but the name is too common

especially when there is an RW radio host.

I wish that we, the voters, get a little booklet where each candidate can tell us about herself/himself.

Sigh.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. That's what they do in Oregon

The state mails a voters' guide to every household in the state before each general election. It is localized for each part of the state, so that the one sent to residents of the Portland metropolitan area contains statements and endorsements by the presidential candidates and statewide candidates, as well as Congresscritters and Senators, then candidates for positions in the three county governments, dozen or so city governments, dozen or so schoolboards, and the Metro Council (elected by district!) candidates.

Each candidate gets a column to post a photograph, make a statement, and list endorsements. Sometimes this makes for amusing reading as the true fringe candidates ramble on and on about their pet peeves, but in most cases, you can tell the ideological bent of the candidate and whether s/he sounds competent.

It also contains a section on the initiatives and bond issues that are up at that election. (Oregon has initiative, referendum, and recall, which sound good and democratic on paper, but which actually have been corrupted by wealthy rightwing fruitcakes who pay petition gatherers to go out and lie about the petitions). At times there have been so many of these that a separate volume is necessary.

You see the text of the initiative or bond proposal, a simplified statement of what its effects would be, and then, here's the fun part, a series of statements for and against the proposal. Any person or group willing to spend a couple hundred dollars can make a statement about a ballot measure. These, too, can make for amusing reading, especially when someone with both wit and money decides to satirize a proposal.

People really like the Voter Pamphlet, and when one of the initiative-issuing whackos (Bill Sizemore) wanted to put through another tax cut, one of the arguments used successfully against him was that the state would have to stop issuing the Voter Pamphlet!

[goodhue]

2. Penny Steele is the most right wing county commissioner.

Indeed she is the only right winger.

Republicans Randy Johnson and Linda Koblick are quite moderate.
Independent/(former DFL) Mark Stenglein is second most conservative.

Steele should not be supported. She will likely be easily reelected however. Her district is western most Hennepin county including what is left of rural area.