City Council Candidates:
Jeff Kolb
Ross Lorinser
Jim Kennedy
Steve Rask
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Mayor Candidates:
George Wimmer
Sue Larson
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3rd District Commissioner Candidates:
Gail Genin
Alan Duff
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4th District Commissioner Candidates:
Kurt Daudt
Jaysen Guthmueller
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Unfortunately the School Board and State Representatives were not invited but it will cover our City and County races.
7 comments:
It is unfortuante that the school board was not invited as this is a large portion of our realestate taxes and many people have concerns with the way the school system is operated.
I find it interesting also that the only area outside of the City of Isanti that is covered is the one where the former Isanti Chamber Presidents is running for. Does something smell funny here???
George, as expected, you shined. I especially liked your record on economic development and your excitement of further businesses coming to Isanti!
The mayor's race is easy to choose, but I want to discuss the County Commissioner race. I almost fell out of my seat when Gail Gennin said "high taxes are NOT a problem in Isanti County." I like Gail and was planning on voting for her but can't now with comments like that. You have worked hard to reduce city taxes and we appreciate that. During the last two years, you, Jeff and Alan have greatly reduced city taxes while our county taxes keep going up way beyond inflation. We can NOT have more people on the County Board who support higher taxes. I was happy to hear Alan Duff said his top goal as a County Commissioner was a zero increase in taxes for his first year in office.
The races chosen to be covered in this event were determined based on a number of factors. It was not an easy decision as the Chamber Board wanted to allow time for in-depth responses from the candidates and cover the issues we feel our members are concerned about. Transportation and economic development are among these issues and the mayor, council and county commissioner seats have a direct impact on them. This is not to say that the future of our school district and its tax levy are unimportant, but the determination had to be made.
It was decided not to include the State Representative seat because it is partisan, because there are other forums for that seat, and it introduces another entire set of issues into a one night event. That said, it was great to see Rob Eastlund, Jim Godfrey and also Rick Olseen in attendance last night.
As for the inclusion of the District 4 Commissioner Seat, it's important to note that the Isanti Area Chamber does not use the city limits as it boundary. Athens Township is absolutely part of our trade area, and to a smaller extent Spencer Brook and Stanford are as well. Had there been a District 5 race, it certainly would have been included. The assertion by "anonymous" that "something smells funny" is a shame, and is simply unfounded. I invite "anonymous" to present this complaint to our board either in person or via a signed letter and we will address it.
Two final notes. First, in case there are unspoken concerns about who was or wasn't invited, we invited all candidates who filed for each seat and set up chairs for all who responded that they were planning to attend. Second, for those who take issue with the fact that this forum was run differently than in previous years, it’s hard to make things better without making any changes. There will probably be more changes if we host another forum in 2010.
While we understand that one can't please all of the people all of the time, I hope that those who attended and participated found this to be a worthwhile event.
John, Thank you for your efforts in pulling together a nice Candidate Forum last night. I thought the Forum was very professionally run by you and the Chamber. It was nice to see about 50 in attendance to learn more about the important issues in our Isanti regional area.
I attended the forum and it was rather confusing having all of the different canidates mixed together at the same time. Interesting that Isanti Chamber had to select a few seats to cover and the following is posted in the County News as an invite to the Cambridge forum:
"Cambridge Rotary and the Isanti County News are co-sponsoring another forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 at the Cambridge Campus of Anoka Ramsey Community College. This forum entails candidates in the three Isanti County commissioner races, as well as incumbent Rob Eastlund, R-Isanti, and DFL challenger Jim Godfrey, Cambridge, in the District 17A state representative race."
Well I guess Cambridge Chamber is larger and able to handle more canidates. I would encourage people to get out to the next debate and hear for yourselves what the canidates feel on issues that affect all of us taxpayers.
It was sad to see that Jim Kennedy and Steve Rask were not there to voice their opinion. Jeff Kolb and Ross Lorinser presented their ideas well. I guess we know who we need to vote for.
In response to Anonymous commenting about the upcoming candidate forum on Oct 23 at Anoka Ramsey Community College, I am confused how reference can be made to the Cambridge Chamber handling more candidates when in Anonymous' own comment, it is quoted that the forum is co-sponsored by the Cambridge Rotary and Isanti County News. Neither of these entities are the Cambridge Chamber!!
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