2010 Burnsville Voter's Guide

This is really only an effective guide if you live where I live, trust my judgment and don't care to research on your own.

Because of the number of candidates I won't elaborate on reasons for every candidate but I'm happy to answer questions in the comments. And yes, I've actually researched each race, some more extensively than others.

Here's how I'm voting:

11-3-10 UPDATE: The status of each race is included below.

Governor: Tom Horner (lost to Mark Dayton or Tom Emmer)
Attorney General: Chris Barden (lost to Lori Swanson)
Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie (won)
State Auditor: Pat Anderson (lost to Rebecca Otto)
Supreme Court Associate Justice 2: Greg Wersal (lost to Helen Meyer)
Supreme Court Associate Justice 6: Tim Tingelstad (lost to Alan Page)
US Congress: John Kline (won)
State Senate: Dan Hall (won)
State House: Pam Myhra (won)
Dakota County Sheriff: Mitch Scott (lost to Dave Bellows)
Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District 1 Supervisor: Thomas A. Willenbring (lost to Diane Blake)
Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District 2 Supervisor: Jason Swenson (won)
ISD 191 School Board: Peter Beckel (lost), Jim Schmid (won), Gail Morrison (won), Dan Luth (won) (Gail Morrison also won)
Court of Appeals Judge 13: Roxann Klugman (lost to Randolph Peterson)
Court of Appeals Judge 14: Dan Griffith (lost to Larry Stauber Jr.)
1st District Court Judge 8: Larry Clark (won)
Burnsville City Council: Charlie Crichton and Dan Kealey (both won)

To see the actual sample ballot for my precinct, click here. Better yet, find out who's on your own Minnesota ballot.

A few notes on a few races:

• Secretary of State and State Auditor should not be partisan jobs and the State Auditor in particular should probably be appointed by a bipartisan committee rather than be elected. I hold minimal regard for the part of the candidates in these races.
• In the State Senate and House races, I don't have a lot of big problems with John Doll and Will Morgan, the DFLers who currently hold office, but I've had a few policy disagreements. With Doll, my main reason for not voting for him is the shamefully dirty attack pieces that have been run against his opponent, Dan Hall, predominantly using the moniker "Preacher Hall" in a snide, derogative manner. I've also received calls from the DFL for both Morgan and Doll touting the fact that they signed legislation that supposedly brought jobs to Burnsville through a Goodrich expansion. Never mind that according to a Goodrich employee I know, the expansion was going to happen regardless of the legislation.
• My main reason for voting for Mitch Scott for sheriff is his opponent, Dave Bellows, registered the domain mitchscottforsheriff.com when Scott first filed to run for office. That's just bush league. Scott almost loses my endorsement by putting an utterly cheesy opening musical element on his website that automatically blasts your eardrums when you visit his site. His whole "vote for the guy with two first names" thing is a little dopey too.
• Please, whatever you do, if you have the chance, vote for Larry Clark for 1st District Court Judge 8! His opponent is a mess and has no business being on the bench.

Whoever you're voting for, just be sure to vote tomorrow!