Maplewood City Council member Will Rossbach and Mayor Diana Longrie

Maplewood City Council member Will Rossbach and Mayor Diana Longrie

The most intriguing political contests of 2009 might just be in Maplewood. In a year with no statewide or legislative races, and with the mayoral contests in St. Paul and Minneapolis likely to be drowsy affairs, the Ramsey County suburb is primed to provide one of the few sources of electoral drama.

At stake in 2009 is the mayoralty and two seats on the council. There will certainly be no shortage of candidates. As of yesterday’s filing deadline seven candidates had registered for the mayor’s race while 11 candidates will be contending for the city council posts. The plethora of candidates is nothing new for Maplewood: There were once 17 contenders in a city council race.

“This is indeed the Maplewood tradition,” says Mayor Diana Longrie, who is seeking a second term. “People would be disappointed if there wasn’t a lot of interest and excitement about what is going on.”

In recent years Maplewood has become notorious for its combustible politics, protracted city council meetings and personnel upheavals. The city is on its fourth city manager since the last mayoral election in 2005. In that span the burgeoning suburb of nearly 40,000 residents has also lost its human resources director, city attorney, finance director, assistant city manager, deputy police chief, deputy fire chief, and parks and recreation director. It’s also been sued at least five times, primarily over personnel disputes.

Much of the turbulence can be credited to a schism on the city council. In 2005 Longrie narrowly won the mayor’s race and quickly established a 3-2 voting bloc with council members Eric Hjelle and Rebecca Cave. The opposition was represented by Will Rossbach and Kathleen Juenemann. That dynamic changed, however, in 2007 when John Nephew replaced Cave on the city council. Since then the Mayor has often found herself on the short-end of 3-2 votes.

“I love being mayor,” says Longrie. “It is so rewarding working with the residents and helping give them a voice in City Hall.”

Two challengers for Longrie’s post stand out in the crowded field. Bob Cardinal was her predecessor at City Hall, but got knocked off in the primary four years ago. Now he’s hoping for electoral revenge.

“I feel like I got yanked at halftime,” Cardinal says. “So I’ve got to finish the job.”

The primary theme of his campaign: restoring the credibility and reputation of Maplewood’s municipal government.

“I’ve had to apologize for Maplewood for four years,” he says. “It’s very unfortunate.”

In 2005 city council member Rossbach survived the primary but lost to Longrie by 330 votes in the general election. Now he’s looking to reverse that result. He blames that loss, in part, on the fact that a paltry 24 percent of the electorate bothered to vote. But he also argues that Longrie and her allies misrepresented his stance on preserving undeveloped land in Maplewood.

“Diana and the group that’s on the other side did a very good job of convincing people that I am someone that I’m not and that I wanted to do things that I did not want to do,” he says. “I’m quite certain it will happen again.”

Of the remaining candidates, Marvin Koppen is probably the best known, having previously served on the city council. The other three contenders are Fran Grant, Ken Smart and John Wykoff.

The 11-candidate field for the two city council posts also includes a few familiar names. Kathleen Juenemann will be seeking to retain her current seat on the council. Her no-nonsense approach to governance has often put her at odds with Longrie, but Juenemann says she’s not running on a slate with any other candidates.

“I don’t like slates,” she says. “Historically Kathy has run with no one.”

Cave will be seeking a return to her former post. She won a special election in February 2006 but then was ousted by Nephew the following year.

DelRay Rokke and Dick Seppala have also made prior runs for the city council. In 2007 Rokke survived the primary but finished fourth in the general election. Seppala failed to advance to the general election in 2003, garnering 15 percent of the vote.

James Llanas was a political neophyte when he ran for city council two years ago, attracting just three percent of the vote. But this time around he started campaigning early in the cycle and has received union support, including the endorsement of AFSCME Council 5.

“When you knock on somebody’s door and it’s April they’re like what the hell are you doing,” he laughs. “But you have to.”

Llanas is supporting Rossbach for mayor, believing that the current regime has not served the city well. “The perception of Maplewood has been somewhat negative,” he notes, “and it’s because of the actions of the mayor and some city council members.”

Other candidates are frequent visitors to City Hall, many of them not shy about sharing their opinions. Robert Martin says he was outraged by a recent proposal that would’ve eliminated the “Council Corner” feature from the city’s newsletter in the months from August to November during election years.

The purpose of the proposal, introduced by Rossbach: to eliminate city-funded campaigning. But Martin sees it as an assault on free speech.

“If one group’s free speech is restricted or rights are violated, it hurts everybody,” he says. “That motivates me.”

Martin was so upset by the proposal that he stuck around a recent protracted city council meeting until the early morning hours to make his feelings known.

“I was the only candidate up there speaking, taking a stance on this resolution at one o’clock in the morning,” he says.

Julie Binko is another persistent critic of Maplewood politics and policies. Her city council campaign slogan is emblazoned on a placard attached to her car: “I’m thinking that it’s time for Maplewood to move out of the Jurassic age.” The sign includes a picture of a velociraptor.

With so many candidates on the ledger it will likely be difficult for candidates to gain much traction in the two months leading up to the September 15 primary election.

Add to it the fact that it’s summer and that many Minnesotans are burned out on politics following the never-ending U.S. Senate contest, and it’s likely that the race will largely fly under the radar screen. But given Maplewood’s notoriously fractious elections, there will likely be some drama in the coming weeks.

“Brace yourself,” says Llanas. “It’s just going to get ugly.”

Update: Rossbach, Longrie will face off again in Maplewood mayoral contest