Will Rossbach and Diana Longrie

This biggest electoral shakeup of 2009′s quiet campaign season occurred in Maplewood. Voters ousted Mayor Diana Longrie after four combustible years in office, replacing her with city council member Will Rossbach.

The decision of city council member Eric Hjelle not to seek a second term also ensured that there would be at least one new face on the body. James Llanas, who ran as an ally of Rossbach, claimed that seat. Incumbent Kathleen Juenemann also won another term on the council.

The upshot: Maplewood’s municipal government will have a fundamentally different course over the next four years.

Longrie’s tenure was marked by epic city council meetings that often dragged on into the early morning hours, personnel upheavals and numerous lawsuits. The city churned through four city managers during her four-year term. In just the first year of her term the burgeoning suburb northeast of St. Paul also lost its human resources director, city attorney, finance director, assistant city manager, deputy police chief, deputy fire chief, and parks and recreation director. Litigation costs grew so severe that the League of Minnesota Cities threatened to kick Maplewood off its insurance rolls.

Rossbach says he frequently heard from residents during the campaign that they were embarrassed to live in Maplewood because of all the drama. “That was part of what I campaigned on, returning that kind of respect to the city,” he says. “That goes well outside the borders of Maplewood.”

Longrie blames her defeat on spending by outside groups, particularly AFSCME Council 5, which backed the three victorious candidates. She believes the union retaliated against her for voting against a new labor pact for AFSCME members earlier this year.

“Unfortunately my demonstrated commitment to transparency and the preservation of our neighborhood preserves and being an advocate of the citizens was no match for the deep pockets of the special interest groups that supported my opponent,” Longrie says.

However, Rossbach notes that Longrie also sought the endorsement of AFSCME. “We have a situation where you put yourself out in front of different groups and they decide which candidates best represent their views, and she didn’t prevail in those,” he says. “I’m sure if roles were reversed you wouldn’t hear her talking about that.”

Longrie also believes that the write-in campaign of Ken Smart hurt her prospects for re-election. Almost 10 percent of the votes cast in the mayoral contest were write-ins.

“It was well known that any promotion of the write-in campaign of Ken Smart would definitely hurt me,” she says, noting that he ran on a fiscally conservative platform not unlike her own. “There was certainly a concerted effort to promote that.”

Maplewood has also been notorious in recent years for its bare-knuckle politics, and this campaign season had its share of electoral sparring. Most notoriously, anonymous fliers were distributed highlighting the fact that Llanas is Hispanic and gay.

While the scurrilous mailings didn’t derail Llanas’ campaign, he believes it did have some negative impact on his vote totals. Llanas edged out his closest rival by just 153 votes — a slimmer margin than in the primary election. He says that some residents who had expressed support for his candidacy subsequently withdrew their backing.

“They wouldn’t exactly share why, but I couldn’t think of another reason,” he says. “I thought the margins that we displayed in the primary would be somewhat reflective of the general.”

Maplewood residents won’t have to wait long for the next campaign. Because Rossbach has two years left on his city council term, there will now be a special election to fill that slot. Exactly when it will be held is unknown, but it’s likely to occur before May. Given Maplewood’s history, it’s also likely that there will be a deep field of contenders. Longrie, for one, certainly isn’t ruling out another run.

“I am going to leave that up to speculation,” she says of a potential candidacy. “But I think anybody who knows me knows that I certainly am not a person to be down and out, to be pessimistic, and to be without opportunity.”

Will Rossbach and Diana Longrie

Will Rossbach avenged his electoral defeat from four years ago, ousting Maplewood Mayor Diana Longrie by a 51-39 percent margin on Tuesday. In the previous campaign, Longrie prevailed with 53 percent of the vote.

Rossbach will likely have a friendly city council to work with over the next four years. Kathleen Juenemann and James Llanas, both of whom are viewed as Rossbach allies, won spots on the municipal body. They received support from 27 and 25 percent of voters respectively. Dave Hafner was a close third with 23 percent of the vote.

Maplewood’s notoriously acrimonious and odd politics were once again evident this campaign season. Llanas was the target of fliers that attempted to raise questions about his sexuality and ethnicity. Write-in campaigns by Ken Smart and DelRay Rokke employed some creative logic in suggesting which votes should be counted in their columns. But apparently such electoral ploys didn’t resonate with voters this year.

“I’m obviously happy and excited,” Rossbach said, speaking at an election night gathering at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Maplewood. “I think that it will be good to be able to have the city review both of our records and our performance over the last four years and judge for themselves who has better represented the citizens of Maplewood.”

Longrie secured the second spot on the general election ballot with support from roughly 20 percent of voters. Four years ago Longrie prevailed by 330 votes. Trailing behind were challengers Ken Smart (17 percent) and Marvin Koppen (15 percent).

In the 11-candidate city council primary, incumbent Kathleen Juenemann was the top vote getter, receiving support from just over 20 percent of voters. Joining her on the general election ballot will be James Llanas (18 percent), Rebecca Cave (11 percent) and Dave Hafner (11 percent). The quartet will be vying for two seats on the city council.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman addresses a union rally in Hastings

It’s election day — although you’d be hard-pressed to find much evidence of that fact. Even Joe Soucheray could be forgiven for failing to remember to vote. Minneapolis has no primary because it’s utilizing instant-runoff voting for the first time. The Minneapolis DFL is holding three events tonight to educate people on the new voting process and will conduct a gubernatorial straw poll.

In St. Paul there’s a primary election, but not much at stake. Mayor Chris Coleman faces three challengers, but only one with any credibility: Republican-backed Eva Ng.

There are also four slots on the school board up for grabs. Incumbents John Brodrick, Tom Goldstein and Elona Street-Stewart are all seeking re-election, and they’re joined by four other challengers. In addition, four candidates — Vallay Moua Varro, Quyen Nguyen, Pat Igo and Lucky Rosenbloom — are seeking to fill out the final two years left on departing board member Tom Conlon’s term.

The Ramsey County suburbs offer a little more drama. White Bear Lake initially had four candidates file for the mayoral contest, but two subsequently dropped out, eliminating the need for a primary. The Ward Four city council contest features three challengers, meaning one will be eliminated after today’s vote.

The most engaging contests are undoubtedly in Maplewood, which is notorious for its fractious politics. The mayoral race features seven challengers, including incumbent Diana Longrie. Also likely to draw some votes: former mayor Bob Cardinal, current council member Will Rossbach and former council member Marvin Koppen. That field will be winnowed down to two today.

There are eleven challengers for two city council posts. Incumbent Kathleen Jeunemann is seeking another term, while former council member Rebecca Cave is looking to return to her post. Four candidates will advance to the general election.

In Hennepin County, only Bloomington and part of St. Louis Park have primary contests. In the latter municipality, three candidates — Thomas Peterson, Julia Ross and Bill Theobald — will vie for two spots on the general election ballot in the Ward Four city council contest. Current council member C. Paul Carver is not seeking re-election.

In Bloomington there are four challengers for an at-large spot on the city council: Ryan Gopaul, John “Stretch” Kjenstad, Karen Nordstrom and Tom Tomlinson. Nordstrom is the incumbent.

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

Not surprisingly, within two years Maplewood’s finances were in the toilet and the city was facing numerous lawsuits. Unfortunately for Longrie, she doesn’t possess quite the nimble political skills of Palin. One of her council allies was voted out of office last year, stripping the Mayor of the votes needed to continue enacting her agenda, and last week Longrie was trounced in a primary election for a House seat. Perhaps she should move to Alaska and run for governor.