The final Bloomington. Tomorrow. Together. community "cafe" gathering is on Thursday, November 4, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., at The Lounge at Mall of America. City staff will be asking for input on how the City should look and feel in the next three to five years. The event will feature small group conversations and refreshments. More details and registration information are available at Blm.mn/cafe21.

Can’t attend? Tell Bloomington your priorities for helping Bloomington continue to thrive via Let’s Talk Bloomington. Idea boards will be open through Sunday, November 7.

More information is available on the planning page at the city's website: Bloomington.Tomorrow.Together.

Voting for the School Board matters.  We need people who will listen first to parents and students when making decisions.  Early voting is possible at the Edina City Hall Monday-Friday during the day.  Vote at your precinct on November 2 from 7:00 am – 8:00 pm.

There are 6 people running for 4 positions.  The current School Board has 6 of 7 members that were endorsed by the Edina Teachers Union.  They should be listening to parents and students first.  They supported the union when they wanted to shut down the schools last November.  They have supported Critical Race Theory ideas to promote racial equity that have led to declining academic achievement for all races since 2014.  22% of Edina students attend other schools.  This has increased dramatically since 2014.  Proposed changes for courses of study are being re-written in ways that are unacceptable for most of us.

I want a board of independent thinkers that will represent the voice of the community, parents and students not the Edina Teachers Union! Erica Allenburg has been endorsed by the Teachers Union.  Michael Birdman, Karen Gabler and Dan Arom are supported by past Union leadership and current Board members who were union endorsed.  That disqualifies them from being the independent thinkers we need in Edina.   Look at everyone’s web site to make your own decision.

I recommend you vote for only two or three candidates.

Editor's note: We've listed all the candidate websites under the Local Elections, Edina tab on our site CLICK HERE

If you want our recommendations, contact us ([email protected]) and we will be happy to help.

Senate District 49 recently received an email that we felt was worth sharing. The author indicated he works in the public sector and we've chosen to not include his name.

“I proudly became a US CITIZEN two years ago and immediately started using my right to vote. I am very concerned the way our country is heading in the current political theater. I have some personal experience about voting manipulation and voting fraud in my country of birth, and the resemblance about what is happening here is very troublesome.

“I would like to vote for candidates that are pro-America, candidates that support and defend our exceptional constitution as written. Becoming a US CITIZEN was one of the most important decisions in my life. I swore to protect and defend our beloved nation against not only foreigner enemies but also local enemies, and I strongly feel that our local enemies are far more dangerous than any other foreign enemies.

“I could elaborate more; however, I just want to do my part and help elect GOP candidates in the next elections. Searching the names of candidates online helps a bit; however, very few candidates describe their political party affiliation (I believe it is a mistake when they do that) and I do not want to vote for a candidate opposing our political view.

“Thank you in advance for your help, I will continue supporting our beloved GOP party despite what others say about us, and believe me when I say that we are a very large “silent majority” we just need to stay focused and together.”

Bloomington voters will be electing four school board members from a list of 10 candidates this year. Voters may select up to four of the candidates on their ballots. For additional information on some of the other school board candidates as well as city council candidates, CLICK HERE.

Here are some highlights of candidate Jeff Salovich.

Jeff Salovich graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis and is a long-time resident of Bloomington. He graduated from Dunwoody Institute’s HVAC Associates Program and completed the 5-year Pipefitter’s Local 539 HVAC Service Apprenticeship. Jeff has worked over 19 years as Pipefitter Foreman at the Minneapolis City Hall. He and his wife Amanda have four children who are either graduates of or currently attending Jefferson High School. Amanda is a paraprofessional  with the special needs program, working at Jefferson this year.

Volunteer Experience
• Youth sports coach 2004-20013
• Bloomington Athletic Association soccer coach, starting in 2017
• Leader of Hillside Church’s 3rd-4th grade Wednesday night youth group, with wife Amanda
• Co-leader Hillside Church;s 5th-6th grade Sunday School Class
• Buddy Break volunteer, working with special needs kids for a Saturday morning every month

Why is Jeff Salovich running?
• To be a School Board member unencumbered by endorsements from special interest groups or politicians
• To speak up for ALL children based on my life experiences
• To bring fundamental education back for the benefit of our kids first and then for our community and then the larger world of their future
• To be a proponent of civilized adult conversations about what is needed to improve public educational outcomes

Jeff Salovich’s priorities are
• Bring my 24-year experience as a parent to School Board decisions on educational matters
• Advocate for trades work and their integration into public schools
• Ensure that school classes stay neutral and on subject, not drift into things that cause division
• Emphasize success in class to help children grow into responsible adults
• Stand against any policies that cause divisions, and support those that promote common sense fixes

You may find more information about his campaign at his website jeffreysalovich.com.

Minnetonka voters will be electing a mayor and two city council members this year. All will be running at-large. Stacy Cranbrook is a candidate for Minnetonka City Council Seat B. For a listing of the Minnetonka City Council and School Board candidates and links to more information, CLICK HERE.

Stacy Cranbrook is running “to be the voice of common sense and reason to encourage positive change and growth within our city, while preserving and protecting what we have already created and love about Minnetonka.”

Background and Experience:
• Minnetonka resident for 23 years
• Two daughters who have attended Minnetonka schools
• Licensed Real Estate Broker, nominated as a “Super Real Estate Agent” by Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine
• Served on the Minnesota Association of Realtors Professional Standards Committee
• President of the Minnetonka High School Booster Club

Priorities
• Use Real Estate experience to make smart decisions regarding development
• Promote the features of the city that enhance quality of life
• Sustain the city’s park and trail system
• Support the people that live, and the businesses that thrive, in Minnetonka.

You may find more information about her candidacy at her website, votestacycranbrook.com.

Elections for School Boards and, in many locations, city council members, are underway. Sadly, these local elections garner less attention and interest than they warrant. The people that are elected this year will decide on municipal spending, property tax rates and utility fees, local ordinances, education policies, and school budgets.

The election this year is especially important because the pandemic has had a significant impact on tax revenues and pupil engagement.  What are your future city council and school board members going to prioritize in this new environment?  Is minimizing increases to taxes and fees important to them? 

On the other hand, if you choose not to pay attention and not to vote, you are allowing a committed minority of your neighbors to decide these elections for you.  Is that what you want?

There are good commonsense conservative candidates running for city council and school board in many of our local districts. We have listed several good Bloomington candidates on our website, as well as a short example ballot. If you want our recommendations, contact us ([email protected]) and we will be happy to help.

A note on the process of voting itself: up until November 2, voting may be done at city hall using absentee ballots. In Hennepin County, through the end of this week (Oct 23), those ballots will be sent to and stored by Hennepin County until Election Day. It is not clear to us at this point if Republican election judges will be present when Hennepin County counts these absentee ballots.

Starting October 25, the week leading up to Election Day, you may actually vote at city halls and feed your ballots into voting machines, just as you would if you voted at a polling place on Election Day. On Election Day itself, we hope that most polling places will have Republican election judges in place.

For the first time this year, those voting for city council members in Bloomington and Minnetonka will use Ranked Choice Voting. Promoted as being a simple process, in fact it can be confusing, even overwhelming to some.

Unlike November municipal ballots in the past, Bloomington and Minnetonka voters will be presented with more candidates from which to choose and be asked to rank them in order of preference. Voters need to understand that they do not need to rank all of the candidates. You should only rank the ones that you actually might want to see in office. If you do not favor a candidate, always leave the oval by that candidate blank. In fact, you can vote for a single candidate for each office and leave all the other preferences blank, if that one is the only one you want. But, CAUTION – rank your chosen candidate(s) only once; do not fill in one candidate’s oval across all the columns.

Understand that if none of the candidates for an office get 50% plus one vote, the candidate with the least votes will be eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, the candidate that was your second-choice will get your vote. If none of the remaining candidates in this second round exceed 50%, the process of elimination and examination of lower-preference votes will continue. It is possible that if you indicated a third preference on the ballot, that candidate could be elected based on your vote.

To see an illustration of how a Bloomington voter could vote using Ranked Choice Voting, CLICK HERE and scroll down.

The top executive team under recently elected Republican Party of Minnesota Chair David Hann is taking shape.

Donna Bergstrom was named by Chair Hann to be the Deputy Chair of the party at the conclusion of the recent State Central Committee meeting on October 2. Residing near Duluth, Bergstrom has been active in conservative politics in Minnesota. She was tapped by Jeff Johnson to be the Lt Governor candidate in his gubernatorial campaign in 2018. She brings a wealth of experience as a retired Marine Corps officer, a government relations consultant, a guardian ad litem for the 6th Judicial Court in Minnesota, and an affiliate with the MN Federation of Republican Women and American Indians.

Lee Prinkkila is the new Treasurer of the Republican Party of Minnesota. Prinkkila is a Certified Public Account and has been a Chief Financial Officer for a number of companies in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding area as well as in St Cloud and Virginia, MN.  Lee is a strategic finance leader with experience in both private and public companies. His work with several data analysis tools will help the party in decision-making by leveraging pertinent data and metrics. An active CPA, Prinkkila has a broad knowledge of accounting rules and regulations. He has been a GOP Committee member with Senate District 5 in St. Louis County and then with Senate District 42 in Eden Prairie and Minnetonka.

Donna Bergstrom was officially ratified as Deputy Chair by the State Executive Committee on October 13. Among other duties, Bergstrom will take the lead on Election Integrity initiatives for the Republican Party of Minnesota. Lee Prinkkila’s appointment as Treasurer was confirmed during the same State Executive Committee meeting. Both assumed their duties immediately.

The money donated to the Republican Party of Minnesota by Anton Lazzaro, $47,000, has been dispersed to two in-state organizations that do important work on behalf of victims of juvenile and adult trafficking: A.C.T United (https://www.actunited.org), and Terebinth Refuge (https://terebinthrefuge.org).

The MN GOP Executive Committee, meeting on September 16, identified the two charities. After more fully vetting them, the Executive Committee voted to authorize sending $23,500 to each. Checks were sent out on September 30.

The Newsletter has run articles in September and October explaining Rep. Steve Elkins’ bill in the state legislature. I hope Bloomington citizens pay attention and start asking their city council members about this bill.

The bill itself is sweeping. Among other things, it would remove Bloomington’s power to zone a neighborhood for single family residences; force fast track processing of multi-family (including apartment) high density housing; and use the profit motive to almost guarantee builders would be scrambling to build higher density housing. It also provides a guarantee that property owners could build solar power, which means they could use the law to force neighbors to cut trees which shaded their roofs (where most solar power installations go).

Elkins’ own letter to constituents cites several articles he wrote or contributed to. In those articles he makes it clear that he believes single-family zoning is racist and has to be eliminated for that reason.

Elkins’ bill and his arrogant, elitist attitude endangers our right to live in the kind of neighborhood we please. If we wanted to live in a densely populated neighborhood, my wife and I would have stayed in Minneapolis. We love our single-family neighborhood and the home we built ourselves twenty-one years ago. Speaking for myself, I don’t need Rep. Elkins to lecture me about my supposed racism because I want to live that way.

Elkins has supported and does support city councilman Nathan Coulter,  running for re-election this year (and also Shawn Nelson whose term ends in 2023). He has contributed to the campaign of Lona Dallesandro (running to replace Councilman Baloga) who in turn served on Coulter’s campaign. Coulter, Nelson, Mayor Busse and at-large representative Jenna Carter seem to form a tight majority on our council, support one another’s campaigns, and apparently are in ideological agreement with Steve Elkins.

This council in-crowd of cool kids needs to be asked straight up if they support the Elkins bill. And if they deny it, asked if the City is going to actively oppose it in the next legislative session. Candidates this year also need to be asked where they stand on the Awful Elkins Bill.