District 56A: Kimmel
The Burnsville-Savage area is populated with families raising school-aged children. That's why we find the matchup to replace retiring Republican Rep. Pam Myhra an odd one. It's a contest between Republican Drew Christensen, a 21-year-old political science major at the University of Minnesota, and DFLer Dan Kimmel, a 62-year-old semiretired business software developer.
Kimmel has the clear edge in life experience and the pragmatism that instills. On that basis, he gets our nod. But we wish both parties had found candidates more representative of the district.
An Illinois native, Kimmel served eight years on the Lockport Township High School governing board in exurban Chicago before moving to Burnsville 16 years ago. He ran unsuccessfully for the Legislature 12 years ago, and is trying again after winding down his work as a self-employed business process improvement consultant. His familiarity with other cities gives him a sense of competitive urgency about Minnesota's underfunded transportation system.
Christensen's desire for a career in public service is commendable, and his field work on U.S. Rep. John Kline's campaign has schooled him in practical politics. He's bright and eager. But he has scant record of community involvement, and he seldom strays from simplistic partisan talking points on issues. He says he can be an independent voice for the millennial generation at the Capitol. If he gets that chance, we hope he does more independent thinking.
District 58A: Willingham
Lakeville is seeing its most competitive state House race in many years in the wake of GOP state Rep. Mary Liz Holberg's departure from the Legislature to run for a seat on the Dakota County Board. The district leans Republican, but DFLers found a strong contender in school activist Amy Willingham. She's our choice over Republican Jon Koznick, a mortgage banker.
Both are 42, enthusiastic, engaging and community-minded. But Willingham, a biology instructor at St. Paul College and a physical therapist, displayed something special as head of last year's School District 194 levy referendum campaign. Previous levy increase requests in the district were either defeated or approved by small margins. Underfunding had produced the largest class sizes in the region and led to the dismissal of 170 teachers in the years before the 2013 vote. The campaign Willingham led produced record turnout and secured a 68 percent vote in favor of more funding.
A Lakeville native, Willingham's ties to its public schools go deep. Her husband is a 27-year teacher there. Together, the couple has led Lakeville's youth volleyball program for 16 years.
By contrast, Koznick said he "stayed out" of the levy campaign and questioned the district's spending in prior years. A stickler for local control of public schools, he rejects as state overreach this year's antibullying legislation and would resist new state mandates on school districts. He favors using tax dollars to allow families to move their children out of poorly performing public schools to private schools such as the one operated by All Saints Catholic Church, where he is a member of the parish finance council.
