Mayors of Waseca, Good Thunder will continue to run after pleading guilty to misdemeanors

Two mayors in south central Minnesota say they will continue running for re-election after both recently submitted guilty pleas to gross misdemeanor charges in separate cases.

Randy Zimmerman, 49, said Friday that he trusts voters in Waseca, 30 minutes east of Mankato, will support his re-election campaign after he pleaded guilty to perjury under oath. Zimmerman admitted to writing on a voter registration application in 2022 that his address was within Waseca, instead of his actual residence outside the city limits, as part of a plea on Oct. 4 that would dismiss two felony perjury charges.

“It’s going to be up to the voters; my situation has been an open book from the get-go,” Zimmerman said, adding that he still is building his house in Waseca. Zimmerman had written in his childhood home in the town, instead of the address that was on his driver’s license and other documents, according to court filings.

His challenger for mayor, Milton Madson, said he was running to hold Zimmerman and other public officials accountable. “It’s not right that he should be able to run as mayor,” said Madson, 37. “He just kind of got slapped on the wrist.”

Zimmerman is slated for sentencing Nov. 27.

Robert John Anderson, 68, the mayor of Good Thunder since 1992, also had a plea hearing Oct. 4 and pleaded guilty to a conflict-of-interest charge, a gross misdemeanor.

Anderson admitted to having a personal financial interest in a transaction on Aug. 25, 2020, after a city worker contacted his son for a street project, leading to the family trucking company receiving $1,723 to haul gravel.

Anderson broke the law but it wasn’t a “willful violation,” his lawyer, Thomas Hagen, said on Friday.

“It’s a small town,” Hagen said of Good Thunder, which is 20 minutes south of Mankato and has a population of about 500. “The city was operating like that for years before he was mayor; that’s just the way they always did it.”

As part of a plea deal, Anderson will have three felony counts of embezzlement and theft against him dropped, and he will not see any additional jail time and will have the remaining misdemeanor charge dismissed within a year.

“The only thing he admitted guilt to is the only crime he committed,” Hagen said.

Anderson is due for sentencing Jan. 14 in Blue Earth County District Court.

He is running for re-election unopposed.