New Washington County Board member: 'We connected with voters'

Roads, economic development and managing growth will be priorities for Karla Bigham, the newest Washington County Board member, when she takes office in January.

Bigham said she repeatedly heard concern over those issues as she knocked on doors across District 4, which includes Cottage Grove, St. Paul Park, Newport, Grey Cloud Island and Denmark Township. She gained 61 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Autumn Lehrke in most of the district's 20 precincts.

"We connected with voters. That's really what made the difference," Bigham said the morning after the election. "I think the voters on Tuesday sent a message that they wanted a commissioner who's going to best represent them and bring results to the community."

Bigham, a former legislator and Cottage Grove City Council member, described herself as a "familiar face" in the district. She said she planned to work hard to build ridership for the forthcoming Red Rock transit corridor, to help write a new strategic plan for county libraries, and to preserve jobs at the waste-burning Resource Recovery plant in Newport.

"My style will be more engaged and involved in the community. That is the way you stay connected with your voters," Bigham said.

Lehrke blamed Bigham for her loss.

"It is unfortunate that all the good work I delivered for the district was overshadowed by smears and lies," Lehrke said. "My opponent agreed with almost everything I did, but when she couldn't attack my policies, she attacked my person."

In the other County Board race, incumbent Ted Bearth of Oakdale beat challenger Jeremy Olson of Woodbury with 63 percent of the votes. Bearth, 74, said he lost 12 pounds while knocking on doors all over District 2 since September. "To me, that's how you get votes," he said.

Funding for roads, bridges and transit looms large as a County Board issue, Bearth said.

"We can't just keep raising the wheelage tax," he said. "It's going to take a lot of collaboration and cooperation between the various entities of government."

He also wants to dispense with a sunset requirement on boards and commissions that he said forces good volunteers out of public service.

Incumbents in cities and townships generally did well across Washington County, with some notable exceptions. Stillwater, Oakdale and Forest Lake are among the cities with new mayors.

Oakdale voters elected long-term City Council member Stan Karwoski as mayor to replace the retiring Carmen Sarrack.

Stev Stegner, who served two two-year terms as Forest Lake's mayor, will return to the post he left in 2010, replacing Chris Johnson, who did not seek reelection. Stegner ran on a platform of job creation and economic development. The city is building its new City Center project and issued $9 million in bonds to help develop a new YMCA.

In Afton, Richard Bend, appointed mayor last spring after the resignation of Pat Snyder, won the post outright. He supports city land-use rules that "are designed to perpetuate and preserve Afton's rural character and, in the Old Village, the quaint, attractive atmosphere enjoyed by residents and visitors."

Cottage Grove voters returned Dave Thiede for a second term to the City Council, but newcomer Steve Dennis led all vote-getters. Incumbent Derrick Lehrke lost a bid for a second term, his candidacy bruised by his July 30 arrest on Hwy. 61 after allegedly driving 110 miles per hour and swerving while coming home from the brewpub in Newport, which he owns with his wife, Autumn Lehrke.

Dennis, an enthusiastic campaigner who has been a fixture at City Council meetings, owns Dennis Brothers Liquor and sees business development as a priority.

Voters in Bayport, Lakeland, Marine on St. Croix, Oak Park Heights and Oakdale also re-elected incumbents. In Landfall, three were returned to office from a field of 10 candidates.

It was a different story in Lake Elmo and Grant, where challengers opposing housing growth turned out incumbents. Both cities, largely rural, have struggled with disputes over how much citizen comment should be allowed at meetings. An added controversy in Grant involved an attempt to suspend the city's charter. That ballot issue was defeated by two votes.

There were 10 contested races for Minnesota House in Washington County. Incumbents were re-elected in nine. The one exception was in District 53B, which includes parts of Woodbury. Incumbent Andrea Kieffer chose not to run, but a fellow Republican, Kelly Fenton, defeated DFLer Kay Hendrikson.

In the county's lone contested judicial race, District Judge Susan Miles was re-elected.

Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037