Here’s how I voted this year, along with a brief explanation for why I chose who I did. Further explanation below:
- US Representative District 3: Erik Paulsen (divided government)
- State Senator District 42: David Hann (divided government, assuming Mark Dayton wins the governor’s race; also support for school choice)
- State Representative District 42B: Jennifer Loon (divided government, assuming Mark Dayton wins the governor’s race)
- Governor & Lt. Governor: Tom Horner and James A. Mulder (viewpoints on economics, civil liberties, immigration; also general support for third parties)
- Attorney General: Christopher Monnier (write-in; Lori Swanson is too much of an economic meddler and Chris Barden wants to require a Photo ID to vote, which is a dealbreaker)
- Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie (only candidate who doesn’t tout his support (hopefully he doesn’t support it) requiring photo IDs to vote)
- State Auditor: Patricia Anderson (divided government AND makes a nice (and very important) distinction between “pro-market” (good) and “pro business” (bad))
- Mayor of Eden Prairie: Nancy Tyra-Lukens (probably the best person to ensure that the Southwest Corridor light rail line gets built as soon as possible)
- Associate Justice - Supreme Court 2: Helen Meyer (from what I could ascertain she seems friendly to civil liberties)
- Associate Justice - Supreme Court 6: Alan Page (pro-choice)
- Judge - Court of Appeals 13: Randolph W. Peterson (opponent signed a petition opposing those who opposed the Iraq War)
- Three Rivers Park Commisioner: John F. Gibbs (non-incumbent and claims to be a fiscal conservative)
- Eden Prairie City Council: Dan Kitrell (transparency advocate) and Sherry Butcher Wickstrom (seems like an effective employee)
I consider myself a liberal libertarian, which in general means I favor limited government (limited not necessarily in size but more importantly in its scope of authority). A lot of the people I voted for are Republicans, and my primary reason voting for these candidates is because I favor divided government (I’m assuming that Mark Dayton will win the governorship in Minnesota). Recall that during the boom of the late 1990s we had divided government at the federal level with President Bill Clinton (Democrat) and Republican control of Congress. To oversimplify things, since Congress (both at the state and federal levels) has the most control over spending, I’m hoping that petty party rivalries will lead to less government expansion.
Another trend you might notice is that most (I think all) of the judges I voted for tend to be liberal. This is because it seems that among the issues that make it to the courts (social issues), I tend to favor a liberal perspective.
