Crow Wing County's open District 1 seat prompted three candidates to file Tuesday on the first day of filing for county, state legislative and judicial seats.
Denny Schmidt, an Oak Lawn Township Board member for more than 16 years, and Philip "P.J." Trusty and Al Gmeinder, both of Fort Ripley all filed for the District 1 Crow Wing County Board seat currently held by Dewey Tautges. Tautges announced he would not run for a third term last week.
Trusty and Gmeinder could not be reached for comment.
Filing in Cass County were incumbent District 3 Commissioner Jeff Peterson and two candidates for the District 5 seat - incumbent Commissioner Virgil Foster of Cass lake and challenger Dick Downham of Remer.
Denny Schmidt
Schmidt, 61, said the reason he wants to serve on the county board is that he likes to help people. An RSVP volunteer, he is a former board member for Kinship Partners and is a fundraiser for that group.
The Oak Lawn Township Board member said he has a keen sense when it comes to recognizing frivolous spending.
"Financial responsibility is the key to being an effective commissioner," he said. "Primarily due to rising energy costs operating expenses are escalating to an unprecedented level. All county departments and programs will need to be closely examined. Very difficult decisions will have to be made regarding what we need and what we want. The time may come when some projects and programs may have to be under-funded in an effort to force efficiencies."
Schmidt, who is semi-retired and works as a courier for Mills Automotive, has a background in sales and marketing in the manufacturing industry. With the exception of one year he has lived in Crow Wing County for the past 35 years.
With the county scheduled to revamp its emergency communications he said that his 40-plus years experience as a licensed amateur radio operator would be helpful.
Schmidt has been collecting minutes of the county board meetings since the first of the year in order to get up to speed on the issues before that body.
"It's going to be tough road in 2009," he said.
Schmidt has been married for 36 years, has a grown daughter and two grandsons. He is a free-lance writer and photographer for the Lake Country Journal and other publications.
Also filing in Crow Wing County was Robert Albrecht, the incumbent District 5 Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor.
Filing for separate Ninth Judicial District seats were incumbents Michael J. Kraker of Mahnomen and David F. Harrington of Bemidji, Robert D. Tiffany of Park Rapids and Tamara Yon of Roseau.
Filings for county, legislative and judicial offices closes July 15.
MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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