Glassel Meets the Press

Chisago County Press Questions and Answers

Hello candidate;The Chisago County Press will publish a Q & A voters¹ guide prior to theprimary. Please respond to the following questions and we will print your answers in the voters¹ guide.

The voters guide will run Aug. 28. This leaves the Sept. 4 edition of the paper, if needed for rebuttals or clarifications of Voters¹ Guide content.P.S. There will be a November general election voters¹ guide that will bepublished October 30, but more information will be forwarded to candidateswho advance.

Thanks for your interest in serving Chisago County.

Question 1. Identify one poor decision that the existing County Board hasmade on a specific issue. One that, if elected, which you would make aneffort to move the Board in another direction. Explain what¹s wrong aboutthe Board approach and what¹s right about yours.

Glassel: With so many questionable decisions by Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson, it is difficult to zero in on just one.

However, the reversal of a previous board decision in reference to renewing the “Sunset Clause” concerning county participation in the landfill at Mora set the stage for many incompetent decisions to follow.

Lynn Schultz’s narrow 2004 victory over Lora Walker returned “Good Old Boy” Politics to the County Board. All decisions since that time have been made for the betterment of Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz, Robinson and their cronies, leaving the taxpayers to suffer.

50,000 hard working, responsible people make up Chisago County. The County is not the Board, it is not the Sheriff’s Department, it is not the County employees, it is “you,” and you deserve better representation.

County Government has lost focus on the people it is supposed to serve and has become a self serving entity unto itself. This is a direct result of the lack of leadership presented by Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson, often referred to as the “Axis of Incompetence.”

Getting elected to public office does not make any of us smarter. To be a good representative, we must listen to the people, for the people are smarter than we.

We must have representation that listens to understand, not to respond.

The people of Chisago County need representation on the Board.

I intend to provide that representation.

Question 2. Which statement most aligns with your philosophy on the countyrole in the economy? The slowdown in the housing market presents an opportunity to step back andcreate environmental preservation and other zoning controls in ChisagoCounty. OR The county should address the housing construction slump byloosening zoning controls and offering incentives to developers.The housing market is so bad, any incentive offered to developers would not be affordable to a already over taxed county.

Glassel: The restrictions levied against farmers in the form of zoning is unconscionable and should be removed County wide. A farmer works his butt off, tilling marginal land and paying his taxes. When he retires or wishes to sell, he ought to be able to do as he pleases without Government interference.

Somehow, we survived from the mid 1800’s until the 1990’s without zoning. Many people fought to keep it out, but eventually succumbed to “city hall.”

Many folks work a lifetime to earn enough money to build a home in Chisago County. These are not subdivision buyers. These are people looking to share the good life Chisago offers. These folks want acreage, though many cannot afford to buy enough land as mandated by current zoning.

Chisago Lakes and Franconia Townships are closer to the Cities, hence more likely to attract people wanting to build on acreage. It is a good opportunity to relax zoning in these townships and let buyers and sellers, the free market, determine what is in their own best interest.

It should be noted for the record, that folks living in town do no wish to deny opportunity to their farming friends and neighbors in the Townships. The zoning ordinances concerning farmland are nothing more than inbred big city bureaucracy that has harmed our farmers and ranchers by denying them a free market for their property.

We don’t tell a farmer how to sell his corn. We have no right to tell him how to sell his land. We all prosper from a free market. Why can’t the farmer?

Question 3. Last year the County Board awarded the legal newspaper bid to the highest bidder; with Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson being the majority vote. This was overturned when the county board reviewed legal advice that contracts must go to the qualified low bidder. (Gustafson abstained in second round of voting). Talk about your understanding ofwhat fair bidding means to a democratic system.

Glassel: This action by Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson was not about fair bidding. It was about retaliation against the Press.

Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson sought to punish the Press for articles written about them by the Press. This was a blatant attempt to censor free speech and cannot be tolerated.

This action by Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson was reprehensible, despicable and blatantly un-American. They have a “date certain” with a destiny of their own choosing. Chisago County voters will not tolerate their retaliation come election day.

If we have a free press and free speech, we have Democracy. If self serving politicians like Commissioners Gustafson, Schultz and Robinson can silence free speech, we will succumb to tyranny.

It occurred to me, as I stood next to Commissioner Gustafson at Monday’s Forum, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with those in attendance, including Commissioners Robinson and Schultz, perhaps Commissioners Gustafson, Robinson and Schultz are pledging allegiance to some other Republic, for in the Republic for which I stand, free speech and free press are sacred and the retaliation of Good Old Boy Politicians will not stand.

When free speech is taken from one of us, it is taken from all of us.

Question 4. As you begin to door-knock and hear from voters, what is an issue people are bringing to your attention? Where do you stand on it?

Taxes and the New Jail. We can’t pay our taxes now, how the “BLEEEEEP” can we pay for a new jail?

First of all, I would like to thank Commissioner Rick Green for his courage and candor on the jail issue. To paraphrase Commissioner Greene, “The walls will crumble, before it (the proposed jail) can ever be filled.”

Commissioner Greene further indicated the lack of support for this project in his District. As presently planned, there is no public support for this project in any District.

This project is a boondoggle of colossal proportions and will become a debtor’s prison for the taxpayers Chisago County.

It will take jobs and money from our hard working, rank and file County Employees, which in turn, will reduce services to the residents of Chisago County.

Six years of incompetent leadership has left the County Attorney’s Office in a complete shamble. It was not thought possible that anyone could be less competent than Katherine Johnson.

Janet Reiter has proven us wrong.

While our kids are routinely jailed for underage drinking, the County Attorney’s Office has not sent a felony drug dealer to State Prison in memorable history, although a local man was recently jailed for five days due to expired license tabs.
Perhaps, it is time to prosecute the drug dealers, send them up the river and stop jailing non violent misdemeanor offenders.

If we run the drug dealers out of Chisago County, drug related petty crimes will cease.

It appears to me, that Sheriff Rivard, County Attorney Reiter and our Judges are running up the score against the young and the poor to coerce the taxpayers into building their very own debtors prison.

This project has no public support, is such a monstrous waste of taxpayer dollars, the motives of its few supporters must be brought into question.

It is simply the wrong boondoggle, at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

If Commissioner Gustafson, Robinson and Schultz are reelected, the jail will become reality and Sheriff Todd Rivard, along with the Commissioners will get their names on the cornerstone.

I propose to erect a memorial wall for every single tax dollar wasted on this project. It will be a large cornerstone, but Hell, we can afford it.