Dakota County
Tribune
Farmington | Rosemount and the surrounding areas www.dakotacountytribune.com
NEWS Republicans take house Local victories help GOP increase influence at the Minnesota Legislature. Page 3A
OPINION AP scores show progress Minnesota public school students showed positive signs on recent Advanced Placement tests. Page 4A
November 6, 2014 • Volume 129 • Number 36
Corraro narrowly unseats School Board incumbent Sauser, Lee win by larger margins in Farmington by Andy Rogers SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
The Farmington School Board will have a new member after Tuesday’s election, which came down to 118 votes. Incumbents Melissa Sauser (28.22 percent) and Tera Lee (26.32 percent) will return for another four years winning two of the three open seats.
For the The marfinal spot, gin was challenger 0.61 perSteve Corcent. raro had C o r 22.76 perraro said cent (4,226 he was v o t e s ) Melissa very emoTera Lee Steve n a r r o w l y Sauser tional after Corraro d e f e at i n g the victory, incumbent Brian Treakle’s 22.12 which wasn’t apparent until after percent (4,108 votes) by 118 votes 11 p.m. Tuesday. out of 18,573 cast. He said that he feels the board Treakle could have requested a is going in the right direction. recount if the difference between “There’s no issue, per se, it’s the vote cast between him and just about giving back to the comCorraro was less than 0.5 percent. munity,� Corraro said.
He said his first priority is the students, and he wants to make sure teachers have the tools to do their job. “I don’t have an agenda to change the world,� he said. He said he felt his victory meant that the public looks positively at change. This was the fewest number of candidates for School Board in an election since 2006, when all three incumbents were unopposed. In 2010, Treakle, Lee and Sauser won their terms among a field See BOARD, 7A
Garofalo wins sixth term in House Republican wins with 63.87 percent of vote
THISWEEKEND
the vote (5,008 votes). Garofalo was first elected in 2004. State Rep. Pat GarofaThe district includes lo, a Republican, Farmington and won his sixth townships to the term in the Minsoutheast. nesota House While his victory defeating Marla was by a signifiVagts, a DFLer, cant margin, in during Tuesday’s 2010 Garofalo in House District won with 65.90 58B. percent of the Garofalo, 43, vote. In 2012, he works as a net- Pat Garofalo won with 59.46 work engineer percent. and lives in Farmington. He won with 63.87 percent Email Andy Rogers at of the vote (8,883 votes). andy.rogers@ecm-inc.com. Vagts had 36.01 percent of by Andy Rogers
SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Christmas comes early The Minnesota Valley Men’s and Women’s Chorales will present their holiday concerts Nov. 13-15 at Apple Valley’s Grace Lutheran. Page 19A
SPORTS
State Rep. Anna Wills, R-Apple Valley, (center) shared in the joy of an election night victory in District 57B with her campaign treasurer Jane Binion and finance chairman Jeff Lorsung. (Photo by Tad Johnson)
City Wills wins in District 57B Farmington Council will have She credits door-knocking campaign for the victory vor on election night. She said she and her team concentrated very hard in that area One-term incumbent state with an extensive door-knockRep. Anna Wills, R-Apple Valing campaign. ley, attributed her win on elec“I could not have done tion night to connecting with it without them,� Wills said, voters over the course of her referring to those who voluncampaign that had her knockteered on her campaign, which ing on doors nearly every day included about 20 core memsince the 2014 legislative sesbers. sion ended on May 16. She said she only restWills, a former legislative Denise Packard ed on Sundays and a few days aide, said she felt very good around the Fourth of July holiafter the race was called in day. her favor when speaking at an Wills won with the election party at her campaign same margin of victory – 58.1 manager’s house in Roseto 41.5 percent– as the other mount. incumbent state representative “I didn’t want to take anyin District 57. thing for granted,� Wills said. Rep. Tara Mack, R“I wanted to earn the voters’ Apple Valley, who first won in trust and I worked hard to talk 2008, outdistanced Democrat to as many of them as pos- Anna Wills Bruce Folken in 57A, which insible.� cludes the southern portion of Wills said she was pleased that two See WILLS, 7A precincts she lost in 2012 went in her faby Tad Johnson
SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Irish runners place seventh Rosemount’s Berhe 16th; Farmington’s Hyytinen 13th at the state cross country meet in Northfield. Page 12A
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Obermueller loses to Kline
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one new member Pitcher wins open seat, Bartholomay re-elected by Andy Rogers SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
The Farmington City Council will have a new member after the election on Tuesday night. Tim Pitcher won a spot during Tuesday’s election along with incumbent Jason Bartholomay for the City Council. Bartholomay led with 38.57 percent of the votes while Pitcher had 38.29. There was an open seat after Christy Jo Fogarty, who was on the council for 12 years, decided not to run. Pitcher said he was sur-
DeBettignies, Nelson win in Rosemount Incumbent, new member to join City Council race.
by Tad Johnson
PUBLIC NOTICE
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A Announcements . . . . . 8A
The final vote totals were DeBetThe Rosemount tignies 3,769; Nelson City Council will wel2,716; Hiben 2,582; come a new member and Nowlin 1,888. after the start of the Nelson, who new year after Shaun works in sales and has Nelson finished as one been a board memof the top two candi- Mark DeBetber of the Rosemount Shaun Nelson dates in Tuesday’s tignies Area Hockey Associaelection along with intion, touted his ability to work well with cumbent Mark DeBettignies. people and get things done. DeBettignies and Nelson also finNelson said the city’s most important ished one-two in the Aug. 12 primary. issue is to bring more businesses to reloNelson outdistanced Kerry Hiben and Alba Nowlin in the four-candidate See NELSON, 7A SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Inside this edition are the minutes for the Oct. 13 regular meeting of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Board. Page 13A
INDEX
Tim Jason Pitcher Bartholomay prised with the amount of votes he received. As a newcomer, Pitcher was up against another challenger David McMillen, a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission and delivery specialist, who finished third with 22.43 percent of the votes. See PITCHER, 7A
Democrat Mike Obermueller met with supporters Tuesday night during a campaign party at Granite City in Eagan. Obermueller lost to Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline as Obermueller had 38.8 percent of the vote in the 2nd District. Turn to Page 2A for the story. (Photo by Jessica Harper)
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