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Steak America to open in Burnsville 2A Apartment building back in spotlight 2A Will Morgan wins in House 56B 6A
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date ##, 2009 november 15, 2012
Volume 30, Number # VOLUME 33, NUMBER 38
Dakota County Tribune Since 1884
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inside biz 2012 election
The Tribune went to press on Nov. 6 before election results were known, so today’s edition includes election coverage. 2012 1A & 5A Election forum
Photo by Rick Orndorf
DFLer Sandra Masin chats with her campaign supporters while waiting for the legislative election results last Tuesday night. Masin defeated Republican Rep. Diane Anderson in a tight race on Nov. 6.
Photo by Rick Orndorf
DFLer Jim Carlson (left) watched legislative election results Tuesday night with campaign supporters at Granite City Food and Brewery in Eagan. Carlson won the tight race against Republican Sen. Ted Daley.
Photo by Rick Orndorf
Republicans Rep. Doug Wardlow and Sen. Ted Daley lost their legislative seats Nov. 6 in a Democratic sweep in Eagan. The two legislators who both faced tight races, spoke during a campaign party last Tuesday night.
DFL legislative wins The political pendulum swings to the left again help wrest control DFLers take Senate District 51
Despite House District 57 wins for Republicans, Minnesota House, Senate tip toward Democrats
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
by Tad Johnson
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Dakota County legislative elections have in past years helped determine control of the state House and Senate and that is the case in 2012. With Democrats wresting five of the previously GOP-held legislative seats and one open position in the Sun Thisweek coverage area, Democrats helped take back the Senate and the House in Minnesota. Prior to the election, Republicans held a 37-30 majority in the Senate and a 72-62 majority in the House. With two recounts possible, the DFL majorities are currently 39-
Photo by Tad Johnson
Senate District 57 DFL candidate Greg Clausen shakes hands with people during the Rosemount Leprechaun Days Parade this summer. He won election to the Senate on Tuesday.
Anna Wills
Tara Mack
28 in the Senate and 73-61 in the House, leaving the Legislature and governor’s office will be in DFL control for the first time since 1990, the last year of DFL Gov. Rudy Perpich’s term. Among the DFL wins were Jim Carlson in Senate District See Control, Page 5A
The political pendulum swung to the Democrats last Tuesday as the party swept Senate District 51. Jim Carlson and Sandra Masin won their rematches against Sen. Ted Daley and Rep. Diane Anderson, respectively, while newcomer Laurie Halverson ousted first-term Republican Rep. Doug Wardlow. This isn’t the Burnsville-Eagan district’s first political sweep in recent years. The district has followed state and national trends over the past four years. Carlson and Masin were first elected to the Minnesota Senate and House in 2008 during the Democratic surge in Dakota County and throughout Minnesota. But the pendulum swung back when Daley and Anderson, respectively, won those seats in a Republican sweep in 2010. Wardlow was elected to the House
DFL-controlled Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton need to work with Republicans to solve state’s ills. mark 4A dayton forum
Dakota County judge: Incarceration is not the best option for all offenders, but sometimes it is the only option. edward 4A lynch
in the same year. Daley attributes these swings to the district’s large pool of independakota arts dent voters in addition to its even this week news mix of conservative and liberal vot- Code Type: UPC Version A Bill Lauf, who has Stats: 0 Customer: 3242-ECM Publishers ers. walked the Order #: P34915-017 MAG:across 1.00 P.O. #: BWA: 0.0020 “Independent voters often don’t Ordered landSymbol bringing By: Width: 1.4690 his Positive Up Symbol Height: 1.0200 make a decision until the last min- Polarity: music the Date Run: 05/29/2002 Flexo to Width: 0.0000 people, will ute,” Daley said. perform in The Eagan resident speculates Rosemount. that the district gets this mix due to bill its location between Lakeville, which 24A lauf is predominately conservative and St. Paul, which leans to the left. Strong voter turnout during tight federal races is a factor Daley points as a possible reason why the district follows statewide swings. Daley warns that swinging from 8 34493 00023 6 left to right every two years could come as a detriment to the district. “We need to have a conversation establishing goals and objectives, no General 952-894-1111 See District 51, Page 5A
Distribution 952-846-2070 Advertising 952-846-2011
Clausen makes history in District 57 Former Rosemount High School principal is only third DFL senator elected from Apple Valley-Rosemount area since 1967
by Tad Johnson
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Former Rosemount High School principal Greg Clausen made history after winning election to the Minnesota Senate on Tuesday. He became only the third member of the DFL party to
serve a Senate district that covers Apple Valley and/or Rosemount since 1967 and the first in 23 years. Clausen broke the string of Republican Senate representation in the area he said with a lot of door knocking and expressing to voters that he would
work in a bipartisan manner in the Senate. “That was a concern of a lot of people out there,” he said not long after leaving an election night gathering in Rosemount. “They see the gridlock happening and a lack of compromise.” Clausen attributed his win
to hard work saying he owes a lot to the many volunteers, including his wife, Bobbie, and their children. “I had so much support from people knocking on doors and making phone calls,” he said. “We tried to do all the things See Clausen, Page 5A