Earlier this month, Bluestem reported in SD 22: out-of-state calls ask voters which candidate has most American-sounding name that a call center in Utah had been contracted by an unknown party. Attack mail is also landing in voters' post boxes.
District residents aren't taking this lightly. Bluestem had posted about Republican candidate Bill Weber's weak letter of response. Mary Lou Mulligan fires back in a letter to the editor of the Worthington Globe in Weber makes wrong choice in letter response:
I was shocked when I read Bill Weber’s recent letter in your newspaper. Clearly he is trying to have it both ways, benefiting from personal attacks while accusing a good man of resorting to “political tactics.” Weber and I both know that gossipy phone calls filled with lies were made to households throughout the district. I know because I received one of the calls and heard the garbage it contained. As Bill Weber knows, the calls were made on his behalf, whether or not he paid for them or directly authorized them.
The right thing for Bill Weber to do was not to accuse Alan Oberloh of playing politics for standing up for his wife and setting the facts straight. The right thing to do was to publicly acknowledge the calls and pledge to do what he could to stop them.
But that is not what happened. I expected better. My choice this fall is clear. I can vote for a candidate who has allowed dirty campaign tactics to proliferate in our region, or I can vote for a candidate who is running a clean campaign focused on the issues. I am voting for the clean campaign. I am voting for Alan Oberloh.
And in the Marshall Independent, Jon Hoyme of Slatyon spells out the positive case for the mayor in Oberloh a solid choice in D22:
Who I vote for is an important decision. To help make my decision I weigh many things. The most important is the candidate's ability to represent us, the voters, rather than a political party or special interest.
We have two candidates asking for our vote for state senator in District 22. We were represented ably for more than 20 years by Jim Vickerman. We need a state senator who can follow Sen. Vickerman's example of integrity and independence.
Alan Oberloh has never been involved in partisan politics before, while Bill Weber is a political party insider who once was his local party chair and his party's 2006 candidate against Vickerman. Both Oberloh and Weber served their cities as mayor, but Oberloh went the extra mile for Worthington. Realizing that rural towns faced similar problems, Oberloh chose to work for his community by serving on the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, where he was elected president.
In his role as mayor of a rural city and chairman of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Alan Oberloh worked with both Democrats and Republicans at the state legislature.
And when necessary, Oberloh argued with legislators from both parties as he pushed for recognition of greater Minnesota's special needs.
Looking over the resumes of both candidates I made my choice. On election day I will cast my vote for Alan Oberloh.
Photo: Worthington Mayor and SD22 state senate candidate Alan Oberloh.
Related posts: SD 22: out-of-state calls ask voters which candidate has most American-sounding name
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