County supervisor candidate forum is a quiet affair

The Winneshiek County Republican Party hosted a candidates forum Thursday night for all the Republican candidates for county offices.

Ten of the eleven Republican candidates for county offices attended the forum at the Carrie Lee Elementary School auditorium.  While there were some differences in the statements by the candidates, they agreed on many issues, including the need for an increase in the state gasoline tax in order to create more road funds.

Three Republicans are running in Supervisor District #2.  Floyd Ashbacher said he hopes the property tax rate on businesses is lowered in order to help small businesses.  Wayne Jordahl says Winneshiek County needs to work on attracting more residents.  Ron Onsager noted "We're not keeping or attracting young people."

Dean Darling and Dennis Karlsbroten are running in District #1.  Darling said he would review--but not necessarily approve--whether some services such as police and fire protection should be merged.  Karlsbroten said he was concerned about threats to the area's natural resources, including frack sand mining.

Lonnie Pierce and Gordon Hunter are running in District #5, but Hunter could not attend the forum.  John Logsdon in District #4 and Les Askelson in District #3 do not face a challenger in the primary.  Logsdon urged voters "to hire me to keep on doing what I'm doing," citing his work with Wellington Place and with the county's recycling program.  Askelson said work needs to be done to insure the future of the county's landfill.

Sheriff Lee Bohr and County Auditor Ben Steines also spoke at the forum.