Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com
Published - Monday, November 30, 2009
Spring elections: A look ahead
Races for the Tomah mayor’s office and the Monroe County Board of supervisors will highlight the spring elections in 2010.
City of Tomah
Tomah Mayor Ed Thompson announced earlier this month that he will not seek re-election in order to focus on his run for State Senate in the 31st district.
Two potential candidates have already declared their intentions to seek the mayor’s office. Fourth district alderman Pete Peterson announced on Nov. 5 he will run for mayor, and former mayor and city administrator John Rusch declared his intentions on Nov. 17.
Candidates can begin to take out papers for city and county elections on Tuesday. The deadline to file for candidacy is Jan. 5, 2010.
The city of Tomah will also elect a municipal judge and four members of the city council this spring. Judge Tom Flock has served as municipal judge since 1986, with the exception of two terms from 1992-1995.
On the city council, terms will expire this spring for alderpersons Ron Olsen (2nd district), Peterson (4th district), Dennis Greeno (6th district) and Joanne Westpfahl (8th district). All will face re-election.
Monroe County
The Monroe County Board of supervisors will also be elected this spring, nearly five months after eight new supervisors were seated following a recall election.
The new supervisors elected during the recall face re-election this spring. Those supervisors are Andrew Kaftan (5th district), Richard Powell (10th district), John Powell (12th district), James Schroeder (13th district), Larry McTaggart (16th district), Dan Olson (18th district), Brian Buswell (20th district), and William Blanchard Jr. (21st district).
Carrol Wallerman of the 11th district was the only incumbent to survive the recall election. He faces re-election this spring along with supervisors Carol Las (1st district), Nodji Van Wychen (2nd District), Harv Simmons (3rd district), Jeff Antony (4th district), Kyle Gibbens (6th district), Robert Retzlaff (7th district), Rick Irwin (8th district), Mary Cook (9th district), Julie Radke (14th district), Keith Kenyon (15th district), Bruce Humphrey (17th district), Chuck Bluske (19th district), John Rusch (22nd district), Ed Westphal (23rd district), and James Rice (24th district).
Former supervisors that were defeated during the recall election are Teresa Pierce (5th), Simon Wells (10th), James Kuhn (12th), James Schilling (16th), Charles Schwarz (18th), Robert Helming (20th), and Pete Peterson (21st).
School Board
Three Tomah School Board seats are up for election next spring.
Pam Buchda, Gary Grovesteen and Jerry Fushianes hold the three seats at stake. The top two vote-getters will serve three-year terms ending in 2013, and the third-highest vote-getter will serve a two-year term ending in 2012.
The third seat is to fill the unexpired term of Dave Stutzman, who resigned in April. Fushianes was selected by the board to fill Stutzman’s seat a month later.
Candidates must submit their Declaration of Candidacy forms to the district office by 5 p.m. on Jan. 5. School board candidates are not required to collect signatures for their nomination forms.
Incumbents must file a non-declaration of candidacy by Dec. 25. If any incumbent doesn’t file by Dec. 25 and then decides not to run, the filing deadline is extended by three days.
A primary will be necessary if seven or more candidates file. The primary is Feb. 16, and the general election is April 6.
All stories copyright 2006 Tomah Journal and other attributed sources.