Local
Steering Committee
Greg Bennett, Campaign Chairman:
Greg is the legal chairman of Reformers for Rudy Takala. Greg is
a lifelong resident of Pine County. In 2002, he was elected to
the Pine County Board of Commissioners. He was immediately
elected chairman of the board,
serving in that capacity for two years. He ran uncontested and
was re-elected to the board in 2006. He became involved with
Republican politics in 2008 and is currently a director on the
board of the Pine County Republicans.
Dave Ostenson, Campaign Treasurer:
Dave was a missionary in the Czech Republic from 1994-2004. He
holds two master’s degrees in theology and has lived in Pine
County since 2005. He has four children with his wife LouAnn and
resides in Hinckley.
Art
Usher, Deputy
Campaign Treasurer: Art was recruited at the
treasurer's request for help with the finances. Art was born in
northwestern Indiana and relocated to Pokegama Lake twelve years
ago after retiring from Northern
Indiana Public Service Co. He also worked as an
Electronics Technician 3rd Class while serving in the
U.S.Coast Guard. He is a past director and secretary of the
Pokegama Lake Association and is presently a vice-chair on the
Snake River Watershed Citizens Committee.
Stan & Glenda
Spar, Isanti County co-chairs:
Stan & Glenda have agreed represent my campaign
in Isanti County. Stan is a graduate of Mora High School; Glenda
is a graduate of Centennial High School in Circle Pines. They
attended their first caucus in 2008 because they didn't like the
liberal direction that the
Republican Party had
taken.
Tom Graikowski, Pine County Campaign
Chairman: Tom is the honorary chairman of the campaign in
Pine County. Tom served in the Marine Corps for four years
before moving to Pine County. He was involved in the Pine County
BPOU from 1998 through 2004. He was involved at the district
level for four of those years, most prominently as first
vice-chairman. He took a break from the party when it started to
move left of center.
Matt Anderson,
Kanabec County Campaign
Chairman: Matt is the honorary chairman of the campaign in
Kanabec County. Matt is a lifelong resident of Kanabec
County; his father Bruce Anderson is a supervisor in Comfort
Township. Matt has been generally independent politically but
chose to attend his first caucus as a Republican in 2008. He
wanted to add that he believes in the
Republican Party as it existed under
Thomas Jefferson and
James Madison.
Clark
Peterson: Clark Peterson
is a resident of Hinckley and has worked most of his life in the
reporting business. He started out as a
radio announcer in Rochester; in 1978 his reporting team
won an award from the Associated Press
for best coverage of a local story. In 1992, he won another
award for “Superbrawl Wrestling Announcing” from Turner
Broadcasting. He holds a Ph.D in Theology & Biblical Doctrine
from Grace Bible College in
North Carolina. He is the author
of five books on the history of Hinckley and on wrestling. They
are available in a number of stores, including Tobies.
Richard
Lindig: Richard has lived
in Pine County since 1947. Shortly after moving here, he was
drafted into the army and was stationed in
Europe for two years during the
Korean conflict. Richard worked
as an artificial inseminator and dairy
farmer for twenty years. Currently he is the
vice-president of Pine County’s Historical Society. He is the
father of six children and is a member at St. John’s
Missouri-Synod Lutheran Church in Rush
City.
Donald Eaton:
Don has agreed to act as
an advisor to the campaign on agricultural issues. Over the
course of his life, he has worked in nearly every type of
farming. He worked for eight years on a chicken farm in
Litchfield and eleven years at Faribault Foods in
Cokato.
He considers himself a sheep farmer and, on a personal note, is
the father of six children. He was also in the Air Force for
eight years and was a member of the
air national guard
for 23 years. He retired from the service in 1992.
Phyllis Pankonin, (Pine County) Brook Park Township Precinct
Chair:
Phyllis and her husband Roger have been residents of
Brook Park
Township since 1979. Phyllis has been the
Business Administrator at Steve Meshbesher's law firm in
Minnneapolis for the last twenty years where she handles legal
contracts, financial issues and heads human resources. Their
son, Scott, spent 25 years in the Air Force until his untimely
death in 2004. Scott believed in our freedom, liberty and was
passionate about the First and
Second Amendments. Phyllis has vowed to
continue promoting his views. She feels the
Republican Party is
entirely too moderate, makes too many concessions and is leaning
left of center. Phyllis was elected the delegate for Brook Park
Township at the precinct caucus on February 2nd and plans on
endorsing candidates who are conservative first, Republican
second.
Sharon King,
(Kanabec
County) Brunswick Township Precinct Chair:
Sharon has agreed to act as a business advisor and comes to us
with years of small business experience. For 16 years, Sharon
worked for a Twin Cities hardware chain called Warner Hardware.
Sharon and her husband, Tom, were able to purchase the Warner
Hardware
store that was located in Roseville, MN. In 1998,
Tom died suddenly of a brain aneurism. Sharon continued to
operate the store on her own until 2002 when she met her current
business partner, Del Zentgraf. Sharon sold the hardware store
and she & Del started their own new business venture, American
Infrastructure Technologies, Inc. Sharon & Del market products
that deal with underground storm water collection systems, a
filtration
system for storm water, a wind powered windmill
and an adhesive used in storm sewer &
sanitary sewer construction.
Sharon & Del can see how this administration is attempting to
take away our basic freedoms and re-write our
Constitution
and are getting involved because of it.
Tony Domagall, (Pine County) Rock Creek Township Precinct Chair:
Tony grew up in St. Paul. He attended the
University
of Minnesota’s
Institute of
Technology and earned a
Bachelor’s degree in Electrical
Engineering in 1983. He has been a
small business owner and
entrepreneur for over
thirty years in the
entertainment / production industry. Tony and his wife,
Christie, moved to Rock Creek in 1999. They attended their
first caucus in 2008 and are committed to the conservative
cause.
Tom Swaim, (Pine County) Munch Township Precinct Chair:
Tom has been a delegate and precinct chair from Munch Township
since 2008. He moved to Pine County in 2005 with his wife Joann,
to whom he has been married since 1963. He is currently
semi-retired, having worked for IBM as a
customer
engineer and service representative for thirty
years. He got involved because he didn’t like the direction of
our nation, and he wanted Republicans who were conservative
first and would do something about it. Tom is also the father of
two sons.Mark Cannon: Mark has been the owner
of Freddie's Restaurant in Mora since 2001 and is an alternate
to the state and congressional conventions out of Kanabec
County.
Peter Lendway: Peter is the precinct chair in Braham
(Isanti) and election judge for the City of Braham. He has been
a Cambridge Lions Club member since 1994, and he owned and
operated Lendway's Electronics Repair in Cambridge from 1993 to
1998. He currently works as an engineering technician for RTD
Company in Ham Lake. He also lives in and is renovating the
oldest house in Braham.
Jeremy Lundeen: Jeremy grew up in Isanti County, but from
2002-2006 lived in Eden Prairie. Jeremy & his wife Mai moved
back to Isanti County in 2006. Since then, they become very
concerned with the direction that the current administration has
led the country. They view it as one that attacks individual
liberty and advances an ideology that says government elites
know what is best for common citizens. According to Jeremy: “The
ultimate destination of an agenda like this is taxation without
representation. Given that this is the destination that
progressives/liberals would lead us to, we can clearly see that
progressivism/liberalism actually takes us back in time…. My
support will go to conservative candidates who fight to shrink
government, and also fight to allow people to keep a liberal
amount of their hard earned paychecks. Rudy Takala is a
candidate like this, and that is why I support him.”
Bob Bullford: Bob & his wife, Fern, are delegates out of
Isanti County. Bob grew up in Brunswick Township of Kanabec
County before moving to Dalbo, where he has lived since 1967. He
worked on the railroad for twenty years as a mechanic before
becoming a self-employed mechanic in 1993. He has two children
and four grandchildren.
Doug Odegard: Doug has been a Soil & Water Supervisor
from District 1 in Pine County since 2006. He was chairman of
the board in 2009. He is a 20 year veteran of the Navy and was a
hospital Corpsman with the Marines. He graduated from Pine
Technical College in 1980 in Ag Production & Technology, and he
currently enjoys gardening, the outdoors, and his family. He is
the father of four children & two stepchildren.
Honorary Steering Committee
Dave Racer: Dave served as the
campaign manager to
Dr. Alan Keyes in his 1996
campaign for the Republican
presidential nomination. He has authored seven books and
holds a Master of Letters degree
from Oxford.
Dorothy Fleming: Dorothy was deputy chairman of the
Republican Party of Minnesota
from 2007-2009. Prior to that, she served as an advisor to
Michele Bachmann’s first
campaign for the U.S. House.
Jeremy
Lindman: Jeremy has agreed
to act as an advisor to the campaign on business and economic
issues. He has owned Topline Automotive in North Branch for
seven years and employs between 23-28 people. He briefly
attended Century College for
business administration before going into sales at the age of
21; he began his company at the age of 28. He is currently a
commissioner with the North Branch
Economic Development Authority (EDA) and a member of the
Healthy Community Partnership Jobs Task
Force. He has been married for 14 years and has six
children.
Sheldon
Anderson:
Sheldon has been the mayor of Wyoming, Minnesota from
2004-present. He has agreed to be an advisor to the campaign on
local politics and issues. In addition, he has been a business
owner for 18 years and currently employs 45 people. He has four
children with his wife, Olga, and is currently running for
State Representative in House
district 17B (Chisago County).
Mike Line: Mike has agreed to act as
campaign chairman in Carlton County. He is currently deputy
chairman of the Carlton County Republicans. Prior to that, he
served as the campaign manager to Tim Hafvenstein’s 2008
campaign for the 8A State House seat.
