Olmsted County Attorney Candidates
In addition to the candidates for Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) Board, Save the Rookery also reached out to the two candidates for Olmsted County Attorney to ask them these questions:
1. When you make decisions, will you feel compelled to frame issues as they have been framed in the past? How will you take into consideration new data about the environment and the wishes of residents who are more environmentally minded than they were in the past?
2. What is your motivation for running for this position? What do you plan to accomplish?
Here are the Olmsted County Attorney candidates’ responses:
Mark Ostrem:
We were not able to reach Mr. Ostrem despite several reasonable attempts. Please refer to his campaign website for more information. If he or a representative would like to contact us, please email us.
Karen MacLaughlin:
1. When you make decisions, will you feel compelled to frame issues as they have been framed in the past?
No, I do not feel compelled to frame issues as they have been framed in the past when making decisions. I am very much in favor of creative problem solving, looking outside the box when discussing issues and making decisions, and I definitely defy the status quo when it is appropriate to do so.
For example, the role of the county attorney has traditionally been framed as promoting public safety. During my campaign, I have come to frame this role differently. I intentionally speak about supporting safe communities for everyone in Olmsted County. I view this as a more inclusive way to look at the issue of safety in our communities. I approach this topic this way due to my recognition that everyone in our community does not necessarily trust the justice system, including the county attorney’s office or law enforcement. Speaking about supporting safe communities also honors the larger work in the county attorney’s office in the areas of child protection, mental health and chemical dependency commitments, child support enforcement and advising the county board and county departments, roles that are also often connected to safe communities (social services, public health, chemical and mental health services). I believe focusing on supporting safe communities speaks more broadly and inclusively about to this issue and opens the door for further discussions about how to build and increase trust in these community relationships and the broader role of the county attorney. I believe speaking about this topic in a more inclusive way honors the perspective of people who historically and understandably lack trust in the system due to systemic barriers, particularly people of color, new immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. In my opinion, without a focus and goal of increasing trust, all of the residents in Olmsted County are not safe and their unique perspectives are often lost in a more basic discussion focused solely on promoting public safety.
How will you take into consideration new data about the environment and the wishes of residents who are more environmentally minded than they were in the past?
I was elected to the Rochester School Board in 2020. One of my reasons for running in 2020 was what I perceived as a lack of measurable data related to discipline in the schools, and in particularly data related to racial disparities in the school discipline system. Through my work on the school board, I have often asked questions when presented with the available data and encouraged the district to provide more consistent data and better comparison of data over time. Our new superintendent has now created an office of research, assessment and evaluation, and one of the director’s roles is to provide and analyze the available data. I believe it is also important to provide a transparent and accessible way to present available data and analysis of available data. As the next Olmsted County Attorney, I would look to Rochester Public Schools as a model for data reporting to the public (the pandemic dashboard would be an example – visual, user-friendly and updated regularly), rather than what I view as a failed opportunity to gather and transparently report data about the work of the county attorney’s office during the current county attorney’s administration.
With that background information, I am committed to considering new data on any topic, including new data about the environment and the wishes of residents, if I were asked to make a decision related to the environment. As reflected in my first answer, I am very much in favor of creative problem solving and looking outside the box when discussing issues and making decisions. If elected Olmsted County Attorney, I look forward to expanding my community activism and involvement to bring real community engagement to the role of Olmsted County Attorney, not just one-sided promotional efforts as I have seen in the past. I am active, visible and accessible in the community and ready to listen and partner with community organizations such as Save the Rookery.
2. What is your motivation for running for this position?
I am running for Olmsted County Attorney because I want to take the lead in supporting safe communities for everyone in Olmsted County. I believe new leadership in the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office will increase fairness for all in Olmsted County. I have been a successful trial attorney in Rochester for 19 years and counting, with over 16 of those years serving as an Assistant Olmsted County Attorney. Now as a legal aid attorney, I fight daily for people facing barriers to justice. I want to bring my experience and leadership to Olmsted County as the next Olmsted County Attorney.
If your group members are interested in learning more about me and my campaign, my website is https://www.maclaughlin4oca.com. They can also find me on Facebook at Karen MacLaughlin for Olmsted County Attorney.
What do you plan to accomplish?
I have discussed some of my goals in earlier answers related to systemic fairness, addressing disparities, and sharing and considering data and will not repeat those here. As the next Olmsted County Attorney, I plan to build on my real and substantial trial experience to lead the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office. I will focus on prosecuting crimes that present a risk to public safety. I will also work to recognize and support the other work of the office that has often been overlooked in the past. I will collaborate with justice system partners and community partners, including new and diverse groups who are sometimes overlooked in our community, and I will actively look for and connect with new organizations to partner with. I will make sure attorneys and staff take the time to really listen to crime victims and address their concerns. For offenses that do not present a risk to public safety, I plan to implement restorative justice practices to the work of the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office. I will also prioritize reducing gun violence particularly in cases of domestic violence. I will create measurable goals for the office and report progress towards those goals to the community. I will incorporate goals developed by the Olmsted County Board into the work of the office and I will use Olmsted County policies to protect county employees in the office from harm. Overall, I will be fair and responsive to the residents of Olmsted County.
Interested in reading about the Olmsted County SWCD candidates? Click here!
Photo by Rick Kollmeyer