Essential Estrogen

Just moments ago, the Linn County Democratic Central Committee voted by unanimous consent to elect Diane Hoffmann, a city council woman from Mount Vernon, as the new county chairwoman. Outgoing Chairman Mike Robinson did not seek re-election as he will oppose Kraig Paulsen in House District 35.

Robinson, accompanied by members of his family, provided his final remarks as chairman before relinquishing the podium to Hoffmann.

The group will now consider the two candidates for first vice chair -- Brett Nilles and Joe Michalec. Niles, an active newcomer to the county party, just provided his allotted two minutes of introduction. Joe Michalec, a long-time Democrat and party activist is now providing his introductory comments.

The voting is taking place by ballot and, as is the Democratic way, will take several minutes. In the interim I can note that the Central Committee members voted to approve a Constitution change tonight. The change essentially changes the biennial meeting to odd-numbered years. So, those elected tonight will stand for re-election one year from now.

Let's see... the roll call for ballot dispersal continues and we are now up to those who have a last name that begins with the letter "G." I'll check back in once the balloting is complete.

7:54 p.m. -- Just to let you know: we are now up to the letter "S."

8 p.m. -- The ballots have all been picked up and are being counted. While the rules folks are counting Norm Sterzenbach is providing the membership information on the Democratic National Convention, national delegates and, of course, super delegates.

8:10 p.m. -- The winner is: Brett Nilles. It is likely that all remaining officers will be elected by unanimous consent.

Second vice chair is once again Norm Sterzenbach... newly elected secretary is veteran Joe Stutler... D.J. Arnold will once again serve as treasurer... and Kay Hale will once again be the organization's financial secretary.

8:15 p.m. -- Linn County Auditor Joel Miller is now swearing in the new executive board.

The group is now back to the regular agenda... to the point where the group gets candidate updates. Linda Langston came to the podium and announced that tomorrow in the paper most will learn that both she and Lu Barron had errors or their original filing papers and had to race around today for signatures so that they could re-file before the 5 p.m. deadline. (Either later tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll have a listing of how the county races are shaping up.)

Lu Barron and Jim Houser, both sitting members on the board, gave brief campaign updates. Don Gray, the mayor of Central City, plans to face Mary Lundby, current Iowa senator, for a supervisor seat.

Larry Wear of the Center Point area, is now providing an introduction for his campaign for supervisor district 5. Wear says he served on the school board and has a rural background.

Lyle Hanson, a candidate for Linn County auditor, is providing an introduction. I've never seen Hanson at one of the county meetings. Joel Miller, current auditor, follows quickly at the podium with his own introduction. Miller has strong words in relation to "loyal opposition" and the fact that he feels those elected to county offices -- auditor, sheriff, recorder, attorney -- do not serve the board of supervisors.

Miller also provides information from I-Voters about his opponent. According to Miller, Hanson has previously voted in Republican primaries and, it appears, only became a Democrat at the Jan. 3 caucus. Following this, Miller lists his own contributions, both to his office and to party. "I've paid my dues," Miller said.

Hoffmann brings another supervisor candidate, Ben Rogers, to the podium for an introduction and remarks. He is hoping to serve in district 3.

Next up is Brian Gardner -- candidate for Linn County sheriff. He has served for 28 years in the sheriff's office.

8:48 p.m. -- I had to step out for several minutes and missed quite a few of the candidates. Currently, Gretchen Lawyer who is a candidate for Swati Dandekar's Iowa House District (36) is providing introductory comments to the group. Those I missed were: Nate Willems (seeking the seat currently held by Ro Foege) and Robinson (who spoke earlier and is running for HD 35).

We are already well past our typical 9 p.m. ending time and have only made it halfway through the agenda. Since the remaining items are general reports and other typically non-interesting business, I'm going to end the live blog. My personal applause to all of those who stepped up tonight.