The suggestion made in a recent letter to the editor that Moorhead City Council member Lauri Winterfeldt-Shanks should resign from her council position while running for a seat in the Minnesota House is small politics. Residents of the Third Ward are not only pleased with the work of Winterfeldt-Shanks as our representative in city government, but are proud to have someone from our ward running for a House seat and wish her the very best of luck.
The practice of running for a higher seat of office while still serving in a lower seat has occurred at all levels of government, including the presidency. It simply constitutes a natural movement or succession in which politicians gain experience and pay their dues in the world of politics. This practice is not uncommon, as the writer would have us believe. Case in point is former State Rep. Kevin Goodno who, as a city councilman, ran against Diane Wray Williams in 1990 while still serving on the City Council and, who also, incidentally, represented the Third Ward.
Knowing Winterfeldt-Shanks, I feel perfectly confident that she will continue to amply serve as our Third Ward council person while waging an energetic campaign for a House seat (now occupied by Morrie Lanning) with the same impartiality and good judgment that she always has.
Dewey Possehl
Moorhead
