HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 06-10 Maplewood city council candidate list finalized for Aug. 11 election MAPLEWOOD REVIEW2/11/2016 Maplewood city council candidate list finalized for Aug. 11 election I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Maplewood city council candidate list
finalized for Aug. 1 1 election
Submitted by adminl on Wed, 06/10/2015 - 12:00am
By: Erin Hinrichs
During the upcoming election season, Maplewood will be filling two council member positions.
Council members Bob Cardinal and Marvin Koppen will both complete their terms on Dec. 31, with only Cardinal running to
stay in office.
The candidate filing closed on June 2. By the withdrawal deadline, Bill Kempe and John Wykoff had dropped out of the
running, leaving a total of five names for the Aug. 11 municipal primary election ballot.
Paul Babin, 49, works as a transportation specialist for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. He's been in the field, at
the state level, for the past 18 years. Babin's fiance, Lonnie, has two children and he's been a Maplewood resident since
2006. This marks his first run for an elected government office. After graduating from Park High School, he earned a degree
in aviation maintenance from Winona Technical College.
Bob Cardinal, 62, is completing his four-year term as a Maplewood council member. He also served six years as the city's
mayor, completing his last term as mayor in 2005. He previously served on the Maplewood Planning Commission for several
years. He is a business agent with Calhoun Companies, where he has worked for more than 20 years. He and his wife,
Sharon, have six children. Cardinal served three years of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, obtaining the rank of captain.
He is a 1977 University of St. Thomas graduate.
Diana Longrie was elected to serve as Maplewood's first female mayor in 2005. She is married, has two adult sons and
works as an attorney based out of Maplewood. She holds a juris doctorate from Hamline University School of Law and a
bachelor's degree from the College of St. Scholastica, where she earned dual majors in chemistry and biology. She has
unsuccessfully run for several other offices, including for Congress.
Bryan Smith, 39, is a marketing manager for Tennant Company, looking to enter municipal politics. He has 16 years of sales
and marketing experience with Thomson Reuters, General Mills and his current employer. He and his wife, Jennie, have a 6 -
year -old son. Smith's father, the late Robert T. Smith, was a columnist for the Star Tribune. His great-grandfather, the late
Harry H. Peterson, served as Minnesota attorney general and Minnesota Supreme Court justice.
Tou Xiong, 24, is an attorney who works as a legislative clerk with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. He also worked
for Minnesota Legal Aid and the Public Health Law Center. He is serving as a trustee on the Ramsey County Library Board of
Directors and as a member of the DFL Senate District 53 executive committee. He's a St. Paul native and has been living in
Maplewood for more then 12 years. He graduated from William Mitchell College of Law. Tou's parents were refugees from
Laos. Tou is the eldest of three sisters and four brothers.
Erin Hinrichs can be reached at 651-748-7814 and ehinrichs@lillienews.com. Follow her at twitter.com/EHinrichsNews.
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