Dennis Dunnigan

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Dennis Dunnigan

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Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Associate

Saint Cloud State University, 1982

Bachelor's

Concordia University, Saint Paul, 2018

Personal

Birthplace

St. Paul, Minn.

Religion

Roman Catholic

Profession

Collateral risk analyst

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Dennis Dunnigan ran for election to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners to represent District 1 in Minnesota. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Dunnigan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Dunnigan was born on February 18, 1960, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from St. Cloud State University with an associate degree in 1982. He went on to obtain his bachelor's degree from Concordia University, St. Paul in 2018. He has also attended classes at Century Community College. Dunnigan's professional experience includes working as collateral risk analyst for a bank and real estate appraiser.

Elections

2020

See also: Municipal elections in Ramsey County, Minnesota (2020)

General election

General election for Ramsey County Board of Commissioners District 1

Incumbent Nicole Frethem defeated Dennis Dunnigan in the general election for Ramsey County Board of Commissioners District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nicole Frethem (Nonpartisan)	65.6	24,754
	Submit photo	Dennis Dunnigan (Nonpartisan)	33.9	12,777
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	182

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 37,713
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Nicole Frethem and Dennis Dunnigan advanced from the primary for Ramsey County Board of Commissioners District 1.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Dennis Dunnigan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Dunnigan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a life long resident of the White Bear Lake area, as is my wife Lisa. We chose to move back to the area and raise our three children here. Now we have a grandchild growing up in the White Bear area. I majored in Finance and work in commercial real estate at a regional bank. I've been in the appraisal of real estate for 28 years. I've been active in politics for 30 years.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We need to show our police officers the respect, support and loyalty they deserve.
• We need to stop raising property taxes.
• Ramsey County needs to honor its preliminary agreement with Arden Hills regarding the development of the TCAAP site. The county board should not consider making the county sheriff an appointed position and continue to allow the sheriff to be chosen by election. The county board should not be responsible for it's own pay raises.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Fiscal responsibility, and pushing back against Federal, State and County levels of government bullying local city, school district, township, and village governments.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Ronald Reagan. He was serious and able to defend his beliefs but had a great sense of humor and the ability to get along with people that did not agree with him.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I have a degree in management and finance. I've run my own business, and worked for small and large companies over 48 years. My experiences give me the ability to see things from different perspectives.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I was a caddy at the White Bear Yacht Club in in as a young teenager, for about 5 years.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

County government is sort of an invisible level of government. It's where the state and federal levels of government spend a great deal of their budgets through county programs. It seems that people are largely unaware of county government as the state and federal levels get more attention from the press.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

There's no course you can take to learn how to be a county commissioner. The county is run by a large bureaucracy headed by the county manager. The county board overseas county government and votes on policy and direction mostly concerning its budget.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

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