Rice Lake Voters Elect 19-Year-Old Mayor
RICE LAKE, Wis. (WCCO) ―
A young man wearing a Hollister T-shirt, shorts and sandals picked up election signs Wednesday in Rice Lake, Wis. The 19-year-old wasn't a campaign volunteer. Romaine Quinn is the new mayor.
Quinn, who served one year on the Rice Lake City Council before being elected mayor on Tuesday, said, "Age, I don't think, necessarily makes a difference, I mean, it's about the issues."
Judging by the talk at Maxine's restaurant, he might be right.
"Apparently, a lot of people wanted change," said 78-year-old Del Hanson, who voted for Quinn.
A couple seats down the counter, Richard Cerminar wished he could have cast a ballot for the young candidate.
"From what I understand, an extremely nice young man," said Cerminar, who lives just outside Rice Lake proper.
Cerminar thinks Romaine's big win had a lot to do with what happened on Manwaring Avenue and other roads around town.
"They cut down trees that were 40 and 50 years old and put in sidewalks nobody needed or wanted," he said.
"They just didn't listen," said George Erickson. "Basically everybody on this street didn't want a sidewalk."
The "improvements" being made by the city are effectively taking away half of Erickson's front yard.
It doesn't help that the project got started late last fall and is still ongoing.
JoAnn Erickson said her front yard has been a muddy mess much of the past several months.
The Ericksons and their neighbors filled the council chambers to protest plans to put in sidewalks.
"The council wouldn't listen, but Romaine was one that said, 'I think we should listen to the people,' and no, they wouldn't," Joann recalled.
"People want someone who's proud to serve as mayor, but still humble enough to realize he's no better than anyone else in town," said Quinn, who takes political science classes at the University of Wisconsin-Barron County.
He cites Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican congressman from Texas, as his political role model.
The Ericksons voted for a young mayor once before. JoAnn said that was a "disaster."
She's not worried about Quinn's fitness for the job or his age.
"Doesn't matter. He's got a head on his shoulders," said JoAnn. "He'll do fine. I'm sure he'll do fine. It'll surprise me if he doesn't."
During his campaign, Quinn told voters he wants to hold the line on taxes, replace the city administrator and, of course, reconsider plans to put sidewalks all over Rice Lake.
He beat incumbent mayor Dan Fitzgerald with 53 percent of the vote.
Paula Engelking, Producer
Contact Paula
http://wcco.com/local/19.year.old.2.1620097.htmlMicro Sez:This kid is a upright citizen. That's what everybody needs: people willing to actively work within the political process.
He also won an election against an incumbent mayor. These are the hardest kind.
