City Council Candidate Mike Freiberg: Running For A Third Term

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Mike Freiberg considers himself the City Council candidate of experience.

His family moved to Golden Valley when he was only 6 weeks old, and he’s never left. In college he interned with Sen. Pall Wellstone and Golden Valley’s U.S. Rep. Martin Olav Sabo, and in 2007 he married his wife, Lauren, at the Golden Valley Historical Society Building.

An attorney for the Public Health Law Center and an adjunct professor of legislation at William Mitchell, Freiberg said his legal background has been helpful in his two terms on the City Council.

“A lot of what we do is drafting policies, drafting ordinances, anticipating unexpected effects,” he said. “When I decided to run, my work background was mostly legislative, so I felt like I had the right experience.”

His work on the council has bled into his work at the law center. After helping lead the drive to institute a 2004 smoke-free ordinance in Golden Valley, he worked to shape Minnesota’s smoke-free workplace law.

Experience in tough times

Freiberg sees the budget as the No. 1 issue facing the city.

“Golden Valley residents have come to expect a level of service from the city, but unfunded mandates from the state and decreasing property values have left the city in a tough budgetary situation,” he said. “We’ve had to delay capital expenditures, such as repairing the community center in Brookview.”

Freiberg was elected to the council in 2003 and re-elected in 2007.

“I think in these times we need experienced leaders on the council,” he said.

Golden Valley’s Human Rights Commission is very important to him; “Social Justice” is the longest section on the issues page of his website. He said he’s proud of his role in Golden Valley adopting a domestic partnership registry in late 2010.

“There are a lot of families in committed unmarried relationships in the city,” he said.

Freiberg said communicating with voters is an important part of the job of city councilman.

“When I was first elected, the issue I felt strongest about was having a responsive city government,” he said. “I’ve always tried to be an accessible voice to residents and residents appreciate hearing explanations of ordinances, even when the ordinances are stopping them from doing something they want to do.”

But he said he’s learned that everyone has a different idea of what the city should be doing.

“There are people who think the city spends too much, there are people who think the city spends too little,” he said.

On the campaign trail

Freiberg has been going door-to-door all over the city since early August, when he declared he was running for re-election.

“The council is not very partisan,” he said, “I know the partisan leanings of some councilmen personally but it doesn’t affect how they vote—a lot of our votes are unanimous.”

Freiberg said he’s raised a few thousand dollars, which he’s spent on mailings and flyers. He said keeping lawn signs from the previous election has kept his costs down.

He is the only incumbent running for two at-large council seats against Joanie Clausen, Greg Keivit and Blair Tremere.