Meet the New Golden Valley Mayor: Part I

When Shep Harris walked into Friday for the , several people immediately walked up to him and greeted the mayor-elect.

About three-and-a-half weeks before the city's anniversary, Harris and several dozen supporters stood in the back of and waited for the election results to come in.

had worked on several state and federal campaigns, this was the first time his name was on a ballot.

“We ran a good campaign,” that night. “We had over 50 volunteers. We started campaigning back in July and connected with thousands of residents and business people.”

One big reason Harris was able to win the election? He spent a lot of money.  Harris said he raised more than $20,000 to finance his campaign, and he said a lot of it came from outside Golden Valley and even outside of Minnesota. 

In her comments during the League of Women Voters forum right before the election, Mayor Linda Loomis emphasized that all but one of her contributions came from people in Golden Valley.  Harris said she wasn't the only one to criticize his fundraising.

"To run against a 10-year incumbent—that requires raising money from friends, family and business colleagues, as well as plenty of help from volunteers," he said. "I have a broad network of friends and family in the metro and out of state that I reached out to. That's what it took to win."

Being mayor is officially a part-time job, and Harris will continue working in government relations for the law firm Fredrikson & Byron. He said his experience working on campaigns and working for the firm helped him organize a successful campaign by creating "polished" mailings, campaign literature and his website.

"Yes, people have said, 'He's a bought-and-paid-for lobbyist,' but I'd ask them to talk with me and learn what I'm really about," he said. "I've worked on successful state legislative campaigns in other states, and (my campaign) was planned out like one of those campaigns, not like a local mayoral election. And I think that ended up working in our favor."

According to the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office, Harris ended up winning 56 percent of the vote and Linda Loomis took about 41 percent in the Nov. 8 election. 

In the past month, Harris has met with city staff, nearby elected officials like St. Louis Park Mayor and several people in Golden Valley to get ready for Jan. 3—his first day on the job.

"I need to have an acute sense of what's good about the city, what could be better and what's not going well," he said. "Before the election, I'd say my knowledge was an inch deep and a mile wide. Now I'm drilling down a little bit every day."

With Harris' experience working in politics and government, it's no surprise that some of his talk can sound like a trained politician. And Harris said he's been asked more than once if being mayor of Golden Valley is just a springboard to a higher office.

But he said his genuine affection for Golden Valley and the desire to make a difference were the two reasons he wanted to become mayor.

"Kudos to those who are members of Congress," he said. "They sacrifice time to friends and familiy and even their health. That doesn't interest me."

"As mayor you're in the unique position of seeing the direct results of your decisions and actions. Am I using that position to go further and higher? No. My apsirations are to help Golden Valley go further and higher—already sounds like a politician's answer doesn't it? But I really mean it."

One of the issues Harris talked about most frequently in his campaign was his desire for the city to reach out and have more communication with the people of Golden Valley.

In Part II and III of our "Meeting the New Mayor" series over the next two weeks, we'll look at how Harris intends to create better communication between the city and residents, what challenges he sees and how city staff can solve problems more creatively.