By Brandy Bailey, Contributor ElectWomen Magazine

When small Burns Township became incorporated Nowthen Minnesota May 1^st, 2008 it was announced that a special election would be held in order to elect a mayor and four city council members.  Laurie Olmon a woman with more than a decade of experience working as an advocate for various organizations decided to run for a position on city council.  Of the seven people running for two city council seats she was the only woman.  With only 14 days before the special election on June 30^th she focused her efforts on canvassing the neighborhoods to talk to voters.  Her first goal was to get everyone out to vote, and then to vote for her.  She did not take any campaign contributions.  Her efforts paid off, and on July 8^th, 2008 she was sworn in at the first city council meeting.

 

Though this was her first race for elected office, Laurie has been an advocate for various organizations since the early 1990’s.  Having lived with epilepsy since 1977 she became an advocate for those suffering from epilepsy in 1993.  In that same year she also became an advocate for families of domestic abuse, having been a survivor of domestic abuse herself.  In 1996 she served as co-chair for the IFOR/SFOR deployment to Bosnia of E Battery 151 FA (TA) Family Readiness Group.  In the spring of 2003 she was a representative for the National Military Family Association where she worked to advance the association’s mission of improving military family resources and rights awareness through various promotional, educational and political efforts including:  working with Senator Mark Dayton in 2004 to pass “The Guard and Reserve Bill of Rights” and in February 2005 she assisted Minnesota Representative Andy Welti with “The Military Families Leave Act”.  In the fall of 2005 she was the recipient of the 34^th Infantry Division Molly Pitcher Award for faithful and devoted service as a volunteer to the 34^th Infantry “Red Bull” Division, its soldiers, families, and traditions.  Since the fall of 2008 she has worked as an advocate for the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota and she is a founding member of the Women in Leadership Circle that is part of The White House Project.

 

Laurie didn’t have much time to get settled into her new job before she had to begin campaigning for re-election.  She knew that this would be a different kind of race, this time she would have to be both campaigning and showing the people of Nowthen that she was capable of doing the job.  The re-election campaign did have one advantage; this time she would have more time to campaign and talk to people.  With the help of her volunteers and with lots of canvassing Laurie won with 25 percent of the vote.

 

Laurie describes herself as a proud mom, wife, and advocate.  Her husband is a member of the Minnesota National Guard and has served over 17 years including a tour in Bosnia and deployments to Iraq.  She is proud of the fact that she grew up on a small farm just northwest of Cambridge, Minnesota; a community where she says neighbors relied on neighbors and respect and hard work are a daily occurrence.

To learn more about Councilwoman Laurie Olmon you can visit her web-site at www.olmonfornowthen.com or visit her blog  at http://twhpnetwork.ning.com/profile/LaurieOlmon.