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Dan Nieland Elected to Board of Supervisors - 2006

The Carroll Daily Times Herald (exerpt), November 8, 2006

Nieland beats Frischmeyer for supervisor seat
Danzer elected to second term

—By Butch Heman, Staff Writer

Dan Nieland's got a great blueprint for building a successful election.

Score big close to home, and you'll prevail.

Nieland [son Eugene and Connie (Loneman) Nieland and great grandson of John Gerhard Nieland 1840-1919] rode that method to a Democratic primary victory over Paul Reicks of Carroll for the 2nd District seat on the Board of Supervisors.

In Tuesday's general election, Nieland again had more backyard buddies than his opponent, as he posted a 684-vote win over Republican Marv Frischmeyer.

2ND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR

Large margins from precincts close to Nieland's home proved to be the difference in the 2nd District, which spans northern Carroll County.

He took nine of the county's 13 precincts as well as the absentee vote in winning with 54.9 percent (3,838–3,154).

Photo: Dan Nieland takes a moment to chat with election worker Marceal Wittry after voting Tuesday in Breda. Nieland defeated Marvin Frischmeyer by 684 votes in the 2nd District Supervisor race. Nieland will succeed Neil Bock, who decided not to run after four terms on the board. (Photo by Jeff Storjohann)

The candidates split the city of Carroll, which holds roughly half the county's voters. Frischmeyer tallied 46 more votes from Carroll's 1st and 3rd Wards, but Nieland scored 195 more from the other two, including a 149-point win from the combined precinct of Carroll Ward 2 and the north half of Maple River Township, closer to Nieland's home.

Nieland had his most decisive win in his home precinct of Wheatland-Kniest, the two townships in the northwest corner of the county. There he took 88 percent of the ballots, collecting 293 more votes than his competitor.

Besides a 150-vote edge from absentee and early voters, Nieland also had margins of 94 votes in the Dedham-Willey area, 58 votes in the Arcadia area, 32 votes in the Templeton area, 28 votes in the Coon Rapids area, 19 votes in the Manning area and 17 votes in the Halbur-Roselle area.

Other than his slight victories in two Carroll precincts, Frischmeyer, who farms near Lidderdale, had an overall edge of 156 votes from two precincts comprised of five townships near his home.

"It feels great," commented Nieland, a 50-year-old married father of five, who was celebrating the victory with his family at Breda Golf Club late Tuesday.

"We knew it would be a tight, contested race. Marv and I had a lot of similarities through the campaign. There weren't a lot of differences between us. We both knew whoever got out campaigning and knocking doors and getting the most people to polls would pull this out."

Nieland said he and his family campaigned through advertising, going door to door and making phone calls.

They also deployed a 21st century approach. Nieland said his son Nathan, who's studying ag technology at Iowa Lakes Community College, e-mailed his college-age friends and encouraged them to register and vote early by absentee ballot - and, naturally, to please vote for his dad.

"I give a lot of credit to my boy," Nieland commented. "I think I got a lot of first-time voters that way."

"I thank all my family and friends. They helped me win this. We did an extra push and that's probably what put us over the top. And I couldn't have won without all the support I got from the voters, especially up here" in the Breda area.

When Nieland is sworn into office Jan. 2, it will be the first time in more than 20 years Carroll County doesn't have a Republican supervisor. Danzer, chairman Gene Meiners of Templeton, Neil Trobak of Carroll and Del McDermott of Carroll are Democrats.

 

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