1st male elected co-president of League of Women Voters in 21st century

The area chapter of the League of Women Voters has elected its first male president this century.

Thomas Drucker, a retired mathematics professor, was elected at Monday night’s annual meeting held at the Friends Meeting House. Drucker is the first male to hold that position in the Northfield and Cannon Falls area in the last 30 years. He has served in that capacity twice before, in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

He will assume the leadership role from co-presidents Helene Haapala and Adrienne Falcon.

Drucker said, because he and his wife, Betsy Brandt, only recently moved to Northfield three years ago, he would like to share the duties with a co-president who has more knowledge of local politics.

“It was a little bit embarrassing, since I also served on the nominating committee,” he said Tuesday afternoon.

Drucker said the the 70-member non-partisan group would like to expand its membership and reach further across Rice County, especially with Faribault residents.

“Ours is still a crusading organization,” he said. “We try to find the non-partisan approach that puts the issues front and center. We seek to keep the party aspect out of our discussions.”

Drucker said the League would like to sponsor candidate forums to highlight the views of the local and county candidates running for school board, city council, county commissioner and mayor. All races that are considered non-partisan.

When he was growing up, Drucker explained, he learned to value the election process from watching his father serve on the local school board.

“Party labels don’t matter,” he said. “We want to put our efforts into educating Northfield area voters. We respect the quality of the election process. We want to place the emphasis on the issues. We want to encourage voters to listen and learn.”