Randy Gilbert is trying again for the office of state auditor. Gilbert is an auditor in his day job at Assurance Consulting in Minneapolis and the former mayor of Long Lake. He has formed a campaign committee and activated a website in advance of a likely endorsement battle in 2014.
Gilbert is trying to win an office that has bee occupied equally by DFLers and Republicans, most notably Arne Carlson, who, as state auditor in the 1980s, was the Republicans’ largest statewide vote-getter and who used the office as platform to run successfully for governor.
Gilbert tried for the GOP endorsement for auditor in 2010 but lost to Pat Anderson, who was state auditor from 2002 to 2006. Anderson lost in 2006 and in 2010 to current state auditor, DFLer Rebecca Otto.
Otto maintains a campaign website. Her campaign manager, Shawn Otto, says she hasn’t announced yet whether she is running for re-election in 2014 but that he expects her to announce her plans in the next few weeks.