It has been a long time since Brown County has seen a contested County Attorney’s race. Since the 1950s, someone from the law office now known as Berens, Rodenberg & O’Connor has held the position, and the whole office has served the county in some function.

Now, Brown County Attorney Bob Hinnenthal is facing a challenge from Charles Hanson, an assistant Watonwan County Attorney who would like to take on the Brown County position.

The two have run a spirited campaign, one that has served the citizens of the county by raising questions about how the office is operating.

Frankly, there are issues. In talking with people who work with the county attorney’s office – police, probation, human services and child protection – we have heard about how different things are since the last County Attorney, Jim Olson, retired. Olson had 24 years on the job when he left and handled most aspects of the job himself, from criminal prosecutions to civil matters. He did the job extremely well and is a very hard act to follow. Since Olson retired, criminal prosecution duties have been handled mainly by assistant county attorneys from the Berens law office, not Hinnenthal himself. There has been turnover, and some instances where young, relatively inexperienced attorneys have been feeling their way along. In some cases, as soon as they develop some experience they have moved on. Those who remember the Olson era are expecting better.

Of special concern are stories we’ve heard that assistant county attorneys have not followed through on some social workers’ requests for child protection petitions.

Hinnenthal admits there are issues that he is working to address. Hanson has said that if he is elected, there won’t be these issues because he will be the full time County Attorney.

The question is, who is best equipped to solve these problems and do the job of County Attorney? With all due respect to Hanson’s enthusiastic references from colleagues in Watonwan County, we think Hinnenthal has the most experience as a practicing attorney, as an assistant county attorney and as an elected county attorney, and he should be given the chance to right things.

Hinnenthal has heard the criticisms and we expect he realizes he needs to be more hands-on in all parts of the job, including criminal cases. He should be familiar with county-wide law enforcement personnel and responsive to their issues, even if he is not prosecuting the caes himself. He needs to be more visible and involved with county workers beyond the department head level, so he can hear their needs. He needs to figure a way to stabilize the staffing for those he appoints to handle criminal cases.

Hinnenthal’s strengths are evident. Hanson could not, even with two full-time assistants he envisions joining him, begin to match the experience, breadth and depth that the Berens law office offers in the diverse legal matters that come to the county attorney’s office besides criminal cases.

As to cost of operations, Brown County’s county attorney costs are already among the lowest per capita in the area, and perhaps the state. Hanson says he can save the county money, but his budget is based on assumptions, while Hinnenthals is based on real experience.

The matter of Hanson’s criminal record came up during the campaign. Hanson says that the one mistake he made 20 years ago is not the defining moment of his life, and is not indicative of his true character. We will only say it would have been easier to agree with him had he laid it out before voters when he decided to run and announced his candidacy.

Hinnenthal has 35 years of experience as a lawyer in Brown County, and we expect that if he is returned to office, he will tackle and resolve the issues raised in this campaign.