Rettig declares for supervisor

By Gregg Hennigan

IOWA CITY –  An Iowa City woman with a history of political involvement — for Democrats and Republicans — announced on Monday her candidacy for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Janelle Rettig, 44, of 110 Shrader Rd., will run as a Democrat in the June 2010 primary. She is a self-employed consultant working as the development director for the Iowa Bicycle Coalition.

She said after years of working on issues from the outside, she wanted to get directly involved in decision making.

“There are many things that I care about — the environment, human services and good government — that the Board of Supervisors have enormous influence over,” she said. “And I think that it’s time for me to move to a position of working on the issues from the inside, where you can effect the actual greatest change, or the greatest support.”

Rettig for supervisor?

By Gregg Hennigan

IOWA CITY — Janelle Rettig is getting some (early) love for a possible run for a seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

A Facebook group with 141 members, as of this morning, has formed to encourage her to run. Current Supervisor Rod Sullivan is a member, as is county Auditor Tom Slockett and county Recorder Kim Painter. Other notable names are state Rep. Mary Mascher, Iowa City Council members Mike Wright and Ross Wilburn and Coralville council member Tom Gill.

Retigg said she is “in the exploratory mode” and gathering information on a possible run.

“I’m grateful for the early encouragement,” she said of the Facebook group.

The supervisors election isn’t until next year, when the seats currently held by Sally Stutsman and Larry Meyers are up for reelection.

In Johnson County, the real race for supervisor usually is the Democratic primary, which will be in June 2010.  A Republican has not served as a Johnson County supervisor since 1962.