Jonathan Olson makes it three Mower County Attorneys, who want to be elected the Mower County Attorney for the next four years.

One of the three is Patrick A, Oman, the incumbent.

The other two are Assistant Mower County Attorney Patrick W. Flanagan and now Chief Deputy Mower County Attorney Jonathan Olson.

The latter announced his candidacy during the Tuesday lunch hour.

"It was a difficult decision," admitted Olson, who said people had encouraged him to run for the office.

The new candidate said he has a "different idea about how the office should be run."

He said the fact that two assistant county attorneys are running for their boss' job will create a "lot of tension" in the office. "We're all going to work together to do the jobs we have to do," he said.

Olson is submitting a grant application for Mower County to fund addition help in the Mower County Attorney's office. It comes with the endorsement of Oman and the Mower County Board of Commissioners.

He also said a crime victims advocate would be a top priority if he is elected to the office of chief prosecutor for the state in Mower County.

Olson agreed, "The increase in crime in Mower County is outrageous" and that the office's attorneys and support staff "will have to continue to grow."

Olson came to Mower County in 1998 to be an Assistant Mower County Attorney under Oman.

When former Chief Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Jacobsen left the office, Olson was promoted to the chief deputy prosecutor's job.

He is a native of Herman, where he grew up on a dairy farm.

His wife, Sara Jane Olson, is a prominent defense attorney, who recently joined the Rochester city attorney's office as a prosecutor.

The couple has two children: a son, 2 1/2 and a daughter 1 1/2.

Oman filed first for re-election to a fourth term. He was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the sudden departure of former Mower County Attorney Nancy Evans.

He was re-elected to office despite twice having opposition from attorney William Bodensteiner.

In recent years, Oman and Jacobsen became targets of local law enforcement frustrations as well as victims' complaints.

Flanagan's co-campaign chairs are Mower County Sheriffs Berry J. Simonson and Austin Police Chief Paul M. Philipp.

If Oman is the Mower County Attorney and Flanagan is the apparent "law and order candidate" for that job, what does that make Olson?

"I am an independent candidate," he said. "I have a special vision for the office."

"I believe I have the experience and background to make sure the office goes forward," he said.

In a courthouse interview after filing for office Tuesday, Olson also told reporters despite three people from the save office running for that elective office, "The work is very important to each of us."

"The work isn't going to suffer," he concluded.

Olson's filing Tuesday creates a county-wide primary election in September among the trio of candidates.

The trio of incumbent Len Miller and challengers Donna J. Olson and Dick Lang, who are running for Mower County Commissioner District 4 still leaves only a primary election in the city of Austin's Third Ward.

The filing deadline closed 5 p.m. Tuesday. For a list of filings turn to Page 2.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com