"To the victor goes the spoils," history has taught us.

Add Patrick Oman and Patrick Flanagan to that list.

Oman, a three-term incumbent, was defeated by Flanagan in Tuesday's race for Mower County Attorney.

Flanagan tallied 8,132 votes to Oman's 7,503.

The margin of victory for the challenger was only four percentage points, 52 to 48 percent.

"Actually, I was very surprised and very happy at the same time," Flanagan said of his successful debut in elective office politics.

Meanwhile, incumbent Mower County Attorney Oman, said, "Obviously, I am disappointed with the outcome of the election. However, as our former sheriff, Wayne Goodnature, has often pointed out, there are many doors which can open that I may not have considered in the past."

The Mower County Attorney had plenty of praise to go around to campaign supporters.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife, Janet, and my family for their support during the campaign and during my time in office," he said. "I would also like to thank all my friends and supporters for their support and kind words of encouragement.

Most of all, I would like to thank the people of Mower County for the chance to have served them for these past 15 years and I wish the County Attorney's Office the best in the upcoming term.

"The Office has come a long way since I first came here in 1987 and I am sure that it will continue to meet the needs of Mower County citizens."

Flanagan came to Mower County in the summer of 2001, when Oman was about to go to court to prosecute three defendants in the Downtown Motel double murder case with the Minnesota Attorney general's office prosecutors.

He convinced the Mower County Board of Commissioners he needed prosecutorial help and they agreed. Flanagan was hired to be an Assistant Mower County Attorney.

Then, something happened. Local law enforcement as well as individuals in the Attorney General's office approached Flanagan about running for the chief prosecutor's job.

After Oman announced he would seek a fourth term in office, Flanagan also filed. Then, a short while later, Jonathan Olson, Oman's chief deputy prosecutor, also announced he would run for the office.

Olson lost out in the Sept. 10 primary, leaving Oman and Flanagan on the ballot in Tuesday's election.

Now that he is two months away from taking over his boss' job, Flanagan remained humble the morning after Tuesday's election.

He said he appreciated the support of everyone, "Not only people like Dave Schaefer, Paul Philipp, Esther Mae Bentley, Sarah Moe and LeeAnn Schaefer, but the support I got from Jim Richardson and others out in the county as well as the support of others in the criminal justice system was very encouraging.

"They're happy, not just for my own personal gain, but that I will be able to make the changes they feel so strongly need to be made."

Flanagan said he was encouraged in the waning days of the 2002 campaign, when he and Oman "had a talk."

After that private conversation, Flanagan said, "I felt that he was sincerely interested in taking the changes that I mentioned to heart."

Then came an emotional roller coaster Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. "At one point, one TV station had me up by 400 or 500 votes and then we switched channels and I was up by only 10 votes, according to another station," he said.

Flanagan said he will pursue the issues of better communication between the county attorney's office and law enforcement, remaining objective on all matters that come before him and adding a witness coordinator and legal assistant position to the office staff among other priorates.

There was no gloating from Flanagan.

"If I had lost by the 500 or so votes I won by, I would have considered I had been able to get my point across," he said.

When Oman leaves office in January 2003, he will have served 15 years in the county attorney's office.

Also part of the office staff are Julie Mougin, an Assistant Mower County Attorney, plus Moe and Schafer, office staff, and attorney Olson in addition to Oman and Flanagan.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at

lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com