# Dakota County Board of Commissioners *County board of Dakota County, Minnesota, which filled the office of county attorney by appointment in 1987 and again in 2021.* The Dakota County Board of Commissioners is the county board of Dakota County, [[Minnesota]]. It has twice filled the office of [[Dakota County Attorney]] by appointment. In September 1987 it appointed James [[Backstrom]] to the vacancy left when his predecessor, Robert Carolan, became a judge. On May 11, 2021 it appointed Kathy Keena, after Backstrom retired on February 27, 2021, 22 months before his elected term was to expire on January 1, 2023.[^1] Between the two appointments, Backstrom was first elected in 1990, and 1994 was the last contested election for the office before 2022. The project's at-issue record counts eight elections in his tenure, seven of them without an opponent.[^1][^2] The next contested race came on November 8, 2022, when Keena defeated Matt Little by 84,520 votes (51.52%) to 78,847 (48.06%).[^1] ## Who The Board is the appointing authority for a vacancy in the county attorney's office in both documented transitions.[^1] Its 1987 appointee had worked in the office since 1977, when he was hired as a law clerk during his third year of law school. He became an assistant Dakota County attorney under County Attorney John O. Sonsteng in August 1978 and head of the office's Civil Division in May 1982.[^1] The Board's 2021 appointee, Keena, took the office at a salary of $190,000.[^1] The record in this pack does not name the commissioners who voted on either appointment, their party affiliations, or the vote tallies.[^1] ## When - September 1987: the Board appoints Backstrom county attorney to fill the Carolan vacancy.[^1] - 1990: the appointee's first election.[^1] - 1994: last contested election for the office before 2022.[^1] - February 27, 2021: Backstrom retires, 22 months before his term was to expire on January 1, 2023.[^1] - May 11, 2021: the Board appoints Keena.[^1] - November 8, 2022: Keena wins the office's first contested election since 1994.[^1] ## How many - Two changes of office-holder between 1987 and 2021, both made by Board appointment.[^1] - Eight elections during the 1987 appointee's tenure, seven without an opponent, as counted in the at-issue record.[^2] - Contested elections for the office between 1994 and 2022: none, by the dossier's timeline.[^1] ## In the at-issue record At-issue item AI-Dakota-006 sets the 1987 appointment beside the electoral record that followed. It states that the tenure it describes as Minnesota's longest for a county attorney "began with a board vote, not a county vote."[^2] The item rests on two news sources (cbsnews.com and kstp.com) that are not among this pack's citable sources, and its tenure-length ranking is not independently documented here.[^2] The record files the item against the White House presidential action *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026).[^3] The pack does not establish that the action addresses Dakota County, its Board, or county-attorney appointments.[^2][^3] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota wiki project, *Backstrom Apex Dossier*, §I, *The Tenure — A Timeline of Appointments* (validated dossier, September 2, 2026) — establishes the 1977–2022 timeline of the office, including the September 1987 and May 11, 2021 Board appointments, the 1990 and 1994 elections, the February 27, 2021 retirement, and the November 8, 2022 result. The dossier's underlying news sources are not in this pack's citable sources. [^2]: Minnesota wiki project, at-issue record, item *AI-Dakota-006* (from *Backstrom Apex Dossier* §I) — states the count of eight elections with seven unopposed and the item's framing; it lists news sources at cbsnews.com and kstp.com. [^3]: The White House, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026) — presidential action listed as the federal anchor for item AI-Dakota-006; it establishes the action's existence and title only. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/