Article: Food for thought; When Anoka County Commissioner Dick Lang wants to connect with constituents, he chats with them over breakfast.(NEWS)

Byline: PAUL LEVY; STAFF WRITER

HAM LAKE - The lesson in local politics, courtesy of Anoka County Commissioner Dick Lang, begins underground, before dawn, with a mole.

"I gotta see Harvey," Lang says, holding court before the breakfast crowd at the Red Ox Cafe in Ham Lake early one weekday morning last week. "I got moles in my yard. Caught one this morning. I'm real proud, but I've got lots of them. I gotta see Harvey. Now, there's a guy who knows how to trap moles."

Ole Swenson -- his real name is Leonard, but nobody knows that here -- pushes aside his oatmeal and notices Lang is scribbling on a napkin.

"You want toilet paper to write ...

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