It’s hard to find a more dedicated elected official than Paul Gassert. Elected as the Carlton County auditor more than 30 years ago, he’s spent his entire career serving residents as auditor and eventually with tagged-on duties as treasurer.

Paul is emblematic of everything good about government. In an age where too many politicians pander to their base and spend most of their time in office trying to get re-elected, he was a dedicated bureaucrat who was also accountable to the voters who re-elected him, by wide margins, every four years.

He seemingly knew everything about his office. M...