Blong Yang - First Choice for the Fifth Ward

Photo from www.blongyang.org.
 
I first got to know Blong Yang when we worked together on a campaign to get a Hmong-speaking police officer on the day shift in north Minneapolis.  When he ran for Hennepin County Commissioner, I was looking for a candidate to support who was smart, level-headed, honest, and hadn't been responsible for foisting publicly-funded stadiums upon us.  Blong fit the bill.

While Blong didn't win that race, he ran a solid, respectable campaign that surprised a lot of folks.  He did very well especially in engaging new voters in north Minneapolis.  I was proud of him and proud of the work we did in that election.  So there should be no surprise that from day one I supported Blong Yang as my first choice for the open Fifth Ward City Council seat. 

On policy issues...

The Downside of Ranked Choice Voting

I am not a fan of ranked choice voting, and Saturday's Ward Five convention did nothing to endear me to this new process.

At another convention where I was volunteering for a mayoral candidate, I wound up talking with Kim Ellison for almost an hour about RCV, and much of that dialogue centered around aspects of this system that I *do* like--for instance, candidates are adopting a much more civil tone in their campaigns.  I just happen to think we're using ranked choice in all the wrong elections. (For instance, the lack of a primary makes it hard to weed out "vanity" candidates who have no chance of winning.  But look at last year's state representative primary election.  Ranked choice voting then would have saved us from a contentious recount.)  This voting process has its upsides, but Saturday revealed a few drawbacks as well.

At the fifth ward DFL convention, the chair brought up RCV as a possible way to facilitate the endorsement process.  Here's how it (I use the next word loosely) worked...