Ward 5 Candidates Spar in Second Round of Debates

Videos recorded by Yang for City Council Campaign Committee

Like many voters in the fifth ward, I could not make it to last week's debates.  I was sent links to recordings done by the Blong Yang campaign, and am reposting them so others can watch as well.  I am posting without commentary, so that viewers and voters can make up their own minds about the forum.

And thanks to Jewish Community Action and the Northside Community Redevelopment Coalition for putting together the event.

5th Ward Candidate Karaoke

One of the most fun elements of the recent 5th Ward candidate forum was when each candidate performed either karaoke or an artistic endeavor of their own creation.  We got to see a different side of everyone, as each of the possible next council members let their hair down and have some fun.

If a better video of Ian Alexander's performance exists, I'll use that instead of what's embedded here.  I received a phone call in the middle of that, and the video turned off momentarily.  I think that was my camera saying "Finally!  An excuse to do something OTHER than film this!"  And yet I want--nay, I am compelled--to publish these videos.  Such is the burden that citizen-journalists must bear.

The other three videos, as well as a belated post-debate analysis are after the jump...

5th Ward Candidate Forum at The Capri

On Saturday, September 7th, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change hosted a candidate forum at the Capri for those running for the open 5th Ward seat. I captured the debates in their entirety and will post the footage.

The highlight, for some, was the event ending with each candidate doing what can only be described as a performance under the most liberal standards.  Unfortunately, I received a call on my cell phone (which was used since the camera was out of juice by then) and Ian Alexander's footage was interrupted.  I will post all four performances if someone has a link to the full footage.  Otherwise, it's not fair to watch the razor-thin line between loving homage and untalented desecration known as candidate karaoke for only three of the four contestants.

The rest of the forum videos (minus karaoke, which deserves its own stand-alone post) are after the jump...

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...

Recount Complete, Dehn to Be Certified as Winner of 59B DFL Primary

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Apologies for the terrible photo of a photo.  I am still unpacking and cannot for the life of me find the cord for my camera.  Actual recount photos to be uploaded as soon as possible.

This morning I got my first taste of how an election recount is handled.  Turns out the process is a cure for insomnia.  To start, the rules were read so that everyone was clear on how the day would proceed.  This was an administrative recount only, and would be limited to whether ballots were counted properly for each candidate.  Voter eligibility or possible campaign violations would not be considered at this event.  Since no one apparently contested the election results, the recount is expected to be the final tally for the DFL primary and Dehn will emerge as the winner.

Amid my criticism of how the final days of the election played out, I said that the time would come when we unite as a party and as a community and move forward.  For those of us voting on the DFL ticket at least, that time is now.

The chance for the recount being overturned were slim--the vast majority of ballots were counted correctly the first time.  For the ballots that weren't, those would very likely be statistically representative of the election as a whole.  So once the rules were explained, we got to the actual ballot counting itself, which was sort of like watching someone else check out a library book but less exciting because it took all day.  Even though the observers' area was full, hardly anyone spoke.  The ballot counters announced each ward and precinct, ceremoniously unsealed the ballots, and counted away.  Actual challenges to the ballots were quite rare, but did happen once while I was present...

The 19-Vote Victory

Post and stock photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

In the game of cribbage, nineteen points is an impossible score.  When a player gets a worthless hand with zero points, the running joke among experts and novices alike is that they pegged nineteen points.  So when Raymond Dehn led Terra Cole by nineteen votes after a series of last-minute dirty campaign tricks, the card player in me immediately compared his margin to that point total in cribbage.

I have been so disgusted by what I have seen over the past week that I have gone so far as to call the victory "illegitimate."  That word was chosen carefully, as there is no way that I could more strongly articulate my distaste for the final days of the campaign in 59B.  But if all I wanted to do was complain about who won, or hurl insults across the political aisle, then frankly it would be best for me and others like me to be silent.  There will come a time--soon--where it will be appropriate for everyone to set aside differences and accept whatever the results of this election are.  That time has not yet arrived.

Before we get there, I believe several things need to happen.  First off...

Dirty Campaign Tricks Continue in 59B

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Today voters in 59B received four mailers that all appear to be tied to the Raymond Dehn campaign.  One was from MAPE, another from AFSCME, and the final two from an entity called "Minneapolis Democrats for Truth."  Those two were blatant attack ads against fellow contender Ian Alexander.  It appears to me that these mailings were done by the same party or at least in overt coordination with one another.  There are several revealing factors that would hint at such a conclusion.  For instance...

Alleged Rules Violation by Local DFL Door Knocking Volunteers

Post and photo (of DFL office on West Broadway) by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

ADDENDUM:  A fairly satisfactory resolution was explained by Corey Day of the DFL party, and is summarized in the comments section below.

Two days ago, a North Talk post described an incident that, if true, would appear to violate DFL party rules.  In district 59B, the local convention adjourned without an endorsement.  Under DFL rules, specifically Article III, Section 4, Subsection H of the DFL Constitution and Bylaws, we read the following:

The Minnesota DFL Party at all levels shall not provide support and funds to candidates unless they are duly endorsed, or are seeking an office without party designation and are not running against a duly endorsed candidate.

The alleged incident in question was that a volunteer door knocker was going through a north Minneapolis neighborhood in 59B and talking to people specifically about DFL-endorsed candidates.   After going through a list of several who had been duly endorsed, the volunteer then began talking about Raymond Dehn.  By association, this volunteer was putting Dehn on the same level as DFL-endorsed candidates prior to the August 14th primary.  There are several ways this could have happened, most of which would appear to be a direct violation of the above rule...

How to Have a Stadium Referendum in North Minneapolis

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  Top document from the city of Minneapolis, bottom image from the Daily Norseman blog.

The Vikings Stadium bill is moving along in the state legislature, and morphing too often and too quickly to keep up with on this blog.  But one key provision that our mayor and seven council members have turned their back on is the fact that the Minneapolis city charter specifically calls for a citywide referendum on any stadium funding greater than $10 million.  At the city council meeting that produced a 7-6 vote in favor of the stadium (Rybak calls that strong support), the city's chief financial officer was asked what the total cost to the city of Minneapolis through 2046 would be for this stadium proposal.

$675 million.

Now I might not be as smart as these people, so I pulled out my calculator to double-check a few things.  And just to be sure I didn't get mixed up with all these newfangled smartphone calculators, I used one that's fifteen years old and only goes up to eight digits.  $67,500,000 minus $10,000,000 equals $57,500,000.  I know I'm missing a zero in there somewhere, but I'm not too good at math and can't figure out where to put it.  Anyway, as best as I can figure, we're allocating far more than ten million in city resources under this proposal, and yet eight of our Minneapolis elected officials are ignoring the referendum requirement.

As an aside, the city attorney has issued a verbal opinion, not a written one, and that this is okey-dokey because the state collects these taxes and gives them back to the city or lets us use them or converts them into unique monetary units that only the Vikings faithful can see, or something like that.  We don't really know, because this is a VERBAL opinion and not written out.  In my opinion, the mayor and city attorney are selling the gang of seven short.  I find it extraordinarily flimsy for a $675,000,000 decision to be made on verbal guidance alone.  If there were a written opinion, then the support that the seven CM's gave would have more weight at least.

So if there's going to be no referendum, what do we do in north Minneapolis?

Parliamentary Roundup of Senate District 59 DFL (part 1)

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.


Note:  These two posts will deal more with the procedures of the convention, as the candidates themselves have plenty of forums to give their viewpoints, and as I hope to make the convention processes more accessible and transparent.

If you were to take your junior high experience and put it on steroids, then add a healthy dose of Robert's Rules of Order, throw that in a blender, and consume the concoction for twelve hours straight, that would give you some idea of what a local senate district party convention is like.  And last Saturday North Minneapolis, Bryn Mawr, and parts of downtown gathered to choose DFL endorsements for our newly numbered Senate district 59.  While the endorsement process itself had plenty of drama, the setup for the convention didn't help much either.

We were slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. and I arrived about ten minutes early.  Even if I missed the first few moments of the convention, this should have been plenty of time to register and find my spot.  For the uninitiated, local political conventions require you to know or find out the ward and precinct where you were elected as a delegate, and then find the corresponding table at the registration to sign in.  Once registered, you have to find your ward and precinct on the floor of the convention as well.  I've been doing this for years, and I often forget how disorienting even the registration can be for newbies.

And whoever did the set-up for the event must have thought to themselves, "If there were a zombie attack while everyone was registering, what would be the surest way to make sure the whole convention gets infected?"  Zombies, after all, are the epitome of groupthink, and would certainly make the endorsement process faster.  (I nominate the candidate who promises the most free brains!  All those in favor signify by saying "eeeerrrrrrhhhhhhmmmmm.")  Joking aside, the registration tables were set up in a narrow hallway right in front of the main entrance for the auditorium.  So we had people entering the school from both sides of the hallway, attempting to get to the registration tables, while other registrants were trying to leave, and while people already registered were trying to come and go from the auditorium.  Then when a few people in wheelchairs had to attempt passing through, that somehow added to the gridlock.

This had to be the worst placement of registration I have ever seen at a convention--unless the planners were inspired by Leonidas and the Spartans' battle against the Persians.  You might think I'm exaggerating here, but the 1:20 mark of the video below contains actual footage of the convention registration process.



It took me close to a half an hour just to get registered and up to my seat in the balcony area.  Even then we waited a while longer before starting the convention.  Why is the registration so important?  Because people with kids or pets can't be there all day.  Eventually you've got to go home and let them out of the kennel so they can go to the bathroom.  (The PETS, just to be entirely clear here.)  So the longer the day drags on, the fewer people are still around participating in the endorsement process.  We started almost an hour later than scheduled, and that was in large part due to the registration logjam.

The other unnecessary delay came when...

Candidate Debates in 58B

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, video from the Senate District 58 website. 

Last week we had candidate debates for district 58 A and B - although we don't know for sure where the boundaries will be for the house districts for a few weeks more.  On Tuesday night, four candidates for 58B debated at UROC.  Nancy Pomplun, Ian Alexander, Terra Cole, and Raymond Dehn attended the debate.  Former state representative Willie Dominguez is believed to be running as well.  He was invited but did not show.

At this point in the election, I'm not sure who of the candidates in attendance I support.  (Although I am predisposed to elect someone new instead of returning Dominguez to office if he continues to run.)  In fact, I have personal and professional relationships with all four candidates and may therefore refrain from openly endorsing anyone - at least until after the district convention.

The full debate video is posted above, and my impressions were...