Could DFL and Green Ever Do Joint Efforts?

by: Grace Kelly

Sun Jun 07, 2009 at 11:51:26 AM CDT

Cam Gordon, City Councilman, Ward 2, is a fine statesman and a fellow Green Party Member. But there was a bit of a tempest in a green teapot over Cam's endorsement of Mayor R.T. Rybak. Keep in mind Rybak doesn't have any serious competition in the race, since Al Flowers doesn't count and, in the words of one Green Party activist who spoke to me anonymously, "Couldn't win the election against Rybak if Rybak dropped dead." ....

In the basement of a library, 41 members of the Green Party met for well over an hour, along with a few assorted guests who were not eligible to vote, to debate the lame and doomed proposal to take back the endorsement of Cam Gordon. If a vote had been held, then and there, by my reckoning it would have been 37 to 4. ...

All the same, do the math: if everybody contributes an hour, then roughly TWO DAYS OF HUMAN LIFE were burned up by this exercise in futility.

(Johnny Northside)

Minneapolis DFL Ward 2 Convention: no endorsement, support for Cam Gordon

by: The Big E

Sat Apr 18, 2009 at 12:45:13 PM CDT

They passed a resolution that did two things:  first, no endorsement:  second, stated their support for incumbent Cam Gordon.

Details below the fold.

Take Action Minnesota screenings for Minneapolis Wards 1 & 2

by: The Big E

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 21:57:14 PM CDT

The Ward 1 screening provided the drama of the evening.  On the third ballot Jose Velez came within 1% of garnering the endorsement.

But candidates need 60% to win endorsement, so there will be no Take Action MN endorsement in the Ward 1 race.

Candidate	1st ballot	2nd ballot	3rd ballot
Jose Velez	48%	56%	59%
Kevin Reich	38%	38%	37%
Doron Clark	6%	2%	2%
Susan Howitz Hanna	0%	0%	0%
No endorsement	8%	4%	2%

Charles Carlson Drops out of Minneapolis Ward 2 Race

by: Megan

Mon Mar 02, 2009 at 11:33:12 AM CST

There is a lot of stuff in the article ... and honestly a lot of it is mind-blowing. Obviously Charles is a very high-functioning individual.

There is a lot to be written on mental illness and politics. But one thing in this case that concerns me is reports that people are spreading this article around as a reason to mock Charles. And to those who are doing this ... you are ***holes. Regardless of the politics and personal this is clearly a case where compassion is called for.

Yesterday, Sunday, March 1st, Charles Carlson announced that he would be dropping out of the race for City Council in Minneapolis Ward Two, leaving no DFL candidate. He made the announcement at screenings held by the Stonewall DFL Caucus at the Minneapolis Central Library.

At the meeting and in an email to supporters today he cited a new job as a professional tennis judge that would take him out of town too often to be able to run an effective campaign. At the screening he also alluded to various negative posts around the ole Internet and "harassment", although he offered no specifics.

Charles faced many hurdles in his race. One is the relative popularity of the incumbent, Green Party member Cam Gordon, in the Ward, even with DFLer's. According to one prototypical political "hack" there was a brewing plot to actually have 1-2 people run against Charles at the DFL Ward Convention in order to block an endorsement only to have them drop out later. Apparently some of the DFLer's in the area are wishing Gordon would cross over and seek the DFL endorsement.

I have to comment that Charles was very classy in the way he addressed the Stonewall Caucus yesterday. It had to be heartbreaking to call off his campaign after putting so much work in and he could have just phoned to cancel his appointment without anyone thinking less of him. But, he came in, sat down and explained his decision. (This compared with an incumbent Council Member, to be named in another post, who showed up an hour late and offered no explanation or apology as to why.)