[Mpls] Stonewall Endorsements

[Tim Bonham]

While I can't speak officially for Stonewall, I can answer some of the 
questions raised.

First, these comments seem to talk about Stonewall DFL like a single 
person.  It isn't, it's a bunch of people who vote their ballots.  I can 
count ballots, but neither I nor anyone else can tell you what was in the 
mind of the dozens of members when they cast their ballots.  Nor is likely 
to be the same for all of them.

Barb Johnson in 4th Ward did request to be endorsed, and answered the 
screening questions.  (I believe her answers, and those from other 
candidates, will be posted on our website, as soon as our volunteer 
webmaster finds time to do that.)  And this is certainly not the first time 
she has requested & received Stonewall DFL endorsement.

All the discussion I heard on abiding by DFL endorsement was about upcoming 
endorsements, not worrying about the past.  Don Samuels said he intends to 
abide by the DFL endorsement in Ward 5;
he was recommended for endorsement.  RT Rybak said he intends to run in the 
Primary with or without DFL endorsement; Peter McLaughlin said he would 
abide by the DFL endorsement.  The membership recommended McLaughlin for 
endorsement.

Certainly nobody at this meeting put RT Rybak in the same class as Michelle 
Bachman, or suggested vengeance toward him (just Dyna on this list).  At 
the meeting he was well received and applauded.   And RT Rybak did not 
"defy the DFL endorsement"; if you remember, there was no DFL endorsement 
for Mayor in 2001.

I don't understand the confusion over the dates -- the website clearly says 
the meeting on the 19th will vote on ST. PAUL Mayoral endorsement.  And the 
schedule was also explaineded in an email to Stonewall members.

<rehashing old stuff -- feel free to skip ahead.>
	Dyna, I don't see why you refer to the Stonewall DFL Annual meeting last 
year as a "coup".  There weren't any armed revolutionaries or military 
juntas running around that I remember -- just another noisy, lengthy, and 
sometimes boring DFL meeting.  The voting was by secret paper ballot, as 
usual.  You just got less votes than other candidates -- that's not what 
I'd call throwing you out.  And how is it a "coup" when the board was 
largely unchanged? -- 2/3rds of the elected directors were reelected from 
the year before.
	And the Stonewall DFL board is now 44% women; that's more closely gender 
balanced that I recall for several years.

Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish Ericsson