[Mpls] And the winner is...

[Greg Abbott]

On May 15, 2005, at 12:35 PM, David Brauer wrote:

> We need a bigger hall, obviously -
> back to the Convention Center, home of the 1993 Sharon-versus-Rip  
> brouhaha -

I was city DFL chair during the 1997 election cycle (I was elected at  
the '97 convention, and participated in the planning that led up to it).

The problem with the Convention Center is the overwhelming expense.   
The debt that the city DFL incurred from the '93 convention was  
substantial, and it took until 2000 before the party had fully  
recovered from the economic hang-over of '93.

The truth of the matter is the Minneapolis DFL party, as a  
organization, is the unwanted step-child of city politics.  No one  
really has an interest in contributing to the party organization for  
the sake of an efficient process.  Contributors would rather donate  
to campaigns or PACs run by elected officials than to the city DFL,  
which between elections has little or no impact on policy outcomes.

Brian Melendez is getting some flack for the arrangements screw up  
(from Doug Grow among others).  But the fault really lies in elected  
DFL officials who pay no attention to the party infrastructure or  
finances until they need another endorsement.

I will give Scott Benson some credit for trying to address the  
problem -- after he was elected, Benson tried to form a separate DFL  
City Council caucus to raise money for DFL-endorsed candidates in the  
city, and give the city party some resources.  But the idea fell  
apart from a lack of interest from other DFL-endorsed council  
members.  And it's not just a lack of community spirit -- IMHO some  
DFL council members **prefer** a weak city DFL.  That way the party  
isn't strong enough to stop or counter their own interference in  
other ward elections, frequently at the expense of endorsed DFL  
candidates.

As effective as it is, the DFL sample ballot just doesn't compensate  
for the failure of elected DFL'rs to respect the city party's  
endorsement.  City party unity, never strong to begin with, broke  
down almost entirely in 2001 and has not recovered in 2005  (a  
situation that the incumbent DFL mayor has repeatedly exploited to  
his political advantage).

So while R.T. fiddles, the city DFL burns.

And in the meantime we have dozens and dozens of dedicated volunteers  
trying to put on ward and city DFL conventions without nearly enough  
resources to do the job they are asked to do.


> and we seriously need to explore faster voting methods. It's 2005  
> and we're
> still using paper ballots!
>

We need IRV for the mayoral endorsement. The move this year for IRV  
at the ward conventions just came too late to be incorporated into  
the rules and arrangements process.

Greg Abbott
13th Ward
Linden Hills