IMPRESSION: [My objective impressions as part of the minority who > supported Gary Schiff] I do not believe there was any question that > both Michael Guest and Gary Schiff are excellent on the issues of > concern to Progressive Minnesota (PM) (e.g. opposition to stadium > funding, aggressive solutions to the affordable housing crisis, > stronger living wage ordinances), and that both candidates are far > preferrable to establishment-hack Kathy Thurber. Both candidates had > committed supporters within PM. The reason that Guest got the > endorsement: a closer current connection to PM. Schiff was a former > staff organizer but left the organization about four years ago. Guest > is currently on the Board of PM. The entire PM staff is supporting > and working for Guest. Most of the core members are supporting > Guest. Guest's supporters were able to get more PM members to the > meeting, and therefore won the endorsement. > Hi. My name is Diana McKeown and I live in the Longfellow neighborhood with my husband and daughter. I am a member of Progressive Minnesota and was at the PM screening of candidates on Saturday, Feb. 3 and I feel compelled to respond to the message posted Tuesday by Jordan Kushler about the 9th Ward endorsement. I was there and am very confused about Jordan's comment about the PM staff''s involvement in the endorsement of Michael Guest. I have been doing some work with Michael's campaign and have never seen or heard of a PM staff persons involvement in that campaign. Nor did any of them actively participate in the decision last Sat. Yes, it is true that Michael is currently the Vice Chair of the board. Yes, he has been more involved in PM recently. In fact, I have been a member since the fall of 1997 during the stadium campaign and had never seen Gary Schiff at a PM event until announced his candidacy. That doesn't make him an undesirable candidate, but perhaps would explain why there were a lot of PM members that supported Michael, because they know him, like him and trust him and think he will make an excellent City Council member. His leadership on the board of PM is something many of us desire to see at city hall. Diana S. McKeown Longfellow Ward 9 _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
