>Secondly, the Stonewall Caucus said: "Acceptable is a way of saying that
>the candidate in question is a friend of the Caucus and GLBT community. "
Walt Gutzmer (who is openly gay--and as Wizard correctly pointed out, is
named Gutzmer not Gutzman) was also not deemed acceptable by the Stonewall
Caucus. The problem was he didn't promise to abide by DFL endorsement.
That question is irrelevant to whether a candidate is a friend to the Gay
and Lesbian community. As a point of comparison, Log Cabin Republicans did
NOT ask candidates whether they plan to abide by party endorsement in order
to get LCR endorsement.
>I find it really hard to believe that Lisa McDonald or R.T. Rybak were not
>rated acceptable to the Stonewall Caucus. I know for a fact that R.T. is
>not only a friend; he has been a tireless advocate.
Lisa McDonald has also been a friend.
>You see, by not even rating candidates who are in line with your views
>"acceptable" , you make it seem as though there was an inside game. Or that
>your group is really more interested in controlling the process than giving
>out useful information to your members and others who might be interested in
>learning about GLBT issues and the candidates who can serve those issues.
>Looking at your endorsement process, I can really find no useful information
>for me in making an election decision.
Russell you've said it all.....
And yes, I would be interested in hearing more about how Union screenings
work. It does seem odd that the final decision on Minneapolis Stonewall
endorsements are going to be decided in Northfield. I know other Stonewall
board members who are not happy with the idea of having to drive to
Northfield for a Stonewall meeting.
The Stonewall DFL website also has phone numbers of board members. I would
call the Minneapolis Board members and express your opinion to them. David
Finke is secretary of Stonewall DFL, and he lives in south Minneapolis.
I disagree that Stonewall doesn't provide information though. It's very
interesting who has, and who has not asked for Stonewall endorsement. Joe
Biernat is one who was not interested in Stonewall endorsement. That I
think speaks volumes. I wonder if Biernat thinks there aren't gay people
in his ward.
However when looking at this spreadsheet, when multiple candidates have
filled in questionaires, and asked for endorsement, it would be nice for a
potential voter to view the questionaires for themselves and decide for
themselves. All of these folks who applied for Stonewall DFL endorsement
were DFLers after all. It wasn't as if the libertarian or Republican
candidates were applying for Stonewall DFL endorsement.
I would urge all candidates who submitted questionaires to Stonewall and to
other organizations to make their questionaires available on the
Minneapolis Issues list. This could be a very valuable collection of
information for voters.
Eva
Eva Young
Minneapolis, MN
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