I see somebody just posted the DFL City Convention
Rules, and I want to let people on the issues list know
about something UNUSUAL that happened when those rules
were written.
I am an RT Rybak supporter, and I wanted to be on the
Rules Committee to make sure they were basically fair.
I got elected to the Committee from the 13th Ward, and
we met a few Saturdays ago to hammer out the rules and
agenda for the May 5th convention. This committee
consisted of 2 delegates (1 man/1 woman) elected from
each ward.
This is where it gets interesting.
Twenty minutes after the meeting began, Buck Humphrey
strode in, sat down and began voting as a member of the
rules committee from the 11th ward. The only problem
was Humphrey had never been elected to serve on the
rules committee.
The two delegates elected from the 11th ward were Don
Lewis (male) who was in the room and HEIDI Humphrey
(female) who was not present.
When an RT Rybak supporter who had attended the 11th
ward convention challenged Humphrey's voting as an
elected member, Buck claimed not to recall whether he or
his wife had been elected.
He could, however, recall that she was sick and unable
to attend the rules committee meeting.
Despite the presence of the real male delegate in the
room, it still took Buck a few minutes (and further
challenges) for him to admit it was his wife who had
been elected to the female seat and not him. Ten
minutes later he came back with some other woman to vote
for him, but she wasn't allowed.
I thought the whole thing was strange, then come to find
out Buck Humphrey is an employee of the mayor.
This just shows the lengths some will go to.
We're all democrats. Let's try and remember this is a
democracy, and we need fair and open participation and
voting, and that includes the caucus and convention
process.
We worked for many hours to come up with rules all three
campaigns agreed are pretty fair, and all three
campaigns AGREED TO ABIDE BY. NOW I hear a rumor that
the Sayles Belton campaign is going to challenge the
rules at the convention. I hope they don't go back on
their word.
Nikki Carlson, 13th Ward, Linden Hills
_______________________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy
Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more:
http://e-democracy.org/mpls
