Yesterday proved that this list can make real change when the Minneapolis DFL convention passed a constitution change mandating open city caucuses be held in the city election year. It was a "landslide" - 308 yes and 289 no, as Steve Clift posted yesterday, so we needed every last bit of help we received. The change simply wouldn't have happened without list members. Though the original idea was mine, the people who put it together came together because of Minneapolis-Issue, where we recruited for our Saturday meetings at the aptly named "Open Book." List members who made this happen include: Julie Mattson Ostrow, who responded first with tough questions, then became one of our chief organizers. She called City Council members for support (we received half the current DFL membership - thanks to Goodman, Niland, McDonald, Mead, Herron, and especially Paul Ostrow - who became our terrific "clean-up" hitter on the floor.) Julie was also our floor manager and navigator of the rules. Judy Farmer, who I didn't know before this, jumped in with both feet. A five-time DFL-endorsed candidate for school board, she, like Julie, was at every organizational meeting (two Saturdays in a row for this little thing!), got the entire library board's support and most of the other city board members. She introduced the resolution and spoke movingly of the potential for board candidates to recruit their own backers to the process. This is her last term, but she did this on principle and for the future of the DFL. Phyllis Kahn was indefatigable about more fully opening the process. She lobbied the city delegation, and we received support from almost everyone. The ear-splitting smile I received from Phyllis when we won was almost worth the toil by itself. Scott Benson worked on the city DFL troops who do the yearly work of organizing conventions. He was an upbeat force, a beneficiary of the current system who still favored change. Plus, he handled Friday night Sign Wars with good humor despite having three different kinds of tape on our bodies at various points! Brian Hanninen and Paul Zerby were magnificent,` both as working-group participants but especially handing out lit at the convention. Brian called all the current council candidates and got most to support this. As for Paul, he is a hell of a pursuader! Peter Wagenius, despite running what would be a terrific (and much more important) RT Rybak operation, attended all our meetings, provided sage advice, and made our posters! His passion for the idea, irrespective of the current mayor's race, kept me going. Also to RT, who embraced this totally, and put it on his website, with the help of Russell Peterson, who still works his butt off for Minneapolis from the wilds of St. Michael. (I do have to single RT's campaign for a special thank-you, on behalf of my issue but also for others. Had RT's forces not defeated a "time-certain" rules change for the mayor's endorsement, my issue might not have been considered. By requiring the mayor's race to go last, we kept a quorum for all the board races, too - which meant everyone seeking endorsement (often tantamount to election) could be heard and have the delegates decide without losing quorum. We even had a quorum for the 6th district parks commissioner race, which resulted in Tracy Nordstrom's upset win, and probably also means a dog park for southwest Minneapolis! RT's enthusiastic embrace probably lost us a few Sharon supporters who thought our change was a Trojan Horse for the mayor's race - it wasn't - but we had plenty of Sharon people backing us, and to them, thank you too!) Shawne FitzGerald and Erik Riese were cannon fodder for my doomed 9th Ward effort, which taught me a lot about presenting a resolution. Erik hobbled around the convention floor on Saturday putting our lit on chairs, a real act of belief. Steve Clift came to our rescue speaking in our successful 10th ward effort, where Suzie Overlie rocked that crowd with her genuine, excited speech! (You need energy, find a way to run a power line off Suzie!). Cara Letofsky juggled baby and principle to kibbitz with us at Open Book, and her husband Jim Davnie provided big-time encouragement. Rosalind Nelson volunteered, Sara Strzok provided insight and moral support, Bert Black provided rules reassurance and bedrock belief in the principle, Joe Barisonzi helped with buttons and some last-minute persuasion, and I probably ruined Lynnell Mickelsen's printer-cartridge printing our buttons - special thanks to Lynnell's husband John for the last-minute design help (even as their son's softball game loomed!) Greg Abbott provided moral support and strategic advice, as did Frank Hornstein. Mark Hinds joined us late but with both feet, reminding us to remember young DFLers and non-insiders. Denny Hill kept encouraging me and insisted St. Paul's system works, and Don Jorovsky also provided welcome advice. Lisa McDonald lent her name to our lit piece and that helped a lot with her supporters. Some non-members need to be singled out. Allan Spear grabbed the convention with his passionate speech on our behalf, and George Garnett was a late scratch to our speaker's list because I misinterpreted the rules. Jean Johnson was our vital third person for Sign Wars. C. Scott Cooper, the St. Paul chair, gave me insights into the pluses and minuses of their system, as did Megan Thomas and Hugh Gitlin. Three other shout-outs: To city DFL chair Brian Melendez, who - despite a couple of (unintentionally) negative rulings on divisions, provided absolutely fair, factual, straight-up advice about how to navigate the DFL system. It is so nice to have a fair arbiter in the chairman's seat, so procedural pitfalls don't swallow your initiative before the merits can be considered. Also - and I mean this sincerely - to Rick Stafford and David Finke, whose Just Say No buttons reflected their opposition. My fear of their well-informed counterarguments (and their cleverness in stopping these things) made me work much harder and make a better case. They were gracious and classy in defeat, and of course, will be on my butt to make this work...as they should be. If I left anyone out, I am sorry (the hazards of an extensive thank you). I want to thank EVERYONE who voted for this, signed our letters, and made real change! I think we'll see a better, more open DFL when the next city election cycle rolls around in 2005! David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
