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The low voter turnout to the ward endorsing
conventions has nothing to do with the Mayor and
everything to do with the organizing efforts of
the individual Party's outreach efforts.
The biggest criticism I have of my party (the
DFL) is that we do not have a paid Field
Organizer that gets out and does that outreach,
and during the "off years" (City Elections) gets
those delegates involved in that process.
I believe that the problem with delegate turnout
and voter turnout for that matter for the DFL
party is more of outreach and issue development.
This is an infrastructure issue that is getting
addressed in the DFL Affirmative Action
Commission.
I will not do outreach for any other party that
the DFL party, and if that makes me an elistic,
so be it. But I truly haven't seen the
Republican, Green, Independent, or any other
minor party do any sort of outreach for the DFL.
I personally excited about the work the State DFL
Affirmative Action Commission is doing. We start
our first trainings for the 5th Congressional
District (basically Minneapolis) June 2nd. This
is a simulation training that party activists and
those interested in getting involved actually get
to live the lives (for 4 months - 15 min = 1
month) of those they are doing outreach. After
the simulation, we will discuss how not only how
it FELT to be poor, a person with disabilities, a
person of color, a working single mother, etc,
etc., and then develop realistic strategies on
what the DFL Party needs to do differently to
have effective outreach in their area.
The rural trainings will be much different that
the urban, and the suburban trainings will be
different.
I have participated in these trainings and they
are fun, frustrating, but actually motivate folks
to work at their mission.
This training has been used for correctional
facility service providers, chemical dependency
service providers, and child protection service
providers. Many of the service providers as a
result of this trainings changed many of their
policies because they realized they were further
victimizing those they were given charge to
assist.
I think it would be wonderful if many on this
list
--- "Jordan S. Kushner"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Mpls-Issues tip: please delete as much of this
> message's text as possible if replying to the
> list. Thanks!
> -----------
>
> Ms. Becker's point about labelling is fair
> enough. Although labels have
> some justification in order to summarize
> positions, it is fair to ask that
> one's positions be addressed substantively
> (which I think Tim Connolly did
> do on his last post). (BTW, for clarification,
> I did not label Minn an
> "idiot" - whatever my impressions of Minn, I do
> not believe he is an idiot;
> the header for my message did label his quote
> in the Star Tribune as
> "idiotic" - quite different from calling a
> person a idiot. I could have
> used another word but it was frustrating to
> have spent 12 hours at a
> convention and then get dismissed as an
> extremist)..
>
> But as to the discussion at hand about the
> endorsement convention, I
> participated from the 8th Ward, which had a
> really low turnout - I would be
> the lowerst of any ward (it would be
> interesting if anyone has access to
> those statistics). This seemed to be very
> significant because it was the
> Mayor's home ward which she represented as
> council member before she moved
> to her current home along the River. I took it
> to be an indicator that the
> Mayor has really lost most of her original
> base.
>
> I do not buy for a moment that the Mayor's
> supporters did not show up
> because they believed she had it locked up.
> The delegates are all activists
> and must have some degree of political
> commitment given that they already
> had to participate in the lengthy caucus system
> last year to become
> delegates in the first place. If they were
> enthusiastic about the Mayor,
> her "supporters" would have shown up to make
> sure she got the endorsement.
> Especially with the pre-eminence of cellphones,
> it was easy for campaigns to
> get call their supportive delegates to the
> convention when voting was taking
> place. The bottom line is that the Mayor's
> opposition was ready to attend
> the convention is larger numbers and more
> likely to hang around as long as
> necessary to defeat her, whereas a lower number
> of the Mayor's supporters
> were willing to do either.
>
> It was difficult for anyone to spend up to 12
> hours at a convention. One
> very common problem that I heard from people on
> all sides was that they
> could not not attend or had to leave because
> they have children. Is there
> any particular reason that the DFL is unable to
> provide child care at its
> planned long events?
>
> Jordan Kushner
> Powderhorn, Ward 8
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Carol Becker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 10:05 AM
> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Mayor endorsemtment or lack
> of .....
>
>
> > Mpls-Issues tip: please delete as much of
> this message's text as possible
> if replying to the list. Thanks!
> > -----------
> >
> > Response to Mr. Connolly and shilling:
> >
> > The way to minimize a person is to hang a
> label on them. This allows you
> to
> > more easily dismiss them. In the last week,
> on this list, I have been
> > called anti-environmentalist, pro-big
> business, part of a political
> machine,
> > and accused by you of shilling. I am not the
> only person on this list
> that
> > some folks on this list are attempting to do
> this to. (for example, the
> > Minn idiot post from a couple days ago) It
> would be my preference that
> > instead of dismissing me by labeling me, that
> you address the issues that
> I
> > bring up and avoid labeling me.
> >
> > Perhaps this will help: "The opinions
> expressed by Carol Becker are her
> own
> > and are owned by no one other than her."
> >
> > Response to Mr. Connolly and being spun:
> >
> > If you feel you are being spun, I would be
> more than happy to give you the
> > list of 12th Ward delegates for you to talk
> to. I have. I cannot speak
> > about any other wards than my own, but I can
> report on what people told me
> > from my ward. I would invite you to do the
> same. I would just ask that
> you
> > refrain from making sweeping statements about
> non-attendance until you
> speak
> > to delegates who did not attend.
> >
> > Response to Mr. Peterson and minutia:
> >
> > I do spend a lot of time on this list
> explaining government and how it
> > works. Mr. Connolly, for example, in one of
> his posts several days ago
> > spoke incorrectly about the assessment
> process and I did post information
> > about that. There may be individuals who see
> this as minutia and if that
> is
> > true, I apologize. I think getting facts
> correct are important because we
> > build perception about an issue from facts.
> Your statements about
> "palatial
> > suites" and "closed doors" are simply
> inaccurate. My understanding about
> > the reason that the doors were closed was
> that the people selling food
> > needed a place to pile their garbage. The
> insinuations about secret
> closed
> > door things going on are simply inaccurate.
> >
> > Response to Mr. Connolly and gardens:
> >
> > I myself just planted all my assorted alliums
> in the rain. Maybe it is
> just
> > us anti-environmentalists who are crazy
> enough to plant in the rain.
> >
> > Carol Becker
> > Longfellow
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________
> Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota
> E-Democracy
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=====
Matthea Little Smith
MN DFL Affirmative Action Officer
612-724-2997 - Home
612-221-9675 - Cell
"Community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that
these differences do not exist...it is learning how to stand alone, unpopular and
sometimes reviled, and how to make common cause with those others identified as
outside the structures in order to define and seek a world in which we can all
flourish." --- Audre Lorde
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