I like getting together with people this time of year but there's one
Holiday get together I plan to skip.
Next week---when the DFL Central Committee gathers to censure city
council members for the sin of letting an independent chair a committee---I
won't be in the audience. I don't want any part of the back room politics
of exclusion that was soundly rejected in race after race in the last
election.
This hastily-called session of the Central Committee grows out of the
proposal that Barret Lane would chair the council's Ways and Means
committee. As anyone who follows the council can tell you, Barret knows the
budget backwards and forward. At a time when the city if facing serious
financial issues, and when City Hall has so many new faces, we are in dire
need of Barret's knowledge, innovation and exceptional committment to
fairness.
Most people I've talked to agree. That includes many Democrats and
members of labor.
But a handful of people are saying that because he is not a member of
the DFL, other DFLers should vote against him. They feel so strongly about
this that they are taking the extraordinary step of calling the Central
Committee together to pressure other DFL council members to vote against
Barret. Most labor members I talk also think it's wrong to oppose Barret,
but a handful are saying that if only he was dropped from this committee
chairmanship, "Labor can deliver three more council members" to form a new
council majority.
As people consider their vote at the Central Committee gathering, I
hope they remember this: On Jan. 2, you will see a new city council that
includes many new members who got there in spite of being shut out by the
party establishment.
Remember the 8th Ward convention, when Robert Lillegren was so
articulate about new visions for affordable housing...and he got, as I
recall, only 3 or 4 votes.
Remember the 5th Ward convention when Natalie Johnson Lee sat virtually
ignored at the side of the room.
Remember the 6th Ward convention when Dean Zimmerman was literally not
allowed to speak.
In each case, they went on to win and are now bringing great new
energy to the city.
The DFL wasn't the only group that shut out new voices.
Remember Annie Young, the first elected official in this city who had
the guts to be out and Green, being grilled by members of the Green Party
for not being pure enough.
Remember Progressive Minnesota grilling Gary Schiff for not being
progressive enough, which seemed odd after DFLers grilled him for having
flirted with the Greens.
Remember the cool receptions Natalie got from some of the
establishment at Lucille's Kitchen.
I could add quite a few examples from my own experience. One notable
case was having the head of the Central Labor Union actually standing
outside the door of my press conference threatening council members that if
they suppored me they could lose their labor endorsement.
The election is over and it's time to mend fences. Forgive but don't
forget:
The real lesson of the last campaign is that you don't build a city by
shutting doors and locking people out. You build a city by reaching across
all those old lines that are supposed to separate people. With problems
this large, we don't have people to waste.
To paraphrase the line:
"Merry Christmas to all...and to backroom, insider politics GOODNIGHT!"
R.T.Rybak
As DFL as the next guy;
Has Green and Republican friends but please don't hate me.
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