A big thank you to Gary Schiff for posting this report. I hope more council members (especially Robert Lilligren) follow suit, and keep us updated on their actions.
List member Alan Hooker has debuted a political column at Lavender (it's about time). This is the first time I've read decent political analysis of the local scene in a long time. http://www.lavendermagazine.com/173/173_news_19.html The column talks about how Rybak will use the bully pulpit of his office to aggressively lobby for the city to be able to offer domestic partner benefits. The column also says that none of the Gay city council members seem so enthusiastic: Here's what the column says: For more than nine months, I had supported his opponent in the primary election, Lisa McDonald. What I knew I had learned about him through opposition research and my brief chats with him at events. Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when I discovered him to be more "gay" on several GLBT issues than actual gay men elected to the city council. To give you some idea of what I mean, when I asked the newly elected council members if they thought an official GLBT advisory panel should be created to give input to the mayor, council, and city departments on issues impacting the GLBT community--much like the city's official Latino advisory panel does--Schiff and Lilligren didn't think it was necessary. Both emphasized that the council will contain three gay members, or, as Lilligren phrased it, "Right now we're at three openly gay city representatives on the city council; it [a GLBT advisory panel] is kind of redundant." ========================================== EY: This is nonsense. The gay representatives are elected to represent their districts -- not the general gay community. Alan Hooker's column continues: Don't get me wrong. I'm very happy that the council will have three gay men on it. But if these guys think that they can be the representative voice of the GLBT community, they may have forgotten how diverse and multifaceted this 10 percent of society can be. <snip> On the topic of domestic partner benefits, and what can be done about the state's refusal to let municipalities offer such benefits to their employees, Benson and Schiff are interested in examining cafeteria-style benefit plans, while Lilligren thought "it's up to the city to mend some bridges with the state." Tell that to State Representative Tim Pawlenty, as he tries to make denying domestic partner benefits his ticket to the governor's mansion. ====================================== During the campaign, Robert was criticizing the former council -- including Herron -- of not doing enough to aggressively lobby the state on that issue. On the Domestic Partner issue and the city -- Tim Pawlenty was interested in the fact that George Bush had signed a bill that allowed DC to offer domestic partner benefits. Personally, I think this issue is one of local control -- and usually Republicans are interested in more direct local control. However I'd like to see Alan Hooker talk to other city council members -- not just the gay city council members. All city council members need to represent their gay and lesbian constituents. Ironically, I do think that the Gay candidates who lost, would have been more aggressive with pushing gay friendly policies through the city council. I would also like to see a future column (preferably before the caucuses) interview the major Republican and Democratic candidates for Governor. I'd also like to encourage folks who would be republican if not for those nutty social issue positions the party takes, to come to Republican caucuses in Minneapolis. The party belongs to those who show up. During the 2000 season, district 61 passed a sodomy repeal resolution, and district 60 passed a resolution to delete platform plank 4 -- which had most of the social nonsense -- though not all. That resolution passed resoundingly in the 60th district -- but didn't pass beyond that. Eva Eva Young Central _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
