In a message dated 7/3/02 4:33:38 PM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I for one am. What is up with Minneapolis residents Ole Savior and Dick Franson running for some office or other every year? Of course I support their right to run for public office but it seems that after the initial publicity of filing, they offer little or no reason to vote for them. It's not because I necessarily disagree with views, it's that they make virtually no effort to engage in the discussion of why I should vote for them. It comes across as more an ego trip than an effort to truly expound on an issue or mobilize a previously unmotivated voting block. Dean E. Carlson (over 30 years of not running for public office) Ward 10, East Harriet << Dean was responding to Brandon's query below: > I guess Lucky Rosenbloom is hopin' he'll be lucky in this election. Is > anyone else turned off my candidates who seem to run in whatever race > happens to be open on the day the filing period begins? > > -Brandon > -Powderhorn Park _____ >> Keith says: It is the 4th of July, God bless America. And may God bless America's stated goal of the separation of Church and State. I would like to advise and remind Dean, Brandon, and all other readers here. For the most part, the media will determine whether to "inform" you of the "...reason to vote for them". Them being the 'minor' candidates such as the above referenced Ole Savior And Dick Fransen. The media may be TV, Radio, or The Newspaper of the Twin Cities. It may also be the "medium" of yard signs, posters, handbills, booths, travel, phone banks and political patronage. Whatever the access is, Money Fuels Access. Soft money, hard money, cash, coin of the realm. Currency, a commodity that 'minor' candidates, almost by definition, do not have. Leslie Davis, always media described "gadfly and perennial candidate," springs to my mind as an opinionated candidate who's message was blocked from public access. He spent his own money to promote the public's issues. And risked his life and health to reach you with his message. Dean, when registered Mpls. Mayoral candidate Leslie Davis chained himself to a tall tree to protest exclusion from the Mayoral candidate's debates, did you go out on a limb with him? Did you demand your own right to hear the other 'minor' candidates explain to you, the "...reason to vote for them"? They wanted to tell you why, but they had no money; and no access to media or mediums. They were arbitrarily excluded from the debates. If you did not protest, you, and all silent others, share complicity in the censorship. Brandon, did you experience a "bad taste in your mouth" when Leslie Davis was put in a choke hold, injured, arrested and charged with a crime for trying to access the Mayoral debate stage at the Minn. State Fair? He was a registered candidate trying to participate, debate and inform you of his 'take' on the issues at hand. Did you help in his legal defense to preserve free speech and participation in the electoral process? I do not think so. You and so many others did Nothing. And on this 4th of July you and others disparage and dismiss those trying to make their free speech heard. In this way you honor types like Mark Dayton, who can buy his way in; in cash. Or Buck Humphrey, whose name alone guarantees buckets of soft, and hard, money and media 'access' while he does, and knows, nothing. (My opinion of him through observation when he was collecting his pay in a patronage job at City Hall, under SSB.) My opinion is your quick dismissal of independent voices will exclude your name sake, the other Brandon Lacey Compos. The one who switched parties for all the right reasons. The one who wants his small, queer voice to be heard. There must be two Brandons, or huge conflicts within one. Keith Reitman NearNorth _______________________________________ 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
