Dyna Sluyter wrote, "6:30 pm on a weekday evening in December? Sounds
like a great way to insure that the working class delegates like me from the
Northside are disenfranchised. For the folks who work in government offices,
who tend to live in the Nordeast end of the ward, no problem- they get off
at 4:30 anyway. As a working stiff who during this peak retail season will
be lucky to get off by 11 pm I doubt if I'll be able to attend and represent
my precinct. . . . This meeting could just as easily been held the sunday
evening before so the maximum number of delegates could attend. But perhaps
someone doesn't want all the delegates to attend?"
Let me suggest another possibility: the convention wasn't scheduled on
Sunday evening because, until now--after the meeting has been scheduled and
the notice has been mailed out, and after several broadly based
conversations within the Party organization about the best time for holding
the convention--not a single person has ever suggested Sunday evening.
The Ward 3 convention was scheduled by the City Central Committee, at
a well-attended meeting earlier this week in which most members who live in
Ward 3, including several from the North side, participated. Not a single
member suggested holding the convention on Sunday evening. (Dyna is a member
of the Central Committee, and knew about but did not attend the meeting.
Dyna did offer input before the meeting about the special election, but on a
matter unrealted to scheduling the endorsing convention.)
The vacancy from which the upcoming special election results occurred
last Friday, the 22nd. The filing deadline set by the City Council on Friday
morning is Tuesday 10 December. On Friday afternoon, I posted a message to
the DFL Party's internal electronic lists for Congressional District 5 and
the Minneapolis organization, which reach about 200 members--including Dyna
Sluyter--calling a Central Committee meeting this week and explaining that
the Central Committee "can call a special endorsing convention as early as
Friday 6 December (assuming that we can mail out the notice as soon as the
meeting adjourns). I am guessing that the convention would occur on Saturday
7 December in the morning, or Monday 9 November in the evening; I have
contacted the Ward 3 Coordinators . . . and we will have a recommendation
ready for the Central Committee meeting." On Friday and Saturday, four other
senate-district chairs and I telephoned the more than 80 members of the
Central Committee, letting them know about this week's meeting. I spoke
directly with more than two dozen members--about half of whom live in Ward
3, and several of whom asked or offered input about scheduling the
convention. A few members did favor Saturday morning over Monday evening,
but the overwhelming majority preferred Monday evening. Not a single one
even mentioned holding the convention on Sunday evening.
The proposed date was circulated in advance of the meeting to more
than a hundred volunteers within the Party, including several from the North
side. Not a single one suggested holding the convention on Sunday evening.
The proposed date was also discussed with several prospective candidates for
the City Council, including at least one candidate from the North side, none
of whom expressed any reservation about holding the convention on Monday
evening, and none of whom even mentioned holding the convention on Sunday
evening.
I reserved space for a convention both on Saturday morning and on
Monday evening, and presented both options to the Central Committee. (I
could easily have found space on Sunday evening as well, and would have done
so if Dyna or anyone else had simply suggested it before the fact.) The
Central Committee also discussed, but quickly ruled out, Friday evening.
There was more discussion about Saturday morning as opposed to Monday
evening, centering on--in Dyna's words--finding the time when "the maximum
number of delegates could attend." The meeting--almost all of whose members
are "working stiffs," and several of whose members live on the North
side--reached a consensus that delegates were likelier to attend a
convention during the holiday season on a weekday evening than on a weekend,
when many families have planned holiday-related activities together. Not a
single member even mentioned holding the convention on Sunday evening. The
vote in favor of Monday evening was unanimous.
Given the facts, Dyna's suggestion that "someone doesn't want all the
delegates to attend" seems unfounded and unfair. If there is a conspiracy
afoot, it is a mighty subtle one.
I hope that everyone enjoys a happy Thanksgiving!
BRM
Brian Melendez, Chair,
Minneapolis DFL Party
Downtown (work)
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