Dennis Plante writes, "I am simply amazed. I received what appears
to be a 'sample ballot' (at least the wording appears on it) in my mail
yesterday. In review of the literature piece (front side the 'endorsed
candidate', backside Martin Sabo) I learned that the piece had been
generated and paid for by the STATE DFL COMMITTEE. Can anyone find precedent
of this EVER having been done for a DFL candidate in a city council
election?? Anyone? Who (within the state dfl) would be in a position to make
such a decision?"
[BRM] The DFL Sample Ballot in the Ward 3 election is consistent
with every other sample ballot for the City Council, and I am unaware of any
precedent for a sample ballot for the City Council being handled
differently. Every sample ballot--not only for the City Council, but for
every election at any level anywhere in the state--comes from the State DFL
Party rather than from any particular local organization within the Party.
Thus, the sample ballots that listed the endorsed candidates for the
Minneapolis City Council in 2001, and in 1997, and in the elections before,
all came from the State Party and not the City Party.
The DFL Sample Ballot in a general election lists candidates from
many different electoral jurisdictions, each with its own endorsing
organization. For example, each sample ballot distributed in Minneapolis for
the general election in November 2002 listed at least 15 candidates endorsed
by seven endorsing organizations at different levels (six candidates for
statewide offices, endorsed by the State Convention; and candidates for
representative in Congress, state senator, state representative, county
attorney, county commissioner, and school board, each endorsed by a
different-level endorsing convention). If there had been an election for the
City Council in 2002, then the sample ballot would also have listed the
candidate for the City Council endorsed at each ward convention, just as it
listed the candidates for the Minneapolis school board endorsed by the
Minneapolis DFL Party at the City convention.
Throughout the state, there are hundreds of elected offices, and
therefore hundreds of endorsing organizations within the DFL Party, of which
the Minneapolis DFL Party is one. But there is only one organization that
produces the DFL Sample Ballot, and that organization is the State DFL
Party. Centralizing the sample-ballot process not only ensures that each
sample ballot follows a consistent and recognizable format, it also saves
each endorsing organization from the inefficiency of producing its own local
sample ballot, and it helps coordinate the sample-ballot process when there
are multiple endorsing organizations involved. The DFL Sample Ballot in a
special election may involve only a single candidate from a single endorsing
organization, but it still uses the same format and process as every other
sample ballot.
As for "who (within the state dfl) would be in a position to make
such a decision," the answer is: the Minneapolis Ward 3 DFL Convention,
which endorsed Olin Moore. The State DFL Party's constitution reserves to
the delegates in each electoral jurisdiction the exclusive right of
endorsing candidates for office in that jurisdiction.
Dennis also writes, "If I am not mistaken, Eric Mitchell stated on
the 3rd party issues list that the state dfl would NOT be lending resources
in this election. . . . If this were the case, wouldn't one think that the
state dfl would allow the election to run its course?"
[BRM] The State Party does not interfere in any lower-level
organization's endorsement process. But when the Ward 3 Convention endorsed
Olin Moore, it spoke for the DFL Party everywhere, which is what entitled
its endorsement to appear on the DFL Sample Ballot.
TEMPORARY REMINDER:
1. Send all posts in plain-text format.
2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible.
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