Rep. Kahn suggests in both this and her subsequent post on one-person, one-vote that citizens of Minneapolis will go unrepresented unless another election is held this year. Not true in any sense of the word. And that's what makes the move politically disingenuous.
Voters are not only not unrepresented, but they cast their votes in 2001 believing they were electing their representatives for the usual 4-year term. They did not and do not have a say in this attempt to truncate the terms of elected officials duly elected for four years to two years on the whim of a single legislator and her DFL colleagues. Rep. Kahn has had a long and influential career in the House. Her legislative proposals have been an interesting mix of innovation and insanity, the latter I suspect to keep people on their toes and thinking about absurdities. The last time Rep Kahn decided to strip voters of their right to elect was her ten-year (or so) campaign to eliminate the office of State Treasurer, and while the voters are all too willing to eliminate government offices when given the choice, they often vote to do so for the wrong reasons. So it was in 1998 when voters passed the state Constitutional amendment removing the State Treasurer from elected status. What few, if any, of those same voters didn't know, was that the office was not going away, only their ability to choose who would hold it and the accountability that goes with elected status. The State Treasurer remains a position in state government but now out of the reach of voters. You will be told that professionals competent in money management can now hold the position, but the move to eliminate was never based on the incompetence of elected officials and their staffs to properly manage the flow of cash and serve on the State Board of Investment where state dollars are invested and our official portfolio maintained. It was made over personalities and anger and embarrassment of the rare animal who messes things up. Why we persistently pass laws that address the foibles of single miscreants escapes me, but Bob Mattson's idiotic behavior when he was Treasurer was designed to ridicule the office and the voters, and Rep. Kahn either fell into the trap or colluded with him to remove its voter accountability. Now comes another move to thwart the will of voters after they've made their choices, not before, something that could have been put in place long ago to accommodate redistricting. But the Minneapolis Charter Commission and the city's legislative delegation, including Rep. Kahn, who should have known better at the time, failed in foresight to employ the long-standing State Senate model of 4-4-2-year term configuration to address subsequent shifts in representation boundaries after redistricting every ten years. Were this entire matter not smelling of DFL vs. Green politics, it would be bad enough to second-guess the voters after they've chosen their councilmembers. This renders the matter highly suspicious, especially given the truly transparent work of the DFL-dominated redistricting commission when it drew new lines pitting Green incumbents against their DFL colleagues. A lawsuit is underway to determine the fairness and propriety of that maneuver. Even the election of Don Samuels a couple of weeks ago was conducted in the old district, for good and obvious reasons, but there again this was a special election for a representative who would no longer represent his constituents after 11 months if this bill were to pass. This is bad politics and bad legislation. Pass something for the next census. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul -------- What does it matter to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? � Mahatma Ghandi > From: "Phyllis Kahn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 00:05:48 -0600 > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Mpls] HF 67 > > I must respond to Jenny Heiser's post. Local control is a much less > important part of democracy than "One Person- One vote". The principal > argument presented to the committee is that in Reynolds vs Sims, a > redistricting case from 1963. It is personally embarrassing to me to see > Minneapolis elected officials essentially aligned with the arguments of > the Southern Segregationists. (I note that the bill passed one House > committee with a 12-5 vote. We should note that the disparity between > the under-represented wards and the over represented wards is over 20% > with the former being heavily minority and the latter mainly white. > (Reminiscent of Alabama in the 60's). I will use my second post of the > day to send out Reynolds vs. Sims, although I may have sent it before. > > Phyllis Kahn State Rep 59B > > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. > 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
