Anne McCandless wrote, "Here we are trying to figure out how many
police and fire personnel to lay off and Ms Kahn wants another election
because her candidate didn't win. Oh I know that she will come back with an
argument about one person one vote. Hog wash. If that was the case, why
didn't she introduce this bill as soon as the new Ward Boundaries went into
effect? Why didn't she introduce this before the special election was
announced? Why didn't she introduce this this bill before the primary
election? Why did she wait until two weeks before the general election?
Could it be that by that time her neighbor, Olin Moore, no longer looked
like a shoe in?"
[BRM] To be fair to Representative Kahn, she did introduce
substantially the same bill in the last (2001-02) session, well before
anyone was contemplating the special election in Ward 3. It was not reported
out of committee.
Anne also writes, "The DFL claims to be the party of the people. They
claim to stand for equal rights. They claim to work for the under dog and
especially, for minorities. And yet, this bill will eliminate one of the two
African American Council members on the Mpls City Council. It will leave
the 3rd Ward wide open for the DFL to get their endorsed candidate elected.
Does the Minnesota DFL really have to sink this low in order to get their
way? Give it up, Phyllis and the rest of you party hacks. Your candidate
lost. The people's choice won fair and square. Don't FORCE the city of
Minneapolis to spend money they DO NOT HAVE THANKS TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE,
just so the DFL can get their own way."
[BRM] I would be interested in hearing the factual basis for Anne's
statements attributing this bill to "the Minnesota DFL" and "party hacks."
As far as I know, those statements are contrary to fact. The only connection
between the bill and the DFL Party is that Representative Kahn is a DFLer.
But Representative Kahn is pushing her bill with the Republican leadership,
not with the DFL Party.
The City Council DFLers are opposing the bill. Scott Benson, the City
Council DFL Majority Leader, is leading the opposition to it: see Scott's
posts on this list at
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg18526.html and
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg18536.html. Michelle Martin,
an active DFLer, testified against the bill at the Legislature. See her post
at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg18584.html.
In fact, if you read Michelle's post, it is clear that H.F.67 is being
supported by Republicans and opposed by DFLers. Most Republicans on the
committee voted for the bill, and every single vote for the bill in
committee came from a Republican. Every single DFLer voted against the bill,
and most votes against the bill came from DFLers. In fact, the bill would
have failed in committee if the Republican committee chair--Rep. Jerry
Dempsey (R-St. Paul)--had not illegally squashed a call for division from
Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis). Earlier, in the Governmental
Operations committee, the chair--another Republican, Rep. Jim Rhodes (R-St.
Paul)--opened the hearing by asking Representative Hahn, "when we pass your
bill, which committee do you want us to send it to?"
Bottom line: The Republican House leadership is trying to gavel this
bill through. The House DFLers are opposing it. The City Council DFLers are
opposing it. Attributing this bill to "the Minnesota DFL" and "party hacks"
is contrary to fact.
BRM
Brian Melendez
Downtown
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2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible.
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