I hope the court asks the same question as I do: where were these disingenuous defenders of democracy when the Minneapolis City Charter was amended to give councilmembers - their DFL councilmembers and friends - 4-year terms without thinking through their effect on representation following redistricting?
As with all public policy - the upside and downside can be argued depending on whose oxen are getting gored, leaving citizens/voters with confusing and conflicting messages about just who the hell is looking after the store and protecting the public interest. On principle, Rep. Kahn, former councilmember Kaplan, DFL election attorney Alan Weinblatt are correct, of course. Redistricting without a timely election can result in the shifting of ward boundaries out of an incumbent's current jurisdiction. (These folks will say they're just Minneapolis citizens standing forthright in the face of unfair representation. Don't believe a word of it.) We all know what gerrymandering is, and political parties have been about the business of gerrymandering districts to bolster their chances at power acquisition since the beginning of the republic. But - and here's where suspicion of political maneuvering negates principled claims - the DFL first 1) pushed for 4-year council terms to relieve members from running all the time but distancing them from accountability; 2) worked to pack the 2002 redistricting commission with DFLers to assure the redrawing of districts would toughen or eliminate reelection chances for Green councilmembers who embarrassed them in 2001 by breaking the Council's longstanding DFL cabal (Greens and citizens have been challenging that redistricting result in court as well), then, 3) when all was said and done, tried, first and unsuccessfully, to pass a state bill to retroactively require elections in 2003 based on the "lack of ward representation" their own party operatives created with their redistricting plan shifting Green Party incumbents outside their 2001 ward boundaries. Now, as if they had been victimized by anything more than their own machinations, "senior" DFL club members have filed suit using as their counsel the DFL's election law lawyer, Alan Weinblatt, the man who brings a lawsuit on "his own" behalf every decade to ensure that courts, not legislatures do the actual redrawing of state and congressional boundaries. So, ask again: where were these protectors of political process when it should have been clear that the 4-year terms they pushed into the City Charter would create a conflict with incumbents remaining in office three years after redistricting? Where was Rep. Kahn when all of that was going on? This is not a legal or moral issue. Pure politics. And the courts should not accede. Here's what should have happened: the structure of city council elections should have, like the State Senate, taken the inevitable decennial redistricting into account by constructing council terms on a 4-4-2 configuration. With 4 yrs.., 4 yrs.., then 2 yrs.. for redistricting purposes, a council election would be held within a year or so of the redistricting. That simple. The state senate's been doing it for decades. Easy. No muss, no fuss. Now the DFL takes the next step in the process - trying to retroactively shorten terms of councilmembers citizens believed they were voting into office for four years, not two. Clearly they want eliminate Greens from the council (who should be natural allies were it not for the old boys/girls club). The change can be made by charter amendment or by legislation, and it should, to change the terms to a 4-4-2 run, in time for the *next* redistricting in 2012. But to literally and prematurely remove an elected official from office before his/her term has expired (assuming no probable cause for that removal other than redistricting) is not cheating the incumbents as much as it is cheating the people and the electoral process. If the courts go along with the DFL, it's another notch in the ever-tightening belt of citizen disengagement. Why vote if my vote doesn't count - and it won't if the DFL wins this. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul -------- > From: "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 06:55:16 -0500 > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Mpls] Group files lawsuit to force new city elections > > Phyllis Kahn's effort goes to court... > > http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4008925.html > > Also see an earlier SW Journal story on the same group (more response from > city folks, though at the time the suit hadn't been filed: > > http://makeashorterlink.com/?H1CA63565 > > David Brauer > King Field > Editor, SW Journal TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
