Mr. Nolley's post is grossly inaccurate. Fiction. Make believe. Nonsense. One may certainly dispute the new ward boundaries (some have, they filed a lawsuit) but the redistricting commission no more set out to eliminate Council Members Johnson-Lee and Zimmerman than they planned to get rid of Saddam Hussein!
As a member of the Minneapolis Charter Commission (we appointed most of the Redistricting Commission) I will state that any applicant who would have even hinted that his/her interest in serving on the commission was to remove any city council member would have been instantly disqualified from consideration! To accept Mr. Nolley's "theory" would require one to believe that a rather remarkable conspiracy was in place when the these individuals were appointed and that the Charter Commission and the City Council itself (they also appointed two members) were part of this conspiracy. Rep. Kahn's effort to require an election so that the new wards have council members who actually live in those wards isn't even remotely close to the gerrymandering spectacle that took place in Texas. Texas has already redistricted, elections took place and Democrats were elected in four seats that Tom DeLay figured should go to Republicans. Of course, for a hyper-partisan ass like Mr. DeLay, that was unacceptable so the solution (instead of running better candidates) is to create districts so bizarre and so lopsidedly loaded that even the dumbest/weakest Republican could not lose! Rep. Kahn (and others) are only asking that the city be required to hold elections soon after the new lines are drawn so that each ward will have a council member who lives in that ward. Jim Bernstein Fulton -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tamir Nolley Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] re: City Council districts Terrel Brown Wrote: I still think the primary reason for this suit is because Dean Zimmerman doesn't like being put in the same ward as another member of the current council. He would rather not run against another incumbent. Probably would be an easier election if he only faced non-incumbent challengers. TN> Of course the reason the redistricting comission chose these districts was to get rid of Dean Zimmermann and Natalie Johnson Lee. It was one of the most cynical and partisan moves in Minneapolis history, and Phyllis Khan's attempt to mandate early elections based on those districts reminds me a lot of Tom DeLay's redistricting scheme in Texas. It's interesting to see how similar DFL and Republican tactics, and how willing to cooperate they are when the two party system itself is threatened. Tamir Nolley Holland w3 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
