I support holding caucuses for the city elections for a few compelling reasons.
My neighborhood is only 11% homeownership. It is highly transitional. When we attempt to build mailing lists in our neighborhood they are pretty much out of date by the next month. It is highly likely that a large percentage of delegates elected during a caucus one year will not even be living in my neighborhood when the next year comes. That number could reach more than half of the delegates elected. That has been the case for at least the last 10 years. The "repeaters" number very few. Other people have made statements here that people interests in becoming delegates in a presidential race may not even know who their council member is and their interest may not be focused at a local level. Getting them to attend the city caucuses is often difficult. That has been my experience in the 6th ward. I totally agree with David's advice to hold city caucuses in 2005. I am one who did not become a delegate this year at my caucus. I saw so many new faces there I really wanted to give them a chance to participate in an effort to recruit more involvement. It was really encouraging to see so many people attend the caucuses in my legislative district. We often have more delegate spots than we have delegates. That was not the case this year. If I had known the potential existed that there would not be a convention next year I would have most certainly competed for a delegate seat. If the convention this year kills the caucuses in in 2005 I really think that would be an act of bad faith. And no, I am not running for office. Barb Lickness Whittier ===== "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead 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
