[Mpls] Dyna replies to Tim Bonham and Dennis Plante

[Dyna]

	Statistics geek extraordinaire Tim Bonham was nice enough to 
drag out the ballot totals from past conventions that he has been 
kind enough to safe keep. Thank you, but I was referring to blocks of 
delegates who attended the convention but manipulated or outright 
blocked an endorsement. For example in the 1993 Minneapolis 
"convention from hell" the heavily contested mayoral endorsement went 
to several ballots. After Representative Jefferson was dropped some 
of his supporters in defiance of his stated request admittedly voted 
in such a way as to prevent an endorsement. Just to show their power 
they even threw their block(s) of votes different ways with each 
ballot. That small block of delegates probably blocked an endorsement 
for ultimate mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton. In the 2001 Mayoral 
endorsement a rumored block of Stenglein supporters from the city's 
far Northside and Northeast precincts may have prevented an 
endorsement for RT. The St>Paul race that year saw similar 
manipulations which I had the pleasure of observing from the Long 
campaign's "war room". Candidate Kelly was dropped early, but we saw 
his supporters manipulating their block of votes in such a way as to 
ultimately prevent an endorsement.  I am of course suggesting that 
'hood delegates use their votes to endorse a candidate committed to 
our agenda of peace, justice, and jobs rather than blocking an 
endorsement.

	My fellow habitant of the 'hood Dennis Plante suggests that 
criminal prosecution is needed to force citizens to maintain there 
property. Our city tried that strategy and it failed.... In safe and 
stable communities a homeowner's investment in their property is 
rewarded with decades of continued use of their home or a decent 
return on their investment when they sell. In neighborhoods like the 
Northside where property values are falling and peaceful citizens are 
increasingly murdered major investments in property are increasingly 
risky and are rewarded by higher taxes and insurance costs in 
neighborhoods that are increasingly too unsafe to live in. Even the 
most fervent city prosecution of property poor 'hood homeowners 
cannot change those negative economics and force investment in dying 
neighborhoods. In fact such prosecution will only expedite the 
abandonment as owners flee to more friendly municipalities.

        Committed to Peace and Justice in Hawthorne,
                Dyna Sluyter
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