I think the joke was that they were spreading the word that a wine and brie party would be starting in Linden Hills at 10:00 PM.
Far from barring the doors McLaughlin supporters would have dragged Dyna and her friends through the door if they could have. The McLaughlin campaign did not attempt to prolong the convention, just the opposite. There was a rebellion of McLaughlin supporters, and other DFL'ers, who wanted an endorsement. The McLaughlin campaign had decided that they had won every ballot and to not take advantage of the clear distain that the Rybak campaign had for the DFL Party endorsement process.
McLaughlin could have taken the endorsement after the Rybak Campaign "cut & run". McLaughlin could have seized total victory on a procedural technicality. The chair could have been successfully challenged and after a recess the convention reconvened with new quorum numbers established. Then, with pretty much only McLaughlin people in attendance, McLaughlin would have received a 95% vote and endorsement. Tony Scallon and Peter McLaughlin asked that we not seek to go the low level of the Rybak campaign and use that tactic. Over the strong protest of the delegates I might add. Still, enough of Peter's followers went along to make the Chair's decision to end the convention stand.
The Sixth Ward rebelled and refused to go along. I asked them to honor McLaughlin's request but they refused. Since they had remained all that day voting two to one for McLaughlin on every vote, I decided to go along with them. Many stating that they were there to defeat Rybak, they overwhelmingly voted to use that technicality to beat RT. Of course the Rybak administration's attacks on NRP, support for Basim Sabri, and not providing adequate police protection probably accounts for their fervor. It was also most likely due to their past support for RT. Someone who they considered as one of them, but whom some felt had betrayed that trust.
Peter McLaughlin and Tony Scallon called the convention to an end in order to not stoop to the low road that RT had gone to in avoiding humiliation. I can assure the readers that if the results had been reversed RT's folks would have seized it. It was a joke to hear RT say on television that the people of Minneapolis could not decide who to endorse and that neither he nor Peter McLaughlin won. RT Rybak lost every vote, and then like a sulky child when losing a game, he pouted, took his toys and went home.
Jim Graham, Ventura Village, Sixth Ward of Minneapolis
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