Alberto, An Opinion: Do you think the reason that Zachary Metoyer did not (I am guessing since there was no mention of him in this post) respond to your questionnaire could be because he did not and is not seeking any endorsements of any kind? He may not have wanted to send a mixed message by doing so. If I am not mistaken, I heard that his head campaign person is Latina, so he must resonate on some level with your issues. Perhaps if you spoke to them, they could give you some insight into the candidate that could be passed along to your readership, though not in the form of any endorsements. In my opinion, endorsements are like toys, and in this crazy mixed up political world we currently exist in, we seem to believe that "whoever has the most toys wins." That is one of the main problems with this country today. If we believe that some "supposed" big shot organizations, politicos and/or experts tells us something about something or somebody, that we should just take it as face value and believe it, instead of really delving into the matter (if feasibly possible) ourselves. An example that comes to mind is the "weapons of mass destruction" speech. A lot of Americans were smart enough not to believe the hype. Even Colin Powell is having regrets... Just a thought. Pamela Taylor Ward 10
Alberto Monserrate <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Around four weeks ago we decided that as a media outlet that is part of the political, economic and social environment of the Twin Cities, we needed to demonstrate a larger political participation and endorse candidates in the September 13th primaries. We also decided to make endorsements so we could help our readers make what can be a very difficult decision: who to vote for in hotly contested races in Minneapolis. At the same time we wanted to draw attention from Minneapolis politicians to issues that affect our community. We decided to make endorsements in two wards in South Minneapolis that are very competitive and that have two of the largest concentrations of Latinos in the city: wards eight and ten. Ward eight covers from Lake Street to 50th Street and from Lyndale Avenue to Cedar Avenue and it has the one of the largest Latino populations in Minneapolis. Ward ten has a smaller Latino population than ward eight and it covers the uptown area, including part of Lake Street from Second Avenue to Lake Calhoon and forty second Street to Franklin. Both wards have grown a lot in Hispanic population in the past ten years, and they will continue to grow much more in the next ten. The job was harder than we expected since there were no incumbents in these races, and we had never heard before of most of the candidates (fourteen total candidates). But it was an interesting process to go through and we hope we can help in your decision on who to vote for. In Ward 8 six of the eight candidates we sent questionnaires to answered our questions and in ward ten, three of the six candidates responded. We asked the candidates seven questions that we decided covered the most important issues that our community faces. We asked what they would do to increase diversity in the City of Minneapolis decision-making, if they would support that Minneapolis residents be allowed to get a drivers license regardless of immigration status, what they would do help reduce the learning gap between white and minority students in Minneapolis, what they would do to help reduce gangs and crime in the city, what they would do to improve the chances for home ownership in the city, how they would help to improve the environment for small businesses in Minneapolis, and how to improve the job climate for thousands of immigrants that will move to the city in the next few years. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
