Stonewall provided the following this year to all endorsed candidates: 1) Newsletter space in our monthly e-mail (some used this, some did not) 2) Access to our mailing lists for a candidate's district 3) Significantly reduced costs for participating in Twin Cities Pride. This includes costs associated with participating in the Pride Parade and the festival itself. 4) Volunteer work and consulting to campaigns in varying degrees 5) Sample ballots at the Minneapolis City DFL convention, pre-primary in Lavender Magazine and pre-general election in Lavender magazine 6) Combined candidate fundraising efforts (split amongst 31 candidates). 7) Numerous members of our board have contributed personally 8) Press releases 9) Use of our logo and listing Stonewall DFL endorsed in campaign materials
If you don't think that any of this is substantial, I would like you to consider an example from the other side of the river. Earlier this year, Chris Coleman and Rafael Ortega fought hard for the DFL endorsement. After winning, Chris Coleman thanked members of Stonewall for pulling him over the top for the party endorsement and made a point of saying this publicly. Without the GLBT vote and members of our caucus working for him, it very likely could have been Rafael vs. Randy and another 4 years of Randy Kelly in city hall. While this type of situation was not as pronounced in Minneapolis races this year, there were some cases where the Stonewall endorsement is directly related to the candidate being able to secure the DFL party endorsement. While I certainly respect your right to offer criticism, unless you are willing to put some skin in the game yourself and help Stonewall achieve its goals, your criticism is not very productive. In fact, after checking our membership database and not finding your name within our paying membership, your comments are mildly insulting to me and all of the other dedicated individuals that commit their time and money very unselfishly to the mission of electing allies to the GLBT community. I take exception with anyone that marginalizes the contributions and commitments of any member of Stonewall in this election cycle. Paul R. Skrbec Chair, Stonewall DFL Inver Grove Heights, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 10:11 AM To: mpls@mnforum.org Subject: [Mpls] GLBT COMMUNITY WINS SUPPORT IN ELECTIONS I am certainly pleased that Stonewall's endorsed candidates had so much success in the Minneapolis elections, but I have to ask what did Stonewall do to help those candidates win? I coordinated DFL lit drops in wards 7 and 8 and I know of several Stonewall-endorsed candidates who struggled to find volunteers to help with these efforts. How much money did Stonewall raise for their endorsed candidates? Did they doorknock? Phone bank? If Stonewall is going to endorse candidates, then I hope going forward they will put more effort into getting those people elected--especially in the upcoming Congressional and State races. Kelly O'Brien Kingfield 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
