"Primaries *you* have."? A little knowledge of city government goes a long way.
Local offices are nonpartisan. That makes this "our" primaries - not someone else's or a political party's as they are in legislative and executive races at the state and federal levels. More often than not in this town, two DFLers run head to head in the general election because they emerge as the top two winners of a September primary. The endorsement is not a nomination as it is for the Presidency. The primary nominates. Snide references to DFLers voting against their endorsed candidate don't cut it in a nonpartisan race. If Green candidate Elizabeth Dickinson had scored a couple hundred more votes, she would have been in the General Election in 2003. As it is, two declared Democrats went head to head because that is how this town's electorate is made up. It's more often where the money comes from than which party they come from. In fact, most of Elizabeth's voters went to the DFL-endorsed nominee, Dave Thune, in the General. In fact, DFLers won all of the seats on the City Council. What *sort* of DFLers they are may be in question, but no Republican - or Green - was elected. While Mayor Kelly may have slipped by Jay Benanav in 2001 - and some unchallenged irregularities put the vote-split in question - both were DFLers. Kelly's been utterly unable to influence any subsequent races - from a special election to fill his former Senate seat (won by Mee Moua, whom he opposed) to his endorsement of just one of the three winners in the City Council race - Debbie Montgomery. Perhaps critics should keep their counsel on the DFL's role in St. Paul's local elections, given the facts. Much needs to be done to bring all of the parties into line with the electorate and to regenerate interest in the political process, given that no more than 15% of it turns out for primaries and little more than 35% for the most contested Council and Mayoral races. That's a void that Republicans and Greens could have filled - and Elizabeth almost did, except that even her candidacy, while generating more excitement than we'd had in a long time in this ward, didn't really bring a significant number of new or disengaged voters back to the polls. Contrary to the implication below, I hadn't noticed that anyone was blaming Greens for Democratic losses, except for the mistaken notion that Nader kept Gore out of the presidency. He didn't. He couldn't, because Gore won that election, despite Nader's entry. Bush was appointed, not elected. City folk ought to have better things to do than hammer on party politics and get about the business of addressing the economic, environmental and health issues confronting all of St. Paul's residents. The lines between various parties are fuzzy as it is. Individuals who don't join a party or who move among advocates of several do so because they know no party has a lock on truth or justice. Local offices are nonpartisan because local issues are nonpartisan. What makes smoking a partisan issue? Nothing. Housing? Clean air for the kids? Public safety? Clean and well-kept streets and sewers? Local government is the government that touches us every day in some way, and it's our solemn obligation not to leave it to the well-entrenched interests or the well-heeled nonresident corporate types to dictate our quality of life to us. If you want to identify with a political party and its choices for elected offices, fine. But partisan bickering over what is essentially a nonpartisan way of life simply masks and delays action on the real issues facing us day-to-day. I doubt that anyone on this list doesn't vote, but we should all be ashamed for not re-engaging our neighbors and pointing up the incredible importance of political participation, if for no other reason to know one has taken ownership of their city. Andy Driscoll Crocus Hill/Ward 2 ------ > ----- Original Message ----- From: Byrne & Blank > > Hi Guy, > > Actually, the DFL endorsed Benanav. Kelly did a superficial seeking of the > endorsement. Didn't get it. > > St. Paul voters 'endorsed' Kelly. > > Pat. > Oops! I had the actual election confused in my mind with one of those primaries you have in addition to the convention. Thanks to those of you who kindly, and not so kindly, pointed this out to me. So it was the electorate-at-large who voted with their gut and got fooled--most of whom are Democrats--now claiming betrayal after voting against their own party's nominee. Equally exciting. I confess I find the nominating/endorsing convention+primary process used here confusing as it is pointless, especially coupled with these quasi-non-partisan city elections. My mistake is born of my own indifference, however, and is no fault of the Green Party's. Of course, the mistake made by St. Paul's DFL voters and the DFL's failure to garner support for its own endorsee isn't the Green Party's fault, either. Blaming others for their own failures is old behavior the Democrats need to overcome if they ever hope to succeed again. _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
