Ahh, yes, the same old tiresome arguments raise their ugly heads again. Dennis never wavering in his defense of the insider baseball that has lost more elections for the DFL in the last 20 years than it has won and little more than heavy disappointment over the performance of those who did.
Shall we utter the litany of losers elected and non-elected that the exclusive club has endorsed - state, city and elsewhere? Nahhh. Let's not - unless it's absolutely necessary to make the point that criticism from inside the party about its archaic processes, its exclusionary club-like atmosphere, its willingness to decapitate its own strongest members if they dare encroach on preconceived commitments to the right of succession to office - elected and party. Never, but never, critique the party and air its dirty laundry in public if you ever wish to curry support from the mob inside. The only way to beat them is to pack the caucuses or join another party...or often just by running against the endorsed candidate. You'll be quickly embraced if you win, quickly excommunicated if you don't. Still the illusory view of DFL power in St. Paul. More often than not, however, it's not a DFLer vs. a Republican - it's two DFLers going head-to-head. Not pretty, but the maverick usually wins in that case. Norm and Randy are but the latest examples. Even I came close. So now will come the usual suspects lining up to be the next mayor, running against pseudo-DFLer Kelly and splitting the party 10 ways with many of the candidates claiming they're "next in line." Kelly wins in that case. But the insiders will extract promises not to take their case to a primary by coercion - warning that political careers are on the line if you dare suggest the people and not a convention should choose the party's representative in the General Election. They warnings will include empty promises of support if you commit to dropping out if your opposition is the endorsee - and the support always goes elsewhere anyway. Someone will challenge the endorsee - they always do these days - and the party, never wanting to reform itself to present voters with more than one preferred candidate, will probably suffer another loss. Any wonder why Corky Finney said, "uh-uh" to this? The only wrong statement he made was the one where he said the city has lately become too politically polarized - the operative word being lately? In my 60 years of politics in St. Paul, I've rarely seen it otherwise, but those were the days when Republicans share citizenship with DFLers. Not all the battles are internecine and unity all but impossible. It will be a real trip to see who emerges as the standard-bearers in the coming year. I hope it will be someone who can beat Randy Kelly. Lord knows we deserve it. Andy Driscoll Crocus Hill/Ward 2 ------ > From: "Mike Fratto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [StPaul] Mayoral candidates > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > > Ah Dennis, I have spent many an hour for many years doing the caucus > thing to find out it was the insider who got his/her way. I have > served on rules committees where insiders worked to get proposed > rules that they didn't like defeated. I worked on platform > committees where committee chairs decided which ones to push > through. > > You are right, if you show up you can have input. But, its my > experience that you have to show up year after year after year to > get to a point where your input is accepted. > > Mike Fratto > Payne Phalen _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ St. Paul Topics - This Week: Light Rail http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul-topics _____________________________________________ 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/
