--- CRISTY DELACRUZ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thanks for your thoughtful post, Eric. Are we
> friends? I guess that's news
> to me but I'm honored that you think so (or
> insulted, because I have high
> expectations of my friends and I can't recall that
> we've talked in the past
> year).
EM:
OK, have it your way. I was being polite. You want to
do this in public-fine with me.
> To set the record straight, on your comment:
> I've never successfully garnered a party endorsement
> for a candidate. As you
> may recall, in Lee Helgen's city council race, even
> after he won the
> primary, the city DFL party decided not to endorse
> him (this was prior to
> the incumbent's passing). I thought it should be a
> no-brainer, considering
> the fact that he'd gotten Progressive Minnesota
> endorsement and other
> left-leaning groups.
EM:
Remember my last post when I said "...people who
poo-poo the endorsement either have gone for it, or
made an attempt and fell short- or got the endorsement
and expected it to sail them into office without the
candidate doing much else."
Where do you get off thinking one endorsement is a
no-brainer since a candidate has garnered another? You
get the DFL endorsement from DFLers, you get AFSCME
from members, you get SEIU from members and you get PM
from members. You work for each one.
> I believe Mogen was chairing the City DFL at the
> time. We were advised not
> to pursue endorsement given some silly shenanigans
> that happened during the
> endorsing convention (that spring). Not having
> attended that event, I cannot
> speak for what those might have been.
EM:
The shenanigans was that someone fell short of a solid
endorsement plan. That wouldn't have been your job, no
would it?
My last post I wrote:
In a regular time election, a candidate needs 3
overall plans:
1. Endorsement
2. Primary
3. General
All three have to be solid or you need to drop number
1 and gage your viability on just focusing on 2 and 3.
Your number one was not solid. You thought you could
show up at a convention and convince people to support
your candidate since he has left leaning endorsments.
That's not a solid plan. You're running to represent
what, 40,000 citizens? An endorsement is usually
around a couple of hundred delegates. Delegates come
from the caucuses. And, these delegates had supported
a more conservative candidate in the past.
If one has a solid endorsement plan, you will be sure
that a couple of hundred (out of 40,000) supporters
show up to be delegates. There are always more
delegate spots than people stepping up. Apparently Jim
knew how to do that as he had a lot of supporters
there, enough to give pause to an easy endorsement.
> My response was (and still is): If the DFL can't get
> it together to endorse
> the obvious choice (and a faithful democrat) then
> they should consider
> themselves irrelevant.
EM:
Again, who are you to tell people who the obvious
choice is? Isn't that the choice of the people who
show up? The DFL endorses city candidates that the
DFLers in their district chose to represent them. It's
why we have endorsed DFLers like Bostrom, Benanav and
Lantry. All three have different styles, but their
constituents supported them with endorsement and
election success. Democracy Cristy, that's what it's
called.
Know your district. If you're running against an
incumbant who has gotten the endorsement over and over
in the past, he happens to be a conservative, you're a
progressive, then it's safe to say that those who come
to the endorsing convention rather have a more
conservative candidate representing them. You need to
get new delegates to volunteer out of the caucuses
that represent your views. It's called having a good
endorsement plan.
> I'm not opposed to getting party endorsements, or
> other kinds of
> endorsements from individuals and organizations and
> I believe it does help
> the voters identify common values. In that race, we
> had to work a little
> harder and get creative about making sure that the
> elected officials in the
> ward (who were DFL endorsed) signed on to the
> campaign, as well as the
> Teacher's Federation, Progressive MN, etc. We did
> so, and were successful
> despite the lack of party support, or maybe because
> of it!
EM:
Scroll back up. I said if plan one sucks, you'd better
double up on number two and three. What you did wasn't
that creative, it was necessary for the primary plan.
Ususally between two DFLers, but in your case it was a
clear progressive vs a questionable conservative(and
I'm not talking about the Republican). You established
clarity on views and priorities and carried through.
The special election was actually a real tough race,
like the many that happen on a larger scale. A
Progressive vs a Conservative.
As you continue to swipes at the party process, I'd
ask your candidate if he feels the same way. I'm
pretty sure he'll be going for the DFL endorsement in
two years. Not because it doesn't matter.
Unlike all of those other 'member' organizations where
a small board makes the decision, the DFL is still a
very open process. To be a delegate you only have to
be a voting member in your district.
The problem has been reaching out to put the effort
into bringing in new delegates, the only ones I've
seen do this (and helped) appear to be the minority
candidates who run. They have been successful.
> As far as an individual's service to the party, I
> can see how this makes the
> party more willing to endorse. However, voters do
> not care about loyalty and
> service to the party. They care about themselves,
> their families, and
> hopefully, their neighborhoods, their state and
> their country.
EM:
That's pretty insulting to all of the delegates who
take the time to participate in the process. You don't
agree with some of their decisions so now they can't
possibly care about their families and neighborhoods.
Again, where do you get off stating this?
> I mean no disrespect to DFL activists and party
> loyalists who have helped me
> in the past. I think we just need to recognize that
> millennials and genXers
> have decreasing loyalties to _organizations_,
> despite their loyalties to
> _people_. For me, as you and many others know, I
> will go the extra mile to
> help a friend in need or to fight for an issue I
> believe in. However, I will
> not break my back for a party if it cannot do the
> same in return.
EM:
I love this part, the ol' "I don't mean to insult you
but,..." they then go on to insult you.
I'm an Xer. So is the DFL City Party Chair, the State
Party Chair, several SD chairs and precinct activists.
The organization you named a couple of
times(Progressive Minnesota) is almost entirely made
up of Xers and younger. You may want to redo that
line.
You seem angry.
Before I sign off, what exactly is the party? To whom
are you referring?
Eric Mitchell
Payne Phalen
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