In a message dated 2/27/2005 2:57:10 PM Eastern Standard Time, Andy Driscoll
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>All the "good ol' boys" like Dennis and Chuck Repke will flood you now with
>all sorts of reason why nothing should change, and that endorsements are the
>only way for the "little guy" to have a leg up on the moneyed candidates.
>Well, they've been proven wrong time and again, because of the party endorses
>a "little guy" who's unelectable, money or no money, and a moneyed
>challenger wins the DFL primary - like Dayton or Ciresi - then all the
>principles of a single endorsement go out the window and the party loses
>another race, in the process, shattering the party faithful to shards during
>the endorsements, then trying to recover their pride by drawing the winner
>back into the fold.
>
Wow, I resemble those remarks...
Here's the problem in Andy's attack on the Minnesota (DFL and GOP do it the
same way) endorsement system. If one would agree that you can't win an
election without money and if you accept the fact that some people who would be
great office holders are not among those blessed to be born rich or have rich
relatives or friends, then given Andy's alternatives those folks should just
hang it up. Don't bother only the wealthy should hold office its their
birthright to lead us.
If the party would hold a convention and deem 2 to 10 as acceptable as Andy
suggests it wouldn't stop them from attacking each other in the primary, it
would encourage them to attack each other in the primary. That's what
primaries are! And, Andy there was never a time since Minnesota went to a
caucus system that there hasn't been primary challenges (remember Governor
Sandy Keith).
The caucus/convention endorsement process is one that measures not the width of
one's support but the depth of one's support. The assumption here is that the
endorsement creates a candidate who has people who believe enough in him/her
that they will invest not only money but their personal time to go to the
caucus and then the convention. Those people, the party assumes, will then
become volunteers and they will grow the party. The party is more than a brand
or a label it is a functioning organization, the caucuses are the entry level
for people to access the party. It is the most open system one can have, look
at the alternatives in other states without caucuses there is no entry point to
the party and the "old boys" there are nothing but the heavy hitters.
Lord knows, I know that it bothers Andy that a West Side poor boy like me can
have the same opportunity in a political system as those who have for
generations left their mark on the saintly city. And, that we would all be
better served if those who have already made their fortune would bless us with
their leisure time by holding public office, but, those are fighting words to
me. I have seen real people, average Jane's and Joe's capture their party's
endorsement because they were well enough liked and trusted by their friends
and neighbors that they would invest two days out of their lives for them and
go to the caucus and sit through a boring convention.
I am sorry that a ball busting attorney like Mike Ciresi who is accustom to
buying what he wants would find it hard to buy a party's endorsement, but my
gut tells me he would buy which ever one he thought was cheapest to purchase.
By the way, Andy aren't you a Green now?
Just My Opinion Not Those Of My Employers Past Present Or Future (JMONTOMEPPOF)
Chuck Repke
W 7th
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