There were a few other Interesting things happening at the city convention
yesterday in addition to the
endorsements for Mayor and the School Board. But those were initersting. Rafael
may not have been
the perfect candidate to mark the future of the city with its increasingly
mixed ethnic makeup, but he was
a good candidate and he came close and he made a fine speech in support of
Chris Coleman as he withdrew.
The speech was followed by an excellent and emotional consession by a young
woman named Rachel,
something which brought a standing appreciation of her effort. Margaret
something also conceded well and
promised to be back.
Like Raf, or Ralf, as they seemed to call him thru the din, I will be able to
support and vote for Chris with ease.
I do hope he will be able to do something about those two old brick hot dog
stands on St. Peter that he
helped save for 'total' restoration when he was a mere councilman. The
restoration itself is now getting
historical, or hysterical.
The candidate question and answer periods, even for the mayorality endorsements
were fairly difficult to
follow even from the front because of the rising volume of conversation between
delegates. The conversation,
gavelled once in awhile by the two toherwise effective chairs, rose to rude
levelswhen a candidate for both,
or either, the school board and/or mayor, Ms. Swanson (I think she whispered)
gave her
replies. As a result one of the finest answers of the day went unheard by
almost all when she spoke to a
toughie; something like: Is there any place for ID (intelligent design) in the
city's school's curriculum. I am
pretty sure Ms. Swanson is no creationist but she did say we should at least be
teaching something about
creationism and thru that about ID. She did not get booed but that may have
been because no one heard.
She also did not get cheered. Three or four clapped. Of course she is right and
we liberals should understand
that here us a perfect chance to be liberal on a tough issue and not take any
risk. The other school board
ares, or wannabes, ducked or bellied up said 'no' in one or two short words.
There are so many people in
America, and even in St. Paul, who are hung up on this subject that I think we
Democrats should give in,
allow creationism in our schools and let it take a spot in our idea
marketplace. The result will be evolution
(that's evilution in some circles) in action and a dodo-like ID disappearance
in the not too distant future.
The convention also adopted a change to its constitution which should encourage
some return to actually having
precinct caucuses sited back in the precincts as is strongly suggested in state
law, and has been evolving in
democratic party circles the last few years as if it too, was a dodo bird. For
the city caucuses St. Paul's
104 precincts met in only nine locations this year (actually up from seven
sites in 2004), in effect badmouthing
grass roots democracy and at the same time endorsing endorsements. Who's
running this party anyway?
We also heard from statewide candidates for next year in addition to a rousing
appearance by Amy Klobuchar.
Misters Davis (I think) for state auditor, Ritchie for secretary of state, and
Philbrook for governor. All spoke well.
I know Bud Philbrook from the late 60s when he was a kid and I was already old.
He has spent much of his
life working for conciliation and peace, globally. I met Mark Ritchie after he
spoke. His record is small 'd'
democracy, a man after my own heart. Speaking of democracy, I personally got a
chance at the mike to lecture
the group that as delegates, and actually delegates of delegates, we had no
right to a secret ballot, and certainly
little right to squawk about being deprived of it by signing our ballots. The
usually sedate resolution period had
some novel approaches including a clever timing device to hold down on speeches
that had me trying to
answer my cell phone every 45 seconds before a neighbor told me it was coming
thru the mike. In addition to
an up or down vote on about 106 widely various propositions, voters got a
chance to rank 18 of the ideas on the
basis of how much they really cared. I await the summary with some
anticipation. I hate to expose my predjudice
but I hope the motion to keep the R.I.P. part of 35E at 45 mph flunks in
breadth as well as depth.
All in all it was a great convention, and well attended. And City DFL Chair Stu
Alger, who took the job just three
months and three days ago, and his many helpers deserve a lot of praise for
making a near silk purse out of a
very near sow's ear.]
Al Uhl, downtown
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