Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 1, Issue 26 - 11/11/2005
In this issue: Politics In Minnesota Goes To China; What Does Tuesday Mean For 2006? Technology Rules In Ramsey--Seems Missing In Minneapolis; The Battle Of The '06 Session; Borden Is Back; Only Outsiders Needed To Apply; Bits & Pieces; Lobbyist Watch; Setting The Record Straight
Politics In Minnesota Goes To China
Along with 213 other Minnesotans, PIM publisher Sarah Janecek is off to China today. Naturally, the group is flying Northwest Airlines--12 hours to Tokyo and another five to Beijing. Don't miss her daily reports. They will be posted at PoliticsInMinnesota.com. Pass the word. See the list of those making the trip [PDF].
What Does Tuesday Mean For 2006?
St. Paul
The results of Tuesday's election show one major thing for Democrats in Minnesota, and specifically in St. Paul. For the first time since 1989, they are unified, and the results were what they wanted. The revealing moment on election night was how many DFL elected officials joined Chris Coleman on stage. Coleman has accomplished something that has been a challenge for St. Paul: Liberals like Senator Sandy Pappas and Senator Ellen Anderson stood side by side with East-siders like Representative Tim Mahoney and North-sider Ramsey County Commissioner Janice Rettman.
Councilmember Pat Harris, who is officially an independent despite having Democratic roots and experience, was a key moderate who helped Coleman in his decision to run and in this race. The institutional DFLers of St. Paul have tried to knock off Harris and members of his family for years. Most recently, they were successful in the special election to replace Ramsey County Commissioner Sue Haigh. They endorsed and elected Toni Carter, a St. Paul School board member at the time, to replace Haigh (a moderate), and defeated Pat's sister Anne Harris.
Next year, a unified and energized St. Paul DFL could prove powerful for Democrats running statewide, if it is marshaled into a campaign to boost urban voter turnout.
Minneapolis
The anti-DFL establishment sentiment is still pretty strong. The establishment we speak of is the old DFL machine that includes labor unions and former elected officials.
Mayor R.T. Rybak's decisive victory over Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin shows that his "clean-up" city hall message of four years ago still resonates. We found that, in council races where moderate Democrats who ran against liberal DFLers, the moderates lost. That was the case in Ward 10 where Scott Persons lost to Ralph Remington; in Ward 13 where Lisa McDonald lost to Betsy Hodges and in Ward 8 where Elizabeth Glidden beat Marie Hauser.
Meanwhile, in the two races where incumbents faced each other, the more moderate candidate won, and notably the Green Party lost. Those races were: Ward 5 where Don Samuels beat Natalie Johnson Lee and Ward 6 where Robert Lilligren barely beat Dean Zimmerman (16 votes). It should be noted that all of the candidates in those two races were part of the wave of reform over the last four years.
The most telling (and disturbing) trend the DFL and the Mayor need to correct in 2006 and in future elections, is the stark contrast in turnout between the wealthier wards and the poor wards. Ironically, it was the poorer wards that had the most competitive races, especially those in Wards 5 and 6, and, percentage-wise, turnout was in the low twenties.
The "middle income" wards, with competitive races like Wards 2, 5, 10, had a little higher turnout in the mid to high twenty percent. The "wealthier" wards, with only two competitive races (Wards 12 and 13) and two races without much competition at all, Wards 7 and 11 (Lisa Goodman and Scott Benson respectively) had very high turnout comparatively, in the mid thirties, percentage-wise.
These numbers show there is still a major challenge in connecting all parts of Minneapolis with City Hall, something we suspect Mayor Rybak will see as a priority in his second term, and something all Democrats need to improve in future races.
Technology Rules In Ramsey--Seems Missing In Minneapolis
Remember the good old days, when poll watchers for campaigns waited at each polling place and then ran or drove the results to campaign headquarters where everyone would wait eagerly and campaign staff would tally the totals to see who would be the victor? In the nineties, cell phones made that process a little faster, but the onus was still on campaign people monitoring the results the old fashioned way.
Today, with electronic scan machines and the Internet, poll watching on election night can be instantaneous, as was the case in the St. Paul mayor's race. By nearly 8:15 p.m., it was clear that polls in the media in the weeks leading up to the election were going to match the results at the polling places in St. Paul. In fact, all of the results in Ramsey County, from the Maplewood mayor's race, to the referendum on whether or not restaurants in Circle Pines should sell liquor on Sundays, were being updated in real time on the net. The interface of election results and the remarkable speed of posting them on the Internet is the handy work of Ramsey County's election guru Joe Manske.
Meanwhile, when we went to the Hennepin County site, there was nothing and no plans to host results for the off-year election. Voters had to be dependent on the City of Minneapolis' (the largest city in the state) web site, where we were greeted with a message stating that no results would be updated until 9:30 p.m.
In 2005, for media covering an election, for candidates and for the public, that hour and a half is a lifetime. By the time Minneapolis started putting election results on the Internet, Mayor Randy Kelly had already given his concession speech and city council and local candidates in Ramsey County were planning the next stage of their political lives. In fact, in Minneapolis, we found out campaigns were still doing it the old fashioned way, depending on poll watchers to call in results.
There was nothing at the Hennepin County Web site. And even today, three days after the election, there are no results from any election in Hennepin County. The election manager in Hennepin County is Michelle DesJardin. We wonder why she hasn't taken the Ramsey County model to the state's largest county. One ray of hope is Hennepin County Board Chair Randy Johnson, who has championed technology for counties across the country, may see this as something that should be ready to go for 2006.
The Battle Of The '06 Session
The second biggest political news, and a foreshadow of 2006, occurred Thursday, when over 300 pastors had a "summit" at Grace Church in Eden Prairie to begin organizing and strategizing on an effort to put a constitutional amendment against gay marriage on the ballot. It is the most visible exercise of Christian evangelical's involvement in the political process that Minnesota has seen to date. During the same week Governor Tim Pawlenty appointed Lee Buckley, the former director of labor relations at Northwest Airlines, as Minnesota's first Director of Faith and Community Services.
We know this strategy isn't new, and the tactics as an election strategy for the GOP have been written and much-talked about throughout the country over the last few years. In fact, last year, in key states like Ohio, election analysts attribute President Bush's victory to such amendments.
But, there is a certain boldness to have such a summit in Minnesota. After all, we are a state that has traditionally had less mixing of religion and politics than others.
The proposed amendment has passed the House of Representatives the past two sessions, only to be held up in the Sen.. This year, the fight to have the Sen. take up a vote on the issue will be as contentious as the budget battle of this past year.
Many conservative Democrats from outstate and suburban areas would likely feel great pressure to support such an amendment in an election year. According to Minnesota Public Radio's vote tracker DFLers still have three votes to spare on the issue. Meanwhile, Democrats running statewide want to keep the issue off the ballot. And, it goes without saying that urban DFLers will be leading the vehement opposition.
While the issue isn't likely to split the DFL activists at the polls next fall, it is likely to give the Governor's race for endorsement a litmus test that moderate candidates might not want to answer or take a position on.
Either way, this issue will dominate the division of the upcoming session.
Borden Is Back
Former DFL State Senator and Minnesota Chamber president Win Borden is back in town. He served a ten-month misdemeanor sentence--which he is appealing--for failing to file or pay taxes. Some of his friends were surprised to receive a call from him last week indicating he was "out of Yankton and living in an old mortuary in Minneapolis." Actually, he is in the Volunteers of America halfway house and he has started working as a project manager for law school classmate and super lawyer and lobbyist Jim Erickson. Erickson has added "developer" (Otter Tail County) and "non-profit CEO" (fiber optics and Norway House) to his active lobbying portfolio. One of Erickson's collaborators in the lakeshore development business is former state representative and leading Realtor Chris Tjornhom (R-Richfield). Borden will work with Erickson and the peripatetic Tjornhom (of Realty House) on a variety of their projects and clients.
In an email to one of your publishers, Borden wrote, "I thought I understood the criminal justice system after having taught criminal law and sitting on state senate crime committees. But I learned a great deal more living with 800 federal felons 24/7. The place [the federal prison camp in Yankton, South Dakota) was magnificent on the outside and rotten to the core inside." He has great stories to tell and he'll be sharing some of them in an upcoming issue of Law & Politics.
Borden is upbeat and he has definitely kept his great sense of humor and irony. For example, he thought it was grand that the prison library had Jesse Ventura's book, I Ain't Got Time to Bleed, in the fiction section. We predict Borden will be back as a player in thoughtful public policy in Minnesota. He can be reached at winborden@yahoo.com or 952-844-1576.
Sidebar: Did you know you can buy Ventura's book for one cent on Amazon.com?
Only Outsiders Needed To Apply
Mayor-Elect Chris Coleman started talking to close political friends last November and December about running for Mayor. At the time, people close to Chris thought Mayor Randy Kelly was beatable, but that it would be a close race. Coleman listened, and after talking to his family and thinking through his strategy, made a conscious decision to hire the best campaign team he could find, with one caveat, none of them should have ever worked for him in the past.
Former Wellstone campaign manager, and current Wellstone Action executive director, Jeff Blodgett, suggested a youthful campaign manager named Chris Fredson. Coleman and Fredson met, and Coleman knew that Fredson had a passion, mind, and an outsider's view of St. Paul politics that he could use. The outsider view was important, because Coleman and his close friends are all insiders, and they all know Chris so well that they may not have been objective about the race since many have been there before. Coleman then got ready for the battle for the endorsement--something he hadn't had to do since his first race for city council in 1997.
So the Friends of Chris took up volunteer roles, his former city council aide, current state Representative John Lesch (D-St. Paul) started on the finance committee and then helped recruit other elected officials to help with the endorsement fight. His brother, a former congressional aide, and current Comcast lobbyist Emmett Coleman, also started raising money and volunteering, but rarely giving advice. His former aide, Nancy Homans, volunteered in the office, and long time political operatives the husband and wife team of Ann Mulholland and Steve Cerkvenik, worked the phones and gave Chris a sounding board, but again none of them had an official role on the campaign.
Coleman had worked on campaigns, and he did what many candidates who have been campaign aides can't do – he became the candidate and he trusted his staff. This trust worked well, especially in the race for the DFL endorsement against Ramsey County Attorney Rafeal Ortega--Chris knew he had to admit that bucking the endorsement in his race for Congress in 2000 and going to the primary was a sore spot with activists. So he did what he knew was right, and politically what he had to do--he apologized to the activists and admitted he made a mistake in 2000.
Along the way Coleman attracted top "outside of St. Paul" talent to the campaign. Bob Hume a former press aide to Senator Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), came on as communication director, and the field team came from the ranks of MoveOn.org.
Not until after the primary did U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum's highly regarded finance director Erin Dady join Coleman as the only high-level staffer with previous St. Paul experience, and just in time to ramp up fundraising to meet the demands of the campaign's popularity.
In hindsight we see this as something that politicians rarely do--look outside of their insular circle. If Coleman does the same as mayor, he is sure to remain successful and build an operation that in the future could be marshaled for greater things for St. Paul and himself.
Political veteran Mullholand and policy veteran Homans are leading the behind the scenes work on Mayor Elect Chris Coleman's transition and inaugural planning.
Politics In Minnesota: Bits & Pieces...
--Tracking people and events--
When State Senator Becky Lourey (D-Kerrick) announces her candidacy for Governor next Tuesday We hear Minneapolis political operative Joe Barisonzi is likely to be the campaign manager and is already talking to folks about joining the campaign
An excellent source has told us that State Senator Sharon Marko (D-Cottage Grove) is considering running for Congress against Representative John Kline in the Second Congressional District. That move would give Colleen Rowley a significant challenger for endorsement or in a primary.
The new Clear Channel owned political talk station FM 100.3 set to launch January 1st that will include Rush Limbaugh and possibly Sean Hannity--is expected to announce anyday its first local show will be hosted by former MPR reporter and long time WCCO-TV reporter Pat Kessler from 9AM- 11AM weekdays. Kessler will continue to serve as WCCO's chief political reporter.
State Auditor Pat Anderson could not be more proud. Her executive assistant, Ying Lee, was officially sworn in as a citizen of the United States yesterday. The 26-year-old Lee arrived in the U.S. 25 years ago when her family left Laos to escape the communist regime. Lee is super psyched to vote next year, "When I was younger I didn't think it was a big deal, because we had resident status. But it really began to bother me after I couldn't vote in the last election. I wanted to give something back to the country that has given so much to me."
State Auditor Anderson has also named Tim Miller as her new communications director. The Winona State grad comes from the Sen. Republican Caucus where he worked in the media department.
Next Tuesday, November 15th the Minnesota Governmental Relations Council will host "Legislative Mechanics and Infrastructure" The Behind the Scene Players Who Really Do the Work". The event is from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the Commodore in St. Paul. Panelists will include, Pat Flahaven, Secretary of the Sen., Robbie LaFleur, Director, MN Legislative Reference Library, Paul Marinac, Deputy Revisor, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Pat McCormack, Director, House Research--Research Department, Al Mathiowetz, Chief Clerk of the House and JoAnne Zoff Sellner, Director, Sen. Counsel, Research and Fiscal Analysis.
The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce November Legislative Breakfast will be on the hot topic of eminent domain, and how the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is being interpreted locally. Panelists include representatives of the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association. The event is from 7:30 to 9: 00 a.m. at the DoubleTree Park Place Hotel in St. Louis Park. $35 for members; $40 for nonmembers. To register, go to TwinWest.com
Politics In Minnesota: Lobbyist Watch
--Who is working what issues--
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
- New lobbyist registrations:
- Valerie Dosland, with Ewald Consulting, for Assn. Of Supportive Living Residences, Minn. Aquatic Mgmt. Society, Minn. Organization for Vocational Education and Minnesotans for Healthy Lakes.
- Rebecca Klett of of Lockridge Grindal Nauen, for Fairview Health Services.
- Julie Perrus with Larkin, Hoffman, Daly & Lindgren, for the Builders Assn. of Minn. And T-Mobile.
- Nora Stewart of Lockridge Grindal Nauen, for Minn. Oncology Hematology.
- Terminated lobbyist registrations:
- Bill Heaney, for Minn. Resource Recovery Assn.
- Kevin Johnson, for Target Corporation.
- Tom Schmidt, for Pfizer./li>
- Gail Sheridan, for Care Providers of Minn.
Politics In Minnesota: Setting The Record Straight
Last week, in the story detailing which media were going on the trip to China, we incorrectly said no broadcast media went to China with then-Governor Jesse Ventura. TPT's Mary Lehammer went to China, and Japan and Cuba with Ventura. She notes that the most media to ever cover Ventura was in Cuba near the end of his term in office. "The national and international press presence was unreal, well over a hundred," wrote Lehammer in an email, "I still have some of the bumps and bruises from fighting the very aggressive international press crews!"
Morning Reports
