Mayoral Race

Who wanted to be mayor?
gpete
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby gpete » June 4th, 2013, 2:16 pm

Caucuses already happened in April, so that solves that dilemma for you.

When you attend caucuses, you have to sign your name to a statement that says the following:
I affirm the following are correct statements:
1. I currently reside in the precinct.
2. I will be age 18 or older and will be eligible to vote by November 6, 2012.
(Note: youth participant exception must be marked on caucus registration form)
3. I consider myself a member of the DFL Party. I am not an active member of any other political party.
4. I agree with the principles of the DFL Party as stated in the DFL Constitution and Bylaws.
So I think by your own description, you definitely don't agree with #3.

BUT I think you should evaluate your voting preferences. Do you find yourself voting for DFL candidates regularly? Then I think you deserve a say in the party process even if you don't consider yourself to be "DFL." The party, after all, is just a reflection of the people who attend these types of events, and if you go to caucuses, then you have become a part of the DFL.

mattaudio
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby mattaudio » June 4th, 2013, 2:50 pm

I'm fairly certain the Republican caucuses didn't have requirements like #3 and 4.

fehler
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby fehler » June 5th, 2013, 11:32 am

In Minneapolis, or statewide?

mullen
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby mullen » June 6th, 2013, 9:45 am

so do people have favorites? i'm supporting Mark Andrew. personally i can't take Gary Schiff or Betsy Hodges.

David Greene
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby David Greene » June 6th, 2013, 1:01 pm

so do people have favorites? i'm supporting Mark Andrew. personally i can't take Gary Schiff or Betsy Hodges.
Can you give a little more detail why? I am trying to decide between Andrew and Hodges.

twincitizen
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby twincitizen » June 6th, 2013, 1:09 pm

I am trying to decide between Andrew and Hodges.
I think there are a ton of people in that same boat. Thankfully, with no endorsement likely, we have 5 more months to hear their ideas and form an opinion one way or the other. I agree with the above commenter though, something about Betsy Hodges overly dramatic manner of speaking really bothers me. It's not quite condescending, that's too strong...I just don't know another word to describe it.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby FISHMANPET » June 6th, 2013, 1:23 pm

I believe I saw somewhere Schiff was against the House of Hanson development, so that's a black mark in my book.

gpete
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby gpete » June 6th, 2013, 1:45 pm

Whoa, that's big... post a link if you remember where you saw that. He also pushed for preserving that Healy house in the Wedge which blocked the nicely designed infill project (2316-2320 Colfax). I find both of those stances surprising for a guy with a master's in urban and regional planning.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby FISHMANPET » June 6th, 2013, 1:50 pm

http://www.mndaily.com/city/business/20 ... ans-motion

I guess it's not full on against the project, but he's echoing the (bogus) concern I'm hearing a lot of, that the rezoning is going to change the character of Dinkytown.

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woofner
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby woofner » June 6th, 2013, 3:40 pm

Does Betsy Hodges have any municipal issues besides keeping property taxes low? She seems to me to be among the most neoliberal councilmembers.
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Nick
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Nick » June 6th, 2013, 7:38 pm

Does Betsy Hodges have any municipal issues besides keeping property taxes low? She seems to me to be among the most neoliberal councilmembers.
She seems to know her way around budgeting, which is both the least sexy part of government and also one of the only things the mayor is actually responsible for.

Sidebar: I continue to be totally mystified by where the Mark Andrew campaign came from. I know I didn't live here in the 90s, but I'm just really surprised that someone I hadn't even heard of a year ago has racked up this many zillion endorsements.
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mullen
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby mullen » June 7th, 2013, 9:55 am

it's just a general sense i have about these candidates. maybe its more about who i don't want to see as mayor than who i do. i just really can't stomach gary schiff..i'm sure he's a fine guy but seeing him in action on the council making his pronouncements has never impressed me. he just has a slightly swarmy way about him. and i did support keeping the stadium downtown. i know it's such a contentious issue but i felt it was important. and that was gary's sprinboard to running for mayor. he was very vocal about the stadium and i felt some of this concerns and interpretation of funding were not correct and basically used to get his name out. RT and the council president really stepped up and provided leadership.

i do like mark andrew having met the man and knowing his long record on the hennepin county commission. i just sense a a more collaborative approach from him than someone like gary schiff. in our weak mayor/strong council system the mayor of this city needs to excel at public relations, marketing and collaboration. i feel rybak has done well on these fronts. the city and county need to be work together and need good working relationship. certainly coming from what he inherited after the debacle of the sayles belton years. remember the city pages headline "desperately seeking Susan".

if schiff doesn't get the DFL endorsement he's done, in my opinion. i really don't have enough of an opinion about betsy hodges...just to not be really impressed with her council performance, either. again, i see her style as more combative.

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woofner
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby woofner » June 7th, 2013, 11:14 am

certainly coming from what he inherited after the debacle of the sayles belton years.
What exactly did he inherit from Sayles Belton? How many American cities did not face a financial crisis in the late 00s, most of them worse than Minneapolis'? How many American cities haven't built a bone-headed downtown shopping mall (including the Conservatory built by Don Fraser, which was a much bigger failure than Block E)? What do you think the Mill District would look like right now if Sayles Belton hadn't extended the parkway?
She seems to know her way around budgeting, which is both the least sexy part of government and also one of the only things the mayor is actually responsible for.
I'd seem to know my way around budgeting, too, if I wore glasses and sat on the BET. Hodges is smart, but the more important question is what does she do with the budget? It just seems weird that in a city that prides itself on progressive politics, one of the leading candidates primary budget priority is reducing property taxes. That sounds more Minnetonka than Minneapolis to me.

And a brief correction: the Mayor proposes the budget, but the Council can and does make significant alterations and of course approves it. I'd say the Mayor's biggest influence is in the appointment of department heads, and I think that's an opportunity RT Rybak has largely passed up.
"Who rescued whom!"

VAStationDude
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby VAStationDude » June 7th, 2013, 1:32 pm

Sayles Belton utilized the same horrendous budgeting policies the State of Minnesota employed in the Pawlenty years and 2011-2013. The state went that route because of structural deficits created by economic downturns, bad policy decisions by the the Ventura, DFL Senate and GOP House in the late 1990s and early 2000s and Pawlenty's refusal to raise revenue. Sayles Belton used a similar strategy of shifting budget reserve funds to general operations and delaying paying liabilites Unlike the state she used those budget tricks when economic times were good. Dowtown Target, crime reduction and other positive stuff happended under Sayles Belton but budgeting was just terrible during her tenure

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woofner
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby woofner » June 8th, 2013, 1:12 pm

Funny then that Rybak hired Sayles Belton's finance director, John Moir, for City Coordinator. Hindsight is probably a bit harsher than merited for what was a common practice in the 90s through today (as you note). Especially since Sayles Belton fired the aforementioned finance director and hired another to start cleaning up the books towards the end of her second term. She certainly deserves blame for weasely financing, even if it was a popular technique, but so does she deserve credit for trying to clean it up.
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Nick
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Nick » June 10th, 2013, 4:37 pm

Mark Andrew's campaign calling from a 612.666.xxxx phone number, -10 points. Am I really the only one who's bothered by that? Like I'm not really religious but whenever I see a license plate with 666 in it I'm like "hello, lady, that's the DEVIL on your plates!"
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twincitizen
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby twincitizen » June 10th, 2013, 6:26 pm

He really needs to stop calling me. I already told one of his people to put me down as "no endorsement". In reality, I will probably skip the convention. At most, I will show up to watch the first round or two of voting to see how the candidates place.

MNdible
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby MNdible » June 11th, 2013, 8:30 am

I would love to see no endorsement win on the first ballot.

PhilmerPhil
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby PhilmerPhil » June 11th, 2013, 10:52 am


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Nick
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Nick » June 11th, 2013, 5:05 pm

So, I realize some of this is willful misunderstanding on the part of candidates who are appealing to voters who don't know how anything works, but I think Jim Thomas may actually not understand that the mayor isn't in charge of schools, based on the very quiet one minute and twenty-nine second voicemail I received from him this afternoon.

Which leads me to point two, why are a bunch of these people running?
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