Local elections are coming up

2038-01-19T03:14:07Z

We have city elections this year in November. We're voting for:

1. Mayor
2. City Council
3. Park Board (both my district, and three "at-large" seats)
4. Board of Estimate and Taxation (two at-large members)

Plus the following charter amendment: Should the City of Minneapolis adopt a change in its charter to the composition of the Board of Estimate and Taxation so that the Board's membership consists of the members of the City Council, with the actions of the Board subject to the powers and duties of the Mayor?

Also: Minneapolis is implementing ranked-choice voting (which is to say, instant runoff). We get to pick our three favorites for mayor. The process for counting votes for things like the three at-large park board seats is ... uh ... I think the polite term is "convoluted." It's explained here. The process for routing the votes from one candidate to the next isn't too absurd when you're picking people for a single seat; when you're choosing three people, it involves re-distributing excess percentages and....well, fortunately, I don't have to count the votes, nor will it be my job to scrutinize ballots if GOD FORBID we ever have to recount any ranked-choice races. I just have to figure out who I want to vote for.

Which is harder this year, because with no primary to weed out the obvious joke candidates, I have a much longer list to winnow through. Anyway, I thought I would go ahead and share my research for any fellow Minneapolitans reading this. Although the non-Minneapolitans might want to read on at least as far as the guy who worships Laura Ingalls Wilder and wants the metro area to become a sovereign nation and communist homeland for the Laurist movement. Because I have a link to his website.

Mayoral candidates below the LJ cut.

MAYORAL RACE
I refered to this race as R.T. Rybak vs. the Seven Dwarfs the other day, but there are actually more than seven other people running. I'll just paste in a list:

Dick Franson (DFL)
John Charles Wilson (Edgertonite National Party)
Tom Fiske (Social Workers Party)
R.T. Rybak (DFL)
Joe Lombard (Is Awesome)
Bob Carney Jr. (Moderate Progressive Censored)
Al Flowers (DFL)
James R. Everett (Social Entrepreneurship)
Bill McGaughey (New Dignity Party)
Christopher Clark (Libertarian)
Papa John Kolstad (Independent Civic Leader)

So, OK.

1. Dick Franson is a nut of the "frequent candidate" variety.

2. John Charles Wilson worships Laura Ingalls Wilder. No, really. He also wants a 240-mile radius of land around Minneapolis to be a sovereign nation as a homeland for fellow Laurists. Also, he's a communist. And opposed to age of consent laws. To be perfectly honest, he makes Dick Franson look like a model of reasoned political thought. On the other hand, he has a well-put-together website, so you know he's a serious candidate.

3. Tom Fiske is a member of the Socialist Workers Party. He has no website, at least not that I found with a quick search.

4. R.T. is the mayor. And likely to remain mayor. Here's his website if you want it.

5. Joe Lombard (is basically a joke candidate). But does have a website.

6. Bob Carney is a "Moderate Progressive Censored" because the city wouldn't let him file as a "Moderate Progressive Republican," he'd have had to be a "Republican." He's savvy enough to notice that being a Republican is a kiss of death in a Minneapolis election. His website promotes his book examining whether if we assume that President Obama WAS born in Kenya whether that actually matters in terms of his eligibility to serve.

7. Al Flowers was ticketed for marijuana posession last month. His website has an endorsements section, but instead of names it just says "coming soon!" which is never a good sign. Especially in mid-October, but you know, if you're running for citywide office and you have any reasonable expectation of winning, you have some influential supporters lined up before you even file.

8. James R. Everett (Social Entrepreneurship) doesn't appear to have a website. Given that the Laurist and the awesome guy have websites, that's pretty damn pathetic.

9. Bill McGaughey (New Dignity Party) is very concerned about the self-image of white people.

10. Christopher Clark is a Libertarian. That's really all I need to know, and he seems to agree, since the Libertarians gave him a website but it looks like he didn't fill out the form so there is no information on his page.

11. Papa John Kolstad. Papa John is the guy (other than RT) who would have won the primary, if there'd been a primary; he's got a viable platform, some political contacts and experience. I actually have known people in the past who were supporting him for something, which RIGHT THERE is more than I can say for anyone else on this list.

R.T. has been running a Rose Garden campaign, running around and acting mayoral while not actually talking to any of his opponents. Papa John is bitter about this. But frankly, as a voter, I sure as hell do not want to waste my time going to a forum that's going to give air time to Wilson or McGaughey or really most of these people. (OK, well, to be honest, listening to Wilson might be entertaining. Not useful, but entertaining.) If I were undecided between Kolstad and Rybak, I'd seek out an opportunity to ask them both questions individually and would lament the fact that no one had organized an event with just the two candidates that might have won the primary, if there'd been a primary.

I'm not actually undecided; I like RT fine.

Park Board candidates in the next post. Unless I get distracted and forget to finish this project.

Will Tell Stories For Food

Local elections are coming up