CRZ is Christopher Robin Zimmerman

NINE DAYS TO ELECTION DAY: Here are quick links to all of my candidate profiles for the truly lazy (or people visiting for the first time) if you want to skip to a particular candidate RIGHT NOW:

Me
Mark V. Anderson Merrill Anderson Mark Andrew Neal Baxter Troy Benjegerdes Alicia K. Bennett Edmund Bernard Bruyere Bob "Again" Carney Jackie Cherryhomes Christopher Clark Dan Cohen James Everett Bob Fine Cyd Gorman Mike Gould Kurtis W. Hanna John Leslie Hartwig	Betsy Hodges Gregg Iverson Bill Kahn Jaymie Kelly Tony Lane Doug Mann Abdul M Rahaman "The Rock" Joshua Rea Ole Savior Don Samuels Captain Jack Sparrow James "Jimmy" L. Stroud, Jr Jeffrey Alan Wagner John Charles Wilson Cam Winton Stephanie Woodruff Rahn V. Workcuff

Please share this post with everyone you know in Minneapolis and let them know it IS possible to cast a fully-informed vote!

27.10.13 11:11

Because I STILL haven't accepted a dime of your money - and won't. Like/Share/RT http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

27.10.13 01:24

So, no #stribpol endorsement for me for #mplsmayor (probably a positive) - no mention at all, in fact (probably a negative) #MPLS13

26.10.13 19:32

Sample ballot

26.10.13 11:13

Because I haven't subjected you to a single lawn sign. Like/Share/RT http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

25.10.13 20:42

11 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY: Sadly, only six candidates responded to a survey by the nonpartisan (but hyper-Constitutionally-aware) Abigail Adams Project - myself, Dr. Bruyere, Mr. Clark, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Rahaman and Mr. Wilson. They printed a grid of our "support/oppose" tests along with all of the supplemental answers. It's a little surprising how much I agree with some of these guys - and once again, how disappointed I am with a lot of the answers (or evasions) from my fellow "Libertarian" Mr. Clark. Check it out - I guarantee I'll have made at least one answer which will drive you nuts - and let me know if there's anything which really resonates with you, resonates AGAINST you, or on which you'd like me to expand and expound. (Link to Abigail Adams Project: Minneapolis Mayor)

25.10.13 10:17

Because there are no pictures of my genitalia on the Internet (that I know about) Like/Share/RT http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

25.10.13 01:39

Disappointed only six #MPLSmayor candidates answered an Abigail Adams Project survey; happy I'm one of them! https://abigailadamsproject.com/resources/item/minneapolis-mayor #MPLS13

24.10.13 23:10

RT @smckenzie21: Results from a #mplsmayor candidate survey on the arts organized by the Mpls Arts Commission: http://tinyurl.com/n5wpekd

24.10.13 23:10

@iniwil @curtisgilbert Didn't MPR used to talk to EVERY candidate? (34 profiles + me at http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor ) #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

24.10.13 22:50

[+]

12 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY: The Minneapolis Arts Commission recently released their "survey on the arts" results - well, as is their wont, they sucked out all the nuance and combined everybody's answers into a confusing infograph. I'm definitely in there, though! Shockingly, Mr. Kahn and Mr. Winton joined me in saying that the city needs to decrease their funding of public art, while Mr. Clark said funding could stay at the same level (which now makes me question his Libertarian bona fides).

Thanks to Sarah McKenzie of the Southwest Journal for tweeting out this link - I may not have learned about its release otherwise!

24.10.13 09:17

Because I don't own a suit that fits me...but I'm willing to buy one. Like/Share/RT http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

23.10.13 23:38

13 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY: So The Loft Literary Center sent out a questionnaire to the mayoral candidates, looking to gauge...I forget, actually. Our "literariness," I guess. Actually, I have their email, so why don't I quote it?

"As a candidate to be the mayor of Minneapolis, we're inviting you to participate in our 2013 Minneapolis Mayoral Literary Survey. As the potential head of a city that clearly values books, we hope this survey will give voters insights into how literature has helped mold and influence you as a leader."

The survey had two questions: What are your three favorite books (titles only - very serious about that!), and What book has most influenced your leadership style, and how? (Technically, that second question is a compound, but who's gonna argue with the literary center people? I'm only a TECHNICAL writer.)

They also mentioned: "The results will be published on the Loft's website (loft.org) on Thursday, October 17, 2013. We will also promote the results to the media and engage our social media networks."

Now, today being the 23rd, you can probably figure that this hasn't happened because I haven't posted a link HERE to get you over THERE. I sent an email asking if I was the only person who responded, and Deputy Director of Development Tanner Curl wrote back: "I'm afraid to report that due to lack of response, we pulled the plug. Thanks for your time in filling out the form, though, and best of luck on the campaign."

Wow, I feel like I dodged an endorsement!

Fortunately, I saved my answers, and now I'll share them with you here:

1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Big Secrets - William Poundstone

2: I think for me, "The Puzzle Palace" by James Bamford was the book responsible for the most noticeable impact on my world view when comparing my thoughts and ideals before reading it versus after reading it. There is a great danger in sacrificing openness and transparency for what others consider "the greater good" and everyone from the mayor on down has an obligation to shine a light on what's REALLY going on out there.

Yeah. Not great answers, but at least they WERE answers. Maybe I should have found a Minneapolis author. I wonder how many other candidates responded. I wonder if it's ironic that the literary center went back on their word to the politician? But....admittedly, I don't wonder about any of this for too long.

23.10.13 08:08

Because I've scheduled a daily tweet starting with "Because" for the next 13 days. Like/Share/RT http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

22.10.13 20:20

With under two weeks to go to Election Day, I'm going to be setting up some auto-posting of catchy phrases to try to get people to go visit the CRZ for Mayor page. This is a gentle plea to please ignore me for the next 14 days if you're already super tired of my "campaign." (Otherwise, please feel free to Like/Share/Retweet! Oh, and vote - where applicable)

22.10.13 02:06

TWO WEEKS TO ELECTION DAY: As I previously mentioned, I headed out to the Greenway Building where The UpTake was taping three minute bios with any mayoral candidate who could show up. I COULDN'T show up last week, because I have a day job and they were working 11am-1pm, but they had Monday after work slotted out in quarter hour segments - I had 6:30, but had some good luck on Hiawatha and ended up pretty early - and LUCKY because I got to experience firsthand Wagner for Mayorï»¿, who was the first fellow candidate to not JUST recognize me, but run up and give me a good hug as well. He let me know he got a kick out of my "response" video which made me feel pretty good. He asked me what my gig was and I again regretted not being in a band. Anyway, Jeffrey's energy is infectious and I wish I had a few more minutes with him, but he had to dash. (He took a lot of photos, and I forgot to take any, so I'm hoping that he'll post one sooner or later.) I didn't get to ask the Columbia Heights question but I DID try to get him to reveal his age - a question he evaded.

Next up was the aforementioned Jimmy Stroud - this guy knows EVERYBODY (or at least everybody working late in the Greenway Building) and has a fascinating history working in Minneapolis, especially with the less fortunate. It's really a shame he didn't submit a Star-Tribune questionnaire (he did have an explanation) because I think he's someone a lot more people need to know about and his online footprint really hasn't come close to capturing his history helping out the city. He was very gracious in letting me get the photo I shared down there.

Dr. Bruyere was scheduled after me - he popped in during Mr. Stroud's interview, but left almost immediately after - I think he must have gotten an urgent call and had to run...or he just hates me and had to leave because he was sick at the very sight of me. (I'm KIDDING, Eddie! I was happy to see you again, even briefly, and hope all is well with you.)

So I did my three minutes, forgot practically everything I wanted to mention (stadium, money in politics) but the truth is, I'm not sure anybody's going to watch my video who doesn't already know me...but if they DO I did a pretty good job of repeating the Facebook link over and over, and there's plenty of background stuff here to fill in all the gaps I left. I'll link it (and all of them) when they're posted.

I've probably been very fortunate but in my travels (and possibly by avoiding the "Mayoral Council" meetings) I have yet to meet a candidate for mayor who I didn't enjoy talking to and personally like. I think I'd still make a better mayor than a lot of them (especially the kooks), but for a lot of reasons I really hope the voters of Minneapolis are getting a chance to know these folks as well as I have been over the past months and not just going by who's making it in the paper.

The UpTake is hosting a debate tomorrow - I believe they've invited the Big 7 (including Mr. Fine but excluding Mr. Cohen - or was it the other way around?) as well as Mr. Everett, if he gets back to them. I'll be home - or here on Facebook - or both.

In fact, as of right now, I have no more obligations, no more questionnaires or surveys, and am free and clear until Election Day, so I better figure out something to do (or beg you to invite me over) between now and then...

21.10.13 22:51

Let's buy Zygi TWO stadia!! #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

21.10.13 19:33

Filmed a brief interview for The UpTake earlier - I'll have some more to say about it later tonight, but to whet your appetite here's a photo with me and "The People's Choice" - this is a good man who knows where bodies are buried. (Photo with Jimmy Stroud)

21.10.13 19:24

Interesting close encounters tonight with @PissedoffMPLS and @JIMMY4MAYORMPLS - hopefully the photos came out #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

21.10.13 17:15

15 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY: Hey, anybody wanna help me rig an online poll? (Well...not as much as a couple of other folks already have...) (Link to IBNN: Vote Today for the next Mayor of Minneapolis. Donâ€™t let the Star Tribune tell us who the â€œtopâ€ candidates ar)

20.10.13 14:18

@davegatchell No but that's one of my slogans ("because I'm already mayor of this post office") I'm tweeting sooner or later (SPOILER ALERT)

20.10.13 00:14

Truth is stranger than fiction - the entire last part of James Lileks' column today was almost word for word one of the concepts I described in my KFAI interview. (Note: I was mostly joking - as, I hope, was Lileks) (Link to Star Tribune: Lileks: What if everybody ran for mayor of Minneapolis?)

20.10.13 00:11

Damn, @Lileks TOTALLY stole my idea! Compare http://www.startribune.com/local/228480781.html vs. http://kfai.org/news/2013/09/38665
#MPLSmayor #MPLS13

19.10.13 22:59

@mplsmayor If I say "Richfield," will you acknowledge my existence?* #MPLSmayor

*unless I'm wrong, of course

18.10.13 16:52

PEOPLE OF MINNEAPOLIS: If you dislike sleazy insider politics, perhaps stop electing sleazy insiders to political offices #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

18.10.13 16:42

I have been added to the Southwest Journal's "Voter's Guide for 'Minor' Candidates!" I totally missed the deadline, but their editor Sarah McKenzie very kindly allowed me to submit my sound bites (no more than 300 words each!) in response to their questionnaire way late. Be sure to read ALL eleven candidates' responses - especially "The Rock's" (by the way, this page contains the THIRD spelling of his name I've seen so far - he really should pick one and stick with it - or just stick with "The Rock.") (link to Southwest Journal: Voter's Guide: Q&A with the 'minor' candidates for mayor)

17.10.13 18:25

Why wasn't this story written in Minneapolis - or even Minnesota? http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Best-of-the-Burgh-Blogs/Pulling-No-Punches/October-2013/The-NFL-is-Running-a-Billion-Dollar-Con/ (via @MinnPost: http://minnpo.st/1hZcCxA ) #MPLS13

17.10.13 17:08

@smckenzie21 Thank you! I'll try to get this done tonight. (I'm sure you did email me and my spam filter helpfully misfiled it)

17.10.13 04:14

@dbrauer Finally finished 34 #MPLSmayor opponent profiles: http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor - love to hear any reaction or if it's even worth sharing!

17.10.13 04:07

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #35: CYD GORMAN (POLICE REFORM)

Ms.(?) Gorman listed an address in Harrison on her filing, and her signature looks a lot like her printed name. And we're done. No, really...she has a mostly private and/or dormant Facebook page, an empty Twitter account (no tweets, no followers, only following Barack Obama and Sandra Bullock), a blank LinkedIn entry, an empty Google Plus page, no Star Tribune questionnaire, and a website which doesn't look have been updated in over a year (and only once since 2009).

Her Twitter bio seems to have the most current information (or information at all) about her: "Live in Minneapolis MN. Wanted to write books and screen plays most of my life but had to raise family first. Looking forward to my next chapter in life."

There ARE some books listed on her personal website, and Amazon lists two with her name on the cover as well. No reviews for either.

It appears that there were plans for a local journal called "Cyd's Weekly Report" but they never really materialized.

There were ALSO plans for a separate nonprofit (and another website with Gorman's telephone number) but that also appears to have gone by the wayside.

Given that she was the final candidate to file, it looks like she wanted to pay her twenty bucks and make her "party or principle" serve as her complete statement - with nobody else mentioning it, perhaps it was up to her to make sure people saw "Police Reform" on the ballot and that's all she wanted, so that's all she's done. If so...good for her. She'll be another scapegoat for raising the filing fee, but she got to make her statement this time around.

One thing I can tell you for sure is her name is right underneath mine on the ballot (except on any ballots where she's listed first, in which case I'd be last). Did you know I'm the only cadidate of the 35 whose name is sandwiched between two women's names? No, you didn't - and you didn't care. But I thought that was pretty neat.

Sorry to end with so much filler - I might have tried harder with CM Hodges if I had known she was the last of the "big" candidates.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this lady or not, but I feel like I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

And THAT'S ALL of the candidates! NOW whatever will we talk about? I hope you've learned some stuff you didn't know about at least one of these folks, and maybe I've helped you decide on your Top 3. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or feel I've left any gaps in my research - and one more time, if you could Like and Share /CRZforMayor for me, I'd love for everybody in Minneapolis (and Earth) to know at least as much about all 35 candidates as I feel I now do before they vote, ranking their top three. Thanks again for visiting my page!

17.10.13 03:00

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #34: JEFFREY ALAN WAGNER (DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR)

"Wake the f*ck up!"

These four words permeate throughout Wagner's campaign - it would be great if that were what people heard and took to heart, but...we all know better. With his initial viral video (which I haven't linked, but I'm sure you've seen), former and current local rock tycoon Wagner stole the mantle from Mr. Sparrow as the candidate the rest of the nation (or maybe just its media) were happy to point to as a complete distraction and declare just how weird our happy little crowded mayor's race had become. But it's the Internet, so of course there's a whole lot more to the story - but most of the blog commenters who immediately declared "I'll vote for him!" didn't need (or WANT) to hear it. (Nor did they want to see any follow-up ads...at least two have been released, and as is usually the case with this viral stuff, it's been hard to recapture the lightning in more than one bottle.)

Although he declared DFL, he has some very un-DFL beliefs - normally, this isn't a bad thing, but...

At the Star Tribune, he declined to state his age on his questionnaire, but did offer his occupation as a baggage handler at MSP. ("Baggage handler" is not a double entendre, though I understand if you thought about going there.) Some of his tweets have given the impression that he works at the Taco Bell in the airport, but I'm pretty sure he's joshin' there. (IS there a Taco Bell in the airport?) Most of his tweets/Facebook status updates prior to filing do appear to revolve around the baggage handling arena (no pun intended...also, most of the photos have disappeared...or maybe the links broke because he had chaged the name of his Facebook wall page to "JeffreyWagner4Mayor" - ah, it's late, I have to stop trying to figure this out.)

ANYWAY. When not running for office or working at the airport, Wagner produces MRTC TV (Modern Rock Twin Cities Television) for Blip and YouTube...ah, now we have the background behind the ability to produce viral advertisements, yeah? Anyway, somewhere along the line he decided to separate the campaign from his business (well, sorta) so he another Twitter account was created. That one's got 5 tweets and 15 followers. (The MRTC Twitter has just under 300 followers.)

He has said that he's 46 on that Twitter account - this gibes with the ages on BustedMugShots.com's six arrest records between 2000 and 2009. I didn't pay to find out what they were, but elsewhere on the Internet it is reported that it's mostly DWI and/or driving while on suspension from the DWI. I'm not sure this was ever reported in the Star Tribune, by the way. Roll your eyes with me here.

Another thing you haven't read in the papers is that he lives in Columbia Heights, which is juuuuuuuust outside the city limits and not a part of Minneapolis. As covered earlier with Mr. Anderson and Mr. Gould, there aren't a whole lot of requirements when you pay your $20 to file, but you DO have to swear or affirm that you'll have lived in the city for 30 days by the day of the election. I haven't seen any indication of any recent moves and we're passed that 30 day mark...

If you'd like to see what a younger to MUCH younger Wagner looked like, he's put up on YouTube his appearance before Judge Wapner on "The People's Court" - no year attached, but with Wapner would have to be between 1981 and 1993 - he's definitely been a rakishly handsome lad all his life.

I should also mention that he ran for City Council in 2009, amassing 321 votes and finishing third of the three declared candidates. (He may not have lived in Minneapolis THEN, either - but a Southwest Journal profile says he did indeed live in the Ward in which he was running, in Loring Park. This profile also contains this quote, intimating that the Wagner style of politics didn't originate in 2013: "Iâ€™m a fool, dude...Not a good idea to drink heavy and then decide to try to change the world.")

So there you have it. A great message, but a checkered past, checkered present, possibly not meeting the simple qualifications of city residency. Oh, AND he's one of the "Likes" for this page, and hopefully I didn't lose him if he reads this far. By the way, he and I have 15 mutual friends on Facebook...and, because he's big into the rock scene, it should come as no surprise that almost all of our mutual friends are also in at least one band. Sometimes I think I'm the only guy in Minneapolis not in a band. Maybe I should join a band after the election.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this man or not, but unless he moves to Minneapolis yesterday, it might be a moot point! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: Have we finally reached the end of this list? Praise the Lord!

17.10.13 00:43

19 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #33: BILL KAHN (LAST MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR)

Kahn, 56, lives in my 'hood of Prospect Park. He's unemployed which appears to give him a lot of free time - in fact, he may actually spend more time on the Internet than I do, which is no mean feat.

Kahn didn't really want to run but couldn't find anyone else to take up his particular banner, so on the final day of the filing period, he threw in his hat and/or hilarious head shot (he has a series of them, each more entertaining that the last, which he uses to accompany his many message board and blog comments) under his "party or principle" of "Last Minneapolis Mayor" - in essence, Kahn would like to get elected so that he could work to get the position of Mayor of Minneapolis abolished. His opinion is that Minneapolis doesn't really NEED a mayor...an intriguing position I MAY not entirely disagree with; after all, I believed "No Mayor Would Be Better Than CRZ" enough to get it printed on my "free" business cards. Running the city would be left to the City Council and a non-elected city manager.

He'd also like to change the makeup of the City Council from representatives of the 13 kinda/sorta districted up "wards" that divide our city into a combination of 5 reps for geographic pieces of the city (northeast, north, south, southwest, southeast) and 6 (or 8, depending on which page you're on) "at large" reps who would be elected by the whole city. Again, this is a pretty intriguing solution if you believe the current setup to be a problem.

When he's not putting his pet principle next to his name, Kahn identifies with the dreaded DFL, which means no matter how libertarian I think he may sound, there's probably no chance I can get him to come around for me. (In a comment on Naomi Kritzer's blog, he said his current #2 was Dr. Bruyere and his current #3 - with the caveat of a held nose - was Mrs. Hodges.)

He signed up for Twitter on Sunday - in his second (and so far last) tweet, he said he'd appreciate your #3 vote. Again, since I'd appreciate your #1 Ranking, it is possible you could make both of us happy, albeit at the expense of Mr. Benjegerdes who would ALSO like your #3 vote. (By the way, at the time I type this, you can still be his very first and only follower!)

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this man or not - well, actually, perhaps I CAN, since I can definitely promise I would stick around if I were elected! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: The man you've been waiting for (to put on a shirt)

17.10.13 00:02

Just noticed - in @StarTribune's "meet 30 mayoral candidates" online thing, they misspelled "principle" ALL THIRTY TIMES. #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

16.10.13 16:48

@lls404 @smckenzie21 27 candidates appear to be missing - may I offer a plug for my work at http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor ? #MPLSmayor

16.10.13 03:42

31 down, 3 to go! http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor #MPLS13

16.10.13 02:50

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #32: ALICIA K. BENNETT (DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR)

Bennett (34, Near-North) signed up for Twitter, but has never tweeted. She DID fill out her bio, so we could paste that in here, I guess:

"Teacher. Truth-Seeker.

Candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis.

Try me ... You'll like me."

Hmmmm...I could have used that!

She is on LinkedIn - let's steal THAT bio: "Teacher. Truth-Seeker. Rebel. Revolutionary. | Working to Help Marginalized Communities & People Realize Their Power."

I found her on Facebook, but there's not much there that's public. Instead of a photo of her, it's a picture of Huey Freeman from "The Boondocks" which kida fits in with her most of her other bios.

Although she didn't list a website on her filing, it turns out she DOES have a website...it's a whopping 7 page Bluehost.com "stock" WordPress site. Her bio over THERE mentions a partner and two dogs. Every issue in this campaign traces back to poverty, she says. Also, her "blog" section has one entry: a "hello world" piece from 8/18 which says in full: "I will be posting to my campaign blog soon." Another lying politician...why I oughta - on the other hand, that "AB" logo is very nicely designed.

Her Star Tribune questionnaire almost avoids poverty, instead talking about how awful Ranked Choice Voting is and how she'd advocate to eliminate it. She could probably do that without being elected mayor. You know, since Minneapolis held the vote to go ahead with RCV, this is ONLY the second election to have it. It seems a little premature to write it off just yet - even with only three rankings. (If anything, we should be working on getting more rankings instead of scrapping it altogether. I'm sure I've said this before, though.)

Aside from the answer with all of the RCV bashing, a lot of her other answers don't totally appear to match up with the questions asked....or are so vague they could apply to practically any concept, but in a real "literary" way - I urge you to go check 'em out and expand your mind while seeking truth.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this lady or not, but I feel like I would! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: I feel close to back on schedule! We're finally up to the final day of the filing period with only three candidates to go! Up next - my neighbour!

16.10.13 02:11

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #31: JOSHUA REA (END HOMELESSNESS NOW)

Rea is homeless, but listed an address in Central on his filing form, making him the third candidate in a row to list a Powderhorn address and the third candidate in a row to have a homeless/Occupy theme, and of course all this is because the three of them all went to Elections together to file, and I believe Mr. Sparrow paid all three filing fees with cash. (I also paid cash!) Actually, it now appears that Rea is helping Occupy Jaymie Kelly's home at the moment, according to a report from Mr. Carney, so everybody's friends here.

I'm pretty sure Rea misspelled Gmail ("Gmial") on his filing.

Rea has no website listed and was one of the five candidates to not submit a Star Tribune questionaire. He may not have Internet access. He has a Facebook profile (I think?) but it looks as dormant as Sparrow's. Assuming I got the right Facebook profile, his claimed graduation from high school (in San Diego) of 1996 would make him around 35.

He DID make it down to one of Mr. Carney's meetings, from where I got my first "they showed up" photo - he's on the far right if you want to scroll all the way down to look at it again. I believe we've identified everybody in that photo now. (By the way, Sparrow DID go back and edit his original blog post to identify everybody, but I never edited my own post. I could do that now...but nobody cares at this point, right? Or you've already figured it out on your own? Great! Let's move on.)

He's also talked to the Daily and is featured in their "5 of 35" this week (edition coming out later this morning), so at least we have a good standalone photo to (ahem) borrow....the beard's coming along nicely! Unfortunately, the only good quote from him seems to be another variation of the "the city should use eminent domain to convert bank-owned property into affordable community housing" argument I've now read three times in a row.

And...unfortunatly, that's really all I could find on him. Again, it looks like this was an effort to get another "party or principle" on the ballot for everybody to see, but there isn't really an active campaign behind this candidate.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I feel pretty certain that I would. Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: The tenth and final of the ten candidates to file on the penultimate day of the filing period

16.10.13 01:15

20 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #30: CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW (COUNT ALL RANKINGS)

Sparrow is the former Charles David Viebahn - he decided on the name change last year, a day after being charged with trespassing coming out of some Occupy activity - he pled down to a misdemeanor and is currently on probation. (Fortunately, no felonies - so he's qualified to run for mayor!) He grabbed all the early oxygen from the filing period by virtue of his name and outfit and the fact that the AP reporter was extremely lazy that day.

Although listing an address in Bancroft on his filing, Sparrow (a young looking 62) is a squatter at the moment - yet he was able to pay his AND Ms. Kelly's filing fees when they simultaneously went to Elections on 8/12 to file at the behest of Mr. Carney, who was along to document. (Both fees were paid in cash.) Due to recent requests from Occupy, he may not even be squatting in the same house anymore, as they were concerned with both his run for Mayor and that he may be "too rich" to occupy an Occupy house. All this sounds really silly. Sparrow has also blogged about his time in the Young Socialist Alliance, how he recognised the Socialist Workers' Party as a cult, and how he sees some of that cult-ness in Occupy.

It does appear that for their part, Occupy split with Sparrow, essentially disowned him and asked him to never come near 'em again.

Thus, Sparrow's "party or principle" belies his previous heavy involvement with Occupy and the movement to end homelessness - and it didn't hurt that Mr. Carney claims significant input in suggesting Sparrow's three words as well. "Count All Rankings" is a suggestion that only allowing three rankings in our RCV is disenfranchising to way too many voters; it's a notion with which I tend to sympathize. In our technological age, the fact that we can't see to come up with a system that allows us to rank more than three candidates is a little suspect.

I found a blog entry written by Kristin Rafferty detailing some seriously scandalous (if true) behaviour from the former "Chuck from Occupy" - the words "massage" and "pimp" appear a few times - so as much fun as the AP can have calling out the guy with the funny name, perhaps it should be reiterated that it can be terribly dangerous to cast that #1 vote for someone when you know so little about the candidate beyond their name...whether that name be Captain Jack Sparrow or Christopher Robin Zimmerman. (For what it's worth, Rafferty offered up Mr. Wilson as someone deserving another look when preparing your rankings. I would respectfully disagree with her on this point.)

In his Star Tribune profile, he mentions using eminent domain to get foreclosed/bank-owned houses occupied by the homeless, decriminalizing drugs and prostitution (or massages?) and getting a vote on the stadium in accordance with the City Charter. I'm actually down with most of that. The only thing I'm not sure about is the eminent domain thing, but after reading more about Jaymie Kelly it's starting to sound like ...not the worst idea? (Having said all that...not sure how much of that the mayor can actually get done, but as always, the mayor can definitely get the conversations started.)

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I feel fairly certain that I would. Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: One more homeless guy, who may or may not have also been bankrolled by Mr. Sparrow

15.10.13 23:55

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #29: JAYMIE KELLY (STOP FORECLOSURES NOW)

A postal clerk for four decades, Kelly is now retired, 63 and lives in Powderhorn Park...which apparently is a problem for JP Morgan Chase and Freddie Mac, who have her home in foreclosure and have tried to get the sheriff to evict her - and probably would have gotten away with it if not for 150 protestors from Occupy Homes Minneapolis. (They're planning on retrying her eviction soon.) Her story is just awful - death of her husband, predatory lenders, signig papers she shouldn't have, ballooning interest payments and somehow she's paid over five times the value of her home over the course of 28 years but owes $255,000 on a $81,000 house...and even though she's currently engaged in negotiations with the banks to try to resolve this situation and keep her home, the lawyers thought that going ahead with an eviction process was really the best way to go. Occupy has put together a short YouTube video which explains it all - I could do without the music.

None of this has much to do with running for mayor, but Mr. Carney wanted to see Kelly put her name on the ballot, along with a specially-selected "political party or principle" to add to our rapidly-expanding ballot, so he recruited her for a run, helping her select her three words. (He may have put up her twenty bucks as well?) [EDIT: She actually borrowed the twenty from Captain Jack Sparrow - more on him coming right up]

When not fearing a knock on the door from the sheriff - and I'm not sure that that can EVER happen right now, and it's awful and I should just cut this paragraph off and not even make any jokes, but....look, she admits to liking "50 Shades of Grey" in her Facebook profile. THAT should disqualify ANYONE from running for office. (I just checked my own profile for hypocrisy - fortunately, it appears I have only ever liked one book...and I haven't even read it, but the author is a friend of mine. More on books and me later this week when The Loft's mayoral survey is released - stay tuned!)

Finally, she doesn't actually want to be mayor. She was recently quoted after being asked if she thought she should be mayor, â€œHeck no...Iâ€™m the 35th choice for myself.â€

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this lady or not, but I am almost certain that I would. Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: Mr. Carney's cavalcade of characters continues!

15.10.13 23:08

THREE WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #28: BETSY HODGES (DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR PARTY)

Councilmember Hodges (44, Linden Hills, filed 8/12 [6th]) made her intent to run almost a year ago...even as Mayor Rybak hadn't completely decided against running for a fourth term. (She SAID she wouldn't run if he did.) Notice her sure-to-be-corrected-by-Elections-without-several-phone-calls-requesting-an-amended-filing party listed up there, which is one word too many - if Mark Andrew were smart, he'd have contested her filing two months ago. (I suppose he still could - maybe someone could put a bug in his ear...)

She was responsible for perhaps the best political theatre of the early going, throwing a pizza party to ensure the lack of a quorum at the DFL endorsing convention and thus the lack of an endorsement chosen between herself and Mr. Andrew. That they were the last two standing is probably the basis of a lot of folks (who should know better but don't) feeling that they are the top two choices in this race. Keep in mind that that convention was back in June, a good two months before the short filing period ended.

She's wrapping up a second term on the City Council, and as Chair of the Ways and Means/Budget committee, were she to be elected mayor it may be - say it with me - a step back for her as far as wielding power in the city. So once again, we're left wondering just why run for mayor...unless, of course, being mayor is considered a fine stepping stone to other, perhaps "larger" offices?

(I don't mean to be all speculation and conspiracies with the "big" candidates, but it does seem to be turning out that way. I guess...with these candidates you can easily read about any day in the local rag, I readily admit I'm a little faster and looser as far as providing biographical details and policy statements. But I'm hoping that's part of why you're here!)

She's got about 3400 Likes and about 2000 followers, putting her near the top in both categories - although that just may mean she's got a decent budget to buy Likes and followers. Her website looks like it cost a lot, but that colour palette - ew!

Not only has she secured the CRUCIAL Josh Hartnett endorsement - which somehow did NOT make it onto her website's "endorsements" page! - she conned supposedly-libertarian-leaning Chris Kluwe into endorsing her (or providing a quote to put in a big purple box on her website - despite Kluwe not only no longer being a Viking but ALSO not being a resident of Minneapolis...OR Minnesota, for that matter; he resides in Southern California). Kluwe's endorsement ALSO doesn't appear on the "endorsements" page.

On the plus side, she's largely credited with helping end the pension mess which could have become our biggest, most pain in the assiest budget trouble - some would add "and all she had to do was help broker a shifting of the burden away from Minneapolis and onto Minnesota" but I really gotta stop sharing such cynical thoughts!

With any luck, Minneapolis has moved past the "lesser of two evils" mindset, but if they haven't - or if enough of them haven't - she'd probably win, were the election to be held today. I add that caveat because Mr. Andrew and a newly-registered PAC ("Coalition for a Better Minneapolis") are poised to unleash a whole lot of spending of other people's money - actually, NOW I see that Hodges ALSO has a PAC on her side ("Committee for a Greater Minneapolis") - ugh, what creative names. Let's hope these two cancel each other out...which should happen probably right around the time you've seen their television commercials for the fourth or fifth time. Ah, I can see it now: "Man, they BOTH suck! I wonder if there's another alternative? Perhaps the Internet could help me find a candidate I could vote FOR, so I can vote AGAINST all these monied, self-interested, probably completely corrupt candidates..."

But I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this lady or not. I do believe that I would! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: Probably the exact opposite of the frontrunners...and a sad story on top

15.10.13 14:53

@ELBHerby Can I plug my own page? I've profiled 26 of my 34 opponents so far; will finish this month http://facebook.com/CRZforMayor #MPLSmayor

15.10.13 14:47

@andygifford I am confident in letting the marketplace decide when it comes to the Macarena. #MPLSmayor

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