CRZ is Christopher Robin Zimmerman

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3.10.13 17:33

Only when they're allowed to. #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 RT @Mike_Zeidler: @CRZ must they profit so obscenely while taking taxpayer money?

3.10.13 17:28

@Mike_Zeidler I don't think anyone is disputing that the Vikings stand to profit greatly from this awful, terrible stadium deal #MPLS13

3.10.13 17:19

How fast can @webster make a 222 page PDF searchable? MT @JohnCroman: Details on stadium agreements: http://www.msfa.com/detail.cfm/page/msfaSite_DWCSLBTH_TNDRHUYF_HTIBIGGT/ @OpenTwinCities

3.10.13 15:00

SYMC closing quote: 24.27 ▼0.25 (Range: 24.16 - 24.54)

3.10.13 03:44

I'm halfway through the 35 #MPLSmayor candidates! Please check out my page at http://fb.com/CRZforMayor ! Justify being up at this hour! #MPLS13

3.10.13 02:21

Have I mentioned I'm running for mayor recently? I am halfway through writing up all 34 of my opponents - check out my profiles and learn more than you'd ever learn from the Star Tribune. (Also, please Like and share and all that jazz) (Link to fb.com/CRZforMayor)

3.10.13 02:00

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #18: STEPHANIE WOODRUFF (DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR)

"As your Mayor, I will work everyday to make Minneapolis the smartest city in America, establish sustainable growth for our city, and lead with an open and transparent government."

This is the kind of statement you're treated to if you visit the campaign website of Stephanie Woodruff, 48, Whittier. It's even worse if you head over to the Facebook site - the kind of worthless platitudes that server as Exhibit A in the kind of politician that drives me NUTS and inevitably ends up hogging all the mainstream coverage...for reasons I can't really comprehend. Woodruff is one of the favored 6-8 "top" candidates by virtue of ... I really don't know. She didn't show up to the DFL convention to seek the endorsement but popped up after the DFL failed to endorse anybody. I guess it's because she serves on the Audit Committee (which I will also confess to not knowing what the heck THAT is) as a Rybak appointee - and any connection to Mayor Rybak should concern you right off the bat, but that may be just me...anyway, she's an "insider" but running as if she's not (except when affording herself of the coverage the "insiders" get...I'm getting ranty, let's move on)

Somehow, she DID secure the endorsement of the *Independence* Party - which on its face seems to make as much sense as the Libertarians endorsing the Pirate Party candidate, yuk yuk. We're so WEIRD here in Minneapolis, aren't we? Perhaps my campaign slogan should have been KEEP MINNEAPOLIS WEIRD. Would I get sued for that one? Anyway, the IP only has Rahn Workcuff (previously profiled) and I have to say I could see why they may not have wanted to endorse him.

The first thing you notice from her filing of 8/8 is that Elections must keep color copies of their filings because she must have been the first candidate to have used blue ink on her filing! Her signature (which also appears on her website) is very pretty and well-practiced.

Woodruff is either a "business executive" or a "software executive" depending on who's reporting. Her LinkedIn profile says she's "Chief Revenue Officer" at AverQ, a company which develops auditing software, which doesn't sound as exciting as being a Knowledge Engineer for Symantec's NetBackup technical support, but I admit I have a bias there. AverQ headquarters is located in San Jose, California, which Google Maps tells me is 2010 miles from Minneapolis. (That sounds about right - we made a drive from Santa Clara to Shorewood back in 2004.) It feels like she'd be giving up quite a gig were she to be elected mayor...but if she's already on the Audit Committee...she must be living here and not in the Bay Area? Anyway. If you didn't already know she was a lesbian, her company head shot would probably set your gaydar. Finally, her company profile includes the hyphenated "thought-leadership" so that seems like the perfect opportunity to - yes - move on.

Her mantra is "People over Politics" and she seems to believe - I mean, REALLY believe that she's the only one of the 35 candidates to actually want to put people over politics. There are PLENTY of folks in this race who put politics very low on their list of things, including me.

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

Oh man, I'm ...only halfway! Crap!

NEXT: A third party throwback

3.10.13 00:21

33 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #17: JOHN LESLIE HARTWIG (INDEPENDENT)

Hartwig, 76, is another enigma, having no website and no email address, but I can tell you that this isn't his first mayoral run - he also ran for mayor in 2001, again as an independent, where fell juuuuust short in the primary, receiving 107 votes and finishing 16th out of 22 candidates. Perhaps he thinks ranked choice voting will give him a better shot this time around!

In 2001, when he decided to run after being robbed, he told MPR he was a 64 year old real estate broker - I reckon this time around he's either a retired real estate broker or a 76 year old real estate broker. And really, those two options can't be that far apart, can they? (BOOOO STOP BEING SO AGE-IST) OK, let's move on.

It's actually eerie listening to his 2001 interview - MPR could run it today in 2013 and you wouldn't know it was 12 years old because all his answers probably wouldn't have changed. Sadly, that says something about Minneapolis over the past twelve years and what's REALLY happened during Mayor Rybak's tenure...not a whole hell of a lot.

BY THE WAY, I don't see MPR bothering to talk to every candidate THIS time around...wait, I said I was moving on...

He lives in East Calhoun two blocks from the lake, as he did back in 2001. He was the only candidate to file on August 7.

He made a bit of a scene at one of the "big" debates at the Minneapolis Club and felt compelled to respond to a rather inflammatory statement Cam Winton had made about "non-serious" candidates - in particular, himself and Merrill Anderson, who had also "crashed" the debate, albeit with some help from Mr. Cohen (by the way, you probably didn't hear about ANY of this intrigue in the papers, but it's a good yarn - check out Mr. Carney's report on e-Democracy.org) and was forcibly removed from the front of the room by the Sergeant at Arms.

Uh...anything else? His block lettering is very nice and his signature is ... also nice. Sorry, that's all I've got! These challenges are usually the most fun, but I usually get a lot more than I did this time so I feel like I've let you down....I'll get over it.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not - I still barely know anything about him! - but I have a suspicion I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: A much higher profile candidate (who will probably be much less fun to research)

2.10.13 22:57

Whoa! I finally made a @pbump story! http://p-bu.mp/sks (PS The other Libertarian will be pissed you left him out!) #MPLS13 (Atlantic Wire: Lauraist Commies, Pirates, and 'The Rock': Minneapolis' Oddest Mayoral Candidates)

2.10.13 20:55

Can of Diet Dr Pepper

2.10.13 19:39

Rainbow Foods (Minneapolis, MN)

2.10.13 18:05

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Listened to Nero - Welcome Reality

2.10.13 17:05

24 oz bottle of Diet Dr Pepper

2.10.13 16:20

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Listened to Pink Mink - s/t

2.10.13 15:23

Canada ones were better RT @PerkatPlay: Are these the new Olympic must have article of clothing? #Sochi http://pic.twitter.com/UXTyP19jR5

2.10.13 15:00

SYMC closing quote: 24.52 ▼0.13 (Range: 24.38 - 24.70)

2.10.13 14:55

Mmm, @dubldowndrew was right @ Symantec

2.10.13 12:39

Coffee

2.10.13 12:30

@Brownsvillain I lol'd

2.10.13 12:20

RT @SoulTrain: Soul Retrospective: Gino Vannelli. http://wp.me/pJ0Bk-5QI http://fb.me/2TRzj41LO

2.10.13 11:24

Aw geez you guys I never bought a five dollar footlong and now Subtember is over

2.10.13 11:04

Symantec (Roseville, MN)

2.10.13 01:13

...and here's another one of Sparrow and Gould. Sparrow is outlining his plan to save the dome with the help of the Packers and...Barney? Gould is...I have no idea. (photo)

2.10.13 01:10

Here's a Star Tribune photo from a recent candidate klatsch. Pictured are candidates (front) Cohen, Savior, Merrill Anderson, Carney, Rahman, Sparrow and (back) Gould (photo)

2.10.13 00:21

34 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #16: MIKE GOULD (DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR)

Although Michael Negus Gould III is the rare candidate to not list a website OR an email - also, a rare DFL candidate to get no coverage from the Star Tribune - he's apparently quite easy to find as he is a frequent performer of art around the Twin Cities. A self-professed "fictional character," he's long been known ALREADY as "Mayor of Minneapolis" in Rice Park...which is in St. Paul. In fact, his filing lists a residence in South St. Paul ... which ALSO isn't a Minneapolis neighborhood! (He's also initialed the "will have lived in Minneapolis 30 days before the election" line so hopefully his move has gone OK.)

The University's paper got a hold of him as part of their ongoing "5 of 35" series and asked what his principle would be if he hadn't declared a party - he went with "The Three E's" which are environment, education and equality. (This paper recently had a quick interview with me as well - I am told I can meet up with one of their photographers later this week so I can get the "5 of 35" treatment as well.) While researching, I turned up a 2005 article from the same paper where he admitted he agreed with a previously given diagnosis of "schizoaffective" - I don't know how he feels about it in 2013.

This may not even be his first election, as records indicate one write-in vote was recorded in his name in the 2009 election. We have a theory on who may have cast that vote! He was also claiming mayor...ality (while simultaneously "running for mayor") back in 2011 when Twin Cities Sidewalks interviewed him, where a lot of his biographical info can be found - he grew up in Edina and he's a graduate of Blake School, the same school Al Franken went to, and counts The Suburbs' Chandler Polling as a classmate. So...I went to high school with Jeremy Renner, so there. Sadly, this great blog entry only got two comments and they're both spammers. There's no justice on the Internet! If he graduated in 1976, that'd make him around 55 today. Hey, Prince is 55! The 2005 piece confirms a 1958 birthday, and also says he'd been married 15 years (would be 23 now - yeah!) and has three daughters.

There's also some fine Mike Gould themed graffiti circa 2011 on Flickr, so he really HAS been running for a long time...or graffiti'ing up the U, at least. I feel like a Facebook page would have had more of an effect on getting actual votes...but that may not have been his point. (Also, maybe not have used the swastika...even if it's the OK backward one)

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I have a suspicion we're both engaging in some form of performance art! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: Another guy with no email or website - man, I picked a great place in the line to blow this off, but I gotta get crackin'...I'm running out of time

1.10.13 22:58

Dying to hear me talk about Libertarianism for 40'? http://lionsofliberty.com/2013/10/01/lions-of-liberty-podcast-ep-4-crz-for-mayor/ Thanks @MarquesDeeClair for having me on! #MPLSmayor #mpls13

1.10.13 19:36

Double Cheese Snack Mix

1.10.13 17:04

Listened to Downtown Party Network - Space Me Out (Mario Basanov remix)

1.10.13 16:56

.@ChrisFieldsMN Chris I love you but I really, really did not need to see EVERY at-reply you've sent today

1.10.13 15:33

24 oz bottle of Diet Dr Pepper

1.10.13 15:26

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