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| 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, “Heck no...I’m the 35th choice for myself.†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 |
| 14.10.13 11:27 | | Anybody know who Gov. Ventura likes for #MPLSmayor? |
| 13.10.13 18:26 | | Turns out @TheUpTake already did this, and did it better: http://www.theuptake.org/2013/10/12/who-will-be-the-next-minneapolis-mayor-checking-the-clues-on-facebook-and-twitter/ (also, which of you followers are fake?) #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 |
| 13.10.13 17:35 | | MAYORAL CANDIDATE #27: CAM WINTON (INDEPENDENT RESPONSIBLE INCLUSIVE) Randolph Cameron Winton - the very name suggests a predestination from birth to a lifetime of attorney-ing (optionally followed by a lifetime of politicking). Sure enough, a quick Google search reveals an attorney record listing an address in Canby (a town I've never heard of but which Google Maps tells me is a three hour drive from Minneapolis). Fear not - his filing lists a residence in Fulton, on the very edge of the city limits. Canby is probably where all the wind is - Winton joined up with a wind turbine maintenance company for which he later helped facilitate a sale to Duke Energy Corp. What have YOU done with YOUR life? And he's only 34 - I believe he's the second youngest candidate in the race (Mr. Hanna, 28, would take the title of youngest...unless I've missed another youngster amongst the remaining folks I haven't profiled yet. Stay tuned to this channel!) but it probably helps that he looks older. And yet he wants to give up a Duke Energy Senior Council gig to become mayor? It seems like the opposite of career advancement...unless, of course, mayor isn't the last political office you intend to seek... By the way, that's why the "Y" in all his signs is a windmill - I mean, wind turbine. He has a STAGGERING and strangely round-numbered 3,500 Likes on Facebook; more than enough to make me raise an eyebrow and wonder how many of them were - how shall I put this? - "not organically collected." It has been reported that his Facebook advertising budget is somwhere in the five figure range - and that as of over a month ago. He probably HASN'T bought any Twitter followers...I'm beating him by over 200 on that metric. I continue to maintain a zero dollar budget for both Likes and followers, as well as practically everything else. Going by the photos page on his campaign website, it looks like he stopped wearing glasses RIGHT around the time he started running. That bugged me just enough to mention it here, but I also carry this delusion that I wear the coolest pair of specs on the planet. So many robocalls and emails - as you know, I was dumb enough to give the GOP my real address when I attended caucuses and conventions for Ron Paul in '08 and '12. This has resulted in my email address being sold to all kinds of folks who think I am interested in hearing from Republicans. Winton really wants to have it both ways, by the way - he opted out of the political suicide of choosing "Republican" as his party or principle, instead opting for the word mishmash you see above, yet he buys Republican mailing lists and sends very "I'm the only conservative in the race!" emails. There is a subtle difference between "I'm the only center/right candidate in the DEBATES" (which you could almost make a case for) and "I'm the only center/right candidate in the RACE" (which is a flat out lie). Let me break out and give this its own paragraph, because I want to be really clear about this lie, so here are his own words from his own email: "I have the center&right to myself - while my 34 opponents divide the rest of the spectrum." I mean, what bullshit. It's actually worse now that I look at it because he's not saying he's center/right, he's saying he's encompassing the ENTIRE center AND right parts of the spectrum - that's like over half of the spectrum, right? And his 34 opponents all fall into this tiny box? Preposterous. (DISCLAIMER: I hate the use of the spectrum at all, but as a Libertarian I consider myself "center/right" on the issues on which the mayor would have any real say - your mileage may vary [and feel free to leave a comment if you disagree - or even if you agree!]) ...not that you'd even hear about this "center & right" stuff because every chance he gets, he *panders* to the "left" by praising all his DFL opponents and in turn, suckering them into praising HIM so he can post their quotes on his Facebook page. This is a smart way to run in our one party town - obviously the "smart" money says you will need the support of people who vote for the one party in order to win - and in the era of Ranked Choice Voting, if three or four DFL candidates DO split the #1 votes and he's convinced sufficient numbers to rank him second (and his Twitter stream is largely devoted to that kind of plea), he can definitely steal this election. In fact, I believe that's his campaign's overall strategy: seek out 100% of the Republican vote (sure, Minnesota Republicans know the deal and will hold their noses and forgive him for shunning the party label because of a misguided belief that results are the only thing that matters) while playing nice with the DFL and maybe convincing (or conning, you pick) enough of them to throw enough support to sneak out a win in a splintered field. I highlighted the word "panders" up there because one of his "preachin' to the choir" gimmicks on his Facebook page is to dress up his negative campaigning [because nobody in this race is doing any negative campaigning, the media keeps saying] by using a "panda" scale based on how much he feels his opponent du status update has pandered to the voters. The absolute worst crime a politician can commit is hypocrisy. Winton's got no end of gimmicks - he regularly holds circus events disguised as press conferences which the media are eating up, although I'm never sure whether they just want to find a way to mock him without looking like they're mocking him...letting him set himself up by posing with animals, on the bus, in the pothole, with multiple umbrellas, and so on - they post the photos without commentary and leaving it to the folks viewing the photos write their own jokes. The thing is, Minneapolis is DYING for some fiscal responsibility. Maybe electing Winton would help bring it about, but it would depend which Winton gets elected...although I bet the Winton who would be elected has been carefully hidden from the Winton presented out in public. That's a long, overly mysterious way of saying "he'd probably be a great Republican mayor...I wonder how many people voting for him will be aware of that when they're voting for him? Also, is this just a stealth campaign to set up later runs for....Governor? Senator? Pope?" In a sense, a Winton-led Minneapolis would probably be a lot like a Zimmerman-led Minneapolis, with the City Council working really hard to make sure the mayor didn't do anything too outside the orthodox - which would hopefully lead to a deadlocked, gridlocked government which couldn't accomplish ANYTHING. I'm not even sure if I'm serious or joking at this point. Let's move on. I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I believe I would! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: Man, it doesn't stop - next up is one of the presumptive "frontrunners" |
| 13.10.13 16:09 | | 23 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY: I've been procrastinating on finishing up my (surely highly-anticipated) Cam Winton writeup when a discussion over on e-democracy about Facebook Likes turned to a discussion of Twitter. I ended up compiling this list of Twitter follower counts for the 18 candidates for which I could find accounts - surprisingly, I'm in the Top 3! 2003 Betsy Hodges (@betsyhodges) 1173 Mark Andrews (@MarkForMpls) 821 Me (@CRZ) 602 Cam Winton (@cam_winton) 593 Don Samuels (@don__samuels) 516 Merrill Anderson (@reach_mia) 356 Jackie Cherryhomes (@CherryhomesMpls) 240 Kurt Hanna (@CaptainKurtis) 138 Stephanie Woodruff (@swoodruffmpls) 47 Bob Fine (@FineforMayor) 13 Jeffrey Alan Wagner (@PissedOffMPLS) 12 Dan Cohen (@DanCohenMayor) 6 Alicia K. Bennett (@akbformpls) 3 Edmund Bernard Bruyere (@BruyereforMayor) 0 Bob "Again" Carney (@Transitrev) 0 Bill Kahn (@LastMayorBill) 0 Cyd Gorman (@CydGorman) 0 James L. "Jimmy" Stroud Jr. (@JIMMY4MAYORMPLS) A little more detail in my post over on e-dem linked right.......here: (Link to E-Democracy.org: Minneapolis Mayoral campaign moves from lawn signs to Facebook ...) |
| 13.10.13 16:03 | | Which #MPLSmayor candidate has the most followers? http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/post/28Q4R3jXmZcmi0bpu7KkcS #MPLS13 |
| 13.10.13 16:02 | | I found 18 #MPLSmayor candidates on Twitter: https://t.co/foMhtBN97Z (let me know if I missed you) #MPLS13 |
| 12.10.13 02:45 | | 24 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #26: DON SAMUELS (DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR) We're in the home stretch! Our final ten candidates starts with another one of the chosen eight, Councilman of nearly a decade Don Samuels (64, Jordan). He filed on 8/12 - and then amended in 8/13 for reasons I don't fully comprehend but suspect were at the behest of someone really anal-retentive in Elections. (The only difference I see were that he accidentally filled in "R.T. Rybak" as "judicial incumbent" when it should have been left blank.) On both, he has a lovely signature which is just plain "Don." He's really been into this "six families are responsible for all the crime!" thing (I linked here earlier) but still can't quite explain why he wants to talk to them, but won't talk to them until he's mayor - also, how talking to them is going to end all the crime. I wondered this aloud on Twitter back in August, and somehow he SAW my tweet and answered with a tweet of his own: "Actually, I may have [talked to them], but not knowingly. This is new data, based on ResultsMpls, a newer data system I helped institute in City Hall." A little evasive and not answering the question I was asking, but better than nothin'! (MAYBE.) He didn't tell us which of the six crime families were responsible for the dude peeing on the building and his friend who swiped Samuels' iPhone, leading to an epic tale of recovery and redemption which reads too good to be true and doesn't actually have much to do with him running for mayor...but that's mostly because he wrote it a year ago. In the past year, he's ALSO been the main driver behind the disbanding of the Civilian Police Review Authority - a move which just about removed citizen oversight of the MPD and wasn't well received, especially now that we're into the Office of Police Conduct Review era. Although I haven't talked to a lot of people, Samuels is the one I hear the most about - but almost never in a positive light. What I have heard the most is how strange it is for someone to live in the North side, represent the North side on the City Council, yet do so little for the North side (with the exception of the occasional goodies for Jordan). As if that weren't enough, he was one of the seven votes to proceed with tearing down the Metrodome and putting up a new expensive stadium for the Vikings without asking the people of Minneapolis to vote on it. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Samuels declined to try for re-election to his council seat - thus, the run for mayor. In his favor, Johnny Northside gave him a positive review. (I mention this because a lot of people have strong opinions about Johnny Northside and this might help you make up your mind about Mr. Samuels as well.) Lastly, one of his favourite issues to talk about besides crime is the schools, which - sing along with me, kids - the mayor has very little to do with in Minneapolis and if he'd REALLY wanted to help out, he'd have considered running for the School Board. I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but as with all of the "big" candidates (or DFL candidates - take your pick) and *especially* given his previous experience in Minneapolis government, I tend to think I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: We continue our string of most favored nations with a real doozy! |
| 11.10.13 03:00 |  | You autocomplete me |
| 11.10.13 00:26 | | I think I've forgotten to share this with you for a couple days - this is a survey from the Open Twin Cities project, one that allowed me to speak on some issues I actually know about (and have strong opinions about!) which I feel are really important and would have been criminally under-covered if not for this group. One of my responses was too tall for the spreadsheet, so if you skip over me my answers make up Row 11. (Link to Open Twin Cities: Questionnaire Results) |
| 10.10.13 23:45 | | Just a reminder that while I will not accept any monetary donations, I am a total (can I say whore?) whore for you clicking that sweet, sweet "Like" button. It costs you nothing and, believe it or not, may get me closer to an invitation to debates! (More likely, it will cause the debate people to raise their threshold of Likes to be considered "serious" - I may have seen other candidates treated this way in the past - other Libertarians, even. But still...I'd love your Like either way) |
| 10.10.13 23:34 | | 26 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #25: JACKIE CHERRYHOMES (DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR) Cherryhomes (59, Willard-Hay, filed 8/12) may have the coolest last name in the field, but that's my editorial opinion. She was right to keep her name - who would have ever elected Jackie Tyler? Although...on her website, she does self-identify at least once as "Jackie Cherryhomes-Tyler," so who knows - also her daughter Emma is just a Tyler. (She's 15 or 16 - did Cherryhomes really have a kid at 43? Whoa.) (Hmm, Jackie's parents are Parkers and so is her sister. So where'd she GET that cool name, anyway?) As a DFLer AND former councilwoman (12 years, 8 as president), she easily qualified for "favored nation" status amongst the field and has been in a lot of "big" debates where I can't remember a single thing she's said. Fortunately, Naomi took care of this back in August when she pointed out a rather glaring (and glaringly omitted by Cherryhomes) conflict of interest which could have explained her lack of opposition to increasing the garbage burning at HERC (Hennepin Energy Recovery Center) - namely, her previous life as a lobbyist for the energy concern running HERC. In fact, her entire career post losing her council seat by 72 votes has pretty much been as a lobbyist. Now, I'm sure lobbyists are seen as necessary folks in this day and age - at least as much as lawyers (her husband is an attorney) - I'm sure you won't be surprised that "Lobbyist" isn't the first profession that comes to mind when I think of nobility and necessity; in fact, as much as I hate money and partisanship as a corrupting influence in our current political climate, lobbyists (by virtue of their ties to money and/or partisanship) are right up there in earning my scorn. I know...rage on, right? Let me break from that rant to give you another one: For the record, it's been asked a few times and I am all set to disappoint you by stating that I don't yet have a decent answer about the HERC's continuing role. I don't know what my exact position is on it, whether we should be burning more or less garbage or none at all, putting it in a landfill to mess up the ground water instead of burning it to mess up the air, but I CAN tell you that I still recycle all my aluminum cans and get about 60¢ a pound at Metro Metals and our recent single-sort recycling has been a real godsend, and perhaps we might be better off working on education and trying to continue to raise our overall recycling rates beyond what I believe are some pretty pitiful levels. Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton (aka "the one before Rybak") has endorsed her, which...is this a good thing? She's probably the only person to have more fingerprints left on the spectacular, colossal failure known as Block E than Cherryhomes. Actually, given their partnership back in the good ol' days, it might have been more of a story if she HADN'T secured that endorsement. I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this lady or not, but as with all of the "big" candidates, and especially given her earlier track record in Minneapolis government, I tend to think I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: Another favored candidate - they all registered so LATE in the filing period! |
| 10.10.13 22:32 | | Mayor Rybak/ Love your rhyming tweets/ But not so much/ Wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a new Vikings stadium #MPLS13 |
| 10.10.13 17:20 | | Yet another person who's making me look bad by getting through all 35 candidates before I did...but thanks for the thumbs up, Kirsten Johnson! I think you have managed to encapsulate my ideology with a precision and conciseness that I seem to have lost since becoming a "politician." ;-) (And I promise I will shave off the beard as soon as Movember starts, but the hair stays!) (Link to Kirsten Johnson's status: MPLS mayor candidates) |
| 9.10.13 22:55 | | Remember that shot of Virgil all alone at the wrestling convention? This should not evoke that, but I had this photo taken long after almost everybody had left. (Photo) |
| 9.10.13 22:47 | | There was a "Meet the Candidates" event at the American Legion Post 99 in Nokomis tonight from 5 to 7. It had the misfortune of being scheduled against a KFAI forum AND was scheduled on a beautiful, 77 degree night when nobody had any business being indoors pressing the flesh of candidates. As a result, during much of the time there were more candidates present than non-candidates. I was hung up on Haiawatha Avenue and showed up about 10 minutes late. Mr. Iverson greeted me, got me signed in and directed me to the mayor tables. I sat between Mr. Cohen and Dr. Bruyere. Dr. Bruyere admitted he's visited my campaign page on Facebook, but also revealed that I hadn't sufficiently trolled him into writing any responses there. I helped Mr. Cohen assemble one of his lawn signs to decorate his table. They ended up working the room, along with the later arriving candidates. I hope I remember everyone who was there. Captain Jack Sparrow appeared, but may have remembered the brushoff I gave him at the courthouse and didn't try to offer me any of his literature this time around. I DID have interactions with Mr. Carney, Mr. Savior and Mr. Fine in addition to the previously mentioned Mr. Cohen and Dr. Bruyere. All of them are very interesting folks in their own way. Some of them probably should not be elected mayor. (I'm sure a few of them thought that about me as well!) Special thanks to Ole Savior for collecting several copies of today's Minnesota Daily which had his photo and interview on the back page...right next to my own photo and interview, in a happy coincidence. He kept telling me my photo wasn't me, and I kept telling him I couldn't believe my photo had turned out so well either. I think we found finally found some common ground discussing what turned out to be our shared opinions of one of our common opponents (whom I will leave unnamed). I found out later that Mr. Hartwig had also attended but I missed him. I was sorry to miss him because I was hoping I could get the chance to hear firsthand about his experience "crashing" one of the big debates and I may have missed my best shot. (Come to think of it, I should have asked Mr. Cohen about that as well!) As for the non-candidates, I think my most vibrant and fulfilling exchange went thusly: Me: "Hi, I'm Chris; I'm running for mayor." Him: "You don't have a chance in hell!" He DID shake my hand while he said it, though. I led off subsequent encounters with "Hi, I'm Chris; I'm running for mayor. (stage whisper) I DON'T HAVE A CHANCE." I got to hand out some cards advertising my Facebook space, which unfortunately were based on the exact same "free" Vistaprint template Dr. Bruyere had selected. Awkward! I met some of the Wards 11 & 12 candidates - although I live in Ward 2, I'm happy to put in a good word for any of the folks I talked with tonight, including Matt Steele, Ben Gisselman and Chris Lautenschlager. (Apologies to Andrew Johnson for missing him.) Seeing the three Ward 12 opponents in close proximity, chatting amongst themselves was a cool thing. Actually, I think all the mayoral candidates got along as well. Now I feel bad; I probably should have reached out to Mr. Sparrow. There was also a really nice lady running for an at-large Parks seat ... yes, it was Meg Forney. It was nice meeting you! Things really died off after 6; I think a lot of candidates tried to make both this forum and the other one, and there weren't too many people coming in late. I got to have a nice long chat with Mr. Fine (who remembered me from his door knock encounter at my house!) as well as a good chat with Mr. Iverson. He left me with two pieces of advice: "Don't stop running" (I think he may think I have it in me to be a good future "serial candidate") and "Always look ahead, never look behind - you might find they're catching up to you." And I got my photo with him. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. (attached) Great thanks to Gregg Iverson and everyone at the American Legion Post 99 for setting this up - it was really cool and I met a lot of really nice people I otherwise would not have. I am starting to see why folks leave the house to campaign and MAY regret not having done it earlier. I'm also disappointed that more candidates didn't show up. In a way, I'm relieved that the only "serious" candidates were Mr. Fine and Mr. Cohen as I'm not sure I particularly care for any of the other ones, but it would have been very interesting to have them available to be challenged by some of the rest of us. Anybody want me to come over and deliver a speech? |
| 9.10.13 20:42 | | While you wait for my writeup of the "Meet the Candidates" event I was at tonight, why not check out my quotes and appearance in the U's paper from early today? (Link to MNDaily: Candidates talk stadium, education) |
| 9.10.13 18:40 | | Thank you Nokomis! #MPLS13 #MPLSmayor |
| 9.10.13 18:40 | | Mr. Iverson gave 2pcs of advice: 1. Never stop running 2. Always look ahead, never look back (they may be gaining on you) #MPLS13 #MPLSmayor |
| 9.10.13 18:38 | | We're breaking early - had a nice chat and got a photo with Mr. Iverson #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 |
| 9.10.13 18:21 | | Had another nice chat with Mr. Fine as well as Ben and Chris running for Ward 12 Council member #MPLS13 #MPLSmayor |
| 9.10.13 18:02 | | I think Mr. Carney and Capt. Sparrow have also left - no close encounter with the captain for me this time #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 |
| 9.10.13 17:58 | | Dr. Bruyere has left for the @KFAINEWS event without me taking a photo #MPLS13 #MPLSmayor |
| 9.10.13 17:56 | | Mr. Fine is also here. #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 |
| 9.10.13 17:51 | | GUYS I SHOOK OLE SAVIOR'S HAND (Also, our photos are next to each other in today's MNDaily) #MPLS13 #MPLSmayor |
| 9.10.13 17:47 | | "Hi, I'm Chris; I'm running for mayor." "You don't have a chance in hell." #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 |
| 9.10.13 17:45 | | I believe we have an Ole Savior sighting #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 |
| 9.10.13 17:37 |  | Greeting and meeting @ American Legion Post 99 |
| 9.10.13 17:28 | | Council, Parks and Estimate candidates also here - ah, Mr. Carney and his tux are here #MPLS13 #MPLSmayor |
| 9.10.13 17:27 | | In addition to myself and host Iverson, in attendance at Post 99 are Bruyere, Cohen and Sparrow #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 @KFAINEWS |
| 9.10.13 17:26 | | Sure enough, more candidates than non-candidates at the Meet & Greet but it's early going #MPLSmayor #MPLS13 #hereuntil7 |
| 9.10.13 02:43 | | MAYORAL CANDIDATE #24: JAMES "JIMMY" L. STROUD, JR. (THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE) Well, he filed on 8/12 and he lives in Willard-Hay. And THAT'S ALL I GOT. No, just kidding. But he didn't make it easy! Only five of the 35 candidates opted to not fill out a questionnaire for the Star Tribune voters' guide, and Stroud was one of them. (The others include the previously profiled Mr. Everett and Mr. Gould.) He DOES have a campaign page on Facebook and 84 Likes. (If he had had more Likes than me, I probably would have given up on the spot.) His photos include "with glasses" and "without glasses" and a what appear to be some "VOTE JIMMY" sign prototypes, none of which actually say "Vote Jimmy" but are described as such. They ALSO tantalized me with a website domain, but it returned the GoDaddy "parked" page. I guess he's still got four weeks to get it set up? The Facebook page has an extensive bio hidden behind the "About" link - a few decades back, Stroud was a "Stand-up Comedian/Impressionist/Actor and Playwright" and boasts an impressive list of stage-sharing appearances. He's originally from Washington, DC, but we won't hold that against him. I DID find a personal Facebook page, but it's been updated only once in the past year, but what an update! It's a four minute YouTube slide show video which will probably not affect you to vote for or against him in any way but it comes with a pretty funky groove (which YouTube tells me is "We the People" by Soul Searchers) as well as a lot of handshakes and the occasional outstanding outfit. It had only been viewed 13 times before I watched it. You should go watch it! Go ahead...http://youtu.be/SME6VHbiQP8. I'll still be here when you get back and you can help me figure out WHY wasn't this linked from his campaign's Facebook page. He also says he was in the class of 1976 in high school, which would probably make him 55. He's also on LinkedIn! Over THERE they have a Wordpress link which DOES work, but only has one entry with most of the same photos and a link back to the Facebook page. (I may now have done more work promoting Jimmy online than he has.) Also via LinkedIn, he currently lists two careers in addition to candidate: Career Transition Specialist at Hubert Humphrey Job Corps and Investigator at Legal Rights Center. He also has a few bylines at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder ("the voice of the Twin Cities African-American Community") which get crossposted at the Twin Cities Daily Planet. On the Facebook page of MSR, they list The Original 7ven (the latest incarnation of The Time) as one of their Likes. Common ground! He doesn't come out and say what "The People's Choice" means, so I'll leave the speculation to you. I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I feel like I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: One of the favored candidates - but not by Naomi! |
| 9.10.13 01:13 | | 27 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #23: NEAL BAXTER (INDEPENDENT) Thirteen of the 35 candidates in the race filed on the final two days of the 15 day filing period. Here's the first one from 8/12. Neal Baxter is 58 and lives on the Bancroft side of the Bancroft/Powderhorn Park border. He didn't list a website, which is weird, because he's behind a really cool one which purports to host a complete archive of Minnesota election results going back to 1855, yet has no campaign site. I did a search and he didn't come up, so I believe this is his first run. He did make enough of an impression on one person to cause them to write a very glowing (yet backhanded) endorsement of him. Despite the lack of a campaign site, he HAS filled out a few questionnaires. Turns out it's easier to research these folks the closer you get to Election Day - I was right to procrastinate! He's on the Bancroft Neighborhood board, the City's Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee. I spend a lot of time on Facebook. His KFAI interview has A LOT of race talk - like, enough that I felt I had to mention it. He also basically says people should vote for Betsy Hodges or Don Samuels, which really makes me skeptical about his "Independent" party or principle. I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I feel like I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: Another challenge! |
| 9.10.13 00:35 | | You can now register to vote online! Check out the Secretary of State's new (kinda) streamlined website! http://mnvotes.org |
| 9.10.13 00:31 | | FOUR WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #22: KURTIS W. HANNA (PIRATE PARTY) Kurtis Wayne Hanna (28, Whittier, filed on 8/9) has a variety of interesting opinions, almost all of which I totally agree with, so there probably won't be too much fun in this profile and you may want to wait for the next one. His filing's website, captainkurtis.com, redirects to the MN Pirate Party website - they formed earlier this year, I believe, but haven't gotten national (and/or Wikipedia) recognition yet (the national site links to a dormant Facebook page which hasn't seen activity for a year - OK, they formed LAST year, but the effort faded away and some new folks tried again earlier this year). The first bullet on his resume is "Former Executive Director of Minnesota NORML" which for some folks would probably end the discussion right there. The MN Pirate Party's website wasn't updated a single time in September. Kurt will probably be by later, so maybe he could tell me if he holds an office in the party or not...I couldn't find any of that info on their website, either. (Usually in the Pirate Party the title of "Captain" signifies the leader of the party, but I'm not sure if that's the case here with "Captain Kurtis.") (The Party's Facebook page, by the way, should not to be confused with either of the Party's Facebook GROUPS page, one of which is empty and one of which consists of very little call to political action and a whole lot of links to illegal streams, requests for movies and software serial numbers.) Whereas the Pirates are more concerned with technological issues such as fair use and net neutrality, Hanna is much more in your face about decriminilazing marijuana - a position I don't disagree with, by the way, but not in the "post pictures of leaves on my Facebook wall" kinda way. One thing about NORML folks I've found is they're always convinced that the silent majority of weed smokers will show up on Election Day and shock the world by voting for the candidate who's posted the most leaves on his Facebook wall. I've always been convinced that the silent majority of weed smokers don't bother showing up to vote. But I'm cynical. He also really hates the NSA and the Surveillance State. He has ties to Restore the Fourth, a privacy rights advocacy group who needs more members (only 16 likes for the MN Facebook group). Again, I have no problem with any of these stances. Finally, he's got 91 more Likes than me. Damn! I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I feel like I might be...but it'd be close! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: A challenge! |
| 8.10.13 17:42 | | New stadium illegal RT @MayorRTRybak: Minneapolis-StPaul, and new stadium, finalist for Super Bowl 2018. Big boost for hospitality workers |
| 8.10.13 11:07 | | RT @OpenTwinCities: #mpls13 & #stpaul13 #opendata questionnaire results are available! View them at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnxjauG_7LHqdGtzTzd4MmRwdmctY19USHdrSzJCdVE&usp=sharing #cfabrigade |
| 6.10.13 22:03 | | MAYORAL CANDIDATE #21: CHRISTOPHER CLARK (LIBERTARIAN PARTY) Clark, 40, lives in Downtown West (although he answered Downtown East on his Star Tribune questionnaire - but in his defense, they ARE right next to each other). The impeccable handwriting on his filing of 8/9 specified "Libertarian Party" as his party or principle - I've gone on about the nonsense of specifying the actual word "Party" and how I didn't a few times as well as the grief that that's caused me with Elections, but I'll spare you this time around. He's such a dedicated Libertarian that he listed lp.org as his campaign website. Back in June, he sought out the state party on Facebook to inquire about an endorsement - but said that he couldn't make it to their meeting in Eden Prairie unless someone gave him a ride. He failed to get a ride OR secure the endorsement. (Full disclosure: I also failed to secure the endorsement, probably because I also didn't drive to any of their meetings.) He ran for mayor in 2009, finishing fifth out of 11 with 3% (1,337 votes). Hell, I probably voted for him as he was the only declared Libertarian on the ballot. I expect he won't do as well this time around and although I'd love to do as well THIS time around...I remain pessimistic. Clark also ran for City Council in 2005, receiving a protest vote of 15% (935 votes) against the incumbent. There's been at least one run for school board in there as well. He HAS been filling out questionnaires and his favorite thing to talk about is cutting. There's...worse stuff to talk about? He also mentions a bunch of things the mayor doesn't really have the power to do, but there are a lot of candidates who seem to be doing that. I thought I'd have more given that we're the two declared Libertarians on the ballot, but this appears to be it! I'm not sure if I'm pulling punches out of solidarity or there really isn't all that much out there despite multiple campaigns. I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I feel like I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: The guy who DID get the LP endorsement! |
| 6.10.13 14:21 | | Hey was I in today's Star Tribune? (Do any of my friends besides my in-laws even get the paper?) |
| 6.10.13 13:25 | | The anxiously anticipated Star Tribune voters' guide was posted today! (I believe a much shorter version is also available in the Sunday paper?) Thirty candidates returned their questionaire, including me. My profile is linked down there, and you can get to all 30 at http://www.startribune.com/mayorcandidates . (Link to Star Tribune: Christopher Robin Zimmerman) |
| 6.10.13 13:20 | | 30 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #20: TROY BENJEGERDES (LOCAL ENERGY/FOOD) "It is not just good business to vote for an alternative candidate, it is a moral imperative to evict the religion of the money changers from the mayor’s office." Benjegerdes (38, East Phillips, filed 8/9) has a very optimistic domain name for his blog (mayortroy.com) where he doesn't update as much as I'd like and as on point as I like, but the quote above really resonates with me, so I'm sharing it with you. We're actually pretty close politically - Troy is another Ron Paul caucus'er who couldn't stomach the thought of sticking with the Republicans after the deplorable treatment they received from the "small tent" national leadership. His personal facebook lists a political view of "Libertarian Socialist" - so maybe he goes a little further than I do. After giving up on the GOP in the 2012 cycle, he started an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to lobby the Libertarian and Green parties in the 2012 election with... soybean oil. He raised $120, falling just short of his $55,000 goal. He'd also like to see all the streetlights in Minneapolis powered by the wind. No matter WHO the next mayor is...they should try to take him up on that. Hell, it's not too late for Rybak to take him up on it! Also like me, he seems to have a presence on every social network on the Internet (except, oddly enough, Twitter). His YouTube channel isn't mayor-related at all; it's more revolved around what appears to be his real day job as a farmer...as does his three word party or principle, Local Energy/Food. Get this - he wasn't allowed to use the word "Farmer" as the DFL apparently has rights on the word. (Strange that Elections let me get away with saying "Libertarian" without "Party," when you think about it, but there's a lot about the DFL and Elections that I find strange.) He's a proud advocate of locally sourced crops for food AND for energy. The farm he lists on Facebook is in the wonderfully named town of Manly, Iowa (about 123 miles away). Curiously, he seems to be actively campaigning for everyone's #3 ranking. Since I'd prefer your #1 ranking, I guess it would be possible to make both of us happy on Election Day. ;-) Finally, he accepts donations in Bitcoin. That's pretty cool...even if it doesn't seem to completely coexist with his thoughts about money in the system. (Although I should probably say MY thoughts about money in the system - he never actually comes out against all funding so I may be projecting here.) I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I think either of us as mayor would be very interesting! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote! NEXT: My Libertarian nemesis |