Felix Montez Newest Park Board Candidate

Thanks to the stalker-like abilities that Facebook now affords us I was able to find that Felix Montez is planning to enter the District 1 Park Board race. Here is what his Facebook status read:


Our Park and Recreation system needs bold new leadership! Minneapolis needs Commissioners willing to analyze the Park Board’s failed policies, propose new actions, and follow through on some tough new initiatives. Resigning from Lutheran Social Services this week was the most difficult task I have undertaken in years, I will miss my clients and colleagues, but a serious candidate needs time to run a serious campaign.

Most people will remember that Montez was the Republican endorsed candidate that ran against Dianne Loeffler in 2008. This year however, Montez caucused with the Dems. I've shot Montez an email to get his side of the story on all of this. I'm not sure what he's referring to when he says 'failed policies' but I'm interested to hear what he thinks.

I think Wielinski has done a great job of campaigning for her seat thus far so Montez is going to have an uphill battle for this one.

26 New Full Time Police Officers

I actually sat down to watch the news the other night, and quickly remembered why I don't like local news. For some reason the story of Jason Andersen being arrested on 5th degree assault was the top story (over a missing boy in Northern Minnesota). I have no intentions of getting into the whole Fong Lee debate but I did make some observations from the Andersen story.

I was first shocked that he is living in Big Lake, that's quite a drive from Minneapolis. Also, I happened to notice how nice his home was, and that he had a very nice looking boat in the driveway. Now I believe that Police Officers have a very thankless job, and I'm grateful to them for putting their lives on the line ever day. However, the story got me interested in what a police salary is. I did some digging on the Star Tribue website and found this story from 2007 that shows officer's base salaries and overtime pay. It's the policy of the MPD to have their officers work 4 - 10 hour shifts, with 3 consecutive days off. In theory this should have them rested and alert for their 4 days on. However, it is also a policy that they can work unlimited overtime. Apparently this overtime idea is in place to 'make do' with the force we have rather than hiring full time officers to cover the gaps.

I did some very crude math on the numbers from the article and found that in 2007 the MPD, as a whole, doled out $1,556,721 in overtime pay. If you figure an officer's base pay to be right around $60,000 a year, it would mean that the city could have added 26 full time officers. I'm not a criminal justice expert but I have to think that adding 26 officers would certainly serve the purpose of protecting us all better than stretching the current staff to work double their normal hours. If the purpose of 4 - 10 hour shifts is to keep the force fresh then what is the point of allowing them unlimited overtime?

Precinct 2 in Mpls has the least amount of officers patrolling the streets. As a matter of fact, in the year I have been in my home I have seen 1 squad car drive by my house on routine patrol. I think I speak for most people when I say that I'd rather be proactive in policing rather than reactive. If there is a presence of police in the area, crimes are much less likely to happen. Adding 26 officers to the street would be a great start to adding the presence that is needed. Am I totally off on my thinking here?

Hot Tip Update II

Kevin Reich made the decision not to seek labor endorsements prior to the endorsing convention in April. It didn't seem to hurt him during the actual endorsement but by bucking the labor tradition that exists in the ward, he may have seriously hurt his reputation.

What was Reich's reason for not going after these endorsements? Did he think that the endorsements wouldn't help at all? Did he think he wouldn't get any of the endorsements, so why bother screening? Did he not understand the history of labor in the ward?

I wanted to find out the real answer for not screening with any labor unions so I sent Kevin an email at the address on his website. I sent the email yesterday telling him that I planned on putting this post up today, and to please get back to me as soon as he could. As of yet I haven't heard anything from Reich or the campaign. So, I'm following through on my word and putting something up.

I'm not going to make any assumptions as to his reasoning for not seeking the endorsements (I'll let the readers do that) but I am seriously concerned, and disheartened, that I didn't hear anything back. Labor unions have a great history in NE and Ward 1, and are rightfully very respected in the area. By not acknowledging this history and tradition, Reich has managed to disenfranchise a large portion of his constituency. Whether he decides to seek the endorsements after the fact is really a moot point. Reich made his statement of not seeing the importance of unions in his ward by not screening. I hope he realizes that the people he may soon represent, and will have to work very closely with come from a proud tradition of union labor. Having myself come from a long union lineage I am personally offended by his decision, and I don't think that I'm the only one that feels this way. Reich managed to receive the endorsements of many other groups but ignored all unions in his quest for the endorsement. The fact that Reich didn't even have the courtesy to return my email just solidifies my anger over the issue. I also think that by not returning my email he has also shown his true colors.

When we started the Clark campaign the first thing that was mentioned was Ostrow's lack of followup with people. We had many people express their anger over the fact that Paul Ostrow doesn't return phone calls or emails. Kevin Reich has already started this trend, and he hasn't even gotten into office yet. I hope Reich wakes up to the fact that just because he's the DFL endorsed candidate it doesn't mean he can sit back and watch.

Hot Tip Update

Sorry for the delay in updating the tip that Doron is being pressured by people in the DFL to run again, and that he is considering the run. Below is the response I received from Doron when I asked him about this.


I’ve heard rumors about rumors, but I haven’t been directly contacted by anyone. I have been encouraged to think about how IRV affects the council races by many from within and outside the DFL party.

I am greatly enjoying being a husband and a father to my 11 month old daughter. I support the endorsed candidate and I have no intention to jump back into the race.


Doron

I'm not about posting up rumors but the source of this tip was very reliable. Doron's response seems a little canned to me, like he's maybe used it to respond to other people? I know for a fact that there are many people around the ward (including people involved with the DFL) that are less than thrilled with the level of involvement that Reich has given so far. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more on this in the near future. If Reich doesn't start to show some interest in being the next council member I know I'll be pushing Doron to jump back in.

Anonymous Comments

So as promised I listened to the readers and have added the ability for anonymous comments. I'm hoping this allows everybody to comment, and give their opinions.

As a note - I unfortunately won't have much of an opportunity to update anything this weekend due to some family obligations. I'm going to try and get the Park Board post up today.

Park Board

I figured I should shift gears a little and move to another 2009 race. Being a new comer to Minneapolis, a park board is a new concept to me but one that I find very interesting. I think the park board serves a great purpose in this city, and I for one hope it's around for many years to come.

With Liz Wielinski receiving 72% of the vote for the nomination at the DFL convention it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to focus too heavily on this 'race.' Michael Rainville stated that he would abide by the endorsement, and Steve Brandt has backed this up. I think that the latest fundraiser letter that was sent out for a Garden Party at Joyce Vincent's, with Diane Hofstede as a co-host, solidifies that fact that Rainville is out. CM Hofstede has worked for many years with Rainville in STAWNO, and the fact that she is now backing Wielinski makes this pretty much a done deal.

I do have to give Wielinski a lot of credit though for still going through the process of being a candidate. Just because she received an overwhelming majority at the City Convention, and will most likely have no opponent, she is still getting out there, and doing what a good candidate should...CAMPAIGNING! Wielinski had a huge presence at the Windom Park Carnival, she even went so far as to have a table staffed with volunteers...what a novel idea. It's obvious Wielinski is taking her Park Board candidacy seriously.

Whoever the next Park Board member is to represent Ward 1, they will have a big challenge. The idea of eliminating the board is far from gone. I think we'll start to see a battle between the Park Board supporters, and their detractors over the next year +. We'll all be bombarded with mail telling us the cost savings we can experience if we eliminate the board, and the Park Board supporters will counter with the benefits of having an independent body to govern the parks. I look forward to the fight but truly hope that all the fighting leaves us in the same spot we're in right now.

I plan on posting a little more on this subject since I still find it interesting that a Rainville could lose an endorsement that badly. I think there is a lot more on this story. Maybe a changing of the guard in NE?

Ward 1 Convention Observations Part Deux

Kevin Reich's turn...



My first observation of Reich was that he didn't make it to the convention until after most of the delegates had arrived. I figure he either slept in, was very confident of the outcome, or (hopefully) was home making phone calls to delegates.

Reich did a much better job of shaking hands, and meeting with delegates than Howitz Hanna did. His team was fairly well organized with numerous signs, and what appeared to be a good floor plan. I enjoyed the fact that his volunteers had headsets, I'm not sure they were necessary but it at least gave me a good chuckle. I wish somebody would have mentioned to the Reich campaign early on that by having a 3 color scheme they're going to be spending a fortune on signs and lit. I'm a believer of the 'signs can't vote' thinking but also realize you have to have them. Keeping them cheap should always be the goal.

Anyways, I tried finding some video of Reich's speech, answers, or acceptance speech but had no luck in my search. Since I don't have a photographic memory, far from it in fact, I'll have to paraphrase what was said. Please comment if my memory is again fabricating things, and I get some of the paraphrasing wrong. It's also good for you since it means a much shorter post.

Reich's speech was much more organized than Howitz Hanna's, and had more of a conversational feel. He spoke a lot about his grassroots campaigning in both his speech and acceptance speech. He really talked up the success of the small house parties, and how they energized the people, and allowed him to get his platform out to the public. Grassroots campaigning takes an enormous amount of passion and devotion, I just didn't get that out of Reich. He came off almost shy at times, and didn't speak with much emotion. He spoke a lot of bringing job growth to the Ward, and building up areas with green jobs. His points in the speech were on target with what the delegation wanted to hear. Though his plan was right, I didn't hear how he planned to accomplish any of those plans. As was mentioned in the previous post, the next council is going to have a real budget crisis and tough decisions will need to be made. I'm not sure what Reich sees as areas that need to be cut but it will need to be addressed soon. I realize that the 'plans' are probably out there, and I intend on doing a later post about websites and conversations with candidates that I'm sure will address these issues. This is simply observations I made at the convention.

It was a pretty anti-climactic convention, with the outcome becoming fairly obvious after the first ballot. Riech had put together a good team that was able to turn out loyal delegates in masses, and that's the name of the game. Reich's acceptance speech I thought was very good. He accepted the nomination humbly and thanked the people he needed to. He also gave me hope by talking about his plans to be at the summer events around Ward 1, and to connect with his constituents.

Losing an endorsement isn't easy but I walked out of the convention with my head up thinking the delegates had made a good choice with a candidate that would be ready and willing to take on a job that is difficult, time consuming, and stressful...

Ward 1 Convention Observations Part I

Ok, I know I'm a little late commenting on this but I figure better late than never.

Since I was running around behind the scenes for most of the convention I didn't get to observe a lot of what was going on. I did get to see all of the candidate speeches (most are still on YouTube), and was also there for the votes as well. To save time I'll only focus on my observations of the two remaining candidates, Susan Howitz Hanna and Kevin Reich. I realize Reich won the endorsement but to stay fair I think I should cover both.

I'll make this a two part entry, focusing on one candidate per post. I'll start off with Howitz Hanna.

Howitz Hanna had a very late entry into the race, and put herself at a severe disadvantage at the convention. Her 'campaign' obviously lacked any form of organization during the convention. I believe I saw 4-6 very oversized signs scattered throughout Edison. I think having a female candidate is great but to have this as your sole purpose for running doesn't make it the right reason.

Howitz Hanna's speech was one of the more interesting endorsing speeches I've seen. I'm not sure that I buy her explanation of, 'you're endorsing me,' as the real reason she was alone on the stage. I think the 9 votes on the first ballot back up my thinking as to the real reason she was up there alone. I'm usually a fan of the 'casual' speech, the kind where it seems the candidate is talking directly to the people. However, it's a real art form to be able to do that, and until somebody has that ability they need to stick to the tried and true method of writing things down, and practice, practice, practice.

During her speech, Howitz Hanna focused very heavily on building up Central Avenue. I agree that Central could use some help in the development arena but to focus only on this area is unfortunate. If you want to talk about potential business growth in NE there are so many other areas that can be lumped in with Central...Shoreham Yards, Johnson, Mid-City, the list goes on. I think she would have been better to just talk about creating growth in Ward 1 as a whole, rather than just on Central.

I did like her points on Wants vs Needs. The next council is going to come in with a serious budget crisis and will need to make some very tough, and unpopular decisions. It was apparent from Howitz Hanna's speech that she is willing to weigh her options, and make some of those tough decisions. I'd be interested to hear a lot more about this since in her speech she lacked a lot of real examples but if she has some cost saving ideas I'm open to hearing them.

I'll follow up with post-convention activities in a later post but this is about all I can offer from the actual convention since she sat for about 90% of it, giving me little to talk about other than her speech.

About the Author

I figured I should give everybody a little background on myself, I'm not going to say it will legitimize this blog but it might help a little.

I was a Political Science major in college, and am a self proclaimed political junkie. I don't allow myself to stay out of the political scene for too long at any given time.


I'm a new homeowner in NE. As of yesterday (6/9/09) I have lived in Waite Park for 1 year with my fiancee and overly excited dog Sophie. I love the suburban feel in an urban setting that the neighborhood has offered us (that was way too cliche). Not long after getting into the neighborhood I decided to get involved with my first Minneapolis campaign.


I was the Campaign Manager for the Doron Clark for City Council Campaign. I should probably point out at this point that Doron in no way has endorsed this blog, and the views expressed here are solely my own opinions. I really enjoyed my first soiree into Minneapolis politics, it's unlike anything else I had experienced. We ran a great campaign, that I'm very proud of, even if the end result was less than desirable.

Doron's campaign was not the first campaign I managed. Back in '06 I ran a State Senate race in SD18 (Hutchinson, Annandale, Litchfield, and countless other small towns) for Hal Kimball. I know what you're thinking, who in their right mind would work on a progressive campaign in the belly of the Republican beast? I loved it though, and what made it great was that I had a candidate that was willing to work tirelessly to gain every single vote. The outcome was about what you'd expect, 60-40 loss but that was a 20% swing from 4 years prior. Hal and I would knock at least 200 doors a night in an area that was less than friendly to an idealistic kid just out of college. I loved the energy of a grassroots candidate, seeing somebody that literally ran at every parade to shake as many hands as he could gets everybody excited, no matter their political views.

Hal got me started with a love of grassroots campaigning and Doron allowed me to continue with it. I'm greatful to both of them, and look forward to working with more candidates like them in the future.