Minneapolis Observer Quarterly - Ballot Box

Dynasty, Minneapolis Style

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:32:23 -0500

The council president isn’t talking, but we’re hearing that one of Barb Johnson’s daughters may run for her mom’s council seat in 2009. We’ve already reported that Johnson is considering a mayoral run, so if all falls into place, she’d find herself in the mayor’s office and Ward 4 would be represented by a third generation of Rainville women. Johnson’s mother, Alice Rainville, represented the ward from 1975 to 1997 (she was appointed to fill a vacancy left when her cousin, John Derus, won a seat on the Hennepin County Board), at which time daughter Barbara succeeded here. We’re not guessing about which of Johnson’s daughters might be in the mix. Both of her eldest — Sarah and Emily — are lawyers; the youngest, Margaret, made her name as a college basketball star. But, who cares? We’re talking dynasty here.

Cherryhomes Denies Interest in Mayoral Bid

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:06:48 -0500

Saying she is “firmly ensconced in the private sector,” former Minneapolis City Council president Jackie Cherryhomes told us today she is not considering a run for mayor.

Cherryhomes, who served on the council from 1990 to 2002 and now lobbies City Hall for a number of clients, including developer and former council colleague Steve Minn, took issue with our Monday post suggesting that she was considering a return to government service. When we noted that reliable sources had suggested that she was thinking about a mayoral candidacy, the longtime Northside power broker denied anything was afoot. “The only reliable sources,” she said, “are my husband, my parents, and maybe my daughter.”

Cherryhomes, McLaughlin Considering Mayoral Bid in 2009

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:24:51 -0500

Two Minneapolis DFL heavyweights — former City Council president Jackie Cherryhomes and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin — are hoping to revive their once promising political careers with a run for mayor.

After Ramstad: A DFLer in the Third District?

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:43:33 -0500

More bad news for Minnesota Republicans: Longtime GOP Congressman Jim Ramstad announced today that he would not run for re-election next year. The news is expected to spark a lively endorsement fight in both parties, as a number of candidates immediately expressed their interest in the seat.

It Looks Like Tinklenberg in the Sixth

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:13:15 -0500

With former MnDOT commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg expected to enter the race for the DFL endorsement in the Sixth Congressional District, We’re likely to see both current candidates — attorney Bob Hill and banker Bob Olson — step back and re-evaluate their candidacies. Olson, who earlier this year had launched a long-shot U.S. Senate bid, had shifted his attention to the Sixth largely at the urging of local political operative Nikki Carlson, who had hoped to exact some revenge against Hill, who had dumped her as campaign manager. Hill, for his part, may be better suited to the retail politics of the state legislature. Look for some clarity here in a couple of weeks.

The Legislative Knowledge Gap

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:14:13 -0500

You can say this much about Green Party activist and (now perennial) U.S. Senate candidate Mike Cavlan: He may not have a clue about the realities of Beltway politics, but at least he has some grasp of the realities of their real-life consequences.

A Northside Challenger?

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:55:54 -0500

Perhaps hoping that she won’t be trampled by several of her Minneapolis City Council colleagues on the way to the elections office, council president Barb Johnson has begun to explore a 2009 mayoral run. And while the prospect of a Johnson candidacy will hardly ignite grand passions, it would raise an intriguing question: Is there any political muscle left on the old North Side?

The Rybak Factor

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:08:12 -0500

Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak was an early and enthusiastic endorser of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid. In fact, Rybak routinely bragged that he was the first mayor to endorse Obama.

The conventional wisdom holds that local endorsements build support for that presidential candidate. Indeed, many political wags expected Rybak to use his early support to build Obama’s Minnesota base and, in turn, bolster Rybak’s base for a future statewide run.

Campaign Brewing Inside City Hall

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:43:00 -0500

Another presidential campaign is slowly taking shape well behind the scenes of the more celebrated contest currently playing out across the country. Most insiders expect Council President Barb Johnson not to seek re-election to her safe Ward 4 seat in 2009 and retire. CM Elizabeth Glidden (Ward 8) and Betsy Hodges (Ward 13) are both putting out feelers to gauge their support among their colleagues for a “presidential” run. Alas, this is a very, very quiet campaign.

Governing by Hunch

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:36:02 -0500

It is seldom in recent years that the political visions of state, county, and city have combined so clumsily as in two landmark decisions that have somehow escaped the full scrutiny of those noble, ink-stained wretches who populate what’s left of our free press in these parts. We’re speaking, of course, of Hennepin County’s tragic-comic attempts to secure the asphalt wilderness in downtown Minneapolis’ North Loop for the purpose of building a baseball stadium for Carl Pohlad and the Minnesota Twins and the puzzling city-county deal to merge the Minneapolis Public Library system with that of Hennepin County. Both experiments in visionary public policy have been conducted with less due diligence than most ordinary citizens would employ before they rent a movie.

Schiff in the Political Marketplace

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:46:49 -0500

We bumped into City Council Member Gary Schiff Saturday at the Midtown Farmers’ Market and discovered that the 9th Ward politico remains as opinionate as ever. Asked about his colleague Ralph Remington’s prospective run for mayor, Schiff professed some skepticism: “He’s not running for president?”(Ouch.) And fellow CMs Robert Lilligren (6th Ward) and Sandy Colvin Roy (12th Ward) came under particularly harsh criticism for their recent votes against allowing recovering alcoholics and drug users to settle in supportive wards. “Don’t we want sober people in the neighborhoods?” he asked. Schiff wasn’t completely negative, though. He had effusive praise for Little Earth housing director Bill Ziegler, who he said is doing marvelous work for the Phillips neighborhood housing project. Ziegler, he said, is pushing against the low expectations of the Little Earth board, who seem less than concerned by the horrendous drop-out rate among children there (only 3 percent finish high school). “I’ve been quoting Bush a lot lately, Schiff said: “The soft bigotry of low expectations.” Sounds like a mayoral platform, we suggested. Are we going to see a Schiff for Mayor campaign. “I’d be OK with that,” he said.

Minneapolis Mayoral Candidates Already Lining Up

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:09:58 -0500

It’s a full two years before city endorsing conventions, but already two mayoral hopefuls — one on each side of the political aisle — have indicated they’re preparing for a run for City Hall’s top job. First-term City Council Member Ralph Remington (DFL-Ward 10) has told Ballot Box he will run, and we’ve learned that Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s favorite economist, Northside Republican David Strom, is also giving serious thought to entering the race.

Visit Minnesota Monitor for Local Politics and More

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:51:01 -0500

The Minneapolis Observer has changed to a quarterly print publication exploring the bucolic city, and while we'd love to urge you to subscribe, we realize that if you've clicked on this page you are probably looking for something to satisfy your political jones. So we invite you to visit Minnesota Monitor at www.minnesotamonitor.com. And after you've filled up on politics, please return to find out more about MOQ, a leisurely publication for nature-loving urbanophiles, artists, and more. Just click on the MOQ cover image in the righthand column to see what's in the current issue and how to get a copy of your very own. Thank you for visiting the Minneapolis Observer Web site.

New School Board member admits creating race-baiting Web site

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 10:40:49 -0600

Chris Stewart, who on Tuesday won election to the Minneapolis School Board, yesterday admitted that he and some friends created a replica Tammy Lee for Congress Web site laden with racial epithets to lampoon Fifth District Congressman Martin Sabo’s support for Lee, the Independence Party candidate.

Lee campaign alleges new School Board member responsible for 'racist' parody Web site

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:43:17 -0600

The Tammy Lee congressional campaign has traced what it calls a “racist, hate Web site” designed to parody Lee’s site to new Minneapolis School Board member Chris Stewart.

The site, which was taken down yesterday after Lee campaign staff discovered its origins, uses racist language to lampoon Rep. Martin Sabo’s endorsement of Lee, who finished third in yesterday’s Fifth District congressional race. “Tammy Lee is the Best Choice to Replace Congressman Martin Sabo,” the site reads. “After all, she's white - just like us, and that means we can trust her. We should all agree that a Negro should never replace a great statesman like Martin Sabo.”