For full disclosure, I came out as a supporter of Josh Remnitz. So my point
of view might be a bit askew on this. But I try to be objective and work to
fall prey to drawing conclusions too too soon. But here is another take on
this event.
I met Josh many months before this election took place. In fact, I met Josh
well before the DFL City Convention. It was at that time that I saw Josh as
an independent intelligent and positively enthusiastic proponent of our
public education system. And after personally interviewing the two other
candidates who were running at the time (Josh's eventual opponent Patty
Wycoff's name was not yet in any conversations prior to the City
Convention), I came to believe Josh would be the strongest candidate to
represent District 4 on the Minneapolis School Board.
Attending the DFL 2012 Minneapolis City Convention, I met Josh and some of
his small group of young organizers. There was no master organization and
support behind Josh, and in fact Josh asked me quite spontaneously if I
would introduce him and put his name to the floor at the City convention,
which I proudly did.
Upon having conversations with several DFL delegates, hoping to rouse of
some awareness and support for Josh's bid for a DFL endorsement, I
repeatedly heard the question. Was he going to abide by the DFL party
preference that if not endorsed, that he would he step aside and cease
running? I explained that no, Josh was interested in being on the school
board and wasn't going to let an endorsement process stop him from his
commitment in doing so. Time and time again, I got the response, that well
then no, they would not vote for him in the endorsement process. This
disappointed me. It seemed those attending the DFL City convention were most
interested in getting a DFL candidate into the School Board. The School
Board is a non-partisan board seat.
On the last day of filing, we all learned that Patty Wycoff's name was
placed into election process for District 4. I spoke with a number of
people, including those who were supporting Patty, that she was encouraged
to run by fellow Bryn Mawr neighbor and former DFL Speaker of the House
Representative Margaret Anderson Kelliher. The clout of such a supporter had
already swayed a number of DFL public officials, inside and outside the
District 4 boundaries, that they too would support Patty's campaign. The DFL
heft seemed to solidify, bringing along with them their organizing and boots
on the the ground campaign power. These are the same powers that in 2010,
school board candidate Rebecca Gagnon who without their endorsement was
skillful and impressively leveraged through very hard work, to gain party
acceptance, public awareness and votes.
And now we come to the post election response. While it is perhaps relevant
that Jim Davnie might be one to comment on the election results, in that he
was the the sponsor of the bill ("The Davnie Bill" as it is called) that
created the sub-districts within our entire city school district that
created this seat being discussed today. As referenced in Brandt's story,
Rep. Davnie, who lives in a separate House district outside of District 4,
was commenting on the cost of this race.
The only figure being bandied about at this time is the collection of
$37,000 by the Remitz campaign. These figures stand in absence of many other
figures. Context is everything. I would be interested what amount and/or
share of this amount actually represents this "national" money? How much of
it was raised by local supporters? Likewise, what amount did the competing
campaign raise? How much of it was from local community supporters? How much
of it was from other special interests. People have talked about teacher's
union involvement, but what about partisan parties and their affiliates.
Again, this is a non-partisan seat.
Finally, what concerns me about this talk without these kinds of data being
included as a reference, is the underlying message. That message seems to
suggest that Josh Remnitz does not represent those who elected him. It
suggests he was placed in his seat by outsiders. It seems to wish to
discount his membership on the board before he even takes the oath of
office. The data that are in is that Josh won 10 of the 14 neighborhoods
that represent District 4: Kenwood (63%), Lowry Hill (62%), East Isles
(59%), East Calhoun (57%), Loring Park (55%), Downtown East (54%), Lowry
Hill East (52%), Cedar Isles Dean (51%), and Whittier (50%). Wycoff won in
four neighborhoods: Bryn Mawr (67%), Elliot Park (57%), Stevens
Square/Loring Heights (54%), and Downtown West (53%).
I for one am one of those of us in the public who wish for the bickering and
partisan polarization of our legislatures to just stop. We have too many
things to get done. Just like the Republicans who found themselves on the
loosing side of some elections this year, I am hoping that the DFL loyalists
do not too fall prey to explaining that the election as being bought by
outsiders. It is my understanding our election results are determined by
votes, not dollars. To suggests that those of us who voted for Josh are not
intelligent enough to make up our minds regardless of how many postcards the
campaign was able to afford is laughable if not insulting. Josh was elected.
Let's please move forward.