From:
Bill McGaughey
Date:
Oct 10 16:24 UTC
Short link
In a recent posting, I expressed concern that the Star Tribune might not report
anything on the 5th District Congressional race until after the election. That
concern may have been too pessimistic.
Yesterday, an email message from the Star Tribune indicated that, unlike the
primary, this newspaper would be putting out a Voters Guide for the general
election - I hope, a print version. With one small, justifiable alteration, it
accepted my submission as presented and, no doubt, did so for the other two
candidates as well.
To date, the Star Tribune has run numerous news articles for the 3rd District
and 6th District Congressional races, some for others such as the 1st, but
nothing for its home district, the 5th. Apart from receiving an advertising
brochure in the mail, I have heard from Star Tribune representatives only with
respect to questioning technicalities of my campaign such as whether or not I
had been properly endorsed by the Independence Party or why I had not filed a
financial disclosure with the FEC, required where candidates have received
$5,000 or more in contributions.
No doubt, Independence Party members are putting the bulk of their resources
behind Dean Barkley’s campaign for the U.S. Senate whose poll numbers now range
between 14% and 19%. Our party has relatively little special-interest money. My
own modest contributions have been used to finance lawn signs -100 of them to
date, mainly in north Minneapolis.
The big event in the 5th District Congressional race will be a debate among the
three candidates sponsored by the League of Women Voters at the studios of
KSTP-TV tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 10 a.m. The electronic media,
especially KSTP-TV, are taking the lead in presenting information about the
candidates to 5th District voters. Minnesota Public Radio and North Metro TV in
Blaine will also be hosting candidate discussions this month.
For many residents of Minneapolis, the question may be why voters would want to
do more than go through the motions of examining the candidates and their
positions? The district is so solidly DFL that a DFL incumbent such as Keith
Ellison would be a likely winner especially in this year when voters are fed up
with the Bush-Cheney administration.
I would argue that “safe” districts have their own set of risks. The saying of
Lord Acton that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” has
been proven true time and time again. This is true locally in Minneapolis and
St. Paul and, on the Republican side, in other areas. Nationally, we have a
bipartisan power conglomerate that needs an injection of fresh thinking.
When Minnesota voters miraculously elected Jesse Ventura Governor ten years
ago, his “third-party” administration recruited talented people from the two
others parties and created a “can do” administration that got light-rail built
and did not soak the taxpayer. My own campaign manager, Red Nelson, was
instrumental, in his capacity as a Met Council Commissioner and Environmental
Committee chair, in facilitating the development of Silver Lake Village on the
site of the old Apache Plaza and arranging for a new public beach at Sliver
Lake itself.
I also believe that the election of Green Party members to the Minneapolis City
Council in 2001 and 2005 improved the Council. This year, a Green, Farheen
Hakeem, is running a strong campaign for the Minnesota house in 61B.
Nationally, “maverick” or “fringe” candidates such as Ron Paul, Ralph Nader,
Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr, and Brian Moore have brought new ideas, passion,
and energy to voters who have every right to be disillusioned with the
political process.
In summary, don’t count us third- or fourth-party people out. If one of us
should happen to be elected, we would, like Jesse Ventura, have a
disproportionate impact on the system and, perhaps, be able to redirect policy
in helpful ways. Unlike the big guys, we would not come with the baggage of
special-interest money.