Minnesota Report
Additional Information: Since the original publishing on October 7th, there was another forum sponsored by the Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) at the Wilder Headquarters in St Paul. The event wasn’t much different than previous ones, except they allowed for questions from the audience, and our publisher Shawn Towle asked the proverbial burning question which had yet to be answered publically. Which of your fellow candidates would you recommend to your supporters as your 2nd choice? Now, one would have thought, the well attended FairVoteMN debate, during which they stressed the idea of voting more than once on your ballot as an important factor in this election, and the fact St Paul, unlike Minneapolis allows upto six selections, would have made sure this question was offered, but they didn’t.
The response we received at the CAAL event was quite surprising. The organizations Program manager and event moderator Jeffrey Ting refused to allow the question to be answered. Its clear the organization’s leadership is confused by the fact, as a sponsoring organization, no opinion offered by the participates is anything the organization is bound to. Some uninformed people thought this answer would in someway adversely impact their nonprofit status. It wouldn’t in anyway, but the citizens of St Paul were denied this information.
Original Article: The race for Mayor in St Paul is heating up and in limited capacity the residents are showing varied levels of interest. Last night, candidates Melvin Carter III (DFL), Van Chen (DFL), Adam Dullinger (Yet to be self-identified), Kaohly Her (DFL) and Mike Hilborn (I) met at the Glory Dei Lutheran Church in Highland Park. The event hosted by FairVoteMN and a number of District Councils and featured the moderator Tane Danger, was a packed house, with approximately 300 people in attendance. The event was recorded by KMSP 9 for its YouTube Channel. The week before, it was a forum hosted by the Lexington Hamline District Council, which was not recorded, and all candidates were present except Dullinger. One highlight here, was Hilborn, made a succinct closing argument for himself saying, “Pick me because I’m awesome.”
Last night the debate opened with opening statements, and instead of the traditional answers we have heard in Ranked Choice Voting contests, most said pick me first, except Chen who said, “Pick me first and if not, pick me second. To which she received a number of outburst laughs.
The first question was about increasing property taxes, which is clearly the most important issue for city taxpayers. Danger asked, “What would you do to alleviate Property taxes?” There was a follow-up, with what areas would they seek to cut in order to not adversely impact property taxes. He then queried, “What are some of the changes we would see if you were Mayor? The candidates were ask to address what they would do for redevelopment of St Paul. Naturally, this brought about the discuss of crime and public safety, which each person had their take on.
And then the burning question about the Summit Avenue Regional Trail (SART) came up and the night got interesting. With Hilborn saying Summit was just fine as is, Her questioning the process, Dullinger saying it was good and we need more bike safe bike routes, Carter defending to process and the outcome and Chen discuss the pitting of the two sides, bicyclists and homeowners against one another, she supported opposition to the process and ultimately questioned whether-or-not this was a priority for this moment in time.
Speaking of Dullinger, during the SART conversation in the debate, this new urbanist, showed himself to be nonreflective, rude and disrespectful to others when he said off of mic at minute 1:15:24, “Such a Bullshit answer,” which in turn Her called him out, but misstated, saying she didn’t appreciate her words being referred to as a Batshit answer, when he was given the mic, he stupidly clarified he said Bullshit answer. It was a defining moment showing him to be a petulant child, whining to be able to ride his bike anywhere and everywhere safely. Its clear someone needs to grow up and learn some level of decorum, because this young man is not ready for prime time.
Editor’s Note: Honestly having viewed this issue closely, there is no need for an elevated bike lane on Summit, but a better solution would be to shift the bike lane to the inside area next to the curb, ban on street parking, or make the parking lane the next lane and then have the traffic lane furthest left. This solution is far more tenable and less costly, with a buffer zone between bikes and moving cars.
After the debate concluded, we thought, the one question never asked during a Ranked Choice Voting debate needed to be offered. Who is your second choice? We asked Dullinger first, and the little pissant, had the audacity to violate personal space and turning off the recording, and said his choice was probably Carter. Caveat: “Adam, ever touch my phone again your finger will be broken.” C&B Publisher Shawn Towle.
Hilborn said, “Probably Yan Chen, and Kaohly Her.” he later solidified his position with Yan Chen. Her has repeatedly, said she likes many of Chen’s ideas and of course Yan Chen is her second choice. Finally, Carter, again being too cute by half, and clearly is not comfortable considering the possibility of a loss said, “I’m undecided.”
We are hoping at some event someone will actually, ask the question and the clarity for all will be achieved. Specifically, because Carter actually has never had to deal with the idea of a single transferable vote, because he abtained at least a simple majority win. When we published the notorious “Gun Letter” we help solidify his victory in 2017. In 2021, he had no serious challengers. This time, it seems many believe, Melvin has had his chance(s). The situation brings to mind the misrepresentation now thought of as an old artificial adage, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” is a popular saying, but it is a misattribution to Albert Einstein and is more of a proverb than an actual clinical definition of insanity.”
In Carter’s case, he needs to acknowledge, not just that St Paul has problems that happened on his watch, but also problem cropped up that he provided either ignored, provided no reasonable response to, or acted too late. Often, while only playing head cheerleader, he fails to acknowledge the score of the game, and sorry, but not all is always sunshine in St Paul. Time for a Change.