By Jeremy Powers, SD 51 DFL Chair.

Wednesday night’s public announcement that District 51 DFL is looking for a candidate for 51A was, I believe, at least reasonably successful.

Nine people outside of our normal circle of friends, plus 15 district directors and friends, attended the meeting. They represented the City Council, both major school districts, the legal profession and the Chamber of Commerce. Some like Dick Swanson, Jeff Lange and Bill McCarthy were doing kind of double duty, representing the city and labor as appropriate. Because of an illness and then short timing, no one from Education Minnesota could make it. Dick Lange and Steve Novak from Anoka County couldn’t make it.

In terms of doing what it was supposed to, at least three names have surfaced of people who are now considering running. We will talk about them at our district meeting, but I would rather not put their names in a blog post. That is a far cry from having an announced candidate, but it is the kind of progress we were looking for.

I gave a PowerPoint presentation and in my typical style, I talked too fast. During the presentation Shawn Hamilton, our 2008 candidate, announced that he would not be running again, publicly opening the door for others. Dick Swanson began the question and answer period – breaking the ice – by asking for Rep. Connie Bernardy to explain what it was like being a state rep.  Connie talked for several minutes and laid out a day-in-the-life of campaigning and legislating. Other questions arose.  The entire event lasted less than one hour. Attendees were given a folder containing a map of the district, recent election results, a DFL platform and a contact sheet with phone numbers of various people so that if they find anyone who is pondering a run they have several people they could talk to about it.

The event was very civil and matter-of-fact (possibly to the point of being boring.) However, I think it was received in the manner in which I intended – to layout simply that there will be DFL candidate and we are casting a wide net in an effort to find the best possible candidate.

Regardless of how effective the whole thing was, several people at the state DFL and at the House Caucus complimented our efforts. I think it showed them that we are doing what is expected in terms of recruiting a candidate.

As a next step I will be issuing a news release to the Blaine-Spring Lake Park Life that we are seeking a candidate and that it was announced at a meeting of community leaders at City Hall.

PDF copies of the PowerPoint presentation are available if anyone wants one.

We Are Curious as to Who Michele Bachmann Represents

Quiche Moraine hosts a “Carnival to Replace Michele Bachmann” on a monthly basis. SD51 DFL members are encouraged to write pieces here at the SD51 DFL blog for inclusion.

Mike

Information for Those Interested in Exploring Your Potential Candidacy

We would like your presence at a public meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, at Blaine City Hall.

The meeting will be conducted by District 51 DFL and will essentially be the announcement that we are looking for a candidate for the state legislature in House District 51 A. All of 51A is in Blaine.

We are asking you because you represent a part of the community of Blaine. We don’t expect you to have any affinity or commitment to the DFL nor do we expect you to make even the slightest political commitment of any kind. The atmosphere will be as apolitical as we can make it. There will be no stump speeches or critiques of any political candidate or party.

Our goal is to maximize the spread of information. We hope that someone you know or someone you may meet may make a good candidate and legislator.

We feel that for the two-party system to work, we need to involve the public in helping us select the best possible candidate to represent Blaine. We feel that if you and your organization want to maximize good representation in Saint Paul, that transcends political parties, you should be at this meeting.

Two years ago, we couldn’t make our search more public because our incumbent candidate had not announced that he was stepping down.

Blaine and House District 51A are swing voting areas. They have been represented by both Republicans and Democrats in the past decade. Both Democrats and Republicans have won statewide races in the district.

The tentative agenda for the meeting is:

• Welcome & introductions
• Explanation of the situation
• Expectations of a state representative
• The endorsement process
• The election and campaign process
• What makes a good candidate
• What help the candidate can expect and what he/she is expected to do
• Question and answers

We will provide a PowerPoint presentation and then handle questions. We know you are busy and we won’t waste your time.

We will send you home with a map of the district, a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, demographics of the district, results of recent elections and a copy of the DFL platform.

Voice Your Opinion to the Committee Chairs

In the coming days, members of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate will be holding listening sessions across the state to hear from Minnesotans about Governor Pawlenty’s budget recommendations. The schedule of town hall meetings is listed below. Please plan to attend one in your area.

With the steep economic challenges facing our state, your feedback is critical in the process of finding solutions. The governor has proposed his budget without seeking the input of the people it will impact the most — Minnesota’s working families. This is your opportunity to stand up and make sure that this budget is the budget of the people.

Burnsville
Wednesday, February 25th – 7:30 p.m.
Fairview Ridges Hospital
201 E Nicollet Blvd

Coon Rapids
Thursday, February 26th – 7:00 p.m.
Coon Rapids City Hall
11155 Robinson Drive

Forest Lake
TBD

Marshall
Friday, February 20th – 2:30 p.m.
Southwest Minnesota State University Lecture Hall
1501 State Street

Plymouth
Thursday, February 26th – 7:00 p.m.
Plymouth City Hall
3400 Plymouth Blvd

St. Paul
Thursday, February 26th – 6:00 p.m.
West Minnehaha Recreation Center in Frogtown
685 Minnehaha Ave W

Willmar
Thursday, February 19th – 6:00 p.m.
Kennedy Elementary School
824-7th Street SW

White Bear Lake
Wednesday, February 25th – 6:30 p.m.
White Bear Lake High School-South Campus
3551 McKnight Rd N

I hope you can join your state legislators at one of these events. Click here to view the entire list and to sign up to speak. Minnesota’s future depends on sound ideas today. Take this opportunity to share your ideas!

Sincerely,

Donna Cassutt
Associate Chair
Minnesota DFL Party

The DFL Senior Caucus is currently working toward our participation in
the important elections of 2010.  We, as members of the senior voting
bloc, are committed to doing all we can to promote the interests of
Minnesota seniors and their families and the DFL  party.  The DFL had
successes in the past two elections, but fell short in two areas – the
governorship and super majority.  We intend mobilize seniors to work with the individual 2010 campaigns to rectify this.  Seniors bring a lifetime of skills, experience — many are retired and have time to help with campaign tasks.

We want the Senate Districts and County Units to know us better.
Attached is our latest newsletter that reviews our activities last year
and touches on our plans going ahead.  We also have an active website at
dflseniors.wordpress.com. It carries almost daily posts of news of interest to Minnesota DFL’rs and aids for advocating to the legislators and newspapers. You might want to set up a link to us on your website.

If we can assist you, please let us know.  Also, if you have members who would be interested in joining the Senior Caucus and making your interests known to us, we would like to talk to them.  Have them contact Linda Feist   lfeist@comcast.net or Dick Bernard dick_bernard@msn.com .

Thank you for all your efforts to make a better Minnesota.

Using Blogs To Spread the Word

One of the big lessons that Howard Dean taught the Democratic Party as a whole was that the internet provides a great means for people to connect to each other for political activism.  In this last election season, our new president, Barack Obama used the web to great advantage.

Minnesota’s Senate District 51 Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party organization is now embarking on a new venture to tap into the internet as a source to provide our members with information and opportunities for activity.  This site will be your place to go for news about our board and directors, for upcoming events, for our candidates and elected officials to share with your their goals and purposes in running for office and serving.

Expect changes and updates to this site as we continue to grow.  The tremendous attendance at the 2008 caucuses in our district and indeed, statewide, served to show how many people we have who want to continue to share in the change for the better that is the goal of our party.

Watch this site for new postings.  Follow us by adding the site to your RSS Feed Reader.  Look for our member pages on FaceBook and other social networking sites.

I’m excited about this.  The caucuses are only a year away, right?  Let’s build a network!