Statewide elections on Nov. 7
Don’t waste your vote!

BY ED FELIEN

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, you will have the opportunity to vote, if you’re eligible, for candidates for Congress, governor, state offices and other important positions all the way down the ballot to soil and water district commissioner. The Republican Party, through its 5th District Congressional candidate, has been waging a vicious campaign of bigotry and hate against Keith Ellison. It is important to understand that this campaign is not just directed against Ellison (they’ve probably given up any possibility of taking that seat), it’s meant to depress the vote in the 5th District to give the rest of the Republican ticket a chance to win statewide. Don’t let ’em get away with it.

First, we need to send Keith Ellison to Congress to fight to end the war in the Middle East and work for single payer national health insurance. He needs a solid and strong majority to give him a clear mandate for change.
The race for U.S. Senate is more complex. Klobuchar is clearly more progressive than Kennedy, but she won’t be specific about withdrawing troops from Iraq, and one has to conclude she would continue the U.S. policy of global dominance. Fortunately, she has a wide lead over Kennedy, so she probably doesn’t need our vote. We can afford to register a protest that neither of the two major candidates is speaking out against the mainspring of U.S. foreign policy. We should vote for Michael Cavlan for U.S. Senate. He has consistently spoken out against the war and U.S. imperialism, and he has been an advocate for single payer.

The governor’s race is tight at this point. Hatch is no angel. He’s taken money from tobacco lobbyists, but he did great work in shaking up the HMOs. Tim Pawlenty has, in so many ways, told the Twin Cities to drop dead. He’s starved the budgets by withholding Local Government Aid. Even though the Twin Cities pay more taxes than the suburbs and outstate, he’s choked off funds to the point that we’ve had to cut essential services like police, fire and libraries while we further subsidize the rest of the state. He’s cut funding for highway construction so the mess at Crosstown and 35W will continue to plague us. And, he was one of the chief architects of the stadium bill that will tax residents of Hennepin County hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize a billionaire’s baseball stadium. Tim Pawlenty has to go. Peter Hutchinson, the Independence Party candidate is a nice guy, and Ken Pentel, the Green Party candidate, is a friend of mine, but this race is critical for the survival of the Twin Cities. Don’t waste your vote; vote for Mike Hatch.

The rest of the ticket is pretty easy. Mark Ritchie is an easy choice for secretary of state. He knows what fair elections mean, and he will ensure Minnesota will have the most fair and honest elections in the country.

Lori Swanson is far ahead in her race to be attorney general. As long as she maintains a six- to eight-point lead, she doesn’t need the left, and it gives us an opportunity to vote for one of South Minneapolis’ favorite sons, “Papa“ John Kolstad. Papa John has been a strong advocate for small businesses and single payer. He plays great guitar and leads a hot swing band, and his son, Andrew “Cadillac” Kolstad, is probably the best boogie-woogie piano player in the Upper Midwest. Vote your heart and soul on this one. Vote for Papa John.

Dave Berger is the most intelligent and best qualified candidate for state auditor, and he’s the kind of guy we could trust looking after the people’s money.
On a more local level, contrary to common belief, urban DFL legislative districts believe in term limits. A legislator’s term begins with the DFL endorsement and ends with their death. Actually, Wes Skoglund, a remarkably decent guy, has retired from the legislature, and that has allowed a newcomer, Patricia Torres Ray, to get the DFL endorsement. She promises to be a dynamic and progressive new voice. Other than that, same candidates. Ho Hum!

There’s a contest for county commissioner in our district. Farheen Hakeem is running a strong race against long time incumbent Peter McLaughlin. McLaughlin is one of the Gang of Four on the County Board to vote for an increase in the sales tax for Hennepin County to pay for Carl Pohlad’s baseball stadium. He was also the key vote to rescind parts of the Smoking Ban to allow smoking in some suburban bars. He did it on the same day the bars had a fundraiser for him for his campaign for mayor. In many ways this campaign is a rematch. Hakeem and McLaughlin both ran for mayor last year and lost to R T.

Juan Lopez is running a strong race against Rich Staneck for Hennepin county sheriff. He’s DFL endorsed. Staneck is a Republican legislator from the suburbs who authored the bill that made it illegal for the City of Minneapolis to require Minneapolis residency for police officers and other City employees. He was appointed by Pawlenty as public safety commissioner until Representative Keith Ellison pointed out numerous racist remarks Staneck had made as a member of the Minneapolis Police Department. Pawlenty unappointed him.

Pam Costain is running for one of four open seats on the School Board. She started the Central American Resource Center and worked on Wellstone’s last campaign.

There is a new political face running for Soil and Water District in South Minneapolis. As a teenager he began his political life working for Cesar Chavez and the Farmworker’s Union. He’s been supportive of progressive causes for more than 30 years. He was the former editor and publisher of the James White Review and is currently the associate publisher of Pulse of the Twin Cities and Southside Pride. He is my longtime friend, Phil Wilkie.

The right to vote is precious. Undocumented workers don’t have it. Convicted felons don’t have it. The very young and the most vulnerable in our society don’t have it. If you have it, remember you are voting for all those people who won’t get into a voting booth on the first Tuesday in November. Think of them when you’re voting for the best hopes for our future.