An underwhelming election

BY ED FELIEN

What if they gave an election and nobody came? Well, almost nobody came to the City Election last Tuesday. R. T. Rybak got 73 percent of the vote for Mayor,
but that was only 33,217 votes. That’s the smallest amount a winning candidate has gotten running for Mayor since 1910. Rybak’s total was less than 15 percent of the number of registered voters. In the last three municipal elections the LOSING candidates for Mayor polled almost as high as Rybak’s winning total: 2005-25,807; 2001-30,896; 1997-42, 530.

Why was the turnout so low? Some people blame Instant Runoff Voting. Not because it’s complicated and that might have turned people off. It’s not that complicated. It’s actually quite simple, but some people feel that canceling the Primary Election denied voters an opportunity to see a dress rehearsal of the main stage production. A Primary Election gives voters an opportunity to see candidates in action before they have to vote on their final choice. One suggestion, made by James Graham on the Minneapolis Issues List (mpls@forums.e-democracy.org), was to have instant runoff voting for the Primary Election and then have the two top vote-getters face off in the General Election.

If there is a wide field of challengers, then the incumbent can simply ignore them—which is what R. T. did. He went through the campaign acting as though nothing was happening. And the Star Tribune and the general public believed him and acted as though nothing was happening as well. It’s not for lack of issues.

There were plenty of issues that could have served as a referendum on Rybak’s tenure: his support for a billion dollar sales tax for a new baseball stadium; his closing down of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program that had encouraged citizen participation in city affairs; his failure to support the Library Board; his attempts to take over the Park Board. These issues deserved a sharp and focused debate, but in a wide field they were easily ignored.

Incumbent City Council Members coasted to easy victories, and DFLer John Quincy won with a convincing 63 percent of the vote to replace retiring Scott Benson in the 11th Ward. Elizabeth Glidden, Council Member from the 8th Ward, beat a wide field with 74.87 percent of the vote. In the 12th Ward Sandy Colvin Roy easily outdistanced her two rivals with 64 percent of the vote. But Cam Gordon, the only Green Party Council Member, got 84 percent of the vote in the 2nd Ward.
Voters rejected Rybak and the City Council’s proposal to eliminate the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) by a margin of almost two to one: 64.87 percent to 35.13 percent. A conclusion one could draw from that lopsided rejection is that voters want to vote for people. They want to participate in their representative democracy. Instead, politicians have reduced the number of choices offered to voters over the years. Some people still remember when there were two City Council Members for every Ward. That was changed back in the 1950s. Don Fraser changed the Charter to allow four-year instead of two-year terms for Mayor and City Council, thereby canceling half the city elections. Then they eliminated the City Treasurer and City Comptroller. Carol Becker was easily elected to one of the at-large positions on the BET.

She has been a critic of many of the Mayor and City Council’s proposals. A self-described policy wonk, she has been such a thorn in their sides, they wanted to do away with the Board just to get rid of her. David Wheeler won the other open seat.

The most significant changes in city government were in races for the Park Board. Bob Fine won an at-large position. He has been part of the majority that has been accused of favoritism and cronyism in hiring and awarding
contracts. They have been under fire for the past years from Park Watch.
The founder of Park Watch, Liz Wielinski, won a seat in the First District to replace retiring Old Guard supporter Walt Dziedzic. John Erwin won an at-large seat to replace Mary Merrill Anderson, marking another victory for the insurgents. Annie Young and Scott Vreeland easily won re-election, so there are at least four out of nine votes supporting a change in direction. Insurgents Michael Guest in the 2nd District and Jason Stone in the 5th lost their races to Jon Olson and Carol Kummer, so it will depend on Anita Tabb, who won an open seat in the 4th, and Brad Bowen, who won in the 6th, to see which direction the Park Board will travel in the next four years.

The fact that the Board at its most recent meeting withdrew its extension of Superintendent Jon Gurban’s contract is an indication that a new Board might take a new path.