Photo By John HoffYesterday, I attended a meeting of the Fifth District Green Party, of which I have been a member since 2004 or 2005. I actually joined the 5th District Greens prior to living in Minneapolis, because my son was living in an affluent southern suburb of the Twin Cities, and I knew wherever my child was, I would find a way to live there also. So, in a rather routine way, I joined the 5th District Greens from outside the district, and was a non-voting member until I managed to live in the district and become a member with full privileges. Prior to that, however, as early as 2000, I had been a member of a national Green Party. I say these things in a spirit of full disclosure.
Some days ago, word came from a Green Party mailing that Kenya McKnight was trying to get a Green Party endorsement in her campaign against incumbent Don Samuels. McKnight is pictured above, in the middle, at the recent WHO meeting over whether the "Uncle Bill's" store should become "Uncle Lennie's."
I came to the Green Party meeting because I was opposed to endorsing McKnight, first of all because (in the pattern of so many others) Kenya McKnight has never shown any notable interest in the Green Party prior to coming around and asking for an endorsement...
Secondly, I was opposed because Kenya is another in a long line of the same tired pattern which the Fifth District Green Party has allowed for too long: an individual who avidly sought endorsement from the DFL, didn't get what they wanted, so they come crawling over to the Greens and hoping we'll embrace these "DFL discards."
Third, Kenya McNight is a supremely unqualified candidate. Lacking even a college degree, she seeks a job that pays $79,000 a year to help run a major metropolitan area while talking about (good God!) her experiences selling cookies and her "tough background" and "youthful mistakes."
If, God forbid, Kenya got elected she would be an embarrassment to the Green Party.
However, I was in for a surprise when I got to the meeting. Kenya McKnight had withdrawn her request for endorsement.
In fact, not only McKnight in the Fifth Ward but Melissa Hill in Ward 3 and Ken Lawrence in Ward 7 had all withdrawn their requests for endorsement. My fellow Green Party members at the meeting had no explanation for this. When I said it was "fascinating" one Green Party member responded this is exactly what THEY thought. I did, however, get secondhand word that Green Party Member Cam Gordon, City Council Member representing Ward 2, was "incensed" over something involving the endorsements and may have "applied pressure."
Both Melissa Hill and Kenya McKnight had gone through some of the Green Party vetting process. In the case of Kenya McKnight, notes from a verbal interview (click here, go to bottom of document below Melissa Hill portion) appear to indicate Mcnight started but did not complete a written question sheet. Melissa Hill, in contrast, did complete the written portion of the endorsement vetting process as well as the verbal interview.
At the same meeting, an individual named Kris Broberg sought endorsement. Broberg is running against Betsy Hodges in Ward 13 and admitted, in response to my question, this was the first Green Party meeting he'd ever attended. He'd been a member of both the Libertarian and Republican Party, however. Broberg characterized the Minneapolis City government as "fascist" when asked about a previous statement he'd made using that label. After a notable moment of hesitation, Broberg stood by his "fascist" statement.
Broberg did not get any Green Party nomination yesterday, partly because the rules forbid endorsing members of other political parties, but he was received in a (surprisingly) friendly way, no doubt due to the ongoing low self-esteem issues plaguing the Fifth District Green Party when endorsement suitors come a-calling, following up on enticing rumors, looking for the Green Party to "go all the way on the first date."
But yesterday something shifted--it's hard to say what, exactly--and I can't help but wonder if this represents a sea change for the Fifth District Green party, a renewed desire to live on something besides DFL leftovers.
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