DFl Minneapolis City Convention

Saturday April 26, 2014   "Performed an operation on a twin while still in the womb."   On a wall plaque at Roosevelt High School, where the DFL City Convention was being held.   (DFL:   Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.)

There was a Somali interpreter.  

Sidenote:  Somali immigrants have been doing well in Minneapolis politics.   Which may seem odd considering Somalia is a political mess.  Then again, Irish immigrants in the US, Canada, Latin America, and Australia and their descendants have shown more political competence than politicians in Ireland (both the Republic and Northern Ireland.)

Transcription on screen.   Wonky.   "Awed torl um" for auditorium at one point.   "A claymation" for acclamation several times.  "Tell gate" a couple of times.

Candidate forum.   Changed one School Board At-Large choice.   There was only one candidate for my district (District 1); and she impressed me favorably enough that I didn't decide to go for No Endorsement.

(School Board elections are nonpartisan, but parties make endorsements.)

Credentials given out.   There was a long, long line.   This was scheduled to take an hour; took almost twice as long.

A bunch of formal stuff at the beginning, most of it routine.  More formal bumpf at intervals.

School Board candidate speeches.

Several candidates brought supporters on stage.   I found this annoying.   I wanted to see and hear the candidates themselves.   ( I was favorably impressed by the candidate who had a few of his students speak in support, though.   But he wasn't running for my district or at-large.)

Followed by balloting.   One set of ballots for each district which had a vacancy to fill; another set for districts which had only the At-Large election.

Minneapolis party officers elected.   Two candidates for Chair.   The incumbent won.

Other offices mostly had only one candidate nominated.   Two Fundraising Director candidates, but one declined the nomination.

There was one resolution with enough signatures to be voted on.   Someone proposed an amendment; then someone moved to amend that amendment.

The School Board results were announced.   Of the four candidates, one got enough votes (over the 60% minimum) for endorsement.  Another was one vote short.

A large number of  ballots were spoiled -- not signed on the back.   "Sign your ballot on the back" had been announced several times, but not everyone had listened.

Second  ballot.   After my ballot was gathered up, I decided to leave.   I had been there about nine hours, and nothing else I did was likely to influence anything.

Will I attend again?   Whenever School Board endorsements are being considered, yes.