COMMUNITY VOICES | Mpls Park Board candidate Hashim Yonis, a study in failed refugee integration and role model gone sour?

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As someone who has promoted diversity in my life and work, with sadness I raise concerns about a person of color, with whom I have worked, who is running for the Minneapolis Park Board. Some had high hopes for Yonis, a Somali refugee and St. Olaf grad–he appeared to be a success story, even visiting the White House as guest of Obama. But I had serious questions.Recently, Yonis’ reputation has become tarnished. In August, the Park Board fired him for allegedly pocketing funds. Continue Reading

St Paul’s Ward One: Racial diversity and ranked choice voting in the mix in hotly fought election

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A diverse mix of seven candidates, many of whom have backgrounds in community organizing, faced off in a forum Tuesday night at the Wilder Center, sparring for a chance to fill the Ward One City Council seat vacated by Melvin Carter III when he resigned to take a post in the Minnesota Department of Education last July. Among the candidates in the forum hosted by The League of Women Voters were former City Council member and St. Paul’s first female police officer Debbie Montgomery (she was knocked off the council by Carter in 2007), and Carter’s former council aide, Noel Nix. Other candidates included former St. Paul School Board Chair Kazoua Kong-Thao, Johnny Howard, founder of the Thomas-Dale Block Clubs, Dai Thao, an IT Manager, poet and contributor to Hmong Times, and Mark Voerding, past president of the District 7 Planning Council and aide to former council member Bill Wilson, plus Paul Holmgren, who has been endorsed by the St. Paul GOP City Committee.

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New citizens step up to the voting booth: Somalis hold key in Minneapolis’ sixth ward

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Redistricting and changing demographics have put Minneapolis City Council incumbent Robert Lilligren on the defensive as he vies to keep his seat without the DFL endorsement in Ward 6. Lilligren’s main challenger is Abdi Warsame, a Somali candidate who wrested the DFL’s endorsement away from Lilligren, a three-term incumbent, and appears to have strong support in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, which has the highest population of immigrants in the city.Lilligren, an Ojibwe Indian, is the City Council’s openly gay vice president. He and Warsame have butted heads a couple of times, with Lilligren challenging Warsame’s capture of the DFL endorsement by complaining of intimidation tactics and homophobia during the DFL convention in June and Warsame volleying back by denouncing Lilligren for “Jim Crow tactics,” accusing the incumbent of encouraging other Somalis to file as candidates in the hopes of diluting Warsame’s Somali backing.“I’m not sure that these other East Africans know what they are doing,” Warsame says. “They all seem to have similar last names to myself. This is more dirty tricks on the part of our opponent.” The other candidates on the ballot include Mahamed Cali, who ran previously for City Council in 2009, Abdi Addow as well as Sheikh Abdul and Abukar Abdi.Lilligren flatly denies he was involved with putting up other Somali candidates to run. Continue Reading

Campaign financing and the price of democracy

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All indications are that the Supreme Court will soon declare yet another campaign finance reform measure unconstitutional, chipping away yet another piece of the Post-Watergate reforms that sought to limit the corrupting influence of money in politics. At least this is the indication based on the oral arguments in the recently argued McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission case. The Roberts Court will do this by arguing that the First Amendment protects the right of individual donors to expend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. The basis of the reasoning will be that aggregate spending limits by individuals does not corrupt or lend to the appearance of corruption of the political process. Continue Reading

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board District candidates answer your questions here!

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The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will elect commissioners for individual districts, and Twin Cities Daily Planet is offering you an opportunity to interact with the candidates in a direct and unique way. We sent out email invitations asking the candidates to supply a brief bio, and answer the following question: “What would be your top three priorities as member of the Minneapolis Park Board?”For at-large candidates for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board candidates, click here.District candidates for Park Board are:District 1 – Liz WielinskiDistrict 2 – David Luce and John OlsonDistrict 3 – Said Maye and Scott VreelandDistrict 4 – Bobby Davis and Anita Tabb District 5 – Stephanie Musich District 6 – Brad Bourn and Joshua NeimanRead the bios that they provided, and their answers to the question, posted below in alphabetical order, and then it’s your turn to ask a question. Post your questions as comments, either using Facebook or our in-house commenting system, and the candidates will give you their replies.We will continue to update the site with the candidates’ information as it’s received. See the bios and replies of those who responded first below, and check back for updates as other candidates respond.(Please note that while all candidates registered as Park Board candidates are welcome to participate, we were only able to send invitations to candidates who had valid email addresses listed. If you are a candidate running in this race and you did not receive an email invite, please contact paigeelliottt@tcdailyplanet.net or editor@tcdailyplanet.net so that we can include you in the forum. Continue Reading