Thursday, January 3, 2013
The biggest stories of the past year.
With 2012 being a presidential election year, it’s no surprise there was no shortage of political news over the past 12 months. What was more unexpected was just how much conflict there was in some races that turned out to be routs. Add in the twists and turns of a long-awaited project, and you have an eventful year. 5th District Race Gets Ugly Incumbent Rep. Keith Ellison and Republican Chris Fields traded barbs throughout the race for the 5th District seat. But the nastiness hit a new low less than three weeks before Election Day, when the opponents launched personal attacks during a debate on KFAI Radio. The two called each other liars, and Ellison twice called his Fields a "lowlife scumbag." Southwest Light Rail Sees Ups and Downs …
Friday, November 9, 2012
Voters in the mostly suburban cities Patch covers were more opposed to the proposed gay-marriage ban than Minnesota voters generally.
Here's how residents in a selection of Minnesota cities voted on the ballot measure that would have added a definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman to the state Constitution. Statewide, the ballot measure failed to exceed the 50 percent level of support it needed in the Nov. 6, 2012 general election. It got 47.53 percent, according to unofficial results from all but two of Minnesota's 4,102 precincts' results. Taken together, people in cities served by Patch—mostly in the Twin Cities suburbs—rejected the marriage amendment in greater proportion (61.21 percent) than Minnesotans taken as a whole (52.47 percent). Support for the amendment in places covered by Patch ranged from 14.51 percent in Southwest Minneapolis to 54.…
Ninth grader Dmytro Deyneko, who’s from Hopkins’ sister city of Boryspil, praised a process so many American take for granted.
Americans have no shortage of complaints about their electoral system: There are too many negative ads. There’s too much money. The campaigns are too contentious. But that’s not the way a visiting Ukrainian student from Hopkins’ sister city of Boryspil sees it. Ninth grader Dmytro Deyneko is one of several Ukrainian students in the community as part of The Ukraine/Minnesota Civic Leadership Engagement Program for Youth. The students are attending local schools, participating in civic leadership development activities and sharing their thoughts with the Minnesota youth. As part of the program, Deyneko got to observe this year’s election process. When the City Council officially welcomed the students Wednesday, Deyneko took that as an …
‘Major opponents of transit lost their 2012 re-election bids, particularly in the areas representing the Southwest Light Rail Transit Corridor.’
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Friday, November 9, 2012
Editor’s Note: The Counties Transit Improvement Board, a five-county agency that invests in transit using a quarter-cent sales tax and $20 a motor vehicle sales tax, published this article Thursday. The election results make it clear the dialogue about transit in the State of Minnesota has changed. “Voters throughout the State of Minnesota expressed the desire to shift the state’s focus to fundamental questions about how we can best invest in our communities to achieve a prosperous and thriving future,” said Counties Transit Improvement Board Chair Peter McLaughlin. “Transit is part of the solution that will make our region competitive.” Major opponents of transit lost their 2012 re-election bids, particularly in the areas representing…
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Election Day is bringing in a Legislature that should be more supportive of LRT.
For the past couple years, the road ahead for the Southwest Light Rail Transit was uncertain. It faced steeped opposition from leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature who oversaw key transportation committees. Shakopee Rep. Michael Beard, the former Transportation Policy and Finance Committee chairman, once even said he wanted to stop the project "in its tracks." But all that changed Tuesday night when the DFL took control of both the House and Senate—sweeping in more light rail supporters and handing the reins to a party that’s historically been a bigger backer of public transit. “The bottom line is we didn’t get anywhere (before), so it’s pretty significant to us,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, chairwoman of …
In Hopkins, 38 percent of voters favored the amendment.
Here's how residents in a selection of Minnesota cities voted on the proposed Voter ID amendment to the state Constitution, which would have required photo ID at polling places. Statewide, the ballot measure failed to pass the 50 percent level of support it needed (46.34 percent with all but three Minnesota precincts' results). But if citizens in 14 of these 36 Patch communities had their way, the state Constitution would have a new amendment. Support for the amendment in these cities covered by Patch ranged from 19.30 percent in Southwest Minneapolis to 61.23 percent in St. Michael.* (Lake Minnetonka Patch covers several cities, including Minnetrista, Tonka Bay, Wayzata, Mound, Shorewood, Orono, Spring Park, Deephaven, Long Lake and …
‘(The win) does mean a little less overt political friction, but there are still meaningful limits on what can be done,’ said Hopkins Rep. Steve Simon.
On Tuesday night, Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate after just two years at the helm of the Minnesota Legislature. At least some Democrats are attributing that in part to the marriage and voter ID amendments. But DFLer Steve Simon, who easily won another term representing Hopkins and St. Golden Valley, has another idea: The current Republican majority over-interpreted their win in 2010 and over-reached in their attempts to push through policies. The DFL legislators should remember that as they pursue their own legislation, he said. “(The win) does mean a little less overt political friction, but there are still meaningful limits on what can be done,” Simon said. “It’s a different kind of limitation. It’s a self-imposed …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
‘Hopkins Votes’ is a mock election that teaches students about the democratic process.
Hopkins students may have come to the same conclusions as Minnesotans who can actually vote, but the races in their districtwide mock election were decided in a much more one-sided fashion than the real races that had voters staying awake late into the night. Hopkins students picked President Barack Obama by more than a three-to-one margin and favored Sen. Amy Klobuchar nearly five to one. The amendment questions that were up in the air for so long in the actual election lost in a landslide. “Hopkins Votes” is a mock election organized by the Hopkins school district. Students learn about how voting works, voting etiquette and what it means to be a good citizen. Fourth through sixth graders vote for both president and senator, using only …
The community had nearly 300 more voters in 2012 than in 2008.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed the number of the precinct that had the second-lowest increase in voter turnout. That error has since been fixed. Minnesota still has several precincts uncounted, but Hopkins is on track to surpass the already substantial voter turnout seen across the state, according to results from the Secretary of State’s office. Hopkins had 292 more people vote in the 2012 presidential election than in 2008—an increase of 3.38 percent. By contrast, Minnesota is currently showing a .71 percent increase with 99.05 percent of precincts reporting. The biggest increases in Hopkins came in Precinct 2, which includes the Presidential neighborhood, Interlachen and the Blake Road Corridor. That…
All incumbents in county commissioner races defended challenges from opponents touting their fiscally conservative credentials.
Daryl Fryxell
1:08 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
This cadre of unelected bureaucrats can claim that wasteful spending on LRT got a boost from the election. But their claim does not make it so. We have a metro bus system where the taxpayers already subsidize transportation for others. What we need to do is abolish the Met Council, abolish this Counties Transit Improvement Board, and put the savings in the general fund. End of story. more ›