Elizabeth Dickinson for Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota

Seeing Green: Mayoral candidates challenge the status quo

by Nancy Sartor, Pulse of the Twin Cities, Volume 9: Issue 19, August 10–16, 2005, pp. 4–6

Minnesota may be a blue state, edging ever closer to red status, but as the September 13 primary approaches, Twin Cities voters will be seeing Green. This year Green Party Minnesota has endorsed two candidates for mayor: Farheen Hakeem in Minneapolis and Elizabeth Dickinson in St. Paul. Both women are first-time mayoral candidates and long-time social advocates. Most importantly, both are true idealists determined to challenge the status quo and give a pair of Democratic candidates — who are themselves locked in a too-close-to-call race — a fight for the keys to the cities.

Minneapolis

[Click here for the section on Minneapolis Green Party Mayoral Candidate, Farheen Hakeem.]

St. Paul

Elizabeth Dickinson knows that as a first-time political candidate, Farheen Hakeem has an "uphill battle" in the Minneapolis mayoral race. And while her own bid for mayor of St. Paul against incumbent Randy Kelly and Democrat Chris Coleman will not be easy, Dickinson has the benefit of hindsight, campaign experience, name recognition and community respect she earned during her Green Party run for a Ward 2 city council seat in 2003.

She lost that race to Dave Thune by a mere 123 votes, and spent a modest $10,000 on the entire campaign. In a world where big bankrolls often lead to political success, Dickinson's near-victory had a profound impact on her community.

"After that [city council race], Dave Thune was in my neighborhood holding meet and greets and clean energy forums," she said. "That would not have happened if I had not been in the race. I know because other candidates said, ‘I'm glad you're in the race, otherwise the environment wouldn't be on the radar.' I think there's value in that."

Dickinson's advocacy work in St. Paul led to impressive victories for environmentalists. As the founder of the Clean Energy Now coalition, she was instrumental in getting Xcel Energy to clean up its metro-area coal-burning plants. Both the High Bridge plant in St. Paul and the Riverside plant in Minneapolis will switch from burning coal to natural gas before 2010, and the A.S. King plant in Stillwater is slated to install the best-available pollution control technology by that time as well.

Her environmental success gives her a particular advantage against challenger Chris Coleman, who during his tenure on the St. Paul City Council in Ward 2 (1997-2003) was embroiled in conflict between his constituents and the Gopher State Ethanol (GSE) plant, which was located in his district. Shortly after GSE opened in 2000, residents began lodging numerous complaints about obnoxious odors and noise pollution. Many constituents expressed frustration at the lack of movement on the issue, which seemed grid locked between the city council and city attorneys, and complained that Coleman was not a strong advocate for their cause. GSE was closed in 2004.

Of her two challengers, Dickinson sees Coleman as the bigger threat. Or perhaps it's Coleman who sees Dickinson as the threat. "Chris Coleman is trying to reinvent himself as a progressive," said Dickinson. "He's been endorsed by Progressive Minnesota and there's all sorts of ironies there."

A livable wage is one of Progressive Minnesota's biggest issues. Its website states that part of its mission is to "extend living wage victories throughout the metro area, and strengthen policies that require businesses receiving public subsidies to create new jobs at livable wages." This makes its endorsement of Coleman puzzling, since as a city councilmember, he voted against a measure that would have ensured that St. Paul workers were paid a living wage by Target Corporation and Dayton's department store.

In February 2001, St. Paul awarded Target Corporation a $7.2 million cash grant to renovate its downtown Dayton's store. Target requested a waiver from the city's living wage policy, stating that it already met such requirements for its employees. At the time, Jay Benanav was the only city councilmember who asked Target to open its books and verify it was meeting the living wage requirement. Chris Coleman voted against it, and in the end, Target did not have to disclose any information.

As for Progressive Minnesota's narrow endorsement of Coleman — which comes with a cadre of benefits to the candidate, including a campaign manager and volunteers who phone bank and door knock — Dickinson said, "Ultimately it's the people who show up to the endorsing process to vote, and I think we needed three more votes to block the endorsement [of Coleman]. They turned out more votes. Basically their board said ‘we endorse to make a point, not to win.' Maybe they should rename themselves ‘Pragmatic Minnesota.'"

For true progressives and Green Party Minnesota, Dickinson is a dream candidate. In addition to founding the Clean Energy Now coalition, she's worked as a lobbyist, advocate and community affairs manager for the MN AIDS project, as well as an advocate for the Police/INS Separation Ordinance, the Code for Corporate Responsibility, Livable Wage and Clean Water Action. Her astute, soft-spoken demeanor has earned her respect among liberals and conservatives alike.

"I think one of my strengths as a person is that I can build trust pretty quickly. I can talk to very conservative people. Part of it is my demeanor and being respectful. And some of it is from my background — I have a masters in psych — and just getting into their heads and figuring out what is code for them."

Dickinson's mayoral platform calls for promoting clean air, water and energy through conservation and through renewable energy from wind and solar power. She also champions economic and social justice through a living wage, affordable housing, supports small businesses and expanding mass transit. And she's deeply committed to an "open door" policy at the mayor's office.

"The fundamental piece that is missing from the two front-runner candidates is a real neighborhood base and a deep commitment to community," she said. "I am talking about community issues — it's the number one part of my platform. Community councils and communities have been shut out of decision making at the mayor's office, particularly in regard to development issues."

Dickinson says small business owners are frustrated at the preferential treatment given to big developers. "I just came from a meeting with small businesses and they were up in arms about the fact that big businesses, along Grand Avenue in particular, get variances whenever they want them. There's a feeling that the character of neighborhoods is being destroyed and there's not a darn thing they can do about it. And that's because of the top-down style of management that Mayor Kelly has brought."

She goes on to say that at a recent environmental "Street Beat," Kelly openly declared his support for a floodwall around the Holman Field airport in St. Paul. Residents adamantly oppose the project, saying that the level of air traffic does not warrant it. But Kelly has publicly said the floodwall is necessary so that "the CEO of Gander Mountain can fly his plane into the city" and a major reason why the company located its headquarters here.

"I think what that speaks to is that there's nothing covert about his emphasis on big business," said Dickinson. "It's way out in the open. And I think if people understand that, they'll realize how far the politics has drifted to the right. It's amazing."

Of course, this is the same Randy Kelly who endorsed George Bush in the 2004 presidential election, which led to a brief "Recall Randy" campaign. With the ever-right-leaning Kelly clinging to the Democratic Party, and the moderate-conservative Coleman trying to reinvent himself as a progressive, both candidates fall prey to the same "mayor" and "mayor lite" formula that plagues Rybak and McLaughlin in Minneapolis. Which begs the question: can Dickinson win the primary on September 13?

"I think the primary is winnable," she said. "Certain things have to align right. We need incredible amounts of outreach so that people know who I am and what I represent. Nobody who supports me already can afford to sit back. They just can't. If people want to see somebody like me in office, they have to donate money, they have to take a lawn sign, they have to talk to other people about me, they have to e-mail other people, they have to talk to their neighbors, they have to distribute literature — they must be involved. It has to be a grassroots thing."

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