As I noted yesterday, there’s going to be a debate among the candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis.

The DFL ones, anyway.

Cam Winton – a former DFLer who is running a fiscally-conservative, socially-moderate campaign with backing from Republicans and DFLers who get that Minneapolis is rapidly going broke and frittering scarce resources away on “nice-to-haves” while the necessities go begging, has a murder rate three times the state’s (and double Saint Paul’s), and the city careens toward a pension meltdown – wrote to Dr. Larry Jacobs at the Humphrey Institute to ask why.

The letter is below the jump.

Here goes:

Dr. Eric Schwartz

Professor and Dean

Humphrey School of Public Affairs

University of Minnesota

Dear Dean Schwartz:

We haven’t met, but I’m a candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. I write regarding the “Minneapolis Mayor Candidate Debate” that the Humphrey School will be hosting on March 27th.

Prof. Larry Jacobs is moderating the debate. As I explain in detail below, he is excluding me from participating because I am not a member of the DFL Party.

Respectfully, I believe that it’s inappropriate for a non-partisan, public institution like the Humphrey School to sponsor a debate with the candidates from only one political party, for two key reasons:

1. Excluding me conflicts with the Humphrey School’s stated mission:

To invite five candidates from one party (i.e., the DFL) and intentionally exclude any candidates not in that party is inconsistent with the Humphrey School’s stated mission of “Public engagement and scholarship to address important issues and to solve problems facing Minnesota, the nation, and the world in a non-partisan setting.” (Emphasis added.) http://www.hhh.umn.edu/about/ataglance.html

As I understand it, the stated goal of the debate is to illuminate the issues and candidates for Minneapolis residents participating in the DFL caucuses in April, 2013. My participation would be consistent with that goal, and in fact would advance it, as the contrasts between my positions and those of my DFL opponents would put the DFLers’ positions in starker relief.

There are plenty of other enterprises in town that could sponsor a DFL-only debate, including the DFL itself. But for the Humphrey School to exclude me while not putting on any similar debate for “non-DFL candidates” — I am the only one — is inconsistent with its non-partisan mission.

2. Excluding me jeopardizes the University’s tax status:

To put on a debate that includes candidates from only one party jeopardizes the University’s tax status. As you are likely aware, contributions to the Humphrey School (and to the University as a whole) are currently tax-deductible because of the University’s status as a “governmental unit.” http://tax.umn.edu/assets/pdf/Tax%20Status%20Letter%20Signed%20April%202008.pdf

Under the terms of that status, for donors to Humphrey School (and the University as a whole) to continue to receive tax deductions for their contributions, contributions must flow to “exclusively public purposes.” Internal Revenue Code, 170(c)(1). Putting on a debate that excludes any candidates not from a given party is a partisan purpose, not a “public” one.

Therefore, if Prof. Jacobs were to hold a debate solely for DFL candidates that excluded the candidates of any other party, the School’s tax status would be jeopardized. (And if Prof. Jacobs tried to argue that the School were putting on the debate using solely public funds, rather than private-donor funds or mixed funds, he would be creating an entirely new legal problem for the School given that it can’t spend public funds on a partisan purpose.)

My campaign and I have sought to resolve this matter with Prof. Jacobs directly:

In an effort to resolve this issue directly, my campaign has corresponded and spoken directly with Prof. Jacobs on this item. I’ve also spoken with him myself. He refuses to budge. Over time, he’s presented four different, shifting rationales for excluding me:

a. He stated that the debate had been marketed from the start as a “DFL Candidate Debate.” When it was pointed out to him that that statement was egregiously incorrect, he had some (but not all) of the marketing references changed to include “DFL” — but the listing on the Humphrey School’s own events page continues to refer broadly to “Minneapolis Mayor Candidate Debate.” [Cam note 3/20/13: They fixed this, but just yesterday.] Please note, though, that even with a revised name, the proposed DFL-only event would still violate the School’s mission and tax status.

b. He stated he puts on events representing all parts of the political spectrum. That may be true, but this event is not just any event — it’s a debate for candidates from one particular party that excludes candidates who are not in that party. When I asked him whether he had ever previously put on a debate with candidates from just one party, Prof. Jacobs repeatedly refused to answer the question.

c. He stated that I should not worry about being excluded from this debate since “it’s early” and “there will be other debates.” Those facts are irrelevant. The Humphrey School’s mission is permanent — not to be adhered to and ignored at whim. Similarly, the tax laws are permanent — institutions and their personnel cannot choose to ignore them simply because it’s early in a given campaign cycle.

d. He stated that the School strives to put on events that are “relevant” and then asked me when a Republican candidate last won election as mayor of Minneapolis. I replied that his very question was irrelevant — while I have been active in the GOP, it’s a non-partisan, municipal-level election, I’m not seeking the endorsement of any party, and the use of Ranked-Choice Voting makes it a wide-open race.

On a related note, when he and I spoke, he condescendingly told me that since I was “new in this [political] world” he would inform me of how things are usually done — which meant, apparently, not push back when someone is violating the mission and threatening the tax status of the University.

I am indeed a first-time candidate — but for much longer than I’ve been a candidate, I’ve been a citizen, voter, and attorney –and since this debate was first publicized, people across the political spectrum have reached out to me to express their agreement with my view that since the Humphrey School is a public, non-partisan institution — and given that I’m a credible contender for mayor (http://www.wintonformayor.org/media_coverage) — the School should allow me to participate in the debate on March 27.

Summary

The Humphrey School is poised to put on a debate that would be inconsistent with its stated mission and would jeopardize its tax status. I ask that the Humphrey School allow me to participate. I would be happy to discuss this topic with you or others. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Cam Winton

In the interest of making sure I had the story straight, I also wrote to Dr. Jacobs.

Cam and I both got responses.

They were very similar – and they didn’t really answer either of our questions.

More tomorrow.