The Mission Now Is Clear
By Mitch Berg
Eva Ng advanced to the general election in Saint Paul last night, becoming the first Republican to make it to the final two since the French and Indian Wars of the 1760’s:
The municipal primary, a technically non-partisan affair, is designed to winnow the fields of candidates so that no more than two vie for each seat.
In the St. Paul mayoral race, Coleman was expected to be the top vote-getter. With 82 of 104 precincts reporting, he had nearly 68 percent of votes cast. Ng had about 26 percent. Perennial candidates Sharon Anderson (about 4 percent) and Bill Dahn (about 2 percent) appeared heading for elimination.
It’s a shame the Obama campaign so cheapened the meaning of the term “change” last year – because if there was ever a city that needed change, it’s Saint Paul. The city suffers from decades of one-party rule no more imaginative or responsive than that of, say, Burma; taxes and spending are rising out of control; crime is rising, after a few fairly placid decades; the city actively attacks business, especially small business owners; its housing policy is well on its way to denuding many neighborhoods of occupied homes to no tangible payback.
The city needs an alternative, an opposition party that can bring some accountability to the morass at Kellogg and Wabasha. Eva Ng is the best chance this city has had in decades to do something useful.
So if you’re a conservative – or even a working DFLer who is tired of paying through the nose and treated as a human ATM by a one-party regime – then you need to come out to support Eva. And if you’re a conservative outside Saint Paul, you need to help out – financially, or with shoe leather, or somehow, too. This is the biggest race in Minnesota all year; an upset victory would really shock the world.
The news isn’t all good:
Three incumbent St. Paul School Board members — Elona Street-Stewart, Tom Goldstein and John Brodrick — were leading a pack of seven vying for three four-year seats. Challengers Jean O’Connell, Chris Conner and John Krenik looked on their way to advancing as well for a general election contest.
The resignation of Tom Conlon left Saint Paul without any elected Republicans in any office anywhere; the Saint Paul School Board, as dismally, frantically, dementedly liberal as any body in the world, looks likely to remain on its current kamikaze ride to oblivion, leaving merely thankful that I got my kids the hell out of that festering plague ship.
Although there’s possibilities; in the race to replace Conlon…:
And, Vallay Moua Varro and Pat Igo were at the front of a foursome vying for a two-year seat on the school board.
Igo is a Republican, and would be a fantastic addition to the board; prayers for an outbreak of sanity among Saint Paul’s voters are actively solicited.
