Omar Fateh
BY ED FELIEN
On Aug. 19 the State DFL Constitution, By-laws and Rules Committee determined that the City DFL endorsement of Omar Fateh wasn’t valid and people in the city couldn’t do anything about it. We couldn’t hold another convention. And, what’s more, we can’t even meet for two years to endorse anything or anybody without an approved chaperone: “The Minneapolis DFL is on probation by the CBRC for a period of two years“ and any plans must be approved by the DFL State Executive Committee.
Have they told us to “Go to hell”?
OK, maybe not hell, maybe just two years in purgatory until we are purged of our sins.
The opinion was undoubtedly written by Co-Chair Tim O’Brien, a lawyer from Faegre, Baker and Daniels who has represented persons and firms engaged in the construction industry.
No class conflict with democratic socialists there.
State Party Chair, Richard Carlbom, a partner in the firm United Strategies, received $30,000 in consulting fees from the Frey campaign this year.
No conflict there.
Nothing to see here.
This is precisely the corruption in the Democratic Party that has reduced it to a 32% approval rating nationally. Working people no longer believe the Democratic Party represents their interests.
The City DFL Convention was marred by several irregularities. It started late and the voting mechanism was a disaster. Many experienced observers believe Frey people deliberately sabotaged the convention in the hopes of dragging it out so there could be no endorsement.
And it would have worked except for the quick thinking of Aisha Chughtai. She swiftly organized a vote for endorsement by a show of badges. The Frey campaign challenged that, but even the corrupt CBRC had to accept her move as legitimate.
About the CBRC decision, Chughtai said ”I thought it was a core DFL value to believe in democracy and democratic will. Eight thousand people participated in this process across the city, elected their representatives to go to a city endorsement, and those elected representatives spent 14 hours that day at an endorsement convention to reach this outcome, to reach an endorsement. And to have 28 [outstate] party insiders undermine the will of thousands of Minneapolis residents when they don’t even live here, that to me is just disappointing.”
There are powerful interests supporting Jacob Frey, but they got less than a third of the votes. Two-thirds of the delegates voted for change. It was a coalition of Omar Fateh’s Democratic Socialists and a more moderate liberal group organized by DeWayne Davis that ended up with two-thirds of the votes and an endorsement at the DFL City Convention.
Frey’s people want you to believe socialists are somehow scary and different.
Socialists want a world based on love for your neighbor and hope for your community. Paul Wellstone used to say, “We all do better when we all do better.” And that means taking care of the least of us first. We must care for the homeless and the hungry because they are our brothers and our sisters.
Somehow, at some point, believing in loving thy neighbor as thyself became un-American. And, somehow, the people who fight mightily for the rich and powerful came to call themselves Christians.
The action of the State DFL leadership to disenfranchise the Minneapolis DFL will have profound and historic consequences.
They believe they have the power to forbid us to meet, to discuss politics and to decide on a course of action. We can exercise our rights to speech and assembly only under their supervision if we want to call ourselves DFL. They are forcing us to leave the DFL and form an alternative political organization in order to be free to express ourselves politically.
There will be precinct caucuses Feb. 3, 2026 to elect delegates who will endorse candidates for the State Legislature and candidates for U S Senator, Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State. Republicans and DFLers will hold caucuses on the same night. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate our contempt for the action of the State DFL would be to also hold meetings on that night. We could call ourselves Democratic Socialists of America or the Farmer-Labor Association (the socialist/populist political party that Humphrey merged with the Democratic Party in 1944).
Ilhan Omar recognized this action by the State DFL was suicidal: “Minneapolis is the heart of the engine of Democratic turnout in our state. Undoubtedly, this appalling decision will leave many voters feeling discouraged and unwelcome from participating in our party.”
If we organize ourselves into a political party or an association, we could endorse candidates who support the City of Minneapolis and not the big-money special interests.
When Hillary would not work with Bernie, she lost. When Biden worked with Bernie, he won.
The handwriting is on the wall.
