Gov. Tim Walz
BY ED FELIEN
We loved you. We especially loved you and Gwen when you talked about teaching kids and watching over the lunchroom in the Mankato public schools. I still have your lawn sign.
We thought you were on our side. You sounded like a prairie populist last year when you were running for Vice President.
But, now, you’ve joined with the DFL Party hacks who want to run the Party in the interests of big business. They repudiated the Minneapolis DFL endorsement we gave to Omar Fateh. There may have been mistakes at the Convention. It was sloppy, but the sentiment of the Minneapolis DFL delegates was clear: they wanted a progressive alternative to Jacob Frey, and three separate candidates joined together in one voice to endorse Omar Fateh.
The guy you appointed Party Chair and your buddies on the DFL Central Committee told us to go to hell (or at least purgatory) for two years. They threw us out of the DFL Party. And, then, you joined them and said you endorsed Jacob Frey for mayor.
Have you heard? Kathy Hochul, the Governor of New York, endorsed Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist, for Mayor of New York City. She knows she cannot win the race for Governor of New York without the active support of progressives in New York City.
You raised more than a million bucks after you announced your candidacy for Governor. I’m sure the big donors to Frey’s campaign were happy to open their wallets to you. But money alone might not be enough.
Since the Minneapolis DFL cannot meet to endorse candidates next year, perhaps a group calling itself the Farmer-Labor Caucus, or the Democratic Socialist Caucus, could meet and endorse a candidate for Governor. We have some wonderful progressive voices in Minneapolis that deserve a wider audience. Maybe after the City election in November, folks might think about Robin Wonsley or Aisha Chughtai as candidates for Governor on a third party ticket?
You have turned your back on us and pretended we don’t exist.
We should return the compliment.
