Thoughts about the MN Independence Party

The Independence Party of Minnesota held their 2006 state wide convention at Midway Stadium in St. Paul on Saturday June 24th. Midway Stadium is the home of the St. Paul Saints an INDEPENDENT Baseball team in the American Association.

My wife and I arrived at Midway Stadium at 1:30, a half hour later than we wanted to after fighting road construction traffic along Interstate 94 and than after getting off the Interstate the traffic around the Minnesota State Fair Grounds for the Minnesota Street Rod Association annual Car Show. It is unfortunate that we weren’t the only ones that were arriving late as many people were arriving after us. We choose to pay the $6 to park in the Midway Stadium Parking lot rather than parking on the street and walking several blocks to the Stadium; something about the potential of rain that made us guess the $6 would be will spent.

We waited a few minutes to pickup our credentials; an Orange Bandanna, a Envelop of Ballots, the Proposed Standing Rules of the Convention and a few other odds and ends. The process could have been smoother, unfortunately a guest of wind had blown many of the check in documents off the table and they were no longer in order. We waited five minutes or so for them to find all the correct documentation. I was a little surprised that we were not asked for identification or to sign in once we received our credentials.

My wife and I made our way through the small throng of politicians and their supporters as we entered the stadium. We received our Team Minnesota Stickers, an open letter from Peter Hutchinson, a flyer on Minnesota first statewide election audit, a leaflet from Pam Ellison, and a brochure on Robert Fitzgerald. We spent a moment talking to Robert Fitzgerald’s father (sorry I forgot his name). Finally we made our way to the concession stand for a Coke and a half cold pretzel and than into the stadium.

A volunteer at the entrance to the seating area would have been very helpful; they could have been directing people to the proper section for sitting. While there were signs for some the Congressional Districts and some legislative districts it was not immediate clear where we were supposed to sit. We made our way up to the CD 4 sign and sat their for right or wrong.

Adam Levy and Emerson Lake and Lyndale were performing as we entered the seating area of the stadium. They sounded good it was too bad they were a little on the loud side. There was no way to hold a conversation without shouting at the person next to you.

We had sat down at 1:45 and I must say I was very concerned about attendance; there could not have been more than 75 people in the seating area; not a good sign.

State Party Chair Jim Moore called the convention to order and turned the Convention over to Peter Theraldson as Convention Chair as more delegates and their guests made their way into the sitting area. Seventy-five became 150; which became 300 and than 500. A total of 277 delegates we seated as well as 230 plus alternates and guests, it was without question the largest Convention for the MNIP.

The convention chair introduced us to ??? who would serve as Convention Parliamentarian.

We voted by acclimation to name ??? as the new State Party Treasurer.

There seems to have been more difficulty with the delegate count as a census of the delegates was called for. A couple of ideas were proposed and started on ways to actually do the census; in the end the Congressional District Chairs did a count row by row. Without Question I think a better check in plan could have

Endorsement Process for the U.S. Senate
I felt sorry for Steve Williams as he gave nomination acceptance speech; he is neither a good public speaker nor was he able to effectively communicate his platform to the delegates. By the end of his speech I was more interested in watching the Saints take batting practice, not a good sign for someone running for public office. Steve’s platform of a National Sales Tax to pay for Healthcare and Social Security is not new and has received little support in the past.

Jim Haviland speech was “interrupted” by several trains from the nearby tracks and it was difficult to gage his speaking ability with the interruptions and the lack of volume control one normally has while speaking (he had no choice but to speak load). Jim spoke about the lack of hope in many people and how he wished to restore hope. He made a few comments on his platform.

Robert Fitzgerald’s grandfather made a roaring and over the time limit introductory speech for Robert. Robert actually ceded time from his nomination acceptance speech to his grandfather and than gave the same speech I have heard three times. While Robert is the best speaker of the three candidates for US Senate I wish he would have given a different speech; I am pretty sure many in the audience had already heard the speech as he toured the state.

To vote for endorsement for the U.S. Senate we used Instant Run off Voting. In Instant Run Off Voting you rank the candidates in the order of your preference; if a candidate does not receive plurality of the vote, in the case of the MNIP 60%, the candidate with the least amounts of votes is eliminated and the ballots that list that candidate as the first choice are than moved into the second choice piles. While that is not a great description on Instant Run Off Voting it is good start.

I voted for Robert Fitzgerald with my first choice, Jim Haviland with my Second choice and Steve Williams with my third choice. While I think that both Jim and Robert had solid foundations for their platform (most of which I determined via their web-sites and mailings) I personally think the Robert has the better chance for victory in the General Election.

While they counted the ballots for U.S. Senate speeches by already endorsed Congressional Candidates were given.

First Tami Lee for the Fifth Congressional District gave a speech about her new home in the IP and how she hopes that every one would regard the IP as their political home.

John Binkowski for the Sixth Congressional District spoke next, John is a 27 year old candidate, in the Same district as Michelle Bachmann-R and Patty Wetterling-D, one of the worst candidate duos I have ever seen. John is without question the best public speaker at the convention and without question has my vote, but will has age scare off other voters.

On the First Ballot Robert received roughly 55%, Jim 35%, and Steve 10%. As no candidate received the necessary 60% Steve votes were eliminated and people who voted for Steve were now using their second choice. In the second ballot Robert received 61% and Jim 39%, with Robert receiving more than the 60% plurality required and the IP nomination. Robert made a short speech of thanks and we moved on to the next office for endorsement.

Proceeding the convention I though the closest race would be Endorsement for the Minnesota Governor between Pam Ellison and Peter Hutchinson. While I admit after some research I supported Peter over Pam there were no shortage of Pam supporters in the audience. I was worried it would take several ballots.

Pam Ellison and Kari Johnson spoke first; Kari was not the best public speaker and created a lull as she spoke; however when Pam spoke she engaged the crowd and people stopped watching the batting practice and turned their attention to Pam. Pam spoke on uniting the people, stopping political extortion, and I was surprised not much on education (which is her forte’).

Peter Hutchinson and Dr. Maureen Reed followed with Peter’s nomination and his speech. They focused on the four main themes of his campaign; Education, Health Care, Transportation, and the Environment with their motto “Not Left, Not Right, but Forward.” While both Peter and Dr. Reed were good speakers neither was truly exceptional today.

I voted for Peter over Pam because I believed he had a better resume’ and had already developed a better game plan for the campaign.

While the votes were being counted the Endorsement Process for the Minnesota Constitutional Offices was done via acclimation. Each of the candidates for the constitutional offices was given a few minutes at the mic, I cannot give much information on them as we waited for the oncoming rain their speeches were short and thanks for considering them.

Along with Peter Hutchinson and Dr. Maureen Reed Team Minnesota is made up with John James for Attorney General, Lucy Gerold for Minnesota Auditor and Joel Spoonheim for Secretary of State.

At least the past out ponchos before the rain arrived, it wasn’t a heavy rain but enough to be ignoring.

Jack Uldrich gave a speech on the future of the Independence Party of Minnesota, sorry Jack but I have no idea what you were done talking about after why he decided not to run for an office. So I can say it wasn’t the best speech of the day.

They announced the results of the first ballot for Governor, I must admit I had already filled out the second ballot figuring it was going to be close, and I wanted to make it as fast as possible. Peter and Maureen received 90% of the votes and the other 10% went to Pam and Kari. I had to hear the totals again; the Pam supporters sitting next to sat in shock. A number of people wearing Pam Buttons and other regalia had to have voted for Peter if it was that lopsided. Peter and Maureen gave a very short speech and thanked us for their votes and asked all of us to get involved in the campaign trail.

The convention was adjourned shortly after the short speeches by Peter and Maureen and those of us that paid the modest fee of $35 were given our tee-shirt and the picnic celebration; however my wife and I left as the rain looked more ominous, however it never did.

In conclusion I think that the IP is feeling a small amount of growing pains during this convention. A few more volunteers were needed and better organization would have been very helpful, I guess I just put myself on the line to help next time.
A criticism that was echoed by several around me was that the Convention Leadership made some mistakes in the process and some of his comments were made at times that they shouldn’t off; that was hard to explain.
While Jim Moore and most of the Candidates dressed up another complaint is about the dress of some of the more visible members of the IP. While I don’t mind shorts and tee-shirts, at least make them khaki shorts and make sure the tee-shirt looks clean; however a collared shirt would be preferred.