Last week we endorsed candidates Elizabeth Glidden for ward 8 and Scott Persons for ward 10 for Minneapolis city council. This week we’ll make endorsements for wards 2,6, and 9.

Lets start with ward 2. The Latino population has been growing dramatically in this ward in the past ten years. We have two candidates that would represent our community well in Ward 2. Both had similar answers to our questions, but Cam Gordon answered the questions with more detail, and had some significant proposals that we feel could benefit the Latino community greatly. Gordon won us over with his proposal of allowing non-citizen Minneapolis residents to vote in local elections. It takes a lot of guts in the current political environment to make such a common sense proposal. We also liked his idea of the city hiring an ombudsman to help immigrants navigate through the cities complicated bureaucracy when looking at opening a business. Gordon is a member of the Green party, which has been very active in endorsing candidates of color this year.

Gordon went beyond answering our questions and sent us campaign literature translated into very well translated and written Spanish, which shows a genuine effort to win over Latino voters.

Cara Letofsky impressed us with her many years of community activism, and with her efforts at establishing the nationally recognized “Mujeres Latinas en accion”. She would represent the Latino community well but Gordon’s proposals seemed more concrete. Letofsky is endorsed by the DFL party, has a lot of labor endorsements, and is endorsed by the Somali American Democratic Association, and the police and firefighter unions. Gordon is endorsed by the Green Party and the Sierra Club. Bottom line: We were more impressed with Cam Gordon’s proposals and he won our endorsement.

Ward 9 probably has the largest Latino community in Minneapolis. In this electoral contest we chose the incumbent Gary Schiff. Schiff has an extensive track record supporting positions that protect immigrants and the Latino Community. Schiff together with Dean Zimmermann was instrumental in having the permit denial revoked so that The Mercado Central could celebrate “El Grito” on Mexican independence day this year. Schiff was the author of an ordinance that prohibits the Minneapolis police form asking immigration status when someone is detained by the police, and has lead efforts against overturning this ordinance by the governor.

Schiff created a program that allows residents and businesses to clean graffiti at no cost to them. Gang graffiti has been a very annoying problem for many of us. Schiff also authored an ordinance that allows the city of Minneapolis to accept the Matricula consular of México as a form of ID. He has carefully worked with Ramon Leon at LEDC many times in helping Latino businesses navigate through the many roadblocks the city throws at new business owners. Schiff deserves to be reelected to the city council and deserves to be supported by the Latino Community because he has always been there for us.

His opponent David Bicking also would represent well the 9th ward. He answered our questionnaire very well. Bicking pleasantly surprised us by also supporting that legal residents should also be allowed to vote, not just citizens (which would triple the amount of our employees allowed to vote). He was also the only candidate to mention that allowing police to ask immigration status from detained individuals would lead to further “profiling” based on our color of skin. Bicking is a business owner and understands the challenges faced for business owners in this city. Bicking also has translated campaign material, again showing better outreach to Latinos by green candidates than by DFL’ers. He has even a translated section to Spanish and Somali in his web site. Bicking is a great candidate, but he couldn’t convince us that Schiff didn’t deserve reelection.

Last, but not least the sixth ward. This is a very important election for us. Both candidates are currently incumbents. Unfortunately they have been forced to run against each other, as a consequence of redistricting. Both are great friends of the Latino community. This ward has one of the biggest Latino communities in Minneapolis.

To further complicate this election the FBI recently added a lot of controversy for this election. As many of you know, the FBI visited one of the candidates Dean Zimmermann recently, just a few days before the primary, and looking for evidence they confiscated campaign computers and files, with a search order that claimed Zimmermann had taken bribes. SO far Zimmermann has neither been indicted and much less convicted. The FBI seems to have a weak case and Zimmermann has responded very well to the accusations. The FBI investigation shouldn’t affect how you vote on Election Day. Gente de Minnesota has always had a very tough line against corruption. As we’ve mentioned in previous editorials one of the biggest causes of poverty in Latin America is corruption. If he was guilty he should be punished with the full force of the law. We don’t believe he is guilty. Zimmermann has always been a good friend of the Latino Community, and he deserves a fair judicial process. So far it seems like a witch-hunt.

It was up to some of us at the editorial committee we’d declare a tie in the sixth. But we’ll be decisive and endorse Robert Lilligren. Gete de Minnesota has been very critical of the Minneapolis political parties for not electing candidates of color. To be fair four of the ten candidates the Green Party, Zimmermann’s party, endorsed this year were people of color. Two out of three Green elected officials are African American women.

Gente de Minnesota believes strongly in affirmative action. So if we have a tie we have to endorse Robert Lilligren, who is a Native American tribal member. Lilligren has also been a good friend of the Latino community. He was co-author with Schiff and Zimmermann of the ordinance that prohibits police officers form asking immigration status. He’s developed real estate, been a landlord and helped Latino families become homeowners. He understands how tough it is for immigrants to become homeowners in Minneapolis and how tough it is to run a business. He has helped Latino businesses navigate through the tough city bureaucracy. Lilligren has worked with LEDC to help Latino businesses get set up in the Midway exchange. He helped Go Latino get a permit to celebrate Mexican Independence in Lake Street.
As we mentioned earlier Zimmermann and Schiff were key in overturning a permit denial this year for the Mercado Centrals celebration of “El grito” Mexican independence day. He helped Los Gallos, a business so many of us use, get the necessary permits to expand in more locations. He is in the board of Directors of Centro.

We’re very sad to see that these two strong friends of the Latino community have been placed in the same ward. Zimmermann fought against the unjust redistricting that divided the Native and Latino communities into different wards, making it that much harder to elect Latinos and Natives to the city council. Ironically because of this injustice we are forced to endorse Lilligren, whom we know will represent well his community and ours.

Zimmermann will continue to be our friend, but the city council urgently needs ethnic diversity now.