I'm glad Terry is writing about this. But the situation is probably even worse than he is making it out. Here is an important additional detail from the Star Tribune:
"In addition, Council Member Linea Palmisano, who supported Mayor Jacob Frey and left the voting floor toward the end of the convention, said she saw individuals picking up the delegate badges she and others had returned, and waving them as part of the final “show-of-hands” style vote that ultimately clinched the endorsement for Fateh."
So let's be clear, it wasn't just incompetence here. Choudhary, Fateh supporters are evidently perfectly willing to commit fraud to get their candidate over the line.
The convention was so poorly run, I feel like the public needs a brighter light shone on Mpls DFL leadership itself. Who was the overall leader for the convention? Who was responsible for organizing and decision-making for different aspects? Tie convention failures to specific individuals. Those people should never be let anywhere near DFL leadership positions ever again. Embarrassing.
100%, really glad to see TW addressing this but there is still a little too much "Minnesota Nice" in political coverage, which will be relentlessly exploited by bad actors as long as it continues.
1. The entire caucus to convention process, which was a giant mess of sloppy recordkeeping (losing the Ward 5 delegate roster? Having no one at one precinct of Ward 6? Scraps of paper serving as credentials?) and questionable procedure and misunderstanding of the gender rules (especially with the significant number of non-binary people on caucus night), was the precursor to the chaos of the conventions. But asking people to caucus for 4 hours, then go to a ward convention for 5-8 hours, and then a city convention for 13 hours, is fundamentally undemocratic. At its core, the caucus process is rabidly exclusionary and keeps everyday voices out of the mix. It's Christmas for insiders (of whatever political persuasion) and a giant turnoff for normal voters.
2. Yes, DSA/leftist members controlled the caucus process, and most of the ward conventions, and nearly the whole of the city convention. But, on the other hand, DSA members were the only people who volunteered for thankless, unpaid work of making the caucus and conventions happen. If moderates want more of a say, they need to volunteer and run the conventions and do the hard work of emailing and texting people to show up, establishing websites and forms for registrations and recordkeeping, renting spaces, setting up tables and chairs, setting up audio-video equipment, and making sure people are checked in properly. They need to step up to chair conventions, too. If DSA members aged 18-40 do ALL THE WORK, only to have moderates aged 40 to 80 complain, it's not fair. Moderates need to show up, get elected to the DFL machinery, and do their part.
3. The failure of the electronic balloting at the city convention was a disaster that the Minneapolis DFL and co-chairs tried to paper over in real-time. Some still are arguing their case. At the convention, people were told the undercount was user error and wifi-related. Their misleading and gaslighting actions were inexcusable.
4. Frey's team did miscalculate and attempt to deny quorum on convention day. In retrospect, it doesn't matter, because they still mostly got what they wanted in a painful and convoluted way: no endorsement. But they also abandoned legitimate Park Board candidates, which was wrong.
DSAers were in complete charge of this charge of this convention, characterized by gross incompetence and, it appears, by cheating on behalf of their candidate Fateh. That leaves voters little reason to doubt that if Fateh were elected mayor, the city would be run in the same manner as the convention.
It is significant that DSAers such as Ilhan Omar and Katie Cashman condemn the revocation of Fateh's endorsement without so much as a mention of the small matter of 176 missing ballots! Clear evidence that they believe the end justifies whatever means.
Anyone else disappointed at how little news coverage was allotted to this issue? I mean this is real election interference, something the DFL has stated does not exist.
I have read a few stories but I understand your frustration. It’s difficult to assign intent. There were clearly mistakes, but were they designed to help one candidate? Without proof of that, news organizations are going to avoid covering it.
I know I always sound a little conspiratorial but like my beliefs with ranked choice voting, what if the goal if not to get someone elected but to remove specific candidates from the election. I don't think the DSA really cares as much about who is elected but rather who is not.
Unfortunately many are choosing to stick to the original endorsement as being real and will continue to do so right up until the election. Similar to the "feeding or future" scandal there is a knowledge that reversing the accusations may just give them the win. They can deal with the courts later if ever. The improprieties had to have been so agresious for the DFL to reverse the endorsement so quickly that it's a shame they did not take it a step further and recommend possible prosecution.
I'm glad Terry is writing about this. But the situation is probably even worse than he is making it out. Here is an important additional detail from the Star Tribune:
"In addition, Council Member Linea Palmisano, who supported Mayor Jacob Frey and left the voting floor toward the end of the convention, said she saw individuals picking up the delegate badges she and others had returned, and waving them as part of the final “show-of-hands” style vote that ultimately clinched the endorsement for Fateh."
https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-mayor-dfl-endorsement/601458921
So let's be clear, it wasn't just incompetence here. Choudhary, Fateh supporters are evidently perfectly willing to commit fraud to get their candidate over the line.
The convention was so poorly run, I feel like the public needs a brighter light shone on Mpls DFL leadership itself. Who was the overall leader for the convention? Who was responsible for organizing and decision-making for different aspects? Tie convention failures to specific individuals. Those people should never be let anywhere near DFL leadership positions ever again. Embarrassing.
100%, really glad to see TW addressing this but there is still a little too much "Minnesota Nice" in political coverage, which will be relentlessly exploited by bad actors as long as it continues.
I have complicated opinions about the convention:
1. The entire caucus to convention process, which was a giant mess of sloppy recordkeeping (losing the Ward 5 delegate roster? Having no one at one precinct of Ward 6? Scraps of paper serving as credentials?) and questionable procedure and misunderstanding of the gender rules (especially with the significant number of non-binary people on caucus night), was the precursor to the chaos of the conventions. But asking people to caucus for 4 hours, then go to a ward convention for 5-8 hours, and then a city convention for 13 hours, is fundamentally undemocratic. At its core, the caucus process is rabidly exclusionary and keeps everyday voices out of the mix. It's Christmas for insiders (of whatever political persuasion) and a giant turnoff for normal voters.
2. Yes, DSA/leftist members controlled the caucus process, and most of the ward conventions, and nearly the whole of the city convention. But, on the other hand, DSA members were the only people who volunteered for thankless, unpaid work of making the caucus and conventions happen. If moderates want more of a say, they need to volunteer and run the conventions and do the hard work of emailing and texting people to show up, establishing websites and forms for registrations and recordkeeping, renting spaces, setting up tables and chairs, setting up audio-video equipment, and making sure people are checked in properly. They need to step up to chair conventions, too. If DSA members aged 18-40 do ALL THE WORK, only to have moderates aged 40 to 80 complain, it's not fair. Moderates need to show up, get elected to the DFL machinery, and do their part.
3. The failure of the electronic balloting at the city convention was a disaster that the Minneapolis DFL and co-chairs tried to paper over in real-time. Some still are arguing their case. At the convention, people were told the undercount was user error and wifi-related. Their misleading and gaslighting actions were inexcusable.
4. Frey's team did miscalculate and attempt to deny quorum on convention day. In retrospect, it doesn't matter, because they still mostly got what they wanted in a painful and convoluted way: no endorsement. But they also abandoned legitimate Park Board candidates, which was wrong.
Thank you for these well articulated comments.
DSAers were in complete charge of this charge of this convention, characterized by gross incompetence and, it appears, by cheating on behalf of their candidate Fateh. That leaves voters little reason to doubt that if Fateh were elected mayor, the city would be run in the same manner as the convention.
It is significant that DSAers such as Ilhan Omar and Katie Cashman condemn the revocation of Fateh's endorsement without so much as a mention of the small matter of 176 missing ballots! Clear evidence that they believe the end justifies whatever means.
Did Katie make a statement? I didn’t see it. Can you post or send to me?
Anyone else disappointed at how little news coverage was allotted to this issue? I mean this is real election interference, something the DFL has stated does not exist.
I have read a few stories but I understand your frustration. It’s difficult to assign intent. There were clearly mistakes, but were they designed to help one candidate? Without proof of that, news organizations are going to avoid covering it.
I know I always sound a little conspiratorial but like my beliefs with ranked choice voting, what if the goal if not to get someone elected but to remove specific candidates from the election. I don't think the DSA really cares as much about who is elected but rather who is not.
Unfortunately many are choosing to stick to the original endorsement as being real and will continue to do so right up until the election. Similar to the "feeding or future" scandal there is a knowledge that reversing the accusations may just give them the win. They can deal with the courts later if ever. The improprieties had to have been so agresious for the DFL to reverse the endorsement so quickly that it's a shame they did not take it a step further and recommend possible prosecution.
Here was my take:
https://open.substack.com/pub/catchgroove/p/2025-minneapolis-municipal-elections?r=5hgtj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false