Contributed Photo, And Thank God For That The Star Tribune kept an oh-so-straight face today when reporting on the results of the recent citywide DFL convention, which handily endorsed Mayor Rybak up against only Al "I-Am-The-Community" Flowers, charitably described in the STrib as a "community activist" but widely regarded as an unstable nutcase heckler-at-large.
A little birdie sent me some of the more entertaining details of the convention, stuff that didn't make it into the STrib like, oh gee, the actual freaking vote numbers.
Here they are...
Mayor R.T. Rybak, 75 Percent (591 votes)
No Endorsement, 16.2 Percent (128 votes)
Al FLowers, 8.8 Percent (69 votes)
My source put it this way: Al Flowers must have been running as some kind of anti-anti-establishment candidate, because he lost to the anti-establishment "No Endorsement" vote.
Reportedly, during his speech, Al Flowers talked about building "lie-berries." One participant in the convention, texting at that moment, wondered if the "lie-berries" would be for the "medium income" (sic) people Al Flowers often talks about. This bout of texting during the speech of Al Flowers caused fears among a handful of delegates that they might pee their pants laughing.
I was told (but have not confirmed it) this is the first time in the history of Minneapolis that a "question and answer session" has been skipped at this kind of convention. To which I say: those who say "first time in history" are usually talking about their own historical memory, and assuming or inferring much from that. When an actual historian tells me, then I might believe it. They say those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it, but so often "repeat it" just means "repeat what somebody else said about it."
Johnny Northside approaches all "first time in history" claims with deep cynicism.
In any case...
Hopefully, Al Flowers will stay in the race for comic relief, which is sorely needed during this recession.
ADDENDUM: Total ballots, 788. Spoiled ballots, 14.
Ha!
ReplyDelete"comes in 3rd in a 2-way race" - that IS FREAKING HYSTERICAL!"
Flowers did indeed talk of lie-berries and you can see video of his speech on the MPLS Mirror webpage:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mplsmirror.com/joomla/
Also at the DFL convo was Farheen Hakeem wearing a Flower t-shirt in some campign role: manager, aide-de-camp, advisor, I am not sure.
- A DFL Delegate
In a related piece of gossip: Natonia Johnson has been flapping her mouth lately about running against Don Samuels for the 5th Ward Council seat, citing Kenya McKnight as being too inexperienced. This is second-hand information, and also Natonia has a history of continually saying that she's going to do things that she never follows through on, so take that for what it's worth. Natonia is another one of Al "let's funnel city funds to our cronies and call it community activism" McFarlane's minions.
ReplyDeleteIs he wearing pink???
ReplyDeletePINK FLOWERS!?!
His wife's name is Petunia.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Not kidding. I hear she is very nice and adorable.
I know this is an old string but I saw somebody hate on Natonia. She's one of the nicest folks I have ever known. She may not follow through on things but let her have faults. It shows your human. Me and you have them too, just different. I couldn't pass on braggin on what a wonderful person she is. No offense, but none to her either. James Nelson, (one of Natonia's neighbors and friends).
ReplyDelete