Travis Randolph Lee, Husband Of Former North Minneapolis Council Person Natalie Johnson Lee, Charged With Raping A Woman In South St. Paul Hotel Room...

Photo, blog post by John Hoff

Some weeks ago, KSTP reported the arrest of Travis Randolph Lee, 52, on a charge (not yet proven) of third degree criminal sexual conduct. Though the story names Travis R. Lee, and a mugshot can be found online for the arrest, KSTP does not mention Lee's prominent place in North Minneapolis politics as the husband of former Fifth Ward City Council Person Natalie Johnson Lee. Travis Lee is also the publisher of The Trendsetter, a publication that, it can be charitably said, appears from time to time. 

After losing office, Natalie Johnson Lee tried again, unsuccessfully, to regain the Fifth Ward seat and is considered by many to be a likely candidate for any future Fifth Ward race. 

JNS blog has confirmed the arrest report concerns the same Travis Randolph Lee who is married to Natalie Johnson Lee. I confirmed this by speaking to blogger Don Allen, who (Don Allen states) has personally known Travis Lee for approximately 25 years and...

Trendsetter Newspaper Reappears Like Mushrooms After A Hard Rain...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Apparently it happened within the last month or so: the dead tree media entity called "Trendsetter Newspaper" has reappeared after a hiatus of, well, who knows? Copies can be found at Cub Foods on West Broadway bearing a price of $1 per issue but containing far less newsprint than, for example, free copies of City Pages.

Trendsetter Newspaper is run by Travis Lee, a professional photographer and husband of former fifth ward city council person Natalie Johnson-Lee, who did not manage to unseat Don Samuels in the last election. Trendsetter was the subject of brief, intense political debate back in 2005, here's a link to some of that discussion, click here.

For a random YouTube clip of tree-sitting activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill, click here, and remember to ask yourself, "What is your tree?"

(Do Not Click "Read More")

Hawkman Post-Election Analysis

Guest post by the Hawthorne Hawkman. Contributed photo.

Now that all but the last few park board seats have been officially declared, it's time to examine what happened in the 2009 city elections. I hate to get all legalistic, but it's gotta be done: The following commentary is attributed to Jeff Skrenes, private citizen, not John Hoff or any other organization that cannot weigh in on political candidates. (Click here for John's "gloves are off" post-election analysis.)

Now that we've dispensed with the formalities, here are a few post-election musings...

1. People are, by and large, satisfied with the direction NoMi is headed. All incumbents (including a park board rep not endorsed by this blog) in NoMi were returned to office. This is not to say that even the JNS-endorsed (and DFL-endorsed) incumbents are perfect, but that voters see the improvements in our neighborhood that are happening DESPITE an economic downturn of historic proportions, and credit much of these improvements to our elected officials.

It's been said that low voter turnout was an indictment against the status quo, and I heartily disagree. The number one indicator of voter turnout is how competitive the race at the top of the ticket is. That race was the Minneapolis mayoral race, and it was not in the least competitive. When the highest-profile race IS competitive, then you've got two key factors: A public that gets excited about and invested in the voting process, and not one but two campaigns running a wide GOTV effort. Without that in place, people wind up far less likely to get out and vote.

Anyone who says, "Oh, only 20% of voters got out and voted, so that means such-and-such a candidate that was reelected didn't REALLY have public support...well his or her opponents got EVEN LESS SUPPORT.

2. IRV/RCV is not a game-changer. For better or worse, Minneapolis is pretty much a DFL city, and incumbents who both want to keep their jobs and receive the DFL endorsement still have a major head start over challengers. I have my own reasons for feeling buyer's remorse over IRV (I was a supporter when it was introduced but now feel it's worse than what we had before), but at least this time around, it didn't change much. Candidates still needed to run good campaigns, and those who did not failed to garner votes. Several examples:

- Lennie Chism receiving less votes than Roger Smithrud. It is my opinion that Lennie, Natalie, and Kenya acted in concert, with Natalie and Kenya, and the deal was that he would be the pit bull to make Natalie and/or Kenya appear more moderate, and if either of them won then they'd return the favor later. I could be wrong about this of course, but my impression was that Lennie's only role was to attack Don as viciously as possible. Frankly, if I AM wrong then this is an even more damning indictment about the voters' response to Lennie's message.

- Kenya's challenges to the DFL endorsement were fruitless and exposed a campaign unprepared to navigate the minor arcana of the political process. Upon hearing the complaints raised by her campaign, I was left with the impression that the only basis for those complaints was, "No fair! They understood the rules and we didn't!" At best, I thought the challenge was made so that they could run a media blitz and try to de-legitimize the 5th Ward DFL endorsement. They didn't even do THAT much. But spending that much time and energy on the challenge wasted valuable resources and ultimately favored the incumbent. There's no way around it; this was a bad idea.

IRV may even have HELPED incumbents. To the degree that there was voter dissatisfaction in the 4th and 5th Wards, the lack of a primary meant that fringe candidates like Lennie Chism, Roger Smithrud, Marcus Harcus, and Grant Cemak were around to siphon off votes. (And as much as I like Marcus and recognize Cemak gained the Republican endorsement, the numbers show that those two WERE fringe candidates.) Under our primary system, voters would have had to choose between Samuels/NJL and Johnson/Parker. Those may have been much closer elections.

Along those lines, this blog was the first to declare winners in the 4th and 5th Wards, but I expect when the math plays out similarly in future IRV elections, other media will begin to feel more comfortable making similarly-timed predictions.

3. One thing that's very important is......TIMING!

I can't help but think of how different the elections would have been if Allan Kathir and Natalie Johnson Lee had gotten in the game earlier. While I have my doubts about whether either one would have affected the winning outcome, the races themselves would have been drastically different. I'd bet Kenya McKnight wouldn't have even run (certainly not past the DFL primary) if NJL was in the race from the start. Natalie might have had a chance to rally enough of the anti-Don Samuels voters to make a more serious run if she'd been in the race earlier. Kathir could have also made a stronger push if he'd been actively campaigning early enough to challenge Hofstede for the DFL endorsement.

The bottom line is this: If you don't have a core of volunteers ready to do the grunt work by the time precinct caucuses roll around, your chances of unseating an incumbent who IS prepared in that manner are very slim.

4. Rules matter.

Whether it was Kenya's ill-fated challenge to the DFL endorsement, her reported attempts to campaign at polling places on election day, or Marcus Harcus' Revere-like ride through NoMi (biking around and yelling through a bullhorn about voting, until someone called the police for disturbing the peace), or even RT's $26,000 penalty for campaign finance issues, rules were enforced. Seeing order upheld kept my faith in local democracy strong.

Regarding Harcus, I have to admire the political theater involved in his actions, even if they were ill-advised. He's someone I hope will continue to remain active in our community.

On a final note, I've heard people who associated with Flowers, NJL, and others go on about how they got to know these candidates personally, and they're such great people. Well when you're hanging out on Hillside Ave and you see Don Samuels stand up to gangbangers IN HIS SOCKS, you get to know him personally too. JNS readers who supported Samuels, Johnson, and Hofstede have worked side-by-side with these incumbents for years and know that these three are personally invested in our communities too. Thanks, and it's looking like the next four years will be even better in NoMi!

Johnny Northside "Gloves Are Off" Post-Election Analysis

Contributed photo


Walking to Cub Foods today, to buy some cage-free organic eggs, walking around unafraid of street crime, practically skipping and jumping with love for my rapidly-improving NoMi neighborhood, I picked up a copy of a not-very-widely-read North Minneapolis publication printed on overly-slick, too-glossy paper kind of like a porno magazine. Careful not to drop my eggs, I flipped through some old articles about candidates in the Fifth Ward city council election.

"Geez," I thought. "What a crude axe job on Don Samuels. Good thing I didn't read this BEFORE the election, because it would really irk me."

While scrambling my eggs, sizzle sizzle, I found myself basking (yes, BASKING) in the post-election world of FOUR MORE YEARS OF DON SAMUELS, WOO HOO!!!!!!!

How Many Years, Don? FOUR MORE YEARS, DON!

Well, I don't want to be a "sore winner" and go on about the crushed, defeated hopes and dreams of the losers--losers who said terrible, ugly, untrue things about Don Samuels--but those articles in The Sentinel really got me going. And even though I was holding back, even being a little bit lazy and procrastinating, I decided over that plate of scrambled eggs that it was time to do the JOHNNY NORTHSIDE "GLOVES ARE OFF" POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS.

So here we go...

Let's start with Lennie Chism, so Lennie can actually be first at something, for once. Lennie appeared to be playing the role of "bad cop" in this election, saying the kind of mean stuff Natalie Johnson-Lee couldn't say, because lord knows it didn't work for her in the last election. Yeah, let's just leave Lennie by the roadside for a moment, and talk about Natalie for a second (or, as the Sentinel called her, "Natvalie.")

Isn't it about time "Natvalie" found something better to do with her life than run against Don Samuels? I just thank god for heavy rain on election day, so people driving along Broadway didn't have to endure the sight of "Natvalie" holding a campaign sign and doing the bah-donk-a-donk for passing cars. I wasn't here four years ago to see it myself, but I've heard the stories.

In any case, what's the most amazing about "Natvalie's" campaign is that she basically used the same tactics, the same arguments that failed four years before. You know that old saying about fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me? Well, what about when you manage to fool yourself twice into thinking you can win? HELLO, she couldn't beat Don in HER OWN WARD after she'd been in office for FOUR YEARS and he was the NEWBIE TO THE FIFTH WARD. So what made her think she could beat Don after she'd been gone four years and CRIME WAS DOWN FORTY PERCENT? That's the kind of delusion which requires more than just a mental reassessment, but may call for actual psychotropic meds. I'm just saying.

Now let's say a word or two about Roger Smithrud. I tell you...

Roger Smithrud has class. And, I might add, good sense. On election night, he came to Don's victory party and reportedly scored more than one slice of pizza after congratulating Don. I picture that scene like something out of The Godfather. First, lay down the Italian opera soundtrack. Then in comes Roger, hat in hand, a terrified look on his face. He approaches Don, trying not to grovel but he's quaking inside. He says, "Don...Don...I don't know what I was thinking, trying to oppose you. I must have been crazy. My no-good slumlord brother, he put me up to it. Please, don't make me meet you at the Butter Roll Bakery. I'll be loyal from now on. I promise. I SWEAR IT--!"

And Don pats Roger on the cheek and says, "Roger...you think I thought for a minute you could hurt me? Roger, you amuse me. It's good, you coming around like this to show respect. Roger, have yourself some pizza. And, oh, hey...I like your hat. Can I have your hat? Thanks, Roger. This is kind of a trophy. I'll put it right next to the brick I got from Uncle Lennie's."

What's really funny about Roger Smithrud is that here's a guy who complained in the pages of The Sentinel about how he couldn't even swing enough time off from work to run a real campaign. And yet his vote totals--minor as they were--still blew Lennie Chism out of the water. And this with Insight News saying nice stuff about Lennie, virtually ignoring Roger.

Oh, yeah, let's talk about Insight News for a moment. This publication did everything in its power to promote Kenya McKnight, including having its publisher--Al McFarlane--speak so long and glowingly of Kenya at the Fifth Ward DFL Convention that there was hardly time for Kenya HERSELF to speak. At times, Kenya seemed almost like the CREATION of Insight News. Gee, I'd sure love to see the campaign expense reports showing who actually paid for all those large "dead tree" ads for Kenya in the pages of Insight News.

But when the rubber met the road, and those who actually SHOWED UP at the polls cast their votes, Kenya had a paltry 15.6 percent of the vote. In fact, she had less votes than 500, the magic number of residents on her so-called "petition" allegedly supporting her run for office.

First of all, this embarrassing public episode shows you what an endorsement from Insight News is worth. Second, Kenya needs to rethink who she lets into her life to advise her and put her up to stuff. Here's free advice to Kenya: go finish up your college degree before you try to run a major metropolitan area. The cringe-worthy misspellings on your Facebook page alone are a good reason to go back to school. And, really, why was Kenya running anyway when she knew the whole thing was rigged by the Queen of England? (Click here if you don't follow what I'm alluding to)

But back to Insight News and Lennie Chism. Insight News praised Lennie as somebody who brought new "firepower" to the contest in the Fifth Ward. OK, so let's talk about Lennie and "firepower." Lennie is a documented abuser of women whose ownership and possession of firearms anywhere in the United States--and Native American nations--is prohibited by law. So the idea of Lennie and "firepower" isn't even legal to have in the same sentence. Is this the kind of "insight" which this publication delivers to the community? Praise for a woman-abuser because their blind hatred of Don Samuels is so strong? I weep for the trees sacrificed to publish their evil gibberish about city council elections. (I will draw the distinction between their abysmal election coverage and their coverage of other stuff, some of which is actually useful and informative though still hardly worth the trees)

Last of the last, let's talk about the mayoral race. Mayor Rybak's tactic of not wasting time on a campaign against fringe opponents paid off handsomely for all of us. The mayor kept this great city running and didn't needlessly waste energy on an election that was already sewed up tighter than a professionally-rolled blunt. (Al Flowers...cough cough) The mayor's opponents were left to stew in the gut-wrenching bile of their own irrelevancy and whine about how the mayor wasn't running a real campaign against a motley grab bag of pity-inducing also-rans.

Mayoral candidate Al "I Am The Community" Flowers predicted he was running second in the mayoral race. In fact, he was third. Way third. When his votes were counted, Al Flowers had four percent. I say again, AL FLOWERS HAS GOT FOUR PERCENT. For those who aren't already familiar with the many North Minneapolis in-jokes about notorious loon Al Flowers, here is one of them: Al Flowers showing up at the JACC press conference, and yelling, "I got FOUR PEOPLE says you was illegal..." Over and over he shouts "I got FOUR people." So when people want to imitate or parody Al Flowers (and people often do) what do they say?

I GOT FOUR PEOPLE--!

Well, what does Al actually have? FOUR PERCENT OF THE VOTE.

Four percent of the vote and a couple bucks will get you a ride on the bus, but that still won't take you to the imaginary intersection of West Broadway and Colfax.

But enough about losers. Let's talk about winning. North Minneapolis (NoMi) just won another four years of unstoppable revitalization. Ironically, the folks who will benefit the most are the ones who were the most vulnerable to the hateful snake oil being sold by shysters like Lennie Chism. Thanks to Don Samuels, jobs and development are coming here, as well as higher-quality housing as slumlords are forced to provide the rental housing equivalent of good customer service. Children who were born into a tough neighborhood might yet live long enough to find themselves in a cool neighborhood, a fun neighborhood, a safe and prosperous place where everybody wants to be. They might take on a new sense of identity and make something of their lives instead of dying on a corner in hail of bullets.

Rumor has it a collective cheer went up inside the election office when the Samuels votes were totaled on the second round. It was like DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD because so many people at city hall couldn't bear the thought of working with Natalie Johnson-Lee. That collective cheer has rippled across our neighborhood, and our city, and as we remake our neighborhood the day is coming when the cheers for Don Samuels will spread across the country and the world. This is NoMi, and the future of NoMi is no longer in doubt.

We've passed the tipping point. We've tipped toward urban utopia.

JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: City Council Candidate Lennie Chism Is A Fraud, Did Not Live In Fifth Ward Address During Election...

Contributed Photo

Lennie Chism, who was defeated soundly and overwhelmingly in his bid for a city council seat in the Fifth Ward, and who is also dealing with charges involving an altercation with his mistress, listed 2519 Emerson Ave. N. as his place of residence during the campaign. Information now in my hands reveals Lennie did not live at that address for a substantial part of the campaign--if ANY of it--and, in fact, the house was being offered for rent without a rental license.

For the record, JNS blog was in possession of this information--or most of it--prior to Election Day. However, I could not get verification or permission from my source to use the info on my blog until the election was over. Lennie ran his race and came in dead last.

Anyway, here's the deal.

Very little activity was noted at the house...

...and, for a long time, a phone book sat moldering on the porch. Yes, I know I've said a lot of harsh things about phone book dumping by Dex and other companies, but sometimes--though rarely--you can glean useful information based on the presence of a rotting phone book. In this case, there just didn't seem to be much activity at the house. But one day, a FOR RENT sign appeared out front.

As is often the case when FOR RENT signs appear in North Minneapolis, eagle-eyed neighborhood activists called 311 immediately to check if there was a rental license. Would-be Northside slum lords may want to take note of that fact. I'm just saying. In this case, Lennie Chism had no rental license at that time.

After this, the same concerned citizen was driving by one day--actually, it was September 15--and the citizen saw somebody doing a showing of the property. So this citizen managed to get a tour as well. There were two people giving the tour. One was a guy named Rick, mid-30s, black. The other was a black female, mid-to-late 30s, believed to be Lennie Chism's estranged wife, Virginia. The woman identified herself as "Virginia."

So the concerned citizen looked all around the property and even managed to take some photos with a cell phone of, for example, black plastic garbage bags over windows where the screen was present but the glass was missing. There were at least two windows like that. The date stamp on the photos allow the citizen to recall, easily, that the tour of the property took place on September 15 during a period of time when Lennie was supposedly living at the property, and using it as his place of residence for campaign purposes.

The terms of a proposed lease were discussed during the tour and included an October 1 move in date, a one year lease at $1,300 a month, and a deposit equivalent to first month's rent. The property owner didn't seem overly concerned about doing a background check. Notably, no mention was made of anything like, "By the way, a guy named Lennie Chism lives here and will be sharing the property with you. Um....by the way, would you mind sharing your car?" 

There was no sign Lennie was living there, and the property was completely empty; no belongings, no furnishings, no NOTHING.

The conclusion is unavoidable: Lennie is a fake and a fraud, and gave a false address for purposes of running for city council. He is, in fact, believed to live in Plymouth, Minnesota. 

It seems possible Lennie didn't cook up this little fraud all by himself. In fact, during the campaign it seemed like it was Lennie's role to be the "bad cop" and say the kind of outrageous things which a candidate like Natalie Johnson Lee couldn't say herself; the divisive and disgusting "Samuels bashing" racial politics which--four years ago--was the dirty job of Booker Hodges and Al Flowers. Whether by design or accident, it went down like that. Lennie played the role of the "bad cop."

But, once again, these ugly tactics didn't succeed. You have to wonder, can't Don's opponents at least find real Northsiders to do the Don-bashing? Al Flowers doesn't live here and now, it would appear, neither did Lennie!

If Lennie Chism wishes to make a response to this blog post, I will be happy to print his response...within reason.

I Saw the Signs

Guest post and photos (except for anonymously contributed photo) by the Hawthorne Hawkman

I was driving around the neighborhood today during one of my constitutionally protected lunch/free speech breaks, and took note of some rather annoying signs.

Here is a brief explanation of the three above pictures...

The first is a Natalie Johnson Lee sign that graces a vacant property. I found this to be a fun juxtaposition because of her campaign slogan on the sign: "Because we all live here." When I looked at the property records online, it appears that 1254 Russell Ave N has been vacant since at least 2003. Graffiti adorns one of the doors (of COURSE I called it in to 311. I even used the facial expression known as my "311 face.")

This property also has a spray-painted message apparently critical of Don Samuels for the building's vacant status. What about its owners? Why haven't THEY done anything for the past six-plus years? Oh, and the current owner happens to be a Seventh-Day Adventist CHURCH with an address in Kansas City. I thought there were RULES about churches supporting political candidates. Someone ought to file a formal complaint.

The next two photos above are of 2623 23rd Ave N. Determining who owns this vacant property is a bit more problematic. The city website still lists an individual owner. But this is where my mortgage geek skills come in handy. Claude Worrell is the Realtor listed on one of the signs. Mr. Worrell almost never represents individual sellers in north Minneapolis; meaning that this property is likely in some degree of foreclosure and is now being sold by a lender.

The Hennepin County foreclosure website seems to show that this is indeed the case. While the redemption period hasn't expired yet, the vacant state of the property makes it likely that it was shortened from six months to five weeks and the public websites haven't caught up with this yet. Hmmm...I wonder if Kenya McKnight got permission from BAC Home Loans to put that sign there?

And THEN someone sent me this picture in the mail today. I had traumatic flashbacks after seeing what was left on the porch.


Then there were these two signs, which actually soothed me a bit:



First off, both of these houses are OCCUPIED, making it more likely that an ACTUAL SUPPORTER is aware of a lawn sign. Second, lawn signs in multiple languages is a good signal that this candidate reaches out to everyone who lives here. There is a sign in Hmong along 26th as well, but these two prove the point just fine.

And I should be just fine myself. I'm not too worried about repercussions for my political blogging this time around. That's because I'm wearing the johnnynorthside.com hat.

BREAKING INSIGHT NEWS: Candidates for Public Office Think Highly of Themselves

Guest post by the Hawthorne Hawkman; image from minnesotaindependent.com.

I don't expect Insight News to be favorable to DFL-endorsed incumbent Don Samuels. After all, the paper endorsed Kenya McKnight early on. And that's their right; just like it's the right of Don Samuels supporters on this blog to stake out our positions.

And I'm not saying that an accurate portrayal of this or any other political debate has to present each candidate in an equal light. Could you imagine what would happen if we had to pretend that Roger Smithrud belonged on that stage as a legitimate candidate? What would happen if...I'm sorry, I wasn't as prepared for this question as I thought I would be.

There were two things that REALLY irked me about this Insight article, however...

First off, there were no quotes from Don Samuels whatsoever. Not what he said at the debate, and not his post-debate thoughts or evaluations. As the incumbent, Don's statements rise to the level of being newsworthy simply because he will be the one representing us until he either steps aside or is not re-elected. The statements of an incumbent at a debate give us context regarding what things are like in an area, how we got to a certain point, and what someone's vision is for moving forward.

I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who does not support CM Samuels, and I think of the 2004 Presidential elections and debates. I was virulently opposed to Dubya (although not really enamored by John Kerry). There was nothing that Bush could have said that would have swayed my vote to him. But yet I found his statements during the campaign and debates to be incredibly pertinent and newsworthy. Why doesn't Insight News at least bring its journalistic standards up to the point where even if they won't be balanced in their coverage, they can at least be substantive in their reporting?

Even more annoying though, were the closing statements from each candidate. McKnight, Johnson Lee, and Chism were all asked which candidate they thought did best at the debates. Oddly enough, Insight News didn't ask Samuels who he thought was most effective. It could be that they didn't feel the need to do that after re-posting an editorial full of racial vitriol reminiscent of the ugliness of the last 5th ward campaign. (And no, I'm not posting a link to that piece of garbage.)

So how did the other candidates answer the question of who they thought did best at the debates? This may come as a shocker, but they all pretty much said, "Believe it or not, it's me."

Natalie Johnson Lee Gets Called Out

Guest post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman, also known as The Mortgage Geek


In a recent Minneapolis Mirror interview, Natalie Johnson-Lee was asked about whether TJ Waconia was the major culprit in the foreclosure crisis in her ward. Even this question was uninformed, since the majority of TJ Waconia properties at issue were in Barb Johnson’s ward.

Like any good candidate should, Natalie used this opportunity to try and find something—anything!—to use against her opponent, and brought up the fact that Minneapolis proposed an anti-predatory lending ordinance at the city level many years ago. Her claim was that she and Don Zimmerman were the only councilmembers to vote in favor of this ordinance and that somehow if we’d passed it, we would have averted or at least somewhat lessened the crisis we now find ourselves in.

As a community organizer and self-proclaimed mortgage geek, I decided to see if her claims held any water. What I found was…



…they did not. I will explain why, but a fair warning is due: this is going to get rather technical. And now for a trip down the rabbit hole…

Around the time that this and other city ordinances were proposed, ACORN and other organizations like the Center for Responsible Lending were attempting to curb predatory lending at the state level. (Remember, this was back when ACORN could actually get things done.) That road was often difficult, since the mortgage boom was what got us out of the post-9/11 mini-recession and legislators didn’t want to hear that it was perhaps fundamentally flawed. So the organizations opted for an approach similar to the anti-tobacco movement: ban things at the local level and use that as an impetus for statewide change.

There is one problem with this idea that was not fully apparent until a recent Supreme Court ruling. Big banks like Wells Fargo, US Bank, Bank of America, etc. wound up not being governed by state law and only the federal government can really tell them what to do. Other smaller institutions like mortgage brokers and community banks are governed by state law. Nothing already written in law clearly made lenders at any level required to follow city ordinances of this nature. So many companies could have simply said, “These rules do not apply to us. We’re not going to follow them and/or we’re going to dispute them in court.”

(For the record, I worked for US Bank at the time many local ordinances popped up. We did create disclosure forms that told borrowers to avoid predatory loans and also stated what each city defined as predatory so that someone could compare their loan to those standards. I’m proud that US Bank chose to follow local laws AND lend responsibly. Many others did not.)

RT Rybak got the support of ACORN locally by promising to get a local ordinance passed. Then upon taking on the issue, realized that this was not a practical approach. This was the right decision, but where he failed was that he did not become a champion for a statewide law. ACORN and Rybak then had a major falling-out and their relationship became antagonistic for a while.

Fast-forward to today: What’s happening in cities that did pass ordinances? What’s happening in north Minneapolis? And would an anti-predatory lending ordinance have made a significant difference in Minneapolis or the 5th Ward?

The National League of Cities compiled this report about the major metropolitan areas that passed such ordinances. I found the whole thing fascinating, but that’s because I’m a mortgage geek and policy wonk. So I’ll sum it up for the other 99.99% of JNS readers. Chicago and Washington DC still have their laws in effect. Philadelphia's law was preempted by state law shortly after it was passed. Oakland and Los Angeles have had their laws stalled in court contests. Even if the laws are upheld, the lending they were intended to stop is over and done with. This map will show that Chicago is obviously not some sort of foreclosure-free economic utopia. Neither is DC (see page 5 of this link). Frankly, their issues are virtually identical to north Minneapolis in that low-income neighborhoods and communities of color are disproportionately affected by the consequences of predatory lending.

The connection between north Minneapolis and the foreclosure crisis at large is obvious to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock. Actually, that may not be entirely accurate. Chances are that the rock you were living under had a fraudulent mortgage attached to it thanks to Larry Maxwell, Marlon Pratt, or TJ Waconia, and now thanks to their misdeeds you no longer have a place to live.

The Housing Preservation Project, CURA, and other neighborhood groups have studied what has happened with foreclosures in north Minneapolis and the problem is at least halfway a rental property issue. Depending on the geographic boundaries and when the loans were originated, between 50-70% of north Minneapolis foreclosures in this crisis were on non-owner-occupied properties. Last year, Hawthorne examined the boarded/vacant list (many of those properties were foreclosed, but not all) and found that 67% of those properties were non-homesteaded duplexes. A full study of public records of mortgage delinquencies in north Minneapolis right now has not been undertaken. However, a cursory examination indicates that roughly half of all delinquencies right now are on rental properties.

The anti-predatory lending ordinance was geared primarily at owner-occupants, although to be fair, very few people had a thorough understanding of how rental properties could be affected by the lax lending standards seen earlier this decade. Since similar ordinances have either never proven useful or were not implemented due to state law or contested lawsuits, it is doubtful that we would have seen a meaningful result from such action in Minneapolis. There may have been actions at the city council level that could have mitigated this crisis, but the local anti-predatory lending ordinance was not among them. Going after TJ Waconia and other fraudsters was absolutely the right move to make once that problem was clear.

The Minneapolis Mirror tossed a slow pitch to Natalie Johnson-Lee in hopes that she would hit it out of the park. However neither of them fully understand the game that they are playing.

Specific Achievements On A Political Flyer--What A Concept!

Photo By John Hoff

Since I wrote about Natalie Johnson-Lee's flyer, which "showed up" in my hands a while ago, click here, and I also wrote about Lennie Chism's crude attempt at a flyer, click here, I thought it would be a good idea to write about a political flyer that came into my hands from the Don Samuels camp.

Actually, the way it happened, Don Samuels kindly loaned his van to a neighbor who needed to move furniture, and I helped with the move, and (oh gee) one of the flyers was in the van. So I was all, like, score. This is my flyer, now, for blogging purposes.

I'm told Samuels has more than one flyer, but the flyer I obtained is current enough to be considered a Samuels flyer. It has more specific content than the flyers of Natalie Johnson-Lee and Lennie Chism COMBINED. What a shame I don't have flyers from Kenya McKnight and Roger Smithrud.

First and foremost, Don Samuels is a labor endorsed candidate and so his flyer says "Labor Endorsed" and has (oh gee!) a union print shop emblem. There's really no rule that says ONLY a labor endorsed candidate can get what's called a "union bug" on their flyer. Heck, anybody who orders stuff at a union print shop can request one of the emblems to appear on the flyer. So you have to wonder...

Why Natalie Johnson-Lee, who mentions being friendly to labor, can't be bothered with the nicities of using a union print shop? It makes more sense with Lennie Chism because his amatuerish junk appears to be produced on a color photocopier plus you have to wonder if his fast-talking entreprenuerial outlook is pro-union or just pro-Lennie.

Reading Don Samuels' flyer is a little bit of an education in some of the key events happening the last few years in North Minneapolis.

JOBS AND DEVELOPMENT:

# Broadway Plaza--a $70 million project that will jump start the revitalization of West Broadway.

# YWCA--the largest in the nation--will anchor the Plaza.

# Coloplast Headquarters--600 Northside jobs!

# University of Minnesota Urban Research Engagement and Outreach Center.

# Standard Heating--80 new jobs.

RENOVATION AND REVITALIZATION

# Revitalization of the North Regional Library

# YMCA--newly renovated and dedicated exclusively to our youth.

# Over $70 million directed to North Minneapolis to respond to the foreclosure crisis.

# Slumlords Accountability Program--revoking licenses of problem slumlords.

# West Broadway Alive--revitalizing North Minneapolis' Main Street

# Washington Boulevard Plan--making Washington Avenue into a grand, pedestrian friendly boulevard.

PUBLIC SAFETY

# 28 percent decrease in violent crimes and over 40 percent reduction in youth violence.

# 35 percent drop in homicide since 2006 and only five homicides citywide through June 2009.

# Authored anti-loitering ordinance to help remove drug dealers from our streets.

# Grocery Store Task Force--closed Big Stop, Uncle Bills and Wafanas, stores which together generated 2,500 calls to 911 per year.

# Helped steer the entire Police Technology Budget (over $1.3 million) to North Minneapolis.

# Acquired "shot spotter" with an integrated camera system--in these monitored areas, crime has fallen 63 percent.

(End of text from the back of the flyer)

(JNS editorial note: the flyer says "Uncle Bills" and "Wafanas." I prefer to use a possessive apostrophe with these names, however, I have seen the names written both ways in the mass media)

The front of the flyer features Don's message to his constituents, as follows:

Friends and Neighbors,

Collaboration and accessibility has been a guiding principal of my public service. Together we have sent the message tht the 5th Ward and its needs will not be ignored. As your Council Member I have built strong public/private partnerships that have brought significant resources to our community. Six years later, these collaborations are transforming our community, and we can see the positive changes in our neighborhoods.

I look forward to continuing to keep 5th Ward residents at the forefront of the City's agenda. With your support this election, I promise that I will continue to be a strong voice for us all.

http://www.donsamuels.com/

"Uncle" Lennie Chism Puts Out Crude, Cartoony, Semi-Republican Campaign Flyer In Ward Five...

Photo By John Hoff, top, Flickr.com photo, bottom

Tonight I had a chance to see one of Lennie Chism's new campaign flyers and, oh my word, what a mess. Where to begin?

First of all, the flyer contains no issues or statements about anything substantive. Instead, it's just smiling Lennie in a suit with some odd little decorative emblem thingie reminiscent of the campaign literature put out by Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain. I've put the two flyers side by side so readers can compare and see what I'm referencing. Note the little emblem above the word "Vote" in Lennie's flyer and compare with the emblem above the words "Service To America" in McCain's flyer.

Gee, Lennie, we all thought you were DFL? But whatever. Lennie's campaign literature, like that of "labor friendly" Natalie Johnson-Lee, doesn't contain any union print shop markings. In fact, it seems to have been produced on...

...a color photocopier. The paper is cheap and glossy. Like Lennie in a suit. All flash, no cash.

The back of the flyer--which I'm not showing here, yet, because it's just so crude it falls below the already low standards of the blogosphere--depicts Don Samuels as a puppet whose strings are being manipulated by Jackie Cherryhomes. The cartoon is so badly done it's hard to tell who the people are being depicted, since it shows an old photo of Samuels with a mustache and Cherryhomes looks oddly like Hilary Clinton.

And, again, the flyer doesn't list any ISSUES. But does Lennie have ISSUES? Oh, clearly he does. Oddly enough, the make-believe blog character of Chipper The Entrepreneurial Squirrel has managed to articulate more specific and substantive issues than Lennie. Which is OK, because Chipper's just trying to beat Lennie, anyway.

Well, and Smithrud. A garden gnome could beat Smithrud.

Chipper The Entrepreneurial Squirrel Running As A Write-In In Ward 5, Announces First Campaign Issue: Decorative Address Letters Not Sharpie Marker...

Photo By RUN! BROOM!

Chipper The Entrepreneurial Squirrel, who first came to the attention of this blog due to his involvement with the old "Uncle Bill's" store purchased by Lennie Chism, sent me a press release written on the back of several snack food wrappers announcing his write-in campaign for City Council Squirrel in Ward 5. In tiny letters penciled, rather neatly, on the back of an "Almond Joy" wrapper, Chipper says as follows...

OK, yeah, I'm running and there's not even a car behind me, ha ha.

But seriously, I know I can't win because I don't meet some of the basic criteria for a Ward Five City Councilman, like being a member of the human species. But I'm hoping that if I can get a good number of write-in votes and draw attention to myself, these rules can evolve and I will be allowed to take office as Ward Five City Council Squirrel.

My plan is to get more votes than Lennie Chism. Everybody is talking about how the...

(Next candy bar wrapper, Snickers)

...votes will break down in Ward 5. Here's my prediction: Don Samuels, 55 percent, Kenya McNight, 20 percent, Natalie Johnson Lee, 19 percent, and after that with minor numbers of votes: Smithrud, Chipper The Entrepreneurial Squirrel, and Lennie Chism.

I want to emphasize that it's not personal against Lennie. In fact, I do business with the guy and I'm very eager to do business with him later in the fall, when he will own a VERY LARGE HOLE IN THE GROUND right during prime nut hiding season. But I believe I'm the better candidate because...

(Next wrapper, Doritos Cool Ranch)

Well, even I could see buying the old Uncle Bill's store to make it into an Uncle Lennie's was A CRAZY IDEA. And now when he should be scrambling to get financing to fix it up, he's running for city council as well? This is like being in the middle of the street trying to watch two speeding cars on opposite sides of you, with both your little googly eyes! Even I know better than that. Sorry Lennie. But very excited about the hole!

As for myself, I'm kind of a "little picture guy." I'm too small and low to the ground to see the big picture, but I see the little pieces very well. So I'm going to run on some of the little issues that would usually get neglected in a political campaign that's all about "vision" and "future" and "can somebody please replace my Don Samuels yard sign that got stolen AGAIN?" For the record, squirrels are clean animals and I'm going to run a clean campaign. I would never steal anybody's Blackberry device and I understand that, despite the name, these devices are not good to eat.

(Next wrapper, Flaming Hot Cheetos)

My one campaign issue at this point--and I don't know, maybe I'll find more issues later. It's not like they grow on trees like acorns. My one issue is address letters on residential and commercial buildings. I think buildings should have NICE letters, maybe of polished wood so they look like delicious nuts that give you knowledge of where you are instead of giving you a snack.

Buildings that have addresses made from stick-on letters or Sharpie Marker (like Keith Reitman's building on the 1400 block of West Broadway) just look tacky and don't promote economic development. For the record, I think Keith Reitman should be free to write on his building if he likes. If he wrote "Vote For The Squirrel" I'd be happy. Let me emphasize I'm still quite willing to do business with Keith Reitman, who has A LOT OF PROPERTY, like maybe a million dollars worth, even though he no longer owns 1564 Hillside Ave. N., which has very nice trees!

So I think Reitman could easily afford some address letters that cost, like, a buck apiece. Here's a picture I took at Home Depot before they chased after me with a broom.

(Next wrapper, microwave popcorn bag)

Also, Sharpie markers are just yucky. Like, if you find one in a pile of leaves you might think it looks like some sort of special human treat, like a Pez Dispenser or Push Up bar. But it's not. Sharpies taste really yucky. Don't put one in your mouth. I'm just warning you.

In conclusion, remember, this is ranked choice voting so you can have your cake and vote for a squirrel, too! Some of my other squirrel friends might run for office, as well, but remember to make Chipper The Entrepreneurial Squirrel YOUR FIRST CHOICE on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Show up and vote for CHIPPER THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SQUIRREL.

Rah. Ch-ch-cheer!

Don Samuels Versus Four Angry Political Midgets In An IRV World...

Stock Photo By John Hoff

Instant runoff voting throws some new and interesting twists into this November's city council race, and some political commentators seem to think the Fifth Ward City Council race will be impacted. Personally, I see the race as "Don Samuels Versus Four Angry Political Midgets" and I don't think IRV will be a factor. None of the people opposing Don Samuels is particularly impressive, individually or collectively. More on that in a bit.

However, trying to anticipate exactly how IRV will impact the race has been a vague mental exercise. Until today, that is. Hawthorne's Housing Director, Jeff Skrenes, is extremely good with arcane numerical crap. This is a guy who calculates the exact percentage he saved on his grocery store purchases by using coupons. So Jeff came up with some specific scenarios of how IRV might impact the Fifth Ward Race, as follows...

(These words are from Jeff Skrenes, verbatim)

Here's my understanding of how IRV would work.

Let's say that nobody gets 50% plus one (and that's one vote, not one percent) on the first ballot. In this hypothetical situation, the votes break down this way:

Don Samuels 40%
Kenya McKnight 20%
Natalie Johnson Lee 15%
Lennie Chism 14%
Roger Smithrud 11%

I realize this may be generous to one or more of the challengers here (or some may think I'm being generous to Samuels) but I'm illustrating a point.

In this case, nobody got 50% + 1, so Smithrud is eliminated. Everybody who voted for him as their first choice now has their ballots re-examined. If they voted for a second candidate, then their second choice gets the votes when the ballots are counted again. And everybody's first choice besides the eliminated candidate remains the same.

So if every single Smithrud supporter voted for Samuels as their second choice, then the tally on the second round would look like this:

Samuels 51%
McKnight 20%
Johnson Lee 15%
Chism 14%

And Samuels would be declared the winner.

But let's assume that Smithrud's votes are evenly distributed among all candidates. It would then look roughly like this:

Samuels 43%
McKnight 23%
Johnson Lee 18%
Chism 17%

Then Chism would be eliminated, and all of the voters who voted for him would have their second choice counted in the third round. Likewise, anyone who voted for Smithrud as their first choice and Chism as their second choice would have their third choice counted. This process would repeat itself until someone received 50% + 1 votes.

From a political calculus standpoint, the DFL-endorsed incumbent in a DFL-leaning city and district has a head start in terms of votes. But regardless, the system still favors whoever starts out with the most votes.

IRV could help a challenger to Samuels if there are two candidates who finish very strong and everyone else is far behind. Then it doesn't take too many votes to put the second-place finisher over the top.

In an election with more than two candidates, IRV could help third (and fourth) (and fifth) candidates garner more votes. Someone could say, "I don't support Samuels, and I really want Lennie Chism to win, but I think Kenya McKnight is the more viable contender." So they would vote for Lennie as their first choice, and Kenya as the second choice, knowing that if/when Lennie is eliminated, they didn't "waste" a vote by voting for their favorite candidate. What seems more likely, however, is that the candidate with the most votes after the first round will get enough of the second and third choice votes as other candidates are eliminated.

Here's another fun possibility: since there are five candidates, it is at least remotely possible that the bottom three vote-getters will split enough amongst themselves that the top two candidates still do not have a simple majority. So let's say that every single Johnson, Chism, and Smithrud supporter voted ONLY for Johnson, Chism, or Smithrud as their top choices, and neither Samuels nor McKnight won a 50% + 1 tally. I THINK at that point, the person with the most total votes would win, but I'd have to check for sure.

Well, this wasn't as fun as, say, explaining the intricacies of how to calculate a prepayment penalty on an ARM loan indexed to the LIBOR rate, but it did get pretty geeky.

(End of explanation by Jeff Skrenes)

Thanks Jeff. Intricacies of IRV aside, there are only two choices in this race: Don Samuels or the angry wannabes, what I call the "four political midgets." (Jeff is not responsible for the following analysis)

ANGRY MIDGET NUMBER ONE: Natalie Johnson-Lee was involved in one of the nastiest, dirtiest campaigns in the history of the City of Minneapolis and yet still couldn't beat Don Samuels in what used to be her own ward before redistricting. She jumped in at the last minute and--to make matters more confusing--her old campaign manager, Jerry Moore, now appears to be associated with Kenya McKnight. (Click here for some documentation of that)

I'm told on good authority that Johnson-Lee used to have Mary Kay and Tupperware parties in her council office and would sit and pay her bills while on the city council dais. Well, one can't fault the last part too much. Certain members of the Jordan Area Community Council "Old Majority" would certainly benefit from the bill-paying example.

ANGRY MIDGET NUMBER TWO: Kenya McKnight. A couple weeks ago, I was at Farview Park and I saw Kenya McKnight keeping company with perennial also-ran James Everett. When I pointed my camera in her direction to get a stock photo, McKnight actually stepped behind some people to avoid my camera.

It wasn't the first time I've seen her do this, she did the same thing during the Broadway Art FLOW. (And she was hanging around with perpetual loser James Everett then, too)

What kind of political candidate doesn't want her PICTURE taken? Is she afraid the camera will steal her soul? (Editorial remark by Chipper The Entrepreneurial Squirrel: Maybe she's afraid somebody will steal her nuts, but Kenya's nuts aren't the kind you can steal)

ANGRY MIDGET NUMBER THREE: Lennie "The Heckler" Chism, also known as "Uncle Lennie" since his bargain basement purchase of the old Uncle Bill's store. Lennie is the kind of guy who buys a vacant building scheduled for demolition and then tries to make it seem like political oppression when the city wants to move forward with tearing down the building. In this way, Lennie's kind of like Mayoral Candidate Al "I Am The Community" Flowers pissing and moaning about having to pay his utility bill like everybody else.

Like, oh, look at me! I'm oppressed, I have to PAY MY WATER BILL!

ANGRY MIDGET NUMBER FOUR: Roger Smithrud is the midget of the midgets. He even physically resembles a garden gnome. But at least Smithrud will stand still to have his picture taken instead of acting like a movie star being chased by paparazzi, like, oh, it's so invasive HAVING MY PICTURE TAKEN when I'm RUNNING FOR POLITICAL OFFICE.

Smithrud claims he once supported Don Samuels. Well, something seems to have changed after Samuels was in favor of tearing down a crappy apartment building owned by Smithrud's brother. So Smithrud is an angry midget, but his anger appears to stem from a different source than the other three anti-Samuels candidates, something more right wing and rooted in property rights fanaticism.

Jeff Skrenes is much better at political predictions than I am--at least to the tune of $2 in wagers--but I have a wager going with Don Allen for a dinner at the Monte Carlo that Don Samuels will win the race. Personally, I think Samuels will win by racking up more than 50 percent of the vote on the first round. Each of the "political midgets" is a small, tragic character and each of them makes Samuels appear an even better choice. (And he's already a great councilman or, as Kenya McKnight would put it, a very very very good councilman)

So that's my call. Samuels by more than 50 percent on the first round, and who gives a rip about IRV?

Natalie Johnson Lee Campaign Literature Is All-Too-Revealing...

Photo By John Hoff

Natalie Johnson Lee, one of the "four political midgets" running against veteran Council Member Don Samuels in the Fifth Ward, has volunteers door knocking with campaign literature that is, well, a little TOO informative. A close and careful reading of the flyers is likely to show the voter why NOT to vote for Natalie Johnson Lee.

First of all, the literature says Johnson Lee has a "strong labor voting record." Uh huh. So then...

...why doesn't the campaign literature have a "union bug" from a union print shop? This is a real "amateur hour" bonehead move by Johnson Lee. You'd expect more from a former city council member.

Here's some other things I noticed.

# Messy printing problem on the front of the flyer. Look closely and you'll see how there's one quote mark next to the word "Because" and yet there's no quote mark at the end. Also notice how the letter e's in the phrase "Because we ALL live here" look different than the letter e at the end of the word "here." Clearly, the print shop chopped off a quote mark plus half an e. Unknown where it was printed because, well, NO UNION BUG. 

You can't LEAD the people if you don't HIRE the people. 

# The flyer says Johnson Lee "showed up and initiated violence as a public health issue." Leaving aside the cringe-worthy awkward phrasing, Johnson Lee is merely trying to ride the coat tales of Don Samuels on this issue of "violence as a public health issue," click here

# The flyer repeatedly uses the phrase "showed up" and then asks for volunteers who are "truly interested in showing up." Though I'd agree "showing up" is about 50 percent of being successful, I guess most people would prefer to have talent and intelligence, too, not merely an ability to "show up" like a student who can pass by earning a C. Of course, Johnson Lee has always been an advocate of lowering standards for North Minneapolis, instead of bringing North Minneapolis up to a higher level.

# The most outrageous claim of all is that Johnson Lee is interested in "supporting livable and safe communities." Well, everybody who was in North Minneapolis during the previous Johnson Lee reign can tell you how livable and safe it was. Or rather, wasn't.

Now, under Don Samuels, crime is down 40 percent in North Minneapolis after a long, hard struggle. Livability is increasing not just daily, but almost HOURLY.

I'm told one Johnson Lee campaign worker used the phrase "your city council member" to describe Natalie Johnson Lee while door knocking with Johnson Lee herself, and was told, point blank, "She's not MY city council member."

How embarrassing.

Johnson Lee's flyer is also slightly vague on this point, saying "Elect Natalie Johnson Lee City Council Member." But, hey, who wouldn't be happy to associate oneself with all the progress North Minnneapolis has made with dropping crime rates WHILE DON SAMUELS WAS IN OFFICE?

It seems like Johnson Lee is coming into this race with too little, too late. But, hey, at least she "showed up."

JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Details Of Sunday Night's "Shoot Out At Oliver Ave. N."

Flickr.com photo

Here are some more details of Sunday night's apparent 4-way shooting at 17th Ave. N. and Oliver Ave. N.

The four parties allegedly involved were Damario Donta Williams, birthday 3/24/89. Raymond Jordan Jackson, birthday 1/15/89. Chase Daymone Dent-Wells, birthday 9/26/88. And Brian Funtanous Mack, birthday 10/03/85. In addition, there were...

...eight witnesses listed on the police report, one of which was a juvenile.

The location of the shooting--17th Ave. N. and Oliver Ave. N.--is rather notable, since Ward 5 City Council Candidate Natalie Johnson Lee lives right there, according to her candidate filing, click here.

I guess Lee isn't as involved in keeping her street free of gang activity as, for example, Don Samuels. Click here for an interesting incident related to THAT.

I also have the police records for the four individuals involved, which are rather extensive. I'll start with Brian Mack, since his is the most impressive.

Brian Mack:

No drivers license, 3/24/04, and 12/23/04
Narcotics charge, 5/6/05
Driving after suspension, 4/13/06,8/10/07, 9/14/07, 3/19/09
No insurance, 10/11/08
Weapons charges, 7/3/06, and 6/21/08

Raymond Jackson:

Weapons charge, 6/12/08
Driving after suspension, 4/28/09

Chase Dent-Wells:

Narcotics charge, 7/12/09

Demario Williams:

Driving after suspension, 7/8/07
Fleeing on Foot, 4/20/09
Second Degree Assault (involves a weapon) 6/14/09

The Mpls Mirror reports rumors that two pastor's sons were involved in the shootout. This is still unconfirmed.