Word on the street is that a long-declared candidate for St. Paul City Council forgot to file by the Aug. 11 deadline, and will run for office as a write-in candidate in November...
More on that in a moment. First, what do St. Paul city council candidates David Glass, Tom Goldstein and Jane Prince think of prospects for a new Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul's Midway? Look for yourself, here. The fine people at Minnesota E-Democracy.org have assembled all the candidates' Facebook pages so that they feed into one site.
This dubious-looking man is also running for election, but to what office, no one knows...
You'll find Trahern Crews, the Green Party candidate in Ward 1, arguing for rent control, a la New York City, and against police brutality. Goldstein, a candidate in Ward 4, is taking City Council President Russ Stark to task on the proposed parkland dedication ordinance (which has yet to be voted upon, the Scoop might point out).
And council candidates Glass (for Ward 5), Goldstein and Prince (for Ward 7) are all sharing comedian-pundit John Oliver's Jon Stewart-like video rant against the supposed evils of public financing for professional sports stadiums. Sounds like they're already revving their engines against whatever formal plans for an MLS stadium emerge from City Hall.
Says Prince:
"What do you think about the resolution before the Saint Paul City Council this coming Wednesday to keep the proposed soccer stadium site at Snelling and I-94 permanently tax exempt for billionaire soccer team owners?"
Dave Sullivan-Nightengale (for Ward 5) feels bicyclists don't pay their fair share for the roads -- they pay more than their fair share, while contributing to far less wear and tear than motor vehicles. (His words, not the Scoop's).
There's also posts from Council Members Dai Thao (Ward 1) talking about "progress for all" and Amy Brendmoen (Ward 5) railing against neighborhood children who pit super-heroes against each other in imaginary match-ups, and council candidate Darren Tobolt (Ward 2), as well as some school board candidates. Exciting times!
In Ward 5, the Brendmoen-Glass-Sullivan-Nightengale race has already dropped a candidate. Frank Richie filed to join the race by the Aug. 11 deadline, but has since withdrawn his candidacy.
In other campaign news, the Scoop has repeatedly attempted to reach out to the campaign of Mohamed Said (the Ward 1 city council candidate who was endorsed by Apple computer legend Steve Jobs post-mortem), without luck. The Aug. 11 filing deadline for candidates came and went, but two men who had thrown their hats into the ring for the DFL endorsement hadn't filed.
Former candidate Samakab Hussein has since thrown his support to the incumbent, Dai Thao. But aside from a short email from a campaign staffer indicating that Said had been CC'd on a media inquiry, there's been no word from candidate Said. In fact, Hussein said recently he hadn't seen or heard from Said since the DFL ward convention.
DFL insiders say Said is still in the running as a write-in candidate -- even though he forgot to file for office by the Aug. 11 deadline. An email of inquiry to his campaign on Tuesday morning was not immediately returned.
Said's campaign website has been taken down and now simply says "under construction", and his campaign Facebook page has not been updated since March.
The party is contemplating organizing a special endorsing convention for Dai Thao, but with Said supposedly still in the running, and the cost of translators and the like, that may be a tall order.
ADDENDUM:
Mohamed Said said in an email Tuesday evening:
"To answer your question, yes I am still running for city council in Saint Paul ward 1. We have missed the deadline to file for the ballot, but I am going to be running as a write in candidate for the general election on Nov 3rd."
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