Election 2015: St. Paul City Council, Ward One
The Ward One candidates are:
Trahern Crews (Green Party)
Dai Thao (Incumbent, DFL Party)
Dai Thao's website starts out with the statement, "My whole life has prepared me for the position of Councilmember for Ward 1. I was born in Laos and escaped the communist regime there as a youth. I survived refugee camps in Thailand and came to Minneapolis, where I grew up in a housing project." That made me blink and think that this may be an excessive level of preparation for the St. Paul City Council. He also calls out some of his top accomplishments (he was elected for the first time two years ago -- I think maybe someone resigned mid-term, since terms are normally four years long): "We approved Paid Parental Leave, secured pool vouchers for low-income youth and supported the Women's Economic Security Act, ensuring all women contractors are paid the same as men."
Before taking office he worked as a community organizer for Take Action MN (working against the evil constitutional amendments of 2012) and ISAIAH (organizing to help people in poverty, basically). You really could not ask for a candidate more committed to racial and economic justice and progressive issues.
Trahern Crews is Green Party endorsed. He starts off by saying he wants to end government tax breaks to Wal-Mart (does the City of St. Paul even give tax breaks to Wal-Mart? I mean, I suppose it's possible?) and then says he wants to implement rent control. Rent control is a terrible idea. (Though I'm not super surprised that a Green-endorsed candidate would disagree with me on that issue.)
His website looks fully functional but if you click the donations link it says "Online donations coming soon!" and then suggests you set up a meeting with Trahern to give him a donation in person. Since the election is on Tuesday, I'm thinking that online donations are not coming soon.
And that's fine with me, because Dai Thao is absolutely the person I would vote for if I were a resident of Ward 1.
Trahern Crews (Green Party)
Dai Thao (Incumbent, DFL Party)
Dai Thao's website starts out with the statement, "My whole life has prepared me for the position of Councilmember for Ward 1. I was born in Laos and escaped the communist regime there as a youth. I survived refugee camps in Thailand and came to Minneapolis, where I grew up in a housing project." That made me blink and think that this may be an excessive level of preparation for the St. Paul City Council. He also calls out some of his top accomplishments (he was elected for the first time two years ago -- I think maybe someone resigned mid-term, since terms are normally four years long): "We approved Paid Parental Leave, secured pool vouchers for low-income youth and supported the Women's Economic Security Act, ensuring all women contractors are paid the same as men."
Before taking office he worked as a community organizer for Take Action MN (working against the evil constitutional amendments of 2012) and ISAIAH (organizing to help people in poverty, basically). You really could not ask for a candidate more committed to racial and economic justice and progressive issues.
Trahern Crews is Green Party endorsed. He starts off by saying he wants to end government tax breaks to Wal-Mart (does the City of St. Paul even give tax breaks to Wal-Mart? I mean, I suppose it's possible?) and then says he wants to implement rent control. Rent control is a terrible idea. (Though I'm not super surprised that a Green-endorsed candidate would disagree with me on that issue.)
His website looks fully functional but if you click the donations link it says "Online donations coming soon!" and then suggests you set up a meeting with Trahern to give him a donation in person. Since the election is on Tuesday, I'm thinking that online donations are not coming soon.
And that's fine with me, because Dai Thao is absolutely the person I would vote for if I were a resident of Ward 1.