R.T. Rybak: Minneapolis voters should beware 'bloc' politics, not new voices

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Stop me when this begins to feel familiar:

When I was writing about Minneapolis for the Star Tribune in the early 1980s, there was great concern about upcoming local elections. The majority in City Hall, and much of the business community, were deeply concerned that a group of young progressives, mostly from south Minneapolis, were winning City Council and legislative races and would make risky changes.

The people the establishment was worried about back then included Sharon Sayles Belton, Peter McLaughlin, Kathy O'Brien, Brian Coyle, Jane Ranum, Jean Wagenius and Steve Cramer. In other words, people who over the subsequent decades would make some of the most extraordinary contributions of any group of elected officials in Minneapolis history.

Here's where the "sounds familiar" part comes in. As this year's city elections get closer, there is again great concern about young progressives making massive change. Having seen parts of this movie before, I caution people to keep their minds open, because behind some of the walls going up there may be some younger important new leaders with the fresh perspective our city needs right now.

I also want to caution those young progressives not to write off everyone who opposes you now. Some of them know enough about what has or hasn't worked to help you build a future that avoids the mistakes of the past.

I want to be very clear that I'm not "picking sides" in upcoming races. There are major differences between "then" and "now," including the shock waves of George Floyd's murder, the unhealed wounds of the Bernie-Hillary race, the polarized national atmosphere and an unprecedented set of issues.

My concern is that in city government you are delivering basic core services that should be inherently nonpolitical. Why are there polarized "sides" at all? Fixing this dynamic is tough when so many people around the candidates, and some forces outside the city, are so strongly pushing the narrative that every person running in Minneapolis this year is either a dangerous radical or a dinosaur refusing to step up to the changes desperately needed in this moment.

The very last role models our political leaders should follow are the ideologues in Congress whose lock-step adherence to partisan blocs makes governing impossible. But in Minneapolis today council votes too-often fall into rigid moderate vs. reform camps that now dominate this election and spill over into races for county attorney, Congress and more.

I don't speak from experience, because in my 12 years as mayor I never had a solid "bloc" of council members who consistently supported my positions. Every single council member I worked with over 12 years opposed me on at least one big issue and supported me on at least one big issue. It would have been nice to know I usually had the votes to pass something through the council but, because I didn't, I had to find some way to keep the door open at least a crack to everyone. I was fortunate to have a council president in Barb Johnson who tried to do the same thing.

This council and mayor face issues much tougher than anything I faced, and I am acutely aware that how something in City Hall looks from the outside may be different in reality. That said, when this election is over, I hope whoever walks into City Hall finds a way to work on at least one big issue with someone from the other "bloc." It would also help if they did everything in their power to fix a campaign finance system that allows big infusions of independent expenditures in city elections, which in the last couple election cycles dramatically accelerated polarization.

Fixing this isn't up to just the people we elect. As voters we have an opportunity to use this election to soften the hard lines. Ask our candidates less about how they will fight the "other side" and more about what they will do to reach across blocs to find common ground for the good of our Minneapolis.

R.T. Rybak was mayor of Minneapolis from 2002-14.