Running a business

It’s surprising how some of my past experiences have prepared me to be a Duluth City Councilor. Take Okinawa, Japan, for example. I was what amounted to the CEO of the Navy Fleet Gift Shop, overseeing a volunteer staff of 50. Our store was sort of a Pier 1 for the Navy families, with all the money going to charity. I would send staff over to neighboring countries like Thailand in order to buy all sorts of interesting items to sell. While I was there, I also boosted profits by 40 percent. Can any of my opponents say they've boosted the profits of their respective businesses by 40 percent? They might be nice people, but I doubt they've pulled that off. And we all did it out of the goodness of our hearts, and for fun. We gave away the more than $100,000 we raised to all sorts of area charities. Now, if I could pull that off in a volunteer position, imagine what I could do as a city councilor, on a mission to help Duluth.

I helped towns attract businesses

All Duluth city councilor candidates say they want economic development. But I'm the only one -- other than Jim Stauber -- who actually knows the nuts and bolts that create economic development.

Here's why I can make that claim.



As a regional representative for southeast Minnesota, I was part of a team in charge of helping Minnesota communities sell their towns to prospective companies, which in turn would create jobs, and boost the local economy. So I – through the creation of the Star City Program – essentially helped communities construct their resumes, and practice their interviewing skills. That way companies could at a glance see what these Minnesota communities had to offer. I helped them gather data that mattered to companies, such as their city's water capacity, how much room was available in their industrial parks, stats on local schools, the land use plan, and what local financial help they might be able to provide employers who come to set up shop.


But I didn't just give them a checklist of things to collect. I helped them actually put the package together, and served as part of a team that pretended to be the potential company scouting out a new location to build. The city's team would practice pitching their towns to us. While I loved it, though I'm sure it may sound a bit dull to many residents. But that's why I'm running. I know what goes into attracting new businesses to town, which at its core, is what economic development is. It's all about what candidates have actually accomplished on the ground. Politicians should have to go beyond claiming they’re going to stand up for working people. I want to be able to create jobs and get out of the way, so working people can stand up for themselves. My campaign is about ensuring more and better jobs through attracting more businesses, and helping those here to expand, not simply trying to protect what we have today.

Response to Mayor Don Ness

I noticed Brandon posted an interesting e-mail from Mayor Ness on Thursday, regarding the makeup of the next city council. Although our mayor makes many fine points, I would like to challenge him on a few things he mentioned.    

"Ideally, our City Council would have two strong conservatives, two strong liberals, and five moderates ranging from the center-left to the center-right. That way, you could ensure that each issue would be taken on its own merit."

I agree. There should ideally be a nice mix, so everyone is heard. But if neither myself nor Councilor Jim Stauber are elected, all we're going to have are representatives from the far left. And I don't even think many thoughtful progressives really savor that notion. And Mayor Ness, though you say Dan Hartman is running as a moderate, all the union money coming in through PACs is being spent on his behalf. So while he may position himself in the middle, let's be honest, he's going to support unions first, and residents second. Follow the money. That's what matters. Just because Mr. Hartman calls himself a moderate doesn't mean he is one, or can be, with the amount of dollars spent on his behalf.

Meanwhile, people like myself are constantly painted as right wingers, just because we're for balanced budgets and curbing spending. Essentially we want to run the city like we run our households -- with fiscal responsibility. What's so right wing about that?

    "I'm convinced that most Duluthians want independent-minded, solution-focused city councilors. Unfortunately, the middle does not have the political energy of the extremes along the political spectrum, especially in low-turnout primaries. The result is that strong center-left candidates like Mike Akervik and Heath Hickok did not even survive the primary - even though that is where the majority of Duluth voters are politically."

 I think my success so far has to do with the fact that I spent a lot more time door knocking. It's not like I have an army of right-wing enthusiasts plugging my campaign all over town.

Leave behind the job titles

People in campaigns love to throw out titles. “I've led this initiative. I've been the head of that organization.” But voters deserve to know more about what makes me tick, who I am, and what qualifies me to lead Duluth. Hopefully through reading this blog, it will become fairly obvious that I have the kinds of experiences that have prepared me to help run a city, instead of a resume padded with fancy titles. Voters ought to clearly see which candidates have actual experience in the types of tasks they’ll be asked to work on as a city councilor. You wouldn’t expect a welder to know anything about advertising, for example. So why do some candidates act like they’re ready to be councilors no matter how light their experience is, or how unrelated it is to sitting on the city council? So click back for a series of posts I’ll be writing here, in the hopes of allowing you all to know who I am, beyond billboards and bumper stickers. And hey, if you still don’t think I’m the right person for the job, that’s fine. Even if I’m not elected, I’ll go on serving this community in all sorts of ways.