Voters to choose new mayor, Ward 1 Council member, and new School Board members

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Chris Coleman (left) is running for re-election for mayor of Saint Paul while Tim Holden (right) is one of three candidates who are running against Coleman. Not pictured: candidates Kurt Dornfeld and Sharon Anderson. Chris Coleman (left) is running for re-election for mayor of Saint Paul while Tim Holden (right) is one of three candidates who are running against Coleman. Not pictured: candidates Kurt Dornfeld and Sharon Anderson.

By JAN WILLMS

An open Council seat in Ward 1 that has drawn seven candidates, a school board race in which voters will elect three out of five people running and a mayoral race with an incumbent running ahead of three challengers, sets the scene for the Nov. 5 election in St. Paul.

When Ward 1 council member Melvin Carter III left his position in July to accept a state appointment, Nathaniel Khaliq, former director of St. Paul NAACP, stepped in to fill the void.

With two years of Carter’s term remaining, a special election is being held. Running for the office are Paul Holmgren, with city Republican endorsement; Johnny Howard, an activist with Green Party endorsement; Kazoua Kong-Thao, a former member of the St. Paul School Board; Debbie Montgomery, a former one-term city council member and retired police officer; Noel Nix, an activist who was Carter III’s aide; Dai Thao, an IT manager who supports progressive causes; and Mark Voerding, an aide to County Commissioner Janice Rettman. The DFL party did not endorse any of the candidates.

The school board race features two incumbents, John Brodrick and Jean O’Connell, both with DFL endorsement. The other DFL-endorsed candidate is Chue Vue, an attorney and former chair of the Hmong American Partnership. Also running are Terrance Bushard, who ran for city council in 2007, and Greg Copeland, the chair of the St. Paul Republican City Committee.

Although Chris Coleman is ahead in his race for mayor of Saint Paul, the three candidates who are running against him have some strong opinions on their reasons for running and the challenges that face the next mayor.

His closest competitor, Tim Holden, said he has become increasingly concerned about the light rail along University Avenue.

“The lack of business input, lack of concern for parking spaces lost, accessibility for seniors and disabled, and the businesses that struggled or finally closed their doors compelled me to run for mayor of St. Paul,” Holden declared. “I knew someone had to stand up to City Hall and speak for the small businesses of St. Paul and my friends and colleagues encouraged me to be that person.”

Holden pointed to his success as a realtor and general contractor as preparing him for the mayoral office. “I needed to first listen to what my clients wanted. Together we created the plan that would fulfill their dreams. I bring those same skills of listening first, presenting a plan, refining it, and drawing on the skills of the best people to complete the plan,” he explained.

“The biggest challenge facing the mayor today is to recreate trust between City Hall and the people of St. Paul,” Holden said. “Every neighborhood deserves to have schools that educate their children, to feel safe in their homes and neighborhood, to have their streets maintained. Listening, creating a plan, using the best ideas, going back to listen some more, refining the plan and then implementing it is a challenge I am willing to take on.”

Kurt Dornfeld said he feels the government is like a runaway train, heading for a wreck, and that is why he chose to run.

“We are spending like it’s going out of style, from the president down to local government,” he said. “We are heading for a train wreck.” He expressed concern about the things that money is spent on.

“We drive around on roads with potholes that haven’t been fixed up,” he said, citing a lack of funding there. Dornfeld works for the City of Saint Paul in street maintenance.

“I don’t know what the qualifications for mayor are, but I know the town pretty good,” Dornfeld said. “There are a lot of empty buildings downtown, and we need to get businesses back to St. Paul.”

He also cited the need to stop crime and murder, noting black on black crime. “We need to do that not only here, but throughout the United States,” he said.

“You don’t see too much about Big Brother (program) any more. That had good intent. We need to figure something out, that’s for sure,” Dornfeld said.

He said he has never been an elected official before, and spends many hours at work, which does not leave him a lot of time to campaign.

If elected, he said he would like to meet with mayors of different cities in the United States. “We need to track the welfare people, so they don’t come from one city to another, like Chicago to St. Paul. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it’s my and your tax dollars being spent.”

For candidate Sharon Anderson, the mayor’s race is one of many she has entered since the 1970s, running for public office numerous times.

She cited issues regarding the Police Department, separation of powers, cities risk management insurance and corporate welfare as her reasons for joining this race.

“My strongest qualifications as a candidate are honest, good moral character, and the fact that I am a VA widow and whistleblower,” she said.

She sees disparate treatment of seniors, the disabled and high payments by the Police Department for use of excessive force as challenges facing the next mayor.

The difficult challenges over the past seven years, according to Coleman, have included the worst economy in decades, political uncertainty and dwindling state and federal revenues for cities.

But he claimed the tough decisions that have been made have resulted in a structurally balanced budget the last several years.

“For example, in spite of state funding cuts and the economic challenges of recent years, not one police officer or firefighter has lost his or her job,” Coleman affirmed.

He said that if re-elected as mayor, he will put public safety and other core city services first.

“My record shows that in tough economic times, we have worked hard to make sure we are using city funds in the best possible way to provide the quality services residents have come to expect,” Coleman said. “We have been proactive and strategic about creating a 21st-century transit program that links people with jobs.”

“One of our top goals must be to work with the school district to become a national model of how to close the persistence of any achievement gap between white students and students of color,” Coleman emphasized.

He cited a new initiative called “Right Track” that has local businesses engaging with students to develop workplace skills. St. Paul’s Youth Job Corps, the school district and Genesys Works are also partners.

“Together, we are simultaneously providing a better education and preparing kids to be active in a 21st-century workplace,” Coleman said.

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