Why Mark Andrew Should Be Everyone's First Choice For Mayor

The Mayor of Minneapolis neither signs nor vetoes bills: the Mayor’s job is to lead the city and effectively utilize the bully pulpit to move our city in the right direction. The mayorship isn’t a position of power: it’s a position of influence and collaboration. Mark Andrew, of all candidates, has what it takes. As the Hennepin County Commissioner from 1983 to 1999, Mark Andrew had the executive experience of leading Minnesota’s second largest political body, a very geographically and politically diverse region. Despite many political differences, Hennepin County Board Members of both parties supported Mark Andrew for his ability to bridge gaps of interest and make a fair deal that could work for everyone. Mark Andrew is one of few progressives that understands the art of bi- or multi-partisanship so incredibly well.

Mark Andrew is endorsed for the 2013 mayoral election by a multitude of influential unions working to protect middle class security, including, of many, the Minneapolis’ Regional Labor Federation (AFL-CIO), the Minneapolis Building Trades Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Local 292), Teamsters (Joint Council 32), Unite Here! (Local 17), and, notably, the lifesaving Minneapolis Firefighters (Local 82), who were unsuccessfully targeted for budget savings by harmful layoffs. Not only is Mark Andrew so strongly respected by labor, but he is supported by both small and large private sector businesses of all kinds. Minneapolis cannot afford to have a mayor that picks the industries that he or she finds worth advocating for: we need a mayor that stands for all jobs.

Mark Andrew also has the entrepreneurial experience of creating jobs: he founded and ran Real S’Mores and The World Greatest French Fries at one of Minnesota’s most cherished institutions, the State Fair. Later in his life, Mark Andrew exercised his collaborative skills with Greenmark to consult with corporations on how to realistically go green. Because of Greenmark, we can all thank Mark Andrew for making the city’s prized Target Field the greenest ball park in the nation.

Having a history of involvement in the community is important, but having a respectable record of progressive legislative accomplishments, as well, is proof of capability. Mark Andrew is undoubtedly the most progressive candidate. He made Hennepin County one of the first counties nationwide to offer domestic partnerships. He upholded Roe Vs Wade in Hennepin County to protect women’s health. He ensured that Hennepin County did its part to make the prized Midtown Greenway a reality (and he has a solid plan for another greenway to connect North and Northeast.) He utilized his negotiating skills with many different interests to make the Kenilworth Trail the awesome recreation trail that it is today. He also ensured that all municipalities within Hennepin County offered curbside recycling to their residents. Mark Andrew is the most progressive candidate because he talks the talk and walks the walk.

No single fiscally responsible action, no matter how innovative, can erase eight years of increases in the property tax levy that have threatened long-time residents from being able to afford their homes that they worked so hard to own. Voters should hold our city’s budget chair accountable for this trend that is, ironically, abating at election year. Being progressive not only means making important investments to ‘greenen’ our city, address the achievement gap, revitalize struggling neighborhoods, but also to look out for the taxpayer in a government body funded mostly by regressive property taxes.

In the same sense, voters should remember that a progressive city requires investment, and that taking a more conservative approach to investment and spending can easily make our cityless progressive. Minneapolis needs to find a healthy, collaborative and innovative medium that can make our city even more progressive without pushing middle class Minneapolitans out of our city. Mark Andrew is the perfect candidate to find that balance.

What a candidate has accomplished and what their proven ability to accomplish in the future is a much more realistic expectation of what he or she will do in office than what he or she says on the campaign trail. By supporting Mark Andrew, you are supporting a holistic approach that will defend all Minneapolitans: both those in the public sector and those working for small businesses and large businesses. You are supporting a candidate that can use the bully pulpit most effectively and collaboratively to close our achievement gap, to complement our schools’ needs as a partner, rather than as a competitor, with our School Board, and to improve the urban experience for Minneapolitans in every neighborhood. Make Mark Andrew your first choice for Mayor on November 5th, and Minneapolis will continue its current path of greatness, and then some.