St. Paul City Council race breaks along old vs. new

They are ex-cops with police backing and deep St. Paul roots, known commodities in City Council wards that have seen struggle and promise. But as they near the end of spirited reelection races, Dan Bostrom and Debbie Montgomery are vulnerable, too.

Neither incumbent, both DFLers, enters next week’s election with the party’s endorsement: Bostrom, a three-term council member, battled to a draw with challenger Pakou Hang; Montgomery, a one-term member, lost the party nod to Melvin Carter III.

The challengers are young and progressive in their politics, evoking the spirit of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, and enter the final week with muscle behind the “time for change” claims: They are forcing the old guard to defend seats that should’ve been easy to defend, said David Schultz, who teaches election law at Hamline University.

“I view this truly as a generational change - a sense that the challengers are saying, ‘It’s our turn,’\u2009” he said.

Still, Schultz said, the question of who wins the race will depend on an old-fashioned value: Who gets out the vote.

Both wards are known for ethnic and economic diversity and transportation initiatives - past and present. In Bostrom’s Sixth Ward, the winner will seek to build on a Phalen Corridor economic development plan, and in Montgomery’s First Ward, officials are preparing a $1 billion Central Corridor light-rail line.

Bobbi Megard, a former council member, said the First Ward, in particular, will be “where the action is,” development-wise, for the next five to 10 years. She views both races as wide open, she said.

When it comes to money, both incumbents held an advantage, according to finance reports filed last Friday.

In the First Ward, Montgomery raised more than $102,000 and had about $54,000 on hand, while Carter topped out at just under $50,000 and carried about $10,000. In the Sixth Ward, Bostrom raised about $73,000 and had about $23,000, compared with Hang’s figures of about $42,000 and $7,500. Schultz, however, said money often isn’t a factor in ward elections: “What you need is a lot of volunteers,” he said.

Ray Faricy, a former state representative, declined to predict the races. While Montgomery has scored points in the First Ward debates and Bostrom is “pretty much a fixture” locally, he said, he also has noticed the challengers “picking up that Wellstone enthusiasm and putting it into practice.”

Making connections

Hang, 31, is perhaps best known for managing the 2001 campaign of state Sen. Mee Moua, her cousin and the nation’s first Hmong state legislator. The campaign was a “learn-as-you-go” exercise, she said, run by people so green that they didn’t know that when asking attorneys to use their phones at night that they were setting up “phone banks.”

Now a board member for Wellstone Action, Hang said she will promote living-wage jobs, smart development and “people power.”

Carter, 28, has been a policy aide for Mayor Chris Coleman and a community organizer for Wellstone Action and Got Voice? Got Power!

As a progressive, he said, he wants to emphasize community connections: “Relationships are the currency of this kind of work, and we need to do a better job,” he said.

It’s a sentiment shared by Hang. While Carter has pledged an outdoor policy, where he is out on the streets of the First Ward, she said she’d consider setting up a satellite office on the East Side.

Both Montgomery and Bostrom say they have listened and have the experience. Now is not the time for on-the-job training, Montgomery said. A former city planner who rose from being the city’s first female police officer to a senior commander, Montgomery, 61, said she brings the same work ethic to City Hall.

“For a part-time job, I’m working 70 hours a week,” she said. She also has touted her activity in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Bostrom, 67, a former council president, said he realizes there’s little flash about him, but he remains committed to bettering an East Side that has been his lifelong home.

He has touted the value of “setting the table” for development and of then being patient enough for the right opportunity to come along.

There’s unfinished business, he added, primarily in efforts to improve problem properties - an area for which he’s won Megard’s praises.

As the election approaches, Schultz said, neither incumbent can be seen as a sure winner, though each has the advantage of a strong voter network and name recognition.

But St. Paul is different than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and if there is a groundswell of new voters - by age or demographic - next week’s election could mark a changing of the tide in St. Paul politics, he said.

Chris Havens • 651-298-1542 Anthony Lonetree • 651-298-1545