Minneapolis 5th Ward: Incumbent Samuels pressured by 4 challengers, voting system

Winning a Minneapolis City Council seat has never been easy for Don Samuels.

He had to beat the DFL establishment's endorsed candidate in a 2003 special election in the Third Ward. He squeezed by with 53 percent of the vote.

Two years later, redistricting threw him into the same Fifth Ward as incumbent Natalie Johnson Lee, who represented for four years much of the territory they contested in a particularly nasty election. He won with 55 percent.

Things haven't gotten any easier this year in Samuels' re-election bid. He has four challengers. Johnson Lee is back, having filed to run minutes before the deadline. Kenya McKnight, who took the 60-year-old Samuels to three ballots before he won party endorsement, hopes to capitalize on an influx of newbie Obama voters.

Lennie Chism is throwing the sharpest zingers at Samuels. The incumbent appears to have less to fear from Independence-endorsed Roger Smithrud, who stumbled for words in a debate last week.

Moreover, the city's first experience with ranked-choice voting is muddying the outlook. Samuels again is backed by Mayor R.T. Rybak and onetime Council Member Jackie Cherryhomes. But the political thinking is that if first-choice votes don't get him to the threshold of one vote over 50 percent needed to win under the new system, Samuels could be in trouble. That's because people voting for any of the four challengers are considered more likely to give their second-choice votes to someone besides Samuels.

Remark still controversial

The new voting system also appears to be cooling somewhat the overheated political name-calling that marked the 2005 contest, with a candidate forum last week sticking mostly to the issues.

But then many residents don't need to be reminded of Samuel's remark in a discussion of school failings that North High School ought to be burned down. It's part of a string of comments regarding race issues that some see as blunt candor and others as insensitive race-baiting. "I've apologized over and over again for that statement made in a fit of passion," he told the forum. McKnight said later that, "The responsibility of words is very important, especially if you're a council member."

The Fifth Ward winner may well be the only black member of the next council, taking on additional responsibilities as a city contact on racial issues.

Another problem for Samuels is the same one that dogged Johnson Lee in 2005 -- a reputation for not promptly getting back to constituents. Samuels pledged to return calls in 24 hours, a pledge he says he's kept but for all but a few constituents who fell through the cracks. Johnson Lee says she knew he couldn't keep the pledge.

State Rep. Bobby Joe Champion, whose district overlaps the ward, said Johnson Lee needs to articulate to voters what she's learned from her term and how she'll be better this time. Samuels emphasizes a string of redevelopment projects along West Broadway Avenue and a sharp reduction in crime. But he needs to show how that development translated into North Side jobs and what he did to help reduce crime, Champion said.

McKnight, 32, portrays herself as a representative of generational change. She teaches entrepreneurial skills to emerging business owners. She faults Samuels for razing foreclosed homes and corner businesses that have attracted drug dealers, arguing they should be preserved as part of the North Side's fabric.

"It's about regentrification," she said. "It has to happen, but that doesn't mean the whole population has to change ... That's Don's philosophy, [that] we have to get rid of the low-income people."

McKnight's campaign was buoyed by the backing of the Insight News newspaper, which backed Samuels in 2005 but went against him in a front-page commentary last week.

Johnson Lee, 45, told the forum: "I'm back to serve with a vengeance." She touts her council experience and currently runs a anti-tobacco education project targeted at blacks, while consulting as a leadership trainer.

She argues that the North Side has ample talent but needs political leadership at City Hall. Political observers suggest that by filing for council, she took some of the steam out of McKnight's campaign, but Johnson tells her supporters to make McKnight their second choice -- the only candidate to openly offer such guidance.

Meaning of 'green'

Chism, 44, runs a North Side nonprofit community development agency. He argues that the city hasn't done enough to remove barriers hampering expansion by small businesses. He's particularly critical of the city's failure to place affirmative-action requirements on an initial $1.7 million in federal foreclosure recovery money earmarked for razing some shuttered houses.

When candidates were asked how they'd work toward a "green" city, Chism responded: "There is but one kind of green I want to bring to north Minneapolis."

But Samuels maintained that job creation demands a more patient approach with businesses. "You can't bring 'em to the table and yell at them," he said. "They're not coming." His approach, he said, has produced unprecedented investment on Broadway despite a national recession. "Re-elect me, and in four years you will not believe what you see," he said.

Samuels said he's hoping his re-election will silence his critics about the kind of north Minneapolis that voters want. "I think it will prove I'm not out of touch," he said.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438