Kelliher's bid for Mpls. parks job draws praise, criticism

News that DFL politician Margaret Anderson Kelliher is a finalist for Minneapolis park superintendent aroused reactions Thursday ranging from praise for her leadership and collaboration to cries of cronyism.

"I know from my conversations with Margaret that she's very interested in our park system and very concerned about it," said Arlene Fried of the oft-critical Park Watch group. "She has leadership skills. She has negotiating skills. And she certainly knows budgets."

But park Commissioner Bob Fine has questions. "We frankly have a candidate that isn't traditional who doesn't have executive management experience," he said. He said the application period should be extended through the meeting here of a national park professionals trade group late next month.

Kelliher is the only finalist who isn't a park professional for a job that was advertised as paying in the "low to mid $100s." The other finalists are Stanley Motley, head of parks in Fulton County, Ga., and Steve Rymer, park director in Morgan Hill, Calif.

The candidacy of House Speaker Kelliher, who lost her party's primary for governor last month, aroused praise and consternation. "It's just very surprising," said former City Council Member Pat Scott, a longtime political supporter of Kelliher.

The local history of nontraditional hires to head government organizations is mixed. The hiring of a consultant firm represented by Peter Hutchinson to run Minneapolis schools ultimately dissolved after mixed results. The Osseo school board bought out the contract of a former Air Force colonel who served as superintendent less than a year.

The most comparable analogy to the move Kelliher is attempting was the Minneapolis school board's aborted hiring of former House Speaker David Jennings as superintendent. But Jennings held several executive positions between those jobs, including chief operating officer of city schools. He ultimately chose not to stay after his surprise hiring provoked charges and a lawsuit arguing that he lacked necessary credentials. He went on to head Chaska schools until June.

Some say an advantage of hiring Kelliher, who helped lead the push for the state Legacy Amendment, is that she'll bring close ties to state and national funding sources. But if that's so, English asked, "Why don't we hire her as a lobbyist?"

Kelliher has said that she's not giving interviews on her candidacy. Her résumé lists work at the Legislature dating back to her 1991 hiring as a staff assistant. She said that in her four years as speaker, she managed a $29.1 million House operation, including 253 full-time employees and 75 session jobs. The Park Board has a $57.7 million budget this year with 431 full-time and 219 part-time employees.

She also taught briefly at the University of Minnesota and was a community organizer for three years in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. She has a bachelor's degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in political science and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University.

Job specifications

The Park Board said when it publicized the job that it would consider "a non-traditional candidate from a non-park-related organization who has executive management experience with public, private or nonprofit employers."

Hamline University professor and political analyst David Schultz said her application suggests that her future lies more in city rather than state politics. It could position her to run for mayor. Incumbent R.T. Rybak, whom Kelliher topped for party endorsement, still has his eyes on the governor's chair if DFLer Mark Dayton doesn't win.

"She needs a job, and the city of Minneapolis probably makes more sense for her as a place to go for a job," Schultz said.