Readers Write: Minneapolis DFL convention, paying University of Minnesota athletes, Vance Boelter

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I attended the Minneapolis DFL convention on Saturday, and I disagree with statements in the Star Tribune story about the “endorsement” of state Sen. Omar Fateh (“Minneapolis DFL convention endorses democratic socialist Omar Fateh for mayor over Jacob Frey,” July 19).

Saying the endorsement was from “the Democratic Party of Minnesota’s largest city” is a slight exaggeration. It’s a stretch to call a few hundred socialist activists “the Democratic Party.” Many longtime DFLers think it’s a mistake to allow the money and support of the Democratic Socialists of America to take over our party. I don’t think they should be able to call themselves DFLers.

The convention was a debacle. You will hear all the stories about delays, voting problems, walkouts, drama, the $70 sandwiches, etc.

A fancy new electronic voting system was delayed. It was not broadcast before the meeting (you’d have to vote by phone; hope you brought one and could find charging outlets during the 12 hours you were there). The first vote count seemed suspiciously low based on the number of delegates present. The promised email verifying that my vote was received and counted never arrived. Again, suspicions raised. So, we decided to vote by paper ballots. This never happened. The “endorsement” was made after a visual count of raised badges minutes before the time scheduled to leave the building.

Credit goes to many beleaguered volunteers valiantly juggling problems and to the meeting chairs who did a masterful job of managing an unruly and sometimes hostile crowd — but this was a disastrous meeting. I’ve been to dozens of disorganized and too-long DFL meetings, but this was embarrassing.

Mary Ann Knox, Minneapolis

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I just read “Minneapolis DFL convention endorses democratic socialist Omar Fateh for mayor over Jacob Frey."

I was struck by this quote:

“Frey campaign manager Sam Schulenberg said in a statement: ‘This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates ... .’”

If our current mayor didn’t think the endorsement was worth seeking, why was he seeking it?

Seth Leavitt, Minneapolis

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After what happened at the Minneapolis DFL convention over the weekend, I would like to remind everyone of the 2021 mayor’s race in Buffalo, New York. Democratic socialist India Walton won the Democratic Party primary over incumbent Byron Brown. However, Brown decided to run a write-in campaign and defeated Walton handily.

So, for those who think democratic socialist Fateh will win the Minneapolis mayor’s race in November just because he won the Democratic endorsement, I assure you that might not be the case.

Are you telling me that a young student who’s working a couple jobs, looking for scholarships, trying to find a cheap place to live, buying used books, eating ramen and trying to make ends meet at the end of the month has to pay an extra $200 a year so another student, who already has a full scholarship, room and board and free tutoring can drive a Beamer around campus?

Insanity.

The $200 athletics fee for students at the University of Minnesota is the worst idea yet to come out of the Great Gray Mediocrity (“Students hit with $200 fee as U starts paying athletes,” July 19). I’m still not sure paying student athletes is a good idea, and it hasn’t helped the experience for those of us who like to watch Gopher sports.

But if you’re going to pay someone whose gift is throwing a ball rather than someone whose gift is art, math or science, then find the money somewhere else. Let the regents chip in. Let every professor take a $1,000 pay cut. Let President Rebecca Cunningham make do with less than a million a year or athletic director Mark Coyle scrape by on less than $1.4 million. Let the big businesses in the state donate.

But to rob the struggling student while enhancing the privileged few is not what I would call the American way.

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It is one thing to pay college athletes to play. It is another thing to ask all students with over six credits to pay their salaries. Reading through the article, which originally had the headline, “Students paying students: How the University of Minnesota is trying to stay competitive in athletics,” I see no argument made that this is a public good or that it makes the playing field more level so all people have access (arguments that justify the student activities fee). This fee is to subsidize the athletic budget and is not open for all to participate.

Student athletes already get the best dorms, tutors and scholarships, and the U will always be in a position to spend like other schools do if they are to remain competitive. Asking students, many of whom are working and taking loans to get jobs that will never pay them close to what athletes and coaches are making, is a hard argument to make. Such a boilerplate, mundane solution of having students pay the deficit does not inspire confidence in the decisions the U is making regarding athletics.

The article should have been titled, “Students paying students: How the University of Minnesota has manipulated support for athletics.”

Andy Uhler, Minneapolis

Given: $70 for a pastrami sandwich at the DFL nominating convention. Posit: Premier Gopher sports is at least 10 times more exciting than any mayoral endorsement process. Therefore, simply charge $700 for a hot dog at Huntington Bank Stadium (a memorial to ... a bank?) and $80 for a cup of hot chocolate in whatever elite Sky Lounge they have dreamed up. Even a university regent would understand this as consumption tax levied on the consumer, not the entire population.

Problem solved, athletics budget in the black and a $200 per student credit applied to every undergraduate’s tuition bill.

Steve Rawlins, Minneapolis

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Now that the athletic department at the U has suggested that the student body pay an extra $200 for its newly minted professional athletes, it should be a very easy decision for the university to drop all Division I sports and concentrate on the real purpose of the university: educating students.

I was reading the article in last Wednesday’s edition regarding charges filed against Vance Boelter for crimes against his human victims (“Boelter indicted on murder counts,” July 16). As petty as it may sound, why were charges of animal cruelty not added to the list? It sounds like Gilbert, the Hortmans’ dog, was shot and suffered terribly before finally being put down by a veterinarian.