Kris in the Press
Independence Party fields impressive candidates for Minneapolis City Council seats
Bruce AndersonWard 13 in the southwest corner of the city is known to be the most unpredictable. The ward was represented by Steve Minn of the Reform Party (forerunner to the Independence Party) from 1993 to 1997–completing his term one year before someone else was elected governor on the Reform Party ballot line–and the DFL has held the seat in only three of the last 15 years. The Independence Party and Republican endorsee is Kris Broberg. He will appear on the ballot as an Independent and last year was a delegate to the national Republican party convention as a part of the Ron Paul faction. Dean Barkley has gone public with his support. And, get this, he also has the backing of the Green Party. Can a candidate under the Ranked Choice voting method who has the support of three political parties topple a one-term DFL’er? Should be interesting. You can contact Kris at kris@krisbroberg.com.
Ward Thirteen: The independent ward could see fireworks in November
By ANDY BIRKEY 9/25/09 10:30 AM
Minneapolis’ Ward 13 has an independent streak: In a DFL-dominated town, it hadn’t elected a Democrat to the city council in a dozen years. Then, in 2005, DFLer Betsy Hodges won the seat. Now candidates Kris Broberg, who is endorsed by two parties and supported by a third, and unendorsed DFLer Joseph Henry are hoping to capitalize on that independent spirit to unseat Hodges.
Ward 13 encompasses the southwest corner of Minneapolis, from the west edge of Lake Calhoun south to Lake Harriet to the Minneapolis-Edina border. With low poverty rates, it’s comprised largely of single-family homes and residents with above-average incomes.
Reform Party candidate Steve Minn, who won the seat in 1993 and 1997, is lauded by the Independence Party (formerly the Reform Party) as its first victorious candidate — well before former Gov. Jesse Ventura. Minn left the seat early in 1999, forcing a special election where independent “DFL expatriate” Barret Lane took office in an upset against DFL-endorsed candidate Karen Wilson.
Lane retired in 2005, opening up an opportunity for Hodges to take the seat for the DFL after being the only non-DFL spot on the council for more than ten years.
Candidate Broberg hopes this history of independent voting will make the district competitive during this fall’s election. Broberg has the backing of the Independence Party and the Republican Party. He’ll be listed as an Independent on the ballot in November, and this is not his first foray into politics.
Broberg was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul as a member of the Ron Paul coalition. Despite that, members of the Ward 13 Green Party overwhelmingly backed him in a straw poll last week, Broberg says.
“I won the straw poll because I have made the effort to reach out to people of all parties, including Greens, and find common ground, we agree on many issues especially those surrounding local politics,” he said. “I like the ten values of the Green Party. Obviously I don’t agree on everything, and they don’t agree with me on everything, but this year people are fed up with the status quo in the city of Minneapolis and are looking for alternatives.”
He continued, “I am skeptical of both major parties when it comes to issues of war and peace. They both like to use the military to fight their own wars and they both like to spend a great deal of money.”
And finances are a big part of his campaign. Quoting a section of Hodges website, he said, “‘Minneapolis has its fiscal house in order.’ I couldn’t disagree more. According to the city’s own budget, they will at a minimum double our property taxes by 2018. According to my opponent, it could double that rate of increase if you factor in the city’s pension liabilities.”
Broberg is a smaller-government candidate. “Government at all levels is out of control and becoming an adversary to the people rather then a tool of the people to organize society. I want to represent the people and devolve the power from government back to the individual.”
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Kris Broberg |
BY CRISTOF TRAUDES
In some ways, Kris Broberg’s run for City Council comes down to this simple a hope: to be able to continue affording life in Minneapolis.
Broberg first considered entering his name after hearing incumbent Council Member Betsy Hodges talk about the strong chance that property taxes will go up in the coming years. He heard Hodges emphasize the impact of pension payouts, which are expected to increase the city’s financial obligations by the tens of millions over the coming years.
“That was a big inspiration — holy cow,” Broberg says.
After watching property taxes increase by more than 70 percent over the past seven years, he sees the future as an impending storm for many homeowners. Someone needed to step in, he says, with the idea that more increases are unacceptable.
The alternative — “people can’t afford that,” he says.
Broberg’s view is that the first step to avoiding large tax hikes would be for the city to go back to focusing almost exclusively on basic services, such as providing fire and police protection. Maybe the city should consider filing for bankruptcy, at least before bankrupting its citizens, he says.
He also believes the city’s current climate with citizens is an us-and-them relationship. There’s some mistrust, and Broberg says one good way to make sure the city remains a transparent body is for it to be independently audited. He wonders why such an audit hasn’t been performed recently, and he wonders why the body that would perform such audits, the Board of Estimate and Taxation, is being proposed for elimination.
ABOUT KRIS BROBERG
Age: 38
Occupation: property management
Family: married
Neighborhood: Linden Hills
Governmental/personal experience: concerned citizen; once ran for City Council seat in Robbinsdale, Minn.
Endorsements: Independence Party, Minneapolis Republicans
BY CRISTOF TRAUDES In a city known for being awash in “blue” politics, Ward 13 is the closest thing to an anomaly. Sure, it’s currently represented by a DFLer — who has secured her party’s endorsement for a second go-around — but Southwest’s southwestern ward has been known to swing in a different direction. That makes this a race to watch, especially since the incumbent’s most vocal opponent is running on a familiar parties-separating platform: less taxes.Opponent Kris Broberg, who is endorsed by both the Republican and Independence parties, was inspired by that dire tone. And while he said he agrees that the numbers are threatening, his belief is that first on the council’s financial to-do list should be to not increase property taxes. Broberg said the city should go back to focusing almost exclusively on basic services, such as providing fire and police protection. The Community Planning and Economic Development department, for example, is too big, he said. And maybe the city should consider filing for bankruptcy, he said — at least before bankrupting its citizens. His views come from a personal hope: to be able to continue affording life in Minneapolis. More property taxes, he said, are unacceptable. “People can’t afford that,” Broberg said. |
