MINNEAPOLIS

Most people will tell you that Farheen Hakeem is a long shot to beat out incumbent RT Rybak or Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin in the mayoral primary, since only the top two finishers will advance to the general election in November. But Hakeem sees things differently.

“Actually, the chances of my winning are not so slim,” she said. “If my chances of winning were so slim, I don’t think RT and Peter would be kissing my butt as much as they are. Why would they give me the time of day if I wasn’t a threat?”

Hakeem believes that her ability to relate to the average Minneapolitan will win her votes. “If you look at the people in Minneapolis, they look a lot more like me, they have the same background as me,” she said. “I’m still a renter and I’ve seen the effects of development, the economy, the job market—these are all things that have directly affected my life. And when you look at RT Rybak and Peter McLaughlin, they are pretty far away from that.”

She is convinced that she’ll get support from a broad and diverse swath of the populace. “There’s a voter base they can’t touch. I have the women’s vote, the immigrant vote, the people of color vote, the transgender/radical/queer vote, the low income vote, the renter vote, the Green vote. The list goes on and on. When you add them up, there are a lot of votes.”

Whether or not Hakeem can actually mobilize those voters remains to be seen. She is often criticized for being “too young” and inexperienced, although at age 29, her resumé is impressive. Born and raised in Chicago, she moved to Minneapolis to pursue graduate studies. She taught math in the Minneapolis Public School system, and after September 11, 2001, turned her attention to social activism. Hakeem is involved with the Anti-war Committee and the Women of Color Building Project, and speaks publicly against racism.

She’s been a community organizer for a housing co-op, has tutored youth at District 202, served as an advocate at the Minnesota Department of Public Health and worked as a counselor at Upward Bound. Currently she’s the membership coordinator for the Girl Scout Council of Greater Minneapolis. And—oh yeah, she’s an Arab-American Muslim who wears a headscarf and used to perform standup comedy.

Despite her age and lack of political experience, Hakeem sees her advocacy work as ample qualification to become mayor, but whether she can win may be less important than simply having her in the race. For many, the difference between RT Rybak and Peter McLaughlin is slim—so much so, that neither Democratic candidate garnered a majority of delegates at the DFL convention last May, and therefore neither received the party’s endorsement.

Hakeem sees herself as a viable alternative to the other choices—“RT and RT Lite”—and embraces the policies of a true progressive. But while her platform, which focuses on four issues: sustainable economics, living wages, affordable housing and an anti-racist approach to public safety, may not differ extensively from that of her DFL challengers, there is one issue that clearly sets them apart: The Stadium.

Hakeem unabashedly decries any public financing of a baseball stadium, while both DFLers support legislation that would give $350 million of city money to the Twins. In an effort to placate both sides, McLaughlin has added an amendment to the stadium bill that includes funding for youth sports activities, amateur sports, child care and libraries. Hakeem called this “a little Band-Aid on a bullet-sized wound,” adding, “That money could be used for so much good … so much good. It’s such a disgrace.”

Perhaps it’s her age or her idealism showing, but it seems clear that DFL support of the stadium is a deliberate nod to developers who influence public policy and can make or break political careers. As one source proclaimed, “If you want to have a political career, you have to support public funding for stadiums. You can placate the liberals with other issues [such as same-sex rights and social service programs], but if you’re going to do business with business, you’ve got to support public subsidies in some form.” Even if it means doing business with Carl Pohlad—owner of United Properties and one of the wealthiest landlords in the state.

In addition to facing off against Rybak and McLaughlin, Hakeem has had to wage a public relations campaign to combat racial stereotyping. Because of her appearance, Hakeem says people assume she’s “a foreigner” and constantly ask, “Where are you from?”

“I counted during Pride weekend – I got asked that question 67 times.” She chalks it up to ignorance and increased scrutiny of Arabs and Arab-Americans in a post-9-11 world. She says that since her campaign began in March, “I’ve only counted five really nasty incidents—just five people being outright gross to me and my volunteers. That’s pretty good. Mostly it’s ignorance that I have to deal with.”

“But,” she added, “I’ve really held the media accountable.” She describes incidents with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Southwest Journal, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and WCCO radio that involved everything from labeling her as “angry” (“The reporter whipped out a picture of me at an anti-war protest at the Target Center and said, ‘Are you an angry person?’ But the photo showed me looking at this woman who was all up in my face, clutching her American flag, wearing her [Norm] Coleman sticker … and I’m just looking at her”), to misinformation about her ethnicity (“ … they described me as a ‘black Muslim from Chicago’”), to questioning her religion (“ … they said, ‘Is Minneapolis ready for a Muslim mayor?’ and I said, ‘Is Ward 10 ready for a white, Christian male?’”)

Is Minneapolis ready for a feisty, quick-witted intellectual Muslim mayor? Maybe or maybe not, but Hakeem’s candidacy in the race—and her candidness about race—sure make for interesting politics.

ST. PAUL

Elizabeth Dickinson knows that as a first-time political candidate, Farheen Hakeem has an “uphill battle” in the Minneapolis mayoral race. And while her own bid for mayor of St. Paul against incumbent Randy Kelly and Democrat Chris Coleman will not be easy, Dickinson has the benefit of hindsight, campaign experience, name recognition and community respect she earned during her Green Party run for a Ward 2 city council seat in 2003.

She lost that race to Dave Thune by a mere 123 votes, and spent a modest $10,000 on the entire campaign. In a world where big bankrolls often lead to political success, Dickinson’s near-victory had a profound impact on her community.

“After that [city council race], Dave Thune was in my neighborhood holding meet and greets and clean energy forums,” she said. “That would not have happened if I had not been in the race. I know because other candidates said, ‘I’m glad you’re in the race, otherwise the environment wouldn’t be on the radar.’ I think there’s value in that.”

Dickinson’s advocacy work in St. Paul led to impressive victories for environmentalists. As the founder of the Clean Energy Now coalition, she was instrumental in getting Xcel Energy to clean up its metro-area coal-burning plants. Both the High Bridge plant in St. Paul and the Riverside plant in Minneapolis will switch from burning coal to natural gas before 2010, and the A.S. King plant in Stillwater is slated to install the best-available pollution control technology by that time as well.

Her environmental success gives her a particular advantage against challenger Chris Coleman, who during his tenure on the St. Paul City Council in Ward 2 (1997-2003) was embroiled in conflict between his constituents and the Gopher State Ethanol (GSE) plant, which was located in his district. Shortly after GSE opened in 2000, residents began lodging numerous complaints about obnoxious odors and noise pollution. Many constituents expressed frustration at the lack of movement on the issue, which seemed grid locked between the city council and city attorneys, and complained that Coleman was not a strong advocate for their cause. GSE was closed in 2004.

Of her two challengers, Dickinson sees Coleman as the bigger threat. Or perhaps it’s Coleman who sees Dickinson as the threat. “Chris Coleman is trying to reinvent himself as a progressive,” said Dickinson. “He’s been endorsed by Progressive Minnesota and there’s all sorts of ironies there.”

A livable wage is one of Progressive Minnesota’s biggest issues. Its website states that part of its mission is to “extend living wage victories throughout the metro area, and strengthen policies that require businesses receiving public subsidies to create new jobs at livable wages.” This makes its endorsement of Coleman puzzling, since as a city councilmember, he voted against a measure that would have ensured that St. Paul workers were paid a living wage by Target Corporation and Dayton’s department store.

In February 2001, St. Paul awarded Target Corporation a $7.2 million cash grant to renovate its downtown Dayton’s store. Target requested a waiver from the city’s living wage policy, stating that it already met such requirements for its employees. At the time, Jay Benanav was the only city councilmember who asked Target to open its books and verify it was meeting the living wage requirement. Chris Coleman voted against it, and in the end, Target did not have to disclose any information.

As for Progressive Minnesota’s narrow endorsement of Coleman—which comes with a cadre of benefits to the candidate, including a campaign manager and volunteers who phone bank and door knock—Dickinson said, “Ultimately it’s the people who show up to the endorsing process to vote, and I think we needed three more votes to block the endorsement [of Coleman]. They turned out more votes. Basically their board said ‘we endorse to make a point, not to win.’ Maybe they should rename themselves ‘Pragmatic Minnesota.’”

For true progressives and Green Party Minnesota, Dickinson is a dream candidate. In addition to founding the Clean Energy Now coalition, she’s worked as a lobbyist, advocate and community affairs manager for the MN AIDS project, as well as an advocate for the Police/INS Separation Ordinance, the Code for Corporate Responsibility, Livable Wage and Clean Water Action. Her astute, soft-spoken demeanor has earned her respect among liberals and conservatives alike.

“I think one of my strengths as a person is that I can build trust pretty quickly. I can talk to very conservative people. Part of it is my demeanor and being respectful. And some of it is from my background—I have a masters in psych—and just getting into their heads and figuring out what is code for them.”

Dickinson’s mayoral platform calls for promoting clean air, water and energy through conservation and through renewable energy from wind and solar power. She also champions economic and social justice through a living wage, affordable housing, supports small businesses and expanding mass transit. And she’s deeply committed to an “open door” policy at the mayor’s office.

“The fundamental piece that is missing from the two front-runner candidates is a real neighborhood base and a deep commitment to community,” she said. “I am talking about community issues—it’s the number one part of my platform. Community councils and communities have been shut out of decision making at the mayor’s office, particularly in regard to development issues.”

Dickinson says small business owners are frustrated at the preferential treatment given to big developers. “I just came from a meeting with small businesses and they were up in arms about the fact that big businesses, along Grand Avenue in particular, get variances whenever they want them. There’s a feeling that the character of neighborhoods is being destroyed and there’s not a darn thing they can do about it. And that’s because of the top-down style of management that Mayor Kelly has brought.”

She goes on to say that at a recent environmental “Street Beat,” Kelly openly declared his support for a floodwall around the Holman Field airport in St. Paul. Residents adamantly oppose the project, saying that the level of air traffic does not warrant it. But Kelly has publicly said the floodwall is necessary so that “the CEO of Gander Mountain can fly his plane into the city” and a major reason why the company located its headquarters here.

“I think what that speaks to is that there’s nothing covert about his emphasis on big business,” said Dickinson. “It’s way out in the open. And I think if people understand that, they’ll realize how far the politics has drifted to the right. It’s amazing.”
Of course, this is the same Randy Kelly who endorsed George Bush in the 2004 presidential election, which led to a brief “Recall Randy” campaign. With the ever-right-leaning Kelly clinging to the Democratic Party, and the moderate-conservative Coleman trying to reinvent himself as a progressive, both candidates fall prey to the same “mayor” and “mayor lite” formula that plagues Rybak and McLaughlin in Minneapolis. Which begs the question: can Dickinson win the primary on September 13?

“I think the primary is winnable,” she said. “Certain things have to align right. We need incredible amounts of outreach so that people know who I am and what I represent. Nobody who supports me already can afford to sit back. They just can’t. If people want to see somebody like me in office, they have to donate money, they have to take a lawn sign, they have to talk to other people about me, they have to e-mail other people, they have to talk to their neighbors, they have to distribute literature—they must be involved. It has to be a grassroots thing.” ||