Jane Prince, Theresa Charles and my 1993 Campaign Volunteers

caption:  Jane, Theresa and Rick Cardenas

Jane Prince and Theresa Charles became my 1993 Mayoral campaign co-managers, one white, one Black, and together they built the most diverse political campaign ever seen in Saint Paul, up to and including the present.  Wow You Guys!  Thanks for believing in me and all the hours you devoted.  To this day I run into people saying they loved being part of that campaign.

It’s a long story about why we didn’t win.  If you want that story, click <Here> and read “First Comes Love . . . Then Comes Marriage,” the 8^th Daily Dose of “Third Times the Charm” in the Archives.  Suffice for here, that glass ceiling I mentioned, all I did was reinforce it by admitting to being a marijuana smoker (before its time) and having my mother tell me, “I told you so!”

In several places now I’ve mentioned the “Bluebird Nation – their big Tribute is coming up.  Jane Prince has been a Bluebird since 1983.  Being a member simply means playing on the Bluebirds softball team or being a fan.  Jane took a leave of absence from her job at SPA (Saint Paul Academy) to work on the campaign and got hooked on politics, eventually running for office herself and becoming the 7th Ward City Councilmember- and a good one, respected by all.

caption: Creative ad by Jane with a hint of Bluebirds

Theresa Charles had been my State Rep campaign manager in 1992 and continued in that role for my ’94 and ’96 campaigns.  We weren’t “going-out-for-drinks” friends, but we were tight.  Theresa was hard-scrabble Black – no sugar coating it – a lot of things sucked and a lot of things needed changing.  With regards to what she saw in me, I believe it was all about authenticity and getting things done, not whether I was white or Black.   Thank you for that, Theresa.  Because of you, a lot of people believed in me.

Unfortunately, that adage about “the hardest thing in politics is choosing between friends” reared its ugly head.   After the ’96 campaign I was named the Chair of the Civil Law Committee and, for the first time as a legislator, could hire a staffer to work just for me.  I chose Chris Crutchfield instead of Theresa Charles.

That was tough, and I sure wish I could have hired both.  If it was just based on loyalty – a most important hiring factor – it would have been Theresa.  But I thought Chris had the best chance of succeeding me in office someday, would be somebody I could mentor, and would do the best job as Committee Administrator.  The word on the street was that I thought Theresa was “too Black.”  That doesn’t ring true with me, but it is true I thought Chris (who is also Black) would be better at schmoozing legislators.  Trying to make up for it, I got Theresa a position working in Paul Wellstone’s office, but to this day she won’t speak to me.  Nevertheless Theresa, you have my gratitude.

photo below:  Chris Crutchfield working as my Committee Administrator.  Chris did a great job, but alas, Cy Thao succeeded me in office, not Chris.  That’s Chris and I working on legislation in the photo.

I can’t just leave the ’93 campaign as one “gone up in smoke.”  We had to raise lots of money – and we did – $267,000 mostly from friends asking friends for small donations and having fun fundraisers.  We had competition in the left-wing community – Marcia Avner was Wellstone’s candidate.  We had competition in the moderate Democrats community – both Bob Long (a City Councilmember) and Ray Faricy (a former legislator).  The business community thought I was a “Marxist.”  The hometown newspaper was a big fan of Norm Coleman’s.

In photo to the right the Candidates: me, John Mannillo, Ray Faricy, Norm Coleman, Jerry Isaacs and Marlene Johnson

I’ll never forgive Pioneer Press Editor Ron Clark for intentionally mischaracterizing my remarks in the interview for the paper’s endorsement.  I explained my frugal lifestyle and said, “Every item in the City’s budget will get my scrutiny.”  He turned that into “Dawkins will be a big spender for everything needed.”  I’ll never forgive Norm Coleman for putting-out a campaign brochure – with a black-looking crack head huddled on a sidewalk smoking a pipe and a white-looking elderly woman walking nearby – saying he’d be tough on crime.

Nevertheless we persisted.  It was a winning campaign until …. until the 36-hour news cycle preceding the voting became “Andy Dawkins is a pot smoker.”  Sorry about that you guys, I should have dropped the sign.*

*Barbara Carlson (known as “Babs”) hosted a Channel 5 live TV debate on the Sunday before Tuesday’s election.  To answer her questions, she gave each candidate a placard, red on one side said “No,” green on the other side said “Yes.”  Fifth rapid fire question in: “Have you smoked marijuana in the past two years?”  I was the only one who answered ‘Yes.”  I should have dropped the sign and said, “Dumb question –  let’s move on.”

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