2 weeks Ago By Brian Todd
ROCHESTER — Expect a few more empty chairs. When House District 25B candidate Wes Lund did not show up for the League of Women Voters Rochester forum on Thursday night, he became the first of three candidates the League expects to skip their candidate events this election cycle. "I’m ruining my perfect record of getting all people there, which I’ve had for 15 years," said LWV candidate wrangler Theresa Wilson.
"But it’s hopeless." ADVERTISEMENT In a decade and a half — and probably long before then — Wilson said every candidate has shown up at League general election candidate forums in Rochester except twice. In 2012, City Council President candidate Dennis Hanson died after the deadline for removing a candidate from the ballot but before the League event.
Then, a couple of years ago, a candidate came down with COVID-19, making him miss the forum. That's it. Death and a pandemic.
Until now. Lund told Wilson, after she finally spoke to him after repeated attempts to get him to the candidate forum, that he had to work Thursday night. He had been notified of the date and time weeks in advance.
After declining the League's invitation to the forum on Thursday, Wilson said Lund countered with the idea of a debate at the stage behind the Mayo Civic Center on his day off. "I said we can’t do that," she said. "We've got a partnership with the (Rochester Public) Library, and we tape them on video.
" The League also offered Lund the option of a one-minute opening remark to be read by a League member — the same offer made to the COVID candidate — but he declined. ADVERTISEMENT Like a "dog with a bone," Wilson said she's still hopeful the other two candidates she expects to no-show might surprise her and come to their candidate forum nights after all. Those candidates — both for Rochester School Board seats — are Christina Barton and Patrick Farmer.
Wilson said she's tried repeatedly to talk with both, but so far has had no luck. When registering as candidates with the Minnesota Secretary of State, neither provided an email address. Neither has answered phone calls.
She believes this year — for the first time — she'll have three candidates not show up for their nights on the candidate forum stage. The Post Bulletin called phone numbers for both school board candidates — and for Lund — and received no response. In Lund's and Farmer's cases, a voicemail message says the message box is full.
For Barton, a message left has gone unanswered. Wilson said Barton lives not too far from where she does. "I might just stop over there randomly," Wilson said.
One would think Rep. Andy Smith, DFL-Rochester, was happy to have the debate stage to himself Thursday night. You'd think wrong.
ADVERTISEMENT "I do find it odd and a little disrespectful to the public and voters," said Smith, who is running for his second term in the Minnesota House of Representatives. The stage to himself, Smith answered questions for about "40-45 minutes," but said he'd have liked to see his opponent as well. Smith said he's far from a household name, and said Lund is in the same boat, so he wanted his opponent there so voters could see the contrast between the two.
"Voters want to know what are the differences between these candidates," Smith said. Wilson said Lund — running as a Republican — and Farmer and Barton — who both seem to lean conservative — think skipping the forum is smart because the League is seen as left-leaning. Still, the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, which is a cosponsor for the forums, views itself as nonpartisan but is sometimes seen as leaning right.
The Post Bulletin also is a cosponsor of the forums. Smith said he sees the sponsors of the forums the same. But the questions he got on Thursday came mostly from people in the audience or from voters who sent in questions ahead of time.
And many of the questions were of a nonpartisan nature. Jonathan Krull, senior director of public affairs and leadership development for the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, said Lund did attend the candidate training the Chamber put on for new candidates. The training session, which used to be offered by Olmsted County Commissioner Sheila Kiscaden, is now run by the Chamber, which schedules it before the candidate filing period so potential candidates can see what is required in running for office.
The Chamber also hosted a Connecting Candidates with Commerce tour. Barton, who did not take part in the candidate training, did come on the tour. ADVERTISEMENT "I have not engaged with Patrick (Farmer) yet," Krull said.
Krull admitted that in the past not all candidates have taken part in Chamber-specific events. Candidates have work commitments, he said. And some don't respond to invitations from the Chamber.
That has happened with candidates from both the right and the left sides of the political spectrum. Two years ago, when Smith ran against the GOP's John Robinson, Robinson joined Smith on the LWV stage and during a forum on Austin public television. "I really disagree with him," Smith said about Robinson's political beliefs, "but I love how he ran his campaign.
Since I got elected he has visited my office in the state House on a couple of issues that are important to him." That, Smith said, is how politics should work. Smith said he appreciated a question Thursday from the Post Bulletin about how politics seems to be shifting toward partisan bubbles and how that can be fixed.
"You've got to show up," Smith said. "Be cordial. Show there is some agreement out there.
" ADVERTISEMENT He pointed to the issue of housing. While he doesn't want to speak for Lund, he knows both Republicans and Democrats see housing as a major issue in the campaign. Both sides should talk about their plans to support more housing, and maybe how they can find common ground, he said.
"If we stop talking about things, we are truly going to be in an era where its partisan politics and lobbing grenades at everyone," Smith said. Tim Lynch, a professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas in St.
Paul, said candidates might see a candidate forum or debate with a risk vs. reward mentality. "The benefits for the candidate who might chose not to partake, there’s a reward of getting your message out, getting it seen by people who are active.
But there’s a risk. You have to think on your feet and risk not being able to control your message as a candidate You have more control on campaign website or social media." On top of that, the kind of people who show up at a candidate forum are usually very politically active and engaged, and those may not be a candidate's target audience.
"Candidates may be less about persuading, more about mobilizing people who are predisposed to voting for them," Lynch said. Instead of finding new voters, Lynch said, the strategy might be about maximizing one's political base. Smith said showing up for candidate forums seems like a no-brainer.
That said, he's out campaigning, meeting voters and, of course, has his views up on his campaign website: www.andysmithmn.com .
ADVERTISEMENT He admits to clicking through Lund's website at weslund.org , but other than a bunch of videos that raise questions without many solutions, he isn't sure what to make of Lund's candidacy. "To be quite honest, Wes doesn’t want to win this race," Smith said.
"He doesn't want to work for the people of Rochester. He wants to have a platform to spew his fear-mongering. Wes is not a serious candidate for this position.
" That tracks for Lynch. "One of the risks that they have for not showing up is people start to doubt their seriousness as a candidate," he said. " The number of people at a forum like that is still relatively small, but there are ways that this echoes.
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