Greens Like McLauphlin for Mayor

Minneapolis McLaughlin endorsed by Mark Andrew, George Crocker, Todd Otis, and Brad Pass, who are all current or former members of local "green" groups. I found their letter posted on the Minneapolis Observer website. Here are some choice excerpts:

We commend Farheen Hakeem for raising the issues ofsustainable economics and energy ("R.T. Sucks Less," 9/20). Already, heat andelectricity are not affordable to many Minneapolis residents. And growing dependence on natural gas makes this situation worse. Our only difference with Hakeem is what we know about Peter McLaughlin, who has delivered on the very things that concern Hakeem. Our confidence in McLaughlin is rooted in real examples. Here are a few:

McLaughlin saw asolution and acted: He was the founding boardpresident just two years ago of the Phillips CommunityEnergy Co-op (Phillips Co-op). It combines residents‚buying power to leverage better prices for energyproducts. This new and growing organization has already benefited its members by greatly reduced prices for energy efficient household goods,weatherization and conservation products.

Notably, Phillips isn't the first co-op in whichMcLaughlin has been active. He was bookkeeper for the Powderhorn Food Co-op in the '70‚s. And as Chair of the Powderhorn Residents Group, Peter helped create a number of affordable housing co-ops, the first of which was the Whittier School Section-8 Housing Co-op, still functioning today.

The letter by these gentlemen went on to document a few other examples. I do not agree with all the positions the McLauphlin takes, but as a conservative I can appreciate some of the examples above. Admittedly I do not know all the details, but it seems like instead of throwing tax dollars at issues such as high energy costs, he chose to lead an effor to pool money and gain leverage for lower energy costs. Assuming little or no public funds were used to establish these co-ops, it makes perfect sense and fits in with the free market model. The more interesting item to note about this letter is that these gentlemen seem to think it is more important for "greens" to support McLauphlin, than to listen to the Green(Farheen Hakeem) candidates advice. One of my reader's, a conservative (I believe) named Steve, also supports Peter McLauphlin. Closed circuit to Steve, if you want to write a similar letter and send it to me, I'll post it.