AP: St. Paul, MN Democrat Mayor Breaks Ranks -- Will support Bush For Re-Election

AP ^

[hawaiian]

Here's the linK

St. Paul Mayor Kelly Supports Bush for Re-election

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election.

"George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies."

Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is going in the right direction. "There's no reason to believe a change of course will produce better or quicker results," he said.

And the mayor said the United States will bring the troops home from Iraq a lot sooner if "we don't try to bring in a whole new leadership team to run the show. We must stay the course."

Governor Tim Pawlenty, who co-chairs the Bush-Cheney campaign in Minnesota, praised Kelly. "His bold decision is courageous and a welcome move toward working across party lines," Pawlenty said in a statement.

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, the Bush-Cheney campaign's other co-chair in Minnesota, called Kelly's announcement "bipartisanship at its finest."

"Mayor Kelly recognizes that jobs are being created and that tax cuts have stimulated that job growth. He has done the same for St. Paul," said Coleman, Kelly's predecessor as mayor of Minnesota's capital city.

But the St. Paul DFL Party said Kelly "has traded the values of St. Paul for the agenda of the Republican Party's far right."

"Rather than advocating the needs of St. Paul, Mayor Kelly's decision to not support John Kerry's strategy for building our cities does the voters of St. Paul a disservice," the party said.

Kelly, who was elected mayor in 2001, is up for re-election next year.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[truth_seeker]

The mayor of Westminister, CA changed her party from Democrat to Republican.

This is hometown to many proud Vietnamese-Americans, who are majority Republicans.

This woman mayor said dems aren't the same party as when she joined 54 years ago.

[MplsSteve]

I live in the 11th Ward...near Bachman's headquarters.

Minneapolis is getting to be a depressing place to live. High taxes, rotten city services, an ineffective city council, a ridiculous mayor, increasing crime rates, etc, etc...

I'd love to move back out to Bloomington...but some of the people who've trashed Minneapolis are starting to slither out into the first-ring suburbs too.

[Lijahsbubbe]

a ridiculous mayor

He's a real doozy!

...but some of the people who've trashed Minneapolis are starting to slither out into the first-ring suburbs too.

There's no where to run, no where to hide. They are determined to spread crime to the entire metro area.

Low income housing in Woodbury and every other suburb they can get their hands on. Pretty soon they'll have Section 8 in North Oaks!