Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak looked back on his failed attempt to win the DFL's nod for governor and looked ahead to tackling the city's problems, including those nasty potholes.
By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune
Last update: April 28, 2010
His voice is still hoarse from last weekend's DFL convention, and R.T. Rybak is nursing it this week with mugs of tea.
Back in his Minneapolis City Hall office, he says he's relieved that two years of compartmentalizing his life between the duties of a mayor and the grind of campaigning for governor are over. He says that even focusing on potholes is refreshing.
"It's a little like taking a duplex and turning it into a single-family house," Rybak said this week, reflecting after finishing runner-up to House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher for DFL endorsement Saturday in Duluth. "I'm taking one side out of my brain and filling it with the other."
Does he still want to be governor? That depends on circumstances.
"I'm open to it,'' he said. "It won't have much to do with me having a personal ambition. If I died tomorrow, I would be incredibly fulfilled knowing I got to be mayor of Minneapolis. I don't need another notch on my professional belt.
"I ran for governor because the state was in such a mess and ... that jeopardizes everything we've accomplished, so whether I do something again will depend on large part on whether the state gets straightened out and whether the issues I care about get fixed."
What about Congress, if a Democrat there moved on?
Rybak, an early and tireless Barack Obama supporter, said he's not ruling anything out, but added: "My place in public service is as an executive and as far as Washington goes, I had a great opportunity to go to Washington when President Obama got elected. ... [My wife] Megan and I talked about that and we're Minnesotans."
Why he didn't get endorsed
He said a major factor in losing his endorsement bid was because he couldn't overcome the loyalty of super-delegates to Kelliher, whom he has pledged to support. Those were the convention's 190 state and federal elected and party officials.
Endorsements of her by Sen. John Marty and Rep. Tom Rukavina as they dropped out helped to seal the deal.
Others say that building trades' hostility to Rybak cost him votes, as well as his inability to convert his lead within a band of progressive Democrats known as ReNEW Minnesota to the 60 percent threshold needed to bind its bloc of delegates.
Some were surprised that he couldn't draw more overt support from Obama and his operatives. Rukavina's fiery speech also may have siphoned off some delegates early on. Some Rybakers complain privately that some Minneapolis legislators bad-mouthed his mayoralty.
Still, some say the urban mayor proved political viability statewide, and that it's no shame to finish second in a crowded field. "His ability to motivate and inspire people are tremendous attributes," said Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive political arm.
Training for the future
Rybak said his new statewide contacts will help Minneapolis at the state level, where a negative perception of the state's biggest city has sometimes prevailed.
He's also building some political chits. He'll return to Montgomery's Kolacky Days contest in July, not only for the rubber match in his kolacky-eating contest with that city's mayor, Mick McGuire, but also to stump in the parade for McGuire's legislative bid.
On a personal level, odds are that he might be spotted in an antique store as he restores equilibrium to his personal life. "Megan has built up many chits that I'm sure she'll cash in," he explained. You may also spot him training for the two or three triathlons he hopes to enter after limiting himself to one last summer while campaigning for mayor.
Inside City Hall, Rybak's relatively painless supplemental 2010 budget, which accommodates new state aid cuts, is expected to pass Friday. He'll go from there to meet with department heads to craft his 2011 proposal. Job creation and youth are tops on his agenda.
He's working with other mayors and business on regional competitiveness issues, working with St. Paul on developing green manufacturing jobs, and developing jobs from his homegrown food initiative. He's beating the bushes for more summer jobs for teens, reassessing the city's youth violence prevention effort, looking for college money for city high school graduates and working with others to revive the state's bid for competitively awarded federal school dollars.
"I planned to work on all of these issues some way. But it was unclear whether I'd be doing that as a mayor or a governor," he said. "Now it's quite clear that I'll be doing it from here and it's OK."
Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438
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