Mark Stenglein's Anti-Gay Record

Adapted from a post to Minneapolis Issues:

Posted 14 Oct 2006 20:08 by Eva Young

From a Lavender Magazine editorial on Stenglein during his 2001 mayoral run:

Of greatest concern to the GLBT community, however, is Stenglein's vote on domestic partner benefits. When a resolution came before the Hennepin County Board urging Gov. Jesse Ventura to authorize and extend domestic partner benefits to all Minnesota public employees, Stenglein's deciding vote sank it.

Lavender recommends that no member of our community support Stenglein's bid for mayor of Minneapolis.

From City Pages:

That's queer, we thought gay men were very clean.

Hennepin County commissioner Mark Stenglein buys a broom, rents a street sweeper, and runs for mayor of Minneapolis on a "clean up the city" platform. He then refuses to march in the Twin Cities Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Pride Festival.

From a Mark Brunswick Strib article in October 2001:

Despite contentions otherwise, Stenglein said the growing number of gay candidates will have an impact on the city's direction.

"Sooner or later there will be a gay agenda that emerges, and it won't be the same as the one for middle-class, two-parent, heterosexual families," he said.

Scott Benson, who ran for City Council for the first time, responded to
Stenglein on the Minneapolis Issues list:

Therefore, I was taken aback by the comment attributed to Mark Stenglein in this article: "Sooner or later there will be a gay agenda that emerges, and it won't be the same as the one for middle-class, two-parent, heterosexual families." The absurdity of this comment should be obvious, but in case it isn't, think about it for a moment. Imagine Mr. Stenglein implying that another group of people seeking public office had some sort of secret agenda that was contrary to that of the majority. Perhaps Mr. Stenglein, speaking of a group of Jewish officeholders, could just as well have said: "Sooner or later there will be a Jewish agenda that emerges, and it won't be the same as the one for middle-class, two parent, Christian families."

As my mother might say, Mr. Stenglein, I'm embarrassed for you.

A current county commissioner told me that Mark Stenglein also made a habit of giving anti-gay stump speeches when he ran for Mayor in 2001. A former county commissioner told me that Mark Stenglein is rabid on the topic of gays.

I have recent experience with Mark Stenglein on this topic. Stenglein stopped by the SD 58 Republican convention last year. I asked him to co-sponsor a resolution to put
Hennepin County on record in opposition to Michele Bachmann's marriage amendment. Mark Stenglein asked me to get the support of the convention on this prior to asking him. I thought he was elected to be on the county board - and to make those decisions.

Greg Gray, Stenglein's opponent has a good record in the legislature on these issues. Gray told me he'd introduced a resolution to put the county on record in opposition to the Bachmann amendment.

Twins Praise Mark Stenglein for Increasing Taxes on Hennepin County Residents

Here.

Meanwhile, the single most significant development during the 2006 season took place last week when the board of Hennepin County Commissioners voted to authorize a .015 percent county-wide sales tax with proceeds directed to fund a portion of a new Twins ballpark in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. Last Tuesday’s vote represented the final hurdle in a ten-year struggle to finance a ballpark and preserve Twins baseball for future generations.

Years from now, long after the new ballpark is opened, I'm quite confident the citizens of Hennepin County, the State of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest will look back at this period of time and recognize the significance of last week’s 4-3 vote.

Last May, in the wake of securing legislative approval for the Twins-Hennepin County ballpark bill, we offered well-deserved kudos to Governor Tim Pawlenty, Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum and many others for their efforts to support the plan and resolve this important issue in a bi-partisan manner. There is no question that everyone mentioned above played a HUGE role in getting a ballpark approved and thus ensuring the long-term viability of baseball in this community.

However, the true heroes of the day are Hennepin County commissioners Mike Opat, Randy Johnson, Peter McLaughlin and Mark Stenglein. These are the gentleman who demonstrated the vision to dream about what a 42,000-seat open-air ballpark could do for Minnesota and downtown Minneapolis. These are the officials who filled the "leadership void" on this issue by coming forward with a comprehensive plan and delivering a fair, responsible solution. Most importantly, these are the leaders who showed incredible courage for standing by their convictions in the face of criticism and attack from various sectors of the public.

Yes, Mike Opat, Randy Johnson, Peter McLaughlin and Mark Stenglein deserve the credit for their unwavering leadership and support of the Twins-Hennepin County ballpark plan. They also deserve special THANK YOUs from Twins fans across the region.

Encourage the Strib to Cover the Urban League/Stenglein-Gray Debate

I posted this on the Editor's blog:

Eva Young says:

September 23rd, 2006 at 12:18 pm

Hi Anders - I like this new feature in the strib. I’d like to bring a debate to your attention.

There was a debate for County Commissioner in District 2 - sponsored by the Urban League the saturday prior to the primary. I believe that KMOJ might have audio from that debate. Please try to get the audio, and cover the debate - this was a debate between Mark Stenglein and Greg Gray. We all know the Strib will prefer and endorse Mark Stenglein because of his stadium vote. However readers of your paper deserve more information.

Voters deserve to hear more about both candidates in this race - the county races are important. The county has a 2 billion dollar budget. (That is double the bonding bill for the state this year). If the Star Tribune fails to cover these races, and fails to sponsor a debate in county commissioner races, it means that the Strib is failing to live up to its responsibilities.

Please consider sponsoring - along with organizations like the Twin West Chamber of Commerce, the Minneapolis Chamber, MPR, City Pages and other media organizations, debates for all the competitive county commissioner races.

Please do make an effort to obtain audio from the Urban League debate between Stenglein and Gray - and report on that debate from that audio.

Thank you for your attention.

It's important for voters to hear a debate between Mark Stenglein and Greg Gray. The Strib should be sponsoring such debates.

Welcome to Greg Gray v Mark Stenglein

This blog is here to cover the County Commissioner Race where I live. I personally prefer Greg Gray, but I am interested in finding a contributor who prefers Mark Stenglein.