Green Party gets ready for life after conviction of Zimmermann

08/14/2006

Some political observers call three guilty verdicts in the ex-council member’s bribery trial a major blow. Others say they are no big deal.

Randy Furst, Star Tribune
Last update: August 13, 2006 – 10:36 PM

The conviction of Dean Zimmermann on federal bribery charges appears to have sent a collective shudder through Green Party activists, most of whom will soldier on, convinced the Democratic and Republican parties are far more guilty of mixing money and politics than anything the former Minneapolis City Council member may have done.

“Obviously this particular situation is upsetting,” said Ken Pentel, the Green Party’s candidate for governor. “But it pales in comparison to the massive wealth that pours into our political system.”

Zimmermann, who could face up to five years in prison, was found guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis of accepting $7,200 from a real estate developer in return for working to get zoning changes on a condominium development and helping the developer start a new Somali mall.

“I feel really bad about the whole situation,” Pentel said. “I’m friends with Dean, and I care about him.” While he said he believes Zimmermann made mistakes, he doesn’t believe he’s guilty of bribery.

Some political observers—but not all—say they believe that Zimmermann’s conviction will cause serious trouble for the Green Party.

“The downsides are many,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for Politics and Government at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. “It is both a personal disaster for Zimmermann and damaging for the Green Party’s future.”

Elected three times to public office, twice to the Minneapolis Park Board and once to the City Council, Zimmermann had credibility with the media and could have positioned himself to run for state office, Jacobs said. Now the Greens are tarnished and it will be a setback in their drive to gain major-party status, he said.

“If your members are getting convicted of wrongdoing for taking bribes, you look a lot like the parties they are trying to criticize,” he said.

Jay Pond, the Green candidate for Congress in the Fifth District, partially agreed with Jacobs. “This will tarnish it [the party] for the short term. But in the long term, we are survivors.”

Pond added: “Dean was a Green, and there will be a connection in people’s minds. The long-term viability and credibility of the Green Party will certainly last beyond Dean Zimmermann. This is a party founded on values, and we are certainly committed to these values.”

‘Bigger than one person’

Not all agree that his conviction will hurt the Greens.

“I think the Green Party has become institutionalized,” said Joseph Peschek, professor of political science at Hamline University. “It’s bigger than one person.”

The Green Party has more serious problems than Zimmerman’s conviction, said Blois Olson, copublisher of Politics in Minnesota. Minor parties go through peaks and valleys, and the Green Party has “gone into a valley with or without Dean Zimmermann.” Left-leaning voters are “so upset with the right,” most will vote this year for Democrats rather than the Greens, said Olson, a former DFL campaign consultant.

Cam Gordon, the only Green now on the City Council, attended parts of Zimmermann’s trial.

“I think it will feed people’s cynicism,” he said. “It’s bad publicity.”

He said he worries that “people could be turned off to politics in general” and be less inclined to get involved. “It’s tragic and sad,” he said. “I really do feel for Dean and his family.”

Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College, noted that the former state chairman of the Green Party was quoted last week siding entirely with Zimmermann after the verdicts.

“I think it’s hard for a political party to continue to embrace a convicted felon,” Schier said “That’s no way to broaden your appeal. I think the Green Party has got to move beyond Dean Zimmermann and the controversy surrounding him because that is a big negative to voters.”

Asked if he thought Zimmermann’s conviction was only “a bump in the road,” a phrase used by Pentel and Dave Berger, the Green Party’s candidate for auditor, Schier said, “It could be a bump in the road, but it was enough to really shake the chassis.”