Connecting With Candidates

​Following up on last week's blog on your Chamber’s top priorities, today I thought I’d provide an example of how our work to Drive Progress and Grow Leaders is reflected in our government affairs and public policy work.
 
As I said last week, your Chamber works to advance policy that will ensure our region is best equipped to promote business growth and to elect leaders who understand how policy directly impacts the economy.
 
This fall, all seats on the St. Paul City Council are up for election. A total of 30 candidates have filed to run for City Council. Of the seven current city council members, four have chosen not to run for re-election. That means we have at minimum four new elected officials. To say this election is pivotal to the future direction of our City would be an understatement.
 
Being proactive, our Government Affairs team has been spending the summer meeting with numerous candidates vying for a seat on the St. Paul City Council. Not only do we want to get to know these candidates as people and learn about their priorities, we also want to introduce them to the Chamber and our work. Through these conversations we are building relationships and discussing future opportunities to collaborate on shared goals.
 
Amanda and JP have found these meetings really valuable, so they have worked with our St. Paul Area Chamber Political Action Committee (PAC) to create an event for our members to similarly get to know the city’s future leaders. For the “Coffee, Candidates, and Conversations” event, think speed-networking. Each attendee will get the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with 17(!) candidates for St. Paul City Council. That’s 17 opportunities to introduce yourself and your business and ask questions of the folks who are going to shape the future direction of the City. All in one room! If we want our elected officials to be responsive to the priorities and concerns of business in their policy-making, they need to hear from businesses!
 
I know it’s somewhat cliché, but this is really an opportunity to make connections that count and to help build the groundwork for our future advocacy efforts. I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity and attend this event!

​I also encourage you to review the Chamber’s voter education tool, the East Metro Voter Guide. The Chamber develops and distributes a candidate questionnaire each election cycle, asking candidates about their positions on issues important to the East Metro business community. The East Metro Voter Guide has become a valuable and highly utilized source of information for voters, so check it out!
 
See you in the trenches,
B
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