Interview with new executive director of Progressive Minnesota, a political action group

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Last month, Progressive Minnesota hired a new executive director. Ryan Greenwood, who takes over for Ben Goldfarb, was previously the St. Paul-based group’s organizing director.

The political action committee and grassroots organizing group is known for opposing publicly funded stadiums and for its candidate endorsements. The group is organizing a campaign for a living wage law in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and it plans to merge next year with Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action, also based in St. Paul.

Greenwood, 28, talked with the Legal Ledger this week about grassroots organizing and the group’s major issues.

Legal Ledger: What does Progressive Minnesota do?

Greenwood: We’re a nonprofit political organization. We fight on issues of economic and social justice. Our members endorse candidates for elected office. We focus primarily on local and municipal elections, as well as state elections. We want to get progressive politicians elected, as well as once they’re there … working on issues that impact people’s lives. We’ve got about 4,000 individual members and institutional affiliates as well. What we’ve concentrated historically on doing is grassroots organizing. As you can see from our office here, we don’t have a lot of money, so we’re not doing a lot of paid media, TV ads, that sort of thing. But actually going out, knocking on doors, making phone calls, talking to folks.

Legal Ledger: What are your duties and responsibilities now as you settle into your new job?

Greenwood: A bunch of different things. One of the most important things is keeping the organizing that we’re doing going. The big issues that we’re fighting on right now are the living wage law in Minneapolis and St. Paul. And our members have endorsed Chris Coleman and a slate of school board candidates here in St. Paul. We know we need new leadership in City Hall and we’ve got a bunch of good school board candidates. We’re making sure that we do our organizing to get those folks elected. We’ve got a slate of three, and possibly more, city council candidates in Minneapolis, and we’re making sure we do the organizing to get those folks elected as well.

Legal Ledger: As long as you’ve been here, what issues have been of most concern to your organization?

Greenwood: Some of the biggest relating to our mission of economic and social justice are around wages. The JOBS NOW Coalition, which is a great group also based here in St. Paul, organized to get the minimum wage increased in the state. We did a bunch of organizing for that. When you think about the increased cost it takes to get by and live here in Minnesota. Those keep increasing. And wages, for folks on the lower end of the income scale, aren’t. So the increase in the minimum wage, which we were a part of getting, puts $2,000 into the pockets of families that most need that money. The living wage laws in Minneapolis and St. Paul are part of that. So we really feel like it’s wages because it’s moral that people should have enough to feed their families. But it’s also good for us economically here in Minnesota. It’s good economics because that money goes back into the state economy.

Legal Ledger: You mentioned the minimum wage increase. Are there any other issues at the state level that you have your eyes on?

Greenwood: Yeah. There’s a bunch. During the state legislative session, we were concerned about proposed cuts to health care. One of our big goals has always been that people ought to have affordable and decent health care. The tragedy that there are hundreds of thousands of people in Minnesota that don’t have health insurance. We were concerned and organized to fight back against the proposed cuts. Another issue that our members have had longtime opposition to is using massive public subsidies for new stadiums. They think we ought to have other priorities like decent health care and good living wage jobs.

Legal Ledger: Do you have an opinion about the most recent proposal from Hennepin County and the Minnesota Twins?

Greenwood: Sure. I think it is not a good idea for people in Minnesota. I think it’s yet another example of an extremely wealthy owner seeking to pass off those costs to people in Minnesota. There are good services that Hennepin County provides, and I think they ought to put more money into those.

Legal Ledger: The state legislative elections are a long way off in November 2006. Are you looking at campaigns and endorsements for state legislators yet? Or is it too far off?

Greenwood: It’s a little far off for us, but we definitely will be involved. The balance right now (in the state Legislature) means that with good organizing we know that the majority of people out there want what we want. Increase in minimum wage – an overwhelming majority … showed support for the minimum wage. And yet a bunch of current state legislators fought it. And we definitely see that as an area where – with good organizing and going out talking to people about where their legislators stand on issues like the minimum wage, decent health care, funding public schools adequately – people will respond to that.

Legal Ledger: What goes into organizing? How do you go about putting your ideals into action?

Greenwood: I think a couple of ways. We’re an adamantly democratic, small d, democratic organization. The first way we think that you organize is that you get people involved in an organization that lets them make decisions and ask members about which candidates we endorse, what issues we work on. Those folks … know that we are going to go back to them and ask them to volunteer and be a part of the grassroots army that will actually get those politicians elected or put pressure on current politicians. We think it’s a combination of having people have ownership over the decisions of the organization, and then they will be willing to get involved and kind of do the work of the organization, too.

Legal Ledger: When it comes to effectively organizing, what are some of the challenges that you try to overcome?

Greenwood: I feel like in a lot of ways our media culture is set up to tell people that it doesn’t matter. If you get involved, it doesn’t matter because things are going to be the way they are and so one of the difficulties that we have is we know that people agree with us. We know that in principle people think you ought to have enough money to feed your family, that you ought to have decent health care. But if the culture around them is telling them that, “Oh, money decides everything, money is the answer,” that disincentivizes peoples’ involvement. The message that we bring on issues like the minimum wage or on the living wage … that people can make a difference. Ultimately, politicians are elected, and they can be held accountable.

Legal Ledger: What are some things you’ve found to be particularly effective in terms of organizing strategy?

Greenwood: We think the most effective thing is the stuff that has been working for quite a while in this country, and that’s just go out and talk to people. Being consistent and going out and knocking on doors. (This summer) we knocked on well over 10,000 doors. That sort of one-on-one relationship that you have with people where you talk to issues that are important to them and then ask them to get involved – we think that is the most effective way.

Legal Ledger: How does your political action committee function?

Greenwood: We feel like the most important thing and the biggest value and greatest contribution we can make to candidates that we endorse is by mobilizing our members to help be a part of the grassroots campaign to get them elected. We think the best way we can spend our members’ money is by doing grassroots organizing and actually mobilizing people.

Legal Ledger: What did you take away from the 2004 legislative elections?

Greenwood: What I would take away is that people everywhere in Minnesota care about what the minimum wage is, whether they’ve got health care, whether their kids go to a school that prepa
res them for the 21st century. Grassroots organizing worked everywhere. Steve Simon was elected in St. Louis Park, Sandra Peterson was elected in Crystal, and that’s how Patti Fritz was elected in Faribault. What I think is that old political perceptions about “who cares about what, based on where they live” doesn’t actually wash.