ONLINE ONLY: The Real Chris Stewart

So I think Minneapolis—well, I'm having an education right now that I didn't have before in 19 years of being here.

CP: Do you feel like you've weathered the worst of it, or no?

Stewart: No. There's no saying that I'm going to get through this. There's not. Matter of fact, there's a good chance that I'm not. I get support from folks writing to me, and sending letters on my behalf to the Star Tribune. Charlie Underwood is a good example. He's a local anti-war activist, white guy, who's been writing about this stuff. Lynell Mikkelson has been writing on my behalf. And I've gotten support from a lot of black folks and union folks. But there are also forces lining up on the other side. The district has been inundated with calls. The Anti-Strib site has been very effective. It's made it to right-wing radio. And it's been on KQ. I was on KSTP a couple of days ago. The story's been shopped to Fox9 News.

So you've got people calling the district, calling the superintendent, sending emails. The anti-Strib folks have sent packets to parents, teachers, and district personnel, to radio and TV stations. Former supporters have called and basically said, you know, you're a liability now. Whatever you do, it'll be more distracting than helpful.

CP: What's the split of the response been? How much of it is going against you?

Stewart: I'd say maybe 50/50 as far as the issue of resign or don't resign is concerned. But the really nasty letters—I'd say this is about 20 percent of the "resign" letters—get into irrational territory.

CP: Threats, you mean?

Stewart: Yeah. And trying to investigate where my wife works. The Anti-Strib has posted stuff like, they know where my wife works, and they're going to get more information on that and pass it around. It's starting to creep us out that people are taking this past saying I made a mistake—which I admit. It was a colossal moral failure, not just for a politician.

CP:I'm done. Anything else you'd care to add?

Stewart: From what folks have written, they've made it sound like I'm this cocky, arrogant guy who will do anything to stay in power. It's not so. To resign would be the easiest thing for my family right now.

I worked in MFIP [the state's welfare department] for years. And prior to that I worked in staffing, but I also helped people find work on a volunteer basis. I run a thing called Work for People through my church, which helps people find jobs. My main focus all along has been on jobs, finding out where the opportunities are and finding ways to link those jobs to kids who normally would never find out about them—which happen to be our African-American, Asian, and Latino kids here in the district.

Every company in downtown Minneapolis now is saying, how can we diversify, and why can't you get more of those guys over to us? There are completely non-diverse industries like advertising and marketing where you see very few minorities, but yet they have a national push to diversify. My coming to the school board was saying two things: One, I'm aware that we're on the cusp of an economic shift in Minnesota, and Minneapolis is on the losing end of that shift. There are 30,000 acres of JOBZ right now, but they're all rural. There's 30,000 acres of rural development happening right now. Businesses are getting 12 years of free taxes, and they're bringing with them hundreds of jobs to each location. And they all pay pretty well. So the rural areas are being set up so that if you live there, and you're not going to go to college, you will still be able to get a Polaris job that pays you enough to get a house, a car, a truck, a wife, a kid—a life—without going to college.

Minneapolis is exempted from that. We're not getting that opportunity. Minneapolis needs to fight for opportunities, particularly for the kids who are missing out the worst now. None of the companies will be able to diversify if we allow to continue what we have going on now. That's what brought me to the school board: seeing jobs as a way out of poverty. My entire time with MFIP was as a vocational counselor, helping people find jobs and housing and keep their kids in school. So I learned a lot about poverty over the years. And the schools are so disconnected from the systems that are meant to help people in poverty, and the state is disconnected from those services. So you've got the state, the county, and the schools, all of whom I've worked for, and I thought I could bridge the gap between those three. People think poverty is such a mysterious problem. But it's really no mystery when you look at the systems people go through. When you look at the school systems, at MFIP and the county systems, and then the job services at the state level, it's no great mystery. You see a disconnected, silo mentality, and nobody's linking them all together.