Kim Vlaisavljevich Runs for Ward 10 City Council Spot

You knew it would happen one of these days: a conservative has now officially entered the Ward 10 race. While technically running as an Independent, Kim Vlaisavljevich has the endorsement of the Republican party. The odds of her winning are about as likely as Lake Calhoun freezing over in August, but at least she does bring some political diversity to the proceedings.

The Basics
According to her website, Vlaisavljevich’s primary issues are “budget control,” “better property tax management,” and “no wasteful spending.” Unfortunately her website, like most candidate websites, is heavy on rhetoric, light on details. She wants to “make better management decisions” and to ensure that stimulus money is “allocated to projects that make the most sense for the community.” What those decisions or projects may be is left largely to the imagination of the voter.

In a Nutshell: It’s All About the Money
Vlaisavljevich appears to be a one-issue candidate. That’s not surprising, I suppose, but I do with the local fiscal conservatives would put forth a candidate with more dimension, or, alternatively, that Vlaisavljevich herself would elaborate a bit more about exactly what it is that she stands for, other than on matters of money.

About Kim Vlaisavljevich
According to her LinkedIn profile, Vlaisavljevich holds a BA in Economics and International Business from St. Cloud State. She currently works as a financial and accounting consultant, and is the owner of mIT Consulting, a “customer focused IT consulting firm.” She started out her career as a bankruptcy analyst for Wells Fargo before moving on to work for Carlson Companies, followed by contract work for clients such as SuperValu, Allina, Thomson Reuters, and SALO.

“There’s nothing that bothers me more than wasteful spending.”
Really, this seems to sum it all up. I don’t like “wasteful spending,” either, but what counts as wasteful? And, when it comes right down to it, I can think of things that bother me more than wasteful spending. Things like inequality in education. Crime. Poverty. Lack of affordable housing. Given that there’s a limited amount of money to go around it’s important to allocate it in the best way possible for the sake of the community, but it would be nice to see a little more passion about the ways in which that money could help improve society as a whole, and Minneapolis and Ward 10 in particular. Or, since I’m not a Republican and admittedly just don’t “get” the mindset, what’s wrong with having passion for both saving money AND making Ward 10 a better place to live, work, and visit? What does she want for Ward 10? What are her priorities? What is her vision? She does mention the need for “less property taxes, high service levels, better schools, business development, and more green space,” but that’s still pretty vague. (I also found it interesting that "less property taxes" came first on that list of desires)

Things are starting to gear up, and if we’re lucky each of these four Ward 10 candidates will help provoke a larger community discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of Ward 10, as well as highlight the diversity of opinions held within the Ward as a whole. I will never vote for Vlaisavljevich, but I appreciate that she’s running. While I don’t wish her the best of luck with the actual election – I support Meg Tuthill, although I disagree with some of her stances – I do wish her the best of luck in drumming up some increased Ward 10 chatter, and in providing voters with an alternative view on local issues.