Chris Coleman (politician)

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Chris Coleman
Coleman speaks at a campaign rally, 2008
54th Mayor of St. Paul
In office 2006 – Present
Preceded by	Randy Kelly
Constituency	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Political party	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Spouse	Connie Coleman

Chris Coleman (born 1961, Saint Paul) is a Minnesota politician and the mayor of the state's capital city of St. Paul. In the 2005 mayoral race, he defeated incumbent St. Paul mayor Randy Kelly. Chris Coleman took office on January 3, 2006.

Coleman spent eight years working in Hennepin County as a public defender and prosecutor.^{[citation needed]} Proposals to build a metal shredder along the Mississippi River in Saint Paul inspired his first run for the Saint Paul City Council.^{[citation needed]} Coleman represented Saint Paul's Ward 2 from 1997 to 2003.^{[citation needed]} Currently, he is also an investment management consultant working with non-profit organizations and is also president of United Family Practice Clinic (serving people without insurance and/or with low income).^{[citation needed]} Ann Mulholland serves as Chief of Staff, having replaced Dennis Flaherty when Coleman was elected.^{[citation needed]}

Coleman ran as a Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate against fellow DFLer Kelly, and won by a 69% to 31% margin.^{[citation needed]} This was larger than margins in pre-election polling, such as in October 2005, when Coleman was ahead of Kelly among likely St. Paul voters by a margin of 35%.^{[citation needed]} Kelly's loss was considered remarkable for being an incumbent DFLer in an overwhelmingly Democratic city and despite the respondents to the same poll also reporting that they feel generally that the city was doing well and was heading in the right direction.^{[citation needed]} The large margin in Coleman's favor was widely recognized to reflect the deep unpopularity among Democratic voters in St. Paul of Kelly's decision to endorse George W. Bush for president in 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Shortly after taking office, Coleman signed a city ordinance banning tobacco smoking in all bars and restaurants within city limits.^{[citation needed]} The ban had long been opposed by former mayor Kelly.^{[citation needed]}

John Kerry visited St. Paul to campaign for Coleman in October 2005 although it meant campaigning against an incumbent of his own party.^[1] Wesley Clark and Bill Richardson have also personally campaigned for him in St. Paul, while Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have both actively supported him.^{[citation needed]}

Mayor Coleman is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition^[2], an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.

Mayor Coleman is considered one of the front runners for the DFL Endorsement for Governor in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Chris Coleman is son of Nicholas Coleman, Sr., a Minnesota state senator from 1963 to 1981, who also served as state senate majority leader, and the brother of Nick Coleman, a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

He has no relation to U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, Randy Kelly's predecessor as mayor of Saint Paul.

During the 2008 Republican National Convention Mayor Coleman publicly praised the "restrained response" of the police following preemptive arrests, and the arrest of journalists, including Amy Goodman and the staff of Democracy Now!^[3]

References

External links

Wikinews has related news: St. Paul Mayor's vehicle hit by drunk driver

• Chris Coleman Official City website
• "A Bush Democrat May Lose His Way", Washington Post, November 6, 2005
• Mayors Against Illegal Guns homepage

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