The St. Paul chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters is reportedly set to endorse former City Council member Chris Coleman at a news conference on the Capitol Mall this afternoon.
The union, known as Local 21, issued an advisory for the event on Sunday, although union officials declined to say whether they would back Coleman in his bid to unseat first-term Mayor Randy Kelly.
Several sources knowledgeable of the situation, however, confirmed the union would support the two-term council member. The union interviewed Coleman and county commissioner Rafael Ortega at a meeting late last week.
Sunday night, the mayor fired back in a letter expressing his disappointment that he hadn't even been considered by the union, which has supported him in every previous election.
"I am disappointed I wasn't given the opportunity to earn your support by having a candid conversation about the facts," Kelly wrote. "An invitation to address the screening board seems to have been a minor courtesy that could have been extended, even if the end result remained the same."
The letter, which also refers to a January dispute in which the mayor was told he wasn't welcome at a union function, is being sent to current and former St. Paul firefighters, said Vince Muzik, spokesman for the Kelly campaign. He provided the text of the letter to the Pioneer Press.
The endorsement had been long expected: Coleman was a key opponent to cuts in the fire department proposed by the mayor when Coleman was on the City Council.
Still, the union's nod is a marked departure from the mayoral election in 2001, when both public safety unions, representing police officers and firefighters, backed Kelly's bid to succeed outgoing mayor Norm Coleman.
The two unions represent the largest blocs of full-time employees in the city and are considered key support for the primary and general elections. Kelly won backing from the police last week but has been sparring for most of his term with the firefighters over fiscal matters.
The endorsement also comes at a key moment for Coleman, who will vie with Ortega for the DFL endorsement at the city convention April 30. Coleman has trailed the commissioner slightly among committed delegates in the weeks after the Feb. 1 precinct caucuses.
And while Ortega garnered an endorsement by the Teamsters earlier this month, that union represents county rather than city employees and doesn't have the stake in the mayoral contest that the firefighters do. The firefighters also have a long history of political activism in city races.
Distributed by the Associated Press
