Minnesota Independent » Alice Rainville http://minnesotaindependent.com News. Politics. Media. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:22:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 R.I.P., Alice Rainville http://minnesotaindependent.com/28325/rip-alice-rainville http://minnesotaindependent.com/28325/rip-alice-rainville#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:01:33 +0000 Paul Demko http://minnesotaindependent.com/?p=28325 Alice Rainville, the first female president of the Minneapolis City Council, died this morning. She was 80 years old.

Rainville was appointed to the post (then known as “alderman”) in 1975 and spent 22 years on the council, including a decade as its leader. The family’s political legacy has continued in the ensuing years: Her daughter, Barbara Johnson, is the current City Council president. Her nephew, Michael Rainville, is running for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post referenced Rainville’s political legacy in a column last year. Here’s the Strib’s obituary. The flag at City Hall has been lowered to half-staff, and a moment of silence will be observed in her honor prior to the start of the City Council meeting Friday.

]]> http://minnesotaindependent.com/28325/rip-alice-rainville/feed 0 City Hall Monitor: E.J. Dionne gives Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson a shout out http://minnesotaindependent.com/4083/city-hall-monitor-ej-dionne-gives-minneapolis-city-council-president-barbara-johnson-a-shout-out http://minnesotaindependent.com/4083/city-hall-monitor-ej-dionne-gives-minneapolis-city-council-president-barbara-johnson-a-shout-out#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:56:25 +0000 Chris Steller http://www.minnesotaindependent.com.php5-9.websitetestlink.com/?p=4083 Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne included Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson in a column on how women in elective office view Sen. Hillary Clinton’s current travails. The nationally syndicated column included Johnson’s…]]> Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne included Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson in a column on how women in elective office view Sen. Hillary Clinton’s current travails. The nationally syndicated column included Johnson’s quotes alongside those from three U.S. representatives and the president of the Massachusetts Senate, and references to a couple of governors and U.S. senators, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Elevated company, even for a council president in a weak-mayor town? (She’s the only one not hotlinked at washingtonpost.com.)

The piece also mentions that among those preceding Johnson in the president’s seat was her mother, Alice Rainville. Dionne quotes Johnson as seeing in Clinton’s treatment more ageism than sexism. Johnson didn’t have to worry about either in her last election: The council president, who’s occasionally said to harbor other ambitions, ran unopposed.

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