When I lived in Dallas, I had a friend who had been to Naples to study architecture.  He told me that the first time he went to a pizza restaurant in Naples, he was surprised that pizza in Naples is so much different than it is in Texas.  He described to me a pizza made with a light sprinkling of cheese, olive oil and a pair of eggs.  Instead of placing the pizza in a convection oven, the chef placed it on a hearth to bake.  He told me that while he was hesitant to try it, the pie turned out to be delicious.  When I saw “Pizza Con Uovo,” on the menu at Pizza Nea, I just had to try it.

When last I wrote about this fine meal with Steve and Sophie Kelley, I left off when the food arrived.  In keeping with the Quiche Moraine spirit of using restaurants as the backdrop for good conversation, I would like to share some of what I learned during that meal about Steve and Sophie.

Steve reads science fiction, which I accept as a positive sign that he is truly interested in melding science and culture.  I asked about his favorite writers, and the first name that he mentioned is Minneapolis resident Lois McMaster Bujold. Sophie is more interested in mystery novels. She talked about P.D. James and specifically the book The Children of Men. I would classify that as science fiction too, but such boundaries are not fixed.

While we ate, I made the faux pas of asking Steve a question just as he was about to take a bite to eat.  When I realized that he was about to answer, I told him it was okay to wait until he had finished chewing and Sophie slyly reminded him to not talk with his mouth full.  In the meantime, I talked to Sophie about her own background and history.  As I mentioned before, Sophie has a background in banking and finance.  She worked her way from bank teller to CEO of local banks and is currently seeking a new opportunity in that field.

I first met Steve and Sophie at their headquarters in the spring of 2006, while we were all getting ready for the caucuses.  I had been watching his career and was impressed by the ways that he had used technology to improve public policy (more about that later).  We were sitting and talking in a group, and one of the first things that struck me about him was that he wanted to talk to those of us who were volunteering as much as to his hired staff.  I found this to be refreshing because in other campaigns, the candidate was “shielded” by his staff from the hoi polloi who were the “boots on the ground.”  Steve talked to me, asked about my concerns and won my loyalty.

He didn’t win the nomination in 2006, but he delivered a knockout speech at the convention. I asked him whether he had any regrets over the outcome in that race and in the race for attorney general (which ended up with the party’s endorsement of current Attorney General Lori Swanson).  He told me that he has no regrets, because he doesn’t think that way.  He learned some lessons on how to approach this race, and we need to watch what he does differently.  It is unfortunate that already he has been labeled as a “perennial” candidate after only one concerted effort at the governor’s race.  He referred to Blois Olson’s governor’s race handicapping article at MinnPost.  In my opinion, with the state DFL convention still more than a year away, it’s far too early to begin ranking the potential candidates.

At this point we should be looking both at what is at stake in 2010, and at what the candidates have done to show they can effectively lead this state out of the doldrums caused by a governor who has made a “No New Taxes” pledge the unmoving focal point of his administration.

Minnesota needs to be able to respond quickly to the emerging needs of our state’s deteriorating infrastructure.  Education and science are important tools for knowing how to approach the problems. So, what has Steve Kelley done to demonstrate leadership in using science and technology?

As a legislator and state senator, he recognized early on that emergency services and their support staff need to have the means to communicate across agencies quickly and effectively in order to respond to disasters.  Steve told me about the project to secure frequencies for emergency radio channels.  New York police and fire department officials had publicly stated that after the attacks on the World Trade Center, rescue efforts were hampered by the lack of cross-departmental radio communications. Changes to this infrastructure were recommended in the 9/11 Commission report. Many states and municipalities today have not improved their first responder communication systems.

It took several years to cut through the red tape, but a local system was firmly in place in time to assist the numerous rescue, fire and police departments in Minneapolis, Hennepin County and the State of Minnesota to coordinate emergency response when the 35W bridge collapsed in 2007.

The other major piece of legislation that Kelley was able to work through and see made into law is the one he is most proud of creating.  This is the medical “Adverse Event Reporting System.”  Patient protection is enhanced by monitoring these issues, and the legislation has enabled sites such as this one at the Minnesota Department of Health. What Kelley found most notable is that other states and even the federal government are now using Minnesota’s program as a model for developing their own reporting and procedures.

For Minnesota’s future, Kelley has promoted innovative programs to creatively reward and support schools and teachers.  He thinks that QComp’s incentive programs measure the wrong types of progress.  Both he and Sophie deplore the idea that because of the increased reliance on standardized testing, teachers are finding that they have less room for creative learning that builds on “learning how to learn.”

At this point in the conversation, Sophie looked at her watch. It was getting late and she had to leave for another meeting.  So Steve and I chatted a bit more about plans and politics, each of us saying just enough, and not too much, about our own thoughts about the future.

With two trips to Pizza Nea under my belt, I can give the restaurant a “thumbs up.”  I’d do the same for Steve and Sophie Kelley, but that would give the appearance of a bias….

Pizza Nea is at 306 E. Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Neapolitan cuisine and a cozy atmosphere.

When I contacted Steve Kelley’s campaign director to arrange a meeting with Steve and Sophie Kelley, I suggested Tuesday.  She responded that they had arranged their schedule to meet me on Wednesday.  When I read her response, the part that I saw was, “They had arranged their schedule to meet with you at Pizza Nea, 306 Hennepin Ave…”  The part that I missed was, “…Wednesday at 7.”

Monday evening I prepared some questions for them, and Tuesday morning I headed for work prepared to drive down to Minneapolis from Shoreview.  I had printed my map and directions so I would have no trouble finding them.  I parked my car and fed the meter, and cursed that I only had enough quarters for one hour.  I hoped that would give me enough time to eat a quick dinner and have a nice conversation with a gubernatorial candidate.

I chose a table and the server brought water and menus for three.  I sat and waited.  I waited some more.  At 7:30, I decided to order an antipasto and started wondering whether I had the date wrong.  I cursed that I didn’t have a blackberry or phone with internet access, because I wanted to check my email to see whether I had indeed made a mistake.  At 8:00 I asked for my bill, having consumed a very tasty Polpette Napolitano and a glass of Moose Drool.  The server brought my tab and asked about my “Kelley for Governor” t-shirt (left over from 2006.)  I explained that he was the one I had planned to have dinner with.

“Oh, Rachael called to make the reservations for tomorrow night.”

I felt a bit foolish, but you must understand that I would not have been angry with Steve and Sophie for “standing me up.”  The polpette were delicious, as was the ale.  So I headed home and made plans for meeting with him on Wednesday night.  I did resolve to bring more quarters with me the next night.  I also made a note to try the Pizza Con Uovo from the menu.

On Wednesday when I arrived at Pizza Nea, Steve Kelley was waiting for me at the same table I where I had sat waiting for him on the previous night.  I told him what had happened the night before, even though the server who had waited my table the night before was not working and I could have kept my folly a secret.  He actually apologized to me. I have always liked Steve, and this is just another reason.

Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy

Steve Kelley is currently teaching at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, and is the Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy.  When I asked him about what he was doing there, he lit up, very excited to talk about the way the Center is working to engage the public’s interest in science and public policy through the arts.

Innovation 2008 was a big event at the Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy, co-hosted by Sciencedebate2008.  Here is the description of the conference:

This conference was held on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. It brought together academicians, policy makers, business leaders, scientists, educators, artists, students and the public to discuss solutions to the major challenges facing the United States revolving around science and technology policy, including innovation, energy security and sustainability, health sciences policy, and our ongoing economic competitiveness in a high-tech, highly-educated global marketplace.The goal of Innovation 2008 was to bring scientists together with policymakers and the public, to help move the United States toward policies that are better informed by scientific realities, and to help scientists, engineers and the scientific community as a whole become more engaged in the political process.The conference also explored ways to bridge the divide between science and the broader culture as a way to broaden public appreciation of science.

Here we lead into the topic of broadening the public appreciation of science.  So how is that done?  Bring in the arts and literature!  For the conference, Steve and his colleagues engaged artists, scientists and public policy makers to present their techniques for drawing audiences into the world of science.  Here is a video from the Keynote Event, and astute observers will recognize Lawrence Krauss, Eugenie Scott, Sheril Kirshenbaum and Chris Mooney at the front table.  These are but a few of the presenters at Innovation 2008.  Steve also made note of frequent Quiche Moraine contributor Lynn Fellman.

Regarding literature, Kelley explained to me that he uses Steven Johnson’s book The Ghost Map as a teaching tool in his class. The story is that the cholera outbreaks in London were blamed on “bad air.”  The science of germ theory had yet to be developed, and so in dealing with ways to confine the cholera epidemics the City of London tried many policy changes and engineering design efforts to steer the “bad air” from the populace.  Cholera returned several times because the efforts to contain the disease actually contributed to its spread.

One brave investigator, Dr. John Snow, determined to find the source of the outbreak (and unconvinced of the “miasma” theory of the spread of cholera), made careful records of the locations and counts of the people who contracted and died from the disease.  Through the map, he and Henry Whitehead were able to track the source of the outbreak to a common well.  From that, he was able to determine that cholera bred in water.  Snow’s persistence in presenting the evidence to a skeptical city leadership eventually led to the use of detective work and science to end the cycle of deadly cholera outbreaks in London.

Steve uses the book to illustrate the importance of working the results of research into the formulation of policy.  This has important implications for education, especially in a time of economic uncertainty.  If Minnesota and the United States are to figure out how to build our way out of this mess, we need an educated populace who understand the process of scientific education.

We agreed that the economic question of funding education must be seen as a societal  benefit and the perception that funding education is solely about an individual’s development is misleading.  If I need services from a business, from a store, from a hospital or even from my government, I want to know that the provider understands what he or she is doing for me.  A drop in the level of education in our communities is dangerous for everyone involved.

Sophie Kelley joined in the conversation regarding education and business.  Sophie is the Chair of the Board of Directors for MEDA, the Minnesota Economic Development Association. Here is their mission:

Founded in 1971, the Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA) provides assistance to businesses owned and managed by entrepreneurs of color. Unique among economic development organizations, MEDA’s services are directed toward new and existing businesses whose owners are committed to making an impact through:

• job creation
• their firms’ growth and profitability
• community involvement

MEDA’s portfolio includes management and technical assistance, one-on-one consulting, business planning, sales development, loan packaging and financing, training, networking and procurement opportunities.

Sophie was until recently the CEO of Anchor Bank and is excited about new opportunities opening up for her. As we were talking about this, the pizzas arrived.

More on our dinner next week at Quiche Moraine.