"The heart of the issue" is obviously a matter of opinion. There is at least one
serious flaw, however, in how you choose to define the issue. You ignore the concepts
of due process that are supposed to be built into our system. Would you approve of an
accused drug dealer being denied a fair trial, because you were convinced he was
dealing drugs anyway? (That is not to say the Hard Times Cafe was guilty, or even the
staff person was guilty. That person has yet to go to trial). The point is that some
of the City Council members and the police department who controlled them, ignored the
procedures intended to make sure the Hard Times got a fair hearing. I think to most
people who value our constitutional system, that is a very important issue.
As for what you think is the "heart of the issue," I am interested in some specfic
examples of other establishments that were shut down because one staff person was
alleged to have been involved in one drug deal, where the rest of the staff was found
not to have been involved or aware of the activity. (This is what the Administrative
Law Judge found after a hearing). Please let us know which other businesses this
happened to. This certainly did not seem to be enough of a reason for city council
members to shut down the Hard Times since they relied on the SAFE officers to privately
submit deceptive statistics on 911 calls which mostly applied to the city-owned parking
lot next door.
Jordan Kushner,
Powderhorn
wizardmarks wrote:
> None of what you've said gets to the heart of the issue. Staff people at the Hard
> Times were busted for dealing in the cafe. Other establishments who have done
> likewise, particularly those whose owners or patrons were largely African American
> were closed down under like circumstances. It would hardly be fair to let the Hard
> Times slide.
> Wizard Marks, Central
>
> Jordan S. Kushner wrote:
>
> > Whether Hillary Freeman worked for the police department or City Council
> > Member Joe Biernat as of June 6, 2000, does not make any significant difference
> >
> > on the issue of whether Biernat, Freeman, Krueger and their gang engaged in
> > legally
> > improper efforts to influence the City Council's actions against the Hard Times
> >
> > Cafe. Krueger seems to be continuing his role of propoganda and spin
> > control that he so activiely pursued in efforts to shut down the Hard Times.
> >
> > In the email dated June 6, 2000, Biernat instructed Freeman, apparently
> > his staff person as well as a FORMER MPD employee, to "contact a few of your
> > cop
> > friends and have them put c [lobbying efforts] into Ostrow who NEEDS to hear
> > from the other side.!!!" Biernat request that his employee arrange for "a
> > full-court press" at caucus consisting of "all the police and SAFE people who
> > worked on this issue there for resources AND let cms [city council members] see
> >
> > them." (these are quotes from an email which has been filed with the court and
> > provided to The Pulse).
> >
> > The point is that the revocation/"non-renewal" of a license is supposed
> > to be the equivalent of a court proceedings where the city council members act
> > as impartial judges of evidence presented at the hearing. Biernat's actions
> > were the
> > equivalent of one judge arranging for the police to put political pressure on
> > other
> > judges sitting on the decision-making panel. I do not believe it is unfair to
> > label such behavior as corruption.
> >
> > Another improper action by Biernat was to forward constituent emails
> > to Luther Krueger so that he could respond. This would be equivalent to a
> > judge responding to citizen's letters about an upcoming decision by arranging
> > for an interested party to publicly respond so as to influence the public mood.
> >
> > The most obvious problem with this approach is that it shows that the judge
> > has made up his mind before the hearing and is acting out of purely political
> > motivations.
> >
> > On a personal level, the review of Mr. Krueger's and SAFE's extensive
> > lobbying and public relations efforts have confirmed by suspicion's of SAFE's
> > role in the system as a mechanism for the police department to exercise its
> > political will over what are supposed to be democratically representative
> > civilian
> > government bodies.
> >
> > Jordan Kushner
> > Powderhorn, Ward 8
> > [recently moved from Ward 6].
> >
