By now most of you who read this forum probably surmise I am the greatest misanthrope in the city. I seem to be no friend of any politician. I am not very enthused to say the least about any of our mayoral candidates which is not to say I dislike them or think them evil. For those who may have missed me being quoted by Ed Felien in PULSE, I bemoaned the current crop of mayoral candidates by saying to him "we have a reformer who is not a reformer, a maverick who is not a maverick, and a mayor who is not a mayor." It was a throwaway line in a longer phone conversation that I never suspected would make into print. And yet, IMHO, there is truth to the statement. Once again,IMHO, at this point I see the extent of R.T.'s reform one mostly of style. Then again I haven't visited his website recently. If the reform element was campaign financing, it all seems so made to order and self-serving. But then I'm a radical reformer. And for all R.T. might say about labor-management committees at the Strib and the union struggle at City Hall I have the feeling he would have sold out the hotel workers last summer just as quickly as SSB and Jackie Cherryhomes. This past summer during the strike, I was walking in front of the august Minneapolis Club, a place I must admit I've graced, usually to eat lunch or breakfast with my visiting father. On one of those occasions, unaware that "gentlemen" must wear a coat and tie to dine there I was forced to wear a coat five sizes too big and a tie left over from the thirties over about $600 of clothes including my shoes. I mean I'm looking good! This was years ago when I dressed for the success that always eluded me. Now when my father comes to town as he does three times a year I demand we meet on neutral ground. But I have digressed. On this particular day last summer I ran into Bob Dayton. We all know him as the brains behind The Conservatory, right! and the head of the Downtown Council when they almost did the city in with the help of Target Corp and Brookfield and Don Fraser over their handling of LSGI. Now I've known Bob since I was 18 and I said hello and mentioned I was giving consideration to running for Mayor (if ever there would be a longshot it would be me) and he says, looking me up and down from my brightly colored T-shirt to my equally colorful Chucks (Converse tennis shoes for the unitiated), "you better buy a suit!". I thought to myself, "and this from the guy who built the dumbest building known to man." Hey, if that's all it takes I can do it. My Daddy was the best dressed man in Minneapolis in his time, so much so that Cedric Adams wrote about him in the Star, or was it the Tribune, I get the two confused. Hey the acorn didn't fall far from the tree. Even so, my father never forgot where he came from, the son of tavern owner where railroad men congregated who started an excavating business that went on to work on jobs from the Minneapolis Auditorium and Sears Bldg. to Fort Peck Dam and portions of the St.Lawrence Seaway. And when I would have conversations about business with my father, the trucking executive who faced teamster negotiators across the table for many years, he could still say to me, "Tim, unions are the best thing that ever happened to this country." And I know it's true cause I've been on the short end of the stick in every job I've had. And they've all been non-union or I was classified a casual. As though I was ever casual when I worked. But when I put on a suit there beats the heart of a working man. I grew up with money and privelege and saw it for what it was. Yes, I would like greater comfort in my later years but I'm not ambitious enough to sell my soul. So R.T., when you walked through the doors of the Minneapolis Club for your first fundraiser in a suit, did the heart of a workingman and an outsider, by choice, beat beneath your coat? The idea of Lisa Mc. being portrayed as a maverick by City Pages last year rang hollow. Lisa Mc. refers to her former opponent, Niel Ritchie, as trying to use her votes against her. Niel's timing was off a bit and I'm not certain he could use Lisa's vote in 1995 to giving Brookfield Development exclusive rights to develop Block E over Loon State Ventures to full advantage. Lisa said at the time, and bear in mind these are not exact words cause I've feeling a little lazy today, but if you're so inclined you could access the Strib, that Brookfield had greater experience in financing of such projects. Now juxtapose that against her recent vote against the BLock E project and her outspokenness on that the subsidy and the hint she is opposed to a buydown of Brookfield loans at the Gavidae projects. Brookfield retains 5% of Block E having brought in McCafferty Interests after other deals fell through but the point is she once championed their expertise. I'm not certain what they are expert at but taking the city and its pols for a ride. Hardly the voice of a maverick! Hardly the voice of a fiscal hawk! I also have real serious questions about LynLake that have never found answers. I mean would a maverick get behind the MCDA when they march into a neighborhood, lowball and browbeat property owners to get their property for municipal parking lots, one of which subsequently becomes the site of an apartment complex for wealthy people that will transform a moderately priced commercial area into a clone of Henn-Lake. Oh there are so many questions! The Mayor. She gets a free pass from me today. I am tired of acting like a cop breaking down the Mayor's door. I haven't the heart for it today. Maybe it is because I read the Henn.County Sherrif's sanitized report of their investigation into the shooting of Barbara Schneider. You remember her. She was the delusional terrified woman who when confronted by police this past June 12th, trying to push their way into her apartment she picked up a knife and was shot after six police filled her apartment with noxious fumes, crammed their way into her small apartment and then kicked in her bedroom door, her bedroom door, to "help" her. I'll light candles tonight for Barbara. Tim Connolly Ward 7 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
