In the recent Doug Grow column, Parks Commissioner Walt Dziedzic said Mayor
Sayles Belton should drop out. Dziedzic went on to predict that Hennepin
County commissioner Mark Stenglein would probably be Minneapolis's next
mayor.
Could be - but if it happens, it will be an astounding feat.
According to the political contribution website www.tray.com (which accesses
Federal Election Commission data), Stenglein gave $250 to Newt Gingrich in
1992, and $750 in 1996 to the Freedom Club Federal PAC. Who did the Freedom
Club give its money to that year? The most conservative state Republicans:
Congressional candidates Rod Grams, Tad Jude, Gil Gutknecht, Gary Revier,
Darryl McKigney (whose Taxpayer League thinks Steve Sviggum and the
Minnesota House GOP leadership is too liberal), as well as Rudy Boschwitz
and Dennis Newinski.
I know Commissioner Stenglein runs as an independent (though federal records
from 1988 to 2002 show no donations to Democrats or Independence/Reform
candidates). He has given money not to moderate, Minneapolis-style
Republicans, but to the hardest of hard-core conservatives such as Gingrich,
McKigney, Grams, and Tad Jude. Their policies are aggressively anti-urban,
steering a relatively larger share of tax dollars away from city budgets,
urban schools, and urban programs.
One partial explanation may be that David Stenglein of Roswell, Georgia, is
listed as a major Gingrich and Republican donor. I believe he is Mark
Stenglein's brother. Perhaps Commissioner Stenglein's donations prove blood
is thicker than water. But if he can convince Minneapolitans that donations
to Gingrich, et. al., advanced Minneapolis's interest, he's destined for
more than the mayoralty.
David Brauer
King Field - Ward 10
(Tray.com's donor lookup can be found at http://www.tray.com, using the
"Donor Name Lookup" box on the left-hand menu bar. Remember to put last name
first.)
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