It is interesting how Grow and Stenglein manage to play off Stenglein's
history of rightwing campaign donations by only dealing with his 1992
donation to Newt Gingrich in 1992. Grow's column did not address
Stenglein's 1996 donation to FreedomPAC which supports Minnesota's most
conservative Republican candidates, as David Brauer recently discovered.
Stenglein's explanation for his 1992 donation to Gingrich actually
undermines any justification for his 1996 donation to FreedomPAC. Stenglein
claims that he made his donation to Gingrich while he was into drinking and
not at all involved with politics. Basically, Stenglein seems to be
renouncing his 1992 donation on the grounds that he did not know or care
about what he was doing. It sounds like the classic adolescent excuse for
inappropriate behavior - "I was too drunk to know what I was doing".
Meanwhile, Stenglein's substantially larger 1996 contribution was the same
year that he actually ran for his current elected office, and presumably
after alcohol ceased to affect his life and impair his judgment. So what is
his explanation?
David Brauer disclosed Stenglein's 1996 contribution to Freedom Pac 6 days
ago, and we have yet to receive any forthcoming response. Stenglein's only
attempt to address the issue of his donation is conveniently incomplete and
misleading.
It is instructive to note the contrast between candidates Stenglein and RT
Ryback in their efforts to respond to voters' concerns. List members raised
the more private issue of where RT sends his kids to school, and RT provided
an honest and detailed explanation within a couple of days. The willingness
to take responsibility for one's own actions, and to take the concerns of
citizens seriously should carry a lot of weight.
Jordan Kushner
Powderhorn, Ward 8
----- Original Message -----
From: "List Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mpls list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2001 8:21 PM
Subject: [Mpls] Strib ink for RT Rybak & Mark Stenglein
> Doug Grow touts Mark Stenglein's candidacy. "Laughing, Mark Stenglein
asked
> why he ever should formally announce that he's running for mayor of
> Minneapolis," Grow writes. "After all, it appears that being the
unannounced
> candidate is working just fine."
>
> http://startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?story=84208169
>
> Also, Bob Lundegaard, a former Strib reporter, attacks his former paper &
> ombudsman Lou Gelfand over last week's Gelfand column that agreed with -
but
> then attacked - RT Rybak. Rybak had complained about bias in the Strib's
> post-convention coverage. "As one who worked at the newspaper for 30 years
> and is well aware of the timorous nature of its news policy, I can't help
> wondering if Rybak's former employment as a Star Tribune reporter affected
> the coverage," Lundegaard writes.
>
> http://startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=84192461
>
> David Brauer
> List manager, Minneapolis-Issues
>
_______________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy
Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more:
http://e-democracy.org/mpls
