I apologize that I continue to have to write this same email every time
Carol Becker rolls out the tired and disproved assertion that Sandra Colvin
Roy was not an enthusiastic supporter for public funding of the stadium.
Ms. Colvin Roy can change her positions during the campaign to match the
prevailing public opinion and desperately distance herself from the
disgraced city leadership -- but despite Carol Becker's best attempt -- she
can not change her votes.

And filing legal complaints against courageous citizens who dare to
participate in the electoral process in a thinly veiled attempt to silence
them will not change the record. Or keep the record from speaking.

I believe the public record has proven Ms. Becker incorrect;
Her position ignores the council's debate during their consideration of
Resolution 99R-230,
Her position ignores the public reporting on the stadium issue in the Star
Tribune on June 12, 1999
Her position ignores the public reporting on Resolution 99R-230 in the Star
Tribune on June 26, 1999,
Her position ignores the public statement of Ms. Colvin Roy's peers
description of the resolution,
Her position ignores the City leadership's documented use of the resolution
in their pro-Stadium lobbying efforts,
Her position ignores the public use of the resolution by pro-stadium
legislature to show Minneapolis' support,

And their public recognition at the legislature last week that of the 7
misguided council members that voted for the stadium only 3 of them remain
on the council -- and the other 4 were not replaced with council members
that support using public dollars to subsidize corporate baseball.

But what should be the most upsetting to the members of this list is that
Ms. Becker has chosen to initiative futile legal action in an attempt to
silence her oponents.  In a classic corporate strategy called a "SLAP"
lawsuits, she made a request to her friends at the county attorney's office
(whose leadership was very public supports of the disgraced city leadership)
to "investigate" the matter. And then innocently said she has been
subpoenaed to testify.  She tells us what will happen to the people who
dared challenge her candidates voting record if they were found guilty.  It
should send shivers through anyone writing a post on this list to know that
one of our members is scanning the content to support her "SLAP" lawsuit.
Too bad there isn't accountability for those who leverage political
relationships to inhibit free speech.

Sincerely,

Joseph Barisonzi
Ward 10, Lyndale

PS: For the record, while I am the co-chair of "A City for Neighbors" I have
not been called in front of any Grand Jury to provide testimony about our
documentation of the city council votes in the "A City for Neighbors" report
card. I am confident of the legal counsel we received before publishing the
report card, and I am confident that the content of the report card will
continue to stand up to any review.  I am outraged that a candidate who
appropriately used the publically available material documented in the
report card is being called before a Grand Jury.

Over 2 years ago when the "A City for Neighbors" process began, all the
political spinmisters said that the mayor and city leadership had a smooth
sailing to victory -- now every single one of the councilmembers who scored
a 0% on the report card were defeated.  I am proud that the Report Card
played a role in this unbelievable victory for people who believe the city
should be investing in housing working families rather than billionaires'
sports teams.

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