I recently was quite taken aback by Kurt Waltenbaugh's personal and slanderous attack on Bob Fine's character and record as a park commissioner. This was all done in his attempt to slam Marie Hauser for supporting Bob as President of the Board. Of course, if he had at least identified himself as living in the same house as Tracy Nordstrom (the loser in last fall's election) one might better understand his anger and bitterness. I've always understood the forum to be a place to share and learn from one another's opinions, so I would hope outright lies about another person would not be tolerated. Let me point out three unrefuteable examples of Waltenbaugh's false statements regarding Bob. First, he stated that Bob had said "he would honor the (DFL) endorsement" and not run for reelection if he lost. Think about it. Bob had been elected to an at-large seat without endorsement four years ago. He never said he wouldn't run without endorsement and probably never will, even though he's been active in the DFL party most of his adult life. Second, is Waltenbaugh's totally inaccurate portrayal of Bob trying to double the Park Board salaries and when that failed, leading the efforts to approve a 30% increase. Truth-of-the-matter is that Dean Zimmermann, supported by Young, Berry-Graves, and Dziedzic moved to almost double the salaries. To counter this proposal I moved and argued to support a more moderate increase to cover the next four years. This did pass on a 5-4 vote with Bob's support. Otherwise, salaries would have doubled. Thirdly, and probably Waltenbaugh's most absurd remark was that the Sierra Club called Bob "their worst enemy on the Park Board". I called the Sierra Club to verify this. They were quite upset that Waltenbaugh had attributed a statement like this to their organization and were going to investigate the matter. Any spokesperson out there from the Sierra Club? It is ridiculous that someone with Bob's record on environmental issues would be presented in that manner.
Bob Fine was elected President of the Park Board by a vote of 8-1. Only Vivian Mason, who spent most of the fall campaigning for Nordstrom, voted against him. Marie Hauser was elected (not appointed) Vice-President by an 8-0-1 margin. The only non-vote was by Berry-Graves, who in the past had feigned gender issues in the make-up of the leadership of the Board. It is obvious an overwhelming majority of the Board supports this new leadership team, to imply differently is absurd. The election is over. Bob Fine won a hard fought, well-derved victory. It's time for people who truly care about our park system to put their energy into supporting it. Scott Neiman Former 6th Park District Commissioner Ward 11 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
