In the interest of fair play, I will take the route of the cage rattler on this one.
First of all I do agree that big money investigations sometime bring petty criminals to justice. But many times it is just such a "break" that brings the flood gates to open. I am not saying that there IS wide spread corruption in city hall or in the Democratic party. However, when you find a "respected" member fallen to just such accusations, it rattles the cage of the institutions. We have all heard the stories -- extortion, friendly favors from office, outright threats to put people out of business/home because some person in office or appointment does not like them. There is no shortage of stories. But when tangible proof is presented, IT MUST BE INVESTIGATED. No matter how small. Old habits die hard and when a small crime is aloud to go unchecked it can snowball and actually breed an air of acceptability. It may even lead to a council person blatantly telling a bar owner in public, "I get $10,000.00 from you or your bar shuts down because I say your parking lot is to small." Kind of an absurd thing wouldn't you say? But brazen with the attitude that one is invincible people can be that boisterous (i.e. Al Capon) I would no sooner have an official forgiven for murder then I would for committing an act that breaches trust in the office, oath and the public which they serve. The idea that the Democratic party is under fire is absurd. If you have the majority of the council from your party, the percentage of people hit by investigations or even opportunities for corruption will be higher. The law of averages applies here. I hope that we can all stay away from drawing lines in political spheres. This is not a party debate, this is an ethical one. Valdis Rozentals SAW Third Ward _______________________________________ 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
