Jordan Kushner wrote: > From my limited observation of Biernat, I could easily see him making a > false confession. What always struck me (before the indictment) was Joe's > unyielding reverence to power and authority. This "strength" in the > Minneapolis DFL machine turned out to be his fatal weakness when dealing > with the skilled FBI interrogator. I seriously question how much this > weakness has to do with guilt or innocence.
We will soon know the "verdict." If Councilmember Biernat is indeed found innocent, do we really want to retain an executive who can't negotiate wisely and whose unyielding reverence to power and authority results in such poor decision making? If nothing else can be said for the Enron executives (and very little can be) at least they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut and stall for the best deal they could get. On the flip side, I guess having council members foolish enough to sign confessions is a plus. One way or the other this doesn't bode well for the integrity or competence of city government. I mean really! Do you think it's a good idea to accept free plumbing from someone for whose appointment you're going to be voting on? I think the moral of this story is to vote Green or Republican in the next election. >From the Pioneer Press "Minneapolis City Council Member Joe Biernat�s attorney compared the FBI agent who obtained self-incriminating statements from her client to the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky�s "The Brothers Karamazov" during closing arguments Wednesday in Biernat�s federal corruption trial." If I was the prosecutor I might have considered quoting Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment," it deals much more closely with a character struggling with guilt and confession. Beyond guilt and innocence...I think Biernat should have hired Jordan Kushner before signing his statements, then he could have avoided this mess entirely. :-) They'd never even have had enough to bring it to trial and he could have gone on accepting various types of legal gratuities (such as home improvement loans from the NRP). Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
