Free The Jackson Five! Watch out, R.T. [July 2003] Meet the rising star of Minneapolis politics. by Clinton Collins Jr.
Pitching great Satchel Paige used to tell his teammates to never look back, �because something may be gaining on you.� This is great advice, especially if you are R.T. Rybak and Don Samuels is the guy gaining on you. Why? Because key Minneapolis political insiders increasingly view Mayor Rybak as a �sound bite� schmoozer and Don Samuels as a real leader. One City Hall wag told me that the mayor has never met a side of a political issue he doesn�t like. When Rybak ran against two-time incumbent Sharon Sayles-Belton, he portrayed himself as a grassroots leader diametrically opposed to subsidizing fat cats like Target and Carl Pohlad. During an MPR debate, Rybak unequivocally said no to any public stadium funding. Then, six months after using the stadium-funding issue to pummel incumbent Sayles-Belton, Rybak, tag-teaming with Hennepin County Commish Mike Opat, decided public money for a stadium was not so bad if it was popular with the right folks. http://www.rakemag.com/columns Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- __________________________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
