It gives an "outsider" like yours truly to see the partisanship in almost every comment about Lee Sheehy's appointment of Mike Christensen, some of them missing major points in the face of resentments over Mike's emergence from a law firm that represented an adversary.
There is NO administration that isn't made up in good measure of friends, former classmates, former colleagues and campaign assistants of the appointing authority, assuming the law allows it. The only partisan part of it is the party with which the men and women appointed are affiliated. Rybak's a Democrat. Sheehy's a Democrat. Christensen's a Democrat. Most of the people these men would trust and appoint would be Democrats. If they were Republicans, most appointees would be Republican - as is Pawlenty's administration. As is Bush's administration. It's the nature of the beast and always will be. So "accusing" the Mayor or his directors of appointing members of some "good old boys" club is disingenuous and manipulative. The accusers would invariably support these moves if "their" candidates had won or were serving or were appointing people they could like. None of these arguments shows up as an adequate critique of Sheehy's decision nor Christensen's qualifications. Both Sheehy and Christensen have been around Minneapolis, Metropolitan and Minnesota public and private agency representation and management for some 30 years. Both worked, I believe, for the now-defunct Popham, Haik Schnobrich and Kaufman law firm, which was a mix of Republicans and Democrats specializing in client representation (lobbying) on Capitol Hill (Wayne Popham being a former state senator). Sheehy eventually became the Met Council's chief executive under Ted Mondale's chairship on Jesse's watch. Years ago, Mike was a very young chair of the Metro Transit Authority Board when that agency was a separate operator under the Met Council and he served as president of the Citizens League, hardly a partisan organization, but, if anything, tending toward old-fashioned Republican membership. A young Lee Sheehy co-represented a cable company in the early days of the State Cable Communications Commission more than 20 years ago. Mike's dad, the well-regarded Gerry Christensen served as a crack administrator in the administrations of governors of both parties. We're not talking simply partisan, unqualified men to these posts simply because they've primarily served under Democrats. Examine their performance and their work histories - then judge, if you must. That's the least any person deserves in a new job. In other words, it remains to be seen whether this was merely politics operating. I strongly doubt it. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul -------- > From: WizardMarks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 14:19:12 -0500 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Mpls] Rybak appoints Smith Parker attorney to city planning > department > > > > Tom Welling wrote: > >> WizardMarks wrote: >> Rybak is damn lucky to be able to draw Mike Christianson into his lair. Mike >> really knows his onions and he has hung out with us regular people in >> Central, Phillips--all four sections, Powderhorn and Corcoran enough to >> understand something about the culture of this area of South <Minneapolis. >> Good for the mayor! We hired him for leadership and he's taking leadership >> here. >> >> Tom sez: >> >> Did anyone else notice the glaring lack of substance / evidence to support >> this claim? It's a "Good Old Boys" Network, plain and simple. >> > WM: Not being of the male persuasion, I'm not radared into the good ole > boys network, so have no clear idea of the ins or outs of it in > Minneapolis. What I know is that Christianson is an attorney, was an > employee of either Abbott or Alina. During his stint at Abbott/Alina he > was at the neighborhood meetings as a participant, did not make an ass > of himself during that time, contributed positively to the discussion, > and had intelligence. Later, he was hired by a law firm called > Smith-Parker. I've never met Mr. or Ms. Smith-Parker, if the name > denotes a person. If he's a member of the good ole boys network, and > there is a probability that he is, I'm unaware of where in the network > he fits. I am aware that within any good ole boys network there is a > vicious pecking order which is followed as though it were religion--and > maybe it is. > > One Lee Sheehy, a management employee of the city, hired him for a big > job which pays much less than working as an attorney at an established > law firm. Sheehy did not hire him because he was in the pecking order or > next in line. However, I'll bet that his ability to perform in Phillips > Neighborhood without making as ass of himself was one of the job skills > the city looked at with interest. > > WizardMarks, Central > >> >> >> Tom Welling >> CARAG >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com >> The most personalized portal on the Web! >> > > > 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 > 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
