Having been reminded now of some of the mayor's promises about campaign finance reform when he was a candidate, I'm also fairly disappointed.
Although campaign finance reform wasn't a primary motivation behind my supporting Rybak as a candidate, I agree with the comments made by Professor David Schultz that the mayor's actions with regards to this planned fundraiser will likely fuel cynicism among voters. However, with Prof. Schultz criticizing the mayor for being unwilling to disclose the names of contributors, I wonder if it matters that Prof. Schultz has an affiliation with the Green Party of Minnesota, including having served as associate counsel last August when the Greens filed a complaint about whether Gov. Pawlenty broke campaign finance laws. I'm not pointing this out to say "gotcha back" or anything, since I am a member of the Green Party of Minnesota. But I do think that Prof. Schultz's affiliation with the Greens is a relevant point that should have been included in this article because I would think that readers would want to be aware of any potential bias on Schultz's part. If someone like Bill Cooper had been quoted, I'm pretty sure it would have been mentioned that he's a former chair of the state Republican party. And since this information wasn't included, I'm left to wonder if that was because Schultz failed to disclose it or because Rochelle Olson thought it was unimportant? I'm hoping it's the latter since I imagine the former would look a little hypocritical. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
