On 1/8/04 12:13 AM, "kevin stoll" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I will also say that the answer is not always found on the outside. The Fire > Chief Rocco is a very great example of that. An internal candidate has seen > the mistakes and progresses that have been made. They also have a sense of the > community and history of the city and police department. The internal > candidates also know those department members who will work hard to make > changes. There are some good points made here about the advantages that an internal candidate may have. However, I would think twice before holding up Rocco Forte as my poster child. He's not a terribly popular fellow among some Northeasters since the ladder truck was taken from Station 15. In addition, my dad and grandfather were both firefighters for the MFD. While my grandfather has passed away, my grandmother and my dad hear from retired and current firefighters at pension board meetings. Many of the current firefighters are not happy with Forte. Some of them feel particularly upset because he is an internal candidate and they feel like they've been betrayed by one of their own. People might want to go back and refer to the Craig Cox article that appeared in the Rake magazine last August to remember why Forte is not the most popular guy: http://www.rakemag.com/features/detail.asp?catID=61&itemID=5610 My point is that just because a candidate comes up through the ranks, does not necessarily mean they're going to have the support of the rank-and-file. That can particularly be the case when there was more than one internal candidate, since the backing may be split. I recall a few years ago when a high-profile supervisor position opened in my office. Two co-workers wanted it and members of the office were lining up behind each of them. Our director decided to bring in someone from outside and I believe part of his decision was based on wanting to avoid fracturing the office if one internal had been chosen over the other. To summarize, it makes no sense to generalize about internal or external candidates, good or bad. Each individual is different and the only way you can make a sound decision is to look at that individual and make a judgment. I hope council members who are on record as "no" votes because they preferred an internal candidate will think about that and actually look at McManus as a candidate and base their vote on whether he would make a good chief rather than whether their wish list was fulfilled. By the way, did anyone else read Doug Grow's column yesterday? http://www.startribune.com/stories/465/4307024.html Grow is still too fixated on the black-white thing, but I found the comments of St. Paul Police Chief Finney to be a pretty strong endorsement for McManus to be our next chief: St. Paul Police Chief Bill Finney, at the request of Rybak, spoke at Wednesday's hearing in support of McManus. There had been black finalists for the chief's job, but Finney said he had no trouble supporting McManus. In fact, Finney, who is black, laughed at me when I suggested I was surprised that people of color were supportive of the white guy. "What's important to people of color is that the Police Department deliver the same services to them that the majority community receives," Finney said. " . . . I never thought that Minneapolis would be able to find anyone with his credentials. He's got everything. He just happens to be white. For him not to have been selected simply because he's white would have been a gross injustice." 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
