Rybak Campaign Manager John Blackshaw writes: It is an outrage for the leadership of the police federation to use the tragic events in New Orleans to score political points. They not only need to apologize to the thousands of police, fire and other public safety officials risking their lives to help the residents of New Orleans but, he needs to apologize to the residents of New Orleans and Minneapolis for using a national tragedy where many have died for political purposes. I call on all candidates to denounce this unconscionable attack.
Michelle Hill responds: I disagree. I do not believe that Sgt. Delmonico needs to apologize to anyone. I read the article at least 10 times before I decided to post. At no point did Federation President Delmonico take anything away from the tragedy in New Orleans. Since we all know that the Star tribune does not print your statements in its entirety, one does not know what else was discussed. While New Orleans is a tragedy, and we all stand with them, as we did the victims of 911 and the tsunami, We also have to realize that in a state where resources are already stretched, we have to take care not to respond to one tragedy and at the same time creating another. With a police department that is already thin on manpower, we could very well open ourselves to causing physical harm and death to officers and their families. Not to mention the record number of homicides we have have along with our own rise in crime. I would rather have the city send civilians to help than police officers who are already thin in numbers. I also did not believe that Sgt. Delmonico made this a Peter McLaughlin campaign statement. I'm sure a follow-up interview will prove that he has the same feelings about the victims in New Orleans as the rest of us do. Stop turning this into a campaign platform!! I tried to find anything in his article that mentioned Commissioner McLaughlin. I could not find it. I also tried to find any statement saying Sgt. Delmonico did not care about the victims in New Orleans. I could not find that anywhere either. I tried to find where Sgt. Delmonico was trying to put fear in the Minneapolis residents. I couldn't find that because we were already afraid. Get on with the business of New Orleans and remember that one tragedy does not need to create another for police officers and their families. Beside I do not believe the New Orleans victims will be looking around to see if there are Minneapolis police officers in their state. They will be relieved and happy to see any help at all. Lets face it, we want to send officers so that we will be recognized for the great and caring people that we already are. We do not need police representation to prove that. Michelle Hill Cleveland resident REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
