Sorry about that. I meant to say Schiff and Zimmermann. Thats what you get
for doing long translations in a hurry.
Alberto Monserrate
President CEO
Latino Communications Network (LCN Media)
Publishers of Weekly Spanish Newspaper Gente de Minnesota
Bi-weekly Latino Entertainment Publication Vida y Sabor
Yearly Minnesota-Iowa Hispanic Yellow Pages Directory
1516 E Lake Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Office: 612-729-5900
Office: 612-243-1283
Fax: 612-729-5999
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.lcnmedia.com
www.gentedeminnesota.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "wmmarks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Alberto Monserrate" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Endorsement wards 2,6,9 Minneapolis
Alberto Monserrate wrote:
Ward 9... Schiff together >>>*** ***<<<was instrumental in having a permit
denial revoked so that The Mercado Central could celebrate "El Grito" on
Mexican independence day this year.
You seem to have left something out here. Could you amend it for the list,
please?
Thank you,
WizardMarks, Central
Schiff created a program that allows residents and businesses to clean
graffiti at no cost to them. Gang graffiti has been a very annoying
problem for many of us. Schiff also authored an ordinance that allows the
city of Minneapolis to accept the Matricula consular of México as a form
of ID. He has carefully worked with Ramon Leon at LEDC many times in
helping Latino businesses navigate through the many roadblocks the city
throws at new business owners. Schiff deserves to be reelected to the city
council and deserves to be supported by the Latino Community since he has
always been there for us.
His opponent David Bicking also would represent well the 9th ward. He
answered our questionnaire very well. Bicking pleasantly surprised us by
also supporting that legal residents should also be allowed to vote, not
just citizens (which would triple the amount of Gente de Minnesota's
employees allowed to vote). He was also the only candidate to mention that
allowing police to ask immigration status from detained individuals would
lead to further "profiling" based on our color of skin. Bicking is a
business owner and understands the challenges faced for business owners in
this city. Bicking also has translated campaign material, again showing
better outreach to Latinos by green candidates than by DFL'ers. He has
even a translated section to Spanish and Somali in his web site. Bicking
is a great candidate, but he couldn't convince us that Schiff didn't
deserve reelection.
Last, but not least the sixth ward. This is a very important election for
us. Both candidates are currently incumbents. Unfortunately they have been
forced to run against each other, as a consequence of redistricting. Both
are great friends of the Latino community. This ward has one of the
biggest Latino communities in Minneapolis.
To further complicate this election the FBI recently added a lot of
controversy for this election. As many of you know, the FBI visited one of
the candidates, Dean Zimmermann recently, just a few days before the
primary, and confiscated campaign computers and files, with a search order
that claimed Zimmermann had taken bribes. So far Zimmermann has neither
been indicted and much less convicted. The FBI seems to have a weak case
and Zimmermann has responded well to the accusations.
The FBI investigation shouldn't affect how you vote on Election Day. Gente
de Minnesota has always had a very tough line against corruption. As we've
mentioned in previous editorials one of the biggest causes of poverty in
Latin America is corruption. If he was to be found guilty he should be
punished with the full force of the law. We don't believe he is guilty.
Zimmermann has always been a good friend of the Latino Community, and he
deserves a fair judicial process. So far it seems like a witch-hunt.
If it was up to some of us at the editorial committee we'd declare a tie
in the sixth. But we'll be decisive and endorse Robert Lilligren. Gete de
Minnesota has been very critical of the Minneapolis political parties for
not electing candidates of color. To be fair four of the ten candidates
the Green Party, Zimmermann's party, endorsed this year were people of
color. Two out of three Green elected officials are African American
women. This beats the track record of the DFL, and unfortunately for those
of us who believe in multi party systems, there is no Republican Party in
Minneapolis.
Gente de Minnesota believes strongly in affirmative action. So if we have
a tie we have to endorse Robert Lilligren, who is a Native American tribal
member. Lilligren has also been a good friend of the Latino community. He
was co-author with Schiff and Zimmermann of the ordinance that prohibits
police officers form asking immigration status. He's developed real
estate, been a landlord and helped Latino families become homeowners. He
understands how tough it is for immigrants to become homeowners in
Minneapolis and how tough it is to run a business. He has helped Latino
businesses navigate through the tough city bureaucracy. Lilligren has
worked with LEDC to help Latino businesses get set up in the Midway
exchange.
As we mentioned earlier Zimmermann and Schiff were key in overturning a
permit denial this year for the Mercado Centrals celebration of "El grito"
Mexican independence day. Zimmermann helped Los Gallos, a business so many
of us use, get the necessary permits to expand into more locations. He is
in the board of Directors of Centro.
We're very sad to see that these two strong friends of the Latino
community have been placed in the same ward. Zimmermann fought against the
unjust redistricting that divided the Native and Latino communities into
different wards, making it that much harder to elect Latinos and Natives
to the city council. Unfortunately he lost that fight. Ironically because
of this injustice we are forced to endorse Lilligren, whom we know will
represent well his community and ours. Zimmermann will continue to be our
friend, but the city council urgently needs ethnic diversity now.
Alberto Monserrate
President CEO
Latino Communications Network (LCN Media) Publishers of Weekly Spanish
Newspaper Gente de Minnesota
Bi-weekly Latino Entertainment Publication Vida y Sabor
Yearly Minnesota-Iowa Hispanic Yellow Pages Directory
1516 E Lake Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Office: 612-729-5900
Office: 612-243-1283
Fax: 612-729-5999
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.lcnmedia.com
www.gentedeminnesota.com
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E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[email protected]
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