Kumbaya! Brother Scott Nieman calls for healing. Since he was instrumental in creating the bad blood going back to 2001, its no wonder he wants to move on, and quickly!
Steve Nelson rightly pointed out Niemans questionable ethics, serving as the Park Board rep in the redrawing of district boundaries in 2002. For list members who may not have been closely following the Park Board at that time heres a bit more of the history and context. It helps partially explain the energy behind the budding Park Board Reform movement. Bob Fine was an At-Large Park Commissioner from 1997-2001. In 2001 he decided to run for the 6th District seat being vacated by Nieman, whose father (and brother?) had served on the Park Board before him. Fine lost the DFL endorsement that year to an energetic, young candidate, one Tracy Nordstrom, who campaigned aggressively on issues of forest management and environmental stewardship. Nieman publicly supported Fine to be his replacement, along with Shannon McDonough who basically managed the campaign. (McDonough went on to become the treasurer for the PIPs during their massive, developer-financed campaign this year.) Following a narrow victory, Nieman, in a Fine display of intimidating behavior, filed a post-election campaign practices complaint against Nordstrom in Hennepin County. The case was referred to Ramsey County to investigate. Following hours of phone interviews and likely thousands of tax dollars spent on the investigation, the complaint was dismissed as groundless. As Steve Nelson observed, Nieman was then appointed with the help of then Park Board Chairman Fine to serve on the Redistricting Commission to help re-draw the park district boundaries. Apparently, this was based on the legal theory that nothwithstanding the rules, Scotts a fair and trustworthy guy. Serving alongside Nieman, also representing the Park Board was none other than Tony Scallon, a well-known political operative, former City Council Member and recently one of Peter McLaughlins many campaign managers. When the new park maps were done, (in the words of Gomer Pyle) surprise, surprise! Tracy Nordstrom's house was moved oddly out of the Sixth District and into a new Fourth District for this year's elections. http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/redistricting/docs/parkplan-neighborhoods.pdf Theres a little dingleberry of East Calhoun blocks now at the bottom of the fourth district. Thats where Nordstrom lives. So Nordstrom, who was quite likely to take Fine out in a rematch in 2005, (especially considering how poor his performance and editorial reviews have been), would now have to face Vivian Mason, a frustrated and outspoken critic of Fine and the Board majority. Can you say gerrymander? Sure you can. Fast forward to today. The Nieman family has a controversial, sports complex at Fort Snelling bearing their name and rumors persist about Niemans son being interested in the 6th District seat. Bob Fine helps engineer the hiring of his under-qualified high school classmate, Jon Gurban, to be superintendent, a job he did not apply for. Not surprisingly Gurban has turned out to be a disappointment. A worn-out Vivian Mason retires. Tracy Nordstom wins handily in a brand new district against the PIPs hand-picked, well-financed candidate, by working hard (again) and having a strong reform message. And the status quo dodges a bullet as Fine narrowly wins a bitter race with a lot of help from the De LaSalle land deal backers, a mix of Catholic voters and other religious conservatives. Fine continues his campaigns tradition of intimidation, this year carefully timing an 11th hour complaint against his opponent, Jim Bernstein over campaign literature Bernstein had been using for months. Fines desperate attempt to avoid responsibility for his record, wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars on hearings that consumed three judges for three full days the week before the election. The bulk of the claims were dismissed and the remaining few that hinged on whether Fine mad a priority of cleaning up Lake of the Isles and dutch elm disease are likely to be appealed and overturned. Fine is continuing to press his claims, but in his zeal to cover up his dismal record, he apparently swore under oath that no one associated with his campaign had filed a campaign complaint against Nordstrom in 2001. Given Nieman's 2001 efforts, will this too become an issue? Stay tuned .. Niel Ritchie Linden Hills __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
