When I posted yesterday about Mayor Kelly and asked "What did he know and when
did he know it", I had only read Bob Ingressia's story in the P.P. But then I
read the more in-depth story in the Strib by Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5243356.html
The Strib story raises serious additional questions that were not in the PP.
For instance, Mayor Kelly was given a warning about the deal over a year ago,
and as he prepared for an inteview with the Star Tribune he was instructed not
to disclose a $500,000 contribution by the City in the project.
And as one City Hall insider wrote me off group yesterday, the man giving Mayor
Kelly the warnings about Sia Lo, was NOT A KELLY CRITIC OR OPPONENT, but Kurt
Schultz, the aide who protected his backside for ten years, up at the Capital
when Kelly was a Senator. Why would Kelly ignore his own trusted aide's
warnings?
Last year, as Kelly prepared for an interview with a Star Tribune reporter on
the funeral home project, Schultz gave the mayor a two-page "talking points"
memo. In addition to being advised to cover basic generalities about the
project, Kelly was advised in bold print: "WHAT NOT TO SAY:"
The memo said, "Do not mention the $500,000 commitment to Cha Vang and the Vang
Pao Foundation. There is a real potential for future problems for the Mayor if
he publicly announces this now." That issue had "potential political fallout,"
Schultz advised.
So the question now must be raised, why was the Mayor instructed not to
disclose a $500,000 committment by the City in the project?
"I know the other funeral home operators who have complaint about the city
support of the foundation's plans have always been dismissed by Cha [Vang]
because we were helping a non-profit for the betterment of the community,"
Schultz wrote.
According to correspondence in the file, Kelly originally wanted the Hmong
Council of 18 to have a large financial stake in the funeral home. But Gen.
Vang Pao ordered the top Hmong elders representing all Hmong clans, to stay out
of the project, according to an e-mail that Schultz wrote last March to his
then-boss, Fuller.
Kelly said Tuesday that he had no direct knowledge of this. "I don't know if
that's true or not," Kelly said. "I don't speak Hmong."
Schultz wrote he was told by someone (whose name was ordered redacted from the
e-mail by city attorneys upon its release Tuesday) that "Gen. Vang Pao himself
spoke to the entire Council of 18 and told them in no uncertain terms, 'This is
MY project. Stay out of it.' "
The council did as he said, according to the e-mail.
I agree with Corky Finney. I think it's time for a Grand Jury investigation.
This begins to smell more by the hour. It's no longer just about Sia Lo, but
it's a question of why did Mayor Kelly ignore a top aides warnings and was
Kelly covering for Hmong General Vang Pao and who else? I think it's time Kelly
call a press conference at a minimum so he can tell the public what he knew and
why he didn't act on the warnings he was given.
Dann Dobson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mike Fratto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I think even reassigning Sia Lo would have alerted him to the
investigation. Although, if this was a one time event, what's the
difference? When the investigation is completed and if they find
cause to file charges, the facts would be that Sia Lo worked for the
Mayor when the alleged action took place. It wouldn't matter if he
were re-assigned or fired.
Mike Fratto
Payne Phalen
>>> "Bob Spaulding" 02/17/2005 11:12:34 AM
>>>
Charlie,
Given what the public knows now, I agree Kelly was probably acting
in
the best interest of the City by not doing anything. As the
Pioneer
Press reported yesterday, "Kelly has said the FBI asked him not to
take
any actions that would alert Sia Lo a probe was under way." I have
to
think that Chief Finney agrees with Kelly's assessment unless I
hear
otherwise.
But I disagree with you on another point: Chief Finney didn't
suggest
that Sia Lo be fired. He suggested he be "reassigned":
> In a city with 3000 plus jobs, would a simple mobility transfer
> of the investigation's subject to an assignment out of the Office
of
> the
> Mayor have been onerous?
Bob Spaulding
Downtown
> Yes, but the substance of Finney's charge seems wrong
> to me. How was it not in the city's interest to
> cooperate in an investigation of corruption by a
> highly placed city official? And why should someone be
> fired the moment an allegation is made and an
> investigation begun? I don't usually find myself
> defending the mayor but, in this respect, I think
> Finney was wrong.
>
> Charlie Swope
> Ward 1
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