Many have made mention of Mayor Kelly's bullying St. Paul legislative
delegation members, in which Mayor Kelly threatened to work against ALL of St.
Paul's bonding project if his pet project, the Holman Field floodwall, was
removed from the state bonding bill. Well, the story made it into today's
Strib, and yesterday's Pioneer Press (below)...
So, holding all of St. Paul's bonding projects hostage to keep a pet project
(that neither a City Council majority, nor the St. Paul delegation, nor at
least one neighborhood council want) is "the Kelly way" of advocating for a
better St. Paul at the State Capitol?
Jacob Dorer, a St. Paul Issues member, posted on this forum about a week ago
his own experience with Mayor Kelly at a recent Dayton's Bluff StreetBeat
meeting, in which Kelly told him "the dike will be built!" and that no amount
of constituent complaints would persuade him otherwise. Makes the charge of
Kelly trying to bully legislators at the Capitol very believable, in any case.
Seems like we can do a bit better for leadership in this town. Mayor Kelly
needs to do a good deal more to convince voters that the city's interests, and
not his own/the Chamber's, are at the core of his lobbying efforts. At the
very least, we need a Mayor who will respect citizens and the representatives
that they elect. In any case, thankfully St. Paul voters will very soon have
an opportunity to reconsider our decision of who should hold the office of
mayor in our city.
Erin Stojan
Dayton's Bluff
ps I recall not one, but several Pioneer Press editorials excoriating the City
Council majority for standing up to the Mayor, at least one of which urged
readers to call those Councilmembers and "sound off." Well, what's good for
the goose is good for the gander! Will we now, finally, see a Pioneer Press
editorial that examines the contribution of Mayor Kelly's divisive, polarizing
"leadership" to the animosity between the Mayor's office and the City Council?
Perhaps the Pioneer Press could print Mayor Kelly's picture, email and office
phone number, with a "sound off" heading, as was done for those three
Councilmembers. Just a suggestion.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5297138.html
Last update: March 17, 2005 at 6:51 AM
Mayor Kelly's lobbying tactics draw rebuke Jackie Crosby, Star Tribune March
17, 2005 KELLY0317
OAS_AD('Button20');
If St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly was hoping to soften his reputation as a
"my-way-or-the-highway" leader, his recent behavior at the state Capitol isn't
going to do much to help, say a number of St. Paul legislators.
Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, said Wednesday that Kelly threatened to
undercut efforts to fund other St. Paul projects if he didn't get support for
building a flood wall around the St. Paul Downtown Airport, also known as
Holman Field. [snip]...
...[snip] "This is a personal style of his," she [Hausman] said. "It's bullying
and intimidation. And, unfortunately with this mayor, it's part of his
leadership style."
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/11144504.htm
Posted on Wed, Mar. 16, 2005--Pioneer Press
Lawmakers roiled over airport levee
Mayor denies behind-the-scenes threat
BY ROBERT INGRASSIA
Pioneer Press
A proposal for the state to help pay for a levee at St. Paul's downtown airport
has touched off a tiff between Mayor Randy Kelly and the leaders of the city's
legislative delegation.
Sen. Mee Moua and Rep. Michael Paymar, who serve as co-chairs of the St. Paul
delegation, accused Kelly of threatening to ask Gov. Tim Pawlenty to veto all
the city's bonding requests if lawmakers don't fund the airport project.
"Threatening to have other worthy St. Paul projects or bills vetoed is wrong
and it undermines our collective work at the Capitol," Moua and Paymar, both
Democrats, wrote in a letter to Kelly on Monday. "Should any St. Paul projects
or bills get eliminated or vetoed, we will certainly look to you for an
explanation." [snip]...
------------------------------------------
Erin Stojan
Dayton's Bluff, Ward 7
---------------------------------
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