Erin, Thanks for your post on this matter. It is quite clear that Mayor Kelly has lost perspective on what is important for the city of St. Paul and the community's expectation for thoughtful, engaged leadership.
The Mayor is entitled to his opinions and he is free to advocate his policy priorities, but I feel that his treatment of Representative Hausman truly violated the rules of decorum that is expected of public officials. Mayor Kelly's disrespectful behavior is costing the city greatly by creating a negative perception of the city and its legislative priorities. I only hope that the Mayor will reflect on his approach to public policy and adopt more of a statesmanship style of leadership. Lee Helgen Councilmember Ward 5 >>> erin stojan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/18/05 12:38 AM >>> 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 --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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