Was Mary Kiffmeyer Lying Then, Or Is She Lying Now?

by: TwoPuttTommy

Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 12:34:56 PM CST

Not to be outdone in blatant mendacity, Mary Kiffmeyer wrote a Letter To The Editor last Saturday, November 14th.  The scandal over a failed faith-based banking venture that lasted a mere six years in Otsego was at issue.  While the whole letter needs to be fact checked (and, it will!), one claim clearly stood out:

"I personally did not own or operate a bank nor do I own a "holding company". My husband Ralph and I, along with over 85 other small investors from the community put money into a start-up community bank in 2003 by purchasing shares of stock,..."  Mary Kiffmeyer, 14 Nov. 2009, CitizenNewspaper.com

OK, compare that to what Mary Kiffmeyer reported to the State Campaign Finance Board in an updated Statement of Economic Interest in March 2009:

Sources of Compensation  
Name Of Source
Riverview Community Bank -  Director and Owner

Now, keep in mind that Mary Kiffmeyer certified that the required information provided to the Campaign Finance Board was "complete, true and correct" - under penalty of law.

Everybody catch the disconnect?  In March 2009, under penalty of law, Mary Kiffmeyer reported she owned a bank; in November 2009 she wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper saying she didn't.  

Was Mary Kiffmeyer lying then, or is she lying now?

I'm guessing now; reporters like, say, Esme Murphy, don't do squat when GOPers like, say, Mary Kiffmeyer, lie to them.

For more on the continuing Kiffmeyer banking scandal,  go and read what Eric Zaetsch wrote.

Oh, and here's the artwork that once adorned a wall at Kiffmeyer's failed bank; I call it "Jesus At The Closing Table":

Woo - woo. I am the model of a modern banking president.

by: TwoPuttTommy

Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 11:55:11 AM CDT

The Mary Kiffmeyer - bank closure story is reported first here, with a follow-up account, here.

I want an investigation. The rationale for wanting detail of the failure of Riverside Community Bank, headquartered in Otsego with an Anoka branch, to be fully investigated is basically that one might infer the Pawlenty appointed Commerce Dept. boss had a neck problem from looking the other way on this purported "Christian" governed bank, for the last half year or so (or perhaps longer); with Uncle Sugar now (via the FDIC) on the hook for a reported $20 million. What would losses that way have been if the operation was anesthetized and put under a half year ago?  

Star Tribune Reporter: Mary Kiffmeyer's name cut due to "space considerations"

by: TwoPuttTommy

Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 10:24:37 AM CDT

The Strib won't expand on stories on the web; the web serves to replicate what appears in print - and that policy means that, as Taxpaying Liberal noted here on MnPP, Kiffmeyer's name got scrubbed.

And as Taxpaying Liberal noted, bad news does indeed get dumped late on Fridays in the hopes that the embarrassing story is gone, come Monday.

But, the bad news for Mary Kiffmeyer, is that is NOT going to happen.  Strib Reporter Chris Serres also told me he recived a lot - LOT - of calls and messages over the weekend, and that Mary Kiffmeyer's name will not - NOT - be left out on upcoming Strib stories regarding the failure of Mary Kiffmeyer's  Riverview Community Bank.

It was interesting to note that on today's Strib webpage, the story that was dumped on a Friday is one of the "most emailed" today.

It was also interesting to note that Taxpaying Liberal's story last Friday, here on MnPP, made "Best Of The Blogs" in today's Politics In Minnesota's Morning Report.

And judging by the number of bloggers that wrote about Keffmey's bank failing over the weekend, bloggers won't let this story escape public notice, either.