...the more things change, the more the GOP is indeed the "Greed Over Principles" party.
And it's important to remember the lessons of history; those that don't tend to vote GOP. So I present Nixon's resignation speech, as a reminder of why it's so important to elect Democrats this November.
Good evening.
This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.
In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation. Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me.
In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.
(Rest of Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon's address to the nation below the fold)
I've been following the continuing Eden Prairie GOPer Mayor Phil Young Scandal; Part 5 (which has links to parts 1, 2, 3 and 4) is here.
And I'd like to reiterate what I told the Eden Prairie City Council on June 15th:
THIS MATTER IS ABOUT A MAYOR THAT FALSELY SIGNED DOCUMENTS FOR AT LEAST 26 MEETINGS - THERE MAY BE MORE.
Yesterday, the Strib published an Editorial regarding Mayor Young. On their webpage, they excerpted one question and answer between Detective Hultgren and Mayor Young. I also submitted a Data Practices Act Request with the Plymouth Police Department, and have read the entire investigation that is public information. The final 4 pages are here (page 45) and here (page 46) and here (page 47) and here (page 48). It starts with Detective Hultgren describing how he was assigned to the case, and the facts he found. Make no mistake -- Detective Hultgren found perjury, plain and simple. From page 48:
On 6/11/2010 (City Prosecutor) Renz contacted me and asked that I (Det. Hultgren) again send this case to the County Attorney for possible felony perjury charges. Renz believed this was the most obvious charge after he reviewed the facts.
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On 7-12-2010 Renz advised me that his office was declining to charge Mayor Young with a misdemeanor.
OK, so why didn't City Attorney Renz prosecute Mayor Young under misdemeanor perjury? Because he can't; perjury by definition is a felony. That explains Renz' cryptic press release: "...though there may be provable charges at levels or in forums over which Mr. Renz does not have jurisdiction."
After reading through the whole Plymouth Police Investigation, it's obvious: Young knew when he filled out all those forms that included the phrase "I declare under penalties of perjury..." the information Young filled in was not true.
And Young did it over and Over and OVER. Just one time - just ONE TIME - is perjury; the Plymouth Police Department clearly proved Young did it over and Over and OVER.
One can easily surmise Young would still be doing just that, had he not been caught. It's a shame he won't be prosecuted.
I've been following the continuing Eden Prairie GOPer Mayor Phil Young Scandal; Part 4 (which has links to parts 1, 2, and 3) is here.
Last Tuesday, as noted here, I addressed the Eden Prairie City Council. One thing I said is this:
THIS MATTER IS ABOUT A MAYOR THAT FALSELY SIGNED DOCUMENTS FOR AT LEAST 26 MEETINGS - THERE MAY BE MORE.
And it sure looks like there are!
The City Of Eden Prairie appoints a Council Representative to a local non-profit, the Eden Prairie Foundation. The current Board make-up of that non-profit is here. On that page, you will see the City Council's appointed Representative is Kathy Nelson - NOT Mayor Phil Young.
And if you link to the January 8th, 2008 City Council Minutes here, you'll see on Page 5:
J. APPOINTMENT TO EDEN PRAIRIE FOUNDATION
Neal noted the Eden Prairie Foundation is a local philanthropic organization in the City. He said this appointment is approved on an annual basis, and Council Member Nelson is currently serving on the foundation.
Young recommended Council Member Nelson's reappointment. (emphasis added)
MOTION: Aho moved, seconded by Butcher, to approve appointment of Council Member Nelson to the Eden Prairie Foundation. Motion carried 5-0.
I you link here to the January 6th, 2009 minutes, you'll see Council Member Nelson again appointed as City Council Representative to that non-profit - and, again, on a 5-0 vote.
Everybody got that? Council Member Nelson is entitled to receive Meeting Attendance Reimbursement from City taxpayers for attending meetings with this very, Very, VERY worthy non-profit - NOT Mayor Phil Young.
So, what does GOPer Mayor Young do, on February 5th, 2009?
Turn in a handwritten "City Council Meeting Attendance Claim Form" - under the penalty of perjury - for a 27 January 2009 meeting with that non-profit.
And he did it again and Again and AGAIN -- claiming reimbursements for allegedly - ALLEGEDLY - attending meetings with that non-profit on 23 February 2009, 20 March 2009, and 29 May 2009.
And I say allegedly, because the meeting room that non-profit almost always meets at (for regular meetings) is located at City Hall, and a Data Practices Request filed with the City reveals the non-profit did NOT meet at the City in their normal room on the dates Young claimed reimbursement for.
Either way, the claims Young filed - and signed under penalty of perjury - appear to be fraudulent. If there actually were meetings with this non-profit that Mayor Young attended, he received compensation he doesn't appear entitled to because he is NOT the City Council Representative to that non-profit.
Of course, if there weren't meetings on the dates Young claimed, that just makes Young's position worse: claiming compensation he wasn't entitled to, for meetings that didn't exist.
But, hey! It's not like Young hasn't done that before!
E-mails to the non-profit concerning this matter, by people in a position to confirm or deny if there were meetings and if Young attended, have not been returned.
I've been following the continuing Eden Prairie GOPer Mayor Phil Young Scandal; Part 4 (which has links to parts 1, 2, and 3) is here.
And as Joe posted earlier, Young is DEFINITELY taking more heat; the 4th - 4th - Strib story on this scandal is here.
There's an "Open Podium" at 6:30 pm, before tonight's 7:00 pm Council Meeting. I'm supposed to speak first, as I was the first to sign up, but: GOPer Young turned the gavel over to a fellow GOPer so we'll see how that works out!
TheUpTake might be streaming it live; go over there around 6:15 and take a look to see if you can watch the ol' TwoPutter deliver the following remarks!
Yesterday, the Strib did an update* on Republican Mayor Phil Young's problems. Most notable was the news that while Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's office declined to prosecute for felony charges, Eden Prairie's Prosecutor sent the case to the Metropolitan Airports Commission's Prosecuting Attorney due to possible conflict of interest issues. That Prosecutor is considering misdemeanor, or even gross misdemeanor, charges.
Should be a slam-dunker.
As noted in Part 1 and in Part 2 and in Part 3, Eden Prairie Mayor Phil Young is in a whole lotta trouble; trouble of his own making because he filled out meeting reimbursement claim forms - in his own handwriting - for meetings he didn't attend (26 at the last count, according to the Strib) and then signed them under penalty of perjury. Additionally, "The Mayor Who Would Be Judge" (we'll get to that in a future post) turned in a mileage claim for attending meetings he never attended -- takin' the ol' unearned double-dip from the city's taxpayer-provided coffers. Oh - and again, that double-dip was in his own handwriting, and - again - signed under penalty of perjury.
How's THAT for a neat little trick by a GOPer with a reputation for watchin' the Public's Purse like a hawk?
Phil Young is the perfect example of a GOPer running for office on the platform "You can't trust gov't!!!" - and, once in power, proving it.
All the above deals with just the 26 meetings of the Minnesota Regional Council of Mayors GOPer Young claimed he went to, under penalty of perjury, but didn't. I've been taking a closer look at some of the other meetings Young claimed reimbursement for, and today we'll look at GOPer Young's claimed meeting with GOPer State Representative Jenifer Loon!
The questions I emailed to Rep. Loon, R = ChamberOfCommerce 42B, are below the fold:
As noted in Part 1, the Strib broke the initial story, about Eden Prairie's GOPer Mayor billing the taxpayers for meetings he didn't attend. A whole bunch of meetings; 14 - FOURTEEN! - that I could find, as pointed out in Part 2.
Well, guess what? The Strib reporter, Laurie Blake, didn't stop with the first one; she kept digging into a very sordid story. It's on-line here. And here's what the intrepid Strib Reporter found:
Eden Prairie mayor reimbursed for 26 no-shows Eden Prairie mayor claimed expenses for 26 meetings he didn't go to. Some had been canceled.
By LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune
Last update: May 26, 2010 - 10:06 PM
Eden Prairie Mayor Phil Young filed expense claims totaling nearly $1,000 for 26 meetings that he did not attend, including six that did not take place, City Hall records show.
The information, obtained from the city of Eden Prairie, adds more precise detail to the investigation into Young's expense claims.
City Hall records show that for 2008, 2009 and the first three months of this year, Young claimed $35 per diem amounting to $980 for 28 meetings of the Minnesota Regional Council of Mayors, which meets under the auspices of the Urban Land Institute in downtown Minneapolis.
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Young also claimed $99 for mileage reimbursement in 2009 for driving 180 miles to five of the same mayors' council meetings that he did not attend, including two of the meetings that did not take place. (more, here)
Kudos for Laurie for digging deep!!!
Both Star Tribune stories, and the local Eden Prairie paper, had Young's attorney saying, in essence, that Young could have submitted other reimbursements, so this is no big deal.
Bullsh*t.
Young filed bogus claims, under penalty of perjury - which IS a big deal.
If there were claims he could have filed, but didn't file, those would be mitigating issues for a Judge to consider before applying sentencing for what Young did - which, in essence, was stealing and fraud.
Republicans run on the platform "Gov't doesn't work!"
When in office, they prove it.
And GOPer Phil Young - once again - is today's example of Greed Over Principles.
GOPer Mayor Phil Young's hometown paper soon followed up; the print edition from last Thursday (5-20-2010) stuck the story inside (on page 3) with this headline:
"Sloppy bookkeeping," but no crime in case of mayor's reimbursement record
There's only a "slight" problem with that headline; in the story it read, and again I quote:
Though the Hennepin County Attorney has opted not to press charges the case is still under investigation by the Plymouth Police, according to Police Chief Mike Goldstein. The case has been referred to the Plymouth city attorney, who will review whether to press charges in the form of a gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor.
Mayor Young is NOT "out of the woods" yet; City Prosecutors indeed still are considering charges because for 14 - FOURTEEN months in a row, GOPer Mayor Phil Young claimed per diem for meetings he didn't attend.
So I called the paper's Editor, and pointed the inconsistency out. And kudos to the Editor for changing the on-line version of the story to now read:
The Strib has the (partial) story, and it's about your typical (and hypocritical) republiCon fleecing the taxpayers about an elected official claiming expenses not entitled to.
In a nutshell, for 14 - FOURTEEN months in a row, GOPer Mayor Phil Young claimed per diem for meetings he didn't attend; in apparently four of those months, there weren't even meetings (April, June, Auust and October 2009). Unfortunately, not all of the links to Meeting Minutes work; and in the Sept '09 Meeting Minutes, attendees aren't listed. Calls and an email to the Regional Council Of Mayors' facilitator for clarification The Urban Land Institute, have not been returned. According to the July 2009 minutes and city provided documents, Young claimed per diem for attending a non-existent August meeting.
Earlier today, the City of Eden Prairie responded to a Public Data Request, and sent copies of GOPer Young's "2009 Mileage Reimbursement Form" and "City Council Meeting Attendance Claim Forms" for January 2009 through March 2010.
And it needs to be noted that at the bottom of all those forms Young filled out - in his own handwriting, bearing his own signature, for each of all those months - was this line on all those forms, "right" above where Young signed:
"I declare under penalties of perjury that this claim is just and correct and no part of it has been paid."
Young, an attorney and shareholder in the law firm of Moss Barnett, practices (among other areas) in employment and labor law. Presumably, GOPer Young not only would/should understand the term "perjury"; he would/should know the importance of signing accurate expense reimbursement forms. One wonders how many employers Young has represented that fired employees for the same offenses Young committed; offenses that Young's attorney explains away with, and I quote from the Strib:
Young's attorney, Shane Perry, said the mayor filled out some paperwork incorrectly and "he accepts responsibility for that."
"..accepts responsibility..."??!?
Yeah, "right."
When GOPer Young resigns, THEN he'll have accepted responsibility.
After the slow ride to Duluth, a few cajun martinis, and some afternoon golf, tomorrow marks the begining of the end of convention season. It's been a wild one, what with covering all the GOPer Conventions that I did - such as getting threatened to be buried in the basement of Grace "Church" and the whackjob GOPer resolutions and Emmer's "Dynamite!" moment and....well, I'll highlight 'em next week. For now, it's all about Duluth.
First off, every - and I mean EVERY - candidate going for endorsement has the same baggage: GOpers.
And by that I mean that each and every endorsed candidate is gonna get slimed by the GreedOverPrinciples Smear Merchants. Doesn't matter who it is; and it really doesn't matter to the GOP if there's any truth to the smear or not: GOPers don't care if the smear is true; they only care that THE VOTERS think the smear is true.
Case in point: Incumbent SOS Mark Ritchie, who is still accused on a regular basis of stealing the election from ol' Smokescreen. Facts be damned, "Normie wuz ROBBED!" is how the GOP portrays the recount.
So everyone has the same baggage; a GOP perfectly happy to smile at a camera and lie through their teeth.
It's a strong field running for the DFL and almost all of the candidates for the corner office TBag abandoned long ago is capable of winning (sorry, Ole - you ain't one o' the capable).
As I see it, there is one candidate that if on the ticket in November, is a sure winner: Tommy Rukavina. All of the others (except Ole...well, Gaertner, too) can win the election come November, but: if Rukavina is on the ticket, game over; DFL wins.
Now, who will get the endorsement, this weekend?
I'd offer some profound punditry, but: I also predicted ol' Smokescreen would enter the race on the GreedOverPrinciples side no later than 2nd weekend in February, and I also recently predicted Hackett on the 3rd ballot.
So, in the interests of not putting a Bambino Curse on any candidate, I'll remain silent as to who gets the endorsement.
Some days, Republicans believe in a quaint notion called "state's rights." For instance, Texas Republicans believe in the primacy of state's rights regarding the death penalty, even if it invovles executing the mentally retarded. Other days, not so much - like with California and medical marijuana, approved by California voters in 1996.
George W. Bush used to be the prime example of a Republican that believed in state's rights (except when he didn't). As Texas Governor, Dubya relished Texas' sovereignty and eagerly affirmed each and every death penalty he could. As President, Dubya's administration frequently ignored California's sovereignty by frequently raiding medical marijuana distributors.
Then yesterday, along comes Michele Bachmann, giving the guy she "enjoys a great relationship" with, a run for his money on ignoring state's rights. Here's what Michele Bachmann said yesterday, at her Lake Elmo "Forum":
"We could do this: there's a law right now at the federal level that says that states can, in effect, draw boundaries around their state and insurance companies don't have to compete with other companies outside of their state. This drives, this jacks the cost of healthcare way higher than what it would need to be. If we took a big eraser, and erased those lines, of each state's boundaries, and allowed people to buy health care anywhere in the United States...in other words, if we, if we allowed more competition among insurance companies, rather than less competition, we would see more insurance products, cheaper prices, and people could buy what they want." - Rep. Michele Bachmann, Lake Elmo, MN, August 27th, 2009
"If we took a big eraser, and erased those lines, of each state's boundaries..."
O
M
G.
What other issues does Michele Bachmann feel states shouldn't control; other issues to pull out a "big eraser" and obliterate state borders?
And that's before examining her claim of being consumer friendly.....
Let's take what Bachmann said, replace "insurance" with "credit cards", and see how it reads...although not an exact analogy, you'll get the picture of how Bachmann's "insurance" plan just might work out - for "insurance" guys like Billion Dollar Bill McGuire!
"We could do this: there's a law right now at the federal level that says that states can, in effect, draw boundaries around their state and credit card companies don't have to compete with other companies outside of their state. This drives, this jacks the cost of credit cards way higher than what it would need to be. If we took a big eraser, and erased those lines, of each state's boundaries, and allowed people to get credit cards anywhere in the United States...in other words, if we, if we allowed more competition among credit card companies, rather than less competition, we would see more credit card products, cheaper prices, and people could buy what they want."
Yeah, "right."
Barry Goldwater has got to be spinning in his grave, over what Boy Blunder and Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive have done and said. And Michele Bachmann has once again proven that GOP does indeed stand for GreedOverPrinciples.
That's a question that should be asked, if - IF - Kline and Paulsen actually schedule, and Bachmann actually follows through, with Town Hall Meetings.
The question should also be asked of GOP State Chair Tony Sutton, and GOP State Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb.
There's a powder keg out there, with a short fuse. And today's GOP leadership is sending out sparks. If one of those sparks catches, well......you can be sure, the GOP will blame it on anybody and everybody but themselves.
Here's Rachel Maddow:
And speaking of the "MOB" - I noted this:
Moving The MOB
August 13th, 2009 by Mitch Berg
Well, the verdict (throwing out all the votest for "crashing Drinking Liberally") was pretty decisive. People want the MOB Summer Party moved to September 12.
That bloggers wrote about Michael Brodkorb's blatant hypocrisy with regards to Colin Peterson's decision to no longer hold Town Hall meetings is no surprise; MudSlingerMike's pals at his old radio gig tagged him as being in charge of "special ops." What is surprising is one member of the traditional media picking up on it. Monday's St. Cloud Times Editorial noted:
Really, though, the worst out of all this is the state Republican Party's attempt to turn his (Rep. Peterson's) comment into a campaign issue. It plans to run advertisements about it across the district this week.
"Really, Collin, 25 percent of your constituents are so out of touch they believe the U.S. government caused 9/11?" the commercial says. "So you won't hold town meetings? They're not out of touch. You are."
Then what about Peterson's neighbor, the GOP's own 6th District Rep. Michele Bachmann?
Except for one tightly controlled forum at which she barely spoke, we don't recall any town meetings she's held in this area since elected.(St. Cloud Times)
This causes the question - why would one of this state's shrewdest (cynical?) political opportunists, the ol' MudSlingerMike himself, take such a chance at being called out for hypocrisy? Well, not by the RightWingLeaning PiPress, and certainly not by the RightWingOwned Avista Capital Partner's Strib - no, ol' MudSlingerMike and the GOP knows how to shove them around - remember the film of Seifert dissing the Strib at the GOP Convention? But still, why would he do that?
Perhaps what's happening at Town Hall Meetings elsewhere might be an indication of why MudSlingerMike is disappointed. Rachel Maddow has the report; let's look!
Disinformation, and organized anarchy - which Rachel called "hooliganism" at Democratic Party Representatives' Town Halls, and MudSlingerMike of the State GOP going after DFL Rep. Colin Peterson.....hmmmm....hmmm....
Hey! Is it possible that MudSlingerMike weighed the odds of bein' called out by the Strib and/or PiPress (somewhere between "slim" and "none") and figured it was worth the chance to try and shame Peterson into holding meetings, in order to practice the same disinformation and organized anarchy GOPers are getting to ply elsewhere?
We don't know, but we do know that you cannot spell "dirty politicking" without "GOP".
It seems the Strib disabled "reader comments" under Katie Kersten's bizarre screed today. Perhaps Strib misManagement knew - just KNEW - that Katie's ideologically-driven "blame the blacks" ravings would ignite a flame war that even the Strib couldn't stomach.
Kersten and her ilk hate everything that has to do with government; Kersten specifically has railed about "the nanny state." In Kersten's world and among those denizens, the only good government program is a cancelled/eliminated program. Keep that in mind, while you read how Kersten ends her diatribe:
It's tragic that a small group of black Americans commit such a high percentage of our nation's violent crime. But until this changes, we'll continue to have a steady stream of Henry Louis Gates-like incidents. (Strib.com)
Amazing, isn't it? Oppose every program that could possibly eliminate the problem and cause change (after all, government "is" the problem), but bemoan the lack of change.
Karl Rove would be proud of the fine job Kersten did today in demonstrating the basic principle underlying every single play in today's GreedOverPrinciples playbook:
"More hate - less tolerance."
So I'm not going to take the time to fisk the intolerant tripe Kersten serves up today; no one should - Kersten's insenstive divisiveness speaks for itself.
Instead, I'm recommending everyone should forward that pathetic piece of rightwing rubbish to everyone they know.
Kersten and her clan advocate holding people "responsible" - by forwarding Kersten's bile, you can hold both her AND her party responsible for the destructive divisiveness they preach.
mbrodkorb The bad press continues for Congressman Collin Peterson; http://tinyurl.com/m3n23w; #mngop #mn2010
So, I link on the tinyurl, and read this:
But Republicans on Tuesday saw the gaffe as an opportunity to make headway in Peterson's conservative Seventh Congressional District, which he has securely held for many years. In 2008, he won 72 percent of the vote.
Got that? Less than a year ago, DFLer Colin Peterson won 72% of the vote.
So, what does the intrepid Deputy Chair of the GreedOverPrinciples Party say about Colin Peterson?
"This has really I think energized activists in the area and is going to lend [itself] to a first-tier candidate coming forward to run against him next year," said Minnesota GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb, adding that there has been an "absolute explosion" of interest in the seat in the past 24 hours." (Strib)
Say, Brodkorb? An "absolute explosion" of interest in taking on a guy that just won with 72 percent of the vote??!?
Yeah, "right."
And a "first tier" candidate to boot? Not gonna happen - no "first tier" candidates remain in today's GreedOverPrinciples party. T-baggers and "birthers"? You got pawlenty. "First tier"? Not so much.
Oh, noticed this tweet, from MudSlingerMike, too:
RT @MinnPostRSS: Minnesota GOP ready to launch ad campaign against Peterson remarks: http://bit.ly/DByJR
Say, Mikey? Good luck with that "ad buy" you're tryin' to sell. When you say "five figure ad buy" that really means "$999.99 or less" - yes?
Although personally, I wish the GOPers would dump a coupla hundred thousand into the 7th, between now and the new year....
Good evening.
