http://www.startribune.com/local/12523221.html
"Stanek, who gained national attention with his news conferences about
the rescue and body recovery efforts, has found a new way to broadcast
his role in the bridge collapse response: a 26-minute DVD, titled
"Twenty Days in August," paid for with $30,000 in sheriff's forfeiture
funds.
Stanek describes it as a "training" video, and has shown it to groups
to illustrate how his office responded to the Aug. 1 tragedy."
Penny Steele questions this as the normally press hungry Rich Stanek
goes into hiding:
"Why would Stanek need a fundraiser?" asked Hennepin County
Commissioner Mark Stenglein. He was a guest speaker in September when
Stanek helped host a dinner to thank law enforcement officials and
rescuers who responded to the tragedy.
Stanek declined to be interviewed for this article.
Kathryn Janicek, his chief spokesperson, said Stanek had been
"strongly encouraged" to produce the video by U.S. Transportation
Secretary Mary Peters and the chair of the National Transportation
Safety Board, which is overseeing the formal investigation into the
collapse.
Janicek added that the fundraiser was a private event, and "the
sheriff's office does not comment on private events."
"I'm sort of struggling to find the purpose of the video," Hennepin
County Commissioner Penny Steele said after watching it.
She said she also believesthat a training video should include
comments from the many federal, state and local agencies that
responded to the tragedy -- not just the sheriff's office."
EY: Stanek doesn't give anyone credit except Stanek:
While the sheriff's office was in charge of the water rescue and
recovery after the bridge collapse, the Minneapolis Fire Department
had the overall command authority at the scene in the first few hours
after the tragedy. The Minneapolis Police Department later took over
that role.
Under the arrangement, Stanek reported to Minneapolis Deputy Chief Rob
Allen, who was the unified incident commander at the site.
"Technically, that's how it works," said Allen. "They were in charge
of the water side."
Allen said he was not invited to the September dinner hosted by the
sheriff's office to thank those who participated in the rescue and
recovery.
The city of Minneapolis is producing its own video about its response
to the bridge collapse, although it's expected to be much shorter and
cost less than $10,000, a city spokeswoman said.
EY: Now that's tacky.
Strib:
The fund that paid for the sheriff's DVD is public money from
forfeitures that the sheriff's office is authorized by the federal
government to use for training, Janicek said.
EY: There is no justifiable public purpose in this expenditure by
Stanek's office, and he should reimburse the taxpayers, and have his
campaign pay for the video. This is clearly NOT a training video.
More on this on the blogs:
http://mnpublius.com/2007/12/stanek-spends-30k-on-pseudo-campaign-ad/
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2007/12/rich-staneks-30k-vanity-project.html
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
Lloydletta's Nooz
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
Dump Michele Bachmann
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com