All posts in the topic The immediate removal of Aaron Foster from St. Paul Police Departm...

2007 Apr 15 21:35 UTC

Dear Ed,

Your comment about this all being "political" is a very interesting defense.

In St. Paul during the 1920s to 1930s there was a lot of corruption going on
in St. Paul.  We had police chiefs by the name of John "Big Boy" O'Connor
(1990 - 1912 and 1914 - 1920) and Thomas A. Brown (1930 - 1932) who were very
corrupt.  We also had the likes of Dan Hogan and Leon Gleckman that were
running
alcohol, drugs, prostitution and many other rackets in St. Paul.  Many things
were covered up then and the same thing is happening now.

When the above mentioned individuals were questioned about their
inappropriate activities by a St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter, Howard Kahn,
these
individuals responded by saying, "It is politically driven."  On March 31, 1934
as the
Ramsey County grand jury denied that the city was a magnet for gangsters,
John Dillinger shot his way out of the Lincoln Court Apartments in St. Paul.
Kahn's response in the Pioneer Press was the following headline, "Machine Guns
Blaze as Jury Whitewashes Police."  The mayor at the time, William Mahoney
responded to Kahn's relentless editorials stating, "There are no criminals
here."
Shortly after Kahn wrote these editorials about the corruption in St. Paul,
there was a hit put out for him because he dared report on what was going on in
St. Paul.

There was a culture of corruption in St. Paul during the 1920s and 1930s.
Things were overlooked for friends.  Elected officials who were supposed to be
working for the people who elected them, but instead they were actually using
their office for their own personal gain.  Members of Chief Finney's own
management team also questioned the activities of the chief of police.  In fact
one
individual, Deputy Chief Ross Lundstrom wrote a whistle-blowing report of
these activities to the city council.  This was reported on in the local news
media at the time (St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 3, 1998).

Intimidation was a tool that was used in the past to get people to look the
other way, and it is still used today.  After I posted on SPIF about the
actions of former police chief William Finney and his friends, some interesting
things started to happen.  Dog poop was left inside on my seat and bed of my
truck.  Many phone calls were made to my house in the middle of the night, with
"Out of Area" and no phone number on the caller ID.  Recently (4-12-2007), I
posted a comment on an article that was written in the St. Paul Pioneer Press
about the Barbara Winn investigation.  Not long after posting this comment in
the
Pioneer Press I started to receive these, "Out of Area" calls again.  I
counted eight calls in an hour and a half alone.

In the 1930s there were reformers like Gustave "Gus" Barfuss (SPPD), Thomas
Dahill (SPPD), Clinton Hackert (SPPD) and Howard Kahn (St. Paul Pioneer Press).
 Today we have reformers who feel enough is enough.  The only end to this
situation is to charge this case and let a jury decide.

Today, we hear the same old lines again; "The only reason this is being
pursued is because it is just political."  We have a county attorney in Ramsey
County who wants to be Governor, but she is letting her friendship (as outlined
by
Susan Gaertner in her own letter to the Anoka County Attorney), with former
police chief Finney get in the way of finally bringing justice to the Winn
family?  Ms. Gaertner gave the case to Anoka County who has done NOTHING with
it.
Was this move by our county attorney another favor for Bill Finney?  What our
Ramsey County attorney should do is give this case to another county, or
better yet, the Minnesota Attorney General, who will actually work the case and
not shelve it like Anoka County has done.  What an embarrassment to law
enforcement Anoka County is.

When the Ramsey County attorney goes to the voters in her quest for Governor
I will be happy to point out the fact that she put a friendship before seeing
to it that justice is served and women are protected.  Domestic violence is
NEVER ok.  I have one thing to say to our county attorney, what if it was your
daughter who was killed and someone tried to cover it up who had connections?
I think we would be writing a different story here.  I also ask you to
reexamine your own office's actions in other cases involving Aaron Foster.  I
believe
the public should know if the actions of your office have served the good of
the public, or if it has served the wishes of former Police Chief Bill Finney.
 As documented in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and in the local media, there is
evidence that Finney has indeed protected his friend Aaron Foster from
criminal and civil prosecution in the past.

We have a mayor in St. Paul who continues to refuse to remove Aaron Foster
from his duties at the St. Paul Police Department and move him to another
assignment that is away from the police department during this murder
investigation.
 I have to ask WHY this has not been done months ago?  I have to question the
mayor's loyalties to his friend and former campaign co-chair to his mayoral
campaign, former police chief in St. Paul, Bill Finney.  I also find it strange
that our mayor fails to investigate the actions of former police chief Bill
Finney, as he saw these issues first hand when he was a city council member
representing Ward 2.  I am starting to wonder if the mayor is letting party
loyalties blind his sense of justice in the handling of this matter and giving
his
friend a pass.  My hope is this not the case, but only his actions will show
his true loyalties to either justice or friendship.

So Ed you call this investigation political.  They also called it political
back in the 1930s.  The bottom line here is a young woman died and people may
have covered up the murder.

To help you become better informed on the topic you should visit Barbara
Winn's web site: www.justiceforbarbara.com and then explore your own
conscience,
rather than that of your political party.  Are politics more important than the
senseless loss of a human life?  Look beyond the politics people!  Realize,
as the Winn family has stated on Barbara Winn's web site, that the only reason
that Finney has been dragged into this case is that he, himself, interjected
himself into it by attending Barbara Winn's autopsy and for making the
statements about Foster to the Maplewood Police in 1981.  The only fair
resolution to
this case is to let the justice system work by allowing a jury to examine the
evidence, which seems to be quite compelling, and render a verdict.

Sometimes, we must put our conscience before that of our alliance to a
political party or one of its members. This may require courage, but by doing
so we
define who we are not only to ourselves, but also to others.

Justice may be delayed, but in the end hopefully justice will be served.

If I were mayor of St. Paul or the county attorney, I would put my
friendships aside and do the right thing.  Any friend of mine who breaks the
law is no
friend of mine.  I encourage the Mayor of St. Paul and Ramsey County Attorney
to do the right thing.

The Winn family will be having a candlelight vigil on May 8, 2007.  You can
find the details on Barbara's web site.  I hope to see all of you at the vigil.

Sincerely,

John Krenik
St. Paul, Minnesota

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