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Support Farheen hakeem, was Sierra Club Endorses Jeff Hayden for House 61B Seat From: jill laxen Date: Oct 15 15:52 UTC Short link
AMEN. Can I get a harumf?
Jill Laxen
Cleveland
----- Original Message ---- From: Guy Gambill <gambillgt1@yahoo.com> To: <email obscured>; <email obscured> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 10:55:39 PM Subject: Re: [Mpls] Support Farheen hakeem, was Sierra Club Endorses Jeff Hayden for House 61B Seat Liz, I always enjoy so very much your well thought out posts. Unlike the bulk of the postings here yours are always very concise and accessible. Yes, I must agree. Dean was guilty. What confounds me is that such a piddly and dense act as this and the opprobrium that accrues to them (and the act was,.if anything, pathetic more than anything else) are of small import in the grand scheme of things. Corruption in politics is a repellant thing, regardless of party affiliation. You make a plea for a more nuanced political analysis. When I think of Justice, corruption and politics I often wonder just what the Hell it is we are doing as a people. Let me give you about as clear an example as I can muster up. Michael Milken, one of the notorious junk bond kings of the 80s was convicted, hands-down, for bilking over one billion dollars out of retired American seniors. Let's be clear: This man ruined the lives of tens of thousands of Americans who worked lifetimes. Many of the men were members of the "Greatest Generation" and had fought in World War II against the forces of fascism. Milken, again, was convicted hands-down. What sentence did he receive? Six months in a minimum security facility in Vermont...but not before divorcing his wife, transferring all of his assets to her in a thinly "legal" proceeding, making any property seizure for recovery impossible. Such things have been repeated, over and over again, in contemporary America...but we never quip too much on that or dwell on the inequity. It is a mere blip where as the pathetic sin of Zimmerman is held up as the grossest of transgressions... it is a matter of scale that confounds my sensibilities. Let's take a local example: In 2000-2001 the MN Supreme Court's Racial Fairness Task Force issued an analysis of disparities in Justice that generated a flurry of action. Brookings and the Itasca Project collaborated in "Minding the Gap". The Council on Crime and Justice launched "The Racial Disparities Initiative" or RDI. The St. Paul Foundation started "Facing Race" the Housing groups "Changing the Face of Housing". CURA got into the game and the Institute on Race and Poverty worked with the CCJ on RDI and on de-segregation. The DOJ interceded in MInneapolis and the PCRC came into being. Of these initiatives I know several, intimately. I served on the PCRC for a time as an alternate and I still watch the proceedings. I served as the Advocacy Coordinator at the CCJ and orchestrated the community participation in the RDI public forum and led the legislative and policy efforts before and after. I sat on the Regional CoC for HUD, the Boards of MACV and the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless and the Heading Home Hennepin planning group. In the realm of housing-homeless advocacy, I personally organized the "Housing and Communities of Color" series attended by State Legislative Staff, City Council Members, Law Enforcement and every major advocacy group in the Metro. What I saw playing out in housing policy prompted my resignation, with impunity, from HHH, MCH and the Regional CoC. In corrections, I served on the Legislature's Task Force on Expungement, Data Privacy and Criminal Records and on the Task Force on the Office of Corrections Ombudsman. At the National Level I have worked with the ABA's Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions, with the Legal Action Center in New York and others on the Second Chance Act and on such national efforts as ":Ban the Box". I have served on many other Boards, Task Forces and Commissions concerned with Immigration policy, Veterans Services (I now serve as a consultant to the Department of Defense and to SAMHSA), correctioins and judicial reform (with one CLE I am doing for the RCBA this Friday in St. Paul, others with the National Publisher Thomson-West and with the Hennepin Bar), immigration (2 years on AFFIRM's Legislative Advisory Group and 8 years as a bi-lignual DHS staff-person), and in many other things....I organized and will be at a National Briefing in the US House of Reps on 10\24 on family violence, the military and veterans. When I write here as someone with expertise in housing-homelessness, veterans affairs and criminal justice that is an assertion that can be backed up by anyone willing to google or make some calls. On the various racial disparities initiatives I don't have to guess, I was a the table. I don't have to wonder about the role of the DOJ, the City and Mayor, the Council, the Congressional Offices or the myriadinous roles of the non-profits, churches and other groups invovled. I was the guy who did the invites, organized the forums and tried to carry out the recommendations. A total of over 5 million dollars was spent on RDI over the course of nearly 6 years. The funding derived from the St. Paul and Minneapolis Foundations, both City Governments, the State, the Department of Justice, Departments of Corrections and Public Safety and a number of National and other Foundations, including Bremer and Annie B. Casey. At the end of it all we held a large public unveiling at the Minneapolis Convention Center. We made 3 recommendation sets with 3 recs under each main set. This was derived of 17 major studies (13 on the justice system proper, 4 on collateral consequences). Both Mayors spoke as did 2 Supreme Court Justices. More than one Congressional Office was represented as were both Police Deparmtents and the Department of Corrections. Here is the web-site set up for that event; http://www.racialdisparity.org/get_involved_action.php Remember now, a good chunk of the funding for all of this was public. The recommendations were very clear. I do not need to ask others about the role that our Mayor, Council, State and Legislators played in the wake of RDI, nor do I need to ask someone else what the wealthy families who helped fund the project were willing to do. I was the guy who met with them and asked. Of the 3 recommendation sets with 3 sub-recommendations only one thing has been taken up, the Family Strengthening Project,which is funded by Annie B. Casey, in Baltimore. I don't need to speculate about the willingness of our Mayor, most of our City Council or State Legislators to step up and do what our efforts demonstrated needed to be done. Again, I met with them personally. We spent millions of dollars here and there was never any intention of doing much of anything. That is what I know. Look at the things I was involved in over time here and what I am involved in now. It would be virtually impossible for anyone who might be deemed "an activist in housing and homelesness" to have escaped sitting at the table with me at some point in the last 10 years. Yet Mr. Hayden, endorsed by every politican in twon, is referred to as just such an activist. Explain to me how it is possible for this man to have earned any legitimacy in this realm? I have asked that once, now I am asking again. Liz, we dwell on Dean Zimmerman's pathetic and piss ant infraction, yet we spend millions in public funding on stuff like RDI. To my mind that farce and the hurt, division and the injustice it prolongs and compounds are so far over the top that DZ becomes a minor blip in the grand scheme of things. Why do you think it is that when we have so much information telling us what we need to do that the likes of RT, Lisa Goodman, Barb Johnson, and so many DFL legislators choose to simply ignore publicly funded intitiatives? I can tell you...it is about money, Liz. Money...and a whole lot more than a few thousand. That, Liz, is corruption writ large....very, very large. The City-County Assistant to the Coordinator to end homelessness was hired with no qualification other than that he was the son of a county attorney. The Director for Outreach to the Homeless here was perhaps one of the clearest examples of nepotism I have yet seen here...and no one gave a damn. In terms of knowledge and experience on housing-homelessness, veterans, and justice reform I may very well be the most well-versed person on this list. For the things I have done, at all levels of Government, I have received wide notice and many awards and recognitions..the one thing I refuse to do is to lie about the BS I see out there. I remain utterly baffled that one can post here, cite authority and research with impeccable precision. One can offer clear cut instances of the abuse of power and a whole plethora of malfeasance, irresponsibility and a level of public corruption that is truly nauseating...and no one seems to really give a damn. Opiniion involves interpretation of fact....fact remains fact. There are many things I assert here...all of them can easily be referenced...it is so easy to focus on things like Dean Zimmerman...it is an easy decision to reach. Other things a bit more effort...but the corruption and malfeasnce are far greater...and apparently beyond the ability of the public to care..that is the greatest tragedy of all and the one which, compounded over time, will finish off this Republic. This is like watching the movie Idiocracy Guy Gambill Northeast --- On Tue, 10/14/08, <email obscured> <mclemore@bitstream.net> wrote: From: <email obscured> <mclemore@bitstream.net> Subject: [Mpls] Support Farheen hakeem, was Sierra Club Endorses Jeff Hayden for House 61B Seat To: <email obscured> Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 9:40 PM The postings here touch on so many different issues that I'm really not sure where to begin. Please forgive me if I meander a bit. First of all, I need to get this off my chest: more power to you and your family time, Mr. Cavlan. Participants respond to this list as we feel like it, and no one is compelling anyone else to participate. No need to apologize or make excuses for not responding. Family time is undoubtedly a good thing: it makes us all of us more sane. No one really wants to take you away from that, or from your very worthy work as a nurse. Second of all, I don't know of anyone who really cares about Dean Zimmermann's "money, money, money" comment, and he certainly wasn't convicted for this comment. He was convicted for taking bribes from a developer AND SPENDING THE CASH. Did he hang onto the questionable "donations" (for whatever saintly purpose--I truly was not a fan of the redistricting, either) and hand them over to the attorney general? No, he SPENT THE CASH. Whether you think that's evidence of stupidity or evidence of corruption is really up to individuals to decide. Frankly, I don't care what Dean's "true" reasoning was: I want ALL PUBLIC OFFICIALS to err on the safe side and follow the law. Cam Gordon's guidelines issued after Dean's conviction were about the best I've seen: politicians should exercise good judgment and return any donation that appears even remotely suspicious. [Again, I'd prefer that we passed more restrictive campaign finance laws, but that's me. At the very least, politicians should follow the laws we've got--and make sure their staff understand those laws clearly.] And the "facts"? Well, as I've said before on this list, I attended each day of the Zimmermann trial, and I saw the evidence presented by the FBI. I posted my notes on a blog, and people can make of them what they will. But unlike Michael Cavlan and Dean's other defenders, I watched Dean ON TAPE during the trial tell Carlson the developer how to circumvent the campaign laws. There's really no validity to the argument that those comments were taken out of context: I saw/heard Dean on tape, and he made those comments. Period. No "context" is going to mitigate the impact of what he said--both for me and, apparently, for the jury. And maybe other sitting City Council Members are just as corrupt or naive as Dean was. But so far, I have yet to see anyone provide any evidence to support that claim. If you're going to discredit people, at least provide the proof. And would Dean or Natalie, our two former Green Party City Council Members, have prevented Resolution 2008R-248 from being passed? Most likely not. There are 13 City Council Members, and a majority (7 votes) is required to pass a resolution. The Green Party was/is a minority party, and Green City Council Members had/have to work hard to build coalitions across party lines. Given the way the votes went on that resolution, two additional votes wouldn't have been sufficient to pass it. To my mind, that's truly a tragedy, but one I don't think that Dean or Natalie would have prevented. Now let me add a comment about reductive thinking. You do not have to support Dean Zimmermann, or Farheen Hakeem, or the Green Party, or the FBI, or the mainstream media in order to oppose what happened at the RNC in St. Paul or to oppose predatory lending or to oppose the militarization of this nation and its criminalization of the homeless. I'm sorry, but we need a more nuanced approach to politics. Let's at least try not to put people into boxes they don't deserve. Liz McLemore Bancroft Liz McLemore Bancroft neighborhood, Minneapolis Info about Liz McLemore: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/lizmclemore This topic's messages may be viewed at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/3WAvr5MebQ5DM94P1NdU6m ----------------------------------------- To post, send your message to: <email obscured> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on," in subject line and send to: <email obscured> More info about Minneapolis Issues Forum: http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules ----------------------------------------- Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the forum manager at <email obscured> before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Guy Gambill East Isles (Uptown), Minneapolis Info about Guy Gambill: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/guygambill This topic's messages may be viewed at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/5fUXIYZsSSgRwA6bw7xQju ----------------------------------------- To post, send your message to: <email obscured> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on," in subject line and send to: <email obscured> More info about Minneapolis Issues Forum: http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules ----------------------------------------- Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the forum manager at <email obscured> before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.