All posts in the topic Fraudulent telephone calls (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 3 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by John Kysylyczyn at Nov 02 16:27 UTC
The first question I would like to ask for the purposes of general information
is did YOU hire a company to make telephone calls?
I'm wondering which scenario exists:
Is this a group that is calling with misinformation?
Or, are there two groups calling, one hired by you, and another clandestine
group?
Thanks,
John M. Kysylyczyn
K Solutions LLC, owner
3083 Victoria Street
Roseville, MN 55113
email: <email obscured>
home office: (651) 484-1384
www.ksolutionsllc.com
Mayor of Roseville, MN 2000-2004
After making a few phone calls to some of my political connections outside of
Roseville, and receiving Jeff's reply a few minutes ago, I believe I have the
answer to what is going on.
First the facts:
There are phone calls being made by live operators to every household in
Roseville asking them to vote for Jeff Johnson for City Council.
There was also a postcard that was mailed out and received by households
yesterday asking people to vote for Jeff Johnson for City Council. This was a
different card than the one mailed out by Jeff himself.
If you question the live operators who are doing the calling, you will probably
find that they work for a Republican telemarketing firm that is probably
located in Saint Cloud.
What is going on?
The cost of this telemarketing firm is probably $10,000 to $25,000. The cost
of the extra mailer probably is $5,000 to $10,000.
This is the exact same thing that was done for Craig Klausing in the last
election by developer Danny Commers, who is estimated to have spent over
$50,000 to get Klausing reelected.
Common sense says that Commers is funding this exact same kind of campaign for
Jeff Johnson in the hopes that he get elected on Tuesday.
So the question is did Jeff know about this or authorize this? Well only Jeff
would know this answer, and we would have to take him at his word. It isn't
like he can prove it one way or the other. Legally, Jeff should NOT know about
independent expenditures like this.
The next question is whether this kind of independent expenditure activity is
legal. The answer is yes.
The last question is whether it is legal to do this kind of stuff without
disclosing who is paying for it? The answer is that after a court decision
about a year or so ago, the answer is yes, you can remain anonymous as the
donor in situations where you are spending your personal money to get out your
opinion. If you operate in a committee environment or are accepting donations
from others to do this, then the rules change. But if you spend your own money
only to do these kind of things, then it is perfectly legal.
So I would guess that a multi-millionaire Roseville developer like Danny
Commers, over at Twin Lakes, probably has the personal assets to do this
independently on their own within the law. Again, common sense says that he is
attempting to buy this election like he purchased the mayor's election two
years ago.
The election two years involved something on the order of $75,000 spent by or
for Klausing and $5,000 by or for Ihlan. Of course Klausing won in a scenario
like this.
Is Jeff Johnson working in cahoots with developer Danny Commers? Unfortunately
for Jeff, there is no way he can prove this one way or the other.
John M. Kysylyczyn
K Solutions LLC, owner
3083 Victoria Street
Roseville, MN 55113
email: <email obscured>
home office: (651) 484-1384
www.ksolutionsllc.com
Mayor of Roseville, MN 2000-2004
I see how politics and business team up to influence the future, if this is
indeed the case. Even if it weren't, it's completely plausible, and clarifies
what the bigger picture politicians talk about: special interests.
Now why do local "neighborhood" politicians not reflect a political party and
regional/state/national ones do? Is it because as neighbors we all need to get
along? We need to realize that we're all essentially in the same boat, and made
of the same skin and bones, so the political isle shouldn't divide us?
- Naive citizen
You will get many answers to the question of why local "neighborhood"
politicians do not reflect a political party but regional/state/national ones
do. Some will claim that local issues are not partisan. Another good one is
that local elected officials need to work together. The list goes on and on.
Most of the claims are false. Actually the answer is a lot simpler than this.
State law in Minnesota is the answer. State law does not provide for partisan
(DFL/GOP) labels to be placed on the ballot for local offices. Nothing illegal
about being endorsed or being part of a political party endorsing process
though. This is simply about ballot listings. In other states, every office
has partisan labels all the way from Governor, down to dog catcher. In
Minnesota, the law has probably changed several times, most notably when state
legislators had no partisan labels on the ballot from the early 1900's through
the 1972 election cycle if memory serves correct. In 1974, suddenly partisan
labels appeared on the ballot and some old legislators of the time tell me that
this is how the DFL got a massive majority because if you couple Watergate with
the public suddenly knowing the party label on the ballot and you can figure
out the rest. As a side note, I am strictly talking about listings on the
ballot. Of course candidates could put their party label on their lit and/or
campaign sign.
As another fun footnote in history; former House Chief Clerk Ed Burdick told me
that prior to the partisan ballot labeling in the 1970's, legislators used to
caucus not as DFL and GOP, but as the "conservative" and the "liberal" caucus.
He said that some legislators would simply join the larger group to be in the
majority. Without that hard label, I suppose you could switch back and forth a
lot easier.
So the term "non-partisan" office legally does not refer to political
philosophy even though there are many who claim it does. It refers solely to
what appears on the ballot.
Some candidates claim that they are running for a non-partisan office so
therefore they are not associated with a political party. Complete BS. This
typically is said as a good political cover. For example, if you are a
Republican, you tell this to the known Republicans but tell the Democrats that
you are non-partisan. Cute political trick.
For example, one of our current council members claimed at a public meeting
that he was non-partisan and that his job didn't allow him to be part of a
political party. Apparently he thought I was born yesterday. Well this same
person spoke at several political fundraisers for candidates of a certain
political party and has volunteered for a person in that same political party,
and has shown up and participated in several precinct caucuses for this same
political party. Now maybe they are ashamed of their political party
involvement, but the claim that they were non-partisan was a complete lie. One
look at their voting record could also answer any lingering questions. It is
one thing to not mention your political party affiliation, but it is another to
lie when asked, which was the case here.
I have worked for several candidates in the past, and two candidates in this
election cycle who are local politicians that are endorsed by a major political
party. There is nothing illegal or improper about this even though there are
many who make the erroneous claim that it is.
Yes, contrary to a lot of claims, there are partisan issues at the local level
of government. Yes the big issues like abortion don’t typically play into
local politics, but the biggest issue in government is money and that can
certainly be a partisan issue. Some people believe that partisan labels on the
ballot would help citizens select their local elected officials better.
As another side note, Roseville council has had political party involvement
over the past 20 years in the form of two "good ol boy" groups that have fought
for control of the city council. One of these groups was called the Roseville
Citizens Council for Fair and Open Government, who has tried to hide from their
dysfunctional past by renaming themselves the Roseville Citizens League. They
masquerade around as so called "good government" groups with 501c IRS status.
But look at their activities and their history and they have functioned just
like the big political parties, which also happen to be 501c IRS entities. The
difference is that their issues are typically petty, and vacillate all over the
place depending on which "good ol boy" they want to support in the next
election and what is in it for them personally.
In my opinion, partisan labels for local politicians would not result in better
or worse government. It wouldn't politicize the process any more than it
currently is. It would just simply result in a slightly different political
situation from what we in Minnesota have become accustomed to.
John M. Kysylyczyn
K Solutions LLC, owner
3083 Victoria Street
Roseville, MN 55113
email: <email obscured>
home office: (651) 484-1384
www.ksolutionsllc.com
Mayor of Roseville, MN 2000-2004