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Thank you to everyone supporting our team. The support out there was more than I expected and although we fell short, the fight is not over. I will blog more later so come back, but today is time to really say thanks to you. I appreciate it more than these words can convey.
I really want to Thank Jeff and others who have commented on this website. It does appear there is an uphill battle for Dave, Cave and Longrie if they want to be the Mayor and City Council Members for the next four years. Thursday evening at 6:00 I understand that the DFL is planning to do a rush endorsement convention at the Ramsey County Library behind the Maplewood Mall. Dave Hafner went to the Resolution of Support meeting they had earlier and got two more votes than Kathy J., but I wonder if they will support him over her now? Everyone who reads this Blog should attend the meeting to let their opinion be heard by the delegates.
Dave’s entire life has been dedicated to doing things that Delegates should like and support. He is currently currently an employee of the city of St. Paul. Ss such Dave is the only candedate who is a member of a union today and he has been one for close to two decades years of his life. In the years of his adult life he has not been in a union, he was a teacher of Math and Science as well as a coach in a Church run high school.
Ken, Rocky and Dave:
You have my utmost respect and appreciation for running for office. I regret that two of you will not be advancing beyond the primary – but please know that the citizens of Maplewood owe you a debt of gratitude.
Dave, I know that I speak for all those that were a part of the SMART team when I say that we will back you 100% in your bid for City Councilmen.
Good Luck and thank you again.
Rocky, regretfully – I cannot attend the DFL “invitational” this evening.
Dave Hafner has 100% of my support – BUT I cannot condone the support of a political party that has no place in this city’s election.
I would vote for Dave regardless of his race. I would vote for Dave regardless of his religion. I would vote for Dave regardless of his Pro-Choice vs Pro-Life position. Because, Rocky, these things have nothing to do with his ability to serve as a Maplewood councilman. Therefore, his affiliation with the Democrats (or Republicans), the Farmers, or the Laborers – is also of no consequence.
I would – and will – vote for Dave regardless of his DFL endorsement.
To afford a preference to Dave because of a DFL endorsement would be as prejudicial as voting for him because he was white, or Catholic, or Anglo-Saxon. I am not a bigot; nor can I condone the bigotry of others.
That is what the illustrious DFL party is asking me to do.
That is what the AFSCME is asking me to do.
That is what the SEIU is asking me to do …
… I must decline …
I agree it would put a stain on his reputation as a good decent honest person even if it did help put him through the election. As long as they are interjecting their might into politics in Maplewood, it will be nearly impossible to get the good things which need to be done in this city accomplished. Here is a partial list of what needs to be done:
1)We need even year elections. The odd year elections cost the city enough to pay for one full-time employee and they just perpetuate the power struggleby letting people with only the support of about 20% of the registered voters run the city.
2)We need to get rid of the Plan-B form of government as it places way too much power into the hands of just one person who is generally only selected by 3-4 people. I believe the city council should have more authority over every person who is a department head, so they have more options.
3)We should establish a Ward system, so that candidates could run in their own district. It costs a small forune to get even one flyer out to the entire city, so that severely limits the people’s ability to run for any of the seats. And we know that the Labor Unions and the DFL will work against anyone new who trys to just bring some common sense to the city. We have 16 districts now and I believe Dave is the only candidate south or east of district seven. What are the chances that they endorsed him this evening? I’m betting zero! With five out of six remaining candidates West of White Bear Avenue and less than half of the people residing there, I would say the DFL is just hoodwinking the party faithful in more than half of the city. It is a good twenty minute drive for the South-enders to even get to White Bear Avenue, but then the same folks wonder why the city keeps wanting to work against the people in the south-end.
These are just a few things we could have fixed if we had been given the chance.
I came home from work Tuesday seeing all the signs and not sure who I would vote for, but after finding your site and reading it, I voted for the three of you. I am sorry all of you did not prevail…this time.
Here’s a suggestion. DO let the voters know that you are a good citizen, that you have belonged to this or that church for 30 years, that you served in the military, believe in hard work, listening to the citizens etc. etc. etc.
But everyone says that. Every candidate.
I want to know who’s going to hold down or even reduce the taxes. Everyone talks about efficient government. Nobody says, “I believe in maintaining as inefficient governance as possible, never saying “No,” and spending as much money as I can.” But that’s the way too many candidates govern when elected. Look at Washington.
The economy is hurting. Lots of people aren’t getting ANY raises or even holding onto their jobs. Why is it that governmental workers get 3% raises without batting an eye?
We need a mayor and council who will provide the basic services ABSOLUTELY necessary and hold back on the rest. We need police, fire and road maintenance. In this day and age we don’t need all the other happy sunshine stuff. We can’t afford it. If we’re as far in debt as you report, we’re in trouble as a city, and anyone voting for someone who denies we’re in trouble is voting a death wish for Maplewood.
That needs to be said in the “happy sunshine” campaign material. It may appear negative, but until I went to your website, that’s all I was getting.
Right now I don’t know who to vote for of the remaining candidates, besides Dave. I’m a Republican, but I don’t care if Dave gets the DFL endorsement if he’ll govern conservatively. I assume that Rossbach is absolutely the worst candidate if the above criteria are important to me, but how does the citizen find that out?
Just telling us that you’re good citizens isn’t enough. Speak clearly. Be frank, but respectful. We need to hear the truth.
Dear Mr. Beal,
“Getting rid of bickering at city hall and making it more professional” has been my No. 1 perogative from the very beginning and I have made this consistently and perfectly clear. Yet you are not “convinced” that I would be the best person for the role?! You appear to be conflicted. Of course I can understand why this may be the case. I do not believe that you know me at all, nor do I believe we have ever met (I do not know this for sure since you have chosen to use an alias in place of your real name). What specific reasons do you have for your reservation? Could it be that Dave “foams at the mouth”(Will Rossbach) or could it be that I am always “ranting and raving”(John Nephew)?
If you are being honest with yourself, then I should be your first choice for the council. Don’t forget, I recruited DelRay Rokke and Ken Smart, not the other way around. Possibly I did not tell the people of Maplewood this because I did not think that it should matter.
I have not resorted to continual character assassination in this campaign or in the previous eight years. And I have always spoken the truth. Even though at times the truth does hurt, it must continually be addressed and striven for. There is never anything unprofessional about speaking the truth. Yes, I have done much of this.
Possibly we could meet face to face sometime and you might allow me the opportunity to dispel your reservations.
Nonetheless, it is a pleasure to have you involved on our blog. You seem to be at odds with alot of things for reasons that are hard to explain, yet you are respectful and civil. That is to be commended.
Along with Ken and DelRay, I would also like to express my sincere appreciation for the large number of citizens who supported us in our campaign. Both DelRay and Ken were very close to getting in the race. I didn’t have the confidence that the people were ready for the real thing and felt (for reasons that I cannot explain) that some were afraid to make their dreams come true. Maybe they are still a couple of years away. Many soldiers are tired, many are wounded. And many have given up the fight. Timing is everything. We tried to make this apparent to the citizens of Maplewood. On this point we were not successful. My team lost. I can live with losing. If deception, lies, and betrayal did not play a major role in this election I could take the loss gracefully. We win as a team, we lose as a team.
Thanks again guys. It was a real pleasure working with you. And thanks to the many volunteers who helped us. Especially you Marissa. You are truly an amazing human being!
Hi Folks,
After taking a little breather after the primary, I thought it best to put a comment out here for supporters (and even some detractors) to read:
Some people ask what they should be doing with the Vote Smart signs we have around town. First, most of them belong to Dave Hafner who did indeed advance through the Primary and will be on the ballot in November. Second, there is nothing stopping people from doing a write-in for both Ken and me in November, and both Ken and I would be very willing to serve as Mayor and Council Person if enough people who care enough to go to the polls will take the extra five seconds to write-in SMART and ROCKY on the Ballots rather than selecting from the lessor of two or four non-desirable candidates. There is no reason why write-in candidates can not have signs out until the November election is completed, so please do not take-up the signs until the race is over and we can pick them up instead. If you see others stealing our signs, please take-down their license numbers and report them to us or the police. Sign theft is a crime.
I know the Mayoral primary is over and any attempt to review the Mayors Forum on September 11th is probably too little – too late. But I’d like to share a few of my opinions specific to reviews posted on The Citizen’s Reporter (TCR). After reading it, I had to wonder if I had attended the same debate that TCR did. I may be a little naïve – but I didn’t know that TCR was basically an extension of Diane Longrie; come to find out they actually share the same office.
These are things we need to know; we need to share; we need to keep asking the hard questions and holding our city officials to task. Ken and Delray may not be a part of Maplewood’s council (this time), but that only makes our “behind the scenes” efforts all the more important.
I would not suggest that TCR is without journalistic value; but in the future, I’ll be taking everything they write with a huge grain of salt. There were several points that Frederica Musgrave made specific to Ken Smart that I cannot let go unchallenged. Though this is a little like closing the gate after the horses are out – Ken deserves to have that gate closed.
TCR went way out of their way to criticize every mayoral candidate except Longrie, and its praise for her was embarrassingly thin and far-fetched. They wrote nine paragraphs about the six candidates; but the three longest were aimed directly at Ken and his team. Following is the first of those three:
F. Other than “puns,” what real experience does Ken Smart have to be Mayor? Mr. Smart deflected answering many questions by talking about his family instead. While Mr. Smart is understandably proud of his family, he offered no substantive answers to the questions. He often used cutesy slogans and puns on his name like we need “Smarter” approaches. When he got to what could have been answered, it was superficial and lacked any depth. Other than his slogans and puns, what concrete experiences did he demonstrate? What is this “Smarter” approach he likes to claim?
Ken has a GREAT DEAL of experience; and he briefly, modestly listed them (perhaps TCR had stepped out for coffee). He clearly stated his experience as an accountant, CPA and professional auditor with one of the largest companies in the state. These are exactly the qualifications necessary to manage a large city, its finances, budget, personnel, forecasting, goal setting, team building, leadership, labor unions, negotiations, etc. 3M – like most fortune 500 companies – prides themselves on their management teams and the practice of on-going-programs for professional development and the recognition of excellence. Remind me again: how big is Diane’s legal firm? (Or, for that matter how big are the company’s that Cardinal, Koppen or Rossbach work for?)
Ken didn’t deflect a single answer (and I’ll go over the transcripts word-for-word with anyone to prove it.) He did mention his family but no more than any other candidate did (at least those that have families to reference). After listening to Longrie, I still don’t know if she’s married or has children. These are important personal character attributes; it is information that is presented by every political candidate at every level of government. I’m beginning to wonder what Diane is trying to hide. Instead of telling the voters a little about her personal life as a citizen of Maplewood, she used her introduction time to talk about “the Sign Ordinance?”
Ken’s answers were not superficial nor did they lack depth; and I’ll go over the transcripts with anyone to prove it.
The second paragraph in TCR’s Mayors Forum article was:
G. Foreclosure problems in Maplewood deserve serious answers, not Mr. Smart’s strange plan to bring only “good citizens” to Maplewood. Foreclosures are a significant problem in Maplewood, just like in all other cities throughout the country. Foreclosures disrupt tax revenues. Foreclosures contribute to blight and create an environment conducive to crime. Mr. Smart’s “Smarter” approach for Maplewood is to bring “good citizens” to Maplewood. While Smart did not explain what constitutes a “good citizen,” who decides, how we decide, or whether bringing “good citizens” to Maplewood will solve the problems with foreclosures, Mr. Smart’s answer assumes that the victims of foreclosures are “bad” people. This answer, while divisive, suggests a lack of “smartness.” Most foreclosure victims are not bad people at all. They are victims of tough economic times, layoffs, cutbacks and questionable bankers. Is this “Smarter” approach really smart? Or is Mr. Smart just playing games with his name? The foreclosure situation is a serious problem that requires serious answers from serious people, not Mr. Smart’s puns.
The above 167 words are disgusting and shameful lies. Shame on you TCR. Ken Smart spoke for just over 60 seconds and the only thing TCR came away with was his (slightly nervous) attempt to wrap-up his statements within the alloted time. TCR is correct: his last six words were, “bring good citizens to Maplewood”. From those last six words alone, TCR accuses Ken for not defining what a good citizen is? For not outlining who will and how will good citizens be determined and selected? Then they really embarrassed themselves by stating that Mr. Smart’s answer assumes that the victims of foreclosure are bad people, that his answer was divisive and suggests ignorance? Ken knows full well that most foreclosure victims are not bad people – that they are victims of tough economic times, layoffs, cutbacks and questionable bankers. In fact, Ken began his comment by stating that Maplewood should work to ensure the right mortgage tools are in place. Did any other candidate recognize the role that banks and mortgage companies played in this recent flood of foreclosures?
What they conveniently omitted were the first 59 seconds of Ken’s substantive ideas (paraphrased below):
”Work with the local businesses in Maplewood and ensure that we are providing the right mortgage tools to both businesses and homeowners. We have to attract buyers - we are in competition with all the other cities that have just as many foreclosures as we do – we need to sell Maplewood as The Desirable Place to Live: Maplewood is a GREAT city, we have easy access to the entire metro area [and then he finished with] we need to attract the good citizens to Maplewood.”
Ken said nothing to justify the lambasting that Musgrave published in the TCR. It was all fabricated to allow her to vent her own feelings about the foreclosure problems. I empathize with the points she was trying to make – but how dare she do it at the expense of a legitimate (possible the best) candidate for this city’s Mayor – for a leader that we so desperately need.
Maybe Ken’s right – we should attract “some good citizens”. Let’s start with some new city officials and journalists. For the last four years our city council has been unable to attract citizens or businesses to Maplewood. They are too busy with frivolous law suits, arguments, bickering, name calling, financial disarray, covert meetings, staff turnovers, etc. In short, they have turned Maplewood into an embarrassment. Just the opposite of the welcoming invitation Ken spoke of.
So what was Longrie’s ideas to resolve the foreclosures problem? She apparently ”… has proposed a solution to the council and staff that would establish a system to log all foreclosures … enter the information into a database and [make it] available to a GPS [system].” Really? After 10 months of foreclosures, all Diane has done is to propose a way to document the problem. She apparently has no ideas how to resolve it or prevent it from happening again.
The only thing that TCR had to say about Ms. Longrie was that Mr. Cardinal refereed to her as ”a rose between thorns” (isn’t that nice?). They criticized Mr. Smart’s use of ”cutesy slogans and puns” and yet Bob’s sarcastic rose analog was okay? What ever happened to fair and unbiased? What ever happened to journalistic integrity? The TCR article ends with the following summary of our incumbent mayor:
J. Mayor Diana Longrie articulated the issues, concerns, and her suggested action plans with specific examples, history and details. Like some of the other candidates, she went past the timer to finish her sentences and thoughts. It was clear she understood the concerns and needs of small business owners and taxpayers.
THAT’S IT? That’s all TCR had to say. They apparently didn’t notice how many times she used phrases like: “I proposed a solution to the council, but …” or “I suggested to the staff several times, but …“. Diane is the Mayor! And as the Mayor, she has to get things done – not just propose them.
When given two minutes to discuss – ”How can we attract and retain businesses in this tough environment?”, her response was (and I quote), ”Now – that’s the Million Dollar Question. If we had A Silver Bullet … we would have used it by now. The problem is multi-faceted. I’ve talked with the city council on at least three different occasions and suggested that we do an inventory of our current businesses and people what kind of businesses do we have in Maplewood, then link that with the demographics and project out trends for demographics and businesses. What new industries are projected in the next 10 years. We need a Sign Code Ordinance that isn’t overly restrictive and property taxes shouldn’t be a financial burden.”
Ten seconds later, Mr. Rossbach stated that Maplewood already has such an inventory – it was done as part of the Economic Development Authority. Why didn’t Diane know that? Why didn’t TCR acknowledge her lack of knowledge? Does Longrie really think that an overly restrictive sign code ordinance is why businesses are closing and new ones are not moving to Maplewood? If she’s right about property taxes – that they have been a financial burden on businesses for the last four years – then why didn’t Mayor Longrie do something about it?
Longrie (and Rossbach as well) keep asking the voters to approve them based on their voting record and years of service to Maplewood. I personally do not think we can afford to have this type of service for another 4 years.
Did anyone notice Will Rossbach and John Nephew’s furious note taking during council candidate Dave Hafner’s visitor presentation on Monday Oct. 12th? Why don’t they answer Mr. Hafner’s claims like they do with most other visitors? I suspect it’s because the truth supercedes dishonesty. There’s not much left to say when Dave Hafner gets done. This is the kind of guy we need on the Maplewood city council. Where I work our motto is: B.S walks. Hope Will and John didn’t get writer’s cramp.
“But, doggone it , do people like him?” I do.
It’s Official!!!
The city of Maplewood has officially ruled on the placement of the green Smart team campaign signs. The signs stay up!!!
According to city services manager Karen Guilfoile the city has taken the position that there are no campaign sign infractions regarding the Smart signs and that the signs will stay up through the General Election (and up to 10 days past the election on Tuesday Nov. 3rd, 2009). City attorney Allen Kantrud stated that there are no campaign sign laws that refer to the Smart signs. According to Kantrud, running as a team on the same ticket prior to the Primary Election is “something that we haven’t seen before.” Apparently, the imagination and carefully planned strategy that the Smart team has exhibited throughout this campaign is setting a precedent in the city of Maplewood.
If you have a green Smart campaign sign in your yard, leave it up! If you you took it down, put it back up. And if you see someone stealing or tampering with a Smart, Hafner,Rocky sign-get a description and license number and report this to the Maplewood police by calling (651)777-8191 and also the phone number at the bottom of the Smart campaign sign.
Finally!!!!!
We do not like to dwell on the subject of Patrick J. Downs, but unfortunately, when someone throws out false accusations to manipulate and side track an election these despicable actions must be addressed. And in a timely fashion. Only through hard work and persistence (coupled with some great investigative work) the Smart team has exposed Dave Hafner’s so-called “neighbor” and his false claims that Mr. Hafner “placed campaign sign(s) in his yard without Mr. Downs permission” (Mr. Downs made these unbelievable claims on the eve of the Primary election).
Following a complaint filed with the city on Mr. Downs on Tues, Oct. 13th, 2009 City Services Manager Karen Guilfoile brought to our attention that a code inspector was dispatched to Mr. Down’s property at 992 Marnie St. S. to follow up on Mr. Downs claims. The city discovered that, in fact, Mr. Patrick J. Downs placed a campaign sign on his neighbor’s property!!! A quick follow up with Mr. Down’s neighbor clarified that Mr. Downs DID NOT OBTAIN PERMISSION to do so, and that the neighbor did not want Mr. Down’s sign in his yard.
The final conclusion is that Mr. Downs is guilty of his own accusations!!! It was actually Mr. Downs who placed a campaign sign in his neighbor’s yard without the neighbor’s permission. Redemption for city council candidate Dave Hafner at last.
RIGHT-IN CAMPAIGN
Unfortunately, the damage that Mr. Downs has incurred to the Smart campaign is undeniable. Running mate DelRay Rocky lost by only 40 votes. And mayoral candidate Ken Smart lost by only 130. A literal drop in the bucket. This may represent the closest thing to campaign tampering that the citizens will ever experience in their lifetimes. Would Ken and DelRay have won barring Mr. Down’s damaging accusations? Undoubtedly for Del and most likely for Ken. There is only one way to find out. And one way to prove it. PUT KEN SMART AND DELRAY ROCKY’S NAMES BACK ON THE BALLOT!!!!! Filing a complaint for disparaging a council candidate with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), (which is a clear and undeniable gross misdemeanor according to the Fair Campaign Practices Act, Section 211.B) will happen. But rectifying this situation may (we reiterate may) be too late from a legal standpoint. The voters cannot depend on the city of Maplewood to do the right thing. We must do it for them!
The only way to ensure that justice is served, and the only way to make sure that Ken and Del’s names get back on the ballot is to do it ourselves!!! Yes-VOTE for Dave Hafner on Tues., Nov. 3rd, but also vote For Ken and DelRay by WRITING-IN
SMART for mayor and ROCKY for the other council seat (we recommend using your best penmanship, and PRINTING their names rather than writing them in cursive; first names are unnecessary-SMART and ROCKY will do.
Jump on the bandwagon. Be a part of history. This is what dreams are made of. JOIN our TEAM and our WRITE-IN CAMPAIGN!!!! VOTE FOR SMART, ROCKY, AND HAFNER on Tues., Nov. 3rd!!!! It’s the first Tuesday of the month.
Swing the bat hard and let’s beat the Yankees for a change…
It’s a sign…
There is a Maplewood ordinance that states there can only be one campaign sign per candidate per property. Of course(?) this is only a Maplewood ordinance, not a state ordinance. The state has no such law. State laws only apply during years in which state general elections occur. Maplewood’s laws only apply during years in which elections for municipal office (local elections) are held. Are you still with us or have you died from confusion or boredom?
It doesn’t really matter what Maplewood’s ordinances are because no one is going to prosecute anyone. At most, and usually, the perpetrators are going to get a warning. The penalty for breaking campaign sign laws isn’t even listed on the page describing Maplewood’s campaign sign ordinances. And even though the law requiring only one sign per property was passed in 2005, it still had not been updated by the year 2009. Once again, and as usual, not even the candidates themselves knew that they could have only one sign per property. Well this is not completely true. Marv Koppen knew (he was on the council when the ordinance was passed into law) Ironically, Marv Koppen had more properties with two signs than all of the other 17 candidates combined. Every election year there seems to be confusion regarding the information that candidates receive, in Maplewood anyway.
Again, and as usual, it doesn’t really matter what Maplewood’s ordinances are pertaining to campaign sign violations because no one is going to enforce them anyway. The city services manager clearly stated that there were “numerous complaints” registered by citizens concerning one particular candidate and that none of the complaints were acted upon, followed up, or enforced. The city services manager will refer you to the Office of Administrative Hearings(OAH) for enforcement of this law, however and as stated earlier, the state has no such law and therefore cannot enforce anything. The OAH will refer you back to the city for such actions. Is anyone getting sea-sick yet? And of course the real question is: Why isn’t the city services manager familiar with the laws and which agency is responsible for enforcing them? After all, our city services manager has umpteen years of experience and has bragged in the past about her extensive training.
The city could not do anything about stealing signs (or tampering with signs) because they have no campaign sign ordinance dealing with theft. Neither does the state ( the Maplewood police do, but have never prosecuted anyone for stealing a campaign sign that we know of-even when complaints for such infractions are registered). Is it any wonder that campaign sign complaints dominate every Maplewood election? The really interesting part of all this is that the candidates that complain every election are the long-term incumbents whose constituents are guilty of their own accusations. Sound familiar? Please turn off the turntable already-we have a broken LP record that keeps skipping and repeating itself.
A lack of leadership and once again clear-cut confusion reigns in the city of Maplewood. The city needs straightforward ordinances that address our constant influx of problems. We need to improve poorly and incompletely worded ordinances, abolish bad ordinances, and establish new ordinances that actually address all the grey areas and holes that exist in our present situation.
Allow me to present a few examples that illustrate the absurdity of our present campaign sign ordinances. While there is an ordinance that states that you must get permission to place any campaign sign, there is no ordinance that states that you have to put a sign on anyones’ property. A property line is an infinitesimally thin line that delineates two adjacent properties. One could argue (and has) that a sign is not on either property and that the line represents a neutral zone. Therefore, one could (and one has-a neighbor(?) by the name of Patrick J. Downs who lives at 992 Marnie St. S. in southern Maplewood) place two or more signs on the property lines on each side of the house. In fact, your neighbor could encircle his whole house by placing a “campaign sign fence” around his entire property. And there is not a thing that you could do about it. Well, you could respond by putting your own signs on the property line also and make an eye-popping, quilted, patchwork display of colorful campaign signs (especially with eighteen candidates running for the 2009 Maplewood city council). You could also place signs on your property within millimeters of your neighbors’ effectively blocking the outside view of their signs. And of course, if a campaign sign is thicker than any extremely thin property line, then it is impossible to place a sign on your property line without also encroaching on your neighbors’ property. Wee! Are we having fun yet? Yes, you could have a field day with this incomplete, poorly constructed ordinance. And if you have a neighbor like Patrick J. Downs, you will have a nightmare on your hands. Is it by pure chance that elections are held right around Halloween?
In reality, we possess no surveying equipment sensitive enough to detect such a “thin line.” Putting a campaign sign so close to any property line makes it almost impossible to determine whose property the sign is actually on (without hiring a surveyor). However, it does makes it very easy to determine what kind of a neighbor(?) you have. Stating that campaign signs should be placed no closer than 3 feet from any property line would correct this quandary. How hard could it be?
Campaign signs or their placement have never really been important or crucial to anything that is going on in the city of Maplewood. It simply is not the reason why candidates run for council. Still, every election someone complains about them and successfully deflects the voters’ attention away from the real and pertinent issues. And the twofold objective is consistently clear-to simultaneously smear the reputation of good law-abiding citizens who have done absolutely nothing wrong (except run for the Maplewood city council). Yes, character assassination is alive and well in the city of Maplewood. It is the main and ultimate strategy used by the “old regime.” And no one is immune. More often than not the contrived hullabaloo hits the newspapers and gets all kinds of people “foaming at the mouth.” The really interesting observation is that the complaining, whining, “ranting and raving,” and trouble-making always originates from the same source-Will Rossbach (or at the least, someone who is associated with Rossbach). In this case someone who has a Will Rossbach sign in their yard-Patrick J. Downs from 992 Marnie St. S.
It’s a sign…
I loved Dave Hafner’s assessment of the Maplewood campaign sign farce (that resurfaces every election). This whole issue cries out for someone who can demonstrate the ability to make a concise, constructive, and clear ordinance in our city. It sounds like the team of Smart, Hafner, and Rocky are the only ones that can resolve this quagmire.
This weekend, I received a flyer from your campaign and a hate piece attacking candidate Llanas. Are you associated with this type of negative campaign? Do you condone this behavior?
Everyone – thank you for your support and encouragement!! With Dave’s encouragement, DelRay and I have decided to officially mount a write-in campaign. We need not only your support, but we need you to email, text, talk to all of your friends, neighbors and get them to talk to their friends and neighbors and get them to write in Ken Smart for mayor, DelRay Rokke for council and fill in the oval for Dave for city council. It will be tough, but then if either of the other candidates get re-elected, we will just have more of the same for another four years – which will also be tough.
Peter – I have not seen any hate piece attacking candidate Llanas so I cannot say whether it is a hate piece or if I condone it. I strongely endorse everyone’s First Ammendment right to free speech. If it has untruths in it, then I do not condone it.
Peter is concerned about negative campaigns. Has anyone seen anything positive about Maplewood politics? And the only campaign that I have seen attacking people has consistently come from the Rossbach camp over a period of oh- as long as Rossbach has been around. If you really want to see character assassination in action look up Rossbach protege John Nephew’s web site. Now there’s some positive stuff.
When you sign off as Peter do you mean as in Peter Fisher?
An interesting story appeared in an online newspaper this week. It claims that someone delivered our write-in Smart and Rocky brochures with another flier touting racism and homophobia. This website provided a link to the flier which talked about one of the city council candidate’s associations with groups promoting the advancement of politicians who support the LGBT causes. Those groups have a right to promote candidates and causes the same as the individual(s) who put out this flier have right to tell people about it. If this was done by supporters, would prefer that this not be distributed with, or added to, our brochures as they just create fodder for those who would use it as a reason to hurt the SMART Team.
There are some serious gameplayers in this city who would put these out just to create controversy and media attention. John Nephew points-out correctly that none of the SMART Team members were native to Maplewood as well as Mr Llanas, so I wonder why he seems to be making a point of advertising this flier as something which may have come from us.
It is amazing as one looks around other blogs that they often talk about how supporters putting political brochures in on or around a mailbox is illegal and they try to get others to do the complaining about their opponents use of newspaper recepticals, etc., as if a law was being broken. They aslo say that the person who delivered it was too lazy to walk to the door to further make them look bad. We’ve seen people write letters to the editor about these candidates and the newspapers which print these are eager to make anyone they oppose look bad by printing them.
There are two different areas of postal law which are applicable to this issue: Postal Regulations which strictly prohibit placement of anything without postage inside a mailbox, and Postal Restrictions which prohibit placment of anything without postage in, on or around the mailbox that will impede the delivery of the mail by the mail carriers. When someone is trying to make a political candidate look bad they seem to forget the “impede” part of the “on” or “around” part of the restrictions.
What they further overlook is the likelihood that the entrenched political candidates often are using the union dues or tax dollars (in the case of incumbents) of hard-working mailbox owners to deliver their political information inside the mailbox with little or no personal effort or financial hardship. The candidate who delivers his or her own fliers is usually the hardest working candidate and they are most likely spending their own personal money to help make their community a better place for all to live.
To whom it may concern: Maplewood needs more conservative government. It did not get it November 3, I believe. Once again, if you are going to run for office in Maplewood and going to try to downsize government, as we need to, don’t just tell us how many years you’ve been a scout leader, how many kids you have and what church you go to. Tell us you’re going to say “No” to the special interests who have been running Maplewood (into the ground) fiscally for years. Don’t just tell us you’re for “good” government and will “listen to the people.” Everyone says that. Tell us what good government means to you; bigger, Bigger and BIGGER or lean and efficient. And then tell us how you propose to get there. Don’t bother running if you’re a hot head or like to show up at Council meetings and disrupt things or get in fights with your neighbors. That scares people. Sooner or later the people of Maplewood will get tired of paying higher and higher taxes. They’ll be looking for someone who will bring those taxes down instead of spending in a manner that says “Everyone has to tighten their belt in these days…except the unions.” Sooner or later, even labor says, “Enough spending is enough.”
But Ken..they are like the 3 musketeers! How could you not vote for them hahahaha.
Maplewood is essentially a bedroom community for State, County and Municipal Employees who work in St. Paul and the surrounding area. The unions representing the government employees typically spend more than all of the candidates combined to make sure they get what they want from the city in terms of jobs, raises, benefits and security. Maplewood taxpayers who want conservative government need to put their feet money and mouths to work to get more conservative or libertarian style candedates elected. Only 27% of registered voters bothered to go vote, so that means that just a turn-out of 30% could have given us a different outcome.
All our signs and literature had addresses and phone numbers, so anybody who had the slightest amount of self-motivation could call or write for more detailed information (only a few did) or to volunteer to help. Those who did not vote and did not help others defeat the extremely liberal chosen candidates of the unions are the ones who can take credit for the large tax increases and the huge loss of property rights coming in the very near future.
OMG enjoyed reading this article. I added your feed to my reader!!
I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the support that so many people gave in my (and the Smart team’s) run for the Maplewood city council. It truly was amazing.
I didn’t really believe that the citizens of Maplewood were ready for constructive and positive change. A real change. I thought they were still a year or two (or possibly 52 years) away. But I pushed the issue to find out, and to give the citizens an answer to the political situation that exists in our city.
This election had it all-deception, desertion, propoganda, censorship, conspiracy, inuendo, character assassination, false accusations, betrayal, and of course, flat out lies. Unfortunately, I was targeted as one of the biggest challengers in this election and as such was on the receiving end of most of it.
Many have asked me what I learned in the process of running for office. It is not really so much a matter of what I learned as reinforcement of what I already knew. I knew that politics is a rotten, greasy, stinky, smelly, shady business. It was the biggest reason that I ran-to put a stop to it (not that I could have done this alone. That would have required a collective effort). But I never realized just how rotten, greasy, stinky, smelly, and shady. And yes, I knew that people could be naive and ignorant. But I never realized the depth of this malady. To be falsely accused of putting campaign signs in someone’s yard (a neighbor’s no less) is no big deal. That happens every election. But these complaints come from the same political camp, year after year, election after election. The failure of the voters to recognize this pattern is alarming. However, to be falsely accused of arguing with and attacking a neighbor, and being on the receiving end of a false 911 call was as low as it gets. Even Will Rossbach was given the benefit of the doubt when one person suggested that he may have murdered a citizen in southern Maplewood. How many people fell for that one? Not many. How many fell for the 911 conspiracy? From the looks of the many web sites, blog comments, and editorials the answer is…many. Even “Ken” fell for it. He submitted an anonymous comment on this blog site (on Nov. 4th, 2009 at 1:45pm). Scroll back and see for yourself.
The fact that no one cared or went out of their way to determine whether these events were true is appalling, and explains why few are held accountable for their actions nowadays. Once again, the people got conned. No, it’s not pretty. There just is not alot that’s positive about Maplewood politics and it’s ensuing power struggle.
Still, there are many good people in our city. I am convinced that they represent the majority, even though they may not necessarily vote when the opportunity arises.
I would especially like to thank DelRay Rokke (Rocky) and Ken Smart for accepting my offer to run for office. It takes an incredible amount of time, money, and sacrifice. And it takes a bold, strong individual to accept such a proposition. I made some faithful friends in the process. I would also like to thank John Wykoff and Dave Schelling for their unwavering support and for all of their hard work. They demonstrated the wisdom to recognize our vision and the faith, tenacity, and perseverance to pursue it without reservation.
Lastly, I would like to thank our wives Shannon, Barb, and Kathy, and our children for their support and the many sacrifices that they made over the years in our quest to help Maplewood. It is time for me to become a husband to my wife, a father to my children, to re-establish old friendships, and to join the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.
May you and your families have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Dave Hafner
Dave, There are so many people to thank that I do not really even want to get into the list of names. We had many more than those you mention who helped multiple times with lit drops and sign postings, etc. All of the help we got from residents was greatly appreciated. I’m not so sure Maplewood is really deserving of so many great residents, but I am glad we are not alone here too.
Someone mentioned a jocular reference to the Three Musketeers above. In many ways our attitude was an all for one and one for all message, because we firmly believed that an entire new majority was needed on the council and none of us wanted to waste our time without the majority needed to be effective. A lone eagle amongst a flock of loons would still be a bird out of water when it comes to making policy changes. Not enough residents are ready to soar and the next chance for a mojority is at least four years away. Perhaps there will be some eagles willing to take-up the cause in 2012, and if the winter solstist that year is not the end of time for all, they will possibly make a real difference. Until then, we will just have more of the same–higher taxes and debt with less personal fredoms each year. Good luck with that.