News Release

The "Sky-bi" is a centerpiece of Carney's campaign for Mayor, and the "logo" for related news releases

Rumors of a 2009 Minneapolis Mayoral election persist – Mayor Rybak, facing unemployment, calls situation “worrysome” and says: “These tough economic times have put every incumbent in America at risk” – Rybak sends fundraising appeal to his friend, Moderate Progressive Republican candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis Bob Carney Jr. – “I'm not sure what he plans to do with the money, wasn't $250,000+ enough?” Carney replies

“RT and me” episodes, and Carney's "Sky bi transit system" video, can be viewed via links at www.republicancontract.com

All are encouraged to embed videos from the carneyformayor youtube channel, including all “RT and me” episodes, on their web sites and/or blogs

Copies of recent e-mails Carney sent to other Mayoral candidates follow this news release.

Note: Due to Carney's increasing concern about both business and personal relationships between and among twin city media and Mayor Rybak, Carney has reconsidered his position as stated in yesterday's news release, and now will consider removing from youtube.com “RT and me” Episode Two on request, but will not commit to this without further discussion with anyone who wants it removed. “I have concluded this illustrates something the Citizens of Minneapolis have a right to know about,” Carney said.

Minneapolis, MN, October 16, 2009 – Rumors of a 2009 Minneapolis Mayoral election persisted today. Mayor Rybak -- possibly in panic mode due to recent allegations of an election -- sent a fund-raising appeal to his new friend, Moderate Progressive Republican candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis, political entrepreneur, documentarian, and NEW! paparazziantarian Bob Carney Jr.

“I'm flattered that Mayor Rybak is turning to me, his friend, for help in these difficult economic times,” Carney said. “We just met on Tuesday – actually I've met him at least once before, but of course the Mayor meets a lot of people. This is really today's edition of the Great American Success Story, someone unknown to a political leader of a big city, but quickly rising to the exalted status of campaign contributor,” Carney added. When Carney videotaped Mayor Rybak outside what was described to him as “the official City of Minneapolis office” last Tuesday, Rybak did not appear to know Carney. “But that was then, this is at least ten seconds later,” Carney reflected.

“We must be cautious. A careful reading of Mayor Rybak's fundraising solicitation reveals that he has still not explicitly confirmed that there is a 2009 Minneapolis Mayoral election,” Carney said. “The reference to '...every incumbent in America at risk....' could refer just to City Council and other elected officials. I think we also need to ask, at this point, whether Mr. Rybak is relying only on his position as Mayor of Minneapolis, or whether he has additional positional authority that we don't officially know about, such as acclamation by a group with de facto ruling status in Minneapolis, or authority as an appointed Czar,” Carney said. When Carney visited at City Hall Tuesday, he was told only that he was in “the official City of Minneapolis office” -- the phrase “Mayor's office” was not used. Numerous officials in the Obama administration have been referred to as “Czars”. Mayor Rybak's web site, rtrybak.com, has video evidence of his association with President Obama. “RT, or CzarT,... or maybe just 'Our CzarT' -- we need to pin this down,” Carney said.

Carney's “RT and me” video series continues, Episode Three is in production

“There is a humorous side, but also a serious side to 'RT and me',” Carney said. Regarding the serious side, Carney is working to prepare a petition of grievances, to be based on what was said by candidates at the Mayoral Forum televised on channel 17. Mayor Rybak is reported to have been invited, but did not participate.

“Mayor Rybak has said he thinks it is somehow 'inappropriate' to talk about elections and campaigns at city hall,” Carney said. “But the First Amendment makes explicit provision for 'the right of the people... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.' Many such grievances were stated at the Mayoral Forum by candidates who are both citizens themselves, and who have varying standing to presume to speak behalf of Citizens of Minneapolis. I plan to bring such a petition, subscribed to by as many candidates as possible, to the Mayor, at 'the official City of Minneapolis office,' and, speaking prospectively, to ask him why he thinks he is unable to respond to such a petition at city hall, brought to him according to the explicit provision of our Constitution,” Carney said.

In a kind of twilight zone between the serious and the humorous, Carney also began, in “RT and me” Episode One, to investigate whether the world is real, or an illusion. This investigation continues, and is being expanded – preliminary results are mixed, but do indicate, in the context of ranked choice voting, a possible need for the formation of a “solipsist party”. Carney is working on Episode Three of “RT and me”, and expects to have this up-loaded by Monday.

Mr. Steve Brandt is a union employee of the corporation DBA startribune.com. It is not clear from the company web site whether he is considered a “reporter”, a “columnist”, or both. The site's “Columnists” link leads to a listing for him under the heading “Local”, but he is identified as a reporter. Brandt's name is a link in this listing, and leads to a further page, with the heading: “Recent content from Steve Brandt.” Carney has concluded from a conversation today with Brandt, that at least some of Brant's content may be edited, indicating he would be classified according to conventions of journalism as a “reporter”, at least some of the time. Clarification is needed regarding his stated status, both according to Brandt and according to his employer.

On October 14th, 2009, what appeared to be a news article by Brandt appeared on the company web site, titled: “Minneapolis mayor's challengers are asking: where's R.T?” The previous day, Brandt was identified with additional content on the company web site, with a graphic including his photo and the phrase “Dateline Minneapolis”. According to conventions of journalism, it appears Brandt's role may alternate from reporter to columnist, denoted by the presence or absence of the “Dateline Minneapolis” graphic. In his apparent role of columnist, Brandt appears to express opposition to, quoting from the column: “...commercialization of the public realm in the Twin Cities.” Brandt's theme appears to be that the “language of news” is being tagged with little ads, for private companies, when phrases like “Target Field” and “Xcel energy center' role off the tongues and fingers of newsmakers.

In honor of this well founded sentiment, and by logical extension, Carney has decided to refer henceforth to the building Brandt works in as the “RT Rybak Memorial Thought Police Headquarters.”

“I am strongly in favor of maintaining a separation between public and private with respect to physical infrastructure, and I strongly oppose selling off our infrastructure. But doesn't this really all go back to 'Hooverville?' In a way, I'm glad that the trend Mr. Brandt describes is happening – it makes it more explicit in the 'language of news' that our society is run by money and entrenched incumbent politicians,” Carney said. “I think using the phrase 'RT Rybak Memorial Thought Police Headquarters' is clearly a logical extension of this trend in the 'language of news' – making more explicit where the power is, and who is making things happen in our society,” Carney said. “I plan to consider additional logical extensions of this trend, for example: naming elements of our strained safety net for the public officials who make them more necessary – how about the 'Tim Pawlenty soup kitchen'? However, while Mr. Brandt's sentiment is fundamentally right, I am concerned that it is an indication both that he himself is in denial, and that he is encouraging others to join him in what amounts to a refusal to squarely face what is happening,” Carney said. “I want to say this directly to Mr. Brandt: in my judgment, it is your employer, dominated by economic and political interests, that has promoted, does promote, and is largely responsible for, what I see as a 'village mentality' – a symbiotic surgery from which politicians and corporations emerge as twins -- and the money takeover of our public life that you so rightly deplore. You tend to sound exasperated on your voice-mail message, and when I call. I can understand why you would be, and I sympathize. Of course the real difficulty is that many of the people you write for are in the same boat, working for corporations that 'make' them do things they don't like to do. It's human nature that people – including of course both you and your readers -- don't like to be reminded of this. Anyhow, that's how I see our present situation,” Carney concluded.

Carney has had a premonition of the phrase “Thought Officer,...” it's almost certainly coming. Facts are facts, and logic is logic.

Note to Mr. Brandt: I hope your employer, DBA StarTribune.com, publicizes this fact: that any citizen of Minneapolis with streaming internet can view the referenced forum as streaming video. This appears to be newsworthy, and I believe you have a duty to report it as news, because a) the presence of "minor" candidates on a general election ballot, and b) the public's new, convenient access to what they have to say by means of streaming video, and c) the public's new right to rank candidates on the general election ballot, are all unprecedented in the history of Minneapolis Mayoral elections. This is also news with respect to your recent article on Mayor Rybak's non-participation in forums or debates in the rumored 2009 Minneapolis Mayoral election. Beyond news of the televised forum, I of course submit all the other activity I am undertaking as news, for you to cover according to the best judgment of you and your employer, according to how you construct "news". However, I admit a reasonable person could conclude what I am doing doesn't have the same objective claims to "newsworthyness" stated above with respect to your "duty", however you construct that word, to report on the streaming video of the Mayoral Forum on the channel 17 web site.

Sent 11/16/09 at 12:02 PM

Update on my e-mail, sent 11 AM 10/16 to suspected Minneapolis Mayoral candidates (copies to the same group as before):

I just got off the phone with Steve Brandt. I told him to consider as posed to him, the question stated in the e-mail I sent you a few minutes ago.

I told Steve I was calling in the capacity of someone reporting on news (one of the many things I do), and I was contacting him in his capacity as "newsmaker".

After a brief pause, allowing us both to reflect on Mr. Brandt's new role, "newsmaker", in addition to "reporter of news", and then, hearing continued silence, I told him of the question posed to him in my recent e-mail.

Steve said he had put something in his on-line article about this.

I told Steve I hadn't seen that, assuming I had missed it. I am fully capable of making that kind of a mistake.

Steve checked, and said he didn't see what he had put in.

I went to the on-line article, and did find this statement:

"The latest no-show by Rybak -- his office said he was busy phoning targeted voters -- happened last week during a taping involving mayoral candidates at Minneapolis Television Network, which provides public access cable."

However, the above excerpt from the article does not mention the fact the televised forum is available as streaming on-line video. This is precisely what the Citizens of Minneapolis need to be told, for the reasons stated in my earlier e-mail. It also appears I did not miss anything in Mr. Brandt's article that is relevant to the particular issue of newsworthiness I am raising.

I conclude from this that Mr. Brandt may have put something in the on-line article about the fact the forum is available as on-line video, and that this may have been removed by a supervisor (editor). Further investigation is needed regarding why Mr. Brandt's employer is not reporting facts that appear to me to be obviously newsworthy, according to traditional "objective" standards. I consider Mr. Brandt a source for such reporting and investigating -- in my view it is reasonable for people, in their capacity as "citizen reports" (thanks Mr. Drudge for popularizing that phrase), to pose directly to Mr. Brandt, and his fellow employees of the corporation DBA startribune.com, questions that must be asked in the process of investigating the business practices of Mr. Brandt's employer.

---------- further update, I guess this is a breaking e-mail ---------------

Mr. Brandt has sent me two e-mails, stating:

“The web link to the debate did run in the newspaper below the article” (sent 10/16/09, ll:09 AM)

“I have arranged with an editor to have the link posted with the story on Startribune.com. Thank you for brining to my attention that it was not.” (sent 10/16/09, 11:18 AM).

Mr. Brandt of course does not operate the startribune.com web site.

At about 11:35 AM, I returned to the startribune.com website, and found this link: “watch the Minneapolis mayoral debate. (see photo, screen capture, below).

Purchasing the paper Star Tribune is not in my budget, so I am unable at this time to determine what, if anything, was included in the paper-based article regarding the streaming video availability of the Mayoral Forum.

Note regarding Mr. Brandt and his fellow employees: I believe further investigation is still needed. However, let us also note that well-formed questions, posed to Mr. Brandt and others at the corporation that employes him, can produce at least limited responses and results. I thank Mr. Brandt for his responses to my e-mail queries. However, please be advised Mr. Brandt, that as a NEW! paparazziantarian, I may feel duty bound, by the roles our society has placed me in -- in large part through the active stage managing, production work, and dare I say script writing of the world-play, of your employer -- to place a running camcorder in front of you at any time. When I was at the building owned by Mr. Brandt's employer, I asked for Mr. Brandt yesterday, to see if he would step outside the building so I could ask him questions about the Star Tribune's coverage of the rumored Mayoral election. He said he was "not interested". At the time, my camcorder was off because I had previously been told I needed to turn it off. I've still got some footage inside the building before I was told that. Of course, this will all be covered in "RT and me" Episode Three. I do not plan to act in my capacity as paparazziantarian prior to uploading Episode Three. Finally, based in part on a recent article by Mr. Brandt, here's a sneak preview of Episode Three: I am calling the building Mr. Brandt works in the: "RT Rybak Memorial Thought Police Headquarters."

I'm sending this now, before I accidentally delete the whole thing. I will proceed to work on my next news release.

Bob

Sent 11/16/09 at 12:20 PM