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

Five Minneapolis Mayoral candidates demand that Mayor Rybak  participate in televised Mayoral Forums to answer a Citizens' "petition... for a redress of grievances" -- Candidates and citizens will "peaceably assemble" Wednesday at City Hall -- the Petition will be delivered to Mayor Rybak, or left at the office if he is not there

Full text of "A Petition of Citizens of Minneapolis for a redress of grievances, as stated by candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis", subscribed to by five Mayoral candidates, follows news release

The October 7th televised Mayoral Forum is available as streaming video at MTN website: www.mtn.org

Carney e-mails Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov -- invites him to participate in televised forums (e-mail follows petition text)

This news release includes a brief Political Contribution Refund Lawsuit update

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

 

Contact: Bob Carney Jr.
bob@republicancontract.com
cell: 612-803-9084

For immediate release

Minneapolis, MN, October 19, 2009 – Five Minneapolis Mayoral candidates have demanded Mayor R.T. Rybak answer to a Citizens' petition for a redress of grievances.  The five candidates: Bob Carney Jr., James Everett, Al Flowers, "Papa" John Kolstad, and Bill McGaughey, demand Mayor Rybak answer to the petition at televised Mayoral Forums open to candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis.   The five constituted the entire panel at the October 7th Minneapolis Mayoral Forum, broadcast live from MTN (channel 17).

At this time, it appears those who have subscribed to the petition represent, as Kolstad put it, the "A team" of challengers to Mayor Rybak.  In a phone conversation today, Kolstad and Carney agreed Dick Franson could be included as another serious challenger.  Kolstad told Carney: "I agree with the petition.  This is a good thing that you're doing."

Candidates and citizens will go to Minneapolis City Hall at 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 21st, to present the petition of grievances to Mayor Rybak.  If he is not there, the petition will be left at the office.  Carney will videotape this event, which will be included in his "RT and me" video series.  New "RT and me" episodes are uploaded to youtube.com on the carneyformayor channel as they become available.

The "Petition of Citizens of Minneapolis for a redress of grievances" states in part:

The First Amendment of our Federal Constitution establishes: “...the right of the Citizens peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

On October 7th, five of us participated in a live televised Mayoral Forum at MTN, channel 17. This petition consists entirely of statements made by candidates at that forum. Mayor Rybak was invited to participate, but chose not to. He has not participated in any of the candidate forums this year. Mayor Rybak has chosen to ignore the grievances of Citizens of Minneapolis. This is contrary to the First Amendment right of Citizens to have their Grievances both addressed, and redressed when appropriate.

As candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis, we do not necessarily all agree on all of the points made below. But we do all agree on this: it is Mayor Rybak's duty to present himself before the citizens, and to publicly respond to these grievances, as stated by and on behalf of Citizens of Minneapolis. We further agree it is the duty of the “Mainstream Media” to serve the public interest by reporting on both our demand for a redress of grievances, and the refusal of our elected officials to respond.

On behalf of the Citizens of Minneapolis, we demand that Mayor Rybak agree to three one hour televised Mayoral Forums. The Citizens of Minneapolis have a Constitutional Right to have our Mayor answer to these grievances – telling us, for each one, his view of what redress, if any, is needed.

The October 7th Mayoral Forum is available as streaming video on the MTN (channel 17) web site: www.mtn.org. Moderators at the forum were: Don Allen, editor of the Independent Business News Network ("IBNN", ibnn.org), and Terry Yzaguirre, editor of the Minneapolis Mirror (mplsmirror.com).  IBNN paid at least part of the cost of producing the event.

All candidates supporting the petition agreed verbally after Carney read the above petition excerpt to them over the phone, or after receiving it by e-mail.

Dick Franson has also been critical of Mayor Rybak's non-participation in phone conversations.  Last week, Mr. Franson said: "The Minneapolis League of Women Voters is not doing its job. They should call for debates and see where the shoe fits. If the Mayor doesn't show up, they should put out a press release."

Five City Council candidates also call on Mayor Rybak to participate in Mayoral Forums

Carney has also spoken to or received e-mails from five City Council candidates who are calling on Mayor Rybak to participate in televised Mayoral Forums.  The candidates are: Dave Bicking (9th ward), Kris Broberg (13th ward) Matthew Dougwillow (10th ward), Melissa Hill (3rd ward), and Charley Underwood (12th ward).

Carney is sending e-mails to all the City Council candidates, with a copy of the petition prepared for subscription by City Council candidates.  He is following up with phone calls. Carney said: "Accountability of elected officials is essential to democracy.  Candidates for the City Council need to take a position -- yes or no -- on whether Mayor Rybak should be allowed to evade responding in a televised Forum to a Citizens' petition for a redress of grievances, just before an election.  The answer of City Council candidates to that question --or a non-answer -- will tell citizens in their ward a lot about each City Council candidate."

Mayor of Moscow invited to participate in televised Minneapolis Mayoral Forums

Today Carney sent an e-mail to Yuri Luzhkof, Mayor of Moscow, inviting him to also participate in televised Minneapolis Mayoral Forums.  Carney said.  "An article on the Drudge Report got me going on this -- Mayor Luzhkof has a plan to suppress winter blizzards by cloud seeding, and I think it's something we should take a look at."  A further news release on this invitation is scheduled to go out Wednesday.  "I am frankly disturbed by what I see as many similarities between the political situation in Moscow and Minneapolis," Carney said. 

Political Contribution Refund lawsuit update

A news release is planned for Tuesday on the hearing last week.  There was no ruling from the bench.  All the documents filed prior to the hearing are now online at www.republicancontract.com.

<end>

 

A Petition of Citizens of Minneapolis for a redress of grievances, as stated by candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis


 

The following statement has been agreed to by candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis listed below:

The First Amendment of our Federal Constitution establishes: “...the right of the Citizens peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

On October 7th, five of us participated in a live televised Mayoral Forum at MTN, channel 17. This petition consists entirely of statements made by candidates at that forum. Mayor Rybak was invited to participate, but chose not to. He has not participated in any of the candidate forums this year. Mayor Rybak has chosen to ignore the grievances of Citizens of Minneapolis. This is contrary to the First Amendment right of Citizens to have their Grievances both addressed, and redressed when appropriate.

As candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis, we do not necessarily all agree on all of the points made below. But we do all agree on this: it is Mayor Rybak's duty to present himself before the citizens, and to publicly respond to these grievances, as stated by and on behalf of Citizens of Minneapolis. We further agree it is the duty of the “Mainstream Media” to serve the public interest by reporting on both our demand for a redress of grievances, and the refusal of our elected officials to respond.

On behalf of the Citizens of Minneapolis, we demand that Mayor Rybak agree to three one hour televised Mayoral Forums. The Citizens of Minneapolis have a Constitutional Right to have our Mayor answer to these grievances – telling us, for each one, his view of what redress, if any, is needed.

Subscribed to by:

Bob Carney Jr.
James Everett
Al Flowers
“Papa” John Kolstad
Bill McGaughey


 


 

The Petition


 


 

The following are grievances for which Citizens of Minneapolis have demanded redress. They are organized into category headings, each followed by specific statements made by candidates who participated in the October 7, 2009 Mayoral Forum:


 

  1. A Mayor who refuses to listen to, and answer to, the grievances of Citizens

    1. “How come he hasn't talked about what's going on in the city? How can you ask for four more years, and you're not going to tell what you're going to do the next four years?” Flowers – opening statement

    2. “This has been really a great panel, and I really want to congratulate all of the candidates here for their intelligent and thoughtful responses to this. But just think, wouldn't it be great if we actually had the Mayor of the city here. Elections are about people who are in office to be accountable – to come to the citizens and come to the challengers, and to talk about what's going on in their city, and if they can answer those adequately, they should be re-elected. I think that there's really something wrong in the city about 'democracy.' That's what we brag about in America and in Minnesota – democracy, and about public process. You cannot have a public process when the elected officials will not come out. This is the fourth forum for Mayor, and he has not been to a single one of them. I think it's unfortunate.” Kolstad – closing statement

    3. “I said two years ago that if no one challenged Mayor Rybak that I would run. I didn't know no one was going to challenge him. I thought somebody would see that he was... it's democratic, this is a democratic process, and when I saw no one was going to challenge him, I had to put the issues I knew about on the table, I said I couldn't go four more years without telling the truth. That's why I brought this campaign – truth to the people, we're telling you the truth, you have to decipher it.” Flowers – closing statement

    4. “I'm very critical of RT Rybak, but also, he's a politician, not a pastor, and so some of the things he's got away with have been because we haven't been on our watch as citizens.” Everett – opening statement


 

  1. A pattern of unconstitutional censorship of freedom of speech

    1. “I'm running as a Moderate Progressive Republican candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis. You probably won't see that on the ballot. I do have a lawsuit proceeding on that. The city will not let me use the word 'Republican' in a political principle. So you may see “Moderate Progressive Censored, that to me is unfortunate.” Carney – opening statement

    2. “I've won a first amendment case against the City of Minneapolis for trying to cut me off... from MTN... speaking to the people,... I sit here right now with a document,... a lawsuit filed against Hennepin County for this latest incident, and that's the way you have to do it, when you don't have a civil rights department in Minneapolis, you have to go to court...” Flowers – opening statement

    3. “My main contact with the Empowerment Zone was when I was demonstrating with a sign on Penn Avenue, and the director of the Empowerment Zone told me he would have me arrested. ... It was because Don Samuels had a peace rally, and I was questioning his commitment to peace if he was shutting down grocery stores.” McGaughey, question 3

    4. “In my own experience with the ballot dispute, one of the things that really surprised me about it was that I called them, and tried to talk to them, about seeing if we could resolve this without going to court. But this kind of a machine like mechanism just kicked in, they said 'no, you can't use this word, and now we're going to turn it over to the city attorneys, and no, you can't talk to the policy makers about it...' this is just a machine that's running... And I think that we have to kinda try to get away from that attitude.” Carney – question 1


 

  1. Unconstitutional usurping by Governor Pawlenty of Legislative power and responsibilities

    1. “Another thing that I'm working on is to challenge Governor Pawlenty in his unallotment program. I have a lawsuit going on that, and there will be a hearing on that next week. I'm very upset about the unallotment, which I think is essentially an unconstitutional usurping of Legislative authority...” Carney – opening statement

    2. [Tangential but relevant] “One of the things that can be done by the city, and by the Mayor particularly, is they can lobby the state...” Kolstad – question 2

    3. “I intend to challenge the direction that the [Republican] party is going in... and I'm doing that, the lawsuit that I've got going right now on the Political Contribution Refund is an example of that...” Carney – question 2

    4. “What I'm trying to do is move the Republican party in Minnesota into a more Moderate and Progressive direction. As citizens of Minneapolis, I think we have an opportunity, if you elect me, to accomplish that, and to challenge some of the things that the Pawlenty administration in particular has been doing, that need to be challenged and that frankly are unrepublican.” Carney, closing statement

     

 

  1. Harmful policies towards small business and neighborhoods:

    1. “I'm sitting in north Minneapolis, I've watched the corner stores closed, I've watched the ward issues, I've watched them try to turn north Minneapolis into 'Twinsville', actually, currently... If you look at the politics of the city right now, north Minneapolis is being set up to be a place for everybody that wants to go to the Twins games, a place for the Vikings stadium to be, and a place for the U. of M. to turn into a campus...” Everett – opening statement

    2. “Big companies and the city, state and federal government actually harm small business”, but that's where job growth comes from. “What Rybak is really doing, is he's killing all the small businesses that create the jobs. The Mayor's office does not create jobs. Small business, and business in general, creates jobs. And commerce generates jobs.” Kolstad – opening statement

    3. “We never seem to spend the money where the 'bang for the buck' is, because if you look at any study over the last 50 years, small businesses are the ones that created the jobs, provided the jobs, and have done the real economic recovery... and yet if you look at where does the money go, none of it was going to small business... Now there was a small business Bill of Rights that was offered at the State Legislature... if you're going to put money into a jobs creation program, then the money should be paid up to those who actually create the jobs...” Kolstad -- question 3

    4. “Take north Minneapolis. You said you close the corner stores because of the crime. But when you close corner stores, the apartment buildings that just need to pick up a little bit of milk, or some eggs and things, can't survive in that area. So everyone has to go a mile and half or maybe two miles to get to Cub foods. Which in turn, if the city's in a police state, nobody wants to go out of their homes. So people have to move out of the area. So... what happens was, Cub foods said, 'you know, we're not getting enough business.' And so they shut down the corner stores, and drove all the...” [interrupted by moderator, crosstalk] Everett – question 3

    5. “I really would put the emphasis on reducing taxes, you know, don't drive the people out, you know, it's not government helping people so much, it's driving them out of business. Empowerment Zone is fine, but why don't you lay off just ordinary people that aren't getting subsidies?” McGaughey – question 4

    6. “The city is actually harming the businesses... with not only the property taxes and also the fees and assessments. And James talked about construction, we just suffered through three years of construction on Lake Street, and revenues went down by over 40 percent, and there wasn't a single penny, not a dime for us.” Kolstad – question 4


 

  1. A breakdown in the economy at the National level

    1. “Capitalism has grown to consume us – we've had to bail it out.” Everett – opening statement

    2. “We need to know that after two quarters, you're no longer legally in a recession, you're in a depression. We're like in the fourth or fifth quarter. We're legally in a depression. The history books will tell that one day.” Everett – question 5

    3. [Regarding the housing crisis] “...the solution lies at a national level, rather than a local level, and it has to do with jobs policy, which is basically a national problem, with the regulation or deregulation of banks that led us into this mess.” McGaughey – question 5


 

  1. We have serious budget problems and misplaced priorities.

    1. “There's not enough to keep the street lights on.” Everett – opening statement

    2. “Minneapolis is in deep financial trouble... Just as an example... $11 million it's cost the city in the last few years for police misconduct. I think that's a misnomer, I think that it's because the police have violated the law.” Kolstad – opening statement

    3. “The future, and where Federal money is going to be coming in, is for Green jobs, and for developing new kinds of things for the environment, this is a huge opportunity, and that's what we need to do, that's the future, that's where we should go.” Kolstad – question 4

    4. “City government needs to create an atmosphere of freedom, of minimal taxes, regulation, and helping people, the residents and city and businesses of Minneapolis.” McGaughey – opening statement


 

  1. Our “political environment” is polluted, corrupted and oppressive

    1. “City government needs to create an atmosphere of freedom, of minimal taxes [and] regulation, and helping people... the residents... and businesses.” [by inference, this isn't being done] McGaughey – opening statement

    2. “I was outraged by the demolition of a neighborhood grocery store in north Minneapolis... And basically, the Mayor ordered the fire department to find something wrong with the building, so they could condemn it... Neighbors were blaming this building for being a crime magnet. We need a new model of policing... if there is crime, you should presume that the business owner doesn't want it, and that the police should work with them in dealing with the problem...” McGaughey – opening statement

    3. “We've also had the situation, very ugly, of somebody going after one of our fellow candidates, Al Flowers... We've got all these rumors being planted by people in high places... we need clean politics...” McGaughey – opening statement

    4. “...you're asking for the Minneapolis Police Department to be put into receivership for so much brutality, over $14 million in lawsuits paid out,...” Flowers – opening statement

    5. “We need to remove the City Council, the City Council's been a miserable failure.” Kolstad – question 1

    6. “We've had the problem... of the city having unlimited legal resources, apparently at the control of some political person... the city attorney should represent the people of Minneapolis.” McGaughey – question 1

    7. “The Simpson's movie with the Cargill cameras inside the bubble is exactly what we're dealing with at this point in time...” Everett – question 1

    8. “In my own experience with the ballot dispute,... I called them and tried to talk to them about seeing if we could try to resolve this before going to Court. But this kind of a machine-like mechanism just kicked in... and now we're going to turn it over to the City Attorneys, and no, you can't talk to the policy makers about it,... this is just a machine that's running...” Carney – question 1

    9. “You can't even find a good lawyer. The law firms in this city are some 'busters', they're completely afraid to take on the city on many issues... Now there's a couple folks, I won't knock 'em...” Everett – question 1

    10. “My background as a landlord... leads me into the area of abuse of inspections, and the confusion of inspections with police work. I'd like to delve into that a little bit, talk to all the parties,...” McGaughey – question 2

    11. “I also think that we need to have people who are grateful for serving the city, who are the servants of the people...” McGaughey, question 2

    12. “One of the main functions of the Mayor is to be an advocate for the people of the city of Minneapolis; I think we've really had a failure in that respect...” Kolstad, question 2

    13. “The Mayor can push for an audit of where the money is going. That has not happened in this city in three years, that's a very, very serious problem, we need to know where the money is going...” Kolstad, question 2

    14. “...Make sure that by listening, being an advocate, that you're doing things that are helping the people of the city of Minneapolis, and not just a few inside players, which I think is what's going on inside the City right now...” Kolstad, question 2

    15. “...right now the city of Minneapolis is under, like a dictatorship, where this Mayor has taken over everything, he's took over the Neighborhood Associations, we've lost the library, and I would... give it back to the people,... as a Mayor I would give the whole city back to the people... You don't have to be the smartest person in the world if you tell the truth. And that's what's wrong with the politicians,... but you can't tell the truth when you're taking everything away from the citizens of Minneapolis,... there's great people in Minneapolis, great people in government, it's just the person on top is more of a dictator like, his style is you do it this way or he'll knock you out,... when you start speaking out, then they'll cut you down, they'll knock you off, they'll get rid of you, and that's a sad thing for the city of Minneapolis, to have a city council and a mayor, all of 'em doing it together to the citizens of the city of Minneapolis, and they're gonna pay for it...” Flowers, question 2

    16. “We have to be careful, we have to understand that the corporate powers can shut down anything, for instance how a Wal-mart opens up in your neighborhood, and it shuts down the local hardware store...” Everett – question 3

    17. “We're in a 'gangs of New York' situation here, everybody for themselves in the city. And the city council and the Mayor moved into a gangster position... the DFL has moved far away from the FL, there's only a D, there's no farms anymore, and there's no labor because we can't find jobs. And I think it's time to look at what's really necessary...” Everett – closing statement

    18. “I'm an apartment owner, I'm co-director of Metro Property Rights Action Committee, Charlie Disney's old organization. .... I guess what I could bring is the ability and the willingness to shake things up a little bit...” McGaughey – closing statement


 

  1. There has been mismanagement and misappropriation of Empowerment Zone money

    1. “...$29 million in Empowerment Zone funds since 1999, it's going to run out in 2009, they're gone. Where's the audit?... The state auditor, Rebecca Otto, asked any Congressman, State Representative, City Council official, to send her a letter and she would audit the Empowerment Zone that has damaged so many people under the median income...” Flowers – opening statement.

    2. [see small business comment] “If you're going to put money into an Empowerment Zone, you should be putting the money into those who are actually creating the jobs... I think what happens in the Empowerment Zones is that people come in and take the money and they run, they never create anything, and they leave behind a disaster, and we're probably worse off when we're done than when we started...” Kolstad – question 3

    3. “I've been arguing about this money that was supposed to go to the people of Minneapolis below the median income. It could have helped a lot of people, with business, education,... small business, job creation, it did none of that. They shifted the money to different areas of the city that didn't really need the money.... when you protest to the Civil Rights Department, they kicked it up to the City Attorney's office, and then they kicked it out... I'm asking the Congressional people, City Council, State Rep, somebody step up for the city of Minneapolis, and file a complaint with the State Auditor, and she says she'll take it up... ” Flowers – question 3

    4. “It's always been gangster from the beginning... and I can't wait 'till the book comes out about Minneapolis,... that's exactly what happened, the money got funneled to where people wanted it to go, and not to the people who needed it, but that's historically what happened...” Everett – question 3

    5. “The logical solution for Empowerment Zone money first, when you know businesses are struggling in this recession, when you're going to fix the road in front of the business, subsidize the small businesses to survive that space. That's common sense.” Everett – question 3

    6. “...about $25 million has been spent on direct money, there's also $130 million that was budgeted for borrowing, and that has not been spent. One of the problems is, this was a program that was targeted in geographical areas that were not doing well. And the reality is that with that amount of resources, you can't change the economics of what's going on in the area, with a relatively small amount of assets. You can with a very large expenditure, but I think it's more realistic to try to figure out where economic development is already going, and then try to build on that, that's one of the things I'm trying to do with the Sky-bi plan.” Carney, question 3

    7. “Bob, I just want to throw this in there, when you say about the $25 million, it was hundreds of millions of dollars leveraged against that $25 million, with banks around the city of Minneapolis, the State of Minnesota, the $25 million, you could take $1 in Empowerment Zone and go to the bank and probably get $10, each $1 would work $10. [Carney: “I've seen the numbers”... crosstalk] So when you added up the money, over hundreds of millions of dollars was spent using the Empowerment Zone from the Federal government, the $25 million came in, but if you use that money, you got hundreds of millions of dollars, and that's a fact, and you can look that up. [crosstalk] So it was a lot more than the twenty-five, or the hundred and thirty million dollars in bonds that they still have,... and the reason that the people won't use the $130 million in bonds is because the have to hire people inside the Empowerment Zone, and then 35 to 40 percent... [interrupted by moderator]” Flowers – question 3

    8. [spending remaining Empowerment Zone money] “My approach would be investing in a project we have called the Twin Cities center parts technology, which is based off of Manchester Craftsman's Guild out of Pittsburgh, with Bill Strickland... would create 5,000 jobs over the next four years around LRB light technology and wind turbine development... Juhl Wind... it's a Minnesota based company that's publicly traded, and actually, we have a plan on the table, to give to the city, to actually push the bond towards that, so I would create enterprise and move towards green energy...” Everett – question 4

    9. [spending remaining Empowerment Zone money] “During the 90's, I was on the Micro Loan committee, which was a most amazing project, because what we did – I was on the board – we simply [redacted]..., lent money to small business who were not bankable. And the results were enormous. And they paid the money back with interest, and these people succeeded, at least by and large.” Kolstad – question 4

    10. [spending remaining Empowerment Zone money] “The money now is going back into the general fund... It should go to help create small business, for new entrepreneurs. That's what you should do with the money. It's coming back in now. It's been going into the general fund over the time of the Empowerment Zone. Millions of dollars have been lost by the Citizens, by going back into the Minneapolis general fund, cause you don't never know where it's at. There's still loan money coming back in. Give it back to the citizens of Minneapolis. Create something where the citizens will be in control of it. That's what this is about. Giving it back to the citizens of Minneapolis. Flowers – question 4


 

  1. The Mayor is running for Governor, and seeks to serve only one year as Mayor

    1. “RT needs to go ahead and run for Governor, that's what he's doing, he don't care about you, he's just using you for the stepping stone that he needs...” Flowers – opening statement

    2. “...here you've got a Mayor who has not come and told you what his vision is for the next four years, cause one of em is to be Governor, that's why he's not here, you know, and we didn't know he was going to run for Governor.” Flowers – closing statement

    3. I've always liked R.T. Rybak. But I think I'm going to have to run for Governor to talk about the city of Minneapolis...” Kolstad – closing statement


 

  1. The Civil Rights Department has been ineffective, and now is being moved to the State

    1. “You have to remove the Mayor, because the Mayor is in charge of the civil rights department.” Flowers – question 1

    2. “If they find for you in a complaint, then they take it to the City Attorney,... who's really supposed to work for the Citizen, but he works for the Mayor, by appointment. So you have to put a fire wall in the Civil Rights Department.” Flowers – question 1

    3. “We need somebody there to represent the Citizens when their civil rights are violated... At the city level, it's very hard for someone to hire an attorney... I don't think you should have to afford to have an attorney just to have civil rights... We have the civil rights commission. I think it was grossly underfunded... There are too many cases of violations, and no resources for them...” Kolstad – question 1

    4. “If there isn't a commitment to the function, then it's not going to work... It should be adequately funded, and should function in a non-biased way...” McGaughey, question 1

    5. “The Community Relations service is a Federal mandate and a Federal position, that if we brought the Civil Rights Department under the Community Relations Service, it would push all cases to a Federal level...” Everett – question 1

    6. “Half the people on the Civil Rights Commission are city employees... you're not going to bite the hand that feeds you...” Everett – question 1

    7. “The issues of rights and justice go far beyond the courts. This is something where -- you have in the U.S. Constitution – 'establish justice' is one of the reasons for establishing the Constitution in the preamble. And that's not something that is just the department of the courts. When we're talking about economic development, when we're talking about housing problems in Minneapolis, when we're talking about foreclosures, all of this has to do with justice, so, you know, that's something that has to be at the level of community, and individuals, and city council, so it has to be covered in all of those ways. I think that's a very important point.” Carney – question 1


 

  1. The city and the Mayor have failed to address the foreclosure crisis, more can be done

    1. [spending remaining Empowerment Zone money] “This is something I'd like to extend beyond the Empowerment money, and it addresses the housing problem too, and the foreclosure problem. We have a good credit rating in Minneapolis, so let's use our ability to finance, to allow people, if you have a foreclosure issue, to defer your taxes, and to put that on the city's bond, I think that would be a good way to get out of this, and that's something that would benefit individuals, instead of developers. That would be my approach.” Carney – question 4

    2. “One of the things I would have done in the housing situation was, we saw it coming. I think we need to look at how it was managed while the recession was starting... [we're in a depression]. But during the first part of the foreclosures, we had inspections got real gangster man. Especially, I mean, you knew people were having a hard time paying for their homes, but in turning inspectors out to tell them if they don't fix their doorstep their house will be condemned, or they gotta pay $400. If they had $400 their doorstep wouldn't be broke, and they'd be able to pay their mortgage. So let's talk about how it was dealt with originally. Second, what we need to do now is make an investment in the youth. Especially in one of the highest foreclosure areas in north Minneapolis. One of my proposals was to take 25% of the homes, to turn 'em into group homes, foster homes, and youth based housing, and cooperative housing. That way, people who are from the neighborhood would not have to technically live there at that particular time, and could have an investment property that would bring up the property value in the area, it would also turn it into a commercial, it would be commercial/residential, we'd have an investment in the youth, we'd be able to use north Minneapolis as a feeder program for the U. of M. and other post-secondary education, Summit Academy, OIC, and the rest of the places...” [crosstalk] Everett – question 5

    3. “Mayor Rybak had a chance to do some of this prevention, he could, you know, early on,... when he was [not sure of word] on predatory lending, he was a supporter when he first went out, when he was running, and then, when they had the bill there, the Mayor refused, he didn't want it any more. Because that's when he was getting his housing, the housing start, where he put, he was putting people together, like gimmick, and they bought all these houses, and I'm working right now on giving housing back to the community, below the medium income. I'm doing the work now, regardless of what happens here, I'm doing the work right now to get people back in the housing,... [crosstalk] he could have prevented it, and he put money out with the advantage loan program. You put all this money into advantage loan, that citizens of Minneapolis couldn't access, hundreds of thousands of dollars you couldn't access, investors came in and invested in the houses in the neighborhood, and that's what's going on, that's what's going on in the city. The residents need to know what's going on in Minneapolis, the money is going out, it's not coming in. You should be, the citizens of Minneapolis should be the investors. You started investing in this and you'll get rich like the rest of 'em down at CP.” Flowers – question 5

    4. “The thing that's been going wrong is that we have too much of a development, and central planning mentality. And, you know, [points to Everett] you make the point that you've got the inspectors going out, and that's not the solution. If you have low income, you're going to need less expensive housing. And so the way to address that is to figure out how to, through regulation, to be able to have, for example, apartments in a house – to be able to defer property taxes if a person runs into a foreclosure problem. We've got to be able to direct the money to individuals that have got these economic problems. And the economic growth will come from there. But we have to get away from, frankly, a middle class model, where you assume that everybody's got to have an apartment or a house. We've got to start figuring out how to have people doubling up. And the reality is, in the short term, our economy's going to make that necessary.” Carney – question 5

    5. “I think that the people who set the property tax valuations, they kept forcing up the valuations, and I know because I sued them to get the information, they wouldn't provide it for me, but we ended up settling, so I never got the final figures, but they told me, 'it's simply a percentage,' so every year they added a percentage to the valuation, to force up the value, so they could get more money. Now my question is: how much did that contribute to this entire housing bubble? Because the people who are valuating, looking at the value the city is putting on it, and it's going back and forth. So the city actually became a part of the problem... The Mayor had the power, the Mayor had the bully pulpit – he could have said: 'before anybody is put out of their homes, we need to look at what did the mortgage brokers do? What did the banks do? And nobody's looked at the economic terrorists in New York. So I think there are a lot of places where there are problems, and the people in those homes are the victims of that, and the city has done nothing to help them, particularly the Mayor.” Kolstad – question 5

    6. “What I would say locally is that the city has tried to profit from this crisis [Everett: “oh definitely”] by adding fees to make it difficult for the people to turn over the properties, rehab them, and get them back on the market. The inspection sweep a couple years ago was a hardship for people in north Minneapolis [Everett: “caused a lot of foreclosures”], and it has to be looked at as a package – that people can't pay their mortgages if they're paying for inspection fees and the work orders that are imposed on people. So, basically, just leave people alone, but if you can bring jobs to Minneapolis, then you'll have people that can afford to pay the mortgage.” McGaughey – question 5

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Carney's e-mail to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkof:

Dear Mayor Luzhkov:
 
I read with interest a report that you have launched a new plan for "snow suppression" -- your city, Moscow, is planning to seed clouds to prevent or greatly reduce snowfall from blizzards.  As a Moderate Progressive Censored (Republican) candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis, I was very interested in this.  I will be sending out a news release later this week, advocating we study this, and consider doing it in Minnesota.
 
You may recall when Mr. Gorbachev visited the United States, he stopped in Minnesota on his return trip.  As you know, Cargill is headquartered here -- I wouldn't doubt that he had a chance to meet and speak with some Cargill executives as part of his trip.  I recall reading that at one point Cargill accounted for 60% of all U.S. exports to what was then the Soviet Union.
 
During the visit, Mr. Gorbachev's wife stopped at a house about a mile from where I live, and visited with a family.  She also stopped at a drug store nearby.  For several years after that, the drug store had a "Where Raisa shops" sign outside.  It's moved, the building is now a dollar store.  Times are tough here.
 
The city of Moscow web site provides your biography, and has this statement:  

Having been appointed Mayor of Moscow by a Russian presidential decree in 1992, he was re-elected to this position three times (in 1996, 1999 and 2003). In June 2007, at the recommendation of then-President Vladimir Putin, he was vested with powers of the Moscow Mayor for another four years.

It appears from this that your office had become elective in the 1990's, but is no longer elective.
 
Frankly, one of the things I'm trying to determine is whether there is actually a 2009 Minneapolis Mayoral election.  There is little evidence of one.  I went to City Hall and videotaped our Mayor, asking him if there was an election this year.  He said nothing, but he did nod. 
 
I am strongly in favor of having free and open elections.  But I do commend you for at least stating publicly, on your web site, that you are now vested with authority from the national government, and not suggesting that you are elected.  This seems to me better than claiming to be elected if your power and authority do not, in fact, derive from an election.  I wish we had more clarity here in Minneapolis regarding the question of whether or not we are having an election.
 
Mayor Rybak is also apparently running for Governor, but it is not yet clear whether he is seeking this by election, or as an appointed Czar.  Based on both his campaign financing reporting (nonexistent), and general preferences, I suspect appointment would be his preference -- it seems very unlikely he could be elected.  I understand regional Governors in Russia were elected at one time, but now are also appointed.
 
Attached is a petition a group of candidates will be presenting to the Mayor of Minneapolis this week.  The First Amendment of our Federal Constitution establishes: "...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  That's what we're doing here.
 
The event that our media is characterizing as an election occurs November 3, 2009.  We are trying to organize some televised Mayoral Forums.  Assuming this takes place, I would like to invite you to participate.  I would be very interested in your plan for what I am calling "snow suppression".  A few decades back, we tried something called the "Snowtron" -- a behemoth that scooped up snow, melted it, and poured it into the sewers, burning about 100 gallons of diesel fuel an hour in the process.  Whatever you are doing with the cloud seeding can't be any environmentally worse then those monsters!  There is a clipping of an old news article about the Snowtron below.  I'm sure we'd also all be very interested in finding out more about your municipal budget, which we understand is $40 billion.  That's higher than our city and State of Minnesota budget combined.  Mayor Rybak would probably be interested in how this whole getting-appointed thing works.
 
I'll follow up with more information about the televised forums, if they do occur.  If you do agree to participate, I'm sure we will be able to do at least one, based just on your participation.  In the meantime, we are trying to locate our Mayor, to see if he will participate.  I pasted in a poster we are passing out after the "Snowtron" article.  If anyone in Moscow sees him, could you call or e-mail?  I'm reporting on this in a video series, called "RT and me".   The first two episodes are in your room right now (on youtube.com.)  You can enter "RT and me" in the youtube.com search box, or get to the videos from www.republicancontract.com.  I'll monitor the viewership reports, to see if anyone in Moscow is watching.
 
Copies of this have been sent to the other "suspected" Mayoral candidates, and to some employees at Mayor Rybak's unofficial headquarters, the Czar Tribune.
 
One final note -- I understand that both Moscow and Minneapolis are in this category: "largest, coldest city in the world" -- meaning that there is no city that is both larger, and colder than your city, or my city.  We like it here in Minneapolis, and I'm sure the people in Moscow like Moscow too. 
 
Best wishes to you, and to all the people in Moscow,
 
 
 
Bob Carney Jr.
Moderate Progressive Censored (Republican) candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis (if there is an election)
bob@republicancontract.com
cell: (612) 803-9084
 
 
 
This 1965 article tells about the "Snowtron".  Cloud seeding has got to be better than this.
 
Here's our "Missing Mayor" poster.  If you see Mayor Rybak,
please call or e-mail.