Saturday, October 25, 2008

Who is Elwyn Tinklenberg, do YOU know who you're sending your money to, and why he is leaving clear gaps in the resume?


An unaltered image of El Tinklenberg, Candidate for Congress. He has been a revolving door career politician-consultant-lobbyist most of his adult life, yet does not disclose such a status in any reassuring way. The door has revolved - pulpit, to town board and mayor of Blaine in Anoka County; consulting; working years for Anoka County [doing what, is undisclosed, but it appears arranging contracts ("pork" some might say) for the County and those it does business with - while having received media heat for no-bid contracting while heading MnDOT], being on contract to the county as its rail authority lobbyist, being at a PR-flak-lobbying firm (Goff&Howard, see, e.g., here), MnDOT head, and forming his own consultancy, Tinklenberg Group, which I contend has been lobbying, with he himself lobbying, but with he and group not wholly registered that way.

In his past he has had his name associated with entities besides the Goff & Howard firm noted above that lobby within our state, see, here, here, here and here; while he has registered himself and filed reports as lobbyist for two others, see, here and here (identifying himself and his Tinklenberg Group business-lobbying affiliation).

And he scoffs and bristles at being called a revolving door lobbyist, and says ONLY two past activities matter, not the lobbying, in his most recent (and misleading by omission) mailing to this household:



If you read and rely on that, you'd never know a thing about the revolving door's constant turning throughout the man's life.

A "follow the money" view of the man, what he does and believes and advocates in relation to his personal cashflow and income potential is interesting to consider, as well as checking to see how much, if any, of his own money he's ever put into his Congressional campaign (where he asks others to fund it).

Another question concerns his campaign disbursements, how he spends the money you might send him, how much is paid out to close family and to former or present members of his consultancy, Tinklenberg Group. The FEC has the data, have a look. The names Anna Ritchie and Amanda Vickstrom are examples respectively of Elwyn Tinklenberg's family and business insiders drawing out as "salary" substantial campaign funds that were contributed by voters and taxpayers from within and outside of Minnesota's Sixth District.

Michele Bachmann's musings over anti-Americanism of others (against whom she's not running) obscure the fact that her attention should be more focused upon Elwyn Tinklenberg, the revolving door lobbyist-career politician seeking her seat.

And while many nationwide have been reported uncritically sending bushels of cash to someone they probably know little about, the question is, "Well, can't they just go to his campaign website and read his online biography and find out who he is?"

Not exactly.

http://www.tinklenberg08.com/bio.html - states only:

He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota at Duluth and attended seminary at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He served as a United Methodist Minister in Blaine, Minnesota from 1977 to 1986.

While serving on the city council for 4 years and as Mayor of Blaine from 1987 to 1996, Tinklenberg quickly gained a reputation as an expert in the field of transportation, eventually serving as Governor Jesse Ventura's Commissioner of Transportation from 1999 to 2002. Charged with managing the day-to-day operations of the department's 5,500 employees and $2 billion annual budget, he worked directly with the legislature to secure funding for the state's first light rail, the development of a regional commuter plan, and a (short-term) doubling of the state transportation budget. In 2003 he served on the Board of Directors for the American Public Transportation Association.

In 2006, Tinklenberg ran for congress in Minnesota's sixth district. He eventually lost out on an opportunity to run in the general election when he was narrowly defeated by Patty Wetterling in a bid for the DFL endorsement.

Currently, Tinklenberg is President of The Tinklenberg Group, a consulting firm that specializes in transportation and related issues affecting government and businesses.


Moreover, Elwyn Tinklenberg has myspace and facebook entries, which are the same as or less inclusive of what his adult life's efforts have been and what he does for his money. (His facebook presence is via linking to the campaign website.)

As already noted, the man's history includes registered lobbying - the Minnesota CFB had him identifying himself as top lobbyist for a real estate development at the Brockton Rd. Hwy 94 area in Hennepin County, where he wanted to pave all over the place with possibly hazardous taconite tailings, and for a Northstar related promotional effort out of Anoka County, his home grounds for most of his career politician-lobbyist lifetime, once he stepped out of the pulpit.

Remember that phrase, "But wait, there's more"?

There's this, where it appears some 'splaining is due, of what the man himself had to say of his fuller-than-campaign-revealed work history, this time with dates and a few more "entries;" italics added for things the website leaves unspoken:

He was appointed Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation in January 1999 by Governor Jesse Ventura. Prior to that, Tinklenberg headed the public policy team with the public relations and government relations firm of Goff & Howard, Before joining Goff and Howard Tinklenberg was employed by Anoka County for 11 years, including six years as Manager of Public Services. Tinklenberg served 14 years on the Blaine City Council, including 10 years as Mayor from 1986 until 1996. He was President of the North Metro Mayors Association from 1990 until 1996 and led the North Metro Crossing coalition, a transportation advocacy group, from 1990 until 1994. He also has served as President of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance. Previous government service also includes membership on the Metropolitan Transit Advisory Board, the former Regional Transit Board and the Legislature's Major Transportation Projects Committee. He was instrumental in creation of the Northstar Corridor Development Authority between Minneapolis and St. Cloud and in the planning for the commuter-rail demonstration event in July 1997. Tinklenberg is a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Copyright Institute of Transportation Engineers Aug 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.


###

Do you believe he did all that, without being a lobbyist, a status he denies? Do you think pigs can fly?

You might ask yourself, "Why do a bunch of transportation engineers have him saying more of his lobbying and PR ties than he cares to tell voters whom he wants to send him to Congress?" Does that suggest to you that the truth is an elastic thing to the man to be stretched, cut and tailored to the audience he's playing to? It suggests that to me.

I suppose voters are deemed by Tinklenberg as best left on a need-to-know basis, and the less they know the better things are - according to his needs --- that's my guess.

Tinklenberg was not merely a member of lobbying entities North Metro Mayors Association and The Minnesota Transportation Alliance. He was President. He was boss of those shows. And for lobbying firm Goff & Howard, "he headed the public policy team," and most voters realize that to influence and shape public policy from outside the legislature and agencies, you lobby, which that firm clearly does now.

What sorts of things, heading the "public policy team" at Goff & Howard could be buried skeletons? I do not know, but the Goff & Howard website gives this pair of screenshots, as always click to enlarge, and they say that the firm's had Polaris and its ATV business as a client "for over a dozen years," a time frame which includes Tinklenberg's leadership tenure there, and the firm touts that it has shamelessly lobbied for ATV proliferation despite the havoc these motorized devices cause the environment and the nuisance they represent to environmentalists, hikers, campers, or hunters using public forest trails to get to favored hunting sites and not wanting noise or extensive rutting to ruin the landscape and harm the environment.

ATVs are an environmental nightmare. But compromise has resulted from the vigorous lobbying on both sides of that nuisance issue. See, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

And it appears Tinklenberg was their champion - in exchange for a fee.



Before ATV use became a nuisance there were Polaris snowmobiles used wrongly and where banned, the latter still being a problem, see here.

Here is a screenshot showing Goff & Howard touting it's lobbying effectiveness:



And there is Tinklenberg as President of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, which registers with the State as doing lobbying and where it's website touts benefits of membership in terms of legislative contacts and access - if not lobbying, certainly something close, including that Federal Fly-in, for what, but to have interests discussed and attended to:



In the past, when not a candidate wanting to avoid the revolving-door nature of his past, Tinklenberg's past was more openly disclosed, e.g. in January 1999, this was part of a press release,

Elwyn Tinklenberg named Mn/DOT commissioner

Elwyn Tinklenberg, president of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance and the former mayor of Blaine, was appointed as transportation commissioner by Gov. Jesse Ventura today. Tinklenberg has been involved in transportation policy for more than 12 years. He directed a transportation consulting firm where he worked to secure transportation improvements throughout the state, studied the feasibility of commuter rail projects and explored potential commuter rail corridors.

From 1991 to 1997, Tinklenberg was the manager of public services for Anoka County. [...] Since 1996, Tinklenberg served as a board and executive committee member of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance and served as president in 1998.


There is the advocacy site, "MnLRT -- Minnesotans for Light Rail Transit," (which has not registered as lobbying in-state), which reported much MnDOT and other activity of the kind they advocated, making mention in their timeline, for January 1999, that when appointed by Ventura to head MnDOT, Tinklenberg was "President of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance." I defy you to find Tinklenberg not hiding that situation, at present - and if not hiding it, why is it going unmentioned in the official campaign bio blurb? Unimportant? Immaterial to voters making a choice?
Get real.

Now, there is misrepresentation by omission, and there can be misrepresentation by active and intentional misstatement, where culpability can be greater because motive to mislead is more manifest. And Elwyn Tinklenberg apparently in March of 2008 released a campaign letter/statement, saying in relevant part [with bracketed commentary added and not in original]:

Dear DFL Friends:

Over the last few months, my campaign has worked diligently and in earnest to reach out to the activists of the district and to earn your support for my candidacy for congress in the 6th District.

With a message focused on optimism, progress and vision, we have been writing, calling, emailing and meeting with the delegates to the senate district conventions. We have held over 25 house parties and [...] put forward a campaign that is disciplined, competent, inspiring and focused [...]

In the course of meeting with delegates, I and my staff were met with some questions that both surprised and disturbed us. I feel that it’s important to clear up the speculation that has apparently been running wild [...] The first of these issues had to do with whether or not I am a federal lobbyist or do federal lobbying without being registered. The following are the guidelines for federal lobbying registration:

[A denial of being a federal lobbyist follows while ignoring the more fundamental question, is he or is he not a revolving door lobbyist, at any level, doing lobbying in exchange for money]

At no time have I met these guidelines. If at any time I had, I would have registered federally, as I have with the State when I’ve been required to hold meetings with State legislators on behalf of clients.

That being said, I am proud of the work I’ve done on behalf of cities, counties and businesses that were seeking support for transportation projects.

The second issue had to do with taconite tailings, a by-product of iron mining, and speculation that I was involved in a project that was potentially exposing people to asbestos and the resulting cancer risk.

This is a horrible accusation and particularly so because my first wife died of cancer and I would never be involved in anything that would expose others to the misery my family went through.

This is a rumor that was invented two years ago by a staffer for the Wetterling campaign and I believed it had been refuted effectively at that time. I am saddened to see it resurfacing in an attempt to damage my character.

The project I have worked on is sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) and is funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Agency. The goal of the project is to conduct additional testing of by-products of taconite mining in the western portion of the iron range for suitability as transportation aggregate. [...] A secondary goal is to identify potential markets for the use of this material as a transportation aggregate, should the testing support it.

That’s the work in which I have been involved. The use of these western range materials in this way has consistently been approved by MnDOT, NRRI, the PCA and the EPA. Additional testing and monitoring is ongoing and should any concerns surface, I’m certain the University would suspend the project; an action I would support.

For additional information you can contact Larry Zenko at the National Resources Research Institute. [Every Crabgrass reader is encouraged to do exactly that, and ask Zanko (correct spelling} whether he said or did a thing about answering the question of whether taconite tailings are safe for use in paving and/or whether taconite tailings are, themselves and independent of any possible "asbestos" content they might have, safe and noncarcinogenic - and please ask him what the State Health Department and U. Minn three year study started Jan 2008 is for, relative to a 2007 discovery of a history of an extensive mesithelioma cancer deaths among taconite miners throughout the iron range, independent of whether to the east or west of any suggested demarcation line, the suppression of which led to replacement of the head of the Minneosta Department of Health.]

It is important in this endorsement process that we remember the numbers of new people who are turning out to participate in Democratic politics, nation-wide. They are doing so because the energy and positivity of the presidential campaigns and our successes over the last couple of years, have inspired them to believe we are headed in a new direction. [and whom we would not want to disillusion or mislead]

Please continue to contact me with any questions you have going forward. If you’d like to see a copy of the taconite study, it is available from my staff and you are welcome to view it.

Sincerely,

El Tinklenberg


What's the story, Elwyn Tinklenberg? Is that a full defense, or a glide-and-slide shading of facts to mislead rather than illuminate? Is it sophistry and manipulating words, or straight and direct and fully respectful of the truth. Is a lobbyist past viewed as something to deny and avoid by getting into "federal lobbyist" definition distinctions, hair-splitting when the question is, Elwyn Tinklenberg, Is your lobbyist past an embarrassment to you, and if so, why exactly?

You decide. If you vote in the Sixth District decide election day, and if you think of sending money, decide before mailing a check. There's more evidence to consider.

What was Tinklenberg doing other than dispensing contract pork while "manager of public services for Anoka county"? Just as he has had pork dispensed to Tinklenberg Group, after leaving MnDOT October 2002, and forming and registering his business entity, Tinklenberg Group, with the Minnesota Secretary of State, November 2002.

How exactly should the gaps Elwyn Tinklenberg is deliberately leaving in his current campaign resume be fleshed out, and then, why did he choose to leave part of his past unsaid? Fill in the gaps of your resume. Explain what you did. Who you were.

This blog has presented much of the evidence, from diverse available online sources, attained by email and public data disclosure requests, and posted via document images and analysis. This concerns the issue of taking five-figure money to promote the possibly cancerous taconite tailings for use in paving statewide and nationwide, and the promotion of competing road projects of Minnesota municipalities, where differing projects were at stake and limited federal funding available, where interest in one project conflicted with the interests of those wanting another, and Tinklenberg Group representing both.

Here are a number of representative, not an exhaustive listing, of past posts at this site, concerning Tinklenberg and what he's been doing for cash.


Regarding taconite: see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here (mentioning that Tinklenberg Group had been paid at least $94,000 for promoting taconite tailings use in paving), here, here, here (with this), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.


Regarding the I-35 bridge and Tinklenberg responsibility/neglect while heading MnDOT: see here, and here.


Regarding conflicting road projects and other municipal Tinklenberg-fee-generating activity: see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.


For further materials from this blog concerning Tinklenberg, for example taconite, any reader can do an advanced Google search, specific to this site,

zaetsch.blogspot.com

and with the search words being tinklenberg plus others to narrow the hit-list, for example this one, (note search terms at the top page window), this example, or this example. Or this, without the Tinklenberg name in the search window, or this, again without Tinklenberg's name in the search.

I will close with this:


The identical opening image, Elwyn Tinklenberg trying to tart himself up in Wellstone Green. Looking currency green, more than Wellstone green.

_____UPDATE______
There was some media questioning of no-bid contracts when Tinklenberg headed MnDOT, see, e.g., here. That history, and leaving the period of contract administration for Anoka County off the resume, raises a question of whether any no-bid problems were involved in the Tinklenberg career before going to MnDOT. That's speculative for now, I have seen no evidence either way.

______FURTHER UPDATE_______
Another Crabgrass link, that links to a different blogger, Gary Gross, who has a GOP leaning in general, is here.

______FURTHER UPDATE________
My most recent discovery of Tinklenberg lobbying, not necessarily his most recent activity that way, posted here, concerns his representing developers wanting to profit from closing and converting the Crystal Airport. That one sentence in his letter to DFL convention voters certainly rings true, "I am proud of the work I’ve done on behalf of cities, counties and businesses that were seeking support for transportation projects." Every class of client, he's had them, the Goff & Howard thing, the firm being an ATV lobbyist, developers for the Stone's Throw project [this link, mentioning his ties and connections with the Bohn lobbying family, ATV lobbyists], so that not only does he represent competing municipalities for scarce federal transportation cash, he also represents competing developer groups, for the limited [and now shrunken] housing buyer market, via Ramsey Town Center rail stop work in Anoka County, Stone's Throw development in northern Hennepin County, and this more southerly hope to turn a regional airport into cash for those paying him cash. A hired gun believing in the merit of the aims of people handing Tinklenberg Group checks. Helping Oberstar in the Eighth District rid his nest of mine waste, by promoting at trade shows and among highway departments and rail and shipping interests the idea of sending the mine waste all over to pave with it as aggregate, while health concerns remain unanswered. A go anywhere say anything kind of guy, hoping to go to DC where his connections and rolodex wlll expand and prosper. He has not even committed to shutting down Tinklenberg Group if elected, or has he? Does any reader have that answer?

In that campaign website blurb, he calls himself "expert in the field of transportation" while I have used my own term, highwayman. Not necessarily with pistol saying, "Stand and deliver" but gaining a comfortable living by working the highways, whichever side of the revolving door he finds himself on. And GOP bloggers have noted deficiencies of this highwayman, while MnDOT has slowly released materials about the old, fallen I-35 bridge, but not the email showing what exactly the head highway man knew, and when he knew it. Negligence during his watch must, until the email trail is out, be assessed based on a "should have known" and "should have acted" standard - and some people are publishing that way. Along those lines, there is this site-specific Google of Crabgrass = tinklenberg MnDOT.