Jim Norman
Owner, Norman & Associates
Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area
* Contact Directly
* Get introduced through a connection
Current * Owner at Norman & Associates
Past * Associate at The Tinklenberg Group
Education *** Minnesota State University, Mankato
Connections *** 2 connections
Industry ***Government Relations
Jim Norman’s Experience
*** Owner -- Norman & Associates
(Government Relations industry)
February 2007 — Present (10 months)
*** Associate
The Tinklenberg Group
(Government Relations industry)
2007 — 2007 (less than a year)
Jim Norman’s Education
* Minnesota State University, Mankato - 1973 — 1977
The photo is from City of Ramsey days, that James Norman for certain, from before he did any blonding of the hair, pictured in front of that dreadfully stupid signboard that gets left around city hall (past and present), and is tacky, bad propaganda that should have been given back to Bruce Nedegaard and the RTC LLC affiliated design crew well before the man died last fall.
That above text beside and under the photo is from linkedin, a web-community networking thing, I suppose.
It is a mystery but not a mystery - since the connection of Norman noted with lobbyist El Tinklenberg matches with the two of them as attendees at the Feb. 6, 2007, Rogers-Dayton-Hassan Township joint meeting over road and land development - a Crabgrass session. That was where lobbyist Tinklenberg apparently had Hassan Mainstreet LLC interests to advance, along with The Beard Group, present on behalf of the Stone's Throw dense housing + mixed use effort (competitive for new housing buyers in today's slumping market with the Ramsey Town Center dense housing + mixed use thing we're saddled with, thanks in large measure to James Norman, including the moving of city hall without any referendum on the wretched excess represented by that $19.2 million bonding-and-spending spree).
But if the "Jim Norman & Associates" individual is our ex-City Administrator - there is the mystery -- why that extensive course of dealing and experience is not listed and touted.
If it is the ex-Ramsey James Norman, who are those "Two connections?"
It does make sense that lobbyist Tinklenberg would affiliate James Norman onto his cash-business. Both have governmental "experience" related to the type of thing being proposed in Hassan Township & environs; and there's a massive roadway interchange project associated with Stone's Throw. It was while James Norman headed Ramsey's city staff that the City's consultancy contract was inked with The Tinklenberg Group - related to transportation issues of mapping and arranging buy-out terms and conditions along Highway 10 in Ramsey.
Sometimes it is not easy to scratch everywhere on one's back. An old saying arose from that fact. Friends help friends, and there has been woofing about "The Good Ol’ Boy network is alive and well."
And then this, from City of Oakdale Sept. 11, 2007, meeting minutes, p.2:
OPEN FORUM
Mayor Sarrack opened the meeting up to the audience at this time.
Jim Norman introduced himself as the Interim Coordinator for the NorthEast Suburban Transit organization.
No other comments were heard.
If the most current NorthEast Suburban Transit info shows a James Norman in the NEST, that way, it is transit funded status - linked to Metropolitan Council, who the ex-Ramsey James Norman helped sell flushes, and MnDOT which lobbyist El Tinklenberg headed in the past and used as a springboard for his private-sector consultancy; The Tinklenberg Group - which does not rely upon its website to make its sales. A site like that is squatting on turf, locking in the name and little else. How long has Tinklenberg Group been on the consultancy payroll of Ramsey? And, that long and the website's still under construction? Huh? Why?
[UPDATE: Web search revealed here, that already in Sept. 2004, The Tinklenberg Group had its talons into the Ramsey fisc (i.e., was on a consulting contract) while his MnDOT resignation was Oct. 2002, so, unless the consultancy contract was in place well before that news article, at least the tires cooled from driving north from St. Paul before the consultancy in Ramsey was in place. A whois indicated El Tinklenberg as contact person, with the site registered April 8, 2004 (and no WayBack archive record) so within a half year of staking out the web name, Tinklenberg Group was in the press as a Ramsey consultant -&- news source.]
Go figure. Something sells Tinklenberg Group consultancy goods, and sells services of lobbyist El Tinklenberg, besides the quality of the website. What that is, is something known to Tinklenberg and those buying goods and services, but unknown to me.
I cannot see a single reason to hire or rely on the man for anything.
Yet the sale has been big-time and wide-ranging.
_______________________
And with Beard Group fronting for the money people behind that Stone's Throw promotion, wouldn't it be interesting to know precisely whose money is behind Stone's Throw, and behind Hassan Mainstreet LLC, the client of lobbyist El Tinklenberg? You can bet the GOP will be interested in whose money it is, if lobbyist Tinklenberg gets the DFL endorsement ahead of clean-energy advocate, Bob Olson of St. Cloud; in the Minnesota Sixth District DFL caucuses when they pick the candidate to challenge GOP incumbent Michele Bachmann, whose campaign donor listings provide separate fodder for a host of "whose money" questionings.
The Tinklenberg Group's contract with Ramsey involved appraisal and other effort, for example, per RESOLUTION # HRA-05-09-004 in the Ramsey online documents, whereby the then council [pre 2006 election] sitting wearing their Housing Redevelopment Authority hats voted to have the CITY via HRA:
[...] establish a Redevelopment Project Area as described herein the Redevelopment Project Area in connection with the acquisition of certain properties for right-of-way purposes described as
Lots 2 and 3 Block 1 Deal Industrial Park Anoka County Minnesota
and adopting the Redevelopment Plan for the Redevelopment Project Area the Plan all pursuant to and in conformity with applicable law.
And if you on first blush, like me, think that meant millions of tax dollars [RALF tax money] going to Jim Deal, well, not exactly.
The story is more involved than that, and it may be the subject of a later separate Crabgrass posting and examination.