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Sunday, January 20, 2008

A half-year ago in summer when it was not twenty below, El Tinklenberg was heating it up in East Bethel. Touting his Ramsey "consulting."



Whether standing or not, somebody delivered for Tinklenberg, in response to his loading his own sack a little with Ramsey cash. And El Tinklenberg was touting that at East Bethel - as cause for them to see his sack still had some room left.

And, hey, we are not Tom DeLay's Texas, we're Minnesota. So it is not who you know or who knows you, it's how you fill the forms out.

No joke. Tink says so.

And you can take that to the bank, or is that the wrong figure of speech?

Tinklenberg Group - real good at filling out those forms - but apparently with no time or inclination to put much info on the website beyond contact info. Busy with those forms I suppose.

Here are the July 18, 2007 East Bethel work session minutes, three pages cut into jpg image files. Click any image to enlarge it to read, or open them up in separate browser tabs/windows.




Which of those final two paragraphs on p.1 do you think occupies El's own time? My bet is when that touted experience is built, talking to legislators at all government levels, and they ask about what support you've got, it is not Amanda Vickstrom in there schmoozing, but Tink himself. Not being there myself, it is only a guess.

And well, that sure sounds like lobbying to me.

Perhaps the minutes are in error. I could not say, I was not there. But the usual process is all those who were there, on council, read and approve minutes - and that means a consensus the minutes are not in error.

Registered lobbying? That I do not know. But going in and schmoozing up a client's stuff to those with an appropriations vote - if not lobbying what is that called - filling out forms, redux? I don't think so.

And that bit, p.2, about "some things outside the federal appropriations we could work on," isn't the implication that the primary hinge of things IS inside the federal appropriations, and that is the Oberstar committee - a name that directly or indirectly apparently keeps arising.

When Amanda Vickstrom is not doing her cracker-jack job filling out forms, she is not wasting Tinklenberg Group time. Instead, a year ago, for example, she was on the road in Pine County with El, hustling more Tinklenberg Group cash flow, this time on Duluth-to-Twin-Cities rail possibilities.

Mr. Tinklenberg spoke on commuter rail stating that the present Burlington Northern Santa Fe line is rated a Class III line, maximum speed of 55 mph, which could easily be upgraded to a Class IV line for passenger service which is rated 75-79 mph. Mr. Tinklenberg stated that the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line has had unrivaled success and public response, the rail carried 1 million passengers in the month of August (2006) alone. Mr. Tinklenberg stated they are coalescing support now to develop a corridor group to steer efforts, planning and engineering and the next issues would involve generating a Joint Powers Board agreement and combined participation in a technical feasibility study. Ken Buehler presented giving the history of the rail track and Union Depot in Duluth. Mr. Buehler stated that the Depot closed in 1969, but in its last 12 months there were 100,000 passengers through its doors. Mr. Buehler stated the proposed “Northern Express” rail line which would connect with the Hiawatha, Northstar and Central Corridor has secured 50% of funding needs for its initial study. Coordinator Stieben questioned contributions from any anticipated Joint Powers Board members clarifying that they would be responsible to subsidize the project. Mr. Tinklenberg stated that Amtrak’s Program 403B is the agreement with the State for appropriations. Mr. Tinklenberg stated the breakdown for the Northstar project being 50% Federal, 33% State and 17% local (Anoka, Sherburne and Hennepin Counties) funds. Coordinator Stieben questioned ridership numbers. Mr. Tinklenberg stated there will be a number of other stations, which have not been chosen yet. Mr. Ongaro stated efforts will focus on the first phase, which is first priority is inter-city rail, being much less expensive and the second phase being the evolution of commuter rail. Mr. Tinklenberg stated he would return to the Board in the near future with a draft of the Joint Powers Agreement.


Amanda Vickstrom was there. The minutes say so, even though it looks as if she did little of the talking. I have seen now two other names besides El Tinklenberg, as Tinklenberg Group personnel. For all I know it is him and seven dwarves. The only one seeming to do the talking, being quoted most frequently in the public in the course of hustling business opportunity, is Tinklenberg himself. Although Vickstrom was the contact person for a "presentation" I suppose you'd call it, per Larry Schumacher's blog:

Posted: 9/17/2007 at 3:17 PM

I got a postcard invitation to a forum next month hosted by the Tinklenberg Group, his transportation lobbying and consulting firm.

It's called "How local governments can advance transportation projects" and it's scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 25 at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

It says the forum is hosted and organized by "north metro transportation advocates" and mentions the (U.S. Highway) 10/169 Corridor Coalition.