Who is Robert Hageman, and what's in it for him?
He's a Michele Bachmann donor, this link. HufPo has donor info; GOP track record going back to Mark Kennedy days; this link. Claims to be with J & B Group. Manta calls the firm a non-bank holding company, and mentions Hageman on the same page; the J & B web page says they run meat trucks; and the SoS statement gives no registered agent.
What's Hageman's ownership and management status there, you tell me.
It's hard to find online info on what Hageman Foundation of Hope does with its money; etc.; e.g., this link.Same street address as the Columbo LP. Probably out of his home in Buffalo, MN. Wright and Sherburne counties, in MN 6, are the Bachmann stronghold, strangle hold on the rest of us, so far in the last two elections. Only one tax exempt in Buffalo at that address; however I'd bet Hageman is in on this P.O. Box thing too. I could not tie Hageman to EdWatch, but I did not try too hard. He's tight with Ron Carey as another Legacy Christian, formerly a Meadow Creek Christian, but there's been a name change. Christian ya betcha, do not doubt, they will tell you.
Elvig would like the project to not be a dead end. Literally, he would not want a "cul-de-sac" there and suggests a link to Puma Street, with road improvements there to the dirt road, perhaps. Jerry Bauer owns or used to own stuff in that general area. This, online, here:
Hageman Foundation, a million buck deal, at least. Numbers vary.
This google, for the Legacy Christians. Don't get all worked up about this tremendous addition to our place, just what Ramsey needs, since there are three sites in the stew and it appears the Legacy Christians, and/or Hageman, and or his limited partners and him, have an option on the Ramsey property - not title free and clear, keeping options open and not yet committed, not riding into town on a donkey come what may.
That's about all I can tell you, except the Legacy Christians have a sister school in Ukraine. I hope their sister school program turns out less eventful than the Ramsey sister city effort in China. That and the name Huizenga shows up in things - more uber-right GOP given the challenge to Abeler for the veto override vote. Birds of a feather flock together, the Carey family having things to say as Legacy Christians.
For more info, you tell me. In particular, what more do readers know about this Robert Hageman?
___________UPDATE___________
Here's one for readers - here's the Legacy pic of the existing campus - thirty acres, rented.
It looks to be a choice property on Bunker Lake Blvd. in Andover, and if the Christians become a historical legacy there, who owns, who profits, what differing use is at issue, and is there another Hegeman related LP at play on this hummer, tax sheltering possibilities and all such dimensions which often go with limited partnerships?
Is there any reader who knows about what the answers are?
See this link, about lease - ownership issues; and if there's state money put into leasing of premises; who is to say what is a fair lease vs. an abusive one, a sound price or an excessive one?
Another Strib item online here from about the same time states:
Legislation that would revamp the ways Minnesota charter schools can buy or construct buildings was approved Wednesday by the Senate.
A proposal introduced by Sen. Kathy Saltzman, DFL-Woodbury, passed on a 51-15 vote, she said.
State law prohibits charter schools from using state money to buy buildings, but that would change for schools that qualify under a new application process proposed by Saltzman.
The bill attempts to close loopholes that she and others say have led to abuses of state money that charter schools get to help pay their rent. Some schools have formed and paid rent to private, nonprofit companies that own school buildings, and critics say some of the projects have been financed with expensive junk bonds and received too little public oversight.
Among other changes, the legislation would create a public authority to decide which charter schools are on stable enough financial and academic footing to build or buy with state funding. It would also create a special state account to enhance the schools' credit, helping those that qualified to borrow money for building projects at lower interest rates.
And more Stirb, here:
Minnesota should rework its financial support of charter schools to prevent abuse and self-dealing by insiders and to stop traditional school districts from hoarding unused school buildings, a leading advocate of charter schools said Thursday.
Eugene Piccolo, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, said at a State Capitol hearing that changes are needed to protect the public's investment and ensure accountability in the fast-growing lease-aid program, which provides rental assistance to charter schools.
He presented a broad lease-aid reform proposal that would ensure state ownership of charter schools bought or built with state money if the school were to fail. Currently the facilities are owned by private nonprofit building corporations.
A Star Tribune investigation of the program revealed that some school founders benefited from questionable fees, and showed how charter school construction projects moved forward with little of the vetting that typically accompanies other public works.
Piccolo, whose organization represents 94 of the state's 150 charter schools, said building company board members and charter school officials should be banned from receiving payment in conjunction with the construction or acquisition of facilities.
He said the building companies should be required to follow the state's open meetings law and building company insiders should be banned from selling products or services to the building company.
Sen. Kathy Saltzman, D-Woodbury, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Charter Schools, congratulated Piccolo for speaking out against lease-aid abuses and said his list of suggested changes is "a great start'' for reforming a program currently costing taxpayers $40 million a year.
Another Strib item, this link. This Google.
I am not saying there's a thing I can point to as wrong about the Legacy Christian Academy, or under its earlier changed Meadow Creek Christian School label. I expect Kathy Saltzman would know, but I doubt she reads Crabgrass.
_____________UPDATE_____________
It is unclear whether the Legacy Christians are hiving or moving.
I am aware some in Ramsey have wanted to bully the Anoka Hennepin District 11 into building a high school in Ramsey, which the district, in its judgment, declines to do. I am unsure of what changes were passed in reaction to the charter school building abuse situation Strib reported.
I expect whatever the new system is, it could be gamed. The one Strib quote above mentioning that State-funded buildings would revert to State ownership upon failure of a venture; that's an open ticket to getting a school built in a place and manner a local school board deems unnecessary, and then tanking the thing as a charter, with a building then owned by the State and with consequent pressure possible on the local independent school district to not be independent, but manipulated.
Again, I know of no evidence of any such gaming in this instance. It would be underhanded, but that's not stopped Republicans with an agenda in the past. I think it would be unwise to undermine the independence of local school boards via any such scenario. Hence Ramsey officials should not be complicit, and should instead be specially vigilant, to avoid impropriety - or the appearance or possibility of impropriety. That's it in a nutshell. No evidence of wrongdoing, but enough of an aura to things that responsible city officials would tread carefully and vigilantly, in order to spot, and disarm or avoid possible pratfalls.