My tolerance for Mary Kiffmeyer is less than zero, but she's absolutely correct about the stadium bill coming out of conference committee significantly worse for taxpayers than it went in.
Posted by Michael Fraase | May 13, 2012 12:21 PM
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Hi, I am 78, a Korean War Vet who never went over to Korea. Had three older brothers in WW II. I don't like it when people make all these comments about some words and seem to get all pushed out of shape -for what? When I read the the comments, the first pesonal slur seemed to come from Mr. Kriesel. Read an article about him. Very complimentary. If Mr Kriesel called me a " liar " , as he did, without stating what the lie was, I would be ticked off. I looked for some specifics, and there were none.. Would like to have him answer that question. Wouldn't you? Do you want facts or all the usual , Oh you hurt my feelings, etc, ect. I don't know Mary that well, but I sure related to what she said about all the under the table BS that goeson and is not even found out until after the fact. Look yourself in the mirror and try to be honest with who you are Not nice, but be true with your self. Peace to you.
Posted by Don Wicklander | May 13, 2012 8:24 PM
The report itself, this link.
If Kriesel said more in his email, that should have been reported. If that was the full extent of his response, his response was inadequate and dismissive. Many agree with Kiffmeyer, and she forgot to mention, it was done to folks without a fair referendum because it was a minipulation of a "state tax" and not a municipal tax where the charter required a referendum. It was a deceit, and a deliberate and coarse way to disenfranchise people entitled to a referendum. The Marty amendment and how it was handled in the Senate vote/revote shameful sham is illustrative.
Every word of the Kiffmeyer email, from my reading of things and having watched most of the televised Senate session, is absolutely true, and an indictment of how Wilfare prevailed. Kiffmeyer is correct and deserves her critics noting it on the rare occasion when it happens. She's right. Kriesel is wrong, and he is but one of a host of legislative quitters who went with this thing on the way out, reading tea leaves about their future, etc., in light of the forces behind pushing Wilfare. Kiffmeyer is correct that it was uncourageous of Kriesel, uniess the truth is Kriesel was locked from the start in a belief that whatever the terms and compromised positions, Wilfare had to prevail becacuse Zygi would have moved the team and he thought that unsustainable. If he believed all that and voted accordingly, not to go with the flow and leave the legislature with "good relationships" cemented, then and only then would Kiffmeyer's final email be overreacting. But none of that stuff discredits the absolute truth of the original item Kiffmeyer authored. Spot-on, every word.
____________UPDATE_____________
More reporting, MinnPost, here. I agree with the tenor of Kriesel tweets as far as they suggest that the State would be better with Kiffmeyer out of office. But his is a personal and not a policy related beef with her. Replacing Kiffmeyer now seems particularly appealing because a strong DFL moderate, Paul Perovich, (a veteran like Kriesel but one not having seen combat ground duty - air combat not ground combat), is running against Kiffmeyer. I agree with the one reader comment ending by noting criticism of Kiffmeyer is due for her voter-ID mischief making, not for being honest about how a conference bill ended up worse in multiple material ways than the House or Senate version going into conference, and that if you voted for the thing you should be willing to stand and face an electorate after entering that vote.
Do read the comments as well as the MinnPost item.