The public deserves to know the channel that this politician used to get his mits on the cash. Who greased skids when as that linked item and the commentators there note, legitimate non fru-fru businesses, many of long standing, were not easily getting SBA money. At all, not to mention to the tune of half a mil.
That was Bushco years, Pawlenty years, Nienow chum Bachmann in Congress, and --
Hummmm. In The News needs updating. No acacamps.org press release, for January 2014. Interestingly, the press picked up the news even absent a press release.
_____________UPDATE______________
Rounding up posting links, even to the extent of being cumulative - here, this quote:
LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS – SENATOR S NIENOW SAYS HARD WORKING TAXPAYERS ALL PAY MORE FOR WASTEFUL GOVERNMENT SPENDING
$3 billion in new government spending makes Minnesota’s budget the largest in state history
May 21, 2013
[...] "If you remember one thing about this legislative session, it’s that every hard working taxpayer will pay more in higher taxes for increased wasteful and inefficient government spending under the Democrats’ plan. Minnesotans deserve a budget that protects hardworking taxpayers, not abuses them," said Senator Nienow.
[...] Senator Nienow continued, "Why did the Democrat Majority raise $2.1 billion in new taxes to remedy a $627 million deficit? We can – and should- be doing a better job for taxpayers to make sure state government is more efficient and effective. We don’t need to spend more, we need to spend smarter."
SBA, yes, needed to spend smarter. There is little doubt there. Spent really dumb, giving the Nienows money.
.................
Here, stating
This is the guy whose claim to fame is his “fiscal responsibility with the tax payers money”. He likes to preach about using “The same common sense money management used by families and businesses is also necessary with the state budget.”
Let's see. That would be sell the bonds, don't redeem them? Same post, continuing:
Nienow claims to be a “consultant” as his career, and he is named as “adviser” to “National Summer Camp Association” in an article on picking camps:
National Camp Association staff members such as Mr. Nienow offer free advice to any parent looking to choose a camp. A visit to www.summercamp.org puts the reader in touch with a variety of articles and tips on the camp-selection process.
Well, not exactly. A visit to www.summercamp.org now says:
The website you were trying to reach is temporarily unavailable.
Please check back soon.
If you are the owner of this website, please log in for additional
information or contact us as soon as possible.
Enough, and moving on - Sorensen who has a follow-up post to her earlier item on Nienow's loan default headlines a Nienow observation, "Federal money doesn't grow on trees!" Can you say, dork? Does the term fit?
..................
Brian Lambert's Glean offers [link and bolding in original]:
At the PiPress, David Hanners takes a bite of the Sean Nienow story, saying: “In a civil complaint filed against the Cambridge Republican, the SBA says Nienow and his wife signed for a loan in January 2009, stopped making the $7,500-a-month payments 18 months later and now owe more than $748,337 when the principal, administrative costs and other amounts are tallied. … Records filed with the Minnesota secretary of state show the business was incorporated May 29, 2008, with 200,000 shares. … The January 2009 loan documents show the Nienows secured the loan with a deed of trust on their home in Cambridge. The real estate website Zillow.com values the four-bedroom, 114-year-old home at $128,873.” $128K to secure $748K! 2005 is back.
Tell me again, since repeating makes it more believable, the family was creditworthy and politics had nothing to do with that business plan, to those folks, with that collateral, in that amount. Sure. He, the wife, the eight kids; and what was the annual family income at the time of the loan?
Most importantly, what did they do with, where did they stash, all that money?
That's what needs some sunshine. Where did the money go?
____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Well, silly questions there. He spent it on charity:
December 19, 2013 at 1:05 pm -- by State Sen. Sean Nienow
[...] Last week, while in Saint Paul for various advisory committee meetings, I was approached by a homeless man asking for money. In the hustle of a demanding life I was tempted to give him the money and keep walking on. Instead, I invited him to come with me to a nearby store, where I bought his lunch and visited with him. I bet I don’t have to tell you who was more blessed by the experience.
My family and I, along with many wonderful people, have been preparing for the performance of the play, “A Christmas Carol.” It has certainly been a reminder to all of us what this season is about. Many people find the holidays to be difficult. The loss of loved ones, jobs, or the reminder of past, painful memories can make this a difficult time of year for some. Kindness is a gift we can all give. It often seems to be a gift that gives so much more in return.
Have you read much that is any more pompous?
Buy a homeless man lunch. Deny it is a government responsibility, since, how do you pat yourself on the back by doing your job having government meet its responsibilities? Sean, you are so full of it that it's running out your ears.
FURTHER UPDATE: This LTE.
The story makes it to the Finger Lakes region of New York, the area where Joe Smith dug up, translated, and reburied the gold tablets. Bet you did not know that. Around Ithaca, New York, Cornell University. Moroni helped. As a bonus, a trenchant comment to that post, so be sure to not overlook it.
NOW - Enough, on the pipsqueak. More than he merits.
That Bob Cull has a nice website. E.g., this. UPDATE: That site is not Cull's singular responsibility, but involves a number of like-minded posting persons - who may from time to time disagree with one another but in general are like-minded. In concept, it reminds me of MPP, MN Progressive Project, this site
http://mnprogressiveproject.com/
_____________FINAL UPDATE_____________
Moving on from outrage at the brick mind of Nienow, and how he has dissipated taxpayer money in a possibly craven way but certainly foolishly, it is helpful to look at the big picture.
What is the duty of the U.S. Attorney, besides suing on the note? The answer seems clear. The U.S. Attorney and the SBA Inspector General need to both trace where the money went, but also to examine the genesis of it going as it did to Nienow; i.e., how this outrageous loan was ever made. The politics of it, which bank or SBA local consultant played what role, lift every rock and examine what's crawling under it since true fiscal conservatives and progressives have to agree: government failed big time, in this Sean Nienow adventure.
Next, part of the correct equation of what government is about, was there violation of any criminal statute? Did the Nienow family, in effect, defraud the government out of taxpayer money, and if so who should be punished? That question is apart from tightening lax procedures and purging politics from who gets SBA money and who gets denied (a question akin to the New Jersey Hoboken-Chris Christie scenario of how Hurricane Sandy money is or might have been criminally leveraged to favor some private real estate adventurer - developers, after all, being crabgrass).
After such seeking out of any crime in things and punishing it, an act ideally serving to deter other potential Nienow-type adveturers - the craven ones not the dumb-as-a-brick ones; what after that?
Pause, and sigh over how anyone could vote for the brick, and move on because dumbness in an electorate is a sin beyond salvation.
Last, there is a stable marriage, two spouses together in a modest home, who inadvisedly have placed eight more people on an overpopulated planet, but these are actual people, not less, living breathing folks whose basic needs do not differ from those of us who own sporting teams or have fortunes that have grown out of millinery retail business. Three squares and a flop, as the saying goes. That basic. Public schooling, so the children grow up as right minded citizens understanding of something useful, somehow, as opposed to only experiencing ineffectiveness in their childhood. The government owes them a safety net. Not another lump sum amount put at risk, that's a proven bad idea, but ongoing support simply as persons in need in a civil society where people are banded together into something we call government. It is not a responsibility of private charity. It is a government responsibility in what still is the most prosperous nation on earth to care for anyone in need, within that society. It is not for churches, nor for foundations to arbitrarily assume such a responsibility. If they care to help, they do good and merit praise for that, but any such situation does not disarm the actuality - government has a duty to the less fortunate within its reach and jurisdiction. That is a simple and fundamental truth of a welfare state; and anything less then a welfare state is an inhumane imposition. Anything that misuses taxpayer money from such a duty, to diversion on hare-brained adventuring by a brick, is in need of retuning.
But public shaming in this instance, a metaphorical cucking stool thing, IS clearly merited. Nienow needs all the disapprobation and scorn he may experience, for this abuse of governmental wealth. Both for how he postured, mainly that, but also for how he blew through or squirreled away a half million of taxpayer money while showing a distasteful lack of caritas toward gay people and those voting in ways he did not like, while being accorded a seat at the table of exercise of power. He misused the public trust in many ways. As a public figure, not as a private citizen. He shamelessly has issued a statement through his publicly funded office that his private SBA situation should be viewed apart from and independent of his handling a public trust. That is so clueless, so impossible to sell as in any way credible, that you can see how he thought the hare-brained business model would end up any differently than it did. He has no sense of - sense. People like that, especially when banded together and given a vote, are very dangerous. Dumb as a brick IS inherently dangerous. Nienow. Those who voted for him. Wow.
The rest of us deserve better.
SORRY. YET ONE MORE UPDATE: Nienow has a LinkedIn page. Among other stuff there, it indicates he is grouped and associated with MINNESOTA COMMONSENSE CONSERVATIVES. A google yields, among other stuff, that body's glaringly red homepage, a Blogspot free webpage that has been essentially moribund since 2012, wherein an October 2012 archive includes an endorsement, stating among other things -
Minnesota Senate (32) - Sean Nienow (R). I cannot think of a better representative to give his constituents a full understanding of what St Paul's "inside baseball" looks like. This man knows the way it works and has no problem pointing out the issues. A true champion for the tax payer. Sean fought tooth and nail against the wasteful spending in our state managed healthcare system. That alone deserve your vote.
[italics emphasis added] Have I already said enough about mental bricks supporting other bricks being a danger? Yes.
Or is that website guilty of a priority of propaganda, with craven disregard for truth?
Okay, end of post.