But, more Tinklenberg? Yikes.
Did I mention sandburs?
Why does Jim Deal like having Elwyn Tinklenberg as what, a cutout?
But then others have been entrusted with making such "did I mention sandburs?" consultancy decisions, for the good of the citizens. Ostensibly for that. Those others, they faced an electorate, all that.
But, Tinklenberg?
ABC reports:
The council Sept. 23 on a 6-0 vote, with Councilmember Randy Backous absent, approved extending the city’s contract with Elwyn Tinklenberg’s The Tinklenberg Group to Nov. 7. This decision costs the city $6,700.
Excluding this new contract, the city has paid $71,200 to date for consulting fees with Tinklenberg. The new contract will bring the total to $78,700, according to Finance Director Diana Lund.
“Until that ground is broken and the governor is out here with a hard hat on and with a shovel, I think it’s important to keep (Tinklenberg) on board and make sure it happens,” Council Member Jason Tossey said.
[...] “I believe the project will get done. Local stakeholders need to keep an eye on it, myself included,” [Andover resident and Republican state Sen. Branden] Petersen said.
Tossey said had it not been for Tinklenberg closely following the funding status of this project, the city may have not been aware what was happening until it was too late.
Mayor Sarah Strommen and Council Members John LeTourneau and Chris Riley echoed Tossey’s comments of wanting to make sure this project is a go before ending a working relationship that started in February 2013.
“I think we’ll make it, but he has proven there are issues,” Council Member Chris Riley said. “My concern is I don’t know if there will ever be an end to this contract, but at the same time, I don’t think now is the time to stop.”
Tinklenberg also continues to work with the Counties Transportation Improvement Board on finalizing its grant contribution. He heard it is considering giving the city a $10.2 million grant. With this money, the $8 million from the state bonding bill and a $10 million federal TIGER grant and a $10 million Corridor Investment Management Strategy state grant, the county and city would be covered for its estimated $35 million interchange.
[...] “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need any consultants,” Tossey said.
I already voted absentee. I voted Williams. Another EDA person elevated to a council seat. Another lesser evil situation. Where everyone has a vote, and every vote is a guess and a hope.
If the election goes the other way, Buchholz elected; Ramsey will not fall to ruin. Buchholz is not disaster, just closer in appearance to Matt Look and to prior ties with and support of Lazan and some since unelected council parsons than I'd favor. However, that's an impression and we often make decisions based upon impressions and available but incomplete evidence when best and complete evidence on a question is in the hands of others and they do not choose to directly and publicly share it.
You have circumstances. You draw inferences. Choosing between Williams and Buchholz for a council seat is not that extreme a decision that Ramsey's entire future rests on the outcome of a single seat choice between these two candidates. Yet, in a "perfect world" with that being an ABC quoted term from Tossey, the choice would be different.
I had previously favored Hendriksen as the better independent and unaligned candidate vs. Towberman, who had that same status; with Williams an EDA insider and Buchholz a Republican inner party functionary and convention attendee; part of giving us McFadden and MacDonald. And Emmer. And there is Wayne, Maria, and that gross and offensive kid's tee shirt; as well as the massive in kind discount for Look's printed merchantable and fit for purposes red signs when orange as a favored color was offered as explanation for roughly $1700 worth of signs being billed by Look to Buchholz at $275. I am uncomfortable with those circumstances.
Bitter medicine whichever prescription you take. However you swallow it. Enjoy casting your vote.
_____________UPDATE_____________
Tinklenberg now registers and reports as the lobbyist he currently is. Question: with all those goose-eggs on the report, where's Ramsey's money going/gone? Or need I ask?
[click a thumbnail to enlarge and read]
Obviously back in 2008 while pursuing a candidacy for Congress, CD6, Tinklenberg was not registered as a lobbyist and the CFB looked at the question and concluded he was not one, then. It is res judicata, in that sense. It is the last and only CFB complaint I have filed and will ever file. If anybody makes or made in 2014 a formal complaint to the CFB or any other formal government entity, it was not me. I have come to believe the forum of public awareness and opinion exchange, the give and take there, weighs more fairly on such things as might arguably be grist for the formal complaint mills around, such as they are. I cannot find much difference between rail advocacy in 2008 and road lobbying in 2014 but there must be some, or else the CFB back then would have ruled differently.
In the words of Jimi Hendrix, RIP, "Are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced? I have." Please do not ask me who I voted for, CD6, that 2008 election cycle. That's why we have secret ballots.