A spokesman for DEED says Greater MSP "took on the task of compiling Minnesota's response and submitting it to Amazon." But not to the state of Minnesota: The same spokesman says the state government has "only two documents" that are part of the bid; the rest is a private affair between Amazon and Greater MSP.
And they're not in a sharing mood, either. Greater MSP wouldn't give out documents or details because it entered a non-disclosure agreement with Amazon. How convenient.
Minnesota's state government sure seems to trust Greater MSP. Should you?
Organized as a 501(c)3, Greater MSP is a public-private hybrid. The $6 million budget Greater MSP reported on its 2016 tax filing, the most recent available, show $530,000 of that went to CEO Michael Langley, and five other staffers also drew six-figure salaries. (The nonprofit employs 21 people total, according to a recent Star Tribune report.) That was actually a pay cut for Langley, whose total 2015 compensation package was north of $800,000.
At least some of that's being paid for with taxpayer funds: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hennepin County, and Dakota County have each pitched in with annual contributions of $100,000-plus, while Anoka County chipped in with $75,000. These public pay-ins account for about a fifth of Greater MSP's annual budget.
Greater MSP's leadership is a who's who of large local corporations: Richard Davis and Tim Welsh, both higher-ups at US Bank, currently serve as Greater MSP's co-chairs, and its list of "directors" includes big shots from Wells Fargo, the Minnesota Vikings, General Mills, Xcel Energy, Land O'Lakes, and Ecolab.
But also among Greater MSP's directors are Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, plus members of county boards throughout the Twin Cities metro area, and University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler.
Do any of those people, all of them elected, appointed, or hired in a public capacity, know what Minnesota just offered Jeff Bezos and Amazon? Would they care to share? Or is this the sort of information we only entrust to bankers?
It surely sounds like "Father Knows Best," and the children need know nothing beyond that. Is this government at its best? Or less?
And the main strange dimension of the thing; all those corporate ties City Pages discloses; and no Cargill? Is there some Ozian wizard in things, with Cargill membership but more "deep state" secret than our federal "deep state" of which we hear, but do not see?
This websearch, so see if it's all puff on the web, or if there is any substantial info in the return list.
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| Online Kaepernick image, this link. |
Perhaps we one lil' vote folks should just shut up and love how money moves in mysterious ways.
Perhaps not.
Like they tell the unemployed quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, shut-the-fuck-up and salute-the-fucking-flag.
Perhaps Kaepernick has an insight powers wish to keep constrained in back-burner repose. Perhaps not. Ask Goldman Sachs?
___________UPDATE___________
After saying, "Bravo, City Pages, for kicking up some dust," and in light of those years-ago commercials, "Bo knows . . ." there is cause to note, "City Pages knows Crabgrass." There is little mystery in how that money is moving; with the lil' folks finding themselves moving.
_________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Tune time.
__________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Cargill did make the big list; this link:
https://www.greatermsp.org/partner-with-us/investors/
This list:
Thank you to the following GREATER MSP Investors for your generous support and partnership.
It’s only because of the generosity of our Investors that GREATER MSP continues to bring our mission to life: accelerating job growth and capital investment in the region by effectively telling our story to key decision makers across the country, retaining and attracting top talent, and working with our partners to ensure our sectors of strength continue to grow and emerge as global leaders.
_____________FURTHER UPDATE______________
I still await a suitable genius to tweet the answer.
Again, the question has absolutely nothing to do with the remainder of this post, which only discusses aspects of suitable social cohisiveness in action, and not fascism.
Incidently, did Pete Hegseth have difficulty throwing that ax because of all the sticks tied around the Hegseth ax? Perhaps a genius may tweet an answer to that speculation too.
____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Some online items: Pom-pom shakers. Touting a role in Wilfare. Placing each against the others for subsidy perks. Early effort. Pioneer Press, reporting:
Then on Dec. 15, Prime informed employees that it was likely consolidating most of its Minnesota offices in 410,000 square feet of new office space near their existing Eagan location. A preliminary, nonbinding agreement with United Properties calls for employees to transition to the new campus as buildings come online from 2018 to 2020.
“This is where we start reaching out to the city and bringing them in,” said Brian Holmes, vice president of real estate and facilities for Prime. “I would say the majority of our employee base is already in Eagan.” Holmes said, however, the city of Eagan is not offering tax incentives at the new site, and he declined to specify the exact location.
Several of the company’s existing Minnesota locations — including Edina and Mendota Heights — likely will be shuttered, though a Bloomington site will remain open.
“We haven’t made any announcements yet,” said Karen Lyons, a spokeswoman for the company.
Greater MSP had helped introduce Prime to a number of metro cities during the process. The news about consolidating in Eagan came as little surprise in Minneapolis, but a suspicion of being treated as the dupe in a flirtatious facade has had unintended consequences.
City officials in Minneapolis earlier this month chose to stop paying all but a token amount of dues to Greater MSP. Minneapolis Council member Lisa Goodman, who represents downtown and some of the neighborhoods around it, called it “distasteful” to get cities to bid against each other for existing jobs, and inaccurate to call that economic development.
In response, Greater MSP officials have said they were instrumental in getting the Super Bowl to come to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in 2018 and in Wells Fargo’s decision to open a $300 million office tower in the same neighborhood, but Goodman is skeptical.
Super Bowl? BFD?
Wells Fargo? The bogus customer account inflation mongers? Wow!
Finance & Commerce, reporting:
All that development, Coleman said, has come largely without the two cities competing with each other for projects or to attract new businesses. It’s an approach he said he and former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak started encouraging about a decade ago, and then reinforced when the two cities helped found Greater MSP in 2013, he said.
The value of the group came under fire in December when the Minneapolis City Council approved only $10,000 of a $125,000 annual donation to Greater MSP. The money is being directed to an in-house business development position. Earlier this month, members of the St. Paul City Council also questioned the value of what the group brings to their city but did not reduce the $125,000 contribution.
Those questions are important, Coleman said, but should be weighed against the gains the cities have made by promoting themselves nationwide as a unified region.
“Regionalism still matters,” he said. “We can’t get back to the point where we’re competing against each other.”
About 450 people attended the event, now in its 11th year. Sponsors were the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce and the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.
Peter McDermott, CEO of Minneapolis-based plastics manufacturer MDI, asked the mayors whether their cities will support Greater MSP in the future. Hodges said she will “make a case” for more funding for the organization. Coleman said Greater MSP’s “value is strong” and that the city should continue to support it financially.
Greater MSP received $5.83 million in contributions and grants from member cities and businesses in 2015, according to the most recent IRS Form 990 available. Employee salaries accounted for about 44 percent of the organization’s expenses in 2015. CEO Michael Langley’s 2015 salary was $515,000 plus a one-time $299,000 payment that was an incentive for him to finish a five-year contract, a spokeswoman said in December.
Beyond Greater MSP, both mayors portrayed their cities as places that appeal in their own rights and as part of a region. Hodges said Minneapolis is looking ahead to a year of “awesomeness” that includes a Super Bowl game next January and stops by the X Games in 2017 and 2018.
Part of Hodges' "awesomeness" was losing her reelecton bid. Besides Greater MSP being a big money suction system, what else? Does another Finance and Commerce item move your belief system either way?
Greater MSP itself, touting its staff. Are you impressed?
Strib, here, here, and here.
Last and most comprehensive, http://www.publicrecordmedia.org/examining-greater-msp/
Then, back to the post's opening City Pages analysis of secretive Greater MSP - Amazon bid hijinks. If ever usreful at all, has Greater MSP outlived its residual usefulness? And is the trading off of one city against others in seeking a lowest common denominator of subsidy perks to lure one local venture from one place to another within the Greater MSP regional cash contributor pool at all a public benefit?