Elwyn Tinklenberg and his conflicting statements

This is what riles me up about politicians. People we are supposed to represent us in Congress and other legislative bodies but are inconsistent with what they say.

Elwyn Tinklenberg has had a few You Tube moments recently.

At the November 15th forum at St Cloud State University, Tinklenberg stated his intentions on the endorsement.

From the SC Times.

The DFL race would appear to be up to party delegates to decide, as Tinklenberg, who had avoided saying he would abide by the party's endorsement process earlier, appeared to commit Thursday.

"I supported the party's endorsed candidate before," he said of his 2006 endorsement loss to Patty Wetterling. "I will certainly do that again."

Olson reiterated his previous commitment to abide by the endorsement process.

Yet, on December 13th at the SD 19 DFL meeting in Buffalo, Elwyn had this to say about the endorsement.

"We will honor the endorsement if it is an honorable and straight forward process."

Which left many potential delegates asking the question, "What, what does that mean?"

Elwyn came back with "We will honor the endorsement if it is an honorable and fair process."

Did he change his mind?

Did he say that because the room in Buffalo contained fewer Democrats than St Cloud?

Did he say that because no local press attended?

Why the change of heart?

Why the ambiguity in his previous statements?

It's quite clear to me that Tinklenberg has no intention of abiding by the DFL endorsement, if earned by Bob Olson.

Another interesting moment occurred in Buffalo at that meeting. A concerned activist wanted to know about Congress and lobby reform. Olson gave a one sentence answer and then, in rather witty fashion, said, "I'll direct the question to the only lobbyist in the room".

Elwyn turned a nice shade of red.

His answer struck me hard. He quickly retorted that "we do not lobby at the Federal Level". He went on to discuss working to get "the money out of politics". Advocating strongly for public financing of campaigns.

I think most of us agree on that.

But it left me wondering, does the Tinklenberg Group and/or Elwyn lobby at the Federal level?

My gut told me yes...after all, how do you get lobbyist fundraisers in Washington without being connected to lobbyists.

But I digress.

I obtained a copy of Elwyn Tinklenberg's AFSCME screener, from an anonymous source.

It answers my question fully...while once again providing a completely different answer in public.

From the screener:

"I am currenly president of The Tinklenberg Group, a consultancy which specializes in transportation, marketing and public relations. Among my clients was the United States Department of Transportation where I worked with the Office of the Secretary and the surface modal administrations on a review of the organization and focus of the Intelligent Transportation Systems programs of the Joint Programs Office."

Wow, sounds like he lobbies or lobbied at the Federal level to me.

And this is what people despise about politicians. Answers to straight forward questions that distort the truth, telling people what they want to hear as opposed to reality.

I'll reiterate this again, this is why I so strongly support Bob Olson. I have not seen nor heard him waver on the issues, he is not a political jellyfish.