Sunday, February 03, 2008

June Cleaver on the Tinklenberg mess

The events yesterday were a lot of fun, I even bowled a 198 with BW and her family.

Evidently, people are starting to pay attention to the Tinklenberg posts here and at other blogs throughout the 6th CD. It's also evident that some are not very happy with what I am posting.

"You're not being fair to Elwyn."

"You're doing all the dirty work for Bachmann. We shouldn't be talking about this stuff. Shame on you."

"Loyal Democrats don't write what you're writing."

Heck, even June Cleaver left me a message on the ole cell phone.


"Blueman, aren't you being a little hard on the Tink?"

Well gee Mrs Cleaver, do you have any idea what Elwyn has been up to?

He's running for Congress Mrs Cleaver and well...we have reason to believe he hasn't been completely honest about his record.

He's running on his record as the Commissioner of MnDOT and our state's largest daily publication ran a 5 part expose' on his time there. Violations of labor law, no-bid contracts, and cronyism seem to have played a big role in his nearly 4 years at MnDOT.

You can check those stories out right here!

Here are the links to the series, read them for yourself.

Not as impressive as we once thought!

"Blueman, I'm starting to get a little worried about the Tink."

Golly Mrs Cleaver, that's nothing compared to all the money he's gotten from small towns like Mayfield.

Albertville Minnesota really thought they were hiring a lobbyist to work on the I-94 issue through town, but apparently, Elwyn says he's not a federal lobbyist.

"Boy Blueman, I bet they'll be surprised when they find that out!" Indeed they will...indeed they will...

Gee Mrs. Cleaver, Elk River even has it noted in the checks they paid Elwyn and his Group, "Federal Funding Services."

In 2005 they paid (according to public records I could find): $42,965.83
2006: $29,187.17
2007: $8,900 (not certain all info from 2007 is posted yet)

"Wow Blueman, how can some random Group collect $81,053 in money from the City of Elk River over the past few years for "Federal Funding Services" when they aren't a Federal Lobbyist?"

"What did they get for this money?"

No Federal Funding that we can find Mrs Cleaver.

In May of 2005, the City of Elk River wrote a check to The Tinklenberg Group for $9,385.28, for lodging, meals, and airfare. I wonder where they went Mrs. Cleaver?

And that's the problem Mrs. Cleaver. We can't seem to get a straight answer out of Elwyn. One day he's pro-life, the next day he's pro-choice. One day he supports the party endorsement, the next day he would appear to not support the party endorsement.

Some delegates may even fall for Elwyn's ploy asking for an "open and fair" endorsement process, supporting him not because he's a good candidate, but supporting him because they do not want to see a primary in the 6th.  They also support him, well, because of the "crew he runs with".

"Well Blueman, this Elwyn guy seems to be as shady as that Eddie Haskell. I'd be willing to bet that Eddie couldn't even get the DFL index in the 6th.

Correct Mrs. Cleaver, I fear that with all this baggage Eddie, errr Elwyn has, we'd lose this race in an embarrassing fashion.

So, am I being a little hard on the Tink?

If they cannot withstand what Blueman is dishing out, the Tinklenberg Campaign will have a pretty difficult time taking a full punch from Bachmann and the other groups that will take Elwyn's record and put $5 million in television ads behind it.

The delegates deserve a right to know about Elwyn's public record. Stifling debate and working to shut dissenters up just pushes us to be more vocal and to dig even deeper.

People are trying to shut us up because, well, we're onto something here.

Everything we are talking about here is a matter of public record.  Searching city council records, check registers, and other public documents available via this funny thing called the world wide web, make this info relatively easy to find.

"Now Blueman, was this guy really a Methodist minister?  Seriously, the last thing we need is an Eddie Haskell taking delegates away from a truly progressive candidate."

Indeed Mrs Cleaver...it's definitely the last thing we need.




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