Today, at last, former 6th Ward city council member Dean Zimmermann goes on trial for alleged corruption.
His supporters have been chanting the "innocent until proven guilty" mantra ever since his home was raided last September. Soon they will stop. Zimmermann will likely be found guilty--the Strib reports that 90 percent of Federal cases result in conviction, and the feds say that they have Z on video and audio tape negotiating to receive bribes.
My first impression of Zimmermann was formed at the Ralph Nader rally at the Target Center in 2000, where approximately 11,000 people paid to see the presidential candidate. Somewhere in the middle of the overly long program, Zimmermann, and Cam Gordon the present 2nd Ward council member, shook the audience down for money, badgering the crowd. Some gave--more were alienated. One guy in the audience near me asked, "Who are these assholes"?
Minneapolis is the only city I've lived in that has "activist" real estate agents, stock brokers, developers, and small business owners. Dean Zimmermann is the latter, a petty bourgeois hack who happened to come up in the countercultural mileu of late sixties/early seventies Minneapolis. Active in the fabled "Coop Wars," he was a member of the Stalinist C.O. He admits his "brief" membership in the spin off cult the "O."
Bizarre obsession with revolution through politcally correct business plans, justifications by invocation of the "little guy," a certain left-leaning hubris, and a flair for showmanship have marked Dean Zimmermann's life since. As has an anti-intellectual "good ole boy" populism that diminishes all of us on the left.
Expect all this to be on evidence at the trial as the defense tries to spin corruption into gossamer threads of political purity.
--Loosestrife
His supporters have been chanting the "innocent until proven guilty" mantra ever since his home was raided last September. Soon they will stop. Zimmermann will likely be found guilty--the Strib reports that 90 percent of Federal cases result in conviction, and the feds say that they have Z on video and audio tape negotiating to receive bribes.
My first impression of Zimmermann was formed at the Ralph Nader rally at the Target Center in 2000, where approximately 11,000 people paid to see the presidential candidate. Somewhere in the middle of the overly long program, Zimmermann, and Cam Gordon the present 2nd Ward council member, shook the audience down for money, badgering the crowd. Some gave--more were alienated. One guy in the audience near me asked, "Who are these assholes"?
Minneapolis is the only city I've lived in that has "activist" real estate agents, stock brokers, developers, and small business owners. Dean Zimmermann is the latter, a petty bourgeois hack who happened to come up in the countercultural mileu of late sixties/early seventies Minneapolis. Active in the fabled "Coop Wars," he was a member of the Stalinist C.O. He admits his "brief" membership in the spin off cult the "O."
Bizarre obsession with revolution through politcally correct business plans, justifications by invocation of the "little guy," a certain left-leaning hubris, and a flair for showmanship have marked Dean Zimmermann's life since. As has an anti-intellectual "good ole boy" populism that diminishes all of us on the left.
Expect all this to be on evidence at the trial as the defense tries to spin corruption into gossamer threads of political purity.
--Loosestrife
Hola!
As an independent Green supporter ( a believer in the ten key values, but look closely at Green candidates), I can understand a bit of skepticism. But I have not truly gained any insight from your blog posting. I know Dean is a supporter of the Green Party, and that Cam Gordon is an excellent city council member. Some of Dean's actions/convictions do not match my own - particularly his transportation perspective ( bike overpasses over highways, 35W projects, PRT vs. LRT ) - but that does not mean he is not a Green.
There are a variety of opinions in our party, and discussions regarding the merits of an issue are worth having. You however are not adding to the discussion, but spewing partisan hatred. Just as the left paints the right as completely evil, so do the DFL paint the Greens ( and some Greens the DFL ) of being evil as well. To me it is the issues that matter, and to follow through with what is best for the future of humanity.
If the Democrat Party defines itself as non-Republican and anti-Green, then what exactly does it stand for? Lately it seems more Republican-lite with a dash of social-liberalism. A few candidates remain steadfast on a positive vision, and I wish them the best. But the Dem Party seem lacking coherent vision at a time we direly need one.
That the Greens continue to support Z is an indictment of their party.
Political corruption ain't partisan--the lure of attention, money, influence, and power never respects party boundaries.
But if the Green Party tolerates corruption and defends it, the Green Party ultimately sanctions it.