[Mpls] Re: Park Board Ethics

[Svattheriver at aol.com]

At 4:45 on Wed. Oct. 6, before the cameras roll, the Park Board  
Commissioners will be discussing what is listed on their website as "other" on  the 
Agenda. This 10 min. meeting's purpose is to discuss the performance  and rehiring 
of Brian Rice, a major fundraiser,  who raised  campaign contributions for the 
majority of currently seated Commissioners. The  Park Board Commissioners hire 
only three People, The Superintendent, the Lawyer  for the Board and the 
Board secretary, none of those people should be campaign  fundraisers for 
commissioners.
 
 From the Southwest Journal 7/3/02
 
"Brian Rice's law firm, Rice, Michels & Johnson, got $439,000 in 2001  from 
the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for contract legal work as  general 
counsel and lobbyist. 
Rice gave as well as received. He, his wife, his law firm and its members  
gave more than $5,000 to candidates in the 2001 Park Board races, campaign  
finance records show. Two groups that Rice represents as a lobbyist, the  
Minneapolis Police Relief Association and the Minneapolis Fire Relief  Association, 
contributed another $3,600 to Park Board races. In addition to his  donations, 
Rice said he helped organize a fundraisers for Park Board  candidates. 
Because Park Board campaign war chests are relatively small, with most  
raising under $10,000 in 2001, a few large contributions go a long way. 
Six of nine sitting Park Board members received 13 percent or more of their  
2001 fundraising from Rice and his connections. One, Ed Solomon, received 40  
percent of his fundraising from Rice's group." 
I think Scott Russell wrote the article and I don't think that fund raising  
house parties are included in calculating influence. 
Brain Rice works for other people besides the Park Board. What are the  
conflicts of interest and have they been evaluated or documented? The Mayor was  
just furious with Brian Rice's recent work for the Police Relief Fund. Does that 
 carry over to a bad relationship between the city and the Park Board? Is 
Rice is  representing both employer and employees at the same time with some of 
the Park  Police?  
I also remember when Brain Rice got into discussions on the Minneapolis  
issues list. If those conversations were reflective of his professional work- I  
would never hire that person to have anything to do with public relations. 
So speaking of lawyers, don't 6 of the 9 commissioners have to declare a  
conflict of interest in writing and abstain form this discussion and voting on  
the matter? 
Thanks, Scott Vreeland  Seward
Brian Rice raised money for Marie Hauser, my opponent, in the last Park  
Board election