[Mpls] Re: Park Board Ethics

[Chris Johnson]

Svattheriver at aol.com wrote:
 > 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.


This issue of Brian Rice's continued employment by the Park Board while being 
the most influential campaign contributor to a number of commissioners came up 
at the January 3 meeting, when Bob Fine was still president.  My recollection 
is that Rice's contract was to be reviewed on an annual basis.  That this 
review is now taking place 10 months later rather makes a mockery of that 
idea.  That it is being held before the scheduled regular meeting starting 
time is just rubbing salt into the wound.

I'm well aware that both Commissioner Bob Fine and Brian Rice, lawyers both, 
have made public statements to the press that they see no problem with the 
arrangement, that they see no conflict of interest.  Both of their remarks 
could be regarded as flippant, arrogant and bullying.

However, just because they are lawyers does not make them experts on ethics 
and conflict of interest, nor does it make any statement of theirs any more 
truthful than anyone else's statement.

 From where I sit, they are both flat-out wrong.  Since the likelihood of a 
pair of lawyers somehow escaping an education on ethics is small, ignorance 
cannot be an excuse on their part.

This is the single most egregious example of conflict of interest I've seen.

Some contributors to Bob Fine's last campaign:

1. Brian Rice of 112 Ardmore Drive, Golden Valley, $300
2. Cindy Lavorato, $300 - Brian Rice's wife

3. RMJ Political Fund, $300 - Brian Rice's law firm (RMJ = Rice, Michels and 
Johnson(?), now Rice, Michels and Walther)

4. Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, $300 - represented by lobbyist 
Robert A Johnson, who also represents the Minneapolis Police Relief 
Association along with Brian Rice

5. Minneapolis Police Relief Association, $300 - represented by Brian Rice

6. Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association, $200 - represented by Brian Rice

7. Bruce Idelkope, $300 - Bob Fine's neighbor and (I'm told) father of the 
boy/young man who managed the Lake Harriet Refectory during the year it lost a 
large sum of money due to "employee theft" (quote/unquote in a statement Bob 
Fine himself made to Steve Nelson).

8. Cindy Idelkope, $300 - Bob Fine's neighbor and (I'm told) mother of the 
boy/young man who managed the Lake Harriet Refectory, etc.

Commissioner Walt Dziedzic's campaign contribution disclosure form reads 
similarly for its amount of influence paid for by Brian Rice and associates.

I would imagine that most people would be having some fairly large questions 
about the appropriateness of hiring Brian Rice for another year at over 
$400,000 at this point.  And as Scott points out, that does not even begin to 
address whether we tax payers are getting our money's worth out of Brian Rice.

Bob Fine's defense of this arrangement makes him unfit for office.


Chris Johnson - Fulton