[Mpls] Where's R.T.? (no clear plans for a second term)

[Greg Abbott]

On May 18, 2005, at 7:53 AM, Joseph Barisonzi wrote:

>  a seasoned political
> veteran who has yet to articulate how he would be a step forward  
> rather then
> a step backward.


I'm curious about why Joe thinks that Peter is the candidate with  
unanswered questions, and not R.T.  R.T. has given no indication of  
any major items for a second term agenda.  R.T.'s website has an  
"R.T. on the Issues" section which is 90 percent about what R.T. has  
done in the past, and which makes no effort to prioritize or organize  
the issues by relative importance.  Even that minimal bit of  
information requires you to drill down -- the front page is simply  
"Help R.T. with the Summer Campaign" and some links to lists of  
people who have endorsed R.T.  R.T.'s convention speech was also  
fairly vague about future action: "Give me a chance to do more great  
things" was the gist of it.

R.T.'s political past is equally murky as a guide to his future  
actions.  It is beyond dispute that R.T. broke every significant  
promise he made during the 2001 election (i.e., opposing a stadium,  
adopting 24-hour snowplow, and no political fundraising between  
election years).  From R.T.'s perspective, he was forced by  
circumstances to break these promises -- but even still the record is  
clear that R.T.'s words are not an accurate predictor of his future  
actions.

So what would R.T.'s second term look like?  I follow city politics  
as closely as anyone, and I really don't have a clue.

This is a big problem for voters trying to evaluate the candidates.   
For example, the Police Federation flyer that was mailed to DFL  
delegates before the convention claimed that another 90 cops are  
scheduled to be cut in R.T.'s future budget projections, on top of  
the 150 or so that have already been cut.  Is this true?  I may have  
missed it, but I have yet to hear anyone from the Mayor's Office deny  
it.  And if R.T. does deny it, who's to say that he won't change his  
mind after the election (again) and implement the cuts?

Peter, unlike R.T., has a track record of following through on his  
political objectives (Exhibit A: light-rail).

No candidate is perfect, but at least with Peter what you see is what  
you get.

Greg Abbott
Linden Hills
13th Ward