The FBI's frame-up of Dean Zimmermann on bribery & extortion charges
Topic: Mpls City Council
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If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it's probably a duck.

I am accusing the FBI of framing up Dean Zimmermann on charges of extortion and bribery because those charges are based on publicly broadcast, unsubstantiated allegations, and because of other facts that led me to the conclude that the FBI is framing up Dean Zimmermann.

Before I go further, I want to be clear that I am not a friend of Dean Zimmermann. I am not well acquainted with Dean Zimmermann, and therefore have no reason to trust him. Nor do I have any particular fondness for the leadership of the local Green Party, of which Dean Z is a part. Last year I was the target of a vicious smear campaign by the Green Party leadership, when I sought the Green Party's endorsement for the school board, which is why I didn't seek the GP endorsement this year.

EVIDENCE OF A FRAME-UP

Ed Felien, Publisher of Pulse of the Twin Cities wrote,

"According to a Federal affidavit and search warrant, Dean Zimmermann is alleged to have taken bribes in exchange for support on a zoning change for a developer...Gary Carlson, the developer who built the housing project at 2401 Chicago Ave., wanted to get more retail into the first floor of his building...[Carlson reportedly donated money to Dean Zimmermann's campaign fund and to FREE, For Redistricting, Evenly and Equitably. FREE sued the city over the redistricting plan that packed African-American voters into the 5th ward, and set the stage for contests between incumbant Greens and DFLers in wards 5 and 6. Dean is the current 6th ward city council member.]

"But Zimmermann didn't trade cash for a vote. He acted like an ombudsman shepherding Carlson?s request through the bureaucratic maze that is City Hall. That?s his job. His job is to cut through the red tape. In the end, Zimmermann looked at the proposal to add more retail and voted against it." -- What did Dean do wrong? Friday 16 September @ 06:55:33 http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=2052

The FBI obtained a sealed search warrant, raided the home of Dean Zimmermann 5 days before a primary election, taking as evidence not only campaign and personal financial records, but also computers, phones, and a large mailing that volunteers were working on.

The FBI released a statement that contained unsubstantiated allegations of criminal conduct by Dean Zimmermann, and claimed to have supporting evidence, such as audiovisual tapes of meetings between Zimmermann and a cooperating witness. Unsubstantiated allegations of a cooperating witness may be enough to persuade a judge to grant a search warrant, but are unlikely persuade a grand jury to grant an indictment.

The US Attorney was poised to go to a grand jury to seek an indictment against Zimmermann on extortion and bribery charges. Two Zimmermann campaign workers were reportedly scheduled to appear before a grand jury on Monday, 12 Sept. 2005. But their appearances were called off the day after the raid.

If the FBI really has the goods on Zimmermann, why didn't the US Attorney follow through on his plans to seek an indictment? Would the judge have approved the FBI's request for a sealed search warrent on the eve of an election if the FBI wasn't poised to immediately ask a grand jury to indict Zimmermann?

The FBI's unsubstantiated allegations of corruption by Dean Zimmermann clearly serve to damage the reputation of Dean Zimmermann and the Green Party. That's not necessarily a bad thing from the point of view of the Bush administration and Bush-Lite Democrats.

The intrusion of the FBI into the political process, in this case, represents a dangerous precedent, not only for Greens, but all actual and potential dissidents, including Democrats and Republicans.

Silence is complicity! I urge others to join me in calling on the US attorney to seek an indictment or to shut down the investigation and publicly acknowledge that the FBI does not 'have the goods' on Dean Zimmermann.

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Re: [Mpls] The FBI frame-up of Zimmermann on extortion & bribery charges.
Date: 9/15/2005 12:10:23 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Socialist2001 (Doug Mann)
To: mpls@mnforum.org

Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 11:26:43 -0700 (PDT), Loki Anderson writes,

I just don't see how this is helping CM Zimmerman. It has been only six days since the search warrant was executed. Obviously, the feds didn't have enough evidence for an indictment which is why the search warrant was sought in the first place. If an indictment is coming, it will happen when the us attorney's office is satisfied that they can make a case against Dean. And I agree that that needs to be soon. But asking to have everything tied up with a bow only six days after the search warrant was served is a bit unrealistic.

[Doug Mann responds] Tied up with a bow, as in gift wrapped? Yes, the as yet unsubstantiated allegations against Dean Zimmermann are a gift, to his opponent, who is endorsed by the DFL. Of course, an indictment, soon, like before the November election, would be an even better gift. We certainly wouldn't want the US Attorney to admit he doesn't have the evidence, and to shut down the investigation before the general election in November, n'est-ce pas?

[Loki Anderson is an associate chair of the DFL's 5th Congressional District organization.]

-Doug Mann, King Field

Gente de Minnesota endorsements for wards 8 and 10
Topic: Mpls City Council
(Hayden and Persons were endorsed)

The direct link to the editorial in English is http://gentedeminnesota.com/editorial_det.php?nid=7.

Excerpt from text posted on the Minneapolis Issues list:

"There are also two Green Party candidates in the race. There is a good opportunity [chance] that a republican or green candidate will survive the primary, because there are currently five candidates that are splitting the DFL vote. Doug Mann made a very good effort in answering our questions, and even answered one of our e-mails in very good Spanish, which was greatly appreciated by our editorial committee (hint for future candidates for endorsement). One of the members of our editorial committee was completely won over by Mann. Unfortunately the rest of the editorial committee found his answers a bit extreme and unrealistic. The other green candidate, Reggi Berts, was endorsed by the Minneapolis Green Party, and he didn't respond to our questionnaire."

Gente de Minnesota questionnaire and Doug Mann's answers:
https://educationright.tripod.com/blog/index.blog?entry_id=1213378

Don't blame the DFL for FBI conduct in the Zimmermann affair
Now Playing: The FBI's cointelpro-style operation against the Minneapolis Green Party
Topic: Mpls City Council
by Doug Mann

Occam's Razor: One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

The FBI's conduct in the Zimmermann affair can be explained without dragging in DFL co-conspirators. The Bush administration has its own reasons to allow the FBI to engage in a cointelpro-type operation against Dean Zimmermann and the Green Party. After all, the Green Party is calling for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. And the Green Party has a generally pro-working class orientation.

Of course the narrow, short-term interests of DFL office seekers are served by the FBI's intrusion into the political process through its investigation of Dean Zimmermann. That's why the FBI dared to move forward with it. But there is a danger to DFLers, especially those in the DFL's left wing, that tactics used against Zimmermann today will be used against them tomorrow.

No, the FBI should not be allowed to "get on with the job."

The fact that the US attorney has not brought an indictment against Dean Zimmermann strongly suggests that the FBI does not have the goods on Dean Zimmermann, and that a continuation of the investigation serves no purpose other than to damage the reputation of Dean Zimmermann and the Green Party.

The US attorney, Tom Hefflefinger should immediately take his case to a grand jury or shut down the FBI investigation.

Doug Mann's opening statement, forum for 8th ward city council candidates
Now Playing: McRae Park, 8 Sept 2005
Topic: Mpls City Council
A big issue in this campaign season is street crime, like drive by shootings, robbery, burglary, and open air drug dealing. Earlier this year the Star-Tribune called for a police crackdown and more cops on the street to round up more of the usual suspects. That Strib editorial also asked residents of impacted neighborhoods to accept a little more harassment and brutality from the police, [who are known to get a little rough when cracking down.]

In my opinion, it is unlikely that a police crackdown will significantly reduce street crime because the root causes are not being addressed. In 1990 and 2000 the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development tested housing markets for illegal discrimination. Widespread discrimination against African Americans was detected in the Twin Cities, and elsewhere. Similar conclusions have been drawn from testing in job markets.

That is why we have community schools run by the school district where over 90% of the students are non-white and qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. And in our public schools there is a strong correlation between high concentrations of African American students, high teacher turnover rates, and high concentrations of the district's low seniority teachers.

In my opinion, the so-called "racial learning gap" [in the schools] is mostly the by-product of an education access gap. Simply put: Students enrolled in the strongest educational programs achieve the most, and students enrolled in the weakest educational programs achieve the least.

The school board is perpetuating this situation by its actions. For example: There were fewer than 1,700 full time teaching positions budgeted for the 2003-2004 school year. In 2004 the school board planned to cut about 150 full time teaching positions, but laid off 608 teachers. This year the district laid off 575 teachers, and rehired or replaced a large majority of them [by the end of the summer].

SOLUTIONS

I advocate the establishment of programs run by the Civil Rights Department to detect illegal discrimination in the employment and housing markets, and the prosecution of discriminators.

The school board can quickly and dramatically reduce the education access gap by desegregating the district's least experienced teachers, by not laying off teachers the district is planning to rehire or replace, and by phasing out all but college bound curriculum tracks [for the general student population].

The following was written in a book published in 1933 and is still relevant to the situation we face today:

"As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching. It kills one's aspirations and dooms him to vagabondage and crime. It is strange then that the friends of truth and the promoters of freedom have not risen up against the present propaganda in the schools and crushed it. This crusade is more important than the anti-lynching movement, because there would be no lynching if it did not start in the classroom. Why not exploit, enslave, or exterminate a class that everybody is taught to regard as inferior." [Carter G. Woodson, 1933, The Mis-education of the Negro]

Green Party: "Indict Zimmermann or shut down investigation"
Now Playing: FBI launches smear campaign against Green Party candidate
Topic: Mpls City Council
Minneapolis, MN
by Doug Mann

Apparently lacking sufficient evidence for the US attorney to obtain a Grand jury indictment against Minneapolis City Council person Dean Zimmermann on charges of taking a bribe, the FBI raided Zimmermann's home, with a sealed warrant in hand, 5 days before a local primary election, and didn't neglect to alert the press and issue a press release.

The FBI sting of Zimmermann is being compared to the sting resulting in a guilty plea by former City council member Brian Herron to a charge of felony extortion in July 2001. However, the investigation of Herron was kept under wraps until after Herron copped a plea. The FBI had audiovisual tapes of meetings between Herron and a cooperating witness that left no doubt that Herron was taking money in exchange for promised favors.

Zimmermann is a member of the Green Party and is the GP's endorsed candidate for the sixth ward city council seat. The Green Party has displaced the Republican Party as the opposition party in Minneapolis.

Press accounts:
09/11/05 Green Party Challenges FBI Motives in Zimmermann Probe
Minneapolis Observer

"Local Green Party officials are challenging the FBI and US attorney Tom Hefflefinger to deliver a Grand jury indictment of City Council member Dean Zimmermann or close down its investigation..."

...Eisenmenger said two members of the Zimmermann campaign were subpoenaed to testify Monday before a Hennepin County grand jury, but were told Friday their appearances had been canceled. He also questioned why US Attorney Tom Heffelfinger canceled a Friday press conference where he was to release a statement on the case. “He should hand down an indictment or close the investigation,” Eisenmenger said. “It’s well within a reasonable citizen’s request in asking for that.”

Full text at:
http://www.mplsobserver.com/node/278

Feds search Minneapolis Council member's home
Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune
September 9, 2005 ZIMM0909

Federal agents executed a search warrant at the home of Minneapolis City Council member Dean Zimmermann today. Zimmermann, a Green party member who is seeking re-election, was not available for comment, but his campaign manager, Lauren Maker, said the agents spent three hours at his home.

Maker said the agents confiscated everything relating to Zimmermann's campaign, including financial records and a pre-primary mailing in process. Maker said the agents told her the affidavit attached to the warrant was sealed, so she was unable to explain the purpose of the search.

But Maker also said the agents took Zimmermann's personal financial records as well.

Full text at:
http://startribune.com/stories/587/5604473.html

Zimmermann bribery allegations a frame-up (Letter to Star-Tribune)
Topic: Mpls City Council
The text below was emailed to Star-Tribune editorial writers with courtesy copies to Doug Grow and the Minneapolis issues listserv, and forwarded to the Minneapolis/ 5th Congressional District Green Party listserv.
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[To Star-Tribune editors. Please publish the text of this email as a letter to the editor no later than Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005. Thank you.]

Dean Zimmermann is the target of a politically motivated frame-up and smear campaign being carried out at taxpayers expense. Consider: The timing of the sensational raid on Dean Zimmermann's house to seize documents that are already in the public domain (at a Hennepin County website). The FBI press releases. The evidence presented in reports published by the Star-Tribune. The ulterior motive: Kill the Green Party's chances of holding and gaining seats on the city council this fall.

The FBI's case against Dean rests heavily on sworn statements by a 'cooperating witness' who allegedly "bribed" Dean. The cooperating witness is reportedly a building contractor who didn't actually get anything in return for money allegedly given to Zimmermann to help with costs of the Green Party's redistricting lawsuit and Zimmermann's reelection campaign. Of two requests for zoning changes within Dean's ward, one didn't go anywhere at all, and the other was not at all controversial.

I suspect that all DFL candidates seeking reelection to the city council have taken money from business owners who apply for permits, zoning variances, etc. You can't run a business without being subjected to regulations that might require action by the city council. The question is whether those campaign contributions are made in exchange for promises of favors.

I urge elected officials and candidates for public office in Minneapolis to join me in denouncing the FBI's frame-up of Dean Zimmermann, and in calling for a public inquiry into this monstrous abuse of police power by the FBI.

-Doug Mann, King Field, 8th ward
Candidate for city council and Green Party member
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Comment (11 Sept 2005 update)
Re: [Mpls] Zimmermann bribery allegations a frame-up (Letter to Star-Tribune)

Date: 9/11/2005 7:39:31 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Socialist2001 (Doug Mann)
To: mpls@mnforum.org

Michael Atherton writes

"Not that I'm adverse to conspiracy theories (I have a number of my own, including being the subject of a campaign contribution sting ;-) and not that it doesn't make me a little queasy defending the FBI, but has anyone considered that if the FBI had rock solid evidence don't you think that they might have discussed whether to hold off until after the election and then have decided that it was in the interests of an informed electorate that they should proceed with their investigation (not to mention that they might have compromised their case by waiting)."

Doug Mann responds: The FBI clearly stepped over the line. The FBI's raid and press releases clearly serve political ends. And the FBI has a long history of carrying out "investigations" that serve political, and not legitimate law enforcement aims, such as the cointelpro programs of the 1960s and 70s.

If the FBI already had rock solid evidence of Zimmermann's guilt, what was the point of the [mid-afternoon] raid of DZ's' house? Did they find the smoking gun they were after? Did the FBI raid yield a shoe box full of money? A rack full of Armani suits? Did the seizure of bank DZ's bank records show mysterious or unusually large cash deposits? Did DZ's campaign records fail to account for thousands of dollars in small campaign contributions (which are not itemized in the public campaign finance report)?

Incidentally, there were no press releases about [former 8th ward councilman] Brian Herron allegedly taking bribes before he was prepared to enter a plea of "guilty" to charges of felony extortion (18 July 2001).
http://citypages.com/databank/22/1088/article9861.asp

-Doug Mann, King Field, 8th ward
Candidate for city council and Green Party member
http://educationright.com/blog

Gente de Minnesota questions for city council candidates
Now Playing: Gente de Minnesota considering endorsement of candidates in the 8th & 10th wards
Topic: Mpls City Council
1) Currently there only two African American Minneapolis Council members, running against each other. We have one Native person in the city council. We have no Hispanic, Asian or Somali members in the city council, State House, State Senate, Hennepin County board representing Minneapolis. What should be done in order to add more ethnic and racial diversity in Minneapolis political offices, and what would you do in order to ensure that there is more diversity in the city's decision making.

[Response] We should tell the City government [to] more aggressively enforce fair employment and housing laws, and tell the school board to take the necessary steps to make a high quality public education accessible to all on an equal basis (more details about this in responses to questions 3 and 4).

Regarding the only two African American council members running against each other: The ward boundaries in Minneapolis were redrawn to 'pack' minority and low-income voters in the 5th ward, and to set the stage for a contest between Don Samuels and Natalie Johnson-Lee for the 5th ward city council seat. The redistricting plan was backed by the DFL leadership and Minneapolis NAACP branch leaders. The DFL put a lot of effort into influencing the outcome of an election of Minneapolis NAACP branch officers in 1999, in which a conservative, DFL-friendly slate of candidates narrowly won. (See "Black like Us," by Beth Hawkins, City Pages, 1999).

2) What's you're position on allowing Minneapolis residents to be able to get a drivers license without having to prove legal residency.

[Response] I am in favor of allowing Minneapolis residents to be able to get a drivers license (and jobs, an education, medical care, government benefits, etc.) without having to prove legal residency.

3) Understanding that the city council is not responsible for schools, what do you think you could do in order to help reduce the learning gap in schools between white students and students of color.

[Response] I believe the learning gap is mostly a reflection of differences in access to high quality instruction. With no more than a few exceptions, schools with high concentrations of African American students have high teacher turnover rates and a high concentration of the district's least experienced teachers. Change that and it would be possible to close most of the learning gap within a few years, in my opinion.

The school district's administration and board of directors are perpetuating the situation described above by laying off large numbers of teachers between April 1 and June 30 of each year who they actually plan to rehire or replace in the late summer and fall. Turnover tends to be very high for teachers who are generally in high demand, such as math and science teachers.

The district is in violation of the State's current desegregation rule for failing to take effective action to desegregate the district's least experienced teachers and lower teacher turnover rates at the district's "racially identifiable schools" to levels comparable to schools that are not classified as "racially identifiable." A racially identifiable school is one where 'minority' enrollment is 20% above the district average for grade levels served.

4) We have a lot of problems in Latino neighborhoods and businesses with gangs and crime. What would you do to reduce this problem.

[Response] A big part of the problem is limited access to jobs, especially jobs that pay a living wage ($20 per hour and up). I propose that the city set up and adequately fund programs run by the Civil Rights [Department] to test for illegal discrimination in the job and housing markets, and to prosecute discriminators. Employers required to participate in affirmative action programs must take steps to attract a diverse pool of job applicants, but don't have to hire many 'minority' applicants, and discrimination against minority job applicants can be done covertly. That is why a testing program is necessary

5) Homeownership is key to immigrants reaching the American dream. In the city of Minneapolis though, the average home price and property taxes make it easier for an immigrant to reach that dream in the suburbs. What can be done to change this.

[Response] In my opinion, the city should be focused on building and rehabbing housing that is affordable to households with low to moderate incomes instead of an emphasis on big downtown projects (like the Twins stadium) and luxury housing.

6) Many Latino business owners have complained to us that over regulation in Minneapolis is making it impossible for Latinos to start or grow businesses, with many now opting to start or grow businesses in the suburbs. What would you do to make it easier for a Latino small business owner to start a business.

[Response] I would ask Latino small business owners to help me to come up with solutions to the problems they have encountered with city regulations and over-regulation. If elected I will want one of my assistants to have a background in working with small businesses, especially minority-owned businesses.

7) It has been estimated that the immigrant population in Minneapolis will greatly increase in the next 10 years. What could be done to adequately provide jobs for this increase in population.

[Response] Improve access to jobs, and to jobs that pay a living wage ($20 per hour and up) by more aggressive enforcement of fair employment and housing laws. (see response to question 4), and by making a high quality education accessible to all on an equal basis. (see response to question 3). I am in favor of creating / expanding strong bilingual / bicultural programs, such as the Emerson School Spanish immersion program.