Why re-invent the gdi listserv?
Topic: Green Party
In my opinion, the gdi list (Greens 4 Democracy and Independence) has been an opposition block within the Green Party that formed around the 2004 Nader for President campaign, not a clear ideological tendency within the Green Party. List discussion indicates substantial areas of agreement and disagreement exist between gdi list members over the G4DI's perspectives and tasks in the coming period. Unfortunately, the gdi list does not appear to be a forum where a discussion that can clarify those areas of agreement and disagreement can take place.

It seems to me that the gdi list has been dominated by a faction consisting of the G4DI's more conservative, non-socialist and anti-socialist wing. That might explain why, until about a month ago, I didn't have posting "privileges," even though I have been a member of the gdi list since 01 December 2004. That's why in April 2005 I joined the GDI free speech list, which was started by folks who experienced a curtailment of their posting privileges under the moderatorship of Steve Greenfield, who just quit the GDI after announcing his decision to return to the Democratic Party.

I took the initiative to set up the gid list (Green for Independence and Democracy) in order to create a setting where a regulated, uncensored discussion can take place among self-identified Green members and sympathizers about how to steer the Green Party US (and / or alternative expressions of the Green Party movement) toward independence from the corporate parties, and to fight to preserve and apply the best traditions of grass roots democracy from the workers and green movements.

In my opinion, the gid list should be open to any self-identified Green Party member or sympathizer willing to accept its mission statement as a basis of unity. I don't want to limit gid list membership to those who are generally in agreement with me about how to move the Green Party movement toward political action independent of the corporate parties.

As far as I am concerned, anyone who has been posting on the GDI and GDI free-speech lists is welcome to participate in discussion on the gid list, provided they are willing to observe the limit on daily postings and refrain from engaging in the use of negative personal characterizations and criticisms of a personal nature.

gid web address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gidlist/

gid list subscribe:
gidlist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

-Doug Mann, Minneapolis (gid list owner)

Zimmermann bribe allegation based on fabricated evidence
Well, well, well. It looks like US attorney, Tom Hefflefinger is attempting to frame up, and assassinate the character of, Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann. Hefflefinger obtained a search warrant and was poised to move forward with a grand jury investigation, and seek an indictment for bribery and extortion, on the basis of fabricated evidence that was released to the public and accompanied by a sensational mid-afternoon raid just days before the 2005 primary election.

The linchpin of the Hefflefinger's case against Zimmermann is an audio-video tape recording of Dean Zimmermann allegedly being asked what he wanted, to which Dean allegedly replied "Money, money, money." The US attorney has refused to release that audio tape. However, the date of that alleged meeting between Zimmermann and the FBI's cooperating witness coincides with the date of a well publicized birthday party for Dean Z. In an interview with Minneapolis issues list member Wizard Marks (an except is pasted below), Dean Zimmermann reportedly admitted saying that he wanted "Money, money, money," in response to the question, "What do you want for your birthday, Dean?" which was shouted across the room in the presence of about 100 witnesses, according to Dean Z and his wife, Jenny Heiser.

US attorney Tom Hefflefinger should immediately resign or be fired, and face prosecution for official misconduct in relation to his investigation of Dean Zimmermann.
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Excerpt from
Re: [Mpls] Re: Felien on Zimmermann
wmmarks
Wed, 21 Sep 2005
Minneapolis issues listserv

Tim Bonham wrote:

Also, the concealing of this bribe money, by leaving it off the campaign finance reports, is another crime that is alleged.

Wizard Marks wrote:

I think the operative word here is "alleged." The affidavit the FBI presented to a judge for the warrant to seize Zimmermann's computer and campaign records asserts that Cooperating Witness Gary Carlson wore a wire and a camera for the first time on June 6 (affidavit Item #7).

I interviewed Zimmermann and his wife today. Zimmermann and Jenny Heiser (Mrs. Zimmermann) both agree that Dean Zimmermann could have met Carlson on June 6th, as the affidavit claims, but that there were over 100 people in the room with Zimmermann and Carlson at the time because it was Zimmermann's birthday party. The Zimmermann's also agree that Zimmermann said, "money, money, money". They further claim that his saying so was in answer to the shouted question from one attendee, "What do you want for your birthday, Dean?"

The FBI affidavit does not include any mention that there were over 100 people who heard Zimmermann say, "money, money, money" or what prompted the remark or in what setting the remark was made. Readers of the affidavit are led, through this omission, to believe that the meeting on June 6 was just between Zimmermann and FBI cooperating witness Gary Carlson. This FBI omission in Item #7 seriously compromises the integrity of the entire affidavit. The intended audience for the affidavit is a judge who can issue a warrant.
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Re: [Mpls] Z bribe allegation based on fabricated evidence
Date: 9/23/2005 11:18:49 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Socialist2001 [Doug Mann]
To: mpls@mnforum.org [Minneapolis Issues listserv]

In a message dated 9/23/2005 "Michael Atherton" wrote,

Just for the sake of fairness, before calling for Mr. Hefflefinger's resignation, shouldn't we ask Mr. Zimmermann to make a public declaration of his innocence and provide us with his version of events?

Doug Mann Responds: Is it really fair to demand that Dean Zimmermann prove his innocence?

Just for the sake of argument, let us say that Dean Zimmermann is innocent, that he is being falsely accused of wrongdoing by the FBI's cooperating witness, and that Mr. Zimmermann's lawyer is competent and believes that his client is innocent. Dean's lawyer will almost certainly advise him to not provide us, and the FBI, with his version of events, because the FBI can use that information to build its case, coach its witnesses, etc.

What Dean reportedly told Wizard Marks in an interview concerning a meeting with the cooperating witness can be introduced as evidence in a court of law. According to Marks, Dean said that the FBI's witness accurately quoted him saying "Money, money, money" in response to a question about what he wanted, but the context was a birthday party attended by about 100 people. The FBI's affidavit quoted him out of context. That's an example of how evidence can be fabricated. If the FBI is willing to fabricate evidence to obtain a search warrant from a judge, why wouldn't the FBI fabricate evidence to obtain a conviction from a jury?

It is unlikely that the FBI will use an audio-video tape of Dean's birthday party as a part of the evidence it presents to a grand jury or trial jury, if the case ever goes that far. And in any event, I don't expect the FBI will ever produce the tape of the meeting where Dean allegedly tells the FBI's star witness that he wants "money, money, money."

-Doug Mann, King Field
http://educationright.com/blog
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[Mpls] Re: Felien on Zimmermann
Socialist2001 (Doug Mann)
Sun Sep 18 23:06:28 CDT 2005

The FBI's investigation of Dean Zimmermann reminds me of the Bush administration's investigation of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Bush claimed to have 'hard evidence' of WMDs, but didn't lay his cards on the table. Why? Because he was bluffing. I wasn't fooled. For those that were fooled by that ploy, remember the adage "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

The FBI was poised to go to a grand jury when they raided Zimmermann's house, then backed off. They evidently didn't have the critical hard evidence of a quid pro quo before or after the raid. And now that the FBI has blown the cover on its sting operation, it is unlikely to catch its prey with any new traps.

The FBI has made unsubstantiated allegations of criminal conduct against an elected public official, Dean Zimmermann, in the run up to an election. That's a serious abuse of police power, in my opinion.

-Doug Mann, King Field

Why I didn't seek the Green Party's endorsement in 2005
Now Playing: Minneapolis Green Party not yet engaged in struggle against white supremacy in the public schools
This year I stood for election to a seat on the Minneapolis City Council as a Green Party candidate and bypassed the local Green Party endorsement process. I decided to stand for election in early May, after being informed that the Green Party steering committee had recruited a candidate who I could not support.

At two GP membership meetings in 2002, before and after the primary election, about 50% supported my candidacy for a seat on the Minneapolis School Board. I won the primary election. At a GP membership meeting in 2004 I sought endorsement for the same office and received support from only about 10% of the members in attendance.

I didn't seek the GP endorsement this year because, in 2004, my criticism of statements by another school board candidate seeking the GP endorsement was considered "beyond the pale," a cardinal sin, according to many GP members. The discussion which followed my presentation including the airing of many criticisms of a personal nature directed at me, and no discussion of the issues raised in my presentation or of the issue that I raised in opposing the endorsement of the other candidate (who fell one vote short of the two-thirds supermajority needed for endorsement).

I criticized the other candidate for saying that the school board could not be faulted for a significant part of the "black-white learning gap," and that most African American students are "hard to educate."

In my opinion, the so-called "racial learning gap" in the public schools is mostly the byproduct 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. African American students are heavily concentrated in the weakest programs.

The school board is perpetuating the education access gap by its actions, and inaction. 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. That drives up teacher turnover rates, especially at schools with a high concentration of low seniority teachers.

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

-Doug Mann
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Re: Why I didn't seek Green Party endorsement in 2005

The candidate who fell one vote short of getting the Green Party endorsement for the Minneapolis school board in 2004 is Kari Tauring.

Here's an excerpt from the only writing sample I could find on the internet for Kari Tauring the 2004 school board candidate:

"Let's stop pointing fingers at others, especially groups like "the School Board" or "the Government", but that only serves to separate "us from them" and displace the responsibility that we as individual citizens bear..."
http://www.karljones.com/edu/unfunded_mandates.asp

In at least one meeting for school board candidates, Kari Tauring clearly expressed the opinion that the Minneapolis Public Schools, and school board, are doing a pretty good job of trying to educate all students, and that most of the kids who are struggling are simply hard to educate for one reason or another. That is what most of the school board candidates, and all of the sitting board members, were saying.

I was the ONLY Minneapolis school board candidate in 2004 who said that the "racial learning gap" is mostly the result of differences in access to high quality instruction. [One other candidate, Ray Roybal, stated his agreement with me on this point.] And, in my opinion, the board is perpetuating that situation by laying off teachers they intend to rehire or replace, by failing to seriously consider any proposal to desegregate the district's least experienced teachers, and by failing to evaluate the effects of, and consider alternatives to tracking a majority of students into dumbed down curriculum programs.

Below are the two posts to the Minneapolis Issues list that violated an unwritten rule against public debate between candidates seeking the Green Party's endorsement.

[Mpls] GP screening report for Kari Tauring is on the web
http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2004-May/032844.html

[Mpls] GP school board endorsement
http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2004-May/032863.html

-Doug Mann

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.

---------------------------------------

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

A Remembrance of Evelyn Eubanks 1957-2005
Evelyn Eubanks, a renowned education rights advocate, mother of 6, and aide to Minneapolis City Council member Natalie Johnson Lee died last week at the age of 47 years after a long illness. Evelyn was diagnosed as having cancer in 1995, and underwent a surgical proceedure that bought her more time than she expected. Several hundred friends, relatives and others attended the funeral. There was no published notice of her death or funeral service.

Evelyn was well known and in high demand as a volunteer advocate for students and parents in the school system, wrote well, and was an outstanding orator. I especially liked Evelyn's 'angry speeches' to the school board.

Evelyn worked through "the system" for many years, and was probably near the head of the line for a seat on the school board when she endorsed the NAACP's educational adequacy lawsuit in 1995. Evelyn's resume included service on school district improvement committees, on the board of a charter school, and as president of the citywide PTA.

I met Evelyn when we were members of the NAACP and involved with the NAACP's educational adequacy lawsuit in 1998. I served with Evelyn on the Parents Union board of directors from 1998 to 2001, and worked with her in other venues more recently.

To me, Evelyn Eubanks was a friend, a mentor, and for several years a close collaborator in the field of educational rights advocacy. Evelyn Eubanks had a strong sense of purpose, was very assertive, uncompromising in matters of principle, and on many levels, was the most intelligent person I have ever encountered. She also had a wonderful sense of humor.

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

Latest Blog Entries
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Monday, 12 September 2005
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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

Doug Mann for City Council
campaign update

Doug Mann's opening statement, forum for 8th ward city council candidates

Sunday, 11 September 2005
Green Party: "Indict Zimmermann or shut down investigation"
Now Playing: FBI launches smear campaign against Green Party candidate

Saturday, 10 September 2005
Zimmermann bribery allegations a frame-up (Letter to Star-Tribune)

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 for City Council
Now Playing: primary election is Sept.13
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Mann for City Council e-brochure
http://educationright.com/id500.htm

Response to questions posed by Gente de Minnesota, see blog entry for September 5, 2005

Star-Tribune candidate profile for Doug Mann
http://www.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/profiles/25518.html

Candidate Speeches at KFAI web site (includes speeches from 3 eighth ward candidates)
http://www.kfai.org/programs/locnews/2005elec/2005elec.htm

SW Journal article about Ward 8 City Council candidates:
http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2005/08/25/news/news06.txt

Mann for School Board web site
http://educationright.com

*Yard signs
18 x 24 inch, green and white, text below:
-------------------
DOUG MANN
for City Council
Green Party

"No new stadium tax
without a referendum"
www.educationright.com/blog
-----------------------------
If you want a lawn sign, call Doug at 612 824-8800 (leave name, number, and short message if no answer) and/or e-mail socialist2001@cs.com

*Nearly 5,000 flyers were distributed door-to-door during the month of August.

*Donations: Make out checks to "Doug Mann for City Council" (Donations of $50 or more must be reported, with name and employer of donator, in order to comply with campaign finance laws)

Mailing address:
Doug Mann for City Council
PO Box 8514
Mpls., MN 55408-0514

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]