Part 4: Affirmative Action is no “Action Jackson” at MnDOT
By Donald W.R. Allen,II – Editor in Chief/IBNN and USA Radical Black
Last week at MnDOT and internal email was sent to select employees at MnDOT regarding the recent stories posted on IBNN.
The email read: (Unedited):
From: Prescott, Mary (DOT)
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 10:47 AM
Re: Part 3 – Who signs off on 0% goals and 0% goals achieved at MnDOT?
FYI for internal use only – this will be discussed at the DBE and Workforce Development Collaborative Group meeting on Friday. Specifically, hopefully, 1) Lennie Chism bringing Donny Allen a newsperson who seemed only there looking for a story and he did not state that this is why he was there; and 2) it was agreed to “no surprises” at the last meeting and this has been the fourth surprise from Mr. Chism; ground roles for media and the hard work going forth with all the project teams.
Note: The email above is just another example of bigotry at MnDOT for the acting civil rights director to single out two Black men, asking questions about a 17 year trend of failure in an attempt to address, solve and recommend a plan of action. This top-of-mind attention is not wanted at MnDOT, hence, 1% in federally funded contracts to minority contractors.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation employee base is a “protected class” of the government workforce. They have the “Cadillac” of benefits that aren’t affected by the current economic status of non-government working-class Minnesotans. Read more
Part 2 – Coverage of the 2009 Minneapolis Elections: Candidates’ statement on 2009 election for mayor of Minneapolis
By The NewDignityParty.org – Re-posted with permission.
The following statement is endorsed by Bill McGaughey, Papa John Kolstad, Al Flowers, Bob Carney, Dick Franson, John Charles Wilson – All candidates for Minneapolis Mayor in 2009.
A recent Star Tribune article is headlined, “Low-key mayoral contest depressed Minneapolis turnout, officials say”. Only 45,964 persons cast votes in the 2009 city elections, the lowest since 1902. In contrast, 161,713 persons voted in the 1937 Minneapolis city election. Hubert Humphrey received 102,796 votes when he was elected mayor in 1947. When Sharon Sayles Belton was elected in 1993, the vote total was 103,846.
Admittedly, part of the reason for the low voter turnout may be election fatigue in the year after Barack Obama ran for President. That could not be helped. However, another reason may be, as the headline suggests, that Minneapolis voters were not excited by the race at the top of the ballot, the contest for mayor. It was said that the candidates besides Rybak were political nonentities, lacking both in campaign resources and public recognition. The voters felt there was no contest and, therefore, stayed home.
As Minneapolis mayoral candidates in 2009, we apologize for our low profiles to whomever might have been offended. At the same time, we declare that most of the ten candidates who ran for mayor against Rybak ran active, energetic, and sometimes creative campaigns. We raised serious issues, posted hundreds of lawn signs around the city, distributed thousands of pieces of literature, knocked on numerous doors, appeared at the candidate forums to which we were invited, maintained campaign websites, and otherwise carried out the normal functions of a political campaign. For all that effort we received, between us, about 27 percent of the vote, compared with Mayor Rybak’s 73 percent. Read more
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