A Burnsville resident recently submitted a Letter to the Editor over at Sun Thisweek which thanked journalist John Gessner for covering the story over who was behind the 100% true political mailer regarding Mayor Elizabeth Kautz just days prior to the 2012 election.
From the Letter to the Editor:
It was sent to 28,000 homes by Paul Gonyea and his cadre of dissident business owners and was a most scurrilous piece that had no place in Burnsville politics.
[...]
Gonyea and his friends conducted a smear campaign that was beyond the pale. The mailing piece did not identify the 10 other business owners who took part in this act of dirty politics, nor did the news story.
Gonyea states he knows no one who’s a fan of Mayor Kautz.
That’s interesting, I am not sure what belongs in Burnsville politics then. I would think that after the name of the individual responsible was released Mayor Elizabeth Kautz would have retracted her equally scurrilous attack on her opponent. The one which accused him of being linked to the mailing which was delivered to even more homes as it unfortunately appeared in the StarTribune where people across the Metro had to read about her not enjoying reading bullet points which were quite true.
While I don’t expect much good behavior from Burnsville’s Mayor Elizabeth Kautz as she’s certainly proved she doesn’t deserve such expectations, I certainly hold many residents of the city in higher regard. Chalk this letter writer up to the cadre of ridiculous business owners and citizens of Burnsville who don’t actually pay attention to what Kautz does, the damage her policies and buildings have created, and certainly the fact that the woman has not yet (and please correct me if I’m wrong) apologized for saying her opponent was behind the mailing. Because when she finally does, that’s when she deserves a letter like what was written, not now when she’s just as guilty as Paul Gonyea for publishing a smear campaign prior to the election.
What do you think about this one? Do you think we should hear an apology from Kautz for her actions following release of the mailing? Do you agree the attack was “scurrilous piece”? Do you think the letter writer even knows what the word scurrilous means considering the mailer was 100% true? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Dakota Complaints Map
Dakota Inmate Dashboard
Loading ...
December 7th, 2012 at 8:48 am
From the Merriam-Webster site online (yes, I admit I had to look this one up!) :)
scur·ri·lous
adjective \ˈskər-ə-ləs, ˈskə-rə-\
Definition of SCURRILOUS
1
a : using or given to coarse language
b : vulgar and evil
2
: containing obscenities, abuse, or slander
— scur·ri·lous·ly adverb
— scur·ri·lous·ness noun
Examples of SCURRILOUS
scurrilous attacks on the senator
First Known Use of SCURRILOUS
1576
December 7th, 2012 at 8:52 am
ks, the letter writer should have looked it up too instead of using his thesaurus on Word.
December 7th, 2012 at 9:00 am
What more can be said about Kautz? It’s well-established that her circle, as well as anything associated with City Hall, is just a bunch of glad-handers and buddy-buddies that are more concerned about self-congratulatory press releases and events that are fun for them (e.g. the ridiculous “Rand McNally Best Small Town for Food” nonsense and stuff like “Art and All That Jazz”) than anything else.
And thankfully for them, the average citizen of Burnsville is perfect for her. The typical Burnsville resident is unconcerned, unaware, and/or unsophisticated.
The Mayor and the clueless and indifferent majority rides the wave of the status quo (“we haven’t lost our bond rating yet, so things must be fine”). Meanwhile, only a few people see the missed opportunity for Burnsville to be a much better place to thrive and do business.
December 7th, 2012 at 10:51 am
I am a Burnsville resident. I do think Kautz should now apologize to her opponent in regard to her comments after this attack ad was mailed. However to her benefit the nature of the attack ad with its murky and undisclosed origin let her make that claim at the time. Jerry Willenberg , who knocked on my door for my vote, was a standup guy and disclaimed any involvement. She should retract her comment and apologize publicly.
As to Gonyea, I find these types of ads despicable. The entire situation wrought by Citizens United has allowed murky organizations to spread bile
on TV and elsewhere with the clued and clueless unable to know the origin of the ads. When something is done at the last minute such as this one it is even more despicable. per Gonyea everything he did was completely legal, he filed the requisite paperwork in 14 days after the expenditure. He complied with the “law”. As Mr Bumble said, “the law is a ass.”
December 7th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
All statements made in that mailing were true. The very few “clued” knew that. As far as the “clueless” voters who contributed to her victory? One can only be amazed by the ignorance deep seeded in this community.
December 8th, 2012 at 2:14 am
According to the Decision Resources survey most Burnsville residents get their information from the Sun Thisweek which gets their informatin from the spinmiesters at city hall. The should explain the large number of clueless voters. The folks at all newspapers are journalists and not CPAs. This is how a family member explained it to me who is a journalism grad.
December 9th, 2012 at 4:27 am
MSPD:
What is the “missed opportunity” for the city to be a better place to thrive and do business? You imply that you have some ideas. Tell!
Also, elaborate on this judgement, if you would: “The typical Burnsville resident is unconcerned, unaware, and/or unsophisticated.”
Is that true nationwide, regionwide, statewide? Or just in Burnsville, Minnesota?
Many Burnsville residents — I’ll assume them “typical” — returned Charlie Crichton to office term after term, and voted for Kealey and Sherry. Were they unconcerned, unaware and/or unsophisticated?
Yes? No?
You dismiss “anything associated with City Hall.” What does that mean? Does it mean that if someone comes looking for a building permit, the answer is no?
You put this statement in quotes, as though somebody actually said it: “We haven’t lost our bond rating yet, so things must be fine.” Has a city official actually said that? Are you familiar with the city’s current rating on general obligation bonds? If a downgrade is coming, do tell.
December 9th, 2012 at 6:10 am
cripes, as you should be already aware, the city has received a negative outlook from Moody’s. This is apparently due to declines in taxable valuations in multiple consecutive years, shitty demographics compared to neighboring cities, and financial risk created by their poor management of the severely underperforming BPAC.
I covered this once before.
December 10th, 2012 at 7:57 am
cripes, I have several years worth of hundreds of posts full of examples on here. Even I’m tired of saying it (thus the “what more can be said”). As a Burnsville resident, I’ve also shared my ideas an feedback directly with City Hall. Unless it was a compliment, it was generally ignored.
Bill addressed the rating. The PAC burden is going to bring it down according to Moody’s.
If I thought you sincerely cared what I think I would rehash it all. But the fact that you’re asking me is proof that you probably don’t read what I post on here anyway.
December 13th, 2012 at 3:01 am
The prime triple-A rating is at risk due to a few factors, which I was aware of when I posted.
My questioning of MSPD’s hypothetical statement from the mayor and her supporters — “We haven’t lost our bond rating yet, so things must be fine” — is hardly a disputing of the fact of the rating warning.
It IS a disputing of MSPD’s rhetoric, and whether it represents what the mayor and her supporters believe.
I suspect it doesn’t. Rather, I suspect it represents sarcasm on the part of MSPD.
I continue to challenge MSPD on his or her blanket dismissal of Burnsville citizens as unconcerned, unaware and/or unsophisticated.
Three currently seated council members would have voted against the PAC. Does that suggest a “clueless and indifferent majority” in MSPD’s view?
A new council member has been elected who supports the PAC.
So what are we to believe about the wishes of Burnsville voters?
“And thankfully for them, the average citizen of Burnsville is perfect for her. The typical Burnsville resident is unconcerned, unaware, and/or unsophisticated,” MSPD wrote.
Is it just BURNSVILLE voters who are so stupid?
I’m also wondering about the “missed opportunity” for Burnsville to be a better place to “thrive and do business.” I don’t think the city taxes are onerous compared with similar cities. Roads are pretty congested. So,b what does MSPD mean about the “missed opportunity?”
December 13th, 2012 at 8:38 am
Oy vey.
December 13th, 2012 at 8:41 am
cripes,
I don’t know that MSPD’s opinions about Burnsville voters would be misplaced in any city, municipality, district, county, region, state or the entire United States. Individuals like us who debate and discuss the real issues and candidate competency that matter unfortunately make up a tiny minority when compared with people that only see the (I) next to Kautz, for example and fill in the oval.
If you want another example, see Michele Bachmann.
lefty
December 13th, 2012 at 8:43 am
cripes,
The BPAC is no longer a central issue to the city’s politics–at least in the eyes of the general voting public. Everyone who runs, or who talks in public about it knows it’s already there and knows they have to do something to make it more profitable. So your points there are completely and utterly moot.
As for the rest, stick to your usual quality comments, this last one sucked.
December 13th, 2012 at 9:39 am
lefty and Bill, just skip it. cripes isn’t new to this site yet, despite my ~2,100 posts over several years — many of which talk about my WIFE — he still doesn’t even know that I’m male. If you don’t even read enough to know the gender of the people on here, you surely don’t care what else they have to say.
cripes is only interested in a one-way discussion…coming on in the middle of the night (4:27 a.m….3:01 a.m.) lobbing rhetoric into the comment box whenever someone challenges the City leadership (no matter that they’ve offered hundreds of other constructive posts), then leaving.
This isn’t worth the time.
I will say this though…I would bet $100 that we could walk around Burnsville’s HOC and, out of the first 100 Burnsville residents we could find, 85+ of them couldn’t name the last two City Council members elected. 90+ couldn’t name the “new council member has been elected who supports the PAC”.
“What are we to believe about the wishes of Burnsville voters?”
Based on the fact that virtually nobody in Burnsville could even NAME the new City Council Member within a couple days of the election, the “wishes of the voters” have absolutely nothing to do with who is elected.
December 13th, 2012 at 9:47 am
MSPD, I’m willing to do that canvass.
December 13th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ten-best-small-towns-in-america-2012-11#7-burnsville-minnesota-4
December 13th, 2012 at 10:54 pm
WOW, I’m impressed!
December 14th, 2012 at 7:48 am
By impressed, I am going to assume you mean drunk.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:44 am
The “Business Insider” bit was based on the utterly stupid Rand McNally/USA Today “Best of the Road” contest. All that link does is completely trash any credibility “Business Insider” may have had. (Although I suspect a quadruple matted/framed copy autographed by the Mayor and Council is also a part of cripes’ new living room decor)
Here’s a reminder of what a joke that contest was:
http://www.lazylightning.org/is-burnsville-americas-best-small-town
December 14th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Note that they got the names wrong on 2 of the 3 restaurants mentioned.
December 15th, 2012 at 4:02 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
December 15th, 2012 at 8:49 am
No.
Meaningless, no. Did it show an intelligent electorate? No.
December 15th, 2012 at 10:37 pm
cripes, I don’t need to “defend” that statement of my opinion. Not only am I entitled to my opinion, but I’m happy to let article after anecdote after blog post after City Council recording after neighborhood conversation after another speak for me. There are no shortage of debacles throughout the year IF you pay attention (which you’ve proven you don’t, as pointed out above).
Whether it’s Kautz or Crichton or Coughlin or whoever, time and time again, the citizens of Burnsville have PROVEN disinterested and, I would say, clearly uninformed in City elections (see: Dan Gustafson). YES, Charlie Crichton’s longevity in office was meaningless just as Kautz’s is, in my opinion. These folks are/have been virtually unopposed by viable candidates. It says a lot to me that Jerry Willenburg, who did almost ZERO campaigning and had no discernable platform other than grunting “PAC equal BAD!” in his best Cookie Monster voice in response to any question and simply put up a few signs that he could pay for himself had the Mayor sweating out weeks of the lead-up (albeit prevailing comfortably).
And as I said before, when all the citizens hear are fluff news articles out of the local papers and speeches from the Mayor where she glosses right over the reality of the City’s situation (e.g. conveniently leaving out mention of the debt service impact when talking about PAC finances, conveniently leaving out the number of businesses that LEFT Burnsville or shuttered when trumpeting the GROSS gain of new businesses, etc.), voters are going to continue to think everything is hunky-dory and check the box next to whoever the incumbent is. Where there actually IS a contest, voters tend (in my opinion) to go with the least-weird person. Did you actually READ Suzanne Nguyen’s candidate interviews? Total empty talking points (straight out of the Mayor’s speeches) and didn’t even answer half the questions. She wins on absolutely ZERO substance and ideas. (I guess I’ll have to wait 12 hours for everyone to forget her again now).
Bill Coughlin (crap…another 12 hours) sits on the Council having won by receiving votes from a whopping 5% of the eligible voters in Burnsville in 2010. In that same election Greg Tomlinson, a total buffoon with less qualifications to be a Councilman than my left shoelace got votes from 20% of those that bothered cast one. 20% for a barely-if-at-all-employed doofus who even came on THIS SITE and made one ridiculously clueless statement after another. 20 PERCENT! (Note: He was the first name listed on the ballot. I suspect that’s as far as most of those 20% got before saying “who the hell are these people?” and randomly checking his name because it was the least-weird. AKA “clueless and indifferent”)
I will answer one of your questions, though I doubt you’ve read this far because I’m not saying what you want to hear: No, I don’t believe this is unique to Burnsville, although we’re really, really great at it. As a matter of fact, I have a relative (of a step-in-law sort) that was elected as a City Councilman in a MSP exurb. He, in my opinion, is absolute proof that almost nobody in that town (which I won’t name) has remotely a clue about the people they are voting into municipal-level office. Just like here in Burnsville.
Now…I’d appreciate it if you’d let me get back to fun things on here like satire and thumbsing-upping lefty’s posts. As Jim Rome would say: GOODNIGHTNOW.
December 20th, 2012 at 1:59 am
I’m not keeping you from satire and thumbs-upping, am I?
Do you have a count of how many businesses have left the city versus entered it? I mean, you brought it up. Is it possible to quantify whether the actions of the city contributed to either?
I understand that the current regime will take credit where it may not be due. Might you quantify, or even suggest, how the current regime has DAMAGED business attraction and retention?
You seem to be the ultimate agnostic regarding Burnsville politics. You seem to have dissed council members of every stripe. You seem to give every indication that their follies are beyond your caring — but it seems you care, about something. Or you wouldn’t be posting.
Yeah, elected officials are all losers and not worthy of us. Is that your deal? Then run!
December 20th, 2012 at 3:18 am
cripes,
When the city first started touting the number of businesses added to Burnsville I asked them for the numbers who had left. I was told, at the time, they don’t track that metric. In other words, they want to use a totally meaningless number and bury their head in the sand about the other.
Without any verifiable way to determine how many businesses were lost and why (exit interviews are faulty anyway) it would be difficult to say for sure.
But these aren’t things you want to hear nor will you respond directly to them. I don’t know why I bothered.
December 20th, 2012 at 11:06 am
And in other news:
December 25th, 2012 at 5:02 am
Bill, I don’t have a plus or minus tally, either, on businesses in Burnsville.
I don’t know if Burnsville is better or worse than surrounding cities for business defections. Do you? Evidently, some cities don’t or can’t track that metric.
Originally, I think I was just seeking some quantification for MSPD’s statement about the “missed opportunity for Burnsville to be a much better place to thrive and do business.”
I’m still seeking that.
December 25th, 2012 at 6:49 am
I’m a data analyst by trade; thus, I don’t believe in highlighting false metrics. That’s know as being full of shit, or more plainly, lying.
December 25th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
cripes,
Shut the fuck up. You keep cherry picking your responses without bothering to address the inadequacies of your postulations. You are little more than a blathering idiot on this subject, even though you generally have some decent things to say on other comments.
That’s all I have to say about that.
lefty