Capitol View: September 5, 2007 Archive

The race card in St. Louis County

Posted at 12:47 PM on September 5, 2007 by Bob Collins

St. Louis County commissioners have gotten themselves into the political hot water now.

Steve Raukar is facing allegations of sexual harrassment. County public information officer Ellen Quinn, alleges he made inappropriate phone calls. He has apologized and says his family has forgiven him.

Apparently, according to the Timberjay News, Rauker asked Quinn to get together with him at a hotel room early one morning. "He says it was for a drink. She says he made it clear he had more on his mind than that. Either way, it was a stupid thing for a commissioner to do. No one is disputing that."

Ummm... yeah.

A secretary to Commissioner Dennis Fink also alleges sexual harrassment. She says " she was subjected to sexual comments or ogled by Fink or others in his presence." The paper cites a stack of receipts from a trip Fink took that he gave her for reimbursement. These included a grocery store receipt for some "sexual lubricant" and a hotel receipt for an "explicit movie" that had been ordered. (For now, let's set aside the discussion on whether taxpayers should pay for a politician's jelly.)

Whether that's harrassment is worthy of debate. But the commissioner are staying away from it.

The Duluth News Tribune today, in an editorial, reports that County Commissioner Mike Forsman contends

The investigations were biased and the board's critics "seem to hate white males," he complained, adding: "This reminds me of the mob mentality that lynched three black men in Duluth."

The link is Polinaut's.

A strike? No, an opportunity

Posted at 2:26 PM on September 5, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

A labor union on strike for the DFL is like an open flame for moths.

At the U of M today, where some workers are on strike, Al Franken put in an appearance (Listen)

And Elizabeth Edwards even showed up to help the cause. (Listen)

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Does Craig have immunity from prosecution?

Posted at 4:57 PM on September 5, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I was watching CNN this morning which had the usual debating-heads babble -- this time it was over the question of whether Sen. Larry Craig should resign. One of the combatants said, basically, that Craig should resign because he was too stupid to know that members of Congress are immune from charges during, and immediately before and after participating in a congressional session.

A blogger -- it's always the bloggers ain't it? -- says that's simply not true

So what Larry Craig was claiming when he showed the arresting officer his business card was not “Senatorial immunity” which has some limited actual existence under the Constitution, but corrupt special privilege, which unfortunately is fairly common–see Beltway-itis: When Politicians Attack, by Michelle Malkin, just the other day.

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