For those in the know or for those that care about such affairs, the Minneapolis City Council's March 3rd Public Safety and Health meeting was the scene for local cop watchers to attend. The primary focus of Wednesday's public hearing was to discuss the reappointment of Police Chief Tim Dolan. As could be expected, the room was filled to capacity and an overflow room was made available across the hall with video feed of the hearing. Members of the ”protest community” had come to speak against Dolan and his friends, fans and those with their own dog in the fight were there too. As expected the media corps was there to preserve it all for posterity, but they seemed to have completely missed the mini drama unfolding in and just outside the City Council Chambers.
The entire affair happened right in the midst of everyone, which should have everyone wondering what type of activity goes on when no one is looking.
Shortly after the proceedings commenced, one of Dolan’s vocal supporters took his place at the microphone to make his position known to the committee and everyone else in attendance. Regardless of rank or fame the two minutes allotted weren’t enough for all speakers to make their positions clear. The supporter and his gal pal had positioned themselves next to the podium in order to encroach upon the other speakers time and space by waving their signs of support along side nearly everyone who came forward to speak for or against the Chief.
For all that witnessed the event via the live feed, all eyes were on Johnny. I mean bully blogger John Hoff and gal pal Megan Goodmundson. While the manic Hoff and company were showing their support for Dolan, reporters seemed oblivious to the drama going on between Hoff and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies who were standing right outside the council chamber doors. Perhaps these media bloodhounds assumed that the deputies were there to show their support for Dolan. If so, they were wrong.
Even MPR got caught up in Johnny's spell and quoted him in their coverage of the day's proceedings. Watching him on the monitor he reminded me of the hypnotic and sly snake Kaa in Disney’s The Jungle Book as he stared into the camera. Perhaps they mistakenly gazed too deeply into his eyes to realize that he was a story too:
Some of the people who spoke in favor of Dolan’s reappointment are residents of north Minneapolis, which contains some of the city’s most crime challenged neighborhoods. John Hoff, also know as blogger Johnny Northside, testified that Dolan is responsible for progress in the Hawthorne neighborhood.
“What I’m here to ask for is please give Dolan the tools and resources he’s going to need to continue to be successful,” Hoff said.
Hoff added that the cuts in the department have meant the loss of police administration's staff which he and his neighbor rely on for information”
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/03/04/dolan-appointment-hearing/
The “information” to which he might refer has led to the exposure of a host of "undesirables" associated with or living in his neighborhood. This sometimes outrageous and often salacious psychobabble has exposed purported murders, thieves, drug dealers, slumlords, prostitutes and last, but not least, level 3 sex offenders.
One of the level 3 sex offenders decided to fight back. Pete Rickmyer or "Pete the Pedophile" as his less friendly neighbors refer to him, filed a lawsuit against Hoff and some of his Northside Neanderthals. Whether the lawsuit has merit is neither here nor there. He filed it and he's damn mad and not going to take it anymore. Pete’s not stopping until everyone who's been named has been served. As of this writing, Hoff has remained elusive.
As any good comedy or errors would have it, Pete was also attending the hearing. He was engaged in conversation by the door when Hoff jumped up out of his seat. He ran over to Pete like a Ritalin deprived kid. Loudly he announced for all to hear Pete's level 3 sex offender status. Rickmyer turned and immediately left the City Council Chambers.
Hoff was like someone who’d just won some sort of juvenile playground victory. He returned to his seat, having triumphed, having shamed Pete out of the room.
Well at least that's what I thought. Pete returned shortly to prove me wrong. Sometimes it's fun to be wrong. The next thing I know the door opens. Pete had scampered off to retrieve the Sheriff to have John served. The Sheriff’s deputies were looking to have Hoff step outside the hearing. They wanted to speak to him. As luck would have it activist Al Flowers, favorite target of Hoff's poison pen, was standing near by. Al couldn't believe it at first. When the realization hit him he gave Johnny the message. He was like the mythological Hermes with winged boots delivering news to someone who's ridiculed him so tirelessly.
"The Sheriffs are outside and they want to see you."
Al reported back, "I guess he's not coming out until this is over."
Later Hoff twittered:
Thanks, Al Flowers, for warning me about the cop.
By now John was defiantly twittering:
- At the mayor's office.
- Dolan supporters have signs, stickers. ''DOLAN IS GOOD FOR MY HOOD.''
- No legal service. Escaped through council chambers. Spanky Pete foiled again.
- Where is Dog the Bounty Hunter when Spanky Pete really needs him?
- Thank you, officer, for the slack! Like the song says...
I have to give it to Johnny Northside - today, in City Hall JNS escaped the capable clutches of Hennepin Counties finest with the help of his City Council-man and the mayor's public policy aide. The story goes, Pete (the sex offender guy) was outside of the city council chambers with "2" Hennepin County Sheriffs being polite and waiting for the City Council meeting about Chief Dolan to be over with before serving JNS with Pete (the sex offender guy), lawsuit. It was like a scene out of a James Bond movie - one minute Johnny was there, the next minute - high ranking city officials had "shuttled" Johnny out the back door like he was getting ready to meet with "M." I guess there is some reward for liking the likes of Don "Am I Black" Samuels and Chief Dolomite.
Sixteen minutes later gal pal Megan fired back:
Well - I'm not sure how relevant this is to the purpose of this forum - but just to set the record straight, John "Johnny Northside" was at the public hearing to both speak in favor of the reappointment of the Chief as well as to cover the public hearing as a news item for his blog. John went into the halls of the city council offices to get commentary from council members, primarily the northside council members.
I was there, and Councilmember Don Samuels and the Mayor's policy aide had nothing to do with John going back to the council offices. It's called
press coverage. Although some would love to create a conspiracy here, there really is none, as usual.
Just to set the record straight, Megan wasn't there. I saw her walk out of council chambers by herself. I believe I know who helped John ditch out the back door.
According to John Hoffs blog post:
Pete The Pedophile Tries To Serve Johnny Northside In City Council Chamber, Northside Escapes.
Anyway, the whole exciting story of my "great escape" will be told by-and-by, but for now here's the summary: Pete Rickmyer, a.k.a. Pete The Pedophile, apparently was trying to have me served with his worthless legal paper today while I was in City Council Chambers, covering the reappointment proceedings for MPD Chief Dolan. But the sheriff's deputy wouldn't come into council chambers, waiting outside for, like, two hours. In the meantime, I was busy making arrangements to speak to my city council rep about pressing issues-- the concentration of Level Three sex offenders in my neighborhood, as it turned out--and I ended up exiting the building through the city council offices instead of the main door. Whew, did I get lucky! But think about it: would you want a Level Three sex offender to have "personal jurisdiction" over you? I didn't think so.
In the photo above, Pete the Pedophile sits in council chambers, waiting and watching. I hear the look on his face was pretty funny when he realized his quarry had escaped, literally under the eyes of the whole public-access-channel-watching City of Minneapolis and (reportedly) two sheriff's deputies plus the video camera of the Mpls Mirror. HA!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think so bitch! He didn't escape my camera or the council videographers. I'm pretty sure that bald man in the tan suit whisked Johnny right out the council door just as the meeting ended.
On Saturday at the 5000 Man March in North Minneapolis, I almost stepped on one of Johnny’s friends. I asked the hobbit on steroids, “Who helped Johnny out of the City Council Chambers?”
Perhaps thinking me the mythical Gorgon, he avoided my gaze and mumbled, “He did it on his own.”
So after my brief conversation with Bilbo’s eye-averting cousin, Hoff blogged:
Well, sitting through the hearing I was already mentally calculating that I should give my testimony and leave because, I figured, Spanky Pete was off talking to the process servers, saying, "John Hoff is in City Council Chambers right now." But the reappointment of Dolan meant so much to my neighborhood, I was willing to risk getting served. I sat in a seat near the speaker podium, visible in the camera angle. As the hearings were broadcast and recorded I held up a "We Want Dolan" sign…
Well unless my eyes mislead me, Johnny is as full of it as his gal pal and his friend the hobbit. The video footage shows Mayor Rybak's policy aide, Sherman Patterson, slipping him through that special door.
At some point--right before I started holding up my signs--notorious loon and mayoral candidate (of Crazy Town) Al Flowers came up to me, leaned down and whispered, "John, there's a sheriff's deputy outside who wants to see you."
"Thanks, Al," I said, because I can be just as clever, you see, as Spanky Pete.
My friend Megan Goodmundson went out in the hallway to confirm the sheriff's deputy was there to serve me. (There was only one deputy, at first, but reportedly there were two during the course of the long hearing) Megan informed the deputy that I, John Hoff, wasn't going to come out of the council chambers. The deputy shrugged and said fine, he could wait. He was "getting paid by the hour" and could "wait all day" because he didn't want to "disrupt the proceedings."
I could see Al Flowers watching me, intently. Outside of council chambers, the lady from the Minneapolis Mirror had a video camera all set up. She was apparently so intent on capturing video of Johnny Northside getting served she was forsaking all the juicy Dolan hearing testimony, just waiting for that "money shot" of Johnny Northside being spanked with legal paper by Pete the Pedophile. Meanwhile, Pete himself was in chambers...watching. I was pretty much surrounded.
However, there are two doors which lead out of the council chambers. One, I knew, went through the city council offices. The trick, I thought, was to get through one of those doors instead of the main door.
I got up from my seat and spoke to a high-ranking public official who shall remain nameless but let's just say...it's not this guy's fault. I am capable of being cunning and coldly calculating when necessary. I used these skills for "social engineering." I explained to the (innocent, somewhat distracted) high-ranking official how I was on a tight schedule and--right after the council meeting--I really needed to have a word with some (any, really) of the council members from North Minneapolis about this emerging issue of Level Three sex offenders concentrated in North Minneapolis...though a state statute says that's not supposed to happen, click here.
Furthermore, I wanted to avoid the crowd and--if I might--just slip into the chambers for a MOMENT, because, really, that's all it would take? Just a moment of their time, in private?
And my request worked. The high-ranking official was agreeable, subject to one caveat: the council members would have to be willing to talk to me. No promises, you understand. (Me, nodding agreeably) He or she offered to slip me into the city council offices when the hearing was done and things were breaking up, so I might get a brief moment of "face time" with some or maybe even all of the North Minneapolis council members.
I said, hey, I owe you. Big time.
When the hearing started to break up, I was whisked into council chambers. While the high-ranking public official checked into the schedules of my elected officials, I scoped out the location of the side door. There. There it was. I wanted to dash through it immediately but, well, that would be rude. The high-ranking official came back with an apologetic look on his/her face: there just wasn't time for a meeting right now. Everything was so tightly scheduled.
Hoff claims no laws were broken. But other than Pete, who cares? I’m far more concerned with the actions of Rybak’s aide. Who wouldn't like to have such helpful civil servants at the ready when the time comes?
Ultimately this story isn’t about the bully Hoff or Pete Rickmyer, it’s about the character and judgment of those at the highest levels of public service. Hoff admits that a “high ranking official” helped him make the great escape. Judging from the video footage, the identity of that “high ranking official” seems pretty obvious.
In the past Hoff has vigorously defended Council Member Don Samuels and Mayor Rybak. It seems clear what this type of support gets in return. It’s this type of relationship that allows thugs to brutalize the more marginalized in society while politicians manage to keep their white gloves clean. I dare say a situation of which Hoff is keenly aware.
Recent world history is full of examples of the willing thugs employed by those in power; in Italy under Mussolini they were called Blackshirts. Under Adolf Hitler they were known as "Brownshirts", Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, William Dudley Pelley’s Silver Legion of America, the Camisas Doradas in Mexico, the Plínio Salgado in Brazil, Falange Española under Franco's dictatorship and the fascist Iron Guard Romania. Most of these flourished during tough economic times much like those in which we currently find ourselves. You get the idea; unmonitored power tends to lead to an abuse of power.
Hoff casually dismisses Patterson’s prior knowledge of his legal predicament, which calls into question just how well Patterson vets the people he escorts directly into the offices of those that run this city.
At this event, Hoff was there for another purpose. He was determined to campaign for someone in power in whose future he seems very interested. He was so concerned that he risked staying until the very end at the risk of being served. What a coincidence that he was seated just in front of that very person throughout the proceedings.
Hoff frequently brags of his high-ranking connections providing him with information. It appears as though he has a "friend" in the Mayor's office, so just how far do his feelers extend into the MPD and other City departments? He claims that his MPD connection occupies a high level in the department and that source provides him with valuable information for his blog.
Are we to assume the identity of one of those “high ranking” sources? It seems likely that Dolan faces very little substantive resistance on the road ahead. For me, the important question is the character of those whom the Mayor allows to ride his coattails to the Governor’s mansion.
We’ve included a link to the City’s official video footage of the proceedings and a timeline of the activities in the Council Chambers on March 3rd.
http://shows.implex.tv/Qwikcast/Root/minneapolis/3385/preflight.htm?AutoLoginComplete=1
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03.03.10 Public Safety & Health |
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2hrs44mins |
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0:14:20 |
Police Chief Hearing Starts. |
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0:28:20 |
Megan Goodmundson speaks. |
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0:31:40 |
John Hoff speaks. |
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0:42:30 |
Hoff gestures in Patterson's direction. |
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0:42:44 |
Hoff goes to Patterson & points to doorway leading to Council chambers. |
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0:43:24 |
Hoff returns to seat & puts on jacket. |
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0:45:06 |
Hoff gets up & walks over to Patterson. |
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0:46:04 |
Patterson returns to speak to Hoff who's already seated & waiting to speak to him. |
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0:46:29 |
Hoff returns to seat & takes off jacket & whispers to person seated to his right. |
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1:02:00 |
Hoff moves to vacant seat to his left to occupy better camera view & holds up sign. |
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1:17:13 |
Joe Walker objects to Hoff's signs. |
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1:17:20 |
Don Samuels claims Hoff's signs are his right. |
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1:17:41 |
Hoff waves "We Want Dolan" sign back & forth & up & down appearing to taunt Walker. |
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1:18:27 |
Hoff holds up 2nd "We Want Dolan" sign. |
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1:19:22 |
Julian Johnson complains about Hoff "flagging" his signs & Hoff continues. |
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1:43:44 |
Samuels ends hearing & Hoff gets up & puts on jacket, takes bag & walks up to |
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Patterson who appears to be waiting for him. |
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2:42:44 |
Patterson rises from seat and goes down row towards Hoff who follows Patterson |
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through Council offices door. All in front of Chief Dolan seated behind Hoff. |
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2:42:56 |
Samuels rises. |
Check out the video link above or a short humorous video link below of the highlights and draw your own conclusions:
