John Nephew

Storm Debris Pickup

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 13:42:00 +0000

I found this link on the city web page yesterday afternoon, after our power came on. Apparently Public Works had already gone through our neighborhood by the time I (or any of the neighbors I've talked to) learned about the debris pick-up, but the city may reconsider the "one pass" idea. After all, yesterday evening Xcel was still working to restore power to some parts of my neighborhood, and my neighbors and I weren't even able to start clearing debris before Xcel's tree crew had cut the fallen front yard tree off of the power line on Sunday evening.

If you have downed branches and trees, keep an eye on the city web page for updates, or call public works to see if they've gone through your neighborhood already.

The New Organized Collection Statute

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:05:00 +0000

The League of Minnesota Cities staff has posted a legislative update explaining the new Organized Collection statute, which Gov. Dayton signed into law on May 7th.

Reform Passed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:44:00 +0000

Just got word...reform of the organized collection has passed both houses!

Coal Tar Sealants Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:36:00 +0000

Remember how a few years ago, when I was on the City Council, we banned the use of coal tar asphalt sealants in Maplewood? There's more evidence that this was a very good idea.

Sauk Rapids Organizing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:41:00 +0000

After Maplewood organized its trash hauling, and anti-organization haulers demonstrated their willingness to spend a lot of money on political races to punish would-be organizers and defend their own profits, the outlook seemed dim for other cities to follow our lead.

But apparently not that dim -- I just heard about Sauk Rapids choosing to go with a plan for organization, as reported in the St Cloud Times, with some council members who had opposed organization changing their mind on the issue when they saw the savings and benefits for residents.

I haven't seen it confirmed, but a rumor I hear is that the haulers' political group that has been backing anti-organization candidates (as they did in Maplewood and Roseville) was involved in Sauk Rapids, too -- and the candidates they backed, once in office and caught up to speed on all of the facts and pros and cons, sensibly changed their minds and decided that organization was the right path for their city. If this is true, it's a very interesting wrinkle in the story.

I Stand Corrected

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:43:00 +0000

In my last entry, I shared the news that trash rates in Maplewood for 2013 would remain the same as last year. However, that's turned out to be slightly inaccurate -- the final rates put in place for this year are lower than the 2012 rates.

Here are the new rates for 2013 in Maplewood, including all taxes and fees:

$6.79 for 20 gallons every other week
$9.23 for 20 gallons every week
$10.51 for 32 gallons every week
$11.76 for 65 gallons every week
$13.17 for 95 gallons every week

When we were developing the RFP and evaluating proposals, I observed numerous times that the formula we put in place could actually result in trash rates that declined rather than increasing. The naysayers who were convinced that the "government takeover" would inevitably drive up prices scoffed of course. I'm delighted to see that the supposedly unthinkable has actually come to pass.

Trash Rates 2013: Unchanged in Maplewood

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:17:00 +0000

It's that time of year when we start getting notices of rate increases for the new year -- but if you live in Maplewood, one bill that won't be increasing is your trash.

It's funny to me that so many people who asked me to vote against organized trash collection insisted that, while the rates might start low, they would soon increase and wind up costing more than the previous system. Of course, none of these people had actually read the contract. Never mind that; many of them said that, whatever I thought the contract said (and regardless of my close involvement with the development of all its details), there must be something in there that would allow the hauler to screw over the customers once we were lured in by low introductory rates. Or, I was told, the hauler would just go ahead and raise rates regardless of the contract's terms, and the city would be helpless to stop them.

The contract does allow for annual price adjustments, but with very specific parameters. Hauler proposals had to specify what portion of their price was tied to fuel; what portion was tied to disposal costs; and what portion was tied to the rest of the cost of service. Each year, each of those elements will be adjusted according to objective measures: a diesel fuel index (for fuel costs), tipping fees at the Ramsey-Washington facility in Newport (disposal costs), and the consumer price index (all the rest). I don't know if anyone believed me when I told them, but I explained that with this formula it was quite possible for trash rates not to increase, but actually to stay the same or fall in future years of the contract.

There has been inflation over the past year -- but diesel is actually cheaper, and apparently the tipping fees at Newport will actually be reduced in 2013. Talking with some folks at city hall recently, I'm told that the net result is a wash -- trash rates for all of 2013 will be set at the same super-low rates that kicked off our new organized trash hauling system last month. In other words:

$10.63 for 32 gallons, weekly pickup, including all taxes and fees
$11.93 for 65 gallons, weekly pickup, including all taxes and fees
$13.39 for 95 gallons, weekly pickup, including all taxes and fees

I'd be curious to know how many customers in open hauling cities are seeing their rates held flat throughout next year -- and for that matter, how many trash haulers are reducing or eliminating their fuel surcharges in light of lower diesel costs.

When we estimated $1.6 million in annual savings for Maplewood households, we were using the average rates I'd found across the city in 2011. Considering the 2012 and 2013 rate increases that the organized collection contract has avoided, the savings are now even larger.

Congratulations, Rep. Fischer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 04:41:00 +0000

The Secretary of State website has been swamped and slow to update, but adding together the tally of Washington County precincts (3,118 for Stout; 2,751 for Fischer) for House District 43A to the results from the Ramsey County website for the 12 Ramsey County precincts in the district (6,798 for Stout; 8,240 for Ficher), and it looks like we totals of:

Peter Fischer 10,991 votes, 52.6%
Stacey Stout 9,916 votes, 47.4%

...which would give our newly-drawn district a newly-elected representative, Peter Fischer!

Speaking of Liars (Rebecca Cave Gladstone Edition)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Rebecca Cave, who helped get Maplewood into such a mess back in 2006-2007 and thus inspired me to run for office, is running again for City Council in next week's special election. As in the past, her campaign is built on half-truths and outright lies. Besides having the backing of our old friends at the "Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice" (who have a penchant for backing dishonest candidates), she has sent out a flyer of her own, loaded with misinformation.

For example, she harps on this "sale of Gladstone Park for housing." She has a picture of the Gladstone Savanna Neighborhood Preserve sign, marked "Before"; and then a picture labeled "After Trees Clear Cut - 2012".

This postcard assumes most people don't know what's going on there, maybe even if they live nearby. What's the construction in that neighborhood preserve you might have driven past on Frost?

Reality is the opposite of Cave's lie. The Savanna isn't being torn up for housing; it's being cleaned up to be a neighborhood preserve that the neighbors can safely enjoy. As Cave should know if she paid any attention when she was on the council, the Savanna is contaminated from its old days as an industrial site and rail yard. Contaminants include lead, arsenic, and other poisons -- not the stuff you want kids (or anyone) playing in. So, partly with the park funds that came from the development at the former site of the St Paul Tourist Cabins, the City of Maplewood is remediating the site -- which involves actually digging up and removing soil that is loaded with toxic waste.

Cave's cynicism -- taking an ongoing city project that is to enhance and preserve this parkland and actually make it safe for the neighborhood to use, and using it to back her lie that housing is being built there -- is breathtaking. Or maybe she supports heavy metal poisoning for kids in the Gladstone neighborhood?

Portrait of a Plutocrat: Michael Reger

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:16:00 +0000

Since Northern Oil & Gas (NYSE: NOG) is a publicly traded company, it gives us an opportunity to take a closer look at one of the folks funding the the lies from Minnesota's Future in Maplewood and all over Minnesota, using other peoples' money. You may be surprised to learn that the attacks might even be funded with your money!

NOG CEO Michael Reger of Wayzata is a rich guy. His 3.1 million shares of NOG alone amount to more than $47 million, and his compensation from NOG in 2011, according to the April 2012 proxy statement, was almost $10.8 million. His employment contract guarantees “minimum four percent annual increases” to his salary – a pretty sweet deal next to what most American workers have seen lately, especially considering that NOG has lost nearly half its value under Reger's guidance this past year. Reger personally donates tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates like Chip Cravaack, Denny Rehberg and Newt Gingrich.

Not content to spend only his own money backing right-wingers, Reger also uses NOG's corporate treasury as a piggy bank for his pet political causes. The NOG "Code of Business Conduct and Ethics" gives their CEO the power to give "funds or assets of the company" as political contributions; he needs only to "immediately advise" the board of directors of his decisions to spend shareholder money in this manner, not even get their approval or consent, let alone the shareholders'.

Rich though he is, Reger owns less than 5% of NOG. Almost ¾ of the company's shares are owned by mutual funds and institutions, like The Vanguard Group and T. Rowe Price. If you're like millions of Americans, you own shares in funds like these, perhaps in an IRA or 401k. NOG is part of the Russell 2000 index (see p. 16 of the list of index membership), and thus a required component of many small-cap index mutual funds and ETFs.

This means you may own a piece of that corporate treasury that Mr. Reger uses as a political piggy bank, essentially at his personal whim. Welcome to the post-Citizens United world -- where rich CEOs can not only spend their own money to influence elections, but can spend your money to influence races for their personal benefit.

Vote No: A Closing Argument Worth Sharing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:21:00 +0000

My friend and co-worker Jess has written an impassioned and eloquent "closing argument" for why she will be voting NO on the anti-family "marriage amendment" next week. It's worth reading and sharing.

Credit Where Due, Please

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Memo to lying hack @ctiedeman: Peter Fischer didn't "impose" Maplewood's trash system, saving residents $1.6 million/year. I did.
— John Nephew (@JohnNephew) November 2, 2012

Chris Tiedeman: Habitual Liar?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:49:00 +0000

After my earlier post, I thought I'd google Chris Tiedeman, chair of Minnesota's Future, and discovered that he's almost a job creator in his own right -- if the jobs in question are those of fact checkers debunking bogus claims in his mountains of false and misleading campaign material.

Apparently Mr. Tiedeman thinks that Peter Fischer is not the only person with a supernatural ability to impose his will on elected bodies of which he is not a part. Tiedeman has also claimed that Peter's opponent, Stacey Stout, "helped turn a $6 billion deficit into a $1 billion surplus." Setting aside the argument over whether that's a fair characterization of the state's budget, it's a remarkable thing to credit to someone who was not even a candidate at the time, let alone an incumbent office-holder.

Tiedeman's work is spread all over the state. In a letter to the editor, one voter in Windom complained about "a big metro Political Action Committee with boatloads of money is sending out attack piece after attack piece," and noted that "In fact, with a different picture and name, the very same nasty flyers are being used to attack lots of candidates." From Brainerd to Bloomington to Brandon, Tiedeman's work gets described by phrases like "telling lies," "frustrating to anyone seeking the truth," and "distorting the truth."

Sadly, our mailbox is going to have to suffer another week of crap from this jerk and his pals before the election is over.

Tennis Sanitation Wins Hastings Contract

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Congratulations to Tennis Sanitation for winning a 3-year contract for trash hauling and recycling in Hastings starting next year.

While Tennis opposed Maplewood's effort to organize trash hauling, they did still participate constructively in the process and submitted a solid, competitive proposal. The year before, they had won Maplewood's recycling contract. When I was on the council I received many comments from residents expressing satisfaction with their recycling service. As a resident who uses their services every week myself, for that matter, you can count me among the satisfied.

I'm glad to see Tennis pursuing contracts like Hastings, and demonstrating -- as they did with recycling in Maplewood and other cities -- that the smaller local firm can compete head to head with the big players in bidding/proposing for organized recycling and trash contracts and earn a piece of the business.

More Companies Behind the Lies - even Big Tobacco!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:34:00 +0000

Today's mail brought the latest attack from Minnesota's Future. This time, they flat-out lie by asserting that Peter Fischer "tricked all of Maplewood by imposing single-payer, government-run trash collection." Their source? "Maplewood City Council Hearing, November 28, 2011."

As it happens, I was at that meeting, and as I recall Peter was just one of dozens of citizens who got up and expressed an opinion for or against the plan we on the council then voted on -- and passed 4-1.

So it's not too big a stretch to say that Minnesota's Future -- and its principle figures, Chris Tiedeman (chair) and Gregory Johnson of Weber Johnson Public Affairs -- are liars, political hacks paid to say any old thing they think will serve the needs of their corporate masters. If you like to work with people who have integrity, I'd recommend avoiding them and their firm. If on the other hand you lack morals or character, and are looking for a sleazy front to do your political dirty work, they may be right up your alley.

Speaking of their corporate masters, this latest mailing prodded me to check for recent filings, and I see that we can add some more out-of-town and even out-of-state corporations and organizations to the list of underwriters of Mr. Tiedeman's sleaze:

Anderson Trucking
Box 1377
St. Cloud MN 56302

New Horizon Feeds, Inc.
319 N. Hiawatha
P.O. Box 708
Pipestone MN 56164

Northern Oil & Gas, Inc.
315 Manitoba Ave Suite 200
Wayzata MN 55391

RAI Services Company
P.O. Box 464
Winston-Salem NC 27102

RSLC
1201 F Street NW
Washington DC 20004

Interestingly, I think RAI and Northern Oil & Gas (ticker symbol NOG) are the first publicly traded companies to show up on the sleazebacker list. NOG even has a "Code of Business Conduct and Ethics," which perhaps they need to amend to make it clear that their executives may choose to spend shareholder money on dishonest political attacks if they feel like it.

RAI Services is a branch of the RJ Reynolds tobacco empire (makers of Camel, American Spirit, Pall Mall, Doral, Kool, Winston, and Salem), so I suppose lying comes as naturally to them as coughing.

Today's Postcard from the Plutocrats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:07:00 +0000

According to the latest two mailings in my box from the wealthy businesses and right-wing interests behind "Minnesota's Future," Peter Fischer -- who had the audacity to express a personal opinion in favor of organized trash hauling at some hearing a year ago -- has been retroactively promoted to being "a powerful political boss who helped impose a government takeover of Maplewood's trash business at the expense of the free market and the taxpayers."

Let's remember: The contract was awarded through a competitive RFP process, very much according to free market principles. Just like the free market principles that, say, allow the government to sell the exclusive rights to a section of electromagnetic spectrum used for the broadcasts of Hubbard Broadcasting (owner of KSTP among other stations) -- one of the companies that is funding these attacks on Peter. Or the government mineral leases to the natural gas companies that buy the products of Great Plains Sand, another one of the firms looking to buy this election for their anointed candidate, Stacey Stout.

As for the "expense of the taxpayers" -- the expense was in the old system, that did more harm than necessary to our environment and infrastructure, and cost Maplewood residents $1.6 million per year more than necessary. Companies like these -- and apparently Stacey Stout -- think that no expense is too great or wasteful as long as it goes to the bottom line of a private company.

One could protest the hypocrisy of these companies and their rich owners, but I doubt any of them care about ideological consistency or ethics. And I'm sure they don't care about trash hauling or any phony "political boss" stories they make up. They only care about their bottom lines -- about keeping a Republican majority in the legislature, to protect their wealth from taxes and to protect their businesses from regulations that might prioritize public health and safety above their corporate profits.

If they're attacking Peter Fischer and backing Stacey Stout, it's because they are convinced that Fischer will be worrying about protecting families like yours and mine -- and that Stout is committed to protecting their businesses and wealth first.

To me, each one of these postcards from this gang of plutocrats trying to buy the election, is a reminder of how important it is to vote for Peter Fischer. And after putting their junk mail in the recycling bin where it belongs, think about giving Peter's campaign a few bucks to help him fight back against the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that these rich out-of-town businesses are spending against him.

About this Website

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:02:00 +0000

Thank you for visiting my website!

I launched JohnNephew.com as my campaign website when I first ran for Maplewood City Council in 2007, as a place to introduce myself to voters and explain my positions on the issues of city government. After winning election, the focus of this blog shifted to the day-to-day business of the City Council and the policy issues we faced, and my own research, and the reasoning that informed my council votes. As organized trash collection became a major city issue, and I immersed myself in studying all of its details and helping develop Maplewood's plan, that also became a big topic of entries here (you can find them all through the shortcut www.johnnephew.com/garbage).

In 2011 I ran for re-election, and this website became more campaign-oriented. I won the most votes in the primary election, but I lost the general election after a barrage of election-eve attack mailings from a group of trash haulers determined to punish me for opposing their business interests.

Since leaving office I have been posting here less frequently, and I'm considerably less engaged in politics and city government. I should note that this is a personally funded website, which I now use to write whatever I feel like on any topic. If those topics are political, the contents are not approved by any candidates or candidate's committee.

If you have any questions or comments, you can submit comments in response to individual entries. Comments are moderated, so it may take some time for your comment to appear. You're also welcome to contact me at john@johnnephew.com. Thanks again for visiting!

Who Funds "Minnesota's Future" to Attack Peter Fischer?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:18:00 +0000

Today brought another attack mailer against Peter Fischer, funded by a group called "Minnesota's Future." The theme is ooooooh, scary "job killing tax increases" because Peter is supported by "powerful special interests."

Of course, this mailing itself is funded by some of the other powerful special interests -- rich business interests -- that want the Republican candidate to win and to protect their fat wallets from taxes or regulations (for instance, those pesky environmental concerns about fracking vis a vis Great Plains Sand LLC). I was curious as to exactly which special interests, so I went to the Campaign Finance Board, to see who exactly has been giving heaps of money to defeat Peter.

This being the post-Citizens United era, of course, the funds almost all come from corporate treasuries -- a number of corporations that you can care bet little about you, and a lot about their own bottom line.

Here's a list from the latest report:

Davisco Foods International
11000 W. 78th St. #210
Eden Prairie MN 55344
6/22/2012 $100,000.00 cash contribution

Frauenshuh Companies
Creekview Building
7101 West 78th Street, Ste 100 Minneapolis MN 55439
7/20/2012 $100,000.00 cash contribution

Great Plains Sand, LLC
1242 Adrian Drive
Chaska MN 55318
2/27/2012 $25,000.00 cash contribution

HRCC [House Republican Campaign Committee, a political fund]
161 St Anthony Ave Ste 950
St Paul MN 55103
6/7/2012 $10,000.00 in-kind contribution of polling data

Hubbard Broadcasting
3415 University Avenue
St. Paul MN 55114
8/3/2012 $150,000.00 cash contribution

Micro Control
7956 Main Street NE Fridley MN 55432
7/28/2012 $50,000.00 cash contribution

Rosen's Diversified
1120 Lake Avenue Fairmont MN 56031
7/10/2012 $50,000.00 cash contribution

Senate Victory Fund [Political Fund]
161 St Anthony Ave Ste 902
St Paul MN 55103
6/7/2012 $10,000.00 in-kind contribution of polling data

If you don't care to receive these mailings, you might contact the Chair of "Minnesota's Future," Chris Tiedeman, at ctiedeman@gmail.com. As he is happy to spend a lot of money to share his views and the financial-political needs of his clients with you, I'm sure he'd love to have a two-way dialogue and hear from you in return. No doubt all the companies listed above would enjoy a political conversation with their customers as well, since they're eager to persuade you to support their favored candidate. Similarly, you can drill down into the links for the two political funds to see which companies in turn are funding them.

Or, perhaps more constructively, you could take this as a prod to toss a few bucks in the hat for Peter Fischer -- someone who you can be sure will focus on the needs of his constituents, not rich out-of-town businesses. You can give online on his website.

Trash Rates in Roseville

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:09:00 +0000

Speaking of Roseville trash bills, Roseville is one of the few cities that publishes official hauler rates on the city website -- the rates that the haulers themselves report when they apply for a license from the city. You can see if you're paying what your hauler claims their rates to be.

In Maplewood, I found (here's my entire report) that on average, residents actually paid about 25% more than the official rates reported to the city. I would not be surprised if the situation is similar in Roseville. I did actually get a couple of examples of Walters bills in Roseville last year, and in both cases the customers were charged a higher base rate than the one reported to the city.

In any case it's a good idea to shop around (and to figure in any fuel or "environmental" surcharges that a hauler may or may not tack on to those base rates). In Maplewood, the residents who paid the least tended to watch their bills closely and to call other haulers for rate comparisons frequently, and then either switch or use the rival offer as leverage to get a lower rate with their existing hauler.

Of course, with an organized system, the city does that bargaining for you. Here's a comparison of the 2012 official rates in Roseville:

2012 Monthly Garbage Hauler Rates Rates may or may not include taxes or other charges such as fuel surcharges.
Hauler	Phone	32 Gallon	64 Gallon	96 Gallon	Extra Bag
Ace Solid Waste	763-427-3110	$12.49	$12.99	$14.99	$3.00
Allied Waste	651-455-8634	$14.75	$15.00	$16.00	$5.00
Aspen*	612-884-8000	$17.84	$20.59	$23.35	$2.00
Garbageman	763-269-8182	$23.00	$25.00	$26.00	$2.00
Gene's Disposal*	651-426-1224	$17.00	$18.99	$21.00	$2.00
Veolia	651-459-3029	$12.25	$14.25	$16.25	$2.50
Walter's	763-780-8464	$17.25	$18.95	$19.95	Call
Waste Management	952-890-1100	$15.00	$16.00	$17.00	Call

In comparison, starting in October 2012, Maplewood residents will be paying the following rates through the city's contract, including all taxes and fees:

$10.63 for 32 gallons, weekly pickup
$11.93 for 65 gallons, weekly pickup
$13.39 for 95 gallons, weekly pickup

In other words, when you add state and county taxes to the Roseville hauler reported rates above, you find that the largest container in Maplewood will cost less than the smallest container in Roseville -- and that's not even considering if those Roseville haulers tack on fuel surcharges or other special fees (which most probably do, based on what they do in other cities).

Given the money at stake, you can see why the "Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice" are willing to spend a lot of money to stop Roseville from following Maplewood and saving their residents a lot of money, at the expense of those hauler' profits.

In Case You Ever Wondered...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:33:00 +0000

The recent Republican primary in House District 43B answered the question: "Would it be better for a Republican primary candidate to have the Republican party endorsement, or simply not to be Bob Zick?" Turns out, the answer is the latter, as demonstrated by local party endorsee Zick losing to Kevin Klein, a guy who (according to the Lillie News) "suspended his campaign after not receiving the Republican endorsement on July 30." This essentially unknown person, making no effort to campaign, beat Zick by a margin of 55 to 45.

Roseville Garbage

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:09:00 +0000

As a follow-up to the last post, you may wonder who exactly is behind "Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice," the group pouring money into the Roseville City Council race with an eye to choking the grassroots interest there in organized collection.

According to campaign finance reports last year, the funding of this group in their Maplewood operation came from these haulers:

ACE Solid Waste
Dick's Sanitation
Randy's Environmental
Walter's Recycling & Refuse

It's possible of course that companies have joined or left the group, but given the spending they did last year in Maplewood (despite that fact that only Walters had a residential license in Maplewood), I would expect they're all committed this year as well. If you live in Roseville and use one of these firms, you now know what some of your trash bill is going to fund.

(Thanks to the folks at Walters, by the way, for visiting my blog recently, and reminding me that I should write this post, since folks may not know who is behind the front group.)

WTB Roseville City Council Seats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Last year, as "Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice" bought themselves two seats on the Maplewood City Council (Bob Cardinal and Marv Koppen), it was odd at first glance -- since most of that group were not even licensed in Maplewood, the one that was had very little business here. What's more, the key votes were going to be made before any new councilmembers were seated, and there was a likely 3-member council majority to approve organized collection whose terms didn't end until 2014. But all the election spending in Maplewood of course had less to do with Maplewood than with sending a message to other suburbs -- in particular, next door in Roseville, where the business interests behind this group have a lot more business at stake, and where there's been a notable groundswell of resident interest in and support of organized trash collection. Given that we estimate Maplewood's plan will save our residents about $1.6 million per year, you can understand that these haulers are willing to spend a fair bit to protect their profits elsewhere.

Sure enough, the GHFCC has been spreading cash around again this year, trying to repeat their Maplewood success by buying a couple of seats on Roseville's city council. Unlike Maplewood's race, when the spending was focused on mailings on the eve of the November general election, in Roseville they've started throwing their weight around ahead of the primary. From their mailings and candidate financial reports, one can see that the haulers have decided that their candidates are Lisa Laliberte and Bill Hoffman. In a field of seven candidates for two seats in Tuesday's primary, with the top four advancing from the primary to November's general election, Laliberte came in #1 and Hoffman came in #4. The top three candidates were fairly close, at 1282 to 1377 votes each, while #4 was a much more distant 860 votes.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out in the general election, and to learn how the candidates not anointed by the haulers' PAC respond and adapt their campaign strategies.

Election Spam Coming Your Way

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:14:00 +0000

If you're a resident of Ramsey or Washington County, you may in the next few days find a bunch of primary election junk e-mail in an address you thought was private. Here are several articles that explain how and why:

Winona Daily News/AP
Pioneer Press
KARE11

If you're a Maplewood resident, though, it seems like you may not be subject to the spam...at least for now. As the AP article says, "One city, Maplewood, was an exception. City Clerk Karen Guilfoile cited a privacy policy on the city's website that says email addresses will be kept confidential."

Trash System Exemptions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 13:48:00 +0000

For almost everyone in Maplewood, the pricing in new organized collection system will mean savings large or small. The largest (95-gallon) bin is $13.39 per month (including all taxes and fees), and a household could get service for as little as 6.83 per month (again including all taxes and fees) for the 20 gallon every-other-week service option. But there is a group of exceptions, however: people who were getting by without any trash service under the open hauling scheme.

While some such folks may have been doing things like illegal dumping, as I spoke with people I encountered numerous examples of perfectly reasonable things, even things that should be encouraged. In some cases a business owner might bring trash to their office commercial dumpster; in other cases, an elderly resident told me they produced very little trash and either shared a bin with a next-door neighbor or used the trash bin of an adult child who lived nearby; or someone with very low volume might periodically bring trash to a pay-dump location for disposal.

My view has been that we should allow exemptions for these folks under an organized collection scheme, and the plan we approved last year left the door open. State law requires cities to mandate trash collection service, but allows exemptions for environmentally responsible alternatives. The details were left to be implemented by ordinance after I left the council, however, and I wasn't sure if a policy would be adopted that would be as permissive as I would like.

The final policy adopted is as flexible as I could have hoped, and much more permissive than the exemption policies I've seen in other cities. A form on the city website allows households to apply for the exemption. It states that "the city has sole discretion in allowing an exemption if it is verified that a property owner has an environmentally responsible method of disposing of their garbage," and provides some expansive examples of what would be acceptable (quoting from the form):

Written permission to dispose of garbage in a neighbor’s or family member’s garbage cart (shared service).
Use of a commercial dumpster owned or leased for use by a commercial property. (This commercial property may be owned or leased by the applicant, or the applicant may be an employee who has written permission from his/her employer to use the employer’s commercial dumpster.)
Self hauling garbage to a state permitted solid waste facility.

Hill Cozies Up to Zick

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Apparently Bob Hill's campaign strategy is to get even cozier with the local "operation chaos" gang who have been working to subvert the local DFL. Here's a screen shot of Bob Zick's cable access TV show (a reliable venue for DFL-bashing) last night, featuring Hill, Zick himself, Diana Longrie, and some other guy.

Hill is challenging DFL-endorsed candidate Peter Fischer in this month's primary for House District 43A. Zick is running to be the Republican candidate against DFL incumbent Leon Lillie in House District 43B. Longrie is challenging DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum. In 2008, Longrie also challenged Leon Lillie by running against him in the DFL primary...while she was still listed as an officer of the local Republican party. That year, Zick sent mailings encouraging voters who supported him to vote for Longrie in the DFL primary as "operation chaos."

In 2008 Zick was on the Independence Party ticket, thereby avoiding a primary and getting a government handout of public campaign financing. I guess he shares a willingness with Hill to jump parties when it seems politically convenient -- Hill, the self-described "lifelong Democrat," hosted Independence Party caucuses this year (before he knew he'd be redrawn into a DFL-leaning district). Come to think of it, Longrie has been known to hitch herself to the IP when it suits her purposes as well.

What next? Should we expect to see Hill kissing the ring of Rush Limbaugh?