Meetings tonight.

I will be attending both the city council meeting tonight and the school board board meeting. I will be at the school board meeting for a short time. I will have an update on what I can from there. Then it will be off to the council meeting.

You can get updates on both here tonight.

Levy not to include the long range plan.

Well there were a number of people at the school board meeting last night. I was one of them. I was one of two that spoke against supporting the levy. Well the YES YES YES group has a good showing of about 30 people and 20 or so speakers.

Well the board passed a vote last night saying that they would only use the levy for it's intent and not use on the red plan I don't buy it. They can try to sell the public that this levy has nothing to do with the long range plan yet that is a false statement.

Well the Yes Yes Yes group talked about the students being the future of Duluth they fail to understand the tax burden.

I talked about the levy and not the red plan. As many of the yes group advocates attacked member Glass and his views on the red plan.

Here is what I said.

Well the administration and many board members send up smoke and mirrors. The special interest groups will toss out threats on what we will lose if the levy does not pass. It is time that you work with in your budget it is not time to ask tax payers to pay more when we are in an economic down turn.

Red plan

Tonight there will be a special school board meeting. The meeting will take place at old central the central administration building. The meeting will start at 6:30 tonight.

The special meeting is about the red plan. Member Glass wants the a public vote on the red plan. He said we want to separate the construction cost from the operational cost of the plan.

This is the second time that Glass will have brought this issue sense being elected in the last election.

Red plan.

Most people know that I am against the red plan. I don't know however if there is a time or not concede that the plan is just going to get stuffed down our throats. I don't think that time has come however I also am not sure that it was time to do this either. A group is suing the city over the planning commission decision to not hold an environmental study.

Now I do think there is environmental issues in this case however I don't think the city can do much about it. The fact is the school district needs to be held responsible for this. To push try to push another form of Government into this is not right.

Was it a joke?

Prank or not? You may have seen the for sale signs on the site of Duluth Central High School. A group of students did this a joke. The thing is how right could they be? http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-is-going-to-happen-to-duluth.html


I think they are spot on. I would not be shocked one bit if Central is put up for sale and soon.

Red plan or not?

I recieved this email from Harry Weltywho blogges here http://www.lincolndemocrat.com//.

If you don't agree with the red plan I would strongly urge you to email the people in this post. There are local State Representatives. You can also call and write them as well. Now is the time to take action. Here is the email. Also check out the let Duluth vote web page. There link is in the email as well.


Our chance of voting on the Red Plan is better than ever . . . if you help!
Let Duluth Vote's petition will be sidetracked to the Minnesota Attorney General for a few weeks so the School Board can ignore it a little while longer. But they can't ignore Mike Jaros' bill, HR 4127, which will force a vote on the Red Plan that counts!
Three local legislators must be contacted to co-sponsor Mike's bill. Call them. Write them. Email them. You have about two weeks. And copy the URL for this page ( http://www.letduluthvote.com/ ) and email it to all your friends. Tell them to do what this page says to do.


Tell these legislators that you want to vote on the Red Plan and tell them why.
Senator Thomas M. Bakk (DFL) District 06 email 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Capitol Building, Room 226St. Paul, MN 55155-1606Capitol office 651.296.8881 (Home 218-666-5041)
Thomas Huntley (DFL) 07A email* 585 State Office Building100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155(651) 296-2228 (Home 724-6568)E-mail: rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn


Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon DFL District 07 email75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room G-9St. Paul, MN 55155-1606Telephone: 651.296.4188 (Home 727-3997)contact Prettner's assistant. Legislative AssistantMarnie Burau Keslermarnie.burau@senate.mn(651) 296-4188


And consider thanking Mary Murphy for joining Mike Jaros: (Mike doesn't need our email)
Mary Murphy (DFL) 06B email* 343 State Office Building100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155(651) 296-2676 (800) 890-5428 (Home 729-6399)
Also: Be sure to bring all your friends to speak or back up speakers at the next School Board meeting in Old Central at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, April 15th.
Enter here for more information about Let Duluth Vote and the Red Plan
You can find this page at: http://www.letduluthvote.com/

Predictions: School Baord 2nd district.

This race could be an interesting race. It pits long time candidate for political offices Harry Welty against Judy Seliga-Punyko.

I don't know much about Judy. I have meet her once when she ran for school board four years ago. Other then a very brief conversation with her I can say to much about her stands. I know she is for the red plan with out a vote. I will do a search and try to find a web page were I can get more info about her. Look for more info to come soon on her.

It appears as if Judy has been on boards and such for the school board to plan long range activities for the school district. She also has been a lobbyist for the school district on the state and Federal levels. Here is a link to the story:http://www.duluthbudgeteer.com/articles/index.cfm?id=20996&section=News . Once there you can also read Harry Welty's interview.

It seems to me that Judy is more concerned about the buildings then the students.

Harry Welty was a board member for 10 years. Well on the board he showed great understand for the issues that came up for a vote.

Those that have read this blog for a while will know Harry and I don't agree politically offend. I have however a new respect sense I interviewed him back when he ran for congress in '06.

Harry has a great grasp on many issues. His experience with the school board is second only to current board member Tim Grover. Harry is running this time mainly because he is against the red plan. He believes like many do we should be able to vote on the plan.

The paper has endorsed Judy for this race. What will DP do?

I don't believe this race will be that close. I am thinking along the lines of a 60-40 %.

My vote would be: Harry Welty

Prediction: Harry Welty

Election Predictions: School Board 3rd district.

I will kick off my predictions with this school board race. There will continue tell we reach the mayor's race. I will try to do a couple a day or so. Please remember my predicted winner is not nessicerly who I am voting for that will be included in the post however.

The third district Duluth School board race pits two candidates that have ran against each other before. Current board member Tim Grover and challenger Deb Anderson. These two candidates faced off four years ago. Were Mr. Grover won re-election.

Time Grover: A long time board member. By far the longest sitting member on the board. His experience with school related issues is second to none. Mr. Grover has seen the ups and the downs of the Duluth Public schools as a board member and has dealt with them very very adequately.

Deb Anderson: Has little experience dealing with school issues. She was however employed by the school district for a long time before retiring just a short time ago. Deb looks to bring her views of what is bad with the district to the board. She has an agenda.

Both candidates are against the red plan. Both feel that we have the right to vote on the issue.

It seem like Mr. Grover is not out that pounding the pavement. Well Mrs: Anderson is working hard her signs out number Mr. Grover big time. I don't know if it is a lack of interest on Mr. Grover's part or just feeling defeated.

As this is my district I would ask you all to support Tim Grover his experience and knowledge is second to none. He has done nothing to hurt the district he is one of the few that has worked to keep us a float.

My vote: Time Grover



Prediction: Deb Anderson