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08/23/2006: "Dean Zimermann has been convicted"
Dean Zimermann has been convicted. The first Green Party elected official in Minneapolis, a Minneapolis icon of the idealism of my generation is a criminal. What am I to make of this?
What am I to make of the Star Tribune saying that we should forgive him, give him no jail time, he was “just over his head”. What am I to make of Doug Grow writing that he is just a bungler?
On the other hand, what am I to make of the gleeful calls from many former Greens, Democrats and political opponents to throw away the key?
What about the reports that his opponent’s campaign manager, Barbara Lickness had a “verdict party”? I would love to have gone to that, see who was high fiveing who.
You have heard a lot of people’s version’s of the facts. Or perhaps, if you are lucky, you haven’t. Well here is my version of the facts.
The establishment in Minneapolis didn’t really like Dean on the city council. He was too popular, he was effective in supporting the homeless, the city health department, and opposing giveaways to dues paying members. The last straw may have been his opposition to the Twins stadium, or it may have been something else.
Anyway, the city was redistricted to put Dean’s house out of his ward. At the same time, the only other Green party councilperson was forced to run against the only other African American member.
Dean had to move to run in his ward, he also had to run against Robert Lilligren, another popular southsider, Native American, good looking. They figured they had taken care of him. He didn’t have money to move and run a campaign. That darn Zimmermann, he did it, moved and was ram a successful campaign, what’s an establishment to do?
Give the FBI a developer named Carlson, who they had on a very short leash. Seems this guy had been caught in some financial shenageneans. They put a wire on him, gave him his script, loaded his pockets with money, and sent him over to Dean to get him to take some. They did it four times! Dean was stubborn, he just wouldn’t say the right things on tape. But with Carlson saying the right things, and Dean’s agreeableness, they did get what they hopped would be enough. Dean was in a tight race and it was hard to raise money in one of the poorest ward in the city. They also had a goodsized debt from the lawsuit they had filed about the redistricting. Remember the redistricting?
Oh, by the way, even with this charge hanging over his head, Dean only lost his re-election by 50 votes. An interesting coincidence, is that the guy who won, Robert Lilligren, won his previous (and first) election when the FBI charged his opponent with bribery. This was the same guy who’s campaign manager had a party for Dean’s conviction.
Councilmen take money all the time. They have to. Lisa Goodman, who was running unopposed, raised over $100,000. Well Dean took the money. He tried to give it to the proper people but the lawyer wouldn’t take it. The leftover lawsuit organization wouldn’t take it. So he put it in his own checking account. He later wrote a credit card check for it, but again, no one would take it. The money got spent. No one is saying that was a crime, but it certainly did not look good to the jury.
The crime was taking the money and agreeing to do political favors for it. But wait, Dean says he didn’t agree to do anything for the money. A careful listening to the tapes bear out this claim. Nowhere does he say that he will do anything for the money.
The prosecution says that they didn’t need to prove that he agreed to do anything. He says that Dean had a “predisposition” to take the money. Is that a crime? Having a predisposition to take money? I have a predisposition to flirt with women, but it has not yet gotten me divorced. Don’t entrap me, please.
So they got him. And now they want to humble him by calling him a bungler or “over his head”. Well Dean was certainly folksy, he did trust people who didn’t deserve it, and he did believe that it was possible to use elected office to make things better for people. But bungling, over his head? I don’t think so.
This guy is smart. I have seen him take apart a 70 year old counterweight mechanism inside my wall, figure it out and get it working. In North Dakota he moved a grain elevator that no one thought could be moved. He just refused to play the political backstabbing and mud wallowing games that are the norm at city hall. Does this make him naïve and bungling? Not to me.
What lessons should we learn from this? I would suggest several.
1. If you are an anti-establishment leader, Don’t let anyone talk you into keeping donations secret. Yell them from the rooftop. If someone offers to contribute, recognize them from the stage, tell everyone. The fact that the FBI told Carlson to tell Dean to keep this donation a secret and he did it (mostly) was one of the most damaging facts at the trial.
2. Don’t EVER EVER EVER talk to the FBI without witnesses, or preferably a lawyer. Dean, Brian Herron, and Joe Biernat, were all hung by statements that the FBI attributed to them. Remember, these guys are well trained interviewers, and you are their prey.
3. Don’t run against Robert Lilligren if you want to stay out of jail.
