Another rigged Minnetrista appointment

For those that haven’t followed Minnetrista’s political machine chicanery over the years this might come as a surprise but for those who have it will sound, disturbingly, familiar. Remember (here) in March 2018 when a Minnetrista council member announced she was moving and we discovered that two months prior to her announcement a replacement had already been chosen by the Our Minnetrista political committee?

They are at it again only this time it’s a bit more worrisome as the scheme highlights a pattern to shut out resident involvement in our local government.

On October 26, 2020, a full seven days prior to the Minnetrista election being decided, an application was filed by Minnetrista resident Hal Goldstein with the city to replace either Cathleen Reffkin on the city’s Parks Commission OR to replace Damian Young on the city’s Planning Commission. This application was filed a full week BEFORE the election. No notice of any commission vacancies had been made as of October 26 because there weren’t any vacancies as of October 26. Hmm..

Both Cathleen Reffkin, on the Parks Commission, and Damian Young, on the Planning Commission, were candidates in the election for city council. It was clear one of them would be elected and would vacate their commission appointment but the Minnetrista political machine was not going to take any chances that someone, not of their choosing, would apply for either one of the vacancies that could occur.

In our council work session packet for Monday night, December 7, 2020 at 5:30 pm, council members (or at least this council member) learned of the intention to not only interview Mr. Goldstein for this appointment but to appoint him officially at the council meeting following at 7pm. There have been no public notices made about any Minnetrista commission vacancies. I believe Minnetrista deserves to have these vacancies noticed publicly so anyone can apply for them to serve in their community.

As someone that does my homework on anything to do with council decisions I decided to look into Mr. Goldstein’s online presence to get a sense of who he is. I believe in researching candidates for public posts. His application is available to readers in the above work session packet link. Below are public posts made by Mr. Goldstein that anyone can see online:

If there is any question about what political party is in control of Minnetrista there shouldn’t be. Readers will no doubt hear cries of “hyper partisan conspiracy theories” from those involved because they don’t like it when they are exposed. Just remember, they’ve done it before, they are doing it now, and if you ignore it they will do it again.

Here is the information to attend the work session and council meeting Monday night:

Work Session meeting at 5:30pm, call +1 (872) 240-3412 and enter
meeting Access Code 903-087-973 #, or join the meeting from your computer, tablet or
smartphone by accessing the following: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/903087973

City Council meeting, at 7:00 pm, call +1 (872) 240-3212 and enter meeting
Access Code 691-118-757 #, or join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone by
accessing the following: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/691118757

New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting
starts: https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/