http://www.womnfocus.com/2009/07/13/susan-gaertner-interview-mnpact/ A site dedicated to encouraging women in Minnesota to be more politically active Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:54:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.womnfocus.com/2009/07/13/susan-gaertner-interview-mnpact/comment-page-1/#comment-9 robinmarty Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:44:29 +0000 http://www.womnfocus.com/blog/?p=241#comment-9 I think that you hit on the biggest challenge, Charley. Sure, she can position herself as the next Klobuchar -- the tough female prosecutor. But it will be a lot harder to do when the people she was prosecuting were the people she now needs to push her to the endorsement. I think that you hit on the biggest challenge, Charley. Sure, she can position herself as the next Klobuchar — the tough female prosecutor. But it will be a lot harder to do when the people she was prosecuting were the people she now needs to push her to the endorsement.

]]> http://www.womnfocus.com/2009/07/13/susan-gaertner-interview-mnpact/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Charley Underwood Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:11:49 +0000 http://www.womnfocus.com/blog/?p=241#comment-7 Gaertner's role in the aftermath of the Republican National Convention completely disqualifies her as a "progressive candidate" or as a candidate in any democracy. No candidate is perfect, of course, but some actions go completely beyond the pale. How could you claim, for example, that a candidate could be "progressive" when that candidate has repeatedly justified threats against the most basic of our democratic freedoms. Gaertner has continued to push charges against the community organizers known as the RNC-8, despite the fact that no real evidence ties any of them to any illegal act at all. All the wild accusations have been coming from the feverish imagination of Ramsey County sheriff Bob Fletcher, whose own cronies are either in jail for corruption or under investigation by the FBI. Gaertner has also repeatedly justified the numerous illegal actions by Fletcher and others, saying that those actions were completely appropriate. How can it be appropriate for officers of the law to lay siege to the city, dressed as storm troopers with all identification hidden? How can it be appropriate to make mass arrests of bystanders, journalists and medics? How can it be appropriate to paper spray without provocation or block legal assemblies or intimidate citizens attempting to seek redress of their government. These are actions that threaten the very core of a democracy and Susan Gaertner's support of these actions disqualifies her from public office. Gaertner’s role in the aftermath of the Republican National Convention completely disqualifies her as a “progressive candidate” or as a candidate in any democracy. No candidate is perfect, of course, but some actions go completely beyond the pale. How could you claim, for example, that a candidate could be “progressive” when that candidate has repeatedly justified threats against the most basic of our democratic freedoms. Gaertner has continued to push charges against the community organizers known as the RNC-8, despite the fact that no real evidence ties any of them to any illegal act at all. All the wild accusations have been coming from the feverish imagination of Ramsey County sheriff Bob Fletcher, whose own cronies are either in jail for corruption or under investigation by the FBI. Gaertner has also repeatedly justified the numerous illegal actions by Fletcher and others, saying that those actions were completely appropriate. How can it be appropriate for officers of the law to lay siege to the city, dressed as storm troopers with all identification hidden? How can it be appropriate to make mass arrests of bystanders, journalists and medics? How can it be appropriate to paper spray without provocation or block legal assemblies or intimidate citizens attempting to seek redress of their government. These are actions that threaten the very core of a democracy and Susan Gaertner’s support of these actions disqualifies her from public office.

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