Window dressing: Governor Mark Dayton comes to north Minneapolis – send in the clowns

State Representatives Bobby Joe Champion (58B) and Jeff Hayden have decided that community members are not good enough to speak with Mr. Dayton in an open community forum. The duo has developed a list of the ‘Right Negros’ to speak at the forum. The line between public servants and event planners has been mucked up.

Minneapolis, MN (March 9, 2011)…On March 30, 2011 sources tell IBNN NEWS that Governor Mark Dayton will descend like a deity upon north Minneapolis to hold a community forum. (Currently the event is in the planning stages. It seems the 200 seat UROC will be the location to have Negro control.)

It seems state representatives Bobby-Joe Champion (58B) and Jeff Hayden (61B) are dabbling in event planning while their constituents still struggle with unemployment, homelessness, education challenges and having to decide between gas or food.  No word from Champion on jobs associated with the light rail projects, but north Minneapolis residents continue to be bombarded by community meetings with the Northside Transportation Network who’s mission thus far is to have a community “fair” about light rail.  “How does that address jobs?” (More non-profit folly.)

This comes as no surprise as the dynamic duo continue to hold Town Hall meetings to “warn” community members that the Republican Party is out to take-away all funding for social issues. Still no explanation from Champion or Hayden on what happened to the $30.8 billion dollars from the state when the Democrats were in control of the state legislature.

Governor Mark Dayton coming to north Minneapolis is wonderful, overdue and necessary for the community to get the opportunity to ask Mr. Dayton important questions about Education, Economic Development and jobs. The only problem is, community members are not the focus of this forum.
In a four page document leaked to IBNN NEWS, it shows a list of Black Minnesotans who for the most part don’t live in Minneapolis; Secondly have done little to nothing to change the plight of Black Minnesotans and have become a top-of-mind “window dressing” when the “right Negros” are needed to speak.

It’s very clear that the Democratic Party in Minnesota does not want to address any difficult issues by the formatting of this forum.

The effort by Champion and Hayden to present the “right Negros” to Governor Dayton creates a huge problem to the duo in their plans to cut community members out of the conversation. IBNN NEWS observed this same process at Sabathani over two-weeks ago with the Minnesota commissioner of education.

At this point in time Champion and Hayden need to bring their Republican counterparts into the community to have an open dialog. The Republicans at the state capital are eager to address the needs of the community, but are being portrayed as pirates.

On a personal note, Rep. Champion (58B) must facilitate a community meeting with his replacement on the Transportation Policy and Finance Committee for 2011-2012, that meets on Mondays at 12:30 p.m. in Room 5 of the State Office Building and Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. in the Basement Hearing Room of the State Office Building. Committee Chair Michael Beard (R) and Vice Chair Mark Murdock (R) have a different story to tell the community about Transportation including the light rail projects and jobs which both Champion and Hayden have declined to comment on.