A common question one hears around New Brighton these days is why is Bob Benke running for public office again? Good question.Steve discusses a number of reasons why it doesn't make sense:
Bob Benke has no substantive issues to run on. He throws out a few vague and nebulous platitudes about city government needing more "openness" and "vision", yet cannot state any credible specifics as to where the Mayor [Dave] Jacobsen falls short. In the candidate forums Benke begrudgingly admitted that the city is in pretty good financial shape under two years of Jacobsen's leadership, although he did not elaborate on how remarkable a feat this was considering the mess he and his politically allied successor had left after their terms in office.
There's another reason which Steve didn't bring up, although he hints at it:
Benke's implication that Mayor Jacobsen lacks openness is laughable, especially considering that it is coming from a long time professional lobbyist (it’s interesting to note that he euphemistically refers to this activity as "consulting"). The influence of lobbyists on public policy is the antithesis of open government. Deals are cut at private meetings and behind closed doors where political favors and influence are bought, sold, and bartered with little, if any, tangible accountability. Are we to believe that, if elected Mayor, Mr. Benke is just going to abandon his vast store of political capital and connections he has built up over his many years of lobbying and political activism? The huge potential conflicts of interest alone qualify as a major deal breaker as far as I’m concerned.
The conflicts of interest, you ask? Well, what would those be? On his own campaign literature, Benke proudly lists his involvement with the following organizations:
- North Metro I-35W Corridor Commission;
- The League of Minnesota Cities; and
- the Minnesota Mayors Association.
Benke's happy to tell you that he was past president of all of these organizations. What he doesn't tell you is that he was a paid lobbyist for at least one of the organizations in question. He received a $10,000 contract from the North Metro I-35W Corridor Commission and a $40,000 contract from the North Metro Mayors Assocation. The information is available in the 2005 reporting from the State Auditor on p. 152.
Benke also doesn't tell you that under the watch of his immediate successor, Steve Larson, New Brighton regularly paid membership dues to these organizations. Benke also doesn't tell you that Dave Jacobsen, the incumbent mayor, and the rest of the New Brighton City Council discontinued these payments last year.
A skeptical person might ask -- well, if Benke was paid in 2005, it doesn't mean that he's still getting paid in 2010. Well, according to the current records, Benke is still a registered lobbyist for those organizations.
It's pretty simple, really. Bob Benke had a decade-plus run as mayor of New Brighton, then subsequently hopped on the lobbyist gravy train. Since Benke was drawing pay for lobbying with organizations that the city government of New Brighton supported with membership dues, Benke never stopped drawing money from the city's coffers. That is, until Dave Jacobsen and the current city council cut him off. Which is why, by Benke's lights, Dave Jacobsen must be replaced.
Look, I don't blame a guy for wanting to get paid, but this sort of revolving door system between government and those who lobby government is corrosive to good government. And it takes a particular type of chutzpah for a guy like Bob Benke, who has been on this gravy train for the better part of the last quarter century, to pretend he's a paragon of good government.
The best way to put a stop to this sort of thing is to deny Bob Benke a return to the mayor's office. Dave Jacobsen has done an excellent job over the last two years cleaning up the mess that Bob Benke and his successor Steve Larson left behind. If you are a New Brighton resident, Dave Jacobsen deserves your vote on Tuesday.
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