[Rhodes22-list] Hey Slim, More 5th District Dirt (Politics)

[Brad Haslett]

Slim,

Here's more opinion about the Strib's "reporting" on the 5th district race
from MSP attorney and blogger, Scott Johnson.  The Strib, as the old
expression goes, obviously has "a dog in the hunt".

Brad

--------------------

 October 09, 2006
Of suckers and sucker punches

I think that Sunday's Star Tribune
story<http://www.startribune.com/587/story/727029.html>by Paul McEnroe
and Rochelle Olson on the expunged 1995 arrest of Republican
Fifth District congressional candidate Alan Fine is a prime example of
gutter journalism. I called Rochelle Olson to ask her a few questions about
the story tonight and I want to point out a few anomalies in the story.

McEnroe and Olson state: "The Star Tribune learned of the arrest in a
routine records check after Fine won the Republican endorsement in May." I
asked Olson how they could learn of an expunged arrest through a routine
records check. I don't think they could; Olson refused to answer the
question.

Yesterday the Fine campaign issued a press release on the Star Tribune
story. From the press release and from conversations with knowledgeable
parties today, I understand that Alan Fine met with Star Tribune reporter
Eric Black *in May and July* and discussed the 1995 arrest at length. Black
had the expungement order regarding the arrest and they discussed the arrest
at length. Fine provided Black documents from Fine's divorce that bore on
the underlying incident. The judge who presided over Fine's divorce
apparently did not credit the allegations of Fine's ex-wife concerning the
incident; Fine was awarded the custody of his son in the divorce.

Black wrote no story concerning the arrest and the Star Tribune obviously
either did not find it credible or did not find it newsworthy at the time.
McEnroe and Olson state that they obtained "a record detailing the arrest
two weeks ago" -- apparently the police record of the expunged arrest. If an
attorney or judge provided the record to the Star Tribune in violation of
the expungement order, I think the attorney or judge would at the least be
guilty of sanctionable professional misconduct. I asked Olson if she didn't
think that would make an interesting story. She refused to answer.

In her message below, Kate Parry implies that the Star Tribune has
"verified" the abuse charge for which Fine was arrested, but in fact the
Star Tribune simply rehashes it. The story adds nothing to the fact of the
arrest itself, which Kate Parry takes to be evidence of the charge. It does
not mention that the allegation appears to have been in issue before the
divorce court -- thus the affidavit of Fine's ex-father-in-law (Judge)
Thomas Wexler referred to in the story -- or that the divorce court does not
appear to have credited it.

What changed between May and October to make the story of Fine's expunged
arrest newsworthy? McEnroe and Olson imply it is their recent acquisition of
the arrest record itself that has made the story newsworthy. In fact,
however, the Star Tribune story appears not to add anything to what was
known to the Star Tribune last May. A better clue to what made the story of
interest to the Star Tribune at this time can be taken from its conclusion:

After state Rep. Keith Ellison won the DFL nomination, Fine launched a
persistent attack on his character, focusing on his past ties to the Nation
of Islam. Fine has repeatedly said "character matters."

With its story on Alan Fine's eleven-year-old expunged arrest, the Star
Tribune is administering punishment to Alan Fine for raising the issue of
Keith Ellison's extensive ties to the Nation of Islam. The Star Tribune has
not only failed to report Ellison's extensive ties to the Nation of Islam,
it has also reported Ellison's misrepresentations concerning them as facts.
This is the circumstance that goes a long way toward explaining the animus
on display in McEnroe and Olson's incredibly shabby story.

Posted by Scott at 09:43 PM

---------------------------------
 October 09, 2006
Complexities of the Nation of Islam

In the post below, Star Tribune reader's representative Kate Parry testifies
to the "journalistic standards for verification" used by the Star Tribune.
As luck would have it, the Star Tribune has put those high journalistic
standards on display in today's
*story*<http://www.startribune.com/462/story/729543.html>by Jean
Hopsfenperger on the Nation of Islam.

The sole purpose of Hopsfenperger's story appears to be to whitewash the
Nation of Islam in connection with Fifth District congressional candidate
Keith Ellison. Unfortunately, while whitewashing the Nation of Islam, the
Star Tribune has also whitewashed Ellison's involvement with the Nation of
Islam and Ellison's manifold lies concerning that involvement.

Hopsfenperger continues the Ellison whitewash in this story, suggesting that
he was merely "collaborat[ing] with the Nation of Islam on common goals."
She appears not to know that Ellison was himself a local leader of and
spokesman for the Nation of Islam, probably because she has been relying on
the Star Tribune for her information about Ellison.

Hopsfenperger's story is in any event one that has to be read to be
disbelieved:

By day, Jason Muhammed works to help Hurricane Katrina survivors resettle in
Minnesota, serves on Minneapolis' Police Community Relations Council and
takes part in community gatherings on the North Side.

On nights and weekends, Muhammed dons a crisp dark suit, which highlights
his large silver ring bearing the likeness of longtime Nation of Islam
leader Elijah Muhammad. And he exhorts a small cadre of followers at his
storefront mosque to take responsibility for their lives, to be better
husbands and fathers, and to rise to the heights that black people are
destined to attain.

"We work with anyone who wants to help clean up the Twin Cities," said
Muhammed, who heads the Nation of Islam in the Twin Cities. Historically a
small group, it has found itself at the forefront of a debate over who will
be the next member of Congress from Minnesota's Fifth District.

DFL candidate Keith Ellison has been blasted by political opponents for his
past ties with the group. But Ellison, who has distanced himself from the
group, is among many black leaders and organizations that long have
collaborated with the Nation of Islam on common goals.

The organizations don't necessarily embrace all the tenets of the Nation of
Islam, which calls for a separation of races, or its fiery leader, Louis
Farrakhan. But Nation of Islam members here focus their public work on
issues widely recognized as critical in the black community -- strengthening
families, promoting economic development, halting gangs and violence.

If you work on these issues in the central cities, you're bound to bump into
Nation of Islam members, they say.

"When I think of the Nation, I don't think of separatism," said Lester
Collins, executive director of the Council of Black Minnesotans, which
advises the state government on issues affecting African-Americans.

"I've never heard that kind of message," Collins said. "It's been a message
of self-reliance, responsibility to one another, stepping up as fathers,
husbands, and being better community participants."

That's not to say the Nation of Islam enjoys universal appreciation in the
Twin Cities. Many have condemned the rhetoric of its ailing leader,
Farrakhan. And many Muslims try to distance themselves from the
Chicago-based group.

"We consider them a sort of fringe organization that believes in the
supremacy of race, which mainstream Muslims don't," said Sumbal Mahmud,
communications director for the Islamic Center of Minnesota.

*The controversy*

Interest in the Nation of Islam, which in the Twin Cities has about 20 core
members and an additional 100 followers, took off after conservative
bloggers brought up Ellison's previous ties to the organization. Those ties
have evolved into a central issue in the campaign.

Specifically, Ellison has been condemned for writing two articles defending
Farrakhan while in law school at the University of Minnesota, for appearing
on the same stage as Khalid Abdul Muhammed, then a Farrakhan aide and who
has called Jews "the bloodsuckers of the black nation," and for arranging
logistics for the 800 Minnesotans attending the Million Man March in
Washington in 1995. The march was spearheaded by Farrakhan.

Jason Muhammed says he has never seen Keith Ellison at a Nation of Islam
event. And Ellison, who long has belonged to a traditional Muslim mosque,
said he was among many young black men in the 1990s searching for solutions
to persistent problems in the black community, such as high unemployment and
incarceration and too many single-parent households.

Ellison has said he distanced himself from the Nation of Islam after the
march because of its "anti-Semitic" stance. And he has apologized to Jewish
groups for failing to scrutinize the group earlier.

"We had fundamentally different ways of approaching the world," said
Ellison. "I wanted to reach out to people of diverse cultures and
backgrounds. And they had a narrow focus on who they wanted to talk."

Many black leaders are surprised that Ellison's association with the Million
Man March could be construed as something sinister. It was the call of the
march that attracted hundreds of Minnesotans, they said, the call for a
million disciplined, committed men to come to Washington for a day of
atonement. Many, however, were critical or ambivalent about the march
because of its controversial sponsor and focus solely on men.

Almost every black man in leadership in Minnesota had a connection to that
march," said Tyrone Terrill, director of the St. Paul Human Rights
Department, who was the lead organizer in the state. Ellison was among
several men in charge of arranging buses and logistics for the Minnesota
delegation, he said.

In the 1990s, national leaders of the Nation of Islam were keenly interested
in the Twin Cities, said Vilbert White, a former minister and national
leader of the organization. Organizers from Milwaukee and Chicago were sent
to the Twin Cities to develop study groups and a temple, in part because the
allegations of police brutality made Minneapolis "ripe for recruiting," said
White, now a history professor at the University of Central Florida.

White became disillusioned and left the group in 1997. The Nation of Islam's
black nationalist rhetoric wasn't always part of its public face, he said,
but it was part of sermons in the mosque.

"People like the rhetoric because ... it makes them feel strong that they
can tell white America that all of their problems are because of them."

*How the group works*

On a recent Sunday, Muhammed -- a stocky young man from Georgia -- and about
120 followers filled a small storefront mosque in north Minneapolis.
Muhammed is a former drug addict who credits the Nation of Islam with
turning his life around in 1991. Before being appointed minister, he was a
farm worker and a customer services representative, he said.

The faithful at that Sunday service listened to a long lecture titled "The
Majesty of Master Fard Muhammad" (the founder of the Nation of Islam). After
the lecture, they typically share conversation over bowls of bean soup,
farina bread and bean pies -- reflecting the strict diet that Nation of
Islam members follow. But because it was Ramadan, the food had to wait until
sundown.

But Sunday is just the beginning. On Monday there are "manhood classes,"
instructions on how to be fathers and husbands and wage earners. Wednesdays
bring classes on entrepreneurship. Friday brings a "self-development" class.
Saturdays are for "womanhood training" on how to cook, clean, sew and be a
good Muslim wife.

"We're either on the streets or going door to door," said Muhammed.

And nearly any day, Nation of Islam members in trademark suits and bow ties
can be found selling their newspaper, the Final Call. Last week's issue
contained a column on Louis Farrakhan's dramatically failing health and the
21st anniversary of Farrakhan's "vision" of being swept up in a UFO, taken
to a mother ship and talking to the late Elijah Muhammad before being beamed
back to Earth.

Nathaniel Khaliq, president of the St. Paul branch of the NAACP, said he was
a member of the Nation of Islam in the 1970s but left because of differing
interpretations of Islam. Khaliq credits the group with helping him overcome
a drug addiction.

"I don't agree with all their rhetoric," said Khaliq. "But the fact of the
matter is, they spend 99 percent of the time talking about black people."

Today the St. Paul NAACP has worked with the Nation of Islam on anti-gang
events, co-sponsored a forum on community justice and helped with security
at the Rondo Days celebration in St. Paul, he said.

The Nation of Islam rented space for a number of years over at the Sabathani
Community Center in south Minneapolis. The center's longtime executive
director, Jim Cook, said the group caused no trouble. Cook says stereotypes
of the group -- as violent separatists -- contrast with the serious,
disciplined men he saw.

"I defy you to find a crime committed by one of its members," he said.

Muhammed believes the group has been unfairly stereotyped. Farrakhan isn't
anti- Jewish, he said. He has invited rabbis to his home and attempted to
build bridges with them, Muhammed said.

"The only thing the Nation is anti is anti-oppression, anti-suppression,"
said Muhammed. "We're against these things that will hold us down."

Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, a former businessman who represents
the North Side, said he has been impressed with the Nation of Islam's
community presence, in particular its work rehabilitating young men in jail.


Muhammed sent Samuels an e-mail after a vigil they both attended for a
homicide victim, offering to help in any way, said Samuels. He said he plans
to invite Muhammed to be part of a future initiative to stem community
violence.

"It's been a challenge at times when Farrakhan has been more belligerent
than I'm comfortable with," said Samuels. "But in total, I think the
organization does more good than harm."

I wonder if Muhammed discussed Farrakhan's *February 2006
speech*<http://www.adl.org/PresRele/NatIsl_81/4878_81.htm>with the
rabbis when he invited them over:

"These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the
American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in moral
strength...It's the wicked Jews the false Jews that are promoting
Lesbianism, homosexuality. It's wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime
for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!"

"And the Christian right, with your blindness to that wicked state of
Israel...can that be the holy land, and you have gay parades, and want to
permit to have a gay parade in Jerusalem when no prophet ever sanctioned
that behavior. HOW CAN THAT BE THE ISRAEL, how can that be Jerusalem with
secular people running the holy land when it should be the holy people
running the holy land. That land is gonna be cleansed with BLOOD!"

"Is Jerusalem surrounded by armies now? These neo-cons and Zionists have
manipulated Bush and the American government and our boys and girls are
dying in Iraq and in Afghanistan for the cause of Israel, not for the cause
of America! Israel is the tail waggin' the dog, which is America. You may
not like me, and I really don't give a damn. I'm throwin' the gauntlet down
today.

"I'm warning you America. You better get rid of them neo-cons. That's the
synagogue of Satan. They have made America weak. You're a weak nation now,
and your country has been taken from you by the synagogue of Satan. They own
congress. That's why the congress ain't right."

If Muahammed discussed the speech when he invited the rabbis over, it
wouldn't have done much to defuse those "unfair stereotype[s]" of the Nation
of Islam. But it would have made for an interesting conversation.

Posted by Scott at 08:52 PM

----------------------------

 October 09, 2006
Ms. Parry explains

We called the Star Tribune's
*story*<http://www.startribune.com/587/story/727029.html>on the
expunged 1995 arrest of Fifth District Republican congressional
candidate a "sucker punch." Star Tribune reader's representative (I prefer
"reporter's enabler") Kate Parry is proud of the Star Tribune's story. She
contrasts the Star Tribune's patient weighing of the facts with our rush to
judgment. She writes Star Tribune reader Gene Delaune, who has responded to
Parry by congratulating her on her perspicacity:

Dear Gene,

Thanks for sending your thoughts on this. The newspaper has taken
significant time and resources to run to ground allegations from a variety
of corners about the Fifth District race. The goal has been thorough,
challenging coverage that is reliable, accurate and complete.

The Star Tribune has reported that a judge has granted the restraining order
Keith Ellison sought against the woman making the allegations. When she
called 911 and made allegations against Ellison, there was no arrest and no
charges. When she sought a restraining order against him, the judge denied
the initial request but scheduled a hearing for further review - standard
practice when a judge sees no clear evidence of immediate threat. That is
the hearing scheduled for Oct. 23, which the Star Tribune will cover. Anyone
can file for a restraining order simply by filling out a form, so filing for
the order doesn't mean a lot in and of itself. The issue is whether it is
granted.

The situation with Ellison differs from the incident involving Allan [sic]
Fine in terms of news value because Fine was arrested by the police, charged
with domestic assault and spent a few hours in jail. Police, who are trained
to assess risk in these situations, looked at Fine's situation differently
and made the arrest. In the case of Ellison, there was no arrest, no charge
and no allegation of crime.

I hope that helps clarify why the Star Tribune has proceeded as it has with
coverage in the two cases. The newspaper has probed allegations about both
candidates thoroughly and published stories when the information has met
journalistic standards for verification and news value. Sometimes bloggers
toss allegations online without going through that kind of careful process.

Some like to suggest there is some ulterior motive in newspapers taking more
time to investigate. The ulterior motive is the desire to make sure what is
printed is accurate, in context and explores all sides in a dispute, rather
than rushing to print with the allegations of one side.

Sincerely,

Kate Parry
Reader's Representative

In a separate message to reader Michael Tienken, Parry says the Star Tribune
"corroborated" allegations in the court documents by talking to Fine's
ex-wife:

Thank you for taking the time to send this thoughtful note. Each day, I take
concerns such as yours and talk about them in a report to the editors at the
afternoon news meeting. That's what I'm planning to do with your thoughts
today.

The allegations raised in the court documents were corroborated by the
ex-wife in interviews with Star Tribune reporters. Given the prominence of
domestic abuse legislation in legislatures and in Congress in recent years,
allegations of this sort seem entirely relevant to campaign reporting. The
reporter provided Mr. Fine with opportunities to respond to allegations and
the newspaper published a follow-up story detailing Mr. Fine's concerns.

Kate Parry
Reader's Representative

Let's see. If I write something bad about Parry here, or assert it in a
report prepared by me or a third party, is it "corroboration" if I repeat it
when you contact me later? I don't think so, but I never did go to
journalism school. I'll have more to say about the Star Tribune's story
later, but wanted to provide the unexpurgated Parry for now.

Posted by Scott at 08:12 PM