Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Complaint By City of Maplewood Against Former Mayor Diana Longrie Was Dismissed By Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board...

Photo from campaign site for Diana Longrie for US Congress, used under First
Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism, blog post by John Hoff

When former Maplewood mayor Diana Longrie stepped into the Jill Clark disciplinary mess, acting as Clark's fair to middling lukewarm advocate, this blogger started asking, "Who is Diana Longrie?" So far my answer has been "chock full of nuts, but she can't hold a candle to Jill Clark." Lord knows SOMEBODY has to defend Jill Clark in front of the state Supreme Court, and how glad I am to see a lawyer who doesn't seem very passionate about the task.

One interesting question that surfaced about Diana Longrie was a complaint made to state Lawyers' Board of Professional Responsibility by the city of Maplewood, click here for details on the (apparently defunct) Maplewood Voices blog. In summary, the complaint concerned whether Longrie had properly disclosed her previous representation of Patricia Gearin and Wipers Recycling when Longrie became the Mayor of Maplewood...

I looked everywhere online trying to find information about how that complaint had been resolved or if it was still grinding forward. I sent a query to the (dormant) Maplewood Voices blog. No answer. Finally I contacted the Maplewood City attorney.

That's how I found out the complaint had been dismissed. The city attorney doesn't consider the complaint itself subject to public disclosure and since it was dismissed, well, that's not even worth pursuing.

This information about the resolution of this complaint only confirms my opinion of Longrie.

Yes, she has a tendency to upset people (even more than most lawyers) and she's definitely a ticket holder for a seat aboard the crazy train to Crazy Town. And heaven knows Longrie has more ambition than ability when it comes to wielding political power. (Maplewood meltdown, cough cough) 

But Longrie might be one of the few people in Clark's inner circle who can attempt a rescue attempt of Clark and not be crazy enough to go down in the swirling vortex when Clark sinks beneath the metaphorical waves. Unlike Clark, who seems determined to climb upon a martyr's cross even if she has to pound the nails in herself, Longrie is smart enough to realize there's no point in going down alongside Clark by making arguments that are just plain loony. (For example, Clark has PTSD from judges shouting at her? Instead, when asked about Clark's medical condition, Longrie is smart enough to say she's not a doctor, she doesn't know the answer)

In any case, there is plenty of information on the internet about the fact City of Maplewood made a complaint against Diana Longrie. This blog post is, as Paul Harvey would say, "The rest of the story."

Complaint dismissed. Score one for Longrie. 

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