Johnny Northside Blog Endorses Rich Stanek For Hennepin County Sheriff And Comments On The Role Of Anonymous Blogs In Bloody Political Races...

Image of Sheriff Stanek circulated on internet and also found on 
website of National Sheriff's Association, used under Fair Comment
and Criticism, possibly a government produced document, and/or
assumed permission, blog post by John Hoff

Johnny Northside blog endorses Rich Stanek for Hennepin County Sheriff over his opponent, Eddie Frizell, for the following reasons...




First, Sheriff Stanek asked me for an endorsement. If the other side doesn't even want my endorsement enough to ask, well, enough said. But mostly I believe Stanek has been doing a good job in an extremely challenging office. 

I will say it is a shame the race between Stanek and Frizell has become an unpleasant and bloody brawl, click here for the "Stanek or Frizell" blog authored by heaven-knows-who. 

I wonder if Johnny Northside will be blamed for authorship of this mysterious political blog, now, the way I was blamed for authorship of The Brogan Files. So I am going to make a point of denying this in a public way right now. I am not the author of that "Stanek or Frizell" blog. I didn't create it, I don't write on it, and I don't know who did and who does. Oh, I also didn't have the original idea. But mostly because nobody asked me. 

A tangential side note on THAT in a moment. In the meantime, Stanek's official campaign site (click here) has much better information. 

Where were we? Oh, yes, a tangential side note...

I believe the lessons learned in the Johnson versus Brogan city council race are being applied in the Stanek versus Frizell sheriff's race. In the Johnson race, the anonymous Brogan Files blog plowed a lot of ground that needed to be plowed, but airing those ugly neighborhood issues (the failure of Brogan's business ventures, etc) would have created accusations of "negative campaigning." Johnson won that race overwhelmingly and in the end nobody ever proved Barb Johnson was connected to that Brogan Files blog. 

Indeed, I believe Johnson wasn't involved. Rather, I think some elements of the North Minneapolis neighborhood revitalization movement wanted Johnson to win so badly, they simply carried water without being ordered to do so. And it surprises me that, to this day, I don't know who wrote The Brogan Files. 

But the Brogan Files blog allowed a robust discussion without the inevitable "blow back" which takes place in a vicious mudslinging battle. Anonymous blogs also avoid inevitable "ad hominem" attacks which happen in political races. You can't attack what's being said with an "ad hominem" fallacy when you don't know, for sure, who is saying those things. 

Clearly, these anonymous blogs are becoming more and more of a factor in local political races. The mere fact people are trying to make use of them shows they're probably having an impact. 

Which leads me to point out...

Hey. The next time somebody needs work like that done, I'm here and I'm affordable. I'm just saying. Though heaven knows I'm picky about who I work for. 

And who I endorse.

Stanek has been doing the best he can with the resources allocated to him. Frizell seems to be running upon some kind of reformist platform, alleging things aren't being run right. Frankly, I'm interested in seeing crime reduced, not in the kind of feel-good reforms that are constantly being talked about in circles of people who DO NOT have a bullet hole in porch window. 

I keep it there, just to remind myself to be careful.

God bless Sheriff Stanek. I hope he wins. But in the end, despite the mud being slung in the race, (by both sides, but far more effectively by people who have a blog doing that kind of work) these are both decent men who mean well. When it's over I hope it's over and the Sheriff's Department will keep on kicking down doors to serve warrants, to find drugs and guns, to do the dirty and dangerous job which must be done.