Shawn, Could you post the following to the Minneapolis Issues list, since I'm no longer on it? This should help clarify the issue of who authors Pauline Thomas' column in the Spokesman as well as some of the other issues being raised.
Michelle **************************************************** Interesting, this business of trying to discredit Pauline Thomas by saying that she doesn't author her own articles. It is also utter nonsense. I'll use the current article in this week's Spokesman to illustrate: About two weeks ago, Pauline and I were talking on the telephone about a particular police brutality incident. Our conversation drifted to the role of police in general and I said something to her about the origins of police in this country and mentioned the paterrollers (early word for patrollers--slave catchers). We discussed that the history of police and policing is well documented by historians but not commonly known to the average person. She said, "that would make a good article." A day or so later, Pauline emailed me a large amount of research she had done on the subject. The material was fascinating. She did this because I had mentioned that early police also played a big role in union busting during the industrial revolution and she was having trouble getting documentation on that aspect of police history. A few days later, she sent me a draft of the article she had written from her research, with a note indicating she was not able to document the union busting role of police so she was not going to include it in the article. She asked me for some quick feedback on the article. I really liked the article and told her so. The article then appeared in this weeks' Spokesman, pretty much as she wrote it (with only minor editing by the Spokesman staff). Did Pauline consult me on the article? Well, sort of. She ran it by me, since I'm familiar with the topic. I know she also consults with various attorneys, including Jill Clark, Larry Blackwell, and others, when she writes about legal matters. She is, after all, trying to educate the community and accuracy is important. However, these people DO NOT write her articles. On the matter of Pauline videotaping the CNIA meetings: she tells me she did it to increase oversight of the people involved. Since I am not knowledgeable about the issues involved in Central Neighborhood politics, I won't comment further but I can assure you from working with Pauline that she is perfectly capable of taking good notes at meetings. In fact, I'll often ask to see her notes after meetings because I find that she has better powers of observation than I do-- I tend to get caught up in the moment and miss details. Finally, on the matter of Pauline getting paid for her work: Pauline is a PART-TIME executive director of Community Collaborative. She doesn't even get standard benefits for the job (as happens a lot with small non-profits). Her main responsibility with Community Collaborative is to advocate for the rights of contractors of color to be able to bid on government construction projects. All of the other work she does in the community, and it is considerable, is done as volunteer work. The work she did to put together the neighborhood festival was done on her own time, even though she was representing her organization while doing it. Bear in mind that VJ Smith is also a paid executive director of MAD DADS and I notice that no one has a problem with him being paid. Is it that only women are supposed to work for free? Michelle Gross (comments above) Posted per Michelle Gross's request Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- __________________________________________________________ Sign-up for your own personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup Search Smarter - get the new eXact Search Bar for free! http://www.exactsearchbar.com/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
