ST. PAUL MAYOR'S RACE HEATS UP
St. Paul mayor Kelly gets a flaming e-mail
The sparks are flying in St. Paul political circles, and the heat is coming from the city's largest firefighters union.
Pat Flanagan, new president of St. Paul Firefighters Local 21, sent off a fiery e-mail to Mayor Randy Kelly this week in which he said the mayor and his deputy, Dennis Flaherty, would not be welcome at the union's biggest bash of the year -- the annual installation party.
The event was held Friday at the Prom Expo Center in Oakdale.
Reasons for the snub, Flanagan wrote, are the mayor's budget cuts, his decision to decommission an engine company, and growing tensions at the bargaining table.
Flanagan ended his three-paragraph missive, dated Jan. 10, with this salvo: "Alcohol will be served at this event, so we write this letter in the best interest of all parties involved."
On Thursday, Kelly fired back with an e-mail of his own. He defended his record and said he was "perplexed" by the reference to alcohol. Was that meant as a threat? Or simply an omen of embarrassing behavior to come?
"I will, of course, abide by your wishes despite my concern over the content and tone of the e-mail," wrote Kelly, who included the entire union membership in his response. The union endorsed Kelly for mayor in 2001, but that alliance is clearly cooling.
"We've been burned before, and now we're cynical," Flanagan said Friday. He said he'd heard from "a hundred members," and all but a handful applauded his tough tactics. Kelly's office, meanwhile, said it had heard nothing but outrage over Flanagan's e-mail -- much of it coming from firefighters.
Kelly and Flaherty hadn't been invited to the awards gala anyway, though they've reveled with firefighters in years past.
Instead, mayoral candidates Rafael Ortega and Chris Coleman, as well as City Council Member Jay Benanav, Kelly's former campaign rival and chief critic, were asked to speak. Source: Star Tribune, January 14, 2005
The sparks are flying in St. Paul political circles, and the heat is coming from the city's largest firefighters union.
Pat Flanagan, new president of St. Paul Firefighters Local 21, sent off a fiery e-mail to Mayor Randy Kelly this week in which he said the mayor and his deputy, Dennis Flaherty, would not be welcome at the union's biggest bash of the year -- the annual installation party.
The event was held Friday at the Prom Expo Center in Oakdale.
Reasons for the snub, Flanagan wrote, are the mayor's budget cuts, his decision to decommission an engine company, and growing tensions at the bargaining table.
Flanagan ended his three-paragraph missive, dated Jan. 10, with this salvo: "Alcohol will be served at this event, so we write this letter in the best interest of all parties involved."
On Thursday, Kelly fired back with an e-mail of his own. He defended his record and said he was "perplexed" by the reference to alcohol. Was that meant as a threat? Or simply an omen of embarrassing behavior to come?
"I will, of course, abide by your wishes despite my concern over the content and tone of the e-mail," wrote Kelly, who included the entire union membership in his response. The union endorsed Kelly for mayor in 2001, but that alliance is clearly cooling.
"We've been burned before, and now we're cynical," Flanagan said Friday. He said he'd heard from "a hundred members," and all but a handful applauded his tough tactics. Kelly's office, meanwhile, said it had heard nothing but outrage over Flanagan's e-mail -- much of it coming from firefighters.
Kelly and Flaherty hadn't been invited to the awards gala anyway, though they've reveled with firefighters in years past.
Instead, mayoral candidates Rafael Ortega and Chris Coleman, as well as City Council Member Jay Benanav, Kelly's former campaign rival and chief critic, were asked to speak. Source: Star Tribune, January 14, 2005
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