SF 607 not dead yet; Metzen & MN DFL must act

What might socialist Governor Floyd B. Olson have suggested the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party should do about.............. SF 607?



It is almost like Olson is shaking his finger at DFL Senator James Metzen asking: Why have you let these working people down?



SF 607 is legislation proposed by Minnesota State Senator Cohen which would keep the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and the Hydro Dam which has powered the plant for over eighty years intact until a solution can be found to keep it operating.

The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party is the majority in both the Senate and the House.

It should be no problem for a political Party which makes the claim of representing working people and of being for: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS to pass this very basic and modest legislation which would give us time to find a solution to save this plant and 2,000 jobs.

Senator Metzen should simply do what is right by Ford workers and the people of Minnesota who have a tremendous investment in this Plant and Hydro Dam and millions of dollars invested in an integrated training center.

Senator James Metzen should demonstrate leadership in seeing to it that SF 607 is brought back before this heavily DFL dominated Senate Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs and get this legislation passed so that the full Senate and House can vote on it.

Put this legislation in the lap of this worthless Republican Governor who has built his political career on destroying the livelihoods of working people as a stooge for Bush and the big-business interests of the Republican Party.

Metzen's failure to demonstrate leadership on getting this legislation through the Committee he Chairs could prove to be disastrous for the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party come Election Day.

Open and honest government requires we know how each Senator on this Committee voted... so far, they are refusing to say. It is simply shameful that this heavily DFL dominated Committee defeated this important piece of labor legislation.

This decision can be reversed; the Senate rules permit the legislation to be reconsidered by this Committee.

This is the letter I have sent to Brian Martinson who is the Committee Administrator.

Why has UAW President Ron Gettelfinger remained silent on this issue? He should join in demanding Senator Metzen and the Democrats who are in the majority on this Committee do what is right. A former President of UAW Local 879, Tom Laney, has asked this question, too.

Why is the UAW's Bob King sitting in silence?


**************************************************************


Brian Martinson

Committee Administrator

Business, Industry and Jobs Committee

Senator Jim Metzen, Chair

322 Capitol

651-296-5307

E-mail: Brian.Martinson@senate.mn





Mr. Brian Martinson;



As the Committee Administrator of the Minnesota State Senate Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs of which DFL Senator Jim Metzen is the Chair, I am writing to you to obtain specific information to questions I have concerning the said meeting for which you have provided me with the minutes as copied below.



I trust that you will provide all eighteen members of the Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs with a copy of this e-mail.



Mr. Martinson, in seeking answers here, I believe I speak for most Minnesotans and the workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant whose jobs are on the line (pun intended).



I am attaching below the communication from Bob Killeen the Secretary/Treasurer of UAW Local 879 and my response to him. I trust that Bob Killeen will make all this correspondence on this issue part of the Local’s minutes from a membership meeting.



Please note: I would like for all correspondence and responses to this letter to be in writing since, in a conversation we had in your office you accuse me of “spreading lies” about Senator Metzen and his staff concerning this Committee Meeting. You then, again, in your e-mail to me make the same accusation but go even further in distorting my positions on this issue by claiming I admitted to you that I lied… a charge I most vigorously deny. Further, I think your malicious and slanderous libelous statements about me and against me require an apology, not only from you, but from the entire Senate Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs.



Please let me remind you Mr. Martinson that we are speaking of the public’s right to know how elected public officials have voted on an issue that is of great importance to many Minnesotans as is evidenced by talk on the street, in the Ford plant among the workers and their union--- UAW Local 879, an entire committee established by the City of St. Paul--- the Ford Site Planning Committee/Task Force.



I don’t think I need to remind you that the issue of the livelihoods of two-thousand working class folks is a primary issue of concern here; a worker without a job is a worker in poverty. As a society, our objective as has been so often clearly stated is to eliminate poverty and the human misery which goes along with that poverty.



Not only are we speaking about the jobs of two-thousand workers; these workers have families (some extended families which rely on these jobs as a source of their income, also); we are speaking about some 10,000 people who will be directly impacted if the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant should be allowed to close without any alternative to continue industrial production and manufacturing of one sort or another. In addition, at stake are jobs on the Iron Range and a myriad of jobs people are employed at relating directly, and indirectly, to whether or not industrial production continues at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly plant which is a model of “green” manufacturing and a racially, ethnically and culturally diverse workforce that has many outstanding progressive ramifications in the surrounding communities; all of which are the requirements of a healthy democratic society.



Mr. Martinson, your attempt to try to paint me as the ogre in all of this because I am requesting answers to questions any thinking person would deem appropriate in a democratic society, thus trying to make me the scapegoat for a problem created by you and the members of this Senate Committee in intentionally trying to evade responsibility for how votes were cast on SF 607, is quite frankly, sickening.



I would like to remind you Mr. Martinson that how I choose to characterize the actions and votes of the members of this Committee is not the issue. Everyday in our country people characterize the votes of public officials. The only issue is: How the members of this Committee voted. As you are aware, how the members of this Committee voted are important for several reasons, but let me state two reasons so we are both on the same page here:



People have a right to know how elected public officials voted; why they want to know is none of your business.

How each member of this Committee voted now is of utmost importance since SF 607 is far from dead as a Committee member/s may move for reconsideration of SF 607 in this Committee based on how they voted.


I assume as the Committee Administrator you have made sure that the UAW, transport workers and rail union along with SEIU have been made aware of the procedures for SF 607 to be reconsidered by the Committee; am I correct in making this assumption? After all, knowing and understanding ALL the “rules of the game” by all the participants is a requirement and hallmark of a democratic society. Since you know the rules better than anyone, it becomes incumbent upon you to inform everyone of how this legislation can easily be reconsidered in the next legislative session set to begin in February. I assume all the members of this Committee are familiar with the rules and what they can do to request reconsideration of SF 607; again, please correct me if I am wrong in making this assumption.



Be this as it may, I do not want to obscure the intent of this letter by lecturing you about what is required of public officials and bureaucrats like yourself in a democratic society. I think you fully understand, and fear, the openness and accountability a democratic society requires.



Please provide me with the answers to these very basic and simple questions:



I would like to receive what is referred to as the “attached documents A through D;” since these documents are referenced as part of the minutes.
I would like to know how each and every member of this Committee as they are listed in the Minutes you have provided here voted on SF 607.


Here are the Minutes, such as they are, which you provided me with; I would note, that in the communication I received from Bob Killeen the Secretary Treasurer of United Auto Workers Local 879 representing the workers of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant that his description of this meeting probably should have been part of the Minutes kept by Lisa Sarne, the Committee Clerk.



While reading these minutes makes me wonder why the Service Employees’ International Union (SEIU) was not represented at this hearing since this union represents a number of workers in this Plant, also, is of great concern. I wonder if you even bothered to notify them of this hearing.



As a courtesy, could you provide me with the e-mail addresses for each of the Legislative Assistants for each member of the Senate on this Committee?



For the record, Mr. Martinson, anything that you think I have said or written to be false or untrue you have every opportunity to set the record straight.



I continue to believe that there is something drastically amiss and wrong when the Chair of this Committee with over twenty-five years of legislative experience can not get such an important piece of legislation through his Committee; a Committee consisting of eighteen members--- eleven of whom are DFL, and only seven Republicans. Maybe there is something wrong with my math here; but the material and empirical facts seem to speak for themselves… with all due respect to Brother Killeen attributing the defeat of SF 607 to Republicans. Believe me, Mr. Martinson, I would not be using kid gloves in pursuing this matter had such been the case. If this is now an embarrassment to Senator Metzen and the DFL members of this Committee, so be it; they know what now has to be done to set this matter straight… something justice requires.



While not everyone might be concerned about the future of the Ford Plant, I think every Minnesotan has a concern that how these eighteen Minnesota State Senators voted (or why they never showed up for this Committee meeting) expect each of these Senators would be willing to explain their votes and their actions. As you are probably aware, December 10 marked the 59th Anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and so many of the issues addressed in this important Declaration are involved in this issue--- including the right of working people to be participants in the decision making processes which affect their lives; this is one such issue.



Alan L. Maki



Attachments included below:



A. Minutes of the Committee Meeting/Hearing

B. Letter from Bob Killeen to me

C. My response to Bob Killeen







BUSINESS, INDUSTRY AND JOBS COMMITTEE

SENATOR JAMES METZEN, CHAIR





Senator James Metzen, Chairman of the Business, Industry and Jobs Committee, called the meeting to order at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2007 in room 15 of the State Capitol.



The clerk noted the roll. The following members were present:



Metzen, Chair

Saltzman, Vice-Chair

Bakk

Bonoff

Carlson

Day

Gimse

Koch

Latz

Michel

Murphy

Scheid

Sparks

Tomassoni



The following members were absent:



Gerlach

Neuville

Rosen

Skoe



Meeting began with a quorum.



1. S.F. 607-Cohen: Motor vehicle manufacturing plant maintenance requirement (see attachments A through D).



The following people gave testimony in favor of S.F. 607:



Bob Kailleen, United Auto Workers

Don Gerdesmeier, Joint Council 32 DRIVE

Phillip Qualy, United Transportation Union



Questions and comments from the committee followed.



The following people gave testimony in opposition to S.F. 607:



Mary Culler, Director of Government Affairs, Ford Motor Company

Cecile Bedor, City of St. Paul Director of Planning & Economic Development

Mark Moeller, St. Paul Chamber of Commerce



Questions and Comments from the committee followed.



Senator Cohen and Phillip Qualy gave closing remarks in favor of S.F. 607



Senator Tomassoni moved that the bill do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.



The Chair was in doubt and called for a division.



The motion did not prevail.





The meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m.







_________________________________

James Metzen, Chair

Business, Industry and Jobs Committee







_________________________________

Lisa Sarne

Committee Clerk




-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Killeen [mailto:rjkuaw879@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:23 AM
To: amaki000@centurytel.net
Subject: Senator Metzen Misinformation



Alan Maki. I have been reading some of the Green Party propaganda you have been been espousing. These types of attacks lend no credibility to your cause by accusing good people of bad things. Your accusations against Senator Metzen are both untrue and uncalled for. Jim has had a long standing relationship with the UAW which continued with his full support of our Ford Plant Legislation that called for the Fo Mo Co to keep TCAP in saleble condition for a period of 2 years after its' closing. This bill would have given us time to find other manufacturers to take over the property and keep good paying jobs in St Paul. If you had asked I would have told you our legislation was doomed because of pressure the St Paul Building Trades put on legislators to oppose our bill. Their goal, although shortsited, was to create short term building trades jobs by tearing down our plant and building condos. The St Paul Mayor was a huge ally of theirs in shooting down our bill. Other Senators who helped us were Tomassoni and Sparks. The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee - Bonoff, who is running for Congress in the 3rd district, and Saltzman. Murphy and Bakk got up and left the hearing just before the vote.My point is please refrain from attacking Senator Metzen. He is a good freind of the UAW and our family of members.



Bob Killeen Secretary-Treasurer UAW Local 879





Brother Killeen;



Thanks for this letter. I was by your office several times to talk about this vote. You weren’t in.



I am sorry about any confusion. I do not take back anything I have said about Senator Metzen.



I did not “accuse” anyone of “bad things.” I simply have written and spoken based upon information I received from Senator Metzen’s office. I sent several e-mails, made numerous phone calls; and stopped at Senator Metzen’s office twice before I ever wrote or spoke a single word to anyone about this. I can asure you, if there is any confusion it is of Senator Metzen’s own making.



Since I notice this e-mail from you was not Cc’ed to Senator Metzen I have not sent it to him. You may send it to him if you chose; or with your permission I will forward this entire correspondence to him.



You should also know that two members of Senator Metzen’s staff have contacted me claiming that I am not telling the truth. Again, I asked them to provide me with minutes from this hearing which would clarify things. They refused. And I am not going to go through the trouble of suing a State Senator to obtain records which should be public and provided to the public upon request to begin with.



In fact, Metzen’s Committee is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats… all of whom your local has supported.



I have in fact noted numerous times Senator Tomassoni’s support for this important legislation; in fact, the record of this hearing clearly shows that he was the one and only Democrat to support this legislation… The record clearly shows one thing: Tomassoni moved for support of this proposed legislation and the record states the motion failed. If you have any written record of the proceedings from Sen. Metzen’s Committee Hearing in question to substantiate what you are now saying, please provide me with the official minutes of this hearing as recorded by the Committee Clerk/Secretary. The only Senator’s name I find in writing from the minutes of this hearing, such as they are, is that Senator Tomassoni was the lone, sole supporter of this legislation. This is based upon the records I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



I have charged that the minutes of this particular Senate Hearing were probably kept in such a shoddy fashion so that no one would be able to tell from reading the minutes what went on in this hearing. If this is the case it raises an even larger issue which goes right to the heart of attempting to subvert democracy and the right of people to expect honest and open government from those whom they elect. Again, I stated all of this in an e-mail to Senator Metzen to which he never responded.



I find it strange that, at this late date, you are providing an account of this Senate Hearing that the clerk should have noted in the official minutes from the hearing at the time she provided me with the minutes.



Please feel free to request that Senator Metzen provide you with all correspondence I made with his office and that which was sent to me. I give him the right to release all such documents to you provided he releases everything without any omissions.



For the record, I have not been espousing any “Green Party propaganda.” Nor do I support the Green Party, even though I am strongly leaning towards supporting who I consider to be the best Democrat in the Presidential race, Cynthia McKinney; who, as you know was forced from Congress largely by the same grouping of business oriented Democrats who are pushing for the closing of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.



The St. Paul mayor you refer to is a Democrat. Representative Paymar is a Democrat. Murphy is a Democrat. Rod Skoe is a Democrat.



There is something seriously wrong with a Democrat who you say is a big supporter of the UAW when he is the Chair of the Committee and he can not control his own Caucus members when it comes to such an important vote. In fact, the UAW has supported every single DFL member of this Committee. I do not have to draw any conclusions from this; the facts speak for themselves.



I have worked in the Democratic Party in several states over a period of some thirty years--- since I could vote, in fact; never have I seen such betrayal except over these “Compacts” creating casinos sending 20,000 Minnesotans to jobs in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any of the rights your own members enjoy protected under state or federal labor laws.



You can call me when ever you like about any issue or concern you have; I have been to the Plant often. I have left every leaflet I have distributed at the Plant at your office.



I am a member of the Minnesota DFL State Central Committee, not a member of the Green Party. You will not find anything that I have written contrary to this. In no way, shape, or form have I distributed anything in the nature of “Green Party propaganda;” nor anything which approximates such.



I do not understand how you can say the “The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee…” when all the evidence in the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the clerk of the Committee clearly shows it was Democrats who are the culprits. In fact, even if all Republicans had refused to attend the hearing and refrain from voting, the Democrats would not have voted for this legislation.



Again, what I write and what I say is based upon the minutes I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



In fact, the building trades unions provide Metzen with more campaign contributions than does the UAW. I am very concerned about the role of the building trades unions in all of this; however, I know from experience that their position on this issue can easily be reversed should your local clearly articulate the issue involved here in a way that people understand. If you choose to do this, by the time you are done, the building trades leaders will be hanging their heads in shame; seen by everyone as very pathetic as they pander for jobs by taking away the jobs of other working people.



I have tried to speak with Senator Metzen about this prior to the Committee Hearing, the day after the Committee Hearing, and as recent as yesterday. Senator Metzen, if he is concerned about anything that I am saying or writing can call me, sit down and talk with me, or send me an e-mail just as you have done.



I would be more than happy to sit down with you and Senator Metzen to discuss where we go from here.



I talked with Senator Cohen’s Legislative Assistants on several occasions, including yesterday; she tells me Senator Cohen plans no further legislative action. This is not right that the Democrats are dropping the ball in trying to save the Ford Plant.



As long as this Plant is still standing this will not be a “done deal” no matter how loudly the proverbial fat lady sings. Working people never give up, and working people never give in to corporate domination and greed; if they do, they lose.



If the Democrats snooze; working people lose. If the Democrats acquiesce, working people lose. There needs to be accountability here; there is no accountability; not from Senator Metzen, not from Representative Paymar; not even from Ron Gettelfinger or Bob King.



I would encourage you to invite the leadership of the Minnesota DFL and all DFL legislators and the U.S. Senate candidates to tour the plant with you so they know exactly what is at stake; and, encourage them to talk with rank and file workers about what a job means to a worker and his/her family. I think one of the very big problems is that most of the politicians with the power to save this Plant are so far removed from the life of working class families and their daily struggles to survive that they can look the other way, and then later say, “I didn’t know.”



I would also encourage you to insist that the Minnesota DFL take a position in support of public ownership of this plant; there is simply no other way to save it. This is not a “far out idea” as some of those looking for excuses to take the wrecking ball to this plant have stated. Public ownership has been very successfully used as a tool by the labor movement to save plants and jobs all over the world, including in Canada… the huge bus plant in Winnipeg being one very good example. I would also encourage you to talk with Bob King and Ron Gettelfinger about supporting public ownership of this plant… we can’t do any worse than the legislation which failed.



WE haven’t even explored the possibility of a joint China-Minnesota government venture to save this plant. Why not? Your Local supported Mark Dayton, you mean to tell me that Mark Dayton can not broach this issue with the Chinese; the Chinese aren’t afraid of public ownership. What about George Lattimore? Your local supported him for years; he has all kinds of connections in China.



As long as we are talking about some differences of opinion we may have over this entire matter of what happened in Metzen’s Committee where this legislation was defeated; I am of the opinion that you should have mobilized your entire membership including those working and those retired to turn out for this hearing in support of this legislation since you knew there was going to be strenuous opposition. Large numbers do not always assure legislative victories over the well-heeled, corrupt Summit Hill crowd; however, it never hurts to bring along a great big crowd… your dad must have agreed with this concept as he was a big supporter of the demonstrations aimed at closing down the Schools of the Americas… something that really should be shut down.



Yes, close the “School of the Americas”--- this killing machine--- and fund the continuing operation of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant; tax-payers would be the real winners and humanity would be the better for it.



I think if we sat down and talked about all of this and tried to work out a common strategy aimed at saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant we would be further ahead.



In case you missed my letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on saving the Plant (Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007; Page OP 4), here it is:



Your excellent editorial (Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007) on saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant missed one important point.

For all practical purposes there is little chance of saving this plant unless it is brought under public ownership; free enterprise has failed to save the plant and the jobs.

Tax-payers already have a huge investment in this plant. More tax-dollars should be invested to save this plant and these important manufacturing jobs.

What tax-payers finance they should own.

Minnesota legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to see to it that this plant survives through public ownership.

Alan L. Maki

Warroad, Minnesota



Our approach to saving the Ford Plant is that we are willing to work with anyone and everyone towards this end; this includes you, your local, the Greens, the Democrats, the Reds, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists and those who have no party or organizational affiliations at all.



Saving this Plant is an issue dear to many, many Minnesotans; not only the members of your local.



As a result of my activities I have had people contacting me from all over Minnesota, the country, Canada and other parts of the world wanting to know how they can help. Just last week I heard from an eighty-seven year old former St. Paul resident, now retired and living in Arizona, who broke down and cried when she told me what this plant meant to her family and her family’s friends--- a lifetime of a decent life won through struggle. And our conversation ended with her saying: “Why did our families fight so hard; just to end up losing it all.”



We are working with very limited resources in order to encourage dialogue, debate and discussion on this issue while working towards creating the greatest possible unity on this issue; it is not my intent to burn any bridges; I would much rather build bridges of open communication… towards these ends I would be happy to sit down and discuss this issue with you, Senator Metzen and any other interested parties, and adjust tactics as called for.



I will be in the Cities early next week if you would like to meet.



Yours in the struggle to save the Ford Plant through public ownership,



Alan



Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net



Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk



http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor Party; a study in political corruption

Floyd B. Olson points an accusatory finger at capitalism...

This statute of socialist Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson who, indisputably, remains Minnesota's most popular politician because of his honest and open approach to state government while committed to improving the lives of working people; statue is at the entrance to the State Capitol Building.

The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, better known simply as the MN DFL, has become a study of political corruption and how the military-financial-industrial complex functions through state-monopoly capitalism with full complicity of class collaborationist trade union leaders and organizations funded through philanthropic grants which serve to silence any criticism of a political and economic system which is rotten to the core.

While there are many issues we could examine, the issue of the future of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is a case study; and study this issue we will over the weeks to come.

There comes a point at which working people can no longer accept the status quo without challenging the way corporations have a strangle-hold over our lives.

The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party has developed a clear pattern in refusing to take up issues of importance to working people.

Let us consider how the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party has worked with business interests and labor "leaders" who have no understanding of "class;" these labor "leaders" openly state they represent the "middle class" as they fear to even utter the words "working class."

What is the clear pattern of the MN DFL?

* The Minnesota DFL first abandoned the peace policies of the old Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.

* The MN DFL then jettisoned its support for single-payer universal health care and ever since has been playing election eve games by talking about fee-structured health care and "affordable" health insurance.

* The MN DFL then--- working with some of the most vicious mobsters--- crafted, initiated, and brought into being the "Compacts" creating the Indian casino industry resulting in more than 20,000 Minnesotans being trapped in smoke-filled casinos receiving poverty wages without any protections in the workplace under state or federal labor laws.

* The MN DFL has refused to reform unemployment compensation laws which give employers the right to challenge unemployment claims without even having to state any reason; all in complete violation of the due process provisions of the United States Constitution.

* The MN DFL has turned a blind eye towards the hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans experiencing and facing foreclosures and evictions; many the result of huge and outrageous medical bills.

* The Minnesota DFL has remained silent as Minnesota's last primary aquifer is destroyed in the Big Bog by peat mining as a Canadian company is allowed to truck away the profits.

* The Minnesota DFL has remained silent as United States Steel continues to dump billions of gallons of polluted and contaminated water into the streams, rivers and lakes of northern Minnesota.

* The MN DFL has refused to mount a campaign to end this dirty war in Iraq which is squandering our precious human and material resources while shamefully promoting new taxes to make our roads and bridges safe.

The MN DFL has slowly returned fully to the corrupt old ways of what the Minnesota Democratic Party was prior to the merger of the Democratic Party and the socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party... a merger which never should have taken place in the first place.

Because the working class movement had been weakened and beat down through pernicious and malicious unrelenting and vicious anti-communist campaigns of Harrold Stassen, the fascist Joe McCarthy, and the pathetic excuse for a human being, that imperialist, undemocratic, corporate bootlicking politician Hubert Humphrey who was the author of the fascist and repressive Communist Control Act whose political career was manufactured by some of the most pathetic union "leaders" like George Meaney and the Reuther brothers who were on the pay-rolls of both the FBI and the CIA for many years; because of this the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party which relied on the Red Finns of the Iron Range and the Reds in the industrial unions as its base of support, the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party collapsed.

I sent the following letter to the editor of several newspapers today, we shall see what kind of "freedom of the press" we have in this great bastion of democracy:

Letter to the Editor;


Your newspaper has repeatedly pointed out our many social and economic problems; I don’t think your articles have pinned down the source of our problems.


The war in Iraq continues with no end in sight with dire consequences all the way around for most of us while a few corporations profit.


A new study by Democrats themselves puts the economic cost of the Iraq occupation at $1.6 TRILLION, or $21,000 per family. Every single penny has been wasted - not to mention the human cost to Americans and Iraqis and global hatred of the USA.


Why would Democrats want to give Bush one penny more?


This war makes no sense at all.


We could use this money to create a world-class, no-fee, comprehensive, all inclusive--- from prenatal to eye and dental along with all prescription medications--- single-payer, universal health care system which would be publicly financed and publicly administered; such a health care system would even be the envy of Canadians.


We could also use some of this money to establish a federal bank to take over the mortgages of working class families facing home foreclosures, lower the interest rates to something reasonable like 3% so people have homes to live in.


We would have enough money left over to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant through public ownership; saving 2,000 jobs as we protect one of the main pillars of Minnesota’s industrial base. Tax-payers have millions of dollars invested in this manufacturing complex which includes a hydro dam powering the entire operation; what tax-payers finance, tax-payers should own.


And, we would still have money left over; maybe a few road repairs could be made.


There is something drastically wrong with the priorities of Democrats and Republicans when “bi-partisan” billboards go up saying we need to increase our taxes to re-build rotting and rusting bridges that were not maintained as required in the first place after our taxes financed them to begin with as billions of our tax-dollars dollars were spent in a made for Hollywood campaign of “Shock and Awe” that resulted in bridges in Iraq being bombed as we watched as bombs bursted, but not in the air.


Why are politicians constantly telling us there is no money for these things we need when they have all this money to continue a war based upon lies and deceit? Even Alan Greenspan has stated this war is about oil and regional domination.


We are paying a terrible price for this war in so many ways: the death and destruction, not to mention paying through the nose every time we fill our gas tanks.


Let your Congressperson and United States Senators know it is time to stop all funding for this war in Iraq.


The only way to support the troops is to bring them home now.


Democratic politicians joined the Republicans in voting, again, to provide Bush with the funds to continue this carnage in Iraq. There is one word to explain all of this: profits. There is another word to describe it all: shame.


The military-financial-industrial complex has spun a complex web creating a frightening political structure which now threatens to strangle our democracy to boot.


It will take a powerful grassroots peoples’ movement to turn our country around. The “Red” Finns of the Iron Range and the old socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party of Floyd B. Olson, Elmer Benson and John Bernard created the foundation for a movement to accomplish progressive social change.


In my opinion “Red” Finn and Iron Ranger Gus Hall had it right when he said that capitalism is rotten to the core because the only thing the system successfully breeds is war.


Alan L. Maki

Democratic Party activist and Member of the MN DFL State Central Committee

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

I received the following letter from Bob Killeen the Secretary Treasurer of United Auto Workers Local 879 representing Ford workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant (following his letter is my response... in the days ahead, I will be detailing how the MN DFL sent SF 607 [Legislation aimed at saving the Ford Plant and Dam] down to defeat; how and why it all happened and the role of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and MN DFL'er, James Metzen, the banker, who Chairs the Minnesota State Senate Business, Industry, and Jobs Committee.]

I think everyone will agree it becomes necessary to understand how a piece of legislation like SF 607 could have gone down to defeat in a hearing on April 19, 2007 in Room 15 at 3pm in the State Capitol Building.

I will be providing the names and contact information for each member of this Committee and you can find out for yourself how each member of this Committee voted; or, if they were even present when the vote took place.

I find something very bizarre when a Committee so named would vote to take the wrecking ball to this plant after state legislators, including Chair Metzen, voted to invest so much of tax-payers' money in this operation over the years.

All of a sudden, Senator Metzen would like us to believe the Chair of this important Committee has little power or influence. I would point out that one of the PRIMARY REASONS the MN DFL leadership has provided to us concerning the need to elect a majority of Democrats to the State Legislature is because a MN DFL majority assures important Committees such as this have DFL Chairs and majority Committee membership. Either this is true, or it is not. I believe it is true; I also believe there now needs to be full and complete accountability as to why SF 607 authored by Senator Cohen went down to defeat in a Committee where the DFL members have a clear majority and DFL banker Metzen Chairs this Committee.

Here is Bob Killeen's letter to me:

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Killeen [mailto:rjkuaw879@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:23 AM
To: amaki000@centurytel.net
Subject: Senator Metzen Misinformation

Alan Maki. I have been reading some of the Green Party propaganda you have been been espousing. These types of attacks lend no credibility to your cause by accusing good people of bad things. Your accusations against Senator Metzen are both untrue and uncalled for. Jim has had a long standing relationship with the UAW which continued with his full support of our Ford Plant Legislation that called for the Fo Mo Co to keep TCAP in saleble condition for a period of 2 years after its' closing. This bill would have given us time to find other manufacturers to take over the property and keep good paying jobs in St Paul. If you had asked I would have told you our legislation was doomed because of pressure the St Paul Building Trades put on legislators to oppose our bill. Their goal, although shortsited, was to create short term building trades jobs by tearing down our plant and building condos. The St Paul Mayor was a huge ally of theirs in shooting down our bill. Other Senators who helped us were Tomassoni and Sparks. The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee - Bonoff, who is running for Congress in the 3rd district, and Saltzman. Murphy and Bakk got up and left the hearing just before the vote.My point is please refrain from attacking Senator Metzen. He is a good freind of the UAW and our family of members.

Bob Killeen Secretary-Treasurer UAW Local 879

My response:

Brother Killeen;



Thanks for this letter. I was by your office several times to talk about this vote. You weren’t in.



I am sorry about any confusion. I do not take back anything I have said about Senator Metzen.



I did not “accuse” anyone of “bad things.” I simply have written and spoken based upon information I received from Senator Metzen’s office. I sent several e-mails, made numerous phone calls; and stopped at Senator Metzen’s office twice before I ever wrote or spoke a single word to anyone about this. I can asure you, if there is any confusion it is of Senator Metzen’s own making.



Since I notice this e-mail from you was not Cc’ed to Senator Metzen I have not sent it to him. You may send it to him if you chose; or with your permission I will forward this entire correspondence to him.



You should also know that two members of Senator Metzen’s staff have contacted me claiming that I am not telling the truth. Again, I asked them to provide me with minutes from this hearing which would clarify things. They refused. And I am not going to go through the trouble of suing a State Senator to obtain records which should be public and provided to the public upon request to begin with.



In fact, Metzen’s Committee is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats… all of whom your local has supported.



I have in fact noted numerous times Senator Tomassoni’s support for this important legislation; in fact, the record of this hearing clearly shows that he was the one and only Democrat to support this legislation… The record clearly shows one thing: Tomassoni moved for support of this proposed legislation and the record states the motion failed. If you have any written record of the proceedings from Sen. Metzen’s Committee Hearing in question to substantiate what you are now saying, please provide me with the official minutes of this hearing as recorded by the Committee Clerk/Secretary. The only Senator’s name I find in writing from the minutes of this hearing, such as they are, is that Senator Tomassoni was the lone, sole supporter of this legislation. This is based upon the records I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



I have charged that the minutes of this particular Senate Hearing were probably kept in such a shoddy fashion so that no one would be able to tell from reading the minutes what went on in this hearing. If this is the case it raises an even larger issue which goes right to the heart of attempting to subvert democracy and the right of people to expect honest and open government from those whom they elect. Again, I stated all of this in an e-mail to Senator Metzen to which he never responded.



I find it strange that, at this late date, you are providing an account of this Senate Hearing that the clerk should have noted in the official minutes from the hearing at the time she provided me with the minutes.



Please feel free to request that Senator Metzen provide you with all correspondence I made with his office and that which was sent to me. I give him the right to release all such documents to you provided he releases everything without any omissions.



For the record, I have not been espousing any “Green Party propaganda.” Nor do I support the Green Party, even though I am strongly leaning towards supporting who I consider to be the best Democrat in the Presidential race, Cynthia McKinney; who, as you know was forced from Congress largely by the same grouping of business oriented Democrats who are pushing for the closing of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.



The St. Paul mayor you refer to is a Democrat. Representative Paymar is a Democrat. Murphy is a Democrat. Rod Skoe is a Democrat.



There is something seriously wrong with a Democrat who you say is a big supporter of the UAW when he is the Chair of the Committee and he can not control his own Caucus members when it comes to such an important vote. In fact, the UAW has supported every single DFL member of this Committee. I do not have to draw any conclusions from this; the facts speak for themselves.



I have worked in the Democratic Party in several states over a period of some thirty years--- since I could vote, in fact; never have I seen such betrayal except over these “Compacts” creating casinos sending 20,000 Minnesotans to jobs in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any of the rights your own members enjoy protected under state or federal labor laws.



You can call me when ever you like about any issue or concern you have; I have been to the Plant often. I have left every leaflet I have distributed at the Plant at your office.



I am a member of the Minnesota DFL State Central Committee, not a member of the Green Party. You will not find anything that I have written contrary to this. In no way, shape, or form have I distributed anything in the nature of “Green Party propaganda;” nor anything which approximates such.



I do not understand how you can say the “The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee…” when all the evidence in the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the clerk of the Committee clearly shows it was Democrats who are the culprits. In fact, even if all Republicans had refused to attend the hearing and refrain from voting, the Democrats would not have voted for this legislation.



Again, what I write and what I say is based upon the minutes I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



In fact, the building trades unions provide Metzen with more campaign contributions than does the UAW. I am very concerned about the role of the building trades unions in all of this; however, I know from experience that their position on this issue can easily be reversed should your local clearly articulate the issue involved here in a way that people understand. If you choose to do this, by the time you are done, the building trades leaders will be hanging their heads in shame; seen by everyone as very pathetic as they pander for jobs by taking away the jobs of other working people.



I have tried to speak with Senator Metzen about this prior to the Committee Hearing, the day after the Committee Hearing, and as recent as yesterday. Senator Metzen, if he is concerned about anything that I am saying or writing can call me, sit down and talk with me, or send me an e-mail just as you have done.



I would be more than happy to sit down with you and Senator Metzen to discuss where we go from here.



I talked with Senator Cohen’s Legislative Assistants on several occasions, including yesterday; she tells me Senator Cohen plans no further legislative action. This is not right that the Democrats are dropping the ball in trying to save the Ford Plant.



As long as this Plant is still standing this will not be a “done deal” no matter how loudly the proverbial fat lady sings. Working people never give up, and working people never give in to corporate domination and greed; if they do, they lose.



If the Democrats snooze; working people lose. If the Democrats acquiesce, working people lose. There needs to be accountability here; there is no accountability; not from Senator Metzen, not from Representative Paymar; not even from Ron Gettelfinger or Bob King.



I would encourage you to invite the leadership of the Minnesota DFL and all DFL legislators and the U.S. Senate candidates to tour the plant with you so they know exactly what is at stake; and, encourage them to talk with rank and file workers about what a job means to a worker and his/her family. I think one of the very big problems is that most of the politicians with the power to save this Plant are so far removed from the life of working class families and their daily struggles to survive that they can look the other way, and then later say, “I didn’t know.”



I would also encourage you to insist that the Minnesota DFL take a position in support of public ownership of this plant; there is simply no other way to save it. This is not a “far out idea” as some of those looking for excuses to take the wrecking ball to this plant have stated. Public ownership has been very successfully used as a tool by the labor movement to save plants and jobs all over the world, including in Canada… the huge bus plant in Winnipeg being one very good example. I would also encourage you to talk with Bob King and Ron Gettelfinger about supporting public ownership of this plant… we can’t do any worse than the legislation which failed.



WE haven’t even explored the possibility of a joint China-Minnesota government venture to save this plant. Why not? Your Local supported Mark Dayton, you mean to tell me that Mark Dayton can not broach this issue with the Chinese; the Chinese aren’t afraid of public ownership. What about George Lattimore? Your local supported him for years; he has all kinds of connections in China.



As long as we are talking about some differences of opinion we may have over this entire matter of what happened in Metzen’s Committee where this legislation was defeated; I am of the opinion that you should have mobilized your entire membership including those working and those retired to turn out for this hearing in support of this legislation since you knew there was going to be strenuous opposition. Large numbers do not always assure legislative victories over the well-heeled, corrupt Summit Hill crowd; however, it never hurts to bring along a great big crowd… your dad must have agreed with this concept as he was a big supporter of the demonstrations aimed at closing down the Schools of the Americas… something that really should be shut down.



Yes, close the “School of the Americas”--- this killing machine--- and fund the continuing operation of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant; tax-payers would be the real winners and humanity would be the better for it.



I think if we sat down and talked about all of this and tried to work out a common strategy aimed at saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant we would be further ahead.



In case you missed my letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on saving the Plant (Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007; Page OP 4), here it is:

Your excellent editorial (Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007) on saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant missed one important point.

For all practical purposes there is little chance of saving this plant unless it is brought under public ownership; free enterprise has failed to save the plant and the jobs.

Tax-payers already have a huge investment in this plant. More tax-dollars should be invested to save this plant and these important manufacturing jobs.

What tax-payers finance they should own.

Minnesota legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to see to it that this plant survives through public ownership.

Alan L. Maki

Warroad, Minnesota

Our approach to saving the Ford Plant is that we are willing to work with anyone and everyone towards this end; this includes you, your local, the Greens, the Democrats, the Reds, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists and those who have no party or organizational affiliations at all.



Saving this Plant is an issue dear to many, many Minnesotans; not only the members of your local.



As a result of my activities I have had people contacting me from all over Minnesota, the country, Canada and other parts of the world wanting to know how they can help. Just last week I heard from an eighty-seven year old former St. Paul resident, now retired and living in Arizona, who broke down and cried when she told me what this plant meant to her family and her family’s friends--- a lifetime of a decent life won through struggle. And our conversation ended with her saying: “Why did our families fight so hard; just to end up losing it all.”



We are working with very limited resources in order to encourage dialogue, debate and discussion on this issue while working towards creating the greatest possible unity on this issue; it is not my intent to burn any bridges; I would much rather build bridges of open communication… towards these ends I would be happy to sit down and discuss this issue with you, Senator Metzen and any other interested parties, and adjust tactics as called for.



I will be in the Cities early next week if you would like to meet.



Yours in the struggle to save the Ford Plant through public ownership,



Alan



Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

I invite comments and questions from all concerned as we discuss this important issue for the purpose of figuring out what kind of movement it will take for working people to have a say in this issue of what happens to the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, the hydro dam which powers this plant and the two-thousand jobs.

If we can't save the Ford Plant and two thousand jobs along with a hydro dam which sits on an expensive foundation which comprises a dam and a lock owned by the American tax-payers, what can we do to solve any problems working people are experiencing?

This past weekend I was at a fund-raising benefit for folk singer and working class activist Utah Phillips who is suffering a severe heart problem requiring a transplant. Utah Phillips has popularized a song: "No More Reds In The Union." I first heard Utah Phillips sing this song when I met him in Winnipeg while I was fighting deportation from Canada.

When the Reds get kicked out of the unions we end up with corrupt politics and a labor movement which is paralyzed in its ability to fight to keep plants open and save jobs.

Something to think about as you sit down for dinner this Holiday Season with family and friends.

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN

Please note: This particular blog is generating a great deal of discussion. I am posting some of those things that reflect the discussion.

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN

Interest rate 'freeze' - the real story is fraud

Bankers pay lip service to families while scurrying to avert suits, prison

Sean Olender

Sunday, December 9, 2007

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/09/IN5BTNJ2V.DTL




New proposals to ease our great mortgage meltdown keep rolling in to ease our great mortgage meltdown keep rolling in. First the Treasury Department urged the creation of a new fund that would buy risky mortgage bonds as a tactic to hide what those bonds were really worth. (Not much.) Then the idea was to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the risky loans, even if it was clear that U.S. taxpayers would eventually be stuck with the bill. But that plan went south after Fannie suffered a new accounting scandal, and Freddie's existing loan losses shot up more than expected.

Now, just unveiled Thursday, comes the "freeze," the brainchild of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. It sounds good: For five years, mortgage lenders will freeze interest rates on a limited number of "teaser" subprime loans. Other homeowners facing foreclosure will be offered assistance from the Federal Housing Administration.

But unfortunately, the "freeze" is just another fraud - and like the other bailout proposals, it has nothing to do with U.S. house prices, with "working families," keeping people in their homes or any of that nonsense.

The sole goal of the freeze is to prevent owners of mortgage-backed securities, many of them foreigners, from suing U.S. banks and forcing them to buy back worthless mortgage securities at face value - right now almost 10 times their market worth.

The ticking time bomb in the U.S. banking system is not resetting subprime mortgage rates. The real problem is the contractual ability of investors in mortgage bonds to require banks to buy back the loans at face value if there was fraud in the origination process.

And, to be sure, fraud is everywhere. It's in the loan application documents, and it's in the appraisals. There are e-mails and memos floating around showing that many people in banks, investment banks and appraisal companies - all the way up to senior management - knew about it.

I can hear the hum of shredders working overtime, and maybe that is the new "hot" industry to invest in. There are lots of people who would like to muzzle subpoena-happy New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to buy time and make this all go away. Cuomo is just inches from getting what he needs to start putting a lot of people in prison. I bet some people are trying right now to make him an offer "he can't refuse."

Despite Thursday's ballyhooed new deal with mortgage lenders, does anyone really think that it can ultimately stop fraud lawsuits by mortgage bond investors, many of them spread out across the globe?

The catastrophic consequences of bond investors forcing originators to buy back loans at face value are beyond the current media discussion. The loans at issue dwarf the capital available at the largest U.S. banks combined, and investor lawsuits would raise stunning liability sufficient to cause even the largest U.S. banks to fail, resulting in massive taxpayer-funded bailouts of Fannie and Freddie, and even FDIC.

The problem isn't just subprime loans. It is the entire mortgage market. As home prices fall, defaults will rise sharply - period. And so will the patience of mortgage bondholders. Different classes of mortgage bonds from various risk pools are owned by different central banks, funds, pensions and investors all over the world.

Even your pension or 401(k) might have some of these bonds in it.

Perhaps some U.S. government department can make veiled threats to foreign countries to suggest they will suffer unpleasant consequences if their largest holders (central banks and investment funds) don't go along with the plan, but how could it be possible to strong-arm everyone?

What would be prudent and logical is for the banks that sold this toxic waste to buy it back and for a lot of people to go to prison. If they knew about the fraud, they should have to buy the bonds back. The time to look into this is before the shredders have worked their magic - not five years from now.

Those selling the "freeze" have suggested that mortgage-backed securities investors will benefit because they lose more with rising foreclosures. But with fast-depreciating collateral, the last thing investors in mortgage bonds ought to do is put off foreclosures. Rate freezes are at best a tool for delaying the inevitable foreclosures when even the most optimistic forecasters expect home prices to fall.

In October, Goldman Sachs issued a report forecasting an incredible 35 to 40 percent drop in California home prices in the coming few years. To minimize losses, a mortgage bondholder would obviously be better off foreclosing on a home before prices plunge.

The goal of the freeze may be to delay bond investors from suing by putting off the big foreclosure wave for several years. But it may also be to stop bond investors from suing. If the investors agreed to loan modifications with the "real" wage and asset information from refinancing borrowers, mortgage originators and bundlers would have an excuse once the foreclosure occurred. They could say, "Fraud? What fraud?! You knew the borrower's real income and asset information later when he refinanced!"

The key is to refinance borrowers whose current loans involved fraud in the origination process. And I assure you it was a minority of borrowers whose loans didn't involve fraud.

The government is trying to accomplish wide-scale refinancing by tricking bond investors, or by tricking U.S. taxpayers. Guess who will foot the bill now that the FHA is entering the fray?

Ultimately, the people in these secret Paulson meetings were probably less worried about saving the mortgage market than with saving themselves. Some might be looking at prison time.

As chief of Goldman Sachs, Paulson was involved, to degrees as yet unrevealed, in the mortgage securitization process during the halcyon days of mortgage fraud from 2004 to 2006.

Paulson became the U.S. Treasury secretary on July 10, 2006, after the extent of the debacle was coming into focus for those in the know. Goldman Sachs achieved recent accolades in the markets for having bet heavily against the housing market, while Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch and others got hammered for failing to time the end of the credit bubble.

Goldman Sachs is the only major investment bank in the United States that has emerged as yet unscathed from this debacle. The success of its strategy must have resulted from fairly substantial bets against housing, mortgage banking and related industries, which also means that Goldman Sachs saw this coming at the same time they were bundling and selling these loans.

If a mortgage bond investor sues Goldman Sachs to force the institution to buy back loans, could Paulson be forced to testify as to whether Goldman Sachs knew or had reason to know about fraud in the origination process of the loans it was bundling?

It is truly amazing that right now everyone in the country is deferring to Paulson and the heads of Countrywide, JPMorgan, Bank of America and others as the best group to work out a solution to this problem. No one is talking about the fact that these people created the problem and profited to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars from it.

I suspect that such a group first sat down and tried to figure out how to protect their financial interests and avoid criminal liability. And then when they agreed on the plan, they decided to sell it as "helping working families stay in their homes." That's why these meetings were secret, and reporters and the public weren't invited.

The next time that Paulson is before the Senate Finance Committee, instead of asking, "How much money do you think we should give your banking buddies?" I'd like to see New York Sen. Chuck Schumer ask him what he knew about this staggering fraud at the time he was chief of Goldman Sachs.

The Goldman report in October suggests that rampant investor demand is to blame for origination fraud - even though these investors were misled by high credit ratings from bond rating agencies being paid billions by the U.S. investment banks, like Goldman, that were selling the bundled mortgages.

This logic is like saying shoppers seeking bargain-priced soup encourage the grocery store owner to steal it. I mean, we're talking about criminal fraud here. We are on the cusp of a mammoth financial crisis, and the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are trying to limit the liability of their banking friends under the guise of trying to help borrowers. At stake is nothing short of the continued existence of the U.S. banking system.

Sean Olender is a San Mateo attorney.

Contact us at: insight@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

****

My Comments: As most of you know I have tried to convince Minnesota legislators and two Minnesota Attorneys Generals, Mike Hatch and Lori Sawnson, to no avail, to take on these crooked and corrupt mortgage companies, the banks, real-estate companies, and speculators for over five years now.

Minnesota legislators from both political parties together with Hatch and Swanson have refused all my requests to act on this issue. I have met with Minnesota legislators in their homes and offices, many have called me in response to home fore-closures we have fought; they wring their hands and say, “Sorry, Al, there isn’t anything we can do.”

You know, this response is getting a little old.

Why are we continuing to elect people who give us the same response every single time over every single problem from home foreclosures to ending the war in Iraq, to single-payer universal health care to plant closings?

Worse than buying into what MN DFL party hack Steve Linnerooth refers to as “bullshit” when the accusation is made that nothing is being done; or, what is done makes life more difficult for working people, is the fact that people have compartmentalized their struggles on all fronts rather than merge these struggles against a common corporate enemy and the lackey politicians they have purchased to try to circumvent, derail, misguide and accept defeat.

Anyone who tries to separate ending the war in Iraq from the mortgage scandal and home foreclosure and plant closings along with the movement for single-payer universal health care is being very shortsighted.

All of these struggles are connected because the solution to all these problems is in the fundamental reordering of our state’s and our country’s priorities.

$1.6 TRILLION Dollars has already, to use Steve Linnerooth’s vernacular, been pissed away on the war in Iraq… considering that what U.S. imperialism intends for Iraq is a long-term occupation it is reasonable to assume we will soon see this figure rise to well over TEN TRILLION DOLLARS.

That is a whole lot of money that could better be going into establishing a government owned federal bank to take over these mortgages and keep plants operating under public ownership so jobs can be saved.

Common sense tells us that people who owe hundreds of thousands of dollars for a home mortgage are going to be foreclosed on and evicted when they lose their jobs at Ford Motor Company and have to go to work at McDonalds or some smoke-filled casino at poverty wages.

Combine these poverty wages with massive health care bills many working class families now owe (everyone is going to get a costly terminal illness if they live long enough, eh?) and we have a recipe for a major financial disaster in the making and we haven’t even discussed consumer debt!

Don’t believe anyone when they tell you the American economy is somehow immune from a massive depression in our future because the handwriting is all over the wall.

We have some very serious problems that will continue as long as state-monopoly capitalism is calling all the shots. Make no mistake, we are in for a rough ride with the corporations pushing for a clamp-down on all aspects of democracy as they try to prevent people from rising up in resistance and refusing to tolerate what is going on.

And it won’t make any difference whether Democrats or Republicans get elected; anyone who says differently is misleading the people.

Until we start to think outside the capitalist box nothing is going to change except life will continue to get more difficult for working people--- especially as this country sinks into the economic morass of a major, full-blown depression.

Anyone suffering from any illusions that things will be any different when the Republicans get drummed out of the Congress and from the presidency had better take a good hard look at what Democrats have done to date on these issues:

• Two Democratic Minnesota Attorneys General have not lifted a finger to stave off these home foreclosures as Democrats in control of both the Minnesota House and Senate have sat in complete silence and acquiesced to a powerless, washed up pandering to Bush Governor;

• These same Democrats sold out Ford workers trying to save their plant and their jobs;

• These same Democrats are now engaged in trying to derail the movement for real single-payer universal health care;

• These same Democrats have sat in complete silence as working class Minnesotans are sent off to their deaths in this dirty imperialist war for oil and regional domination in Iraq.

Hillary Clinton and Obama have traipsed through Minnesota raising money from the casino managements, the health insurance companies and the well-heeled along with a few dunces at the helm of major unions, and not once have they addressed a single one of these problems by advocating any real solutions.

Hillary Clinton and Obama continue to peddle the same old crap about "American vital interests in Iraq;" but when asked to clearly define and articulate what these "American vital interests" consist of thousands of miles over seas their big-mouths go silent.

My suggestion is that we not respond to any of the appeals for help from the Minnesota DFL or the Democratic Party presidential candidates; that we spend our time and our resources bringing all those concerned about these very basic problems together in a way we begin working for real solutions and let the politicians come begging to us for a change.

There is no reason Minnesota politicians can not make good on bringing a real single-payer universal health care system into being by Election Day 2008 along with halting all foreclosures and evictions while placing a complete moratorium on any further payments to these corrupt, shyster, parasitic, money-grubbing, crooked mortgage companies.

There are all kinds of lawyers in the Democratic Party; let a few of these lawyers take on a class action suit pro-bono on behalf of working class Minnesotans who have been so loyal in their support of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party. These lawyers live in huge mansions up on Summit Hill.

Of course, it would be even better to have candidates who have staked out ownership of these issues who are part of the struggles running for public office as an alternative to the “bullshit” we have now.

Something to think about around the kitchen table as you shiver in the cold because your home heating assistance has again been cut as the MN DFL sat in silence. I suppose now we will be hearing all kinds of platitudes as politicians and the union dunces who allow these dumb donkeys to do their thinking for them wax eloquent about the 59th Anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights tomorrow--- December 10th.

I would suggest that these dumb donkeys be given an ultimatum: Make good on single-payer universal health care and halt these foreclosures and evictions as part of celebrating the 59th Anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights so working people have something to celebrate on the 60th Anniversary--- a month after Election Day.

********************************

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Linnerooth [mailto:stevendl2000@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 10:19 PM
To: Alan Maki
Subject: Re: I saw this notice on Shove's progressive calendar about health care and I have a question...

Maki,
Afraid to send me your snide remarks? I am going to
type this real slow so you can read it on your own.
The DFL Platform Commission chose Universal
Single_Payer Healthcare as one of our Federal
Legislative Priorities for 2007-2008. You would be of
much greater help if you were to encourage your
readers to help to lobby for HR 676 and to introduce
resolutions supporting universal single-payer
healthcare at the precinct caucuses the you are making
an ass of yourself.
Steve Linnerooth


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 12:30 AM
To: 'Steve Linnerooth'
Cc: 'brian.melendez@usa.net'; 'susan.rego@embarqmail.com'; 'David Shove'; 'Charles Underwood'
Subject: RE: I saw this notice on Shove's progressive calendar about health care and I have a question...

Linnerooth,

Glad to hear you are doing such a superb job lobbying. Now, if you can overcome the lobbying efforts of Brownstein/Hyatt/Farber/Schreck the big-time Democrats responsible for orchestrating what will take place at the Democratic Party National Convention you will be all set.

Oh, by the way, has Conyers told you that there are fewer Democrats now supporting H.R.676 than ever before?

Do you suppose Conyers will back out of his support for H.R. 676 the same way he has withdrawn from impeachment proceedings?

Steve, you hang on to that dumb donkey's tail long enough and you will get a handful of shit.

Again, feel free to read my comments about you on my blog.

I find your comments about resolutions to be nothing but a self-serving rant since you know that I was the original author of the resolution passed by 72% of the delegates to the last MN DFL State Convention and you are fully aware that the resolution unanimously passed by the Roseau County convention was dropped in the circular file by you and Melendez.

Again, here is the gist of that resolution: "no fee, comprehensive, all-inclusive [from pre-natal to dental and eyes to prescriptions], single-payer, universal health care that is publicly administered and publicly financed."

When you are lobbying my good friend and good buddy John Conyers, please let him know that I will probably be coming to see him along with Cindy Sheehan the next time she pays him a visit.

Alan

Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

********************


-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Linnerooth [mailto:stevendl2000@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 5:36 AM
To: Alan Maki
Subject: RE: I saw this notice on Shove's progressive calendar about health care and I have a question...

Maki,
Can't handle the truth can you?
Steve Linnerooth


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 8:50 AM
To: 'Steve Linnerooth'
Cc: 'brian.melendez@usa.net'; 'Steve Linnerooth'; 'Neva Walker'; 'rep.al.juhnke@house.mn'; 'rep.bill.hilty@house.mn'; 'rep.dave.olin@house.mn'; 'rep.frank.moe@house.mn'; 'sen.jim.metzen@senate.mn'; 'sen.john.marty@senate.mn'
Subject: RE: I saw this notice on Shove's progressive calendar about health care and I have a question...

Linnerooth,

It is not that I can't handle the truth; the problem is: Minnesotans can not handle the health care bills that have piled up as the HMO's, doctors, hospitals and nursing homes are taking their homes in payment.

Alan



Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/


***********


There's this Dem hack named Linnerooth
He says People don't need the truth
It gets in our way
And darkens my day
And forsooth, 'tis uncouth, so screwth.


--David Shove


***********

It’s good to see the dirty secret being hidden behind all this concern for the average Joe/Jane. It’s fine to call for an investigation and charges and if there’s a way to do that, let’s. Still, I won’t hold my breath waiting to see the top financiers called before a grand jury in New York or anywhere and prosecuted. Maybe one or two to take a small, cushioned and well-publicized fall, but not the network of crooks who hold top banking and Wall Street jobs who packaged and sold these phoneyed mortgages as ‘investment-grade’ and not the speculative, junk they were.

Why say that? Because there are a million threads linking the criminal justice system to the larger capitalist system and its corporate/political managers. At the local level, lying cops and thieving ‘connected’ contractors are protected by prosecutors. At the federal level, top execs are untouched as they loot and steal, with a few scapegoats from time to time. Any prosecutor who even began to charge those responsible at the top would be hung out to dry in a heartbeat.

How many top Enron execs went to jail? 2? How many of the bankers and others involved? None. WorldCom? The same. Reaching back into a political example: How many top corporate owners were ever brought to a grand jury when they plotted to overthrow the US government and impose a military dictatorship with Marine General Smedley Butler in 1938? (He testified to a Senate committee about the whole deal, ratting them out.) Hell, how many of us even heard of this in any class in any school?

Alan Maki suggests that the money spent in the Iraq invasion/occupation could be better spent here. True, but this line of (wishful) thinking ignores a fundamental reality: there is no trade off since an imperial military is necessary for promoting US big business interests around the world, 1. And, 2, the US military is the ‘cop of the world system’ to keep the minor players in line. That’s the outcome of the US victory in WW2 and the aftermath.

Since American capitalism is necessarily imperialist and not simply a budgetary imbalance, calling for a switch in funding objectively promotes a smoke-induced hallucinatory quality to the discussion: “What if they had to give a bake sale for the military?” used to be a popular sign of the wishful-thinking crowd. And, “What if they gave a war and no one came?”

If you think this is unfair, ask yourself this: “What happened to the ‘peace dividend’?” That increase in social spending we were promised after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Cold War? We had a Democratic president and Congress in 1992. We got NAFTA, ‘the end of welfare as we know it’, and the forced introduction of more workers into low-paying, no benefit jobs that meant more profits and pressure on existing workers’ pay. What should that tell us?

Alan Maki’s call to organize ourselves and fight for what we need and not rely on their politicians is good. It’s also good to see that money and wealth exists that could be used for our human needs and in ecologically sane ways. Here’s the basic problem I see with that- instead of calling on the politicians to come begging to us, we need to see clearly the need to end capitalism’s grip on our lives, not project yet more feel-good illusions like spending military money on our health care. That will only be possible when we create a new society based on the power and solidarity of those who end the current system and replace it with one based on global solidarity and democratic planning.

Earl Silbar
Chicago

Save the "Green" St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant

Please circulate this information widely.

My Letter to the Editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (sent 11/27/07)was published on Sunday, December 2, 2007; Page OP4:

Your excellent editorial (Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007) on saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant missed one important point.

For all practical purposes there is little chance of saving this plant unless it is brought under public ownership; free enterprise has failed to save the plant and the jobs.

Tax-payers already have a huge investment in this plant. More tax-dollars should be invested to save this plant and these important manufacturing jobs.

What tax-payers finance they should own.

Minnesota legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to see to it that this plant survives through public ownership.

Alan L. Maki
Warroad, Minnesota

I have also included the Strib Editorial and the Opinion piece for those who might not have seen these.


As anyone can see this is all far from being a “done deal.” Working together we can save this plant and two-thousand jobs.

So far we have made an important effort towards promoting a real dialogue on saving this plant as is evidenced by the Strib finally taking up this question. Less than a year ago I was told by the person in charge of editorials that they would not be taking a position on this issue because it was a “mute” question and the “decision to close the plant was final.” My how things change.

The publication of the Editorial and the Op/Ed piece is a very exciting development. We should seize on this and get as much discussion going in the plant and surrounding community as we can.

Over 6,000 leaflets have now been distributed on the Iron Range between several of the mines Monday and today.

In my opinion, we need to focus on grassroots and rank and file activity because the present union leaderships are completely incapacble of addressing this issue in the kind of fundamental way required... they fear the issue of public ownership. It will be up to them to explain to the memberships what they intend to do to save their jobs and this plant... doing nothing is not an option. Ron Gettelfinger and the UAW-CAP have been shamefully silent on the issue of public ownership even though it is the very last straw. The leadership of the USW has likewise been shamefully silent even though their members rely on this plant remaining open, too. Bob Bratulich probably is still sitting with his feet up on his desk playing computer games… a new desk, same tired approach to workers’ problems. Leo Girard and Carl Pope never bothered returning to the St. Paul plant once the issue of Public Ownership was raised. It is interesting though that the International President of the USW accompanied by the Sierra Club’s Carl Pope have taken the time to visit the St. Paul Plant and call for it being kept open and producing while UAW President Gettelfinger and Bob King hide out in Solidarity House.

I would also note that MN DFL United States Senate Candidate Al Franken has also called for saving the Ford Plant; as has Green Party U.S. Senate Candidate Mike Cavlan. James Oberstar has remained silent, as has Amy Klobuchar. The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party continues to refuse to address this issue--- probably because the UAW and USW leaderships have refused to hold their “feet to the fire.”

Should Cynthia McKinney come into Minnesota as a presidential candidate and spend some time talking to Ford workers and miners on the Iron Range as a candidate the Democratic Party dumped; this could prove to be a disaster for the Minnesota DFL at the polls in 2008.

Perhaps someone will raise the issue of the future of the Ford Plant at the DFL Senate Candidate debate. It will be interesting to see if Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer now finds the courage to address this issue since the editorial board of the Strib has spoken. (Pallmeyer did come out in support of public ownership after this was written). Check out Jack's website: http://www.jackforsenate.org/

Alan


This is my posting on the LabourStart home page on FaceBook (to join just Google up “facebook” and follow the instructions; then do a facebook search for “labourstart”); simply click on the link to go to it. Please feel free to join LabourStart’s FaceBook network. [Note, you may add your comments once you join]:




Topic: Help Us Save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant & 2,000 union jobs




Sisters and Brothers;

Unless we act together the Ford Plant will close soon and two thousand jobs will go down the drain and into the river with it.

It will take the initiative of community activists and rank and file activists from your plant working together to save the Ford Plant and two-thousand jobs. It will require activity on a variety of levels from a variety of partners working in coalition.

I would encourage you to ask the UAW leadership of your local (UAW Local 879) to push the MN DFL to reconsider the legislation Democratic Senator Metzen dropped the ball on after Representative Tom Rukavina successfully pushed it through his Committee in the House. It is important that this Plant and Dam remain intact as one unit.

As you know, the great “free market forces” of capitalism have not been able to keep this perfectly good plant in operation.

This leaves us but one option; the option of Public Ownership. Public Ownership has been used all over the world to save many plants and even entire industries. The New Flyer Bus Plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba is one such example.

To be quite frank, our primary concern has to be with saving these two-thousand jobs. The jobs of those presently employed and for generations to come.

No one is considering the tremendous struggle and sacrifice of Ford workers and your union in securing a good place to work as part of the investment. No one is talking about the huge investment taxpayers have made in this Plant and Hydro Dam… not to mention training employees. No one mentions that workers create all wealth and as such are entitled to participate as equals in the decision-making process. The Ford Motor Company never sat down and talked about the future of this plant with workers or tax-payers.

I ask you to take these resolutions to your party precinct caucus meetings in February. Ford workers are scattered all over, even in Wisconsin… we need to reach out for support in order to save this plant. Just clip one of these resolutions to the resolution form.

Two resolutions follow; use the one you feel most appropriate or submit one of your own.

Resolution #1 (Short Version) 0n the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant/Hydro Dam and 2,000 Union Jobs

Whereas Ford Motor Company has stated its intent to close the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, sell the hydro dam to a foreign corporation, and displace two-thousand workers in the near future without consultation from the workers, the community, or local and state governments;

Whereas this plant, its operations, and the hydro dam have received continued support from every level of government including tax-payer funding, tax-breaks and tax abatements under promises to maintain manufacturing operations and with assurances workers would have job security in St. Paul, Minnesota;

Therefore be it resolved (name of union/organization here) supports public ownership should be used to save this plant, hydro dam, and two-thousand jobs.

Resolution #2 (Full version) 0n the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant/Hydro Dam and 2,000 Union Jobs

Whereas Ford Motor Company has stated its intent to close the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, sell the hydro dam to a foreign corporation, and displace two-thousand workers in the near future without consultation with the workers, the community, or local and state governments;

Whereas this plant, its operations, and the hydro dam have received continued support from every level of government including tax-payer funding, tax-breaks and tax abatements under promises to maintain manufacturing operations and with assurances workers would have job security in St. Paul, Minnesota;

Whereas this Plant forms an important an integral component of Minnesota’s industrial base;

Whereas the closing of this Plant will cause very significant economic harm to the local community and the state including placing a strain on already overburdened social services which have already been drastically cut back;

Whereas all conciliatory efforts, as demanded, in favor of the management of Ford Motor Company have been granted by all levels of government under the promise Ford would maintain operations in St. Paul;

Whereas a similar threatened plant closing of the New Flyer Plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada during the 1970’sresulted in all levels of government intervening on behalf of the members of the United Automobile Workers union resulting in the public takeover of the operation with continuing successful operation at present;

Whereas “the free market” has not resulted in a solution to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, the hydro dam which powers the plant along with two-thousand union jobs;

Be it resolved that the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party instruct its State Legislative Caucus to bring forward the previous resolution in the form of legislation supported by the United Auto Workers Union and its members of Local 789 to save the plant and dam intact until a solution is found to continue operations and production;

Be it further resolved that the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party instructs all of its federal, state, and local Twin Cities elected officials to convene a special conference to explore public ownership as the remedy to saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, the hydro dam, and two thousand union jobs;

Be it further resolved that the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party support public ownership and democratic control of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant with production taking place in the best interests of the workers and the people of the State of Minnesota;

Be it further resolved that public ownership is the only viable means of saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant as all other means have been tried and exhausted;

Be it further resolved that funding is not an issue since any country which can squander billions of dollars on the occupation of Iraq can find the resources for saving this Plant, dam, and jobs;

Be it further resolved that the very significant burden of health care costs for employees be resolved through the State of Minnesota enacting legislation implementing single-payer, universal health care.

Alan L. Maki
Member, Minnesota DFL State Central Committee

and

Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

If you have friends working in casinos please have them get in touch with me.

Twenty-thousand Minnesotans go to work in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under tribal, state or federal labor laws.

58891 County Road 13; Warroad, Minnesota 56763 Phone: 218-386-2432 Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog; it’s where rank and file activists go for information:Thoughts From Podunk: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Suggestions for how to use these resolutions:

• Take it to your precinct caucus meeting

• Get your union or community organization to support this resolution

• Write a letter to your state legislators supporting this resolution

• Copy and distribute this resolution widely

• Use this resolution as a petition, ask your friends to sign it

• Write a letter to the editor

• Blog this issue

• Post the resolution on web sites

• Discuss this resolution on Internet “list serves”

**************

This leaflet made as a contribution in kind by the:
Iron Range Rank and File Labor Network… concerned and involved members of United Steel Workers locals 1938, 2705, 6860, 2660

All labor and materials for this leaflet have been contributed in solidarity with workers of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant… On the Iron Range we understand the future of our jobs hinge on the future of your jobs. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan Maki for taking up this struggle in his capacity as a member of the MN DFL State Central Committee. Without these kinds of community grassroots and rank and file outreach efforts we are all doomed as recent contract “negotiations” in our industries have demonstrated.

Please consider making a contribution to help us put this issue on the front burner where it belongs.

Out of sight… is out of mind.

For additional information---

An excellent editorial:
http://www.startribune.com/editorials/story/1569611.html

A suggestion on the use of the Plant:
http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1569599.html

My Letter to the Editor of the Star Tribune:

Your excellent editorial (Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007)on saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant missed one important point.

For all practical purposes there is little chance of saving this plant unless it is brought under public ownership; free enterprise has failed to save the plant and the jobs.

Tax-payers already have a huge investment in this plant. More tax-dollars should be invested to save this plant and these important manufacturing jobs.

What tax-payers finance they should own.

Minnesota legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to see to it that this plant survives through public ownership.

Alan L. Maki
Warroad, Minnesota


Additional information can be found on my blogs:

http://capitalistglobalization.blogspot.com/

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/



*********************



From the Sunday, November 25, 2007 edition of the Star Tribune

Editorial: One more chance for Ford plant jobs
Year's extension on plant closing is welcome news

Published: November 25, 2007

JOB LOSSES IN ST. PAUL

• Whirlpool: 600 jobs in 1984

• Amhoist: 700 jobs in 1985

• Control Data: 800 jobs in 1989

• 3M: 180 jobs in 2001

• Ford: 1,000 jobs in 2006-07

The Ford Motor Co. plant in St. Paul is on life support for one more year, providing a glimmer of hope that the eventual reuse of the property might include much-needed manufacturing jobs in the heart of the Twin Cities.

For that to happen, though, state and local officials need to aggressively explore options ranging from convincing Ford to continue operations at the plant to recruiting other manufacturers to the property. Without bold leadership, the plant will close and more jobs will disappear from St. Paul.

At its peak in 1979, the 82-year-old Ford plant had 2,600 employees. Union members recently voted to ratify a new contract to keep 925 Ranger truck plant workers on the job until 2009, or a year longer than had been planned for the plant's closing.

The extension provides more time for creative consideration of possible uses for the plant and surrounding property. Fortunately, some of the important groundwork is underway.

In June, a task force that had been working with a consulting firm approved five potential redevelopment scenarios for the property, two of which include industrial or light industrial use. Ultimately Ford will make the call on the plant and the potential sale of the property, but the company is cooperating with the task force and the city in addressing possible uses and related zoning issues.

On the state level, the Minnesota Legislature established a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle task force in 2006, in part to analyze what it would take to encourage Ford to produce plug-in hybrids at the St. Paul plant.

The best outcome, as argued elsewhere in this section by David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, would be for Ford to use the plant to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles. Unfortunately, there's been no indication from Ford that it will use the plant in its ongoing hybrid development.

All is not lost if Ford abandons St. Paul for good in 2009, however. The Ford site and a quality Twin Cities workforce could draw interest from other industries. Manufacturing related to wind energy is an emerging part of the economy in rural Minnesota, Iowa and other other states.

St. Paul has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in a steady erosion of its economic base in recent years. Mayor Chris Coleman is quick to point out that the state seems more interested in rural than in urban economic development.

Chopstick factories aside, this is the kind of situation in which the late former Gov. Rudy Perpich would have been at his best, looking at how the Ford problem could be turned into an opportunity.

Today we have a governor with a developing interest in advanced energy technologies, and we have a plant and training facility that could find new life as an urban center for green manufacturing. Let's hope our leaders see the potential before it's too late.

http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1569599.html



David Morris: An electrifying thought for Ford's St. Paul plant
Why close a location when it could be used to produce the plug-in truck of the future?

David Morris

Published: November 25, 2007

In these pages two years ago I urged the Ford Motor Co. to make its St. Paul Ranger plant the centerpiece for a bold new transportation initiative -- a battery-powered vehicle, charged from a household socket, with a backup biofueled engine. Ford's October 2005 announcement that multibillion dollars losses would require "significant" plant closings, potentially including St. Paul's plant, sparked the proposal.

At the time Ford was uninterested, and worse. When the Legislature took up a bill to create a task force to examine the potential for making a plug-in at the St. Paul plant, Ford dispatched an official to lobby against the bill. She was the only one opposed. Both chambers passed the bill unanimously.

In 2005, Ford turned its back on electric-powered vehicles after manufacturing and leasing 1,500 all-electric Rangers to comply with California's electric-vehicle mandate. The mandate was lifted in 2003, and Ford, along with General Motors, began gathering up and crushing their vehicles. Two leaseholders waged a yearlong campaign to be allowed to buy their Rangers. In January 2005, after a sit-in was conducted at a Ford dealership, the company agreed.

In crash tests, the electric Ranger was superior to the gas-engine Ranger. One of the protesters, David Bernikoff-Raboy, a rancher in Mariposa County, Calif., told a local newspaper, "These are great vehicles. Ford is missing a huge marketing opportunity with these vehicles."

In April 2006, Ford decided to close the St. Paul Ranger plant by mid-2008.

That was then, this is now. To paraphrase a famous Minnesotan, the times they are a-changing.

Ford is under new management. Bill Ford is out. Alan Mulally, former head of Boeing, is in.

Ford just announced it would continue to operate the Ranger plant through 2009. Dramatically lower labor costs, a result of halving the workforce at the plant and hiring temporary workers at lower wages, coupled with increased sales due to the higher Canadian dollar, has resulted in profits as high as several thousand dollars per vehicle.

Ford has changed its stance toward electric-powered vehicles. In July, along with the utility Southern California Edison, it announced a collaboration to examine the future of plug-in hybrid vehicles. "By combining strengths, ours in hybrid technology, theirs in energy management, we can consider transportation as part of the broader energy system and work to unleash the potential of plug-in technology for consumers," Mulally said.

GM has announced a major effort to get its new plug-in vehicle, the Volt, on the road in 2010-2012. Several dozen plug-in Priuses are on the roads in Japan, a remarkable turnaround for Toyota, a company that for years used as its tag line in Prius ads: "You never have to plug it in." The company is also developing flexible-fuel technology that could use E85 ethanol for the back-up engine.

These changes can, and should, lead Ford, the UAW and Minnesota to revisit a plan to make the St. Paul plant the basis for a new, green transportation initiative. An electricity-biofueled vehicle makes very good sense. Traveling on electricity costs about a penny a mile, compared with more than 13 cents on gas. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that if every light-duty car and truck in America used plug-in hybrid technology, 75 percent could be plugged in and fueled at night by the electricity grid without the need to construct a single new power plant. Since we use very little oil to generate electricity, electric miles are essentially oil-free miles. If the backup engine were fueled by ethanol or biodiesel, the vehicle could reduce overall petroleum consumption by more than 90 percent.

Minnesota is blessed with plentiful wind resources in virtually all parts of the state. The Achilles' heel of wind energy, as well as direct sunlight, is its intermittence. Electric vehicles can overcome this shortcoming. Their large electric-storage capacity can be charged anytime renewable electricity is available. When needed, the batteries can be tapped to provide power to the house, business, farm or regional grid.

The Ranger may be a suitable candidate for such a vehicle. It costs little. It already boasts the best fuel economy in its vehicle class. Converting it to a plug-in would increase that efficiency three- to five-fold. The Ranger weighs only a little more than the Prius and about the same as the Ford Escape, making it a good candidate for battery power. It has room for a significant battery pack.

That Ford can make a profit now with relatively low production runs of the Ranger may also be helpful in introducing a new type of vehicle. In October, Rangers put up about the same sales numbers (4,800) that GM hopes to achieve in the first year after it introduces the Volt.

The St. Paul plant also boasts a large new training facility, which could become the site for a collaboration between Ford and companies such as 3M and Johnson Controls that could give Minnesota a leg up on becoming not only an assembler of but a supplier of parts to these new vehicles.

To mix my metaphors: The table is set. Will Ford step up to the plate?

David Morris is vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, based in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.

http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1569599.html