Complaint filed in support of Affirmative Action and for honest and open government... please share widely:

January 28, 2013

James Nobel, Legislative Auditor
Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor
Room 140
658 Cedar Street
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY - Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority

Re: Complaint and evaluation requested of the following individuals and their organizations as it pertains to the procedures and following of legislation for Minnesota public works project named the “People Stadium,” (Minnesota Vikings Stadium):

• Minnesota Sports Authority Facility (MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY) Michele Kelm-Helgen and communications director Jennifer Hathaway;
• Met Council and it’s employees Wanda Kirkpatrick and Adam Koski;
• Velma Korbel in her capacity as Director of Minneapolis Department Civil Rights and Michael McHugh in his capacity as Contract Compliance director for the city of Minneapolis;
• Minnesota Department of Human Rights and Commissioner Kevin Lindsey


Complainants: Ronald A. Edwards and Donald Allen on behalf of Minnesota’s Our Black News Networks (www.ourblacknews.com).

On Thursday, January 24, 2013 a meeting was held at the Metrodome (Halsey Hall Room) Vikings Stadium Equity Plan - Public Comment Session. Met Council's Wanda Kirkpatrick and Minneapolis' civil rights director Velma Korbel were in attendance along with legal council for the MSFA and an assistant to Wanda Kirkpatrick.

Minnesota Human Rights commissioner Kevin Lindsey was also in attendance, as were another 23 people.

The following is prima facie evidence and all of the essential facts in this complaint to open an investigation:

• A) Stadium officials, MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY have scheduled a number of meetings over the last three months. Some meetings are deemed “public meetings” – but the “public” is not being notified of said meetings. In the case of the meeting on 1/24/13, there was no press release sent out from the MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY per its communications director Jennifer Hathaway who we have been in contact with since October 26, 2012. Complaints claim probable cause, which might be in violations of the federal RICO Act by the MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY, and it’s officials. If there is no public messaging sent out to the public for a “public meeting,” MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY officials must be hand-picking people who they want in the room to hear information in an effort to assist those people in obtaining information to successfully engage the MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY. This could be considered racketeering in one of its many meanings, in this case: “Obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities.”
• B) Veterans Preference on Vikings Stadium Workforce: In the meeting on 1/24/13 Met Council employee Wanda Kirkpatrick and Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights director Velma Korbel stated the state legislators did not have any workforce goals for veterans or veterans preference. As we know, the Veterans Preference in Minnesota Public Employment states, “The Minnesota Veterans Preference Act (VPA) grants most veterans a limited preference over non-veterans in hiring and promotion for most Minnesota public employment positions, as granted in Minnesota Statutes 197.48, 43A.11, and 197.455. These statues may apply to certain spouses of veterans. The Minnesota VPA Statutes apply to Minnesota public employment, civil service laws, charter provisions, ordinances, rules or regulations of a county, city, town, school district, or other municipality or political subdivision of this state." Complainants feel both Korbel and Kirkpatrick were uninformed and rude in their discussion about Minnesota’s veterans working on the people’s stadium. (Please see the video of conversation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFgew4L8b90).
• C) Good Faith Efforts: MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY officials could not explain how the enforcement of Good Faith Efforts will be handled other than to say the MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY board will handle enforcement. This information has not been clearly made available for the MFSA nor the Met Council or the Minnesota Department of Transportation. See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFgew4L8b90
• D) We request an investigation on contracts between Met Council’s Wanda Kirkpatrick and Aaron Koski, (September 14, 2012 meeting).
• E) Request for information on equitable hiring inside of MSFA as it pertains to women and people of color. Also we would request a copy of the MSFA-MINNESOTA SPORTS FACILITIES AUTHORITY’s Affirmative Action Plan.
Summary Complaint:
Both Mr. Edwards and Mr. Allen feel the MSFA has been less than cordial and diplomatic in delivering information in real time to local and statewide community members. The number of private, “public meetings” held is a heinous reflection on the MSFA and how they do business.
We request full remedies in each of these situations including public meeting held to review each complaint.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 612.986.0010 (Allen) or 763.228.1748 (Edwards).
Best in success,

Ronald A. Edwards and Donald Allen
RAE/da