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Saturday, 1-19-2002

Platitudes with Attitude

Dear Political Diary,

I missed Eileen Zeitz Huddleson's opinion piece in the Tribune on Thursday while attending the MSBA convention. It was full of undeniable platitudes but it was self serving enough to annoy me even though its digs at me were too veiled for the general public to follow. 

Since Eileen may wish to take my place when my term expires two years hence I've got to keep my eye on her. The day after her defeat in November a television news reporter told me she and her friends had been raging against me at the DFL election night party and plotting revenge. I even called her campaign manager to share my concern about having to watch my back but was assured that my fears were unfounded. Hmmm....

Its been reported that Eileen attended the Solon funeral and chatted briefly with an acquaintance who asked Eileen what it was like to be off the Board. Eileen still had one committee meeting to chair and pointed this out. Evidently the acquaintance had been on Eileen's original election committee four years earlier but told Eileen she had not voted for her this time around. When asked why the acquaintance said that it was common knowledge that Eileen and her allies ran the School Board behind the scenes and told the Superintendent what to do. [This is a gross oversimplification I might add]

To this Eileen responded "Well, I'm the smartest one on the Board..." adding, "...and I'll be back."

This story may not be true but I wouldn't be surprised if it was substantially correct. Hey, I've always thought that the unofficial slogan for our School Board should be: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you!"

Of course, I've made it clear that I'm interested in running for the legislature this year. If I were to become a legislator I wouldn't face a reelection contest with Eileen. On the other hand, I can't imagine that Eileen would want to see me in St. Paul either. As it is, Eileen is staying active in the DFL although she probably supported Joel Sipress, a Green candidate, over a Yvonne Solon, a DFLer, at a recent AFL-CIO screening committee. Politics!

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