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October 26, 2006

Like Raaaaaiiiin, On Your Wedding Day, Part II

I almost missed this: The Strib endorsed former St. Paul top cop Bill Finney for Ramsey sheriff, giving him the nod over Bob Fletcher.

I have nothing against either of them. Both are excellent cops; both have their detractors as well as supporters; everyone has a point.

The Ramsey County Sheriff is officially a non-partisan race. Finney, of course, has been bandied about as a politician with a future in the DFL (he considered running for mayor of St. Paul last year), so the endorsement over Fletcher, who is believed to have GOP-ish sympathies by urban top cop standards, is no shock. Fletcher might be a subtle Republican; Finney - a gun enthusiast in his private life - is probably too moderate to be endorsed for mayor by the St. Paul DFL.

No surprise here.

What is interesting is this bit:

It was also extremely offensive that the sheriff used his office to reopen a 25-year-old suspicious death case involving a friend of Finney's. The sheriff denies any political motives, but the timing speaks volumes.
So let me get this straight; the timing of a story with implications of smeariness...

..."speaks volumes?"

Hm.

I say again, Hm, hmmm hmm-ity hmmm-ity hmmm.

Yes. It "speaks volumes", doesn't it?

By the way, the phrase "speaks volumes" is on my official list of cliches that must be destroyed. "Speaks volumes" is the new scare quotes (you know, when someone is writing about a candidate and describes them as "christian", in quotes, the unstated coda being "or are they REALLY?"), and has become a way for the rhetocially-ungifted to impugn someone's logic, rationale or character without actually going to the trouble of explaining themselves.

Be done with it!

Posted by Mitch at October 26, 2006 08:07 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I saw an interview with both a couple of weeks ago featuring both of them right next to each other. If that interview would have gone on for another couple of minutes, they would have been beating each other like wild animals. No love lost there.

Posted by: PaulC at October 26, 2006 04:44 PM

I don't live in Ramsey county, but would vote for Fletcher if I could. My reason? I saw some businesses in Highland Park with Finney signs in their front windows. If the businesses in Highland Park feel that the liberal wienies who live in the area would not take offense to that, then that's reason enough for me to vote for the other guy.

Posted by: Stu at October 26, 2006 04:52 PM

I live in St. Paul, and I'm not sure yet - Fletcher came across as a real baboon in this interview, while Finney was a lot more professional, dignified and decent - and Fletcher kept TOUCHING Finney on the arm - almost like he was trying to provoke Finney into fisticuffs. The ex-chief didn't take the bait, though, and only started getting a little nasty after a point where any reasonable person probably would have. And there IS something fishy about the timing of Fletcher's investigation of Finney.
Maybe I DO know who I'm voting for, after all.

Posted by: PaulC at October 26, 2006 05:00 PM
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