More Metro Media on Maplewood Elections
For those tracking coverage of Maplewood in the metro media, there were a couple of new examples yesterday.
In the new media realm, the Minnesota Independent followed up on their story from last week with a new article featuring more comment from the candidates. Mr. Llanas, target of the hate literature, says that he "wants to keep the campaign positive" and believes "residents ... are fed up with this type of political nonsense." On the other hand, write-in opponent DelRay Rokke speculates that Llanas "figures if he can get the vast majority of members of those groups [gays and Hispanics] ... he has a good chance to win." As for the flyer itself, Rokke doesn't understand what's the big deal, calling it "quite a stretch to say that it is racist and homophobic."
Dave Hafner told the Minnesota Independent that his campaign committee did not distribute the flyers -- but added that he does not actually have a campaign committee. That seems to leave open the possibility that he answered the literal question asked while evading its substance. Compounding his earlier praise of anonymous pamphleteers ("Cowards? These people obviously are quite the opposite" he wrote in comments on the previous story), Hafner commented, "I wouldn’t identify myself either if I didn’t have to."
The story concludes by reviewing the altercation between Hafner and a neighbor that resulted in a 911 call. It may be worth mentioning that Hafner later called the police on his neighbor in turn, for allegedly "staring at me from his steps" and making "a comment which was inaudible, however I think it was directed at me."
Local radio station KSTP-AM also picked up on the Maplewood story. While praising Llanas for keeping positive and focused on the issues in spite of the deplorable personal attacks, hosts Prebil and Murphy lamented the vicious mudslinging that so often characterizes local elections and discourages potential candidates from serving their communities. You can find the audio on the KSTP website, in the archived podcast MP3 of hour 4 of their October 27th episode; the conversation was between 12:38 and 12:44 PM. (Hat tip to K.R.)
In the new media realm, the Minnesota Independent followed up on their story from last week with a new article featuring more comment from the candidates. Mr. Llanas, target of the hate literature, says that he "wants to keep the campaign positive" and believes "residents ... are fed up with this type of political nonsense." On the other hand, write-in opponent DelRay Rokke speculates that Llanas "figures if he can get the vast majority of members of those groups [gays and Hispanics] ... he has a good chance to win." As for the flyer itself, Rokke doesn't understand what's the big deal, calling it "quite a stretch to say that it is racist and homophobic."
Dave Hafner told the Minnesota Independent that his campaign committee did not distribute the flyers -- but added that he does not actually have a campaign committee. That seems to leave open the possibility that he answered the literal question asked while evading its substance. Compounding his earlier praise of anonymous pamphleteers ("Cowards? These people obviously are quite the opposite" he wrote in comments on the previous story), Hafner commented, "I wouldn’t identify myself either if I didn’t have to."
The story concludes by reviewing the altercation between Hafner and a neighbor that resulted in a 911 call. It may be worth mentioning that Hafner later called the police on his neighbor in turn, for allegedly "staring at me from his steps" and making "a comment which was inaudible, however I think it was directed at me."
Local radio station KSTP-AM also picked up on the Maplewood story. While praising Llanas for keeping positive and focused on the issues in spite of the deplorable personal attacks, hosts Prebil and Murphy lamented the vicious mudslinging that so often characterizes local elections and discourages potential candidates from serving their communities. You can find the audio on the KSTP website, in the archived podcast MP3 of hour 4 of their October 27th episode; the conversation was between 12:38 and 12:44 PM. (Hat tip to K.R.)
Labels: campaign 2009, Dave Hafner, media
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