Fact-Checking the "PRT Boondoggle" Blog
A project of the PRT NewsCenter

Monday, September 12, 2005

What did *** know & when did he know it?


Originally published at "PRT Is A Joke" IS A JOKE v.1
Words written with wildcards (***, !!!, etc.) was the way we originally wrote
Ken Avidor, Ken, and Avidor.



Dean Zimmerman, a pro-PRT member of the Minneapolis City Council, is being investigated by the FBI.

Regardless of whether one supports Zimmerman or his policies, the timing of the search of Zimmerman's home, 5 days before the primary election, is clearly political.

We have to remember not only that these are only accusations against Zimmerman, but also that PRT does not equal one person, as *** seems to think. PRT was invented long before Zimmerman came along. Zimmerman also supports education and the environment, but we wouldn't say his problems mean "the end of the education/environment scam in Minnesota."

A more interesting question is how *** seemed to already know about the investigation on Sept. 4. Think about it: a hack cartoonist, not working for a news organization, knowing about a criminal investigation. In fact, he was hinting as early as Aug. 23 (see "8/23/05 6:31 p.m.") that he was sitting on interesting news.1

It's rather unlikely that a cartoonist has a pipeline into the FBI. Much more likely: *** has a first or secondhand connection to a DFL2 or Resmuglican official or campaign. Politicians knowing ahead of time, and telling a hack like *** ******, helps validate suspicions of a smear.

*** associated with a smear; what are the odds of that?

Erratum: 4247 visitors

Notes
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1. The interesting news was not his accusation that Citizens for PRT violated its nonprofit status (see "H&R Blockhead," Sept. 6): *** had already gone public with that on Aug. 14.

2. Here's someone who knew: "Also Friday, Council Vice President Robert Lilligren, who faces Zimmermann in Tuesday's nonpartisan municipal primary election because the redistricting placed the two incumbents in the same ward, said he was interviewed by [FBI Special Agent David] Kukura." Source
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gPRT

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