UPDATE | Dirty politics play out in Minneapolis Sixth Ward race

UPDATE 11/20/09 Minneapolis police have launched a criminal investigation related to anonymous political literature distributed in the 6th Ward before the November 3rd election. The literature targeted incumbent City Councilmember Robert Lilligren. "These acts are crimes," Lilligren said in a written statement sent to supporters and neighborhood leaders.  "I hope the people who did these things are identified and successfully prosecuted."

The investigation stems from a series of mailed and hand-delivered postcards that, in violation of state law, did not identify who prepared and paid them. In addition, someone removed hundreds of pieces of literature Lilligren's campaign distributed around the ward the night before the election. Starting at midnight before the polls opened, dozens of campaign volunteers blanketed cars and other locations with flyers. Much of the literature was gone by morning.

Lilligren also says the claims made in at least one of the postcards is false. It's a gross misdemeanor to prepare and disseminate false campaign material. Removing someone else's campaign material and failing to list the source are both misdemeanors.

******

Residents in Minneapolis' Sixth Ward received an inflammatory election flyer in the past week targeting incumbent City Council Member Robert Lilligren. Some who've gotten the anonymous mailing call it "vicious" and "a new low" in Minneapolis politics.

UPDATE: Another anonymous mailing found its way into some 6th Ward mailboxes Thursday. The postcard encourages voters to turn out to the polls on November 3rd and take a neighbor with them. It instructs recipients to vote for incumbent Mayor R.T. Rybak and "rank the following three candidates". It then lists ward candidates Mike Tupper, Andy Exley and M. Cali. It leaves off incubent Robert Lilligren, and challengers Laura Jean and Bruce Lundeen. In apparent violation of state law, the postcard makes no mention of where the document originated. "I have no knowledge of that (mailing)," said candidate Exley, one of the intended beneficiaries of the postcard. "I haven't even seen it."

The mailings, which appear to have gone only to Sixth Ward residents, mention Lilligren's 2005 DWI arrest and allude to other unsubstantiated allegation. Lilligren expressed concern about the attacks, but said he's not putting any energy into them until after the election.

"Right now I want to stay focused on winning a first ballot vote on November 3rd," Lilligren said. "The worst thing to do would be to allow this to distract me or my campaign." He said he's received about a dozen calls from supporters and other constituents upset about the flyers. He wouldn't speculate on who distributed the flyers. Lilligren faces a challenge from five other candidates, three of whom are campaigning more or less together in an attempt to combine their voter support under the new Ranked Choice Voting method to unseat LIlligren. All five of Lilligren's opponents deny having any connection to the postcard.

The mailed postcards purport to be prepared by and paid for by "The Citizens for the 6th Ward". No such organization is registered by that name in Minnesota nor is it affiliated with any 6th Ward candidates. In an apparent attempt to appear official, the postcard mentions the group's treasurer, but only lists the first name "Darren". The card makes a series of dubious claims and opinions including Lilligren is "against all immigrants, minorities and women," "implicated the tax payers 100's of thousands of dollars in order for him to help his friends," and "he is busy representing special interest groups, (sic) he forgot about us in the the 6th ward."

The mailing also claims Lilligren is "currently under investigation which leads to an indictment," but doesn't say what the investigation is or who is conducting it. Another claim about Lilligren's conduct appears to be merely an attempt at starting a rumor, and could potentially be defamatory.

"This is the first time I've seen anything like that," said long-time Whittier resident Leo Whitebird, a Lilligren supporter. "People generally don't resort to that kind of politics around here." Whitebird said it's a "new low" for city elections. He said the mailing might have the opposite effect than what its senders intended. "I think they shot themselves in the foot," he said. "Anybody with half a brain would look at this and say this is awful."

Gerry Johnston, another Whittier resident who says he's still keeping his city council election options open, said whoever sent out the card is a "rat." "I thought this is really slanderous stuff," he said.

The mailing appears connected to anonymous hand-delivered flyers from earlier this year. One, claiming to be from the similarly-named "People for the 6th Ward" attempted to recruit candidates to run against Lilligren. Another by the same group contained a graphic of a ballot that listed all the 6th Ward candidates except Lilligren.

Green Party candidate Andy Exley and Independence Party candidate Michael Tupper say they have spoken to a Jenny Anderson from the "People of the 6th Ward". The early flyers list the first name "Jenny" as the treasurer of the group and one contains an email address for Jen Anderson. A message to the email address went unanswered. Both Exley and Tupper say they declined seeking endorsements from the group because they were uncertain of the its affiliations and political agenda. They did, however, provide campaign lawn signs to the group. Both say those signs were posted at various businesses around the ward.

The attack mail spurred several ad hoc investigations from Lilligren supporters and others to try and determine its origin, so far with no definitive conclusion.

(For more on the Sixth Ward race, see Ward Six: South Minneapolis contest draws crowded field of contenders from the Minnesota Independent) 

Art Hughes

Art Hughes (email art@adhughes.com) is a freelance journalist in Minneapolis.