Chris Stewart: guilty or innocent?

There had been some controversies in the School Board race, since Chris takes a more moderate view on education reform than his DFL-endorsed colleagues, but everything seemed to be going well. But on that Monday, Chris Stewart’s life was turned upside down.

At 12:39 p.m., the day before the November 7 election, several of us at LCN Media, the parent company for La Prensa de Minnesota, received an e-mail from the Tammy Lee for Congress campaign, signed by the Independence Party for congress candidate Tammy Lee. The e-mail started with the following statement: “Just days from the election, the Tammy Lee campaign is attacked by a supporter of Keith Ellison. A supporter of Keith Ellison has created a hate website that is slanderous and goes beyond the bounds of negative campaigning into inflammatory, race-baiting comments falsely attributed to Lee and her supporters”.

It further said: “The website which is an alias of the blog ‘American Hot Sausage’, is registered to Rahelio Soleil of Burnsville.”

The email continued with a quote extracted from the Web site: "Tammy Lee is the Best Choice to Replace Congressman Martin Sabo. After all, she's white - just like us, and that means we can trust her. We should all agree that a Negro should never replace a great statesman like Martin Sabo."

Lee added, “They manufactured this quote and attributed it to Kathleen Anderson, district director for Congressman Sabo: "Independence Party candidate, Tammy Lee is the only candidate that I feel is white enough to carry on Congressman Martin Sabo's legacy. I'm voting for Tammy Lee because I'm a drunken hag who can't possibly vote for Mandingo."”

Lee continued: “The site also uses sexist language saying: “Lee potentially has some factors working for her that others in her party don't such as whiteness and a vagina.””

A few hours later, the Tammy Lee campaign had a press conference in which they had attorney Paul Leuhr, described as a former computer crimes specialist and investigator, make a direct connection between the Web site and a number of posts and emails by “Rahelio Soleil” to Chris Stewart, candidate for Minneapolis School Board and a business he owns, Stewart Dynamics.

Chris had endorsed Keith Ellison and had been endorsed by Keith Ellison. At the press conference Lee said: "This is the most deplorable type of smear I have ever seen in any campaign before. It is racist and hate-filled. Not only do they attack me based upon my race, but they also attack based upon gender."

Since then a number of people in the Minneapolis E-Democracy email list (an email political discussion list with more than 700 subscribers), the Minneapolis parents email list and people in several political bogs started to demand Chris Stewart resign from the Minneapolis School Board. They also tried to link the Web site to Chris Stewart, who they described as a DFL candidate for office, and they claimed was a strong Keith Ellison supporter. Ellison's campaign denied any connection to the web site and also criticized its contents.

We made several unsuccessful attempts to reach Chris Stewart late Monday, November 6, and on Tuesday, November 7. We ran into him at the Keith Ellison’s celebration on Election Night and asked him about the issue. He said that the whole story wasn’t out yet, that this was Keith Ellison’s night and a night to celebrate DFL victories and that he would make a statement in the next few days.

The Star Tribune published, on November 9, an article in which Chris Stewart was quoted as saying: "It breaks down to some frat-blog type humor that never was meant to get out to the public and it's completely inconsistent with my politics," He was also quoted as saying that he termed the material political satire.

This article was widely circulated through e-mail lists and blogs over the internet. The Star Tribune article suddenly gave legitimacy to the story and more calls for resignation came.

We contacted Chris Stewart on Thursday, November 9, and talked extensively with him.

He said that a friend of his had been helping as a volunteer in his campaign; that his friend came up with the idea of a Web site that was a parody of the campaign Web site for the Tammy Lee campaign. He claims that he had seen the site between campaigning, that he didn’t like it or see much humor in it and that he thought it was a private joke among bloggers that no one would ever see.

Apparently his friend developed the site. Chris said that he wouldn’t have had time to develop the site since he was busy campaigning but that once he saw it, he should have made sure that it was put down immediately and he takes responsibility for not having done that.

He said that his friend put up the site to American Hot Sausage, which he says is a blog that he has advised his friends on and participated in. He says the site is seen by only about 50 people a day. Somehow, someone from the Tammy Lee campaign discovered it and that was when it all got blown out of proportion.

Through talking to people from the Tammy Lee campaign we found out that a blogger pointed the campaign to the Web site and that it was starting to appear in Google searches although quite at the bottom of the search.

He says that regardless he takes responsibility for the site being developed in his house and in his server, and that he should have never allowed it to be put on the blog. He doesn’t consider the content of the mock Tammy Lee site funny and that he can see why people find it disturbing.

He told us he doesn’t plan on resigning from the Minneapolis School Board because he feels that the work he wants to do, and his unique perspective, are too important to give up on. He also told us that his attorney had advised him to stay quiet because of a possible pending lawsuit. He said he didn’t run for the Minneapolis School Board for political or financial gain. On the contrary, it has been a big financial drag and he says this is the most underpaid political job with the least recognition, huge responsibility and it can become a full-time job. He says he feels strongly about helping Minneapolis kids and he will stay on the board because of that.

Stewart and his family are very sad for what is happening. A new development came after this whole incident became public, a series of hate calls have been received by him and his wife both at home and work. His wife received calls at her job alluding to her interracial marriage with Chris. He felt the calls were scary and said he has always opposed identity politics and is very sad that all this has been caused by a “stupid prank” he should have stopped.

We received the following e-mail at our office from a Mike, who identified himself as Chris Stewart's friend. The subject line said "Rahelio Soleil". We emailed him back and asked to talk to him. He called us back and told us over the phone who he was and confirmed that he was the one who created the Web site over a substantial amount of time and that it was intended to be an inside joke among bloggers, some of whom don’t even know each other in person. He said Stewart did not create the site, but had seen it. Mike said that Stewart was not responsible for putting the Web site on the American Hot Sausage blog and that he did all the editing of the site.

He said it was not intended to be an attack on Lee, just an exaggerated way of making a point that around what he thought was an attempt by the white political establishment to stop a black man from getting to congress. Mike identified himself as biracial, but said that most people would identify him as being white, by looking at him. He said that looking back it was probably more of a class thing than a racial thing and that the site was over the top and he wished he hadn’t developed it.

We asked him, as a good friend of Stewart's’, if he thought that the person he portrayed to be in the campaign was different from the real Stewart, or were his political views different. He said that absolutely the person they saw in the campaign and the ideas were Stewart's views and that the only thing people who know Stewart, wouldn’t know about the private Stewart, is that Stewart is more stubborn in private than he appears to be in public.

Mike also talked in admiration on the amazing things he had seen Stewart do in raising his son as a single parent. Enclosed is the email he sent us. His last name has been withheld at his request. We respect his request since he’s not a public figure:

“This is a formal apology to Chris Stewart and all of his supporters. I thought when I posted the link that with the campaigning coming to a close that a little humor would be in order. I don't think I've ever seen a dryer campaign season. When asked to take it down I complied. When people started to point fingers, I laughed. When people posted their opinions I listened.

This is no longer a spoof. People are in open press accusing a man for something he did not do, simply because he is a friend of mine. I have helped with his campaign and he has helped me with AHS (as a sounding board, editing tips and a supporter in general, also with use of the domain name). This does not make him a bad person, a bad member of the Minneapolis School Board, or a Tammy Lee hater. In fact after he saw her speak he told me that even though he did not agree with all the things she believed, he thought that she was intelligent and a good speaker.

Now no one has asked me to speak on this subject. The press, as usual, has made the decision for everyone without asking the people responsible. Someone wants Chris to be the bad guy and has searched for only that answer. My mistake was thinking that this would go nowhere, and that no one would get hurt (my God SNL is much harsher by my standards). People are starting to get hurt and no one is to blame but me. So again to Chris Stewart and all of his supporters I am truly sorry.

P.S. "Tammy Lee and friends (Mr. Attorney) and supporters, if this really hurt you in any way I'm sorry too."

P.P.S. For those of you who came late to the game, I think Tammy and friends still are keeping the posting up for you to check out.

Again, sorry

One of the Rahelio Soleis”

Ironically Chris had written "the following letter":http://www.rakemag.com/stories/section_detail.aspx?itemID=22604&catID=154&SelectCatID=154
to The Rake Magazine in November 2006 (got it from the The Rake web site):

Who is the true Democrat?

Paul Bartlett’s letter [Letters, October] regarding Peter Hutchinson, Independence Party candidate for governor, stinks of antidemocratic hypocrisy. I gather from the tone of the letter that votes not assigned to Republicans are automatically a bourgeois entitlement of Democrats.

Ralph Nader and Hutchinson are great Americans who are brave enough to wage uphill battles with conviction, which is something so-called progressives would understand were they not jaded by zero-sum politics.

I will be voting for Democrats in November, but I’m troubled by those of us who have neither the character nor the values to appreciate an open electoral process.

He had also told the Tammy Lee campaign, before the Primary, that he would endorse Tammy Lee if Keith Ellison lost the primary.

Chris feels he’s doing what he can to clarify what has happened and wants to move on to his responsibilities as a Minneapolis School Board member. He said he has gotten conflicting advice from advisors in politics that went from “don’t say anything” to “present a full statement”. He chose to explain what happened and will move on now to getting ready to serve in the board.