RF Series: ‘All In The Family’ - Northfield Mayor Lee Lansing
Posted by Andy on December 19th, 2007
As is becoming too common place nowadays, power corrupts elected officials.
Northfield Mayor Lee Lansing said Tuesday that he has no plans to step aside after an investigator’s report found that he abused his power by working behind the scenes to promote personal and family interests.
This is a developing story, and will be very interesting as it unfolds. You see the Mayor is accussed of funneling city business operations and swinging deals and benefits for his family. In other words his family is getting rich off the taxpayer.
What the investigation found
William Everett, an attorney from Buffalo, Minn., who was hired by the council earlier in the fall, presented his findings Monday night.The 61-page report said the mayor acted unethically when he:
- Lobbied the city to move its municipal liquor store to property owned by his son, David Lansing, in downtown Northfield.
- Successfully pushed the city to reduce — by more than $20,000 — a park dedication fee that the city considered charging his son and a development partner.
- Used his position to try to affect the outcome of a personal business dispute with a development company that bought the building that houses his family’s hardware store.
The report described incidents when the mayor tried to influence city staff members even as he expressed concern about a “perceived” conflict of interest and recused himself from council discussions about the liquor store site.
Among other things, Lansing told City Administrator Al Roder not to release the results of a 2006 council-commissioned study of six liquor store sites that listed his son’s site as the city’s least profitable option, the report said. Roder also told the investigator that the mayor tied conversations about the outcome of the liquor store project with Roder’s pay and future at City Hall.
Evidence in the report also suggests that, while Lansing did not have a financial stake in helping his son secure the liquor store site, he orchestrated negotiations with the city, attended meetings with his son and sometimes spoke on behalf of David Lansing.
There’s more in the story, and if you already have trouble trusting politicians, this story won’t help. Read the rest of the story. Up next in the ‘RF Series : All In The Family’ : Rep. Melissa Hortman who is running a publicly funded program to spend billions of taxpayer’s dollars to increase the value of land her family owns.
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