A "Small Cabal"

As I stated in my previous post, Former AG Mike Hatch did send a written response to Eric Black's request for an interview. MinnPost has it posted here, I wanted to pull a couple of exertps out for your review.

I had misinterpreted my secretary's message, and thought that you were with the Rochester Post. I checked around about you and your blog last night. While I am sure that your blog will not publish the report of Dean Mengler, his report raises significant issues not only about Ms. Lawler but also, based on my review of your blog last evening, your own objectivity. At any rate, it is my policy not to interview with bloggers. While I should stop right here, I feel chagrined in having agreed to a telephone interview with the Rochester Post, finding out that in fact you represent a blog called the Minnesota Post, and having raised your expectations of an interview.

So we shouldn't expect to see Mike Hatch granting interviews to Minnesota Monitor anytime soon? It should also be noted that the Former AG's initial accusation (that MinnPost won't publish the Mengler report) was incorrect - they not only published it, they tied it to the string of articles on the subject so that both sides of the story COULD be told! Well, you know what they say about assumptions, don't you...

It was not after I left office, when a small cabal of attorneys attempted to organize a union in the Attorney General office, was any issue raised about my management style. As Attorney General I faced budgetary pressures which resulted in the reduction of the office from 250 attorneys to approximately 160 attorneys. I recognize that, having laid off over 75 attorneys, there are people very bitter with me. This is inevitable. Your cabal of union attorneys, however, does not speak for the Attorney Generals staff. Indeed, over the years I found that the vast majority of attorneys I served with are talented, hardworking, and mission-driven. Most importantly, we got the job done for the people of Minnesota.

The union organizing committee, however, is so weak that it has to resort to anonymity in an effort to give CPR to their comatose effort. Instead of putting their names by their accusations, they hide in the cloak of anonymity looking for any scribner to serve as their hand maiden.

Emphasis mine. Can you really imagine if Joe Business Owner had tried to use this defense if he had been accused of union busting? This is a rhetorical question as I do know the answer....they get taken to court by organizations like the Attorney General's office or the NLRB! Also as much as it pains me (as a card-carrying member of the "vast right wing conspiracy") to do this but I simply must come to the defense of Mr. Black (not that he needs it mind you). Eric Black is not just "any scribner". Black is a 30 year veteran of reporting (mostly politics) for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

This letter is a look at the hubris that lies at the root of the matter. It all comes back to this quote from the main story...

A long-serving attorney, still in the office, said that, under both Hatch and Swanson, "it's a cult-like atmosphere. They demand blind obedience. Nobody's criticism is tolerated."

Nobody's criticism.....not even a 30 year veteran of Minnesota political reporting...is to be tolerated...