Fraters Libertas

Pop Off Benanav

In what is perhaps the greatest signal yet the Pioneer Press editorial board is reaching some degree of ideological balance and sanity, they were excoriated yesterday by 4th Ward City Councilman Jay Benanav. He goes ballistic over an unsigned institutional voice editorial from January 18 with the passion of a man scorned. The greatest hits:

Your editorial (Jan. 18) in which you blame City Council President Kathy Lantry and her "cohorts" for the departure of Dr. Catherine Verfaillie, a renowned stem cell researcher, is in one word: ludicrous.

Definitions of ludicrous: 1 : amusing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration, or eccentricity. 2 : meriting derisive laughter or scorn as absurdly inept, false, or foolish.

Strong words. But at least Benanav can still laugh about it. At least in the first paragraph of his letter. Things degenerate from there:

It's clear that the Pioneer Press has decided to simply make up "facts" as you go along in your efforts to assist [Mayor Randy] Kelly in running and hiding from his record.

Sour grapes full disclosure: Benanav lost to Kelly in the 2001 mayoral race. It appears he hasn't quite gotten over it yet.

What's at issue here is whether some at the Pioneer Press are mature enough to recognize the importance of the facts and report them accurately rather than blame the City Council for all the problems, or are you simply content to sit in your shiny offices and ignore the real issues that face St. Paul?

Hoo-haa! Challenging their maturity, their professional integrity, and the .... shininess of their offices - it's starting to get personal. But I think it's a low blow going after Glenda Holste just because she's known to go through three cans of Pledge per week polishing the wood in her office to a high sheen. Or was he referring to Deborah Locke's reputed use of a stainless steel office chair, desk, and credenza? It's hard to say.

But let's hope it doesn't end here. For the good of the city, the entrenched DFL establishment in St. Paul can use some close scrutiny and criticism. And the local paper's editorial board is the perfect instrument to provide it.

I believe it was the Robert Redford homicidal maniac mountain man epic (the Ted Kacyzinski Story? No!) 'Jeremiah Johnson' which included the line (paraphrasing from memory): "a tribe's greatness is measured by how great its enemies be."

For the Pioneer Press to have an enemy in the City Council? Well, that's not a bad start. But win they must, lest their legacy be eternally haunted by this.