MPLS Metropolitan Airport Commission knew about Senator Craig!

[wellstone dem]

http://65.36.138.212/publicus/blog/read.asp?BlogID=6

(This is a blog entry from the politics reporter of the St. Cloud Times--70 miles west of MPLS. Mike Landy is a City Council Person in St. Cloud.)

"But guess who in the St. Cloud area knew since June about the whole deal? Mike Landy.

Landy, a St. Cloud City Council member, serves on the Metropolitan Airports Commission, a body appointed by the governor of the state to manage numerous airports throughout the Twin Cities, including MSP.

Landy told me Tuesday that the MAC board knew about the incident, and that Craig was a U.S. Senator, since it happened in June.

....

It wasn't something MAC officials were proud of or wanted to publicize, so nobody mentioned Craig's arrest to the media, Landy said."

[soothsayer]

1. gawd, I hope they show me the same courtesy when I'm arrested for doing that

I think it's fine they didn't publicize it. do you think they should have?

[wellstone dem]

2. If I were sure politics wasn't involved

but this commission is appointed by the governor (GOP), and this City Council member recently voted to have "study meetings" of the City Council in a small room--not televised like the regular meetings. So he doesn't have a history of openness.

[LibDemAlways]

3. The police knew. The airport commission knew.

Who else knew? I'm betting Craig, realizing he was in deep shit, consulted with people very high up in the RNC, and I wouldn't be surprised if that included some WH staffers. A pretty tight lid was put on it for two months, and he managed to plea bargain it down and receive a relatively light sentence. The more I think about it, the more I think someone with a whole lot of connections and power intervened to make sure word didn't get out. Now that it has, it seems Craig has been told that stonewalling and denial are his best bets. Sounds like something right out of the WH playbook.

[havocmom]

4. Once again: it's not what you know, but WHO you know, that works best.

With the GOP/RNC it probably includes what you know about who you know.

Your analysis makes a lot of sense.

[wellstone dem]

5. If the commission knew, the Governor knew....

Pawlenty (GOP) appoints the commission and appointed this commisioner in particular.

[LibDemAlways]

8. No doubts that Pawlenty knew. He's a good repuke

toady. Craig is a US Senator, a conservative "family values" guy caught in a sex sting operation. The airport people must have been on the phone to Pawlenty that afternoon, and it was a race between him and Craig as to who would get through to the WH first. This has cover-up written all over it.

[Garbo 2004]

11. I think it was Scarborough who said the Repub leadership were pissed because Craig didn't tell them

& they were blindsided when it went public. He contrasted that with Vitter who did consult with the leadership and sought their aid in how to respond.

Considering how badly Craig has handled it, including his press conference, it's hard to believe that Craig had anyone providing a strategy for PR damage control.

[LibDemAlways]

12. He's done a piss poor job of handling it for sure. I just

think he received assurances that with the plea bargain the matter would be closed and never become public knowledge. And perhaps his colleagues in the Senate didn't know. But it's a safe bet Pawlenty knew, and it's not a stretch to assume he, good repuke toady that he is, checked in with the WH on what to do. Craig knew, too, that he was in deep trouble. Just doesn't make sense that he would keep it to himself and hope for the best.

[RB TexLa]

6. When did it become a requirement of governmental bodies to do the media's job for them?

[wellstone dem]

7. Don't know that it is, but it is interesting

to see who knew and who didn't.

[wellstone dem]

9. It would be great to trace who knew what and when

also there have been some big changes recently at the Strib and Pioneer Press, I wonder if those chanes had an impact.

[wellstone dem]

10. A kick for the curious...

[fed-up]

13. afternoon kick-I bet he pled to lesser charges.......nt

[wellstone dem]

14. An evening kick

for those who don't know.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. I wonder if any media people have also checked out the Salt Lake City airport

for bathroom shenanigans. Here's why I'm wondering: You can't get directly to Boise from either DCA or IAD; you have to change planes somewhere. I'm guessing he took NWA to MSP, and NWA has the only direct flights from MSP to BOI. But there are only two of those flights a day: one at at about 9:00 a.m. and one at about 9:30 p.m. So if Craig wanted to get back to BOI earlier in the day, he'd probably take NWA to MSP, then pick up a Delta Connection flight -- there are 2 that leave for BOI around 12:30 p.m., shortly after he was busted in the men's room (the police report said he was trying to make his connecting flight but missed it). But those flights aren't one-way; both have longish layovers at SLC. So he'd have a couple of hours to kill there, too...