Fake letters

It has come to our attention that someone is sending fake letters attributed to the Maplewood Voters Coalition. So far the recipients are residents with John Nephew and Will Rossbach signs in their yards. The letters attack John and Will, threaten the resident, and have the false attribution along the bottom. While this just confirms the need for our Honesty! campaign, we thought for the record that we should state:
- we support Will and John
- we have not sent any campaign mail to anyone
- we do not plan to send any campaign mail to anyone during this election cycle
- we placed one Lillie Newspapers insert before the primary and will do one again before the general.

If you receive a letter in the mail attributed to us, or any campaign literature other than our Lillie Newspapers insert, it is both fake and illegal. Please keep the letter and contact us so we can add it to the evidence the appropriate authorities already have.

Bob Schmidt, Chair

Campaign practices violation complaint filed

Updated: The administrative law judge has found the Maplewood Voters Coalition complaint has made a prima facie case and ordered a probable cause hearing for Tuesday 9/11 at 1:00 PM. From the order:

The phrase “Maplewood Fire” on both the lawn signs and the candidate profile is ambiguous. The issue is whether, by claiming that “Maplewood Fire” endorses Ms. Cave, the Respondents knowingly falsely implied that Ms. Cave has the endorsement of the Maplewood Fire Department.

The Administrative Law Judge concludes that the complaint does allege sufficient facts to support finding prima facie violations of Minn. Stat. § 211B.02 as against both Respondents. If the evidence at a hearing were to establish that the Respondents knowingly made the claim that “Maplewood Fire” endorses Ms. Cave in order to imply that the Maplewood Fire Department endorses her candidacy, and the Fire Department did not do so, that would be a violation of Minn. Stat. § 211B.02. This matter will proceed to a probable cause hearing where the Administrative Law Judge will determine whether the facts available establish a reasonable belief that the Respondents have committed a violation requiring them to go to hearing on the merits.

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Last night when I got home, there was a call from a man in the neighborhood. He had just gotten a letter from David Bartol with a lot of derogatory comments about Will Rossbach and John Nephew. This neighbor walked over to my house and we chatted for almost two hours. One of his concerns was that all the firefighters and police had endorsed Rebecca Cave. He was very upset that Rebecca would mislead the residents by having her husband's organization endorse her and give the appearance that it is our Maplewood Fire Department that have endorsed her.

Because of many conversations like that, the Maplewood Voters Coalition has filed a formal complaint with the State of Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings regarding the signs posted by the "Maplewood Firefighters Association, Inc." which claim Rebecca Cave is endorsed by "Maplewood Police and Fire".

We do our work in support of open and honest government by supporting good candidates, and by saying "no" to practices like this. This is our first formal complaint. It probably isn't the last.

Bob Schmidt, Chair

A message from our Chair

Hello friends, neighbors, and fellow residents of Maplewood.
Maplewood Voters Coalition is a growing group of people dedicated to doing what is right for the majority of residents in the City of Maplewood.

Bob Schmidt, outside our offices

The goal of this group is to promote an open, honest, ethical, positive, respectful and democratic process for the governance of Maplewood.

This group is dedicated to informing residents of actions affecting all of us. This is YOUR CITY. You have the ability and responsibility of voting for people who you feel will do what's best for the city as a whole.

Please feel free to contact me or other members of the Maplewood Voters Coalition (MVC) if you are interested in working with us. Please take a few moments to express your views on this web site. Note: Comments will be reviewed for appropriateness.

Thank you for your interest in Maplewood.

Bob Schmidt - MVC Chairperson