SPANNAUS WAS EXEMPLARY
Politicians probably are barred from sainthood. But if the bar is ever lifted, Warren Spannaus should be the first nominee. Warren, who died this week at age 86, was the most decent, humble and well-motivated political officeholder I encountered in my 40 years as a Minnesota political reporter and commentator (“From Rice Street to Minnesota political giant,” Nov. 28). More than that, he was an exemplary human being.
A product of St. Paul’s North End, Spannaus never lost touch with “the little guy.” During his 12 years as Minnesota’s attorney general, his door always was open to people who were decidedly lacking in political clout — aggrieved citizens of all types, the quirky Capitol tour guide who brought him home-made fudge and the state maintenance guys who had been his high school classmates.
Warren always had a listed home telephone number — much to his wife Marge’s consternation, I suspect — he attended the funeral of every person he ever met and he drove an aging Oldsmobile that should have been banned from the Capitol parking lot. Capitol reporters had unfettered access to both Warren and his staff.
After he left public office, Warren read to kids at a local school, drove a blind man on his errands, chauffeured a political buddy who no longer could drive — and rarely talked about any of it. But he continued to follow politics intensely and was passionate in his views, as his many friends would attest.
Warren will be remembered for the hundreds of outstanding lawyers he hired to enforce the state’s environmental and consumer protection laws, the strong support he always gave them and the valiant battle he led for tougher gun laws. Warren Spannaus twice ran for governor, and it’s Minnesota’s loss that he never achieved that goal.
Steve Dornfeld, Woodbury
The writer is a retired journalist who worked for the Minneapolis Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press.
WHY DO WOMEN ALLOW IT?
Whatever happened to personal values, those standards that we hold for ourselves and expect of our associates?
Women expect to receive compensation for work equal to their male counterparts, and in most cases they are coming close to it. For that equality, it seems to me, they should be responsible for clarifying their personal values — those like honesty, fairness, kindness and, yes, forthrightness.
No one likes to be taken advantage of, but in this nation of freedom, democracy and media, why does it take anywhere from 10 to 40 years to speak out against crude behavior of men?
I’m not talking about rape. That, to me, is a crime equal to murder and should have no statute of limitations. But crudeness, i.e., exposing, touching, grabbing, etc., are inappropriate in civilized society. Why in the world do women allow it?
It’s been what, 20 some years that saying “no” to sexual advances is not only acceptable, but encouraged? Then why haven’t women learned to use the power they have?
Over and over in the current hysteria, we are hearing women say they were afraid — afraid of losing the job, afraid of not being promoted, afraid, afraid, afraid.
That doesn’t sound like equality to me. If the job is more important than one’s values, then so be it. But please don’t wait 40 years until the Bozo is running for public office to come forth with your complaint.
We are witnessing mass hysteria, and our institutions and organizations are feeding into it. Where is due process?
We will always have to work with jerks of one sex or another. We can go along to get along; we can change jobs or we can call out crude behavior. It’s time women stood on their own two feet and quit acting like victims. Yes, there is a price that comes with standing on principle. Think about our forefathers and mothers. What if they had considered the price of freedom too high? This hysteria wouldn’t even be possible.
The country survived the McCarthy era in the ’50s, and Minnesota survived the Jordan child abuse fiasco in the late ’70s. We will survive this, but at what cost to interpersonal relationships?
Jennette Gudgel, St. Paul
POLITICAL OVERKILL
Make no mistake — the importance made of Al Franken’s tasteless pranks, performed in front of witnesses when he was still a comedian, is about assuring a Republican majority in the Senate in case Roy Moore loses the election in December. Shame on those Democrats who are not standing up for him.
The words “witch hunt” have been echoing back and forth this year. It’s a good time to re-read or re-view the trial scene in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” also a movie. In the recent craze in which women come forth and say “Me Too,” we are equating a couple of stupid gags performed in front of one to many hundreds of witnesses to some men having spent years of wielding power over women and girls in pursuit of getting them alone and receiving sexual favors. Going back to “The Crucible,” I can almost hear a cry of “I saw Al Franken with the devil!”
Ronald Reagan was an actor. President Trump was (and is) a business mogul. Franken was a comedian. Has anyone been watching comedy shows, some commercials, even in prime time, for the last few years? Bad taste, with sexual content, is a regular ingredient of their humor.
Franken, a strong intellect and a decent person, has apologized to the victim. His apology has been accepted. He has even asked for an ethics investigation. Well, bring it on then. But this is overkill, politically motivated.
Jane Thomson, St. Paul
