It's a pretty explosive allegation, right? But what the report only mentions in passing, says local political blogger and longtime Petters watcher Ken Avidor, is that Klobuchar is far from the only Minnesota politician to be sullied by a connection with Petters -- the list also includes Michele Bachmann, Norm Coleman, and Tim Pawlenty.Linking Senator Klobuchar to Tom Petters is like saying the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. No. Was Germany an ally of the country that bombed Pearl Harbor? Yes. Can anyone prove Klobuchar knew Tom Petters was conducting a massive, multi-billion dollar fraud? Not likely since Petters was a darling of Minnesota media who ran countless flattering articles describing Petters as a business genius. Petters did have a brush with the law in 1989, but the case was dismissed and the court file was sealed in 1995.
You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International is run by President Bradley Dean Smith of Annandale, who is better known to his followers as “Bradlee Dean,” and Secretary Jacob McMillian MacAulay, a/k/a "Jake McMillian," the only two paid members on the organization’s board. Other directors include Nicole Bengston, vice president; Heather MacAulay (Jake’s spouse), treasurer, Ron Stone, director; and Todd Bergren, director.Read the rest about this bunch in Karl Bremer's "Did 'You Can Run But You Cannot Hide" get caught up in IRS crackdown on sham ministries?"
In 2009, Senator Amy Klobuchar, who at a recent town hall meeting rejected taxpayers helping reducing the debt burden on college students, sought* an earmark for $500K for MNTC. Controversy swirled around this earmark because, besides the connection to the Frank Vennes Jr. scam, Teen Challenge had a history of controversy regarding it's claims that Halloween, Metallica, Pokemon and Harry Potter are gateways to satanism and addiction.Bachmann and Pawlenty—both of whom are running for president—and Coleman have refused repeatedly to respond to inquiries from myself about Frank Vennes Jr. But one common thread connects them—and former President George W. Bush—to the convicted money launderer: the controversial faith-based drug/alcohol rehab ministry Teen Challenge.
The LGBT Community needs to watch out for programs like Teen Challenge and remember that it a massive organization with over 223 centers in North America with the capacity to sleep over 7,536 people, according to its website.Programs like this negatively impact a high number of gay youth. I can state from firsthand experience that Teen Challenge did some long-term damage to my self esteem.
Genna Gazelka, 30, who uses the pronoun “they” and now identifies as bi-gender, recalled being sent to a therapist who decried same-sex relations. The therapist was Marcus Bachmann, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a fiery conservative Christian who ran for president in 2012Genna Gazelka's father is Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka. Paul Gazelka gave a speech at the MNTC gala this year and tweeted about it.
Defendant builds his request for relief upon the following house of cards: the Government made numerous promises to him but then omitted those promises from the written Plea Agreement; his counsel, a seasoned criminal practitioner and former Supreme Court law clerk, knew about the promises and that they had been omitted from the Plea Agreement, but repeatedly reassured him there was nothing to worry about and the Government would abide by its promises; and defense counsel then stood idly by while the Government’s lawyers flouted all of those promises. Simply put, this strains all logic and credulity. Defendant has offered no explanation why the Government would have made numerous promises to him but then omitted them from the Plea Agreement, and there is no obvious reason for it to have done so. Nor has Defendant offered any rational explanation why his experienced counsel would not have objected despite an abundance of opportunities.
In the footnotes:Furthermore, and perhaps more damning, Defendant himself never objected to the Government’s alleged malfeasance – not at the change-of-plea hearing, not in his sentencing papers, not at the sentencing hearing, not in a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, and not on appeal – until the deadline for seeking relief under § 2255 had nearly expired. This despite acknowledging his “reluctance” to sign the Plea Agreement in the first place and the importance of the Government’s alleged promises in deciding to plead guilty. Once again, there is no rational explanation why Defendant would fail to object under these circumstances.
It is not lost on the Court that Defendant is a convicted fraudster implicated in a scheme causing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. And his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea due to the Government’s alleged breach of its promises does nothing to undermine his admission of guilt.And this about how Vennes treated his attorney Jim Volling:
...it appears Defendant is attempting to throw his counsel under the bus, so to speak, in a half-hearted attempt at avoiding a lengthy sentence.And on and on, Judge Kyle smacks down every argument Vennes makes about the alleged malpractice of his attorney and the unfairness of the prosecution and the courts, concluding with this:
In the end, the Court agrees with the Government that accepting Defendant’s contentions here would “turn [his] change-of-plea colloquy into a farce.” The Court will not countenance such a result. Simply put, no constitutional or other infirmity entitles Defendant to relief.There ends the long and absurd tale of a Frank Vennes, an ex-convict convicted of fraud who used money invested in another fraudulent scheme to influence politicians to wipe his criminal record clean so he could defraud even more people. It is a tale that illustrates the corrosive effect of vast, donated wealth, even purloined donations on our political system. But, does anyone care anymore?
