Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A note from former Carlson supporter

I recieved this in Facebook from a former supporter of Charles Carlson and I was surprised. He also suggest people to contact Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to charge Mr. Carlson for taking advantage of people who spent hours volunteering on his campaign or contributed money to his campaign.

To: Supporters and former supporters of Charles Carlson for Minneapolis City Council

From: Jesse D. Berglund, Saint Paul, Minnesota (former supporter of Charles Carlson for City Council)

On March 2, 2009, the Minnesota Daily exposed Charles E. Carlson, candidate for Minneapolis City Council, as a fraud (see http://www.mndaily.com/2009/03/01/student-drop-city-council-race-lied-about-past). Carlson intentionally and materially deceived his supporters about his background, including where he was from and where he attended school; he even faked an English accent. Carlson did not grow up in England; he spent most of his life in Minnesota. He did not graduate from Phillips Exeter Academy or Princeton University; he forged his transcripts for those institutions. In essence, nearly all of Carlson’s life-story was false –it was a made-up persona meant to solicit support and donations for his political ambitions.

Carlson’s deceptions were not merely unethical and wrong, they also likely were illegal. Carlson used his deceptions to obtain campaign contributions from many people, who likely donated in reliance on the truth of his statements. This is theft through fraud, and everyone who donated to his campaign should be able to seek restitution for the amount they donated. While I have the deepest sympathy for Charles and his history of mental illness, he did not appear of unsound mind at any time during my personal interactions with him. Instead, he seemed to consistently repeat the same lies, even when confronted with the truth. As he suspended his campaign, he still could not apologize to his supporters, instead claiming that he ended the campaign so that he could officiate tennis elsewhere. Following the revelation of the deception and suspension of the campaign, many former supporters expressed to me their anger, frustration, and disbelief at what happened. Some had invested considerable time and effort and significant money (during bad economic times) in support of this fraudulent candidate. After receiving this reaction, I believe that Carlson should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for taking advantage of everyone involved and to deter future bad conduct by him or others.

If you donated to the campaign of Charles Carlson for City Council and believe that Carlson should be prosecuted for these criminal acts, please email or fax the letter below (with your information added) to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office: citizeninfo@co.hennepin.mn.us (do not send it as an attachment to this address, just copy and paste into the message), or copy and paste the info into a new document, then print and fax it to 612-348-9712. If you do decide to take action please let me know, as I will try to compile numbers of people to demonstrate our disaffection. You can reach me by email me at jdbmn1977@gmail.com or here on facebook. Thanks, everyone, and please forward this to anyone you know who may be interested.

--Jesse

To: Supporters and former supporters of Charles Carlson for Minneapolis City CouncilFrom: Jesse D. Berglund, Saint Paul, Minnesota (former supporter of Charles Carlson for City Council)On March 2, 2009, the Minnesota Daily exposed Charles E. Carlson, candidate for Minneapolis City Council, as a fraud (see http://www.mndaily.com/2009/03/01/student-drop-city-council-race-lied-about-past). Carlson intentionally and materially deceived his supporters about his background, including where he was from and where he attended school; he even faked an English accent. Carlson did not grow up in England; he spent most of his life in Minnesota. He did not graduate from Phillips Exeter Academy or Princeton University; he forged his transcripts for those institutions. In essence, nearly all of Carlson’s life-story was false –it was a made-up persona meant to solicit support and donations for his political ambitions. Carlson’s deceptions were not merely unethical and wrong, they also likely were illegal. Carlson used his deceptions to obtain campaign contributions from many people, who likely donated in reliance on the truth of his statements. This is theft through fraud, and everyone who donated to his campaign should be able to seek restitution for the amount they donated. While I have the deepest sympathy for Charles and his history of mental illness, he did not appear of unsound mind at any time during my personal interactions with him. Instead, he seemed to consistently repeat the same lies, even when confronted with the truth. As he suspended his campaign, he still could not apologize to his supporters, instead claiming that he ended the campaign so that he could officiate tennis elsewhere. Following the revelation of the deception and suspension of the campaign, many former supporters expressed to me their anger, frustration, and disbelief at what happened. Some had invested considerable time and effort and significant money (during bad economic times) in support of this fraudulent candidate. After receiving this reaction, I believe that Carlson should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for taking advantage of everyone involved and to deter future bad conduct by him or others. If you donated to the campaign of Charles Carlson for City Council and believe that Carlson should be prosecuted for these criminal acts, please email or fax the letter below (with your information added) to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office: citizeninfo@co.hennepin.mn.us (do not send it as an attachment to this address, just copy and paste into the message), or copy and paste the info into a new document, then print and fax it to 612-348-9712. If you do decide to take action please let me know, as I will try to compile numbers of people to demonstrate our disaffection. You can reach me by email me at jdbmn1977@gmail.com or here on facebook. Thanks, everyone, and please forward this to anyone you know who may be interested.

--Jesse

*****Standardized Letter to Hennepin County Attorney (fill in the areas in parentheses, and add any other pertinent information, or tailor the letter ):

(Date)

Mr. Mike Freeman
Hennepin County Attorney
C-2000 Government Center
300 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55487

Dear Mr. Freeman:I request that your office investigate and file charges against Mr. Charles E. Carlson of Minneapolis, Minnesota (date of birth 12/13/1985) for fraudulently obtaining either a financial and personal contribution from me for his political campaign. Mr. Carlson used false statements and representations concerning his identity and background in his campaign for Minneapolis city council, and he recently suspended his campaign when the Minnesota Daily published a newspaper article exposing his lies (see http://www.mndaily.com/2009/ 03/01/student-drop-city-council-race-lied-about-past). I donated money and time to his campaign in reliance on the truth of his statements, and I also seek restitution for the amount that I donated. Thank you for your time and I may be reached at (phone number and/or email).

Sincerely,

(Name)
(Place of residence)

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