Lee Helgen landed on the side of a few environmentalist, turning his back on the business community and the Building and Construction Trades Council.

What a shame.  What SPicy thinks is worse is the failure of Council Members Thune and Lantry both caving in to the opponents of, well everything.

The Saint Paul Building and Construction Trades Unions should immediately bring these three endorsed candidates, read them the riot act, then rescind their endorsement.  After all, the endorsements have impact on far more than just the rank and file of the Unions.  The union construction employees are kept working under many municipally funded construction projects.  Their responsibility to ensure the election of candidates that support new investment, new projects and be stewards of public investments, goes far beyond that of their members.

The Tax Payers of Saint Paul pay a lot of trade union wages. The endorsements of candidates should reflect upon those that support continued investment in the economic vitality of Saint Paul.   The Building Trades have got to open their eyes and see that their preferred candidates are more apt to support a handful of environmentalist types than a major construction project.

Drop Thune, Lantry and Helgen like a bad habit, as they have made turning their backs on development in Saint Paul a habit of their own.  If the Building Trades turns a blind eye to this egregious display of cowardice, these candidates do not deserve to be in the same room as the hard working men and women of the Trades.

SPicy suggests the Building Trades send a couple of representatives to Lee Helgen's fundraiser at Whitney Clark's house on the 28th, SPicy bets he'd be at a loss for words to say.

Finally, if Helgen's vote to support the appeal was not a political one, and he's not hiding behind the Mayor, hopefully his grandstanding will be further exemplified by authoring the resolution to overturn a future Mayoral Veto.