Convicted!

The Minnesota Democrat/Liberal Criminal list grows by one with the conviction of former Minneapolis City Councilman Dean "Zimmerperson" Zimmermann. WCCO News reports: "Former Mpls. Councilman Convicted For Bribery".

From various sources:

***NEW!***
(AP) Minneapolis A former Minneapolis City Council member was convicted Thursday in federal court on charges related to taking bribes from a developer who had business before the city.

Dean Zimmermann, 64, who represented the city's sixth ward from 2001 to 2005, was convicted of three of four charges contained in the indictment.

The charges he was convicted of involved accusations that he took $7,200 in cash from property developer Gary Carlson. The government presented video tapes of him taking the money during the eight-day trial. (8/10/06 WCCO web site) CONVICTED!

1) Former state DFL Sen. Winston "Win" Borden was sentenced today to serve 27 months in prison for failing to pay federal income taxes for the past six years. (10/27/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!

2) State DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn pleaded guilty to theft on Thursday for stealing campaign literature. Hennepin County District Judge Stephen Aldrich ordered Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, to pay $200 in prosecution costs but agreed to defer any additional sentence for a year and dismiss the misdemeanor charge then if she has no similar violations. (9/24/04 Star Tribune) PLED GUILTY, FINED!

3) A federal grand jury indicted former state DFL Rep. Loren Jennings on Tuesday on charges of mail fraud and money laundering and accused him of using the power of his legislative office to steer $650,000 in state grant money to a telephone-pole recycling business in which he had a financial interest.
(10/20/04 Star Tribune) CONVICTED!

4)A Minnesota sports entrepreneur who was awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction is in jail after allegedly lying to try to borrow more money. Pat Forciea [Former DFL operative], 46, had pleaded guilty in July to fraud charges involving more than $5.6 million in bank loans he used to buy minor league hockey teams. [snip] In July Forciea admitted engineering a spree of wire fraud, forgeries and unauthorized cash transfers in an attempt to build a minor league hockey and baseball empire. His plan collapsed after one of his employees uncovered falsified business documents that inflated the worth of one of his hockey teams. (11/6/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!

5) Brian Herron, Minneapolis City Council member served prison time for corruption. CONVICTED!

6) Joe Biernat, Minneapolis City Council member is served prison time for corruption.
CONVICTED!

7) The Federal Elections Commission has fined the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus $45,000 for campaign finance violations. The FEC ruled the House DFL caucus illegally transferred $69,200 between its state and federal campaign accounts between January and October 2002. FINED!

8. Twenty-first Century Democrats, a national political action committee that was active in Minnesota this year, has received a record fine for failing to disclose its donors to state regulators. Two fines, totaling $317,950, were announced Tuesday by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. (12/22/04 Pioneer Press) FINED!

***UPDATE***

MORE, thanks to GOP Newsline:

~Rep. Allan Welle misused the state's phone card and started a scandal known as "phonegate."

~Sen. Joe Bertram shoplifted a leather vest from a store in his district.

~Rep. Jeff Bertram was brought before the House Ethics Committee for bullying his constituents.

~Rep. Bob Johnson accumulated three drunk driving charges in three different counties in less than one year.

~Sen. Florian Chmielewski and Sen. Sam Solon pleaded guilty to misdemeanor telecommunications fraud.

~Sen. Skip Finn was convicted of twelve felony counts of misapplying funds from the Leech Lake Reservation.

[Photo courtesy WCCO News]