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Jon Austin

Jon Austin's picture
Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
5 years 25 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 10/02/12 at 11:23 am in response to U.S. or parliamentary system? One is nearly gridlock-proof — and it ain’t ours

This mess has been a long time coming. Back in the '80s I worked for a senator who retired in large part because of the growing dysfunction in the Congress and the breakdown in bipartisanship (the other reason was the unending - and always increasing - need to fundraise).

At one point, he visited England and spent some time with the British parliament and - like Mann and Ornstein - came back with the belief that a parliamentary system of government would be a better form of...

Posted on 03/09/12 at 01:58 pm in response to What’s really behind Tarryl Clark’s DFL endorsement decision

Having participated in and observed the political process in five states over the last 35 years, I've concluded that Minnesota's process for selecting party nominees is dysfunctional. At best, it appears to me that there is no correlation between obtaining a party's endorsement and winning a general election. In fact, there may be a negative correlation.

Posted on 04/12/11 at 09:31 pm in response to Iverson out as Pioneer Press business editor

Mr. Iverson will be missed by the paper. I've worked with him for better than 15 years, first at Northwest and then on behalf of various clients, as he's gone from beat reporter to business editor and always found him to be a straight shooter, professional and - something I prize - possessed of a sly, dry sense of humor. I wish him well.

Posted on 12/13/10 at 11:13 am in response to Pioneer Press reporter: 'My scheme to become a high-tech, online, public affairs bookie'

Incredibly cool idea. Interesting to see how such a project would work on a local level. Kudos to Mr. Chin with coming up with something new on the journalism/public policy boundary.

Posted on 09/25/10 at 10:52 pm in response to Eric Wieffering returns to Star Tribune as business columnist

We keep building 'em and you keep shooting at them. I like my chances.

Posted on 09/25/10 at 01:43 pm in response to Eric Wieffering returns to Star Tribune as business columnist

I'm not particularly put out by David's "dark side" comment - I've been called worse by him and others I care about alot more than him (sorry, David) - but I am struck by the notions that general interests are always better than special interests and that marketing only exists to fill a void left by journalists. The former is not always true - is it wrong to lobby and advocate for children with "orphaned" diseases, for example - and the latter is flat-out wrong.

Marketing is a...

Posted on 09/23/10 at 11:17 am in response to Tracking Patchsters (con't)

"AOL's public relations wall is surprisingly high and resoundingly mute, given that this is a journalism operation."

This is you being - as the kids say - ironical, right? My observation is that media properties are often the most closed-mouth organizations out there. I used to enjoy listening to reporters tell me the "smart thing" for me was to talk to them while reading that their own corporate spokespeople "declined comment" on some bit of business.

Posted on 09/14/10 at 04:45 pm in response to The most optimistic advertiser ever

Since I'm procrastinating and waiting for a client callback, I went sleuthing.

M&M Publishing of Hattiesburg is listed in a number of on-line sources as the owner of that phone number. Not to be confused with M&M Meats, M&M Water, M&M Sod, M&M Learning Factory, M&M Concrete, M&M Glass, M&M Construction or M&M Aviation. All of Hattiesburg.

M&M is apparently Mark and Marsha Olderr, the co-founders. In defense of their inability to...

Posted on 03/08/10 at 10:52 am in response to KQ's Tom Barnard already mad at the Star Tribune for story that hasn't run

Again, if anybody can point to a specific section of Facebook's terms of service or privacy policy that Mr. Brauer violated, please post it. The same with any court ruling that may be applicable.

Facebook has unilaterally expanded the definition of the word "friend" to mean something beyond its traditional meanings. I am a "friend" of Mr. Barnard (as of yesterday) in the Facebook sense of the word but we've never met and I rarely listen to his show. I sent a request to him...

Posted on 03/07/10 at 04:41 pm in response to KQ's Tom Barnard already mad at the Star Tribune for story that hasn't run

I looked through Facebook's terms of service and their privacy policy and I couldn't find anything explicitly forbidding what Mr. Brauer did by capturing comments and images that are visible to all of Mr. Barnard's Facebook "friends" (currently numbering 4,677). Maybe somebody who is more familiar with that document (or the case Mr. Langford references) can post the relevant section and any additional information.

From a non-lawyer perspective, it seems to me that what Mr. Brauer...