Legalectric

What a relief. The ALJ on the Overland v. Iocco, Iocco for Red Wing Mayor, RRJ Redwing LLC, and Wilson Oil has rescheduled the hearing, she did not toss it out after I failed to appear (I had the wrong conference code, MY ERROR! AAACK!):

The matter logically goes on to a probable cause hearing because the lease shows that it was indeed a corporate contribution — a corporation signed the lease. Wilson Oil was logically dismissed because Gary Iocco produced a copy of the lease, late the evening before the October 1st hearing, which I then filed with OAH and also cover letter stating that I’d withdraw the Complaint against Wilson Oil as it was Dehn Oil that signed the lease. RRJ Redwing, LLC is an offshoot of Dehn Oil, and that’s where it gets sticky.

Here’s the lease:

It gets complicated, because RRJ Redwing, LLC owns the real estate, not Dehn Oil, though RRJ Redwing is an offshoot of Dehn Oil, yet the “Dehn Oil” rep signed the lease as “Dehn Oil.” And OH-NOOOOOO, the one signing for Dehn Oil is my wonderful neighbor who gives my cats frequent visits when we’re gone, making sure they’re not lonely… I’m SO glad it’s the corporations who will be held responsible, under Minn. Stat. 211B.15. But what authority does Dehn Oil have to lease RRJ Redwing, LLC property?

Something else noteworthy, though it’s purely academic because Wilson Oil has been dismissed: Mike Wilson said during the Probable Cause hearing that he has had nothing to do with Wilson Oil since he sold it, but the Secretary of State filings show that every year since 2017 the Annual Renewal has been filed, and though all that time has passed, Wilson remains CEO and the Principal Executive Office Address remains 2355 Old West Main.

Wilson claims to have sold it in 2017, but here’s the record of the Annual Renewal filings — over seven years he’s not changed the registration, AND on top of that, he was specifically informed of this during the September 19, 2024 Probable Cause Hearing #1, claimed he “didn’t know how that happened,” and “he’d have to talk to his attorneys,” blah blah blah, and as of today, October 8, he still hasn’t changed it:

And look at the footer on the lease (lease above). During Probable Cause Hearing, Wilson refused to give the judge an email to use in this proceeding. How long, how much effort, is required to set up a gmail account? DOH!

Here’s what he had to say when the ALJ requested an email:

He says his mail always goes to the P.O. Box, yes, P.O. Box 162. Hmmmm, again, look at the footer on the lease:

Well, well, well, wouldja lookie there, P.O. Box 162, that’s Mike Wilson’s P.O. Box for HIS mail, at least that’s what he told the judge, and it’s also the mailing address for Wilson Oil, based on the footer right there on Wilson Oil letterhead as of 7/19/2024, SEVEN YEARS after the sale! And I wonder who that wilsonoilco@gmail.com email would go to?

Anyway, here we go, another Probable Cause Hearing, date, time, and CONFERENCE CODE on the calendar in pen, set up as an alarm, and on a post-it above my screen — I’m wondering if I should tattoo the conference code on my hand:

Joyce Vance does a great SUCCINCT job explaining.

Here it is, the brief that everyone’s twitting about:

There’s always a first time…

Today was the Probable Cause hearing on the Overland Complaint — Carol A. Overland, Complainant, v. Gary Iocco, Iocco for Red Wing Mayor, RRJ Redwing LLC, and Wilson Oil Co, Respondents, OAH File 21-0325-40299.

Last night I’d received a copy of the Lease, which answer some questions (but leaves others open), and so I wrote up a letter and filed the lease with OAH and sent around to the parties.

Because the lease is between Dehn Oil and Gary Iocco, that takes Wilson Oil out of the mix, so I put in writing that I’d withdraw Wilson Oil from the Complaint and filed that late last night. However, Dehn Oil is not the owner of the property, it’s RRJ Red Wing, LLC, so what does that mean??

Probable Cause hearing… it’s 10:00 a.m, well, 9:59 a.m. rolls around, and I call in and get put in queue to wait for “leader” to open the line. Wait… wait… wait… and WAIT.. 13 minutes on hold, that’s very unusual, and so I called back, waited another 4 minutes, and it’s way late and odd. I tried and tried and tried… next I emailed the staff person who had sent out the notice, called the general line trying to reach someone, and finally got ahold of a real human, and got the bad news…

I HAD THE WRONG CONFERENCE CODE!

The correct conference code was on page 8 of the pdf Notice, not page 1! And then I was told even worse news — that the Complaint had been dismissed, default, because I didn’t show up! AAAAAAACK!

Yes, I tried and tried, but as Eddie Berger often said, “Tryin’ is lyin’, ’cause if you were tryin’, you’d be doin’ it!”

… sigh… Never has that happened in 29 years of practice. Utter disaster. You could probably see the mushroom cloud when my head exploded.

BUT, all is not lost… There is some good news! I got a call from an OAH staff attorney who told me that the oral Motion to Dismiss had been “taken under advisement,” and if I wanted to challenge, I had to get that filed by 4:30 on Friday. OK, no problem, I can do that!

WHEW, so there is hope… and here we go!

This below has been filed at Office of Administrative Hearings, emailed to those I have emails for, and mailed by U.S. Mail to ALL. When we have proof in hand that there’s been a significant prohibited corporate contribution, per Minn. Stat. §211B.15, I sure hope this does go forward.

Now we wait…

OH MY DOG! Did you know I’m a terrorist? In what world…

Red Wing’s Mayor Mike Wilson apparently thinks I’m a terrorist? Maybe that’s why last April he demanded that the Chair of Red Wing’s Sustainability Commission NOT present me with their Jay McCleary Sustainability Award for my environmental and energy work, at the Council meeting that night, as is standard practice! Just NO! He has no right, and no basis, to make such demands. Needless to say, the show went on:

Wilson apparently thinks I’m a terrorist? Guess that’s why, back in April 2021, when I’d sent flyers out about the City Attorney’s position on the Red Wing recall, that he badgered and berated me with a phone call demanding to know who I sent it to, where I got the list, and loudly and forcefully said “DON’T YOU EVER SEND ANYTHING TO ME AT MY HOME ADDRESS!” What? What a crime that is… (and so logically, I wasn’t about to drop anything off at his door!) Oh how I wish I had recorded that call. After all, the recall flyer I sent was so threatening and revolutionary:

And the bizarreness continues. So what happened last week? It started with a letter in a drop box. Why put a letter in the drop box? There was a Probable Cause hearing scheduled for September 19, and by 4:30 p.m. on September 18, we were to file any exhibits, by email, to all parties and the judge at Office of Administrative Hearings. I couldn’t get it done by 4:30 — I’d requested an estimate on the cost for signs in various locations to get an idea of “market rates” and received it late on the 18th (that turn around was quick and appreciated), so I formatted the pages, wrote a quick cover letter, and here it is, the Cover and Exhibit:

Pretty scary stuff, huh…

I tried to file with OAH but it wouldn’t let me in. Next I fired off email to Gary Iocco’s campaign email, looked up RRJ Redwing’s Dehn Oil and found John Dehn’s email (CEO according to Secretary of State), and then spent ages looking for an email for Mike Wilson other than the City email. The only one I could find was for his Red Wing Marine Museum, info@redwingmarinemuseum, but that bounced. That left the option of heading over to the “headquarters,” 2355 Old West Main per the business registration at Secretary of State’s Office, and finding a place to put it. There is a drop box there for the drivers, keys and ? maybe a bill of lading? inside, other paperwork in sheet protectors. I put it in, carefully positioning the envelope to have my logo on the edge, easily identifiable with my name and address, and snapped this photo:

Then I texted this photo to Wilson and my neighbor Joanne who works there, to let them know it was in the drop box. Clear example of “best efforts.”

September 18th, after I’d dropped off the letter and let Wilson and my neighbor know about the letter, Wilson somehow went from hearing about it and seeing a photo of it to being so “concerned” that he “had to notify authorities” — and yet he’ seen on video that I’d put a letter in the driver’s drop box at 2355 Old West Main. Moi, clearly ID’d. WHAT?!?!

“HAD TO NOTIFY AUTHORITIES” SNORT!

Well, I did check with the Red Wing Police the afternoon of September 19, after learning of Wilson’s fear and that he “had to notify authorities.” RWPD’s Records person was very helpful. They “don’t have anything with Wilson’s name on it” and there had been “no call to Dispatch that would have created a call.” Hmmmmmm, what authorities were notified? Or were they?

Wilson’s response on the record, to my placing the letter in the drop box, as stated during the Probable Cause hearing:

I was contacted last night by the manager that something was left in a mailbox down there at the Wilson Oil Company office, and I wasn’t sure, she said it was an envelope placed in there with, and I saw somebody sent me a picture of it, and I wasn’t sure who that came from, so I wasn’t sure, with nowdays with, I was very concerned about that, and, because I didn’t know if there was something dangerous in there, or I didn’t know what to do about it, so I had to notify authorities, so this is putting mail in a mail box, is a, well, nowdays the way things are going, I was very concerned, and my family was very concerned, so we didn’t know what to do.

What to do? Oh, I just don’t know what to do!!! Well, how about look at the photo with MY NAME and MY return address?

DOH! How about ask the manager, my neighbor, who called him? (After I’d sent the text, I called my neighbor to let her know what it was about, and she’s a fully competent human, and I’d guess when she called him later, she’d let him know that I’d put it there.)

And the text to his cell — apparently it struck terror into his heart! Again, how about asking “the manager” who was on the text as well? And he should remember that number because he’d called me twice on that number after looking it up — he should know! And since I know he can look up my number, as he did before his phone calls, well, even if he didn’t, how about google or whitepages? My phone number is no secret!

Here’s the full text of his comments in the Probable Cause hearing, not an official transcript, but a pretty close rendition (this weirdness was PAINFUL to listen to, initially, and the many replays it took to capture it in writing):

Just WOW! It must be painful to walk around with a worldview like that, fearful, so concerned, you know how it is these days, and he’s the Mayor and security is so important, and him not knowing what to do. Not able to ask the manager why she was calling, what she knew about it. Maybe he’s not able to read? But my name, address, and logo was out there, up front. No words needed, he said he saw the video and that he recognized it was me — so how does he get from my presence with a letter to being “so concerned” that he “had to notify authorities.” How was it “very disturbing.” As is said often these days, “THAT’S JUST WEIRD!”