22 October 2005

It's Erin's World, and We're All Just Potential Defendants

Back in 2004, we were flogged by one of those tired, old "kids say the darndest things" stories about oh-so-very precious Erin Feehan-Nelson, who decided to run for mayor of St. Mary's Point. MN. Why she wanted to rule over 350 (maybe) people is unclear, as her only platform position was that she was, in her own words, "uncorrupted by years of experience." How cute.

At the time, Erin was 17, not old enough (21) to hold elected office in Minnesota, and not even old enough (18) to vote in the first place. Legally she could run, but she could not take office. Her plan, apparently, was to file suit against whichever government entity she (or mummy and daddy) could find, and to claim some jive about "the people having spoken blah, blah, blah," and try to get the law overturned after the fact.

That kind of tactic is at the core of the lefty playbook: Don't like the rules? Use the courts to get a different result. Well, li'l Erin only got 42 votes (mom, dad, and 40 aerosol sniffers), so the news story and the personal crusade died, but I'll bet the whole charade looked bitchin' on the college application.

Whoops, she's back.

Afton (MN) Mayor Dave Engstrom has filed for personal bankruptcy protection, citing a lawsuit brought against him and his wife by a woman who claims she was scarred by the couple's dog as a toddler 17 years ago. Engstrom said he filed for bankruptcy to protect his family's assets because he and his wife do not have accurate records of the insurance they carried in 1988. At the time, his wife, Elizabeth, ran a day care attended by Erin Feehan-Nelson, who filed the suit last winter after she turned 18.

Feehan-Nelson contends the Engstroms' Samoyed dog attacked her without provocation when she was about 18 months old. The attack resulted in scars and painful injuries, according to the Washington County District Court lawsuit. Feehan-Nelson is seeking at least $50,000 in damages.

It seems pumpkin got bit by a dog as a toddler. Her parents didn't think it was problem-enough then to do anything. There's no record of police being involved, nor records indicating Engstrom's daycare license was revoked, but never you mind: Our Little Candidate is all grown up now, see, and now she's found herself a Mass Tort lawyer out of the yellow pages.

I wonder how she arrived at $50K. Is she missing an arm? Is she chock-full of nightmares? Pesonally, I don't remember squat about being 18 months old. Maybe Miss Precocious is just looking for a way to pay for another year at Carleton, or looking for a chance to be on 'Oprah'. Or, perhaps, she has her eyes on something after Carleton, and there's another resume to prepare.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that lefty playbook worked pretty well in 2000 for 'ol W, didn't it?

OctaneBoy said...

By 'worked for Bush in 2000' you are referring to the the state of Florida being required by the US Supreme Court to abide by its own laws with regard to recounting votes?

Anonymous said...

Clearly, either you are part of the news-follower community who doesn't even live in Minnesota, or you're one of the narrow minded idiots that run our city.. but either way, im dissapointed in the way you wrote this blog. Erin Feehan-Nelson is the most intellegent and willful minded young woman America's seen in a long time. And to be honest, i would have much rather seen her run this city than Don Jones. Maybe then we wouldn't be in such a mess.