The “Draft Bob Fletcher for MN Governor in 2010″ Facebook page currently has 334 friends. The “DraftFletcher” Twitter feed has attracted 44 followers.

But unlike recent campaigns to entice R.T. Rybak and John Choi into political contests, the sincerity of the effort to woo Ramsey County’s top cop seems a bit questionable.

The most recent tweet, for instance, declares Fletcher “the only candidate who is honest about their corruption!” The Facebook page lists his title at the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office as “supreme leader.” Then there are the pictures of the young woman being blasted in the face with pepper spray by a cop during last year’s Republican National Convention.

Not exactly the image most politicians seek to convey.

It’s unclear who’s behind the mock campaign. An email to the Facebook account received no immediate response.

But Fletcher earned the enduring enmity of protesters for his department’s heavy-handed tactics leading up to the Republican National Convention. More recently he’s been criticized for failing to provide proper oversight of the beleaguered (and now defunct) Metro Gang Strike Force.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

ST. CLOUD: School-supply lists violate state law on fees. That’s the view of a former teacher who says buying scissors and tape for classrooms is a burden on the poor. [St. Cloud Times]

RAMSEY COUNTY: Tammy Pust running for county attorney too. The Roseville City Council member announced the same day as did St. Paul City Attorney John Choi, joining two others already in the race. [MinnPost]

METRO AREA: It gets worse: Metro Gang Strike Force violated open-meeting laws. Public meetings via email are a no-no. [Star Tribune]

AKELEY: Officials quit. The new mayor and a new city council member are both resigning, due to illness and leaving town, respectively. [Park Rapids Enterprise]

THIRD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Erik Paulsen is safe. Unless you think he’s going to do something no first-term Minnesota congressman has done in more than 60 years: lose.[Smart Politics]

ST. CLOUD: Mayor was there. Dave Kleis got a ticket from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and sat about 10 seats away from First Lady Michelle Obama for the president’s address to Congress last night. [St. Cloud Times]

Choi announced his 2010 bid for the Ramsey County Attorney’s office at a press conference today at the Skyline Towers apartment complex in St. Paul. The location was not arbitrary: it’s where Choi’s family initially settled after emigrating from South Korea when he was three years old.

“I’m running for county attorney because I want to make a difference in the criminal justice system and to ensure the safety of our community,” Choi told the audience. “I have a proven record of leadership and I want to continue to serve this community which has given so much to me and my family.”

The current Ramsey County attorney, Susan Gaertner, is running for governor. There are two other candidates currently vying for the post: Ramsey County prosecutor Dave Pinto and former assistant attorney general David Schultz.

But it’s clear from Wednesday’s event that Choi, long active in DFL politics, will be a formidable opponent. He was introduced by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and was joined on the stage by state senators Mee Moua and Satveer Chaudhary, Ramsey County commissioners Rafael Ortega and Toni Carter and three members of the St. Paul City Council, among others. He’s also received the backing of numerous labor unions, including the city’s police and fire workers.

“When John came to me and said he was thinking about running for county attorney, I quite frankly suggested he shouldn’t,” Coleman (pictured) told the crowd. “That was just being selfish on my part, because I knew that the work that he did in the city attorney’s office needs to continue.”

A Facebook group was created in April encouraging Choi to seek the upgrade in office. Subsequently a counter group was started on the social networking site lobbying against his candidacy. They cited Choi’s involvement in prosecuting misdemeanor charges stemming from last year’s Republican National Convention as evidence of his lack of fitness for the office.

But at today’s event Choi touted his work combating gang violence, mortgage fraud and domestic violence.

“The people in Ramsey County want a proven leader who will effectively manage a prosecution of 300 employees and a $38 million budget. That is no easy task. They want a leader who will prevent juvenile crime and find innovative ways to prevent criminals from re-offending.”

Police face off with an RNC demonstrator. Photo: Paul Demko, Minnesota Independent

The Republican National Convention opened in St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center exactly a year ago. Repercussions from the gathering — and, more significantly, the corresponding protests in the streets — continue to be felt today.

The St. Paul Police Department initially vowed that the city would present a welcoming face to Republican delegates and protesters alike. But on the opening day of the convention the streets of downtown St. Paul were lined with hundreds of cops clad head to toe in riot gear. The first day witnessed the most violent clashes of the gathering — with protesters shattering downtown windows and slashing tires, and the cops responding with the liberal use of pepper spray and flash-bang grenades — but the confrontations and arrests would continue throughout the four-day gathering.

By the time John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president more than 800 people had been arrested, the vast majority of them in mass sweeps. So how many of these people were actually engaged in prosecutable criminal activities? A year later the answer is clear: not many.

Ultimately 676 of these cases were referred to the St. Paul City Attorney’s office for possible misdemeanor charges. But almost immediately the cases began collapsing. It was initially announced that 39 journalists who had been detained would not face criminal charges. Then in February St. Paul City Attorney John Choi let it be known that more than 300 people swept up in a mass arrest on the final night of the RNC would not be prosecuted. Ultimately more than 80 percent of the cases handled by the St. Paul City Attorney’s office didn’t result in charges.

“The overwhelming majority of arrests clearly didn’t have any basis,” says Jordan Kushner, a defense attorney who is handling several RNC-related cases.

Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, argues that the heavy-handed police tactics and large-scale arrests were simply designed to quell dissent. He notes that in 2004, when the RNC was held in New York, there were roughly 500,000 protesters and 1,600 arrests. By contrast, in St. Paul there were an estimated 10,000 protesters and nearly 800 arrests — a strikingly higher ratio.

“The First Amendment is messy, because it allows people to speak their mind,” Samuelson says. “You need to be prepared for messy.”

But Choi maintains that the low rate of successful prosecutions isn’t necessarily indicative of wrongful arrests. He notes that the standards for making arrests and prosecuting charges are very different.

“What we’re looking at is whether we could actually obtain a conviction at trial, prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” Choi says. “That’s a really high bar. When you have situations involving First Amendment issues, mass arrest situations and a confusing fact pattern, it’s really difficult to get to believing that we would have a likelihood of success at trial.”

While the misdemeanor charges handled by Choi’s office have largely evaporated, many of the more serious criminal cases continue to work their way through the courts. On Monday, for instance, the trial of two defendants — Christina Vana and Karen Meissner — began in Ramsey County District Court on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree assault. The pair are accused of throwing a metal sign off the Marion Street bridge onto Interstate 94.

Other high-profile felony cases have resulted in guilty pleas. Bradley Crowder and David McKay, activists from Austin, Texas, eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges related to manufacturing molotov cocktails. In May, Crowder was sentenced to 24 months in prison. That same month McKay, whose initial trial resulted in a hung jury, received a 48-month sentence.

But the most conspicuous criminal charges, those involving the so-called RNC Eight, look to still be a long ways from trial. The eight defendants are charged with an elaborate, nationwide criminal conspiracy to disrupt — and ultimately bring to a halt –  the convention. In a series of raids during the days leading up to the convention, Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies seized seized smoke bombs, sling shots, bottles of vinegar, buckets of nails and other purported evidence of this conspiracy.

The eight activists alleged to be behind the criminal plot — Erik Oseland, Eryn Trimmer, Garrett Fitzgerald, Luce Guillen-Givens, Max Specktor, Monica Bicking, Rob Czernik and Nathanael Secor — were initially charged with felony counts of conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism. In March, however, the more incendiary terrorism aspect of the charges was dropped by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

But attorney Larry Leventhal, who is representing Specktor, argues that the terrorism designation has already damaged the reputations of the defendants. “Everybody’s against terrorism,” he notes. “You use words like that for inflammatory purposes.”

The cases were slated for a hearing last month, but it got postponed owing to a scheduling conflict. Two thorny issues must be settled before they can proceed to trial: whether all the defendants will be tried together and exactly what evidence will be deemed admissable. No trial date has been set. The defendants have stated repeatedly that they intend to fight the charges.

“I am not going to take a plea bargain,” says Rob Czernik. “I want to fight this. I want to see it through to the end. If I get found guilty I get found gulty. I’m not going to go down without a fight.”

Czernik and others largely blame the prosecutions on the strong-arm tactics of the Ramsey County Sherrif’s Department, which conducted the undercover investigations that led to the RNC Eight arrests. In particular, they believe Sheriff Bob Fletcher was guilty of fear-mongering with regards to the aims of anti-RNC activists.

“I totally think this is a creation of Bob Fletcher’s mind,” Czernik says of the investgation.

But Fletcher says the strength of the evidence will ultimately be weighed by a jury. “That’s why we have a court system,” he says. “The facts will speak for themselves at trial.”

Even less settled than criminal matters is the civil litigation resulting from RNC activities. Many cases are just now entering the court system. In February, for example, seven cases were filed in U.S. District Court by plaintiffs charging that their civil rights were violated.

On Tuesday a class-action lawsuit is expected to be filed on behalf of individuals who were arrested during a mass sweep on the first day of the RNC. According to Robert Kolstad, one of three attorneys handling the  case, there will initially be two dozen plaintiffs attached to the case, but the list of litigants could grow to as many as 200 individuals.

The City of St. Paul (or any other government entity involved in RNC security) won’t likely be on the hook for a dime from such lawsuits. That’s in part because the city negotiated with the Minneapolis-St. Paul 1008 Host Committee — the nonprofit group charged with organizing the event — to purchase a $10 million insurance policy to cover any legal liabilities. Some have argued that this allowed officers to behave with impunity when facing off with protesters.

“It was carte blanche for the police to do whatever they wanted,” says defense attorney Kushner. “They didn’t have any financial liability to face so they had no disincentive for violating people’s rights.”

But Choi states that this theory is “fatally flawed.” He points out that the city is always covered by an insurance policy for police actions. The only difference in this instance was that the RNC host committee picked up the tab for the plan. “No matter what we would have had insurance,” he says.

How much will ultimately be paid out in lawsuits likely won’t be known for years. But the damage to the credibility of the cops is likely irreparable in the minds of many activists.

In part that’s because the expectation created by the St. Paul Police Department of a relatively benign security presence during the RNC hardly gelled with reality. This was among the criticisms voiced by former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger and former federal prosecutor Andy Luger in an 82-page report on RNC policing that was released in January. It’s a viewpoint that’s also shared by Fletcher.

“It was a flawed attempt to keep everyone happy,” he says. “What was needed was more honesty about the type of enforcement that was gong to occur.”

The Minnesota chapter of the ACLU is currently suing Fletcher’s office over the seizure of literature in the days leading up to the RNC. But Samuelson agrees that Minnesotans were misled about what to expect during the RNC and weren’t prepared for the heavy presence of law enforcement.

“The people of this state believed what they were told by law enforcement,” he says. “I think maybe a lot more skepticism might be in order the next time we entertain one of these events.”

The eight defendants — Luce Guillen-Givins, Max Specktor, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald — are accused of organizing a vast criminal conspiracy to sow chaos during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Last month Gaertner’s office announced it was dropping the most inflammatory terrorism charges, but the defendants still face felony counts of conspiracy to riot and damage property, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Meanwhile the race to take over Gaertner’s post is getting more crowded. David T. Schultz, a former assistant attorney general, announced earlier this week that he’s seeking the job. Schultz is currently a trial attorney with the firm of Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand. Among his supporters: former Hennepin County Attorney Tom Johnson and current Nobles County Attorney Gordon Moore.

Dave Pinto, an assistant Ramsey County attorney, is also in the race.

Current St. Paul City Attorney John Choi has formed an exploratory committee and seems poised to enter the race.  His supporters have started a Facebook group, Run Choi Run.

The overwhelming majority of these — roughly 85 percent — have since been dropped owing to insufficient evidence. This includes the cases of 323 people who were picked up in a mass arrest on the final day of the convention and 39 journalists who were detained. In addition, as of last month, another 52 defendants had either pleaded guilty or paid a fine.

But of the small number of misdemeanor cases that have proceeded to court, the city attorney’s office has yet to secure a single conviction. The latest setback occurred Thursday when a jury acquitted two RNC protesters — Ilana Radovsky and Gracia Logue-Sargeant — of seven charges, including unlawful assembly and fleeing police, as reported by the Pioneer Press. In addition, two of the four charges facing Sean Patrick McCoy were dismissed by Ramsey County District Court Judge Edward Wilson owing to insufficient evidence. He was slated to be back in court today on the remaining counts.

In January, charges against seven protesters were dismissed after the prosecutors completed their case. Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch determined that no jury could reasonably convict the defendants based on the evidence presented.

An additional 20 cases stemming from the mass arrest on the final day of the gathering are still being investigated.

“There was a lot of confusion for a lot of people that night,” said City Attorney John Choi in announcing the decision.

“Ultimately this decision reflects specifically our prosecution standard: Can we prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial? We’ve come to the conclusion that, for the cases involved the Marion Street bridge and the Cedar Street bridge, that would not be the case.”

However, Choi defended the St. Paul Police Department’s decision to arrest nearly 400 people on Sept. 4.

“There was probable cause to arrest, but there wasn’t probable cause to prosecute,” he said. “Those standards are very very different. It is our obligation not to proceed on cases where we believe that we would not succeed at trial.”

Local civil rights activists said the failure to press charges is just the latest evidence that many of the arrests during the RNC were frivolous.

“The reality is that those arrests should never have been made,” said Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

“Much of the alleged disorder is directly attributable to the police presence and police overreaction.”

“They should never have arrested them in the first place,” added Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “I believe that they were arbitrary and capricious arrests.”

The city attorney’s office has now processed roughly 90 percent of the 672 potential misdemeanor cases stemming from RNC activities. Of those cases, 52 have resulted in guilty pleas or fines. An equal number of cases are currently pending in the court system. However, the overwhelming majority of arrests — 490 — have either not resulted in charges or the cases have been dismissed by the courts.

So far no civil litigation has been brought against the city for police actions during the four-day gathering. Anti-war protester Mick Kelly has sent the city a letter stating his intent to sue for alleged civil rights violations, but has yet to file a case.

The city has a $10 million insurance policy, paid for by the Minneapolis St. Paul 2008 Host Committee, to cover litigation costs. However, numerous lawsuits are expected in the coming months.

“We’ve got a bunch of cases we’re looking at,” said Samuelson.

“Attorneys have been engaged in active information gathering in consideration of civil litigation related to the pattern of mass arrests and excessive use of police force,” Nestor confirmed. “I would think that planning can now go forward.”

The St. Paul City Attorney’s office has so far reviewed 241 potential criminal cases stemming from arrests during the Republican National Convention. Nearly half of the reviews didn’t result in charges being filed owing to a lack of sufficient evidence. Of the remaining incidents, 48 have been resolved by either a guilty plea or payment of a fine, while 81 have been formally charged and are headed towards trial.

St. Paul City Attorney John Choi emphasized that just because charges were not pursued it doesn’t mean that the police acted inappropriately in making an arrest. “When a police officer is on the scene they’re not thinking about whether or not this is a prosecutable offense,” he said. “They’re thinking about whether or not there’s probable cause to arrest this person.”

Roughly 650 potential cases have been presented to the city attorney’s office stemming from activities during the four-day gathering — meaning just over 400 have not yet been reviewed. But almost all of those remaining arrests were made during a mass sweep on the Marion St. bridge during the final day of the convention.

Choi stated that he’s not aware of any civil cases that have been brought against the City of St. Paul relating to alleged civil rights violations during the convention. In two instances, however, the city has received letters from attorneys stating that they intend to file such lawsuits in the future.

The most common charge pursued by the city attorney’s office relating to RNC events is unlawful assembly. But other misdemeanor infractions include criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and third-degree riot.

More serious, felony charges are being handled by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. They are prosecuting roughly 20-such cases, including charges lodged against the so-called RNC 8. In addition there are two Texas men facing federal firearms charges for allegedly attempting to disrupt the convention with Molotov cocktails. They are slated to go on trial next month.

Choi expressed satisfaction with how the RNC-related cases are proceeding, but stated that they are particularly thorny because of the political elements involved. “For the RNC there are 650 cases and they’re all very intense,” he said, noting that such cases attract much more public scrutiny than those typically handled by his office. “We have to do the best that we can with the limited resources that we have and the challenges that come with these cases.”

A letter from City Attorney John Choi laying out the decision to dismiss the charge arrived in my mailbox today. It cites as grounds an announcement by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman on September 19 that working journalists would not face charges if they were merely doing their jobs. Here’s the main point:

In response to the September 19th policy announcement, the Criminal Division of the Saint Paul City Attorney’s Office implemented a prosecution policy that precluded prosecution of bona fide journalists who were only cited for being present at an unlawful assembly. As a part of this policy, the Deputy City Attorney in charge of the Criminal Division was assigned to individually review each journalist case to confirm that the individual cited was, in fact, a journalist (defined broadly) and that there were no specific allegations beyond being present at an unlawful assembly. We have completed our review in the above referenced case and we believe that it is appropriate to decline criminal prosecution.

There you have it: I’m a bona fide journalist (broadly defined, anyway). Straight from the City Attorney. Perhaps I should send a copy of this letter to Norm Coleman’s campaign.

With several members of the RNC8 — the people charged with felonies in conjunction with planned protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last month — heading to court today for hearings in their cases, the Friends of the RNC8 are asking supporters to phone three local officials today to urge that charges be dropped.

The call-in’s targets are: Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner (651-266-3222), St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (651-266-8510) and St. Paul City Attorney John Choi (651-266-8710).

“Please be polite, but firm,” organizers advise, in asking Gaertner to drop terrorism charges, Choi to drop misdemeanor charges, and Coleman to hold police accountable for actions. The stated hours of the “Call-In Day’ are 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

The RNC8 are eight people – Luce Guillen-Givins, Max Spector, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Timmer, Monica Bicking, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald — who face federal terrorism charges after being rounded up in pre-emptive raids on protest groups in the days before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.