Mayor Swanson promoted own businesses 97 times on city Twitter account

Janelle Jones has been involved with Chris Swanson for years. She used to advertise on the Chamber website to call the Chamber for any economic development in Two Harbors and then she’d call the mayor with the leads. The previous city administrator knew about this. Jones’ daughter worked for the mayor at Garage Starts, but now is managing his candy store. Many Lovin’ Lake County events have been held at that candy store in the last year.

So you’re telling me, there’s a man that started businesses and then was promoting them?! Top notch investigating! Are the businesses he promoted as Mayor taking away business from local competitors in the same markets? If not, who cares?

The building across from Minnehaha Elementary was sold rather quickly after hitting the market. It was only sold under the condition that the buyer had to remain anonymous until after the sale. Neighbors comment on the strange curb configuration that shows a driveway where there never was one. The driveway was put in before a city meeting/vote.

The buyer of the property? The mayor’s daughter. Of course.

Did the mayor know something about the future need or use for that lot? Did he find that information out while acting as the mayor? Wonder how much profit there will be in flipping the lot?

Seems pretty fishy to me. Perhaps a conflict of interest?

Replying to Sherman

It is about one thing and one thing only: This man will do whatever it takes to make himself look like a hero and promote the hell out of it for financial gain. It is A CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Not to mention, the creep vibe you get from the conversations of Mayor Swanson begging people who have made a incredibly successfully career for themselves speaks volumes. Now let’s be clear, this is all while being a Mayor and having direct interest in all of these snake oil scams which are his personal businesses and secretive in nature to avoid conflict, even though he rams one secret business after another down the city council’s throat for financial gain without disclosing the relationship with the company.

Believe me, it doesn’t matter if it’s the Tall Ships, Garage Starts, National Civility Association, Underwater Hotel Nightmare, Save the Bombshell (Bandshell), Mr. O and the Cryptocurrency and whatever else is uncovered–which I do believe there will be many more to come.

The Mayor is a complete embarrassment to the City of Two Harbors, his family, friends and people that have been duped by his incredibly sleazy business tactics. If you ask him, though, he would be the first to give you some dumb quote about business and how you never give up, or you have to fail before you move ahead. It’s easy to see now that he is being mentored by a crook and scam artist. If the shoe fits, the Mayor slips it right on with a cheesy grin to find his next victim, or should I say a new money tree to shake down to support his next brilliant idea. Here’s a fresh look at this, if all your ideas are so great and you are supposedly SO successful in life and business, try throwing your money into one of these great ideas instead of begging people who have truly been successful.

I cannot imagine living in the town of Two Harbors and seeing the kind of person the Mayor is. It’s the classic power-hungry personality that gets in a position where the line cannot be crossed, because to him it does not exist. He feels that he is the victim of a witch hunt, even while being confronted with one damning article after another. He has said himself that he feels the State Attorney cleared him of any wrongdoing, which the State Attorney most certainly did not. And then he was basically arguing with the city’s attorney about the state’s opinion. This, again, clearly shows the Mayor is out of touch with reality.

I hope in this case the city attorney really digs his heels in and keeps showing that this conduct within City Hall is far beyond a simple conflict and starting to go into the corruption lane. It will be interesting to follow this, as I believe there could be many more players in this game before it’s over.

To the guy who’s been tying up the Monitor’s comment forms with long, rambling screeds and accusations: We’ll publish your comments as soon as you provide us with your real name and a real email address. Otherwise, keep it to yourself. Okay?

Mr. Ramos, I watched you in the City meeting this evening and I truly hope you stay on this to the end. The fact that the coward Mayor would not sit there and hear the voices from the ones who live in Two Harbors is just disgraceful. If you want to be a public figure, you have to take the good with the bad, but be fair to all. I honestly cannot wait for your next article, as one after another just uncovers a whole new angle, but all angles point to corruption.

Janelle Jones has been directly involved with Mayor Swanson for years. With Garage Starts, so was her daughter Macy Jones, who now runs Mayor Swanson’s candy shop called Burlington Station.

I would love to know what all of these kids were getting paid by their mentor and head coach to help businesses get off the ground, even though none of them have owned a business themselves. Also, does the Two Harbors Development Fund have a direct connection with the City itself or are they two completely different entities? Please tell us more about Calvin Luhrsen and Matt Barrett from Garage Starts. Calvin put in an impressive 45.25 hours on the wealthy individuals project (Band Shell) for a cool 2941.00 being billed out at 65.00 an hour. Exactly what credentials did he have at that time to justify the hourly wage?