Daniel Hennessy of Grand Forks is listed on a Web site proclaiming that "I favor ending government involvement in education."
The only Daniel Hennessy of Grand Forks in the phone book and other directories is the Daniel Hennessy that's now running for the Ward 3 City Council seat, and he said he would never say such a thing.
He might be of a libertarian bent, but he said his only beef with the education system is the unfunded mandates that come from the federal government. Even if he did sign on the Web site, he said, he would sign on as "Dan Hennessy," which is what he prefers to go by.
"Daniel" is what his mom calls him when she's mad, he said.
The Web site belongs to a group called Alliance for the Separation of School and State based in Fresno, Calif. Among its claimed signers is Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas and Republican presidential candidate. But the number of signers totals only about 30,500 nationwide.
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Signers hail from a range of political and religious beliefs, many of them homeschoolers, libertarians and at least one anarchist.
Hennessy said he has asked the administrator of the Web site, www.schoolandstate.org , to please remove his name.
He does know of another Daniel Hennessy from Grand Forks, he said, but that was 20 years ago and his name-twin may not live here anymore.
If there is no other Daniel Hennessy in town, or more specifically one from the 58203 ZIP code listed on the Web site, it may be a case of dirty tricks.
Hennessy apparently is quite unpopular with some "left-wingers," as he calls them. For years, he has gotten letters in the mail from these folks, he said, evidently in response to the stance he takes in his frequent letters to the editor.
It was another letter to the editor that alerted the Herald to the Web site. The writer said a friend of his found the site with a Google search. Schoolandstate.org was eighth on the search results when the Herald searched Google for "Daniel Hennessy" and "Grand Forks."
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com .
