THE BARD OF ROSEVILLE BG

THE BARD OF ROSEVILLE
Burl Gliyard/Mpls. St. Paul Magazine (printed with permission)

Published November 2002

Roseville mayor John Kysylyczyn has endured a stormy tenure since his 1999 election. In August, dozens of citizens gathered at city hall to demand the mayor's resignation. Kysylyczyn himself attended the protest, waving a placard proclaiming, "Death to the Mayor" and "The Mayor is a Bard," which was reported in the Star Tribune by Bill McAuliffe.

Though city politics was at issue, the English language also came up for debate. Kysylyczyn (pronounced Kiss-el-ish-in) told McAuliffe that he defined bard as "a disgruntled person." According to Webster's New World Dictionary of American English, a bard is "an ancient Celtic poet and singer of epic poems who accompanied himself on the harp," or "a piece of armor for a horse." McAuliffe did not provide any of the generally accepted definitions. "We didn't think: we needed to define the word bard, but we did need to let the mayor provide his definition," says McAuliffe. Kysylyczyn concedes that he thought a bard was akin to a long-winded court jester. "There probably was a better word to choose," he says. "The crowd there would criticize me for being an epic orator, but minus the harp."

In September, Kysylyczyn was charged with gross misdemeanor conflict of interest and misconduct by a public official in Ramsey County district court for voting to have the City Of Roseville pay legal fees stemming from an ethics charge leveled against him. On that matter, Kysylyczyn has no epic words: He declines comment. B. G.