Update: Demmer tells his side of the story in today's Rochester Post Bulletin. He's not pointing any fingers, but we are speculating. Demmer does suggest a general direction for the source of the attacks:
"Demmer said he suspects the effort originates in Republican circles,
because he's not even the endorsed candidate to oppose Democrat Walz
yet. He said he received a call from a Republican in Washington, an
apparent ally, who had received a package...."[end update]
One of our favorite songs by the 1980s UK reggae band UB40 is "Rat in Mi Kitchen." For a few weeks, we've been thinking of GOP candidate Brian Davis whenever we hear these lyrics shuffled up by our iPod:
There`s a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
There`s a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna go?
I`m gonna fix that rat thats what i`m gonna do,
I`m gonna fix that rat.When you open your mouth you don`t talk, you shout
And you give every body the blame,
But when they catch you up,
They will shut you up
And you got no one to blame
We had noticed that Davis tended to send us disparaging things about his rivals for the GOP endorsement--most recently calling our attention to Day's coming absence at the candidate debate at Rochester Mayo High. As it turned out, Senator Day was with his family welcoming an adopted grandchild to this country.
Now, like several of Minnesota's lefty bloggers, most noticeably the Wege, we were raised in Republican households. And one vestige of that upbringing in Southern Minnesota is to look askance at those Republicans who run to the other side with reports of ill doing on behalf of members of their own party. It's rather the way we feel about Democrats who pass information on to MDE.
Thus was that we were not surprised to read the post today at MnPublius, Exclusive: Randy Demmer Sued. We had known about the lawsuits--a federal case filed in 1995 but dismissed before it was re-refiled in the Dodge County Courts in 1996. It's old stuff and not material that makes Demmer look like a monster. He isn't.
And in our educated judgement, it's likely being spread now by none other than Brian Davis or his allies in his attempt to gain the nomination to run against Tim Walz. [Update:] perhaps Day could be doing this, but it doesn't strike us as his M.O. As one commenter posts at MNPublius:
This is the type of crap you get when a candidate hires a guy like Brad Biers to be his campaign manager. To me, this type of politics says more about the judgement of one of Demmer’s opponents than it does about Demmer. [end update]
It strikes us as the latest effort to twist a situation to Davis' advantage--a twisting that repeatedly happens with a certain recklessness toward the facts. Thus we have seen Davis exploit an important milestone in the Day family and--perhaps--a decade old lawsuit against Demmer.
Against Walz? Davis continues to claim that Walz was silent about the MoveOn ad attacking General Petraeus, despite the fact that Walz was one of the first members of Congress to criticize MoveOn's actions--on Fox Radio on September 10, no less.
Why these sleaze tactics would make anyone inclined to support Dr. Davis--especially his fellow Republicans--is somewhat beyond our understanding. Why their use would impress any voter of any party to cast a ballot for Davis is equally baffling.
We don't know if Demmer or Davis tipped off a lefty blogger about the lawsuits. But the story isn't the lawsuits: it's the strong possibility of Davis' dirty campaigning--while publicly claiming victimization at the county convention last weekend.
PDf of the federal docket here: FederalDocket-95-0092.pdf
Update: another Post Bulletin article about the lawsuit: Demmer: Dredged up lawsuit is simply dirty politics.
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