We've heard from friends that robocalls are going out to district residents urging them to call Congressman Walz and ask him to support the Senate version of the FISA bill; so far, he is standing firm on the RESTORE Bill, especially in regard to not granting retroactive telecom immunity.
If any loyal readers get one of these calls and can record it, we'd love a copy. If not, we'd settle for notes and we'd also love to know what organization is making them.
An scare-mongering ad on FISA sponsored by Defense of Democracy* Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is running on stations in the district. We'd done a little research and asked around about this group and will write up our conclusions in the early evening. Until then, we have meetings and a trip to Courtland to see the adorable Sage Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, back in River City, Francy B. Hall of Winona has written the Daily News to say Walz has kept his promise:
Our congressman, Tim Walz, promised us that he would not take a pay raise until the federal budget was balanced and the minimum wage was increased.
Last month, Walz kept his promise as other members of Congress voted themselves a $4,130 pay raise, Congressman Walz voted against the pay raise and instead of accepting it like almost everyone else, he returned it to the U.S. Treasury to help pay down our astronomically high national debt. Granted, this is a pretty small drop in a pretty big bucket, but every little bit helps, and Walz is to be commended for leading by example.
In addition, last week our congressman announced that he’d finished 2007 with more than $100,000 left unspent in his office budget that will be returned to the treasury as well.
Some have questioned Walz’s commitment to fiscal discipline. But with his personal actions, Walz has shown that he knows how to squeeze all the value he can from the taxpayer’s dime. Apparently, Walz took with him to Washington the thriftiness that he learned from spending 20 years pinching pennies as a teacher in the Mankato public school system.
And back in the Mayo city of Rochester, the Republicans are spreading it on pretty thick about the troublesome of a primary. KAAL-TV reports in Trouble Among Candidates:
Trouble is brewing in Minnesota’s Republican Party.
Two of the three candidates who are running against democratic congressman Tim Walz this November are upset at the third candidate--who says he will not honor the endorsement process.
Call Senator Dick Day the rebel of the race for the republican nomination to run against democratic Congressman Tim Walz.
"I'm not honoring the endorsement process in fact I'm not going to it," says Dick Day.
Normally the candidates fight it out until the party chooses one candidate.
That's what candidates Brian Davis - a mayo clinic doctor - and Randy Demmer - a Minnesota state representative and businessman say they will do - and it's what Brian Davis says Day said he would do. . . .
Promises, promises. Triple A at Residual Forces reports that the deck may be stacked in today's Olmsted County convention:
But there is a huge amount of pressure and tension that builds up, especially if someone abuses trust and power. Olmstead County [sic] happens to be meeting tomorrow and they elect Delegates in a much different way than I am accustomed to. They actually have a nominating committee which for all intensive purposes handpicks Delegates. It is set up in their Constitution. (Article VII) . . .
. . .But what if the Olmstead [sic] County Nominating Committee is in the bag for one of the candidates? What if they hand pick only the Delegates that support their candidate on their ’slate’? And what if they change the Rules or block any nominations from the floor for Delegates who support the other Candidate?
Endorsement battles are never easy, and only as fair as the people who run them. When it is done fairly and the Delegates have a chance to be included in the decision, not simply sign off on it, the winner will have a stronger and united base for the general.
It is going to be one heck of a battle tomorrow in Olmstead [sic]. I wish Brian Davis all the luck in the world, he’s going to need it, I’m hearing that Olmstead’s [sic] Nominating Committee is supporting Randy Demmer.
For ourselves, we wouldn't put it pass the good doctor from encouraging these anti-Demmer rumors, just as he did little to stop his teen-age supporters from dissing Dick Day for his absence on family business (the arrival of an adopted grandchild) at the Mayo High debate.
On the other hand, if the rumor Triple A reports is true, it would lend support to Day's decision to bypass the endorsing process and go straight for the primary. Day told the Rochester Post Bulletin:
Day, in a phone conversation afterwards, said he had "no reservations" about his decision. And he defended his right to run in the primary as offering a more democratic alternative to the voters. Instead of a small group of delegates deciding the GOP nominee, he said, the decision will be open to all Republicans in the 1st District.
"You know what? They're going to have an opportunity to pick the Republican they would like to see run against Walz," Day said. "And I'm going to give them that."
One more interesting tidbit from the KAAL-TV story:
Party chairman Ron Carey says that hurts the Republicans’ chances of winning.
"We have a much greater chance of defeating Representative Walz if we're a united party," says Carey.
Day says he thinks having two Republican candidates could help the party - because it's two voices against Walz.
Now who was talking Day's point about competitive primaries earlier in the week? Oh yeah, we remember now. We read this in the Post Bulletin as well:
Davis said it was too early to say whether a primary will hurt the eventual nominee. "It may mean nothing, it may give us a potential advantage," he said, "if we bring forward these issues (against Walz)."
Give Davis a day or two, and things change, as the Post Bulletin's reports in Republican Party turns its back on state Sen. Dick Day. My, my.
*Update: The groups turns out to be a new organization formed just last week, Defense of Democracy. See this post for more details.
We stand corrected. We ought to have known better about trusting Triple A's spelling.
***
I always appreciated that there is a "me" in "team" although I can't rightly use that, given the affectation of the editorial "we" employed in this blog.
Unfortunately, since the editorial "we" is confusing our readership among the Minutemen, who demand to know who those other people are, we may have to reconsider our choice of pronoun for that reason as well.
Posted by: Ollie Ox | February 23, 2008 at 12:52 PM