Bluestem Prairie: news about Tim Walz (MN-1)

Walz taps Josh Syrjamaki as new Chief of Staff

The Walz office issued a press release today about changes on his congressional staff:

Today, Congressman Tim Walz announced that Minnesota native Josh Syrjamaki has accepted an offer to become his Chief of Staff.  Syrjamaki is a well-known Minnesota political leader andpreviously served as a top aide to the late Senator Paul Wellstone.

"I'm thrilled to have Josh on board," said Walz.  "His years of public service in Minnesota will serve the First Congressional District well

Josh understands the issues that are important to Minnesotans and their families and I am pleased that he will be putting that knowledge to work on my staff.  I will benefit greatly from his counsel."

"I am excited about this opportunity," said Syrjamaki.  "Congressman Walz has built an impressive record of effective leadership in Congress over the last ten months.  I look forward to working for him on behalf
of southern Minnesotans."

Syrjamaki will join the Walz office in early December.

Syrjamaki had run for state DFL chair when Mike Erlandson stepped down; Brian Melendez won the contest. If we recall correctly, Syramaki was seen at the time by some of our friends as the outstate and labor candidate in the chair race.
The PB's Political Party has more:

Syrjamaki will leave his post as the Minnesota director of America Votes, the get-out-the-vote organization backed by labor and progressive/liberal groups that helped get DFL voters to the polls last year, though not directly with Walz's campaign.

He is to work primarily in Minnesota, replacing Rochester native Peg McGlinch, who worked out of the D.C. office. She left the congressman's staff last month.

Walz's communications director Meredith Salsbery said the hire and McGlinch's departure were not part of a staff shake-up. Salsbery said her departure, which she said was for personal reasons, started a search for a new chief of staff. She stressed that Syrjamaki's policy and constituent case work experience with Wellstone was the big draw for Walz, more than his political experience.

In Washington, legislative director and deputy chief of staff Jeremy Bratt will manage the congressman's Capitol Hill office, she said.

 

At the request of my readers: a new homestead

Several readers have emailed Bluestem Prairie to see if we would be willing to run news about  progressive candidates running for the Minnesota state senate and house races in the First or to provide links to their sites.

Yes.

We''ve done a little homesteading--setting up MN-01: Progressive Candidates, a section dedicated to the district's local state legislative races.  We'll need help with tips and links to press coverage to make this work.

Send material to ollieoxinmn  { at } yahoo  {dot} com.

Have patience as we do a little sod-busting here, tweaking the template.

Curly Tales of War Pigs: Minnesota's One Sunny Spot

One of the "Friends of the First"  in our blogroll, Curly Tales of War Pigs, is feeling down about politics in Minnesota. While we don't completely agree with his assessment of other races,  Bluestem Prairie does appreciate Tom's sentiments about our pleasant turf:

Just looking at the slate of candidates in Minnesota bums me out. The DFL doesn't think the people get to choose their candidate until election day, and the GOP thinks destroying a state's political tradition (as well its educational one) through divisive social issues and poor economic policies is an achievement to be proud of. Nearly every race is competitive, and much of the outcome will be hinging on the strength of voter backlash, also known as "through the bums out." Conversely, a significant number of people are easily turned off by partisan sniping, ugly campaigns, pettiness and the like.

This is where I start lamenting about the sad state of affairs in Minnesota. So save yourselves quick and go to where others have found to be the one sunny spot on our political map.

By the time many of you read this post, the Bluestem Prairie's godmother will have waved her magic wand and transformed the site into a vision of prairie flowers on a sunny summer day.  If not, come back soon to smell the flowers.  We hope you like the looks of our grassroots as much as we do.

NOTE: If you're still seeing the old, plain design, hit the refresh button on your browser.

MyDD Diary: GOP Clueless on Iraq

We noticed traffic starting to come into The Bluestem Prairie from MyDD and clicked back to the referrer DFLer22, who had mentioned BSP and other fine Left Blogisota sites writing about Minnesota's Fighting First.

One of today's chores on the prairie is to create a Typelist category for diaries on DailyKos, MyDD, and other national group blogs, in which the authors write about MN-1.  Got a diary we should know about? Drop an email to me at the address on this page.

A good prairie grows strong grassroots, and the strength of that turf is a wonder of nature.

Drinking Liberally in the 1st?

Across the Great Divide reminds readers of Tim Walz's visit to Drinking Liberally on July 27 at the 331 Club, 13th and University in Northeast Minneapolis.

Dave Roberts at Evil Bobby is looking into establishing a DL in Rochester. Winona, Mankato, and other hamlets in the 1st have perfectly good bars and designated drivers.

Readers interested in saving gas money should contact Minnesota's DL Poobahs here for information about starting a local chapter.

Welcome to the Bluestem Prairie

Early yesterday evening, Minnesota Campaign Report explored the ethical dilemma posed by the appearance of one of Gil Gutknecht's congressional aides at a campaign event.  MNCR closes:

So a Gutknecht staffer is undertaking overtly political work for his boss - were his travel expenses paid for illegally by Gutknecht’s congressional office? Or were they an in-kind donation from a concerned citizen who just happens to work for the Congressman? If you watch the video, you see Mr. Larson refer to the Contract with America and its term limit guidelines. It must be terrible for Mr. Gutknecht to be running up against that guideline maximum of twelve years and not have the degree of seniority necessary to really work for the citizens of Minnesota’s First District. Just terrible.

As good place as any to begin the work of this blog.  Read the whole post at MNCR, reporting that's emblematic of the sparks being lit by the congressional race in Minnesota's first district.

Bluestem Prairie will fan the flames of that fire by gathering news about the Walz-Gutknecht contest from local, state, and national news sources and netroots.

THE LAST MONTH: THE FIRE DOWN BELOW

Prairie restoration specialists know the best way to renew the grassroots is a good blaze that burns away the old thatch.  Here's a collection of controlled burns by Minnesota's progressive bloggers from the last month. A chronological online progress report below the fold: