The tweet embedded below, highlighting a comment from U.S. House of Representative Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes, R-CA22, from the New Yorker article, A House Divided:How a radical group of Republicans pushed Congress to the right, recalls similar--though far less dramatic--remarks made by Minnesota Seventh District Congressman Collin Peterson in 2009.
GOP headache: The birther issue, a 2009 article posted by Politico, cited the long-serving Peterson's example that conspiracy theories are nothing new:
Out-party politicians have long had to deal with conspiracy theorists on their side — the people who think that the Clintons killed Vince Foster or that the Bush administration helped orchestrate the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Twenty-five percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat who represents a conservative Republican district in Minnesota. “That’s why I don’t do town meetings.”
The Republican Party of Minnesota jumped on the page 2 remarks after the Pioneer Press blog Political Animal shared them in a now defunct post. In GOP targets U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Nelson reported:
It's 16 months before the next election, and Minnesota Republicans say they're mounting a renewed challenge to U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, a DFLer who represents northwestern Minnesota's 7th Congressional District.
They're calling attention to remarks he made to a Virginia-based political Web site. Peterson was quoted saying one in four of his constituents are fringe-thinking conspiracy theorists.
Peterson is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress -- and one of the safest. He won his last election by a nearly 3-to-1 margin.
But Republicans say Peterson's remarks have made him newly vulnerable.
Peterson recently told Politico.com that he didn't like to hold town hall meetings in his district because so many of his constituents hold fringe ideas, including the belief that the Bush administration played a secret role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Peterson's comments were part of a larger story on the disruptive effect of the "birther" movement, people who claim President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, and so doesn't meet the constitutional requirement to serve as president.
Republicans say Peterson is ignoring his mainstream constituents.
"My phone, and I'm sure the phones here at the party, have been literally ringing off the hook," said Michael Brodkorb, deputy chairman of the state Republican Party. "I think his remarks will provide an opportunity for a first-tier candidate to get in this race. I think today's the start of a pretty serious campaign against Collin Peterson, and I think the 7th CD just became a heck of a lot more competitive than it previously was."
Brodkorb announced today that his party is running a radio ad critical of Peterson's remarks, as well as his recent votes on the federal budget and climate change.
Peterson apologized on Monday for the remarks he made in the Politico article, and this afternoon he responded to the Republican challenge in a statement issued by his office.
"As for the Republican Party's new ad, I think they can say whatever they want. I'm guessing that my constituents are more interested in cutting the deficit and getting spending under control, and getting a health care bill that works for them and that we can afford," said Peterson. . . .
The Minnesota Republican Party is newly energized after the recent elections of Brodkorb and its new chairman Tony Sutton. They're clearly using Peterson's remarks to open political battles on new fronts.
Republicans lost the 7th District when Peterson defeated embattled incumbent Republican Arlan Stangeland in 1990. Brodkorb says he thinks Peterson is in trouble.
"I think Collin Peterson is going to find himself going forward in the eye of a pretty serious storm," said Brodkorb. "First of all, the activist base is pretty seriously energized because of his statement. I think a lot of candidates that we've not had in the past are going to look toward this race."
The Seventh District Republicans--so energized by their new state leadership team in 2009--do not appear to have yet recruited a candidate--or if they have, that person is pretty sneaky. They have had some killer social media, though, as we noted in a number of posts starting in early August:
In the meantime, Bluestem finds our selves taking comfort in the fact that only twenty-five percent of our fellow citizens on the wind-swept prairies of Minnesota's Seventh District were birthers in 2009. To engage in a bit of placebaiting for a moment, this makes us a bit more grounded than those La-La Landers in Congressman Nunes' district, nestled in Fresno and vicinity.
It's possible that the MN07 birther index has climbed to equal the number of wackadoodles in Nunes' turf, but as a devoted creeper of conservative social media in the area, we're not seeing it. Mostly.
Photo: Representative Collin Peterson, picking and grinning as a member of the Second Amendments, a rootin-tootin bipartisan congressional country cover band. Via Peterson for Congress. Peterson represents Minnesota's sprawling Seventh Congressional District, where people aren't nearly as obsessed with political urban legends as those in central California.
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One tool for understanding political party units is to examine their fundraising and spending. With the special election to fill the House District 3A seat left vacant by the untimely death of Representative David Dill turning into a free-for-all, we thought we'd look at the financial health of the local DFL senate district.
After a kind reader suggested that we look at the finances of the SD3 DFL, we concluded that money had certainly been no object, since the senate district committee had finished the tumultuous 2014 campaign season with over $9200 in the bank.
Even more curious: of the $84,750 given to DFL candidates from 2012 through 2014, only $9500--all in 2014--went to Minnesota state house campaign committees--and the late Rep. David Dill's campaign committee received $7500.00 of that figure. (By contrast, MN3B DFL incumbent Mary Murphy received only $500. Both candidates won by garnering over 60 percent of the vote).
The rest of the money sent to DFL House candidates went to people running in districts adjoining the Third: Joe Radinovich ($500), Jennifer Schultz ($250), Erik Simonson ($250) and John Ward (500).
The rest? Sent to to state senate Democrats around the state. although there no no state senators on the ballot.
In 2013, the SD3 DFL gave $14,800 to 11 senate candidates who weren't on the ballot; of this amount, $4500 went to Majority Leader Bakk's campaign. In 2012, when all state senate and house seats were up for election and Bakk was looking to flip the senate, the committee cut $40,750 in checks to DFL candidates around the state. All of this went to Senate candidates, including $5000 to Senator Bakk.
The committee also gave $5000 to the DFL Senate Caucus in 2012 and $10,000 in 2013. The state DFL received $2000 in 2012, nothing in 2013 and $1000 in 2014. (These totals are entered in a different section of the report and are in addition to the contributions to candidate campaign committees.
This pattern of giving is unusual for DFL senate districts that give money to candidates, in that senate and county units ordinarily give to candidates within their borders--or give to candidates in a variety of state-level candidates.
We'll have more analysis later in the week, but the giving patterns suggest that the contributions are tied to Bakk's leadership in the Minnesota Senate.
Here's the 2012 Senate District 3 year-end campaign finance report:
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Bluestem has noticed a distinct resemblance to the positions outlined by DFL endorsement seeker, Ely City Council member Heidi Omerza.
Other information online suggests that Johnson's political genealogy is less connected to the progressive wing of the DFL, than to the moderate DFL senators who form the backbone of Tom Bakk's leadership in the Minnesota Senate. Moreover, with the exception of one gun-control group, her client list isn't particularly associated with the progressive left in the North Star state.
A DFL political genealogy
Zoominfo.com has preserved a January 2014 profile of Johnson that had been posted at Capitol Hill Strategies, a lobbying and public affair firm, prior to her moving on to serve as director of state affairs for the Grocery Manufacturing Association (GMA). A press release issued by the GMA in February scrubbed out the specifics, while keeping the outline.
Kelsey A.L. Johnson – Government Affairs Consultant
Kelsey Johnson is a native Minnesotan. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy[AH1] from St. Catherine University in 2004. While at St. Catherine University Ms. Johnson was the recipient of the Thomas More Leadership Award, President of the Student Senate and captain of the swim team. Since graduating from St. Catherine University Ms. Johnson honed her skills in customer service, negotiations, and solutions-based selling through her work in the private sector. In her last career before entering the political arena she was an Account Executive, selling audio, web and video conferencing solutions. During her sales career she negotiated contracts with Fortune 500 companies and worked with all levels of leadership within various corporations to come to mutually exclusive agreements.
Ms. Johnson began her political career by interning with Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch. After leaving the Attorney General’s Office, she interned for Minnesota State Senator LeRoy Stumpf, Chair of the Senate Education Policy and Finance Committee. Ms. Johnson subsequently took a position in the Minnesota House DFL Caucus where she worked for numerous Representatives and the Chief Sergeant -At-Arms.
Following Ms. Johnson’s departure from the Minnesota House she began lobbying and continues to do so today. During the 2012 election-cycle she served as the campaign manager for the successful re-election of State Senator Terri Bonoff, who has been appointed the Chair of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee. Ms. Johnson recently completed her Master’s of Arts in Organizational Leadership with a concentration on ethics and leadership at St. Catherine University. Her final project focused on transparency in campaign finance. In conjunction with her master’s degree, Ms. Johnson obtained a certificate in Strategic Management. Ms. Johnson is a diligent worker who maintains strong working relationships.
Ms. Johnson understands the importance of a balanced life and enjoys any opportunity to play hard. She is an avid water sports enthusiast as a member of both USA Waterski and USA Swimming. Ms. Johnson is active in her community as a current member and former board member to the League of Women Voters Minneapolis, active member of the Junior League of Minneapolis, and current member of the Citizen’s League where she assisted in the development of a platform for current water policy concerns.
These political connections don't exactly scream "Sheila Wellstone" from the mountain tops. Moreover, she's running as an independent for an empty House seat in one half of Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk's home district. Following the DFL primary, would any Democratic state lawmaker buck the nominee?
Nor do her clients while she lobbied holler, "Independent," unless one only defines independence as free of the partisan.
Lobbying for GMA--and beyond
While Johnson bills her "advocacy" for the group as a matter of "feeding the world," progressive citizens might pause to reflect about what chemicals the GMA is comfortable being in children's products. Since joining the GMA, Johnson has testified against former state representative Ryan Winkler's Toxic Free Kids Act (March 2014 hearing) and Senator Ann Rest's SF1099 this past session (Winkler was chief author of the House companion bill). Johnson followed the bill through the committee process, testifying against it three times (here, here and here).
Prior to joining GMA (for whom she registered as a lobbyist in other states such as Florida), Johnson's clients for her lobbying services included the judicial reform group Coalition for Impartial Justice, prison profiteers Corrections Corporation of America (there's a bid to re-open or lease its Appleton prison afoot), Michael Bloomberg co-chaired gun control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, pro-tip credit Minnesota Restaurant Association and the National Popular Vote.
Bluestem suspects having the "gun safety" group on her resume might have clashed a bit with the NRA membership, but there's no timeline. As gun right supporters, Bluestem would like to know if she was for or against gun rights before she was against them--or if she just happened to support both her client and the NRA at the same time. That would be breathtakingly independent.
Independent?
Whatever that case may be, Johnson's business relationships with powerful special interests make her claim to be "independent" of partisan affiliation to be rather beside the point. Sources tell us that polling in state house districts reveals that voters are tired of moneyed interests having more power than ordinary citizens.
It's not an argument for electing one of the most powerful trade group's lobbyists to the Minnesota House.
Given that zeitgeist, it's not surprising that on her website, Johnson uses language to obscure her day job. She wasn't a lobbyist for a group of food industry corporations; instead an "advocate" for "our area and small businesses":
Most recently, Kelsey has been working as an advocate at the State Capitol, working to pass legislation that helps our area and small businesses.
As Director of State Affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, she has learned what it takes to successfully advocate for policies that protect and support our most important initiative: Feeding the World.
Really? Sourcewatch describes the trade association in a much different light:
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), previously the Grocery Manufacturers of America, based in Washington, D.C., is the world's largest trade association for corporations making food, beverage, and consumer products. Representing such companies as Campbell Soup Company, Kraft Foods, and Pepsi, it channels political contributions, lobbies and engages in public relations on behalf of its member corporations.[1][2] In 2007, the Food Products Association (FPA), which focuses on science, nutrition labeling, and food safety, merged with GMA.[3]
GMA's primary wing -- its 501(c)(6) trade association -- took in nearly $41.4 million in total revenue in 2013 (its most recently available filing), spent over $41.4 million in total expenses, and had over $31 million in net assets available as of the end of that year.[4] Its 501(c)(3), "GMA Science and Education Foundation," had $588,626 in total revenue, $337,891 in total expenses, and $1,477,901 in net assets for the same time period.[5]
GMA's PAC made $222,245 in political contributions at the federal level in 2014 -- 63 percent to Republicans and 37 percent to Democrats -- according to the Center for Responsive Politics.[6] The top recipient of GMA political contributions from 1989 through the second quarter of 2014 was Democratic Senator Ron Kind of Wisconsin, according to the Sunlight Foundation.[7] GMA made $11,073,608 in political contributions at the state level in 2014, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.[8] It has spent $41,052,904 in lobbying at the federal level 1989 through the second quarter of 2014, according to the Sunlight Foundation.[7] It spent $4,620,347 lobbying at the federal level[9] and had eight lobbyists active in three states in 2014.[10]
Earlier in this post, we visited her testimony for her client. Perhaps she can spell out how that testimony helped the area and small businesses. Or was she moonlighting?
Perhaps we should simply be grateful that she's not running in the seat Ryan Winkler vacated.
All snark aside, we think that the bid reflects the Minnesota Nice culture of insider politics. We're sure she's a nice person--multiple sources tell us she dated Mr. Nice Guy Kurt Daudt which must have been a nice time--but policy-making should be built more than just being one of the guys.*
*A generic, tradition non-gender specific Minnesota language term for "people." You guys know what we mean.
Photo: According to a GMA press release, Senator Terri Bonoff (right) wasn't expected to win, but lobbyist Kelsey Johnson (left) saved the day as her campaign manager. Other sources were not as certain of Bonoff's potential defeat. Photo via Minneapolis Junior League Facebook page.
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While the Ag Mafia and its allies have sought to frame the elimination of the Citizens Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as a victory for "Greater Minnesota," Quam's opponent is having none of that.
Indeed, it's one of three policy areas prompting her bid. PB political correspondent Heather Carlson reports:
A retired Mantorville teacher is launching a bid to unseat Byron Republican Rep. Duane Quam in 2016.
Democrat Linda Walbruch said after having spent 40 years in the classroom, she wanted to focus her energies on advocating for children in St. Paul. . . .
he said she was disappointed lawmakers opted not to make bigger investments in education and support DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's proposal to fund universal preschool for four-year-olds.
"The last session there was a $2 billion surplus, and I think we could have put it to better use," she said.
Walbruch also opposed the elimination of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Citizens Board.
"We need citizens to have a chance, to have a voice and appreciate their input and see what we can do to make it a better place," she said.
She is also disappointed that lawmakers failed to pass a comprehensive transportation bill with funding to upgrade railroad infrastructure in the state.
"With trains going through our community, we need to step up and make sure that our crossings are safe and our EMTs have access to those crossings," she said.
Minnesota House District 25A is the more rural and conservative side of a senate district served by state senator Dave Senjem. In 2014, all of the Republican constitutional officer candidates prevailed in HD25A, while Republican-endorsed state supreme candidate Michelle MacDonald beat David Lillehaug by just over three percent points. Statewide, Minnesotans disagreed, electing the Democrats. In the federal offices on the ballet in 2014, Congressman Tim Walz won in the state house district along with the First, while Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden won against Al Franken, who won statewide.
Will citizen power and environmental concerns be a Dodge County issue?
Despite the conservative leanings in the district, Walbruch may not be an isolated voice in her concern about the need for citizen voices in environmental reviews. Dodge County has been the site of contentious debates and packed houses for county board meetings about hog confinement barns, although the unit that is the subject to a lawsuit is in Westfield Township, which is represented by Peggy Bennett (R-Albert Lea).
Will the chance to vote for a pro-citizen power candidate make a difference? The conflict may not be enough to pull enough voters to Walbruch for a win, since a majority of voters in the district live in Olmsted County.
Indeed, Dodge County citizens likely have a complicated puzzle in having their voices heard in the legislature, as the county is split into a number of state districts--and Dodge County residents are a minority of voters in each district. The nearby presence of Rochester and regional cities like Owatonna, Faribault and Red Wing have caused the county to be carved up in order to create legislative districts of equal populations. In the Dodge County is represented not only by Quam (from Olmsted County) and Bennett, but Brian Daniels (R-Faribault), Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) and Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin).
With the exception of Senjem's SD25, the state senate districts (21,24,27) in Dodge County are held by Democrats. Aside from Matt Schmit, these are DFLers who have not demonstrated much other than thinly veiled contempt for citizens' environmental concerns.
Vicki Jensen (DFL-Owatonna) was part of the Senate Rural Task Force in which Senator Julie Rosen (R-Mendota) ripped a 320-acre operation in which one spouse farms full time as not being "real ag"; Jensen was far more sympathetic to Rosen's position on the Citizens Board than to citizens who contacted her with concerns for Rosen's position. We will see whether or not Rosen comes out to campaign for the Owatonna Democrat next year.
Are these anti-environment, anti-citizen power Democrats vulnerable? Their chances vary in 2016, and their environmental records are unlikely to become significant issues, though their mileage may vary if fed-up environmental voters skip donations and their races on the ballot.
After being ushered into office by a 7-vote margin in 2002, Sparks has been re-elected by comfortable margins. Moreover, the district is known as a "presidential year Democratic" one; Barack Obama won SD27 in both the 2008 and 2012 configuration. It's unlikely the Republican Party and its ideological SuperPAC allies will invest much money there--although they did salt the earth on one side of it last year with mail about the new state senate office building in the drive to defeat Shannon Savick and elect Bennett in a classic swing district in the Albert Lea side.
Jensen is the first Democrat in many years to serve in the state senate; her district is more of a crapshoot for the DFL. Like Sparks and Lyle Koenen (DFL-Clara City), Jensen voted against raising the minimum wage, so one of the party's stronger talking points is off the table for her and the two gentlemen in 2016. As in Spark's district, half of Jensen's district was carpet-bombed by attack mail against a sitting DFL legislator, Patti Fritz, who loss a close one against Daniels. Attacks based on the new senate office building, and a large fine against the DFL Senate Caucus Campaign committee may resonate as well (Koenen's campaign may also be hobbled by this potential MNGOP & allies' attack).
While fiscally moderate, Jensen is a social liberal who voted for same-sex marriage, unlike devout Catholic Fritz. The strength of same-sex marriage as a flashpoint is likely to be measure by SuperPAC's polling and focus groups on both sides. However, Jensen was quite clear about her opposition to the marriage amendment when she won in 2012. Unlike Sparks' district, the district favors Republican presidential candidates; McCain squeaked by in 2008 within the pre-districting lines, while Romney won the new district in 2012.
We suspect that the swing races in districts that include Dodge County precincts will be targeted with Republican messaging that's about DFL self-dealing and the DFL pushback about its incumbents' records. Would a message about that stresses citizens' right to speak and be heard resonate? Bluestem suspects that we won't have a chance to learns, as neither party much sees Greater Minnesota apart from what one seasoned political reporter once called Big Rural, the lobbyists and associations with "Greater Minnesota" incorporated into their names.
Photo: Screengrab of Duane Quam. Quam ran unopposed in 2014.
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UPDATE September 11, 2015: As the Brainerd Dispatch and other venues report, the DNR has cancelled the EAW after RD Offutt cut a deal with the agency. [end update]
The MJC is credited as being one of the forces that flipped the Minnesota House; Ben Golnik, its chair, has become the executive director of the Minnesota House Republican Caucus.
The company itself funded the group, but several Offutt family members also gave campaign contributions to Representative Denny McNamara (R-Hastings), who was the lead Republican on the House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee in the last session.
McGovern, Keith 09-17-2014 McNamara, Dennis House Dist. 54B Committee RDO $250.00
McGovern, Rondi 09-17-2014 McNamara, Dennis House Dist. 54B Committee RDO $250.00
Neal, Scott 09-16-2014 McNamara, Dennis House Dist. 54B Committee RDO $500.00
Keith McGovern and Scott Neal are the sons-in-law of RDO director emeritus Ron Offutt; Rondi is his daughter.
While that's a mere $1000--dwarfed by the privately-held company's contribution to Golnik's PAC--there's a fair chance that the donors (who don't appear to live in McNamara's district) understood that McNamara would once again chair the committee with oversight of the Department of Natural Resources budget.
According to Minnesota Legislators Past and Present, McNamara chaired the committee in the 2011-2012, and became the minority when the DFL retook the House in the 2012 election. The courtesy was discontinued with the ascendance of Speaker Daudt and Golnik.
Photo: Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee chair. Rep. Denny McNamara, who appears to have benefited from the Offutt family largesse, both direct and indirect.
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At the post office in Maynard, Minnesota, on Monday, one of the other box holders sighed after pulling a junk post card asking him to call Senator Lyle Koenen.
"Why can't they give us a break from campaigns?" he said.
Legally, the mailers that the Minnesota Action Network is sending out aren't campaign hit pieces. They're "issue" piece, requesting voters to contact the target and make an ask. But the man at the post office was on to the game, the slow and steady drip, drip, drip until the organization's PAC would kick in and send him mail, and ask him to vote for someone other than Koenen.
We'd seen the drift of post cards from the Minnesota Jobs Coalition Legislative PAC (a more important player in our recent state house race) and the Minnesota Action Network IE PAC as the election approached, and their counterparts from DFL allies.
The Minnesota Action Network mail to Senate District 57
The latest mail piece hits on Minnesota's "last in, first out" policy for teacher layoffs and teacher tenure itself; Minnesota Action Network has been running television ads about the issue. Governor Dayton and Minnesota Action Network's Norm Coleman have tussled about the issue.
While President Obama, Amy Klobuchar and Clausen won in the A side of the district, voters also selected John Kline and Tara Mack in 2012. In 2014, United States Senator Al Franken, State Auditor Rebecca Otto and Attorney General Lori Swanson won the A side of the state senate district, but Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson, Kline, Mack and GOP Secretary of State candidate Dan Severson triumpled.
In the B side of the district in 2012, Mitt Romney won, along with Congressman Kline and state representative Anna Wills, but picked Klobuchar and Clausen. In 2014, Republican United States Senate candidate Mike McFadden won more votes than Al Franken, while Kline, Wills, Johnson and Severson won their races in the district, while voters picked two DFLers, Swanson and Otto.
Who were Minnesota Action Network's venders for postcards in 2014?
One last thing: who is making money off these postcards?
If the Minnesota Action Network is sticking with the vendor that its electoral wing (the IE PAC) used in 16 of the 2014 races in which it sent maii (see pdf of pre-general election report here), that would be well-known public affairs op shop Weber Johnson. Smart Media of Alexandria, VA, was used for one mailing while the Voyageur Company LLC of St. Paul was used for six campaigns.
Scan: the Minnesota Action Network mail piece that voters received in Senator District 57.
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Part of the Forum Communications newspaper chain, Willmar's West Central Tribune is the only daily newspaper in west central Minnesota.
Via the op-ed page of sister paper, the Worthington Globe, the editors of the Tribune has called for the resignation of Jack Whitley as the Big Stone County Republican Party. In As others see it: Shame on bigoted county GOP leader, the editorial board wrote:
. . . Jack Whitley, who is the current chairman of the Big Stone County Republican Party, posted a series of inflammatory remarks on his personal Facebook page attacking Muslims.
He said Muslims in Minnesota are “terrorists” and “parasites” and suggested the best solution was to “frag ’em” all.
“(Muslims) do not belong in this country,” Whitley told the Star Tribune Thursday. “They cause terror and discontent …”
This and other views by this Republican Party leader in Big Stone County are horrible, narrow-minded and, simply, just plain bigoted. . . .
The editorial makes clear that state leaders of both major parties condemned the statements, then calls for Whitley's resignation:
Whitley’s comments are not only offensive to west central Minnesota residents and Muslim Americans, but are embarrassing to the state Republican Party and Minnesota.
Such a broad-based religious smear is just as despicable as past religious smears against Catholics, Jews, Mormons and other faiths.
Whitley posted Thursday on his Facebook page that he had no inclination to apologize for his beliefs. He deactivated his Facebook page later in the day.
It time for Whitley to resign from his Republican leadership post in Big Stone County.
If he fails to do so, then the Big Stone Republican Party should remove him at the earliest possible option.
West central Minnesota does not need bigoted leaders like Whitley.
One of the things that we've noticed--mostly in comment sections--is the assumption by some readers commenting at the Star Tribune, Raw Story and elsewhere that Big Stone County is a red county, perhaps because it is so very rural.
The pattern held true in 2010. Voters favored the Republican for the state house race (he lost the district as a whole) but voted for Democrats in all the other races. In 2006, the non-presidential year prior to that, Big Stone County voters picked DFLers in all of the partisan offices.
Just as Jack Whitley's extreme bigotry isn't representative of all Minnesota Republicans, neither is his party affiliation indicative of Big Stone County.
A friend reminded us today that Minnesota's western boundary waters--the headwaters of our beloved Minnesota River Valley--is old Farmer-Labor Party territory. It's that, and like so much of the Upper Valley, it's little known, far less than it should be given the friendly people and distinctive prairie river landscape.
Photo: Big stones in the Stone Federal Wildlife Refuge near Ortonville. Early spring.
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Torrey Westrom's television ad may tout "our values. Honest work. Living within your means," but a new filing in the Watonwan County courthouse suggests that there's one plumbing bill that TSI Real Estate LLC hasn't paid, prompting additional action on a mechanics lien on a Madelia apartment building.
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Was Dan Severson running for Minnesota Secretary of State in 2010--as he is in 2014--or to be God's own non-stick cookware?
Just months before he declared his candidacy in October 2009, self-proclaimed prophet and New Apostolic Reformation leader Cindy Jacobs delivered "prophetic words" at the Deborah Company Midwest Convocation in Bloomington on Saturday, July 25, 2009, promising the Minnesota Republican that he could "to be able to say outrageous things and still have favor. I'm going to give you favor - I'm going to make you Teflon."
The Lord says that you are called to this state for such a time as this. It has been really hard but God says I will make your forehead like flint.
God says I will put my words in your mouth - because Dan I have called you like Jeremiah - I have called you from your mother's womb. You were given the name Daniel for this day and this hour. And the Lord says I'm going to open up a Cyrus who is going to begin to open up funding. You will be a voice for the unborn. I call you to be a father to the unborn children, says the Lord.
I am going to show what to do and how to do it. This day I give you favor as your treasure. You are going to be able to say outrageous things and still have favor. I'm going to give you favor - I'm going to make you Teflon.
CathyJo you are to raise up a greater prayer army. I have called you to be a warrior woman. The Lord says you must build a thicker wall. You must build a wall. For I have called the two of you to be like Nehemiah. To build the wall says the Lord
While it's unclears from the post that the Seversons were in the audience, some of the textual clues suggest that they might have been. First, Jacobs speaks of them by their first names, and the site editor Karen Krueger has added their last name in parenthesis. Earlier in the intercession, Jacobs mentions Michele Bachmann, but uses the congresswoman's full name.
Bluestem contacted General International by phone to ask Jacobs if she recalled if the couple were present at the meeting in 2009, but learned that Jacobs was traveling in Asia. Emails to Krueger and the Severson campaign asking if the couple were in the audience in Bloomington were not returned.
. . . To give an impression of how Jacobs thinks the world hangs together, here is Jacobs claiming that the lands of Texas are cursed with violence because they were previously inhabited by Native Americans who “did blood sacrifice” and “were cannibals and they ate people.” Fortunately Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally in Houston broke the curse and “the land is starting to rejoice, you see, because of that prayer” (here is a more in-depth explanation of the kind of phenomenon she has in mind). Later she demanded that those with American/Indigenous heritage must renounce and repent for their ancestor’s sins, since that’s the kind of person she is. In Jacobs’s world God also sent prophets to Germany before the war to warn the Jewish population of the Holocaust, implying that if they didn’t manage to escape it must have been because they were unwilling to listen.
She has also plead the government to ban abortions because it “curses the land”. You want proof? In 2011 there were a couple of cases of large flocks of birds dying in some US states. Jacobs immediately perceived the reason: the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” made God send us a message (also here). It is a little unclear why God would warn us by randomly killing birds in Arkansas (there is no evidence that these were gay birds), but to a mind like Jacobs everything can mean whatever she wants it to mean. . . .
Until July 2012, Jacobs had a strong connection in Minnesota: her late sister Lucy Riethmiller ran a non-profit service organization, Life Resources Counseling Services, in Buffalo, as well as serving as the president of Deborah Company Midwest, which sponsored the 2009 convocation.
2012 caught her working hard to affect the outcome of the election, calling for half a million prayer warriors (through her United States Reformation Prayer Network (USRPN)) to make sure Republicans got elected by praying about it. One of the reasons they need to fight the current government is that, according to information that only USRPN subscribers have received, health care reform legislation apparently requires everyone to get an RFID chip implanted in their finger in order to receive health care. She has earlier prophecied that God is going to “sweep judicial activism” out of America’s courts, which is, I suppose, an example of a fractally wrong (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fractal_wrongness) message. She also asked her followers to pray for the destruction of the separation of church and state. Here is Cindy Jacobs, being apparently dimly aware that some of her political suggestions may be controversial, trying to explain why even environmentalists are dominionists by rather feebly trying to redefine words.
1. Decree the mountain of the Lord will be exalted over the government mountain of Minnesota. 2. Decree God’s righteous government will flow into all cities and counties of Minnesota. (Isaiah 2:2) 3. Decree that law and justice will prevail at every polling place in Minnesota. (Deut. 32:4) 4. Decree that all corruption and illegal voting will be exposed. 5. Decree that believers will rise up, vote and choose God-fearing men and women of truth who hate unjust gain. (Ex. 18:21) 6. Decree to loose the bonds of tradition and generational politics so voters can choose freely. 7. Pray that believers in Minnesota understand their vote is a covenant act before God that declares their allegiance to the standards of the candidate, whether they be for God or against Him. 8. Pray at your polling places. Dismiss the spirits of corruption and confusion that have influenced the hearts and minds of the voters. Ask God to station angels there to protect the integrity of voting. 9. Pray for protection over the Voter ID Constitutional Amendment and that the people of Minnesota will have their voice heard. NOTE: The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the voter ID constitutional amendment. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie opposes the law, so there is a question of whether he will defend it or not. There is also discussion that the legislature will not defend the case, alleging it will be too expensive.
Minnesota's voters rejected the voter ID amendment, as well as handing control of both chambers of the state legislature to the DFL, after two years of Republican control. (For an overview of Seven Mountain Dominionism, click here; Minnesota's Capitol Prayer Network, which Cathy Jo Severson once led, also espouses a Seven Mountain worldview).
Dan Severson had long made Voter ID and claims of electoral corruption a centerpiece of his political talking points. He was so appalled at the results of the 2012 elections that he threatened to move from the state.
Dan Severson stood in disbelief watching election returns.
The former Republican state representative and two-time statewide candidate watched election night as Fox News called the presidential race for Democratic President Barack Obama, and his mood got worse from there as an unexpected Democratic wave formed.
He did not understand.
“It’s immoral,” he said at the Minnesota Republican Party post-election gathering in a Bloomington hotel. “I’m in a state of disbelief. If that’s what Minnesota wants to do, I’m not a Minnesotan for long.” . . .
Well then.
The 2009 intercession isn't the only point where the Severson name surfaces in Minnesota's prophetic community. According to the 2012 Generals International Minnesota Root 52 Prayer Guide:
2007 CATHYJO SEVERSON - Jubilee Worship Center, St. Cloud
"I WANT Minnesota to be a Cancer Free Zone": March 25th, 2007 Minnesota is called to be a place of healing. God wants us in Minnesota and at Jubilee to steward healing virtues. I see a warehouse in heaven marked for the people of Minnesota. From that storehouse He will be giving us body parts and more. St. Cloud sits on the Mississippi and is located at the top of what is known as "Medical alley". St. Cloud is on the northwestern end and Rochester is at the southeastern end of Medical Alley. St. Cloud's destiny is to be a place of healing.
At the top of this state are the headwaters - Living Waters of Revival will flow (Baudette is strategic)
St. Cloud is on the Mississippi and in the strategic place to be impacted by that great outpouring. We need to position ourselves in faith to capture that revival as it is carried on down in the current of God. I see people coming here, Minnesota and Jubilee for healing. I see the map of Minn. Outstretched before me and people crossing over its borders and receiving their healing!
Heavens alone knows what building the Sandpiper oil pipeline in the Headwaters region might do to that vision of healing carried downsteam if there's a leak, but something we doubt Seven Mountain Republicans in Minnesota will raise the issue.
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A letter in today's Aitkin Independent Age slamming first-term state representative Joe Radinovich should help remind voters in Minnesota House District 10B of Republican dirty tricks in the last election.
Two years ago where a candidate lived was extremely important to Democrats when they unmercifully ganged up on and hounded Chip Cravaack. He lived in CD8, even though his wife accepted a job in Connecticut and moved there with their kids. The criticism was as unrelenting as it was unwarranted. But then, dirty politics is nothing new to the DFL.
. . .Joseph Radinovich’s address is listed as PO Box 215, Crosby, MN. Property records indicate he does not own any property in Crow Wing County. If he happens to rent his domicile is that closer to Chip Cravaacks situation or that of Oberstar? Chip lived here and Oberstar and Joe were/are packsackers. Kinda like modern day carpetbaggers.
In addition to a residency question, Joe is employed by a government employees union. That on its face is a conflict of interest, he can act either as our representative or as a union employee. His loyalties are divided. He cannot put both hats on at the same time because the two sometimes conflict with each other. He needs to take one off permanently. . . .
First, the mailing address that Williams lists in the P.O. Box for the campaign committee. Had Williams had the capacity to look on Radinovich's official page, he would have seen an address in Crosby. However, a friend who works in the legislature recalled hearing that Radinovich had sold his house and moved to his brother's house in the district.
Bluestem contacted the first-term legislator, who said in a phone interview that he had sold his home in January.
Because of the significant drop in his income, Radinovich discovered that he needed to tighten his budget, sold his home iand and now rents the upstairs at his brother's home at 225 5th Street in Ironton. He registered to vote at this address for the August 12 primary.
Like other people who live in that part of Ironton, he receives his mail at a post office box, though not the campaign P.O. box listed in Williams' LTE.
Getting mail at the post office is a common practice in towns too small for home delivery routes; Bluestem's editor lives in the same situation in sunny Maynard.
Williams' concern trolling about Radinovich's home and job is simply false.
On October 23, the Brainerd Dispatch published a letter to the editor written by a self-proclaimed Democrat named Stephen Sundquist.
Sundquist's letter expresses disappointment with Joe Radinovich, the DFL-endorsed candidate in House District 10B, and urges "all true Democrats," a set of people including himself, to vote for a write-in candidate instead.
But it turns out Sundquist isn't who he said he is. He's actually a paid MNGOP staffer working for the campaign of Dale Lueck, the Republican candidate running against Radinovich.
A simple Google search of Sundquist yields the following (his actual LinkedIn profile has been deleted):
The DFL filed a complaint with the state Office of Administrative Hearings alleging that Sundquist's letter violates the Fair Campaign Practices and Campaign Finance Acts. . .
The complaint itself was dismissed because the law applies only to accusation against the candidates themselves, but the administrative law judge acknowledged that the alleged behavior was highly objectionable:
While the conduct that the Complainant attributes to Mr. Sundquist, if true, is highly objectio nable, it is not actionable under the Fair Campaign Practices Act. The Fair Campaign Practices Act does not reach every misstatement of fact made in a Letter to the Editor, but only those that relate to a candidate’s personal or political character or acts. In this instance, the only assertions contained in the Letter to the Editor that the Complain an t alleges are false pertain to Mr. Sundquist himself . None of the statements that were alleged to be factually false relate to the personal character of Mr. Radinovich, the political character of Mr. Radinovich , or the acts of Mr. Radinovich.
Williams' letter does accuse Radinovich of not living in the district--but as the Republican activist is not an official on the Dale Lueck campaign 2014, it's probably up to the newspaper to retract the letter as it contains information that is simply false.
That's not all. After Radinovich was elected, dubious letters kept coming. In early April 2012, the Aitkin Independent Age reported DFL files complaint over political attack:
The Minnesota DFL has filed a complaint against State Rep. Greg Davids with the Office of Administrative Hearings for false claims he made in a political attack against Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL-Crosby).
In a letter to the editor in the Brainerd Dispatch on Feb. 22, and in the Aitkin Independent Age Feb. 27, Rep. Davids claimed Radinovich voted for a $3.7 billion tax increase.
Davids claimed Radinovich voted yes on Gov. Mark Dayton’s now-outdated tax proposal. In truth, the vote was on a procedural motion to move the bill from one committee to another where it could receive more public input.
“Rep. Davids is the longest serving Republican in the House and he knows the difference between a procedural motion and a vote on bill,” said DFL Chair Ken Martin. “This is politics at its worst and a disservice to the public, who has a right to know the facts about what their representative has actually voted for and voted against.”
Photo: Letter writer and Tea Party Republican activist Pat Williams of Aitkin, via Minnesota Public Radio(above); Joe Radinovich (right) on a Youth Waterfowl Hunt near Deerwood. He sure looks like he's from around there (below).
*Oscar, the supervisor at Bluestem Prairie's World Headquarters, turned up his freckled nose this idea, since there's no reason to buy the tuna if you've got the treats.
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It's a good thing that the Republican Party of Minnesota has put together a Solutions Center, since in a moment of incipient McFaddenism, Minnesota Minority Leader David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) can't answer questions about what his party would do if it still had control of the legislature.
. . .“A lot of things we’ve dealt with have been dealt with in a very partisan way,” said Hann. “With one-party rule, we’re getting a very ideologically driven agenda.”
Hann was not specific when asked what Republicans would change if they were still in charge. He did not answer a question about whether they would repeal a minimum wage law or roll back a plan to fund all day, every day kindergarten, both items the Legislature has adopted since the DFL took control. . .
If Bluestem recalls correctly, when Republicans controlled both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature from 2011-2012, they were totally non-ideological, what with that government shutdown in 2011 and those two constitutional amendments on the 2012 ballot that were designed to spur conservative voters to the polls.
Perhaps that's the sort of better job he means.
Photo: Minnesota Minority Leader "Silent Dave" Hann. via Hometown Source.
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His announcement comes less than a week after DFL activist and blogger Shawn Towle with Checks & Balances commented on Twitter that he had talked with Nguyen and the candidate confirmed he'd been to a strip club with a Republican leader. A later Twitter post said Nguyen had been seen with Senjem at the the Seville Club in Minneapolis.
Republican blogger Jeff Kolb followed up on those tweets, calling for more Republicans to get in the race. He also tweeted that he had talked with Nguyen who "confirmed he was at a strip club with Senjem on Senjem's birthday."
Bluestem paused in the middle of the first sentence, since Checks & Balances is no longer publishing, its archives are no longer online at its URL and the last post with content at the Internet Wayback Machine is the August 4, 2012 crawl. The content is about the Quist for Congress campaign, The Internet Wayback Machine lists two later crawls, September 3, 2012, and November 3, 2012, but only login screens were captured.
Is Checks and Balances still a thing?
The last time Towle tweeted new blog content via the Checks and Balances twitter account was November 15, 2012, although it's impossible to determine the exact date of publication of the post-election material:
It's fair to say that Shawn Towle hasn't been an active blogger for well over a year. When Bluestem contacted Carlson about Towle's non-blogger status, her response was professional, grounded in the fact that Towle is listed in the capitol news media directory. She was surprised that he was still listed.
Hired gun: Enlightened Enterprises and media credentials
But there's a more serious issue with Towle's continued inclusion in the Senate Media Directory, that Carlson acknowledged and conservative bloggers have explored (although their examination of his content in tweets and Wayback Machine archives are cursory).
The issues were first pointed out on Look True North by CAE Senior Fellow and former Republican legislative candidate Bill Glahn in two posts, Hired Guns and Hired Guns, Part 2. The issue was echoed by conservative and capitol media credentialed blogger Mitch Berg in The Ringer.
It turns out that in 2012 and 2013, the senate Democrats paid a total of $30,250 for “research” to a company listed as “Enlighten Enterprise” of 254 Wheeler Street in St. Paul.
As pure coincidence would have it, a Shawn Towle is listed in both the 2012 and 2013 editions ofCapitol News Coverage Directory as an accredited member of the senate press corps, representing Checks & Balances. That Shawn Towle is also listed in the current 2014edition.
According to the Directory, Senate Rule 16.1(a) reads in part,
The Sergeant at Arms may not issue credentials or day passes under this rule to political organizations. For the purposes of this rule, "political organization" means an organization owned or controlled by a registered lobbyist, a political party, or any party organization.
So we know that the media’s Shawn Towle can’t be the same one that started the similar sounding company of the senate’s research contractor.
The sarcasm doesn't advance the case, nor does the fact that Towle was no longer publishing Checks and Balances by the beginning of 2013. Glahn doesn't break down the 2012 and 2013 payments for Enlighted Enterprises, but Towle was paid $3500.00 on January 7, 2013 and $1500.00 on June 25, 2013 for "research."
While Towle received two checks totaling $5000 in 2013 from the DFL, he was no longer publishing a blog, but he didn't lose his capitol news media credentials either for being on contract with the DFL Senate or being without a publication. Perhaps he was still showing up at press conferences and the like, but the only platform upon which Towle was publishing was twitter. Did that merit continued credentials from the Senate?
Checks and Balances senate tweets: January-June 2013
Whatever research the DFL Senate was paying for in, it didn't involve using the defunct Checks and Balances to promote a message. If the ChecksNBalances twitter account was intended to tip the capitol press corps about "research," what did Towle tweet that's related to the Senate between January 7 and June 25, 2013?
Glahn alludes to a few issues that CheckNBalances/Towle tweeted, but it's cherry picking at best. Placed on reverse chronological order--with some repetitive material eliminated, here are the senate-related issues the account tweeted:
The only senate-related topic during the period is Michael Brodkorb's lawsuit. Since Brodkorb's lawsuit against the Minnesota Senate, originally filed on July 23, 2012, became Senate DFLers's problem with the recapturing of the upper chamber, it's hard to agree with Glahn's speculation that the 2013 payments were for Towle's journalistic endeavors.
What the "research" was is Senate caucus campaign director Mike Kennedy's business. Bluestem sure hopes that if he paid $5000 for that set of tweets, the rest of us get paid the same rate for such services.
Hired gun II: Key Strategies LLC and media credentials
In Hired Gun 2, Glahn writes about a second, earlier contract Towle and the DFL Senate Caucus campaign committee:
Today, I document a series of coincidences around a company called Key Strategies, LLC. In the 2012 report for the Minnesota DFL Senate Caucus, senate Democrats report making a series of four payments to the company (p. 75). Key Strategies is also listed under the 254 Wheeler Street address and received a total of $8,250 from March 7, 2012, to June 5, 2012. Payment was for “strategic consulting.”
According to records on file with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, a company called Key Strategies, LLC, is listed as inactive, having been terminated on January 11, 2007. It was registered to a Shawn Towle of 213 Front Street, St. Paul.
By coincidence, the Shawn Towle of @ChecksnBalances was also active during this period in 2012. Beginning March 15, 2012, Mr. Towle tweeted about the ethics complaint filed against then-state senator Geoff Michel, which he continued to report on through the end of May.
During this period, Towle would tweet about new Checks and Balances reports as well, although the URLs that accompany the tweets led to the dead domain. What other senate-related material did Towle tweet in 2012, when he received over $35,000 of the total payments? In the spring of 2012, one of his firms was paid for "strategic consulting" and from July through December, "research."
Glahn and Berg imply the DFL senate caucus campaign committee was paying him for the media he produced. What did he produce?
Checks and Balances senate blog posts and tweets: March-December 2012
In chronological order, here are senate-related tweets from the ChecksNBalances twitter account and the Checks and Balances URLs that are the ghosts of the now-defunct website.
We can only conclude that while Towle himself clearly broke the credentialing rules by taking on a political party as a client while also serving as a member of the capitol press corps--and after he no longer maintained a venue for publishing his articles, it's hard to see just what the DFL Senate Caucus was getting via Checks and Balances while it was still online, nor from the tweets Towle provided.
And while some material about campaign violations and other material shows up on Towle's stream, tweets from an account with 451 followers of committee hearings that were covered and broadcast aren't particular high value.
We only hope that the strategic consulting and research the DFL Senate Caucus received were of higher quality than tweets and now-vanished blog posts that seemed more obsessed with--and sympathetic to--the firing of Michael Brodkorb than the DFL senate campaign ever was.
Should Towle keep his credentials? The guidelines suggest that those who possess them ought publish regularly about the legislature and be free of connections with "an organization owned or controlled by a registered lobbyist, a political party, or any party organization."
Disclosure: Bluestem's editor and owner does taake on clients for unrelated projects and sponsored articles for the blog. If a post relates to an unrelated project, we disclose; if a project is sponsored (like the articles we published about rural marriage equality supporters last spring), we disclose.
And since we take contracts--even ones that are usually unrelated to our posts here--we'd never considered asking for capitol media credentials.
Photo: Shawn Towle in 2007,via Facebook.
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Catholic Answers, a lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization, defines purgatory as:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," which is experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030). It notes that "this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031).
The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.
As humble rock sitters in Chippewa County, Bluestem is loathe to compare the 2012 election to either a particular or general judgement, while declining to discuss its connection with God's will.
Senator Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson), author of the rejected Voter ID Amendment, is comfortable with discussing the defeat in these terms with Republicans in McLeod County. In County GOPers get pep talks, McLeod County Chronicle editor Rich Glennie reports:
Newman said the 2012 elections were tough for Republicans, who lost control of both houses of the Legislature. “Being in St. Paul is like being in purgatory; it’s not exactly hell, but it’s not heaven either,” Newman said as a GOP minority member.
But he told his fellow Republicans, “We can do something about that. The Republican Party is the party of America!
Scott Newman might think that, but Bluestem couldn't possibly comment.
Image: A minority caucus meeting in the Minnesota Senate, or a Dore engraving from Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vision of Purgatory, Complete,by Dante Alighieri, translated by Rev. H.F.Cary? Scott Newman believes that the two compare.
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If Pine County Commissioner Mitch Pangerl has his way, there will be no electronic sign on land owned by the county because a local LGBT Pride event might use the sign, a group he called a "bad apple."
The Pine County board could have heated meetings in the months ahead, according to one commissioner, if it allows an electronic sign on land owned by the county.
Commissioner Stephen Hallan of Pine City brought forward a request for a group to lease space in front of the old county courthouse in Pine City to advertise community events.
The sign would cost $30,000 and the group would pay for all costs associated with it. Hallan said the fundraising would probably be spearheaded by Kevin Anderson and the Pine City Chamber of Commerce. Hallan said the sign would be used for advertising events such as the Lions pancake breakfast, fishing contests, fair and Arts in the Park.
Fellow Commissioner Mitch Pangerl of Pine City stated he was against the proposed lease of land.
Having an electronic sign in the community has been controversial in the Pine City school system, which formerly had a sign outside the elementary school that was used for community events. In 2000, the sign was erected, with $10,000 coming from the Greater Pine Area Endowment, to promote school and community events.
It was used by more than 20 community groups until this year when Pride in the Park wanted space to promote their event on the sign. Soon thereafter, the school board decided to only use the sign for school events, stating that some members of the public did not support the Pride in the Park message in front of the school.
Pangerl, who said “one bad apple that advertised on that sign,” said he got 30 phone calls on it. The school district, after limiting the message on the sign, refunded the $10,000 donation.
Faust voted to legalize marriage equality last spring, gaining national attention for his moving floor speech, in venues like the Huffington Post.
The East Central Minnesota Pride picnic, which will celebrate its tenth year this summer, is a high profile rural rainbow event. Last summer's entertainment included:
. . . Chastity Brown, a 30-year old Minneapolis-based, internationally-recognized musician who has released three full-length albums and, despite being named “Best Folk Singer” of 2012 in City Pages’ “Best of the Twin Cities,” she straddles multiple genres.
Former Minnesota Viking Esera Tuaolo will also be present to debut release his new smash single “Stronger” on the East Central Minnesota Pride stage. Tuaolo played in the National Football League for nine years and since shocked the world in 2003 with his announcement on HBO REAL SPORTS with Bryant Gumble that he is part of the LGBT community. . . .
Pangerl and others might not like those apples, but tabling a project for a community sign isn't going to stop the fun. There's a worm in Pine County, but it's not the local Pride picnic.
Photo: Mitch Pangerl, 2010.
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Federal money may not grow on trees for health care, but if it's his own defaulted federal loan? Apparently it's just a little shrubbery to borrow from the federal government for a private business, even if that doesn't work out.
Nienow lent money to campaign while not paying SBA debt down
Curiously enough, Sean Nienow might not have been able to find money to pay his SBA loan or fulfill the money he owed to National Camp Association, Inc, a New York corporation, which received a court judgement for outstanding cash, but he was able to loan his campaign money.
When did Nienow loan his campaign nearly $5000? Looking backward to to 2011, Nienow lent his campaign $4950.00 on December 31, 2011 (mind you that it paid him back ASAP in 2012), according to his 2011 end of year report.
But there's more!
In the 2011 year end report, Nienow's campaign repaid earlier loans from the candidate. A partial loan payment of $990 was made on August 9, 2011, another of $500 on November 14, 2011, and a final partial payment of $900 was made on November 20, 2011 for a total of $2390 repaid for the year.
In the 2010 year end report, Sean Nienow loaned his campaign $4700 on July 19; his employer is listed as the National Camp Association Inc. He repaid the loan on July 21, as well as repaying any earlier loan for $4700 on January 4, 2010. The campaign had two outstanding loan balances as of October 18, 2010: $50 from the candidate on August 5, 2002 and $4900 lent by the candidate on December 30, 2005.
“The defendants ceased making payments on or about July 28, 2010, and the Note has not been repaid,” the suit said. “Defendants have defaulted under the terms and conditions of the Note by failing to repay said Note.”
Apparently Nienow found $4700 to loan his campaign on July 19 and got it back of July 21, but didn't direct that cash toward his outstanding balance with the SBA. Did he hoard it until lending it once again to the campaign committee?
The two loans at $4950, along with a December 31, 2009, loan from the candidate of $4700, are listed on his committee's 2009 year end report.
Earlier campaign finance reports do not fall within the period of the contract to buy the assets of National Camp Associatio, Inc. of New York or of the SBA loan.
Nienow does seem to have managed to loaned money to his campaign--and gotten it back--even as he wasn't paying on his loan and contract. Money doesn't grow on trees, after all.
Photo: Sean Nienow. He's not up for re-election until 2016, so maybe everybody will forget this by then.
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There's a lovely story in the most recent issue of the Red Wing Republican Eagle about the respect that "quiet strength" and "fight for truth" earned for a city resident deeply involved in environmental education and human rights for LGBT people.
From that most main street of organizations, the Kiwanis.
When Bruce Ause went to Thursday’s Noontime Kiwanis meeting, he thought he was there to help talk about the early years of the Environmental Learning Center. Instead, he was honored for his work with the ELC and other community involvement when he was named the 2013 Red Wing Neighbor of the Year.
He was chosen from a handful of nominees and stood out for getting the ELC off the ground, work at the state Capitol and locally for Red Wing PFLAG, and his “quiet strength” and fight for truth, Kiwanis members said.
A google search returns a couple thousand hits on his name, and the Red Wing Republican Eagle story condenses that record into a life spent changing people's minds:
In his work with PFLAG, Ause has been “fighting for equality when it’s not very popular,” Leise said.
“He’s one of the few people who can change people’s minds,” she said. “By changing minds, you can change a community.”
Ause said his work with PFLAG has been aimed at curbing discrimination, which he said many people can’t fully understand until they’ve experienced it.
“I am most appreciative of the fact that Minnesota is leading the country in respect and dignity for those that are different,” he said.
Ause began working with the Environmental Learning Center when it started in 1970, seeking "to make a difference one kid at a time,” Killey reports. Ause was also speaking up in April, 2011 about the need to scrutinize industrial scale frac sand mining, according to an Associated Press report, SE Minn. Could Become Hotbed For ‘Frac Sand’. While most people were still babbling on about a "new gold rush," Ause was more cautious:
But some residents fear that sand mining will spoil the local environment, said Bruce Ause, retired director of the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center.
“It’s not that they don’t want any development whatsoever,” Ause said. “But I think they want smart development, sustainable development that doesn’t damage the main reason that people live here or want to live here.”
Breitbart notes that the IUPE and the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) are aiding a Republican PAC:
On Monday, the National Journal reported that "documents filed by other groups show that two labor organizations, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Laborers' International Union of North America, directed a combined $400,000 to the Republican group [the Defending Main Street super PAC] in September and October."
. . .earlier press reports indicate that it claims to have already raised $4 million of a planned $8 million to defeat Tea Party candidates in Republican primaries.
SW Metro Tea Party Patriot and freshman state representative Cindy Pugh doesn't seem to have had any trouble with the Republican Party before. A long time GOP activist, Pugh was endorsed over a sitting Republican legislator who later challenged her and lost in the 2012 primary. Perhaps she doesn't know about the anti-GOP post.
Or maybe challenging sitting Republican legislators is only bad when they're right-wing etremists, rather than part of the game-o of letting people elect their own leaders.
Nor do we recall any outcry from Minnesota's Tea Party chapters when Minnesota unions endorsed some of Pugh's colleagues in the last cycle.
The Republican incumbents endorsed by the union are:
Sens. Bill Ingebrigtsen (SD 8), Jeremy Miller (SD 28) and Dave Senjem (SD 25)
Reps. Jim Abeler (HD 35A), Tony Cornish (HD 23B), Kurt Daudt (HD 31A), Pat Garofalo (HD 58B), Tom Hackbarth (HD 31B), Rod Hamilton (HD 22B), Joe Hoppe (HD 47B), Larry Howes (HD 5A), Denny McNamara (HD 54B), Tim O’Driscoll (HD 13B), Tim Sanders (HD 37B), Joe Schomacker (HD 22A) and Steve Smith (HD 33B)
Will Pugh and her Tea Party supporters demand that her colleagues repudiate their union ties now that the national union of the 49ers is supporting moderate Republicans over Tea Party darlings? Or will she insist on purity and leave the GOP?
Only Howes lost his bid last year, while Daudt emerged as minority leader after the dust settled. Hamilton essentially leads the rural Republicans in the House, while Cornish, a former union rep, is a guardian of gun rights who's fundraised for Pugh.
Does her base really loathe the IUPE? The GOP?
Screenshot: The SW Metro Tea Party post. Is SWMTP leader representative Pugh as hostile to her party?
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According to the agenda for the Inaugural State of the Workforce Symposium: From Education to Employment, sponsored by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), the trade group for for-profit private colleges, Second Congressional District Congressman John Kline spoke this morning to symposium attendees about "Education and the Workforce."
A Republican, Kline chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee.
He also receives boxcar loads of campaign contributions from the parent corporations operating the for-profit schools, which are typical far more expensive than Minnesota's public technical and community colleges and four-year universities.
According to Bluestem's analysis (and we'll be doublechecking our addition, not a strong suit), Kline's campaign and leadership committees took in $57,000 in contributions from PACs and individual contributors associated with for-profit colleges and two formerly for-profit colleges that recently changed their status during FEC's third quarter.
An earlier analysis by USA Today revealed that Kline received "$138,350 from April 1 through June 30 from the political action committees, employees and lobbyists of for-profit schools for his reelection campaign and his leadership PAC."
Kline received less than $15,000 from the same sector in the first quarter, but the dollars for the cycle add up to nearly a sixth of the congressman's haul for both committees in the cycle.
It's a busy time for APSCU, the trade association of America's for-profit colleges. The group spends its time trying to block reasonable measures to hold the worst actors in its industry responsible for their systematic abuses of students and taxpayers, as if the industry is permanently entitled to the enormous amounts of federal taxpayer money -- $33 billion in a recent year -- that it receives. And the industry is under siege, now that media and government investigations have exposed that many for-profit colleges offer a toxic mix of deceptive recruiting, high prices, low quality instruction, and poor job placement records.
Last week the Guardian revealed documents that, among other things, reaffirmed the link between the troubled for-profit college sector and the controversial corporate advocacy group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). . . .
Most of the corporations in the group have fled ALEC, Halperin writes, but ALEC hopes to woo them back:
ALEC documents showed that the group has a "prodical son" (sic) project that seeks to return to the fold lapsed members, and that list included the for-profit college companies Kaplan and Bridgepoint Education. Republic Report was the first to report last year that industry members including Kaplan, Bridgepoint, Corinthian Colleges -- and APSCU itself -- have all been ALEC members. The documents revealed by the Guardian also show that ALEC listed as possible recruits for membership the for-profit college businesses Capella, DeVry, and Education Management Corp.
So what's the problem? Halperin points out:
Given that in the past year numerous for-profit college companies, including Corinthian and Career Education Corporation, have been accused by state attorneys general and others of misleading students about their job placement rates, and given that for-profit colleges today account for 13 percent of college students but nearly half of all student loan defaults, it would be great if APSCU actually got serious about pressing its members to train students for careers. But this two-day session is just talk, not action.
And right now, it's clear that APSCU is actively resisting such accountability for its members. The Obama administration has for four years pursued a "gainful employment" rule, aimed at cutting off taxpayer funds to career education programs that consistently leave their students with insurmountable debt. Instead of accepting a reasonable rule, APSCU lobbied heavily to get the rule watered down by the White House, tried to have it overturned by Congress, and then finally managed to get it blocked by a federal judge.
In some ways, the schools resemble lampreys, attached to the body of higher education for the sake of their stockholders.
Kline and for-profit higher education corporation political contributions
A USA TODAY analysis of newly filed campaign reports shows Kline raised $138,350 from April 1 through June 30 from the political action committees, employees and lobbyists of for-profit schools for his reelection campaign and his leadership PAC. That's nearly one-quarter of his total receipts and up from $20,700 that the industry gave to Kline during the first three months of the year.
On Friday, Rep. Kline will be the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Minnesota Career College Association, the trade group for the state's for-profit colleges. Not all for-profit college programs are bad; some work hard to train students for careers. But the Minnesota organization includes schools owned by some of the industry's worst predators -- described below.
. . . Kline, USA Todayreported over the summer, "saw a dramatic upsurge in campaign contributions from for-profit colleges in recent months," at the same time that he has advanced a bill that would shield for-profit colleges from greater accountability for waste, fraud, and abuse. Kline's legislation has the ridiculous name the "Supporting Academic Freedom through Regulatory Relief Act," but it has nothing to do with actual academic freedom. Instead, Kline's bill is about blocking the Obama administration from issuing a new "gainful employment" rule that would end taxpayer support for career training programs that consistently leave students with insurmountable loan debt . . .
Halperin connects the dots between Kline's contributors and Kline's support for "policies that have fueled a ten-year race to the bottom, where for-profit colleges instead know that the more they mislead and abuse students, the more money they can make." Go read the article for the details.
Kline's third quarter haul from for-profit colleges
The Halperin and USA Today articles both use contribution data on file with the FEC from the second fundraising quarter of 2013. More money came in during the third quarter, and so Kline's talk today might be construed by some as a reward for his own investors.
Schedule A Line #: 11C of his October quarterly campaign committee report includes additional contributions from PACs associated with for-profit schools and higher education services and the corporations that own them:
Apollo Group PAC 4615 Elwood St E Phoenix, Arizona 85040
09/20/2013
5000.00
5000.00
Apollo Group PAC 4615 Elwood St E Phoenix, Arizona 85040
09/20/2013
5000.00
10000.00
Bridgepoint Education Inc. PAC 13500 Evening Creek Dr N Ste 600 San Diego, California 92128
08/05/2013
2000.00
5500.00
Bridgepoint Education Inc. PAC 13500 Evening Creek Dr N Ste 600 San Diego, California 92128
From individuals connected with for-profit schools:
Mr. John Hayes Batson 130 Mississippi River Blvd S St Paul, Minnesota 55105
Regency Corporation
07/15/2013
1000.00
Education
1000.00
Kevin Gilligan 5804 Crescent Ter Minneapolis, Minnesota 55424
Capella Education Company
08/01/2013
2600.00
CEO
2600.00
Mr. Daniel M Hamburger 590 South Ave Glencoe, Illinois 60022
DeVry Inc
07/17/2013
500.00
President & CEO
500.00
Ms. Renee Herzing 4090 Lake Dr N Shorewood, Wisconsin 53211
Herzing University
08/19/2013
5200.00
President & CEO
5200.00
Ms. Renee Herzing 4090 Lake Dr N Shorewood, Wisconsin 53211
Herzing University
08/20/2013
-2600.00
President & CEO
MEMO
2600.00
Redesignated to General 2014
LIMITS
Ms. Renee Herzing 4090 Lake Dr N Shorewood, Wisconsin 53211
Herzing University
08/20/2013
2600.00
President & CEO
MEMO
5200.00
Redesignated from Primary 2014
LIMITS
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson took Herzing University to task for "a medical-assisting degree that didn’t have the accreditation desired by potential employers," the Star Tribune's Paul Walsh reported in the November 27, 2013 story Minn., Herzing University reach deal over program that lacked accreditation.
Mrs. Emily H King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Retired
08/31/2013
5000.00
Retired
MEMO
5000.00
Reattributed from Robert King
LIMITS
Mrs. Emily H King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Retired
08/31/2013
-2400.00
Retired
MEMO
2600.00
Redesignated to General 2014
LIMITS
Mrs. Emily H King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Retired
08/31/2013
2400.00
Retired
MEMO
5000.00
Redesignated from Primary 2014
LIMITS
Mr. Robert E. King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Rasmussen Inc
08/30/2013
10000.00
Chairman
10000.00
Mr. Robert E. King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Rasmussen Inc
08/31/2013
-5000.00
Chairman
MEMO
5000.00
Reattributed to Emily King
LIMITS
Mr. Robert E. King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Rasmussen Inc
08/31/2013
-2400.00
Chairman
MEMO
2600.00
Redesignated to General 2014
LIMITS
Mr. Robert E. King 15W090 Sedgley Rd Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
Rasmussen Inc
08/31/2013
2400.00
Chairman
MEMO
5000.00
Redesignated from Primary 2014
LIMITS
Mr. Michael D Perry 5549 Grove Ct W Visalia, California 93291
San Joaquin Valley College
08/30/2013
5200.00
CEO
5200.00
Mr. Michael D Perry 5549 Grove Ct W Visalia, California 93291
San Joaquin Valley College
08/31/2013
-2600.00
CEO
MEMO
2600.00
Redesignated to General 2014
LIMITS
Mr. Michael D Perry 5549 Grove Ct W Visalia, California 93291
San Joaquin Valley College
08/31/2013
2600.00
CEO
MEMO
5200.00
Redesignated from Primary 2014
LIMITS
With the PAC money, that adds up to $43,000 for the quarter. It's $48,000 with July contribution below. In Kline's Freedom & Security Leadership PAC's filings, July through November, we find one more:
Stevens-Henager's CEO, Eric Juhlin, explained to the Idaho Statesman that the switch was made to allow the college to obtain private donations and, according to the paper, "to meet the long-term vision of its single shareholder, Carl Barney, who purchased Stevens-Henager about 15 years ago." The paper also noted that Juhlin is a board member of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, "the new name for Stevens-Henager Inc."
But there are reasons to be concerned about this new entrant to the non-profit college sector. Stevens-Henager and three affiliated schools were all, according to one of their admissions supervisors whom I reached by phone, converted to for-profit status on January 1, and their umbrella for-profit entity, actually called CollegeAmerica, Inc., became part of the non-profit Center for Excellence in Higher Education. But a new January 14 job posting says that CollegeAmerica, Inc. is hiring and it "is a privately held company that ... operates for-profit Colleges and owns Stevens-Henager Colleges in Idaho and Utah." The supervisor I spoke with at the college, whatever its name is, said that despite the formal conversion, the school was still "in transition." The job posting is for an "admissions consultant," but it is explained that the job is a "sales position" requiring "exceptional persistence" and the ability to work evenings and weekends, and that sounds a lot like the boiler-room style recruiting of for-profit colleges. . . .
Stevens-Henager and its affiliated colleges have established records of leaving their students deep in debt. For example, as of 2009, 40.2 percent of students of the Flagstaff, Arizona, campus of CollegeAmerica defaulted on their loans within three years. The figure was 38.8 percent at the CollegeAmerica campus in Denver, and a still-high 24.7 at the Stevens-Henager campus in West Haven, Utah. For comparison, the default rate at Michigan State University was 4.3 percent.
With the release of first quarter campaign donations, an examination of Federal Elections Commission disclosures by the Wonk Room has found that Kline received nearly $50,000 from for-profit colleges so far this year. Notably, on March 15, 2011, two days before the House passed his amendment against the Department of Education, Kline received $21,200 from the same companies . . .
Kline, who received another $100,000 from the industry last year, also hosted a brazen fundraiser with subprime college lobbyists on March 8th. That means for two straight weeks, industry lobbyists funneled cash to Kline so he could help them drain more taxpayer money without properly educating their students. . . .
[Drazkowski] asked, "Why is it that we cannot focus on the needs of the people who take care of the people who are the most vulnerable among us?"
Drazkowski did not specifically say he would support The 5% Campaign, but did say he would set a high priority on funding for programs that care for the state's most vulnerable.
In an interview, House Health and Human Services Policy Chairwoman Tina Liebling said it is important to remember that the GOP-led House passed legislation in 2011 cutting funding for these programs by 1.67 percent. Democrats prevented those cuts from taking effect and increased funding by an additional 1 percent. Meanwhile, nursing homes received a 5 percent pay increase. She said she supports efforts to find additional dollars for these providers in the upcoming legislative session.
"They are right. We don't pay enough to do what we need to do for people in long-term care, and it really was unfair that we providing a 5 percent increase to nursing homes and must less to long-term care."
Good for Carlson for going the extra distance and interviewing Liebling.
Video still: Steve Drazkowski in the famous meeting with care provider staff in 2011 where he recommended saving costs by installing baby-monitor-like devices to replace staffers in the wake of Republican sponsored budget cuts. Video here.
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Now broadcasting without longtime sidekick Jake Macmillian MacAulay, Bradlee Dean nonetheless remains on the radio via the Sons of Liberty radio show.
He's still saying peculiar things on the show, even without MacAulay's help. On Saturday, October 12, near the end of the first hour, Dean claimed that Barack Obama seeks to "eradicate the Hispanic and the 'Negro' race," via Planned Parenthood.
Dean went on to say that Obama isn't popular in either black or Latino communities, so much so in the latter case that the President of the United States has to bring "illegals in Mexico" to this country.
Heckova plan to eradicate "the Hispanic race" in America, but what does a small-town blogger know.
Here's the transcript:
And do tell your black friends and your Hispanic friends, that the Obama Administration, through Planned Parenthood, is looking to eradicate the Hispanic and the Negro [sic] race. Hey friends, just saying, just ask Margaret Sanger, do a little homework friends.
Who's the greatest advocate for Planned Parenthood?
And-and-and here's another thing, let's get this right out of our minds, let's dispell all of these lies, friends, the black community doesn't support Barack Hussein Obama the way the state run media wants to you believe he does. And they do! They don't!
And the Hispanic people! Because if they did, then why is he looking to legalize and give license to illegals in Mexico to come to America if he had all of that support? He doesn't have the support!
But the state-run media has deceived you into believing that they do. Friends, they only get away with what you let them get away with.
The audio clip (along with a famous picture of Dean giving the infamous prayer--later stricken from the record of the Minnesota House--in which Dean questioned the President's faith):
Dean is riffing off a right-wing conspiracy theory that holds that Sanger, who did hold racist attitudes though not eliminationist views, planned to wipe out black people. In fact, Sanger did not believe in forced sterilization or birth control for any person. Planned Parenthood looks at the conspiracy theory here.
If the president, a man of African and white heritage, seeks to eradicate "the Negro race," he's not doing a very good job of it.
As for the President's popularity in African-American and Latino communities, perhaps the best index for measuring that opinion was the 2012 presidential election. A snapshot of demographic factors assembled by National Journal after the election noted that 93 percent of black voters cast their ballot for Obama, while 73 percent of Latino voters did so.
That's some hating on the man.
As for the plot to "to legalize and give license to illegals in Mexico to come to America," we're stumped as to what's "illegal" about Mexicans living in Mexico, or why someone who supposedly seeks to "eradicate" Latinos would do so opening up immigration from Mexico.
However, since the discussion over comprehensive immigration reform involves creating a pathway to citizenship for people living in the United States without authorization, updating rules for those seeking to live and work in the country, and border security, Bluestem missed the part about wiping out Hispanics (in order to destroy them!) or bringing in more Mexicans because Latino Americans dislike the president.
Photo: Bradlee Dean speaking at a St. Cloud College Republican sponsored event in April 2012. According to one Dean employee and former SCSU student, the visit helped rescue her from boys, booze and books.
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All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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