Quist received 1801 votes, or 36.08 percent, while Independence Party candidate Tim Gieseke collected 511 votes for 10.24 percent of the vote.
The Republican's 2013 percentage of the vote in the state house district dipped slightly from the 37.05 percentage he received of the 2012 congressional election votes cast in the same house district. This suggests that the conservative Republican base that produces an Allen Quist in Nicollet County is fairly stable, with Gieseke capturing small-i independent voters.
Whatever the explanation, creationist Quist was defeated on Charles Darwin's birthday (as well as that of the Original Republican, Abraham Lincoln, although the Grand Old Party has--dare we say--evolved from the days of the Great Emancipator).
In today's other special election, Republican small business woman Tama Thies won with 55.08 percent of the vote with 15 of 16 precincts reporting when we posted at 10:30 p.m. Just as the 19A seat stayed in DFL hands, this traditionally Republican district in St. Cloud stayed Republican.
The results in both districts leave the party counts in the Minnesota House exactly as they were on the morning of November 7, 2012.
. . .Quist didn't talk much -- if at all -- about abortion, gay marriage or
other social issues during the campaign, but [North Mankato voter Jared] Glaser checked some of
Quist's former words and actions online. He saw videos that referenced
Quist's attempts in the 1980s to reduce the amount of anonymous gay sex
in Minnesota and his doubts about the theory of evolution, including
statements that dinosaurs and humans co-existed on earth.
"He just sounds like a lunatic," Glaser said. . . .
Cartoon: Allen Quist can still fly to the state capitol for gun hearings and such. Cartoon by Ken Avidor.
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Standing in Reconciliation Park, site of the hanging of 38 Dakota men,
Arvol Looking Horse spoke of a long journey coming to an end. . . .
“Today, being here to witness a great gathering, we have peace in our hearts — a new beginning of healing,” Looking Horse said.
Under clear skies with temperatures just above zero, 400 to 500 people
packed the area around the downtown park as about 60 riders rode in for
the nearly two-hour ceremony, which also dedicated a new “Dakota 38”
memorial. A group of Dakota runners, who started at Fort Snelling, also
arrived during the ceremony. . . .
These are the names that were read today of the Dakota men executed at Mankato 150 years ago, via Dakota Wicohan's Facebook page:
Ti-hdo’-ni-ca (One Who Jealousy Guards His Home)
Ptan Du-ta (Scarlet Otter)
O-ya’-te Ta-wa (His people)
Hin-han’-sun-ko-yag-ma-ni (One who Walks Clothed in Owl Feathers)
Ma-za Bo-mdu (Iron Blower)
Wa-hpe Du-ta (Scarlet Leaf)
Wa-hi’na (I Came)
Sna Ma-hi (Tinkling Walker)
Hda In-yan-ka (Rattling Runner)
Do-wan’-s’a (Sings A Lot)
He-pan (Second Born Male Child)
Sun-ka Ska (White Dog)
Tun-kan’ I-ca’hda Ma-ni (One Who Walks by His Grandfather)
Wa-kin’-yan-na (Little Thunder)
I-te’ Du-ta (Scarlet Face)
Ka-mde’-ca (Broken to Pieces)
He pi’ da (Third Born Male)
Ma-hpi’-ya A-i’-na-zin (Cut Nose)
Henry Milord
Cas-ke’-da (First Born)
Baptiste Campbell
Ta-te’ Ka-ga (Wind Maker)
He in’-kpa (The Tip of the Horn)
Hypolite Auge
Na-pe’-sni (Fearless)
Wa-kan Tan-ka (Great Spirit)
Tun-kan’ Ko-yag I-na’-zin (One Who Stands Cloaked in Stone)
Ma-ka’-ta I-na’ (One Who Stands on Earth)
Ma-za Ku-te Ma-ni (One Who Shoots As He Walks)
Ta-te’ Hdi-da (Wind Comes Home)
Wa-si’-cun (White Man)
A-i’-ca-ge (To Grow Upon)
Ma-hu’-we-hi (He Comes for Me)
Ho-i’-tan-in Ku (Returning Clear Voice)
Ce-tan’ Hun-ka’ (Elder Hawk)
Can-ka-hda (Near the Woods)
Hda’-hin-hde (Sudden Rattle)
O-ya’-te A-ku’ (He Brings the People)
State Rep. Dean Urdahl, who co-chairs a state task force commemorating
the Civil War and U.S.-Dakota War, said that while great progress has
been made through reconciliation and education, there remains a lack of
understanding about what led up to the war and the travails that the
Dakota suffered long after the war.
“Through understanding comes a healing that is still continuing today,” Urdahl said.
Bluestem learned about these things as a child, in school and from family, but many Minnesotans, whether indigenous or whose people came from other continents, do not know this history.
For the complete story and more amazing photos by the Free Press's Pat Christman, read "Forgive everyone everything".
Update: Video of the reading of the names, by a Dakota speaker.
Photo: Dakota riders make their way down
Riverfront Drive toward Reconciliation Park before a ceremony
commemorating the 150th anniversary of the hanging of 38 Dakota in
Mankato. Photo by Pat Christiman From "Forgive everyone everything".
Conservative sites are flaming former Minnesota Republican kingpin Jeff Larson, scorching the reach of his octopi-tentacles into the pockets and the defeat of 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is
located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA
22314.
Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor
of 66 Canal Center Plaza where the seeds of Mitt Romney’s ruin and the
RNC’s get out the vote (GOTV) effort collapsed — bled to death by
charlatan consultants making millions off the party, its donors, and the
grassroots.
66 Canal Center Plaza is also why Jeff Larson, the Chief of Staff of
the Republican National Committee, should not be put in charge of the
autopsy of the GOP’s defeat. Multiple sources confirm to me that RNC
Chairman Reince Priebus has already put Larson in charge of the so
called autopsy. . . .
Down the Rabbit Hole
To understand the problems, we need to go back in time. Michael
Beach is a co-founder of Targeted Victory, LLC, as is Zac Moffatt.
Before that, he was the National Victory Director for the Republican
Party during the 2008 campaign.
Targeted Victory, LLC operates from suite 501 of 66 Canal Center
Plaza in Alexandria as a foreign limited liability company. Targeted
Victory, LLC is actually a Minnesota limited liability company. In
Virginia, its co-founder Michael Beach, is listed as its registered
agent by the Virginia Secretary of State. It was formed on February 5,
2009, around the time Michael Beach left the RNC.
Targeted Victory, LLC’s registered office is 7300 Hudson Blvd, Suite
270, St. Paul, MN 55128. It’s manager, who is the person who controls
the day to day operations of an LLC on behalf of its members, is Tony
Feather.
Drum roll please — Tony Feather happens to also be the F in FLS
Connect, LLC, which made millions off both the Romney campaign and the
RNC.
The “L” in FLS Connect is Jeff Larson, the present Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee.
Curiously, the Virginia Secretary of State notes that FLS Connect,
LLC uses a registered agent in Virginia Beach, VA, but is a foreign
limited liability company just like Targeted Victory, LLC. More
curious, its principal office is the same office in St. Paul, MN as
Targeted Victory, LLC, but FLS Connect is actually an Arizona limited
liability company. . . .
Erickson dives into the wreck, emerging with:
FLS Connect continued to get business from the RNC and also got
business from Team Romney. But now Targeted Victory enters the picture.
Targeted Victory, LLC’s principal office is the same office in St.
Paul, MN that FLS Connect, LLC lists as its own principle office.
Targeted Victory’s manager is Tony Feather, who is the F in FLS Connect.
Rich Beeson, who used to work for FLS Connect, is now with Team
Romney and Team Romney awards a contract to Targeted Victory, LLC for
its digital work with Zac Moffatt as Digital Director of the campaign.
Targeted Victory, LLC and FLS Connect, LLC rake in millions in
commissions. The central component to Rich Beeson’s get out the vote
operation is Project ORCA, which is headed by Zac Moffatt of Targeted
Victory, LLC, whose principal office in Minnesota is shared by FLS
Connect, LLC. As of October 26, 2012, Targeted Victory had been paid $64 million by Team Romney and FLS Connect had been paid $16.5 million.
And now the “L” in FLS Connect, Jeff Larson, will perform the autopsy on why Election Day and its related operations collapsed. . . .
The MNGOP Way: Incest Is Best, Or the Party that Pays Together
Bluestem is surprised that anyone in the Republican Party can feign shock, much less surprise at this news, since this sort of collective ingrown toenailhood has marked Larson's business dealing for the party for years.
Two 2011 articles at City Pages by Andy Mannix and Mike Mullen illustrate this point well, though not for the first time. There's their cover article, "RNC Piggy Bank", a fine piece of investigative journalism about Larson's involvement in staging the 2008 RNC convention and his profit from the committee created for the event. Go read it.
In mid-2008, it came out that Jeff Larson had been renting a
Washington, D.C. apartment to then-Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn), a close
friend and political cohort.
As a landlord, Larson -- the subject of last week's feature, "RNC Piggy Bank"
-- had been pretty lax on collecting rent. He allowed Coleman to miss
several payments, and even admitted to accepting furniture from Coleman
instead of a rent payment. This all raised ethical questions with
political watchdog groups, leading to a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee.
But records show that Larson's career as a political landlord extends beyond this one incident.
In 2003, Larson was the founding treasurer of Coleman's political
action committee, Northstar Leadership. In the years since, Northstar
Leadership has paid more than $300,000 to Larson's telemarketing firm,
FLS Connect, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Some of this PAC money has gone toward Larson renting an office from FLS. In addition, Coleman for Senate '08, the Senator's official 2008 campaign committee, also rented an office from FLS. As did the 2008 Republican National Convention host committee, of which Larson was the CEO and treasurer.
At
one point, FLS was renting an office to Coleman's PAC, Coleman's
campaign committee, and the host committee, all at the same time. . . .
Coleman and Larson: Twin Brothers of Different Mothers?
Nor have former one-term wonder Coleman and Larson parted compaign when it comes to conservative campaign bidness. Coleman's American Action Net handed over some checks this year to Targeted Victory as well, according AAN's October Quarterly report of independent expenditures on file at the FEC.
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Expenditure Description: Internet Advertising and Website
Date Expended = 09/14/2012
In OPPOSITION to RICHARD MICHAEL NOLAN
Amount Expended = 28999.00 Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 282738.63
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Expenditure Description: Internet Advertising and Website
Date Expended = 09/14/2012
In OPPOSITION to DAVID MICHAEL GILL
Amount Expended = 28999.00 Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 183747.80
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Expenditure Description: Digital Advertising and Website
Date Expended = 09/14/2012
In OPPOSITION to RICHARD MICHAEL NOLAN
Amount Expended = 28999.00 Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 311737.63
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Expenditure Description: Digital Advertising and Website
Date Expended = 09/14/2012
In OPPOSITION to JOSE M HERNANDEZ
Amount Expended = 28999.00 Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 504183.40
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Expenditure Description: Digital Media Advertising and Website
Date Expended = 09/14/2012
In OPPOSITION to DAVID L CROOKS
Amount Expended = 28999.00 Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 43935.74
As lame duck one-term congressman Chip Cravaack can attest, that $57,998 was money well spent on digital advertising and a website.
Photos: Jeff Larson, top; Norm Coleman, bottom.
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader contributions. If you liked this post, consider throwing some coin to the tip jar.
If you don't like using PayPal, email at the address on this page for a
snail mail address. We'll be running our twice-yearly "bleg" though
Christmas.
Today's Morning Take provided an assessment of this weekend's Republican state convention endorsement contest for the United States Senate seat now held by Amy Klobuchar:
According to numerous sources, Rep. Kurt Bills has a lead in delegates going into the convention. The surprise is that most people predict that fmr. state Rep. Dan Severson is in second, and war veteran Pete Hegseth is in third. The estimated percentages compiled from GOP insiders are 35-38 Bills, 30- 32 Severson, 15-20 Hegseth and 15 uncommitted. ENDORSEMENT: One possibility like 2002, is a long drawn out endorsement fight. The difference is that unlike 2002 when fmr. Gov. Tim Pawlenty battled businessman Brian Sullivan, is that most GOPers don’t think they can defeat Klobuchar. The Governor’s seat was open in 2002. WATCH: If Hegseth is knocked out early, he is more likely to consider a primary run, if he hangs on for a few hours of balloting, he may try to block an endorsement so that he can go to a primary.
Already, the race is taking on Parry-Quist levels of nastiness on twitter.
But another matter entirely makes Bluestem laugh: a post of a Hegseth email at Residual Forces under the headline: Actual Momentum. A name(emphasis added) made familiar in the 2008 CD1 congressional race reappears:
Elected officials and Party leaders
Sen. Gretchen Hoffman
Rep. Larry Howes
Randy Gilbert
Bev Aplikowski (CD 4 Chair, former)
Mark Westpfahl (CD 2 Chair)
Diane Johnson (CD8 Vice Chair)
Brian Davis
Brian Davis, who now faithfully serves the Republican Party as a member of the finance committee for the Olmsted County BPOU, brought back memories of freshman Tim Walz's re-election with 62.50% of the vote to Davis's 32.93*% (IP candidate Greg Mikkelson snagged 4.48% of the votes cast).
The recognition of Brian Davis as an "Elected official and party leader" says a great deal about the state of the Republican Party of Minnesota, not to mention Hegseth's strength. (We leave the presence of smiling RINO Larry Howes on the list for the consideration of conblogger Gary Gross, who is in far better a position to define the term than the dirty hippies on the Bluestem Prairie are able).
Beard's defense of free enterprise made us curious just how good he is at it.
When Bluestem looked at Beard's Economic Interest Statement on file with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, we discovered that Beard owns a company, Beard Aircraft, and hold securities in it--and Bixby Energy Systems, a private corporation involved in the development of "clean coal" technology.
Reps. Kathy Lohmer and Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big ALEC) also sunk money into this GOP turkey farm; former Congressman Gil Gutknecht was on the board, and served as something of a knight in shining armor when the fraud was exposed.
He'd hoped to save the firm, but he's walking away, Star Tribune business columnist Neil St. Anthony reported Saturday in Bixby Energy now running on fumes. The deets:
In a recent letter to the privately held company's investors, former board chairman Gil Gutknecht and other board members said legal, technical and financial problems make it difficult to continue, though some shareholders plan to try.
Gutknecht, a former congressman and Bixby investor who stepped in to lead the company during its securities-fraud crisis last year, has resigned from the board, as have Jim Bergeron and Dave Merhar. The company's four paid employees were laid off in February, the letter said.
Though the company has customers for its coal-to-gas technology in China, engineers have struggled for months to get the first units working. . . .
. . .Meanwhile, two men who fraudulently solicited Bixby investors await sentencing in federal court, and the company's founder and former CEO, Bob Walker, awaits trial on charges he fraudulently raised $43 million from 1,800 Bixby investors. Prosecutors say the investors are "left with nothing."
Photo: Former First District Congressman Gilknecht served from 1995-2006, when he was defeated in an upset by Congressman Tim Walz. He's campaigning that year in this photo lifted from a 2006 Daily Kos diary.
Similarly, those who worry that Minnesota is fast becoming a "nanny state'' in which all problems are solved for residents and risks to their welfare eliminated can sleep well knowing that Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, has been ever ready this session to ward off any such sissy creep.
Example:
Come autumn, you might fancy a stroll with Ol' Fido amid the season's florid aspens and oaks. Or perhaps you ponder following your English setter or Labrador retriever in quest of the wondrous and wily ruffed grouse.
But instead you stay home, fearing the watered-down body-gripping trap regulations the House passed this week might ensnare your pooch in the torturous death grip of a Conibear 220.
Well, man up, you sissy, and head for the woods, your doggie in tow. It's not the Legislature's job to protect Minnesotans and their chicken-livered mutts from concealed killers -- even though Wisconsin, among other states, has managed such protections quite well.
Drazkowski also stands ever alert on behalf of citizens who worry they might have too much public land at their disposal on which to have fun.
There's hardly a public forest that couldn't easily be platted for homes, he seems to believe, or a state park whose trees shouldn't be whacked or a wildlife management area that wouldn't be better suited as a feedlot.
The bill also includes almost $30 million to buy land, including $14 million for the Mississippi Northwoods Habitat Complex and $13.8 million to pay for Phase IV of the Reinvest in Minnesota/Wetlands Reserve.
All that spending to buy public land didn’t escape the eye of Rep. Steve Drazkowski(R-Mazeppa), who noted that governments already own nearly 8.5 million acres of land in the state.
“The definition of socialism is when the state owns the capital. And we continue to march continually toward putting this government into ownership,” Drazkowski said.
Spoken in the spirit that moved the Draz to attempt to permit logging of black walnut trees in state parks. But there's more: Dennis Lien reports in Minnesota House passes environmental package:
Republican Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa also failed in an attempt to make all lakes under 40 acres that are surrounded by private land private instead of public waters.
"We are taxing people on this surface area and then telling them what they can't do with it,'' Drazkowski said.
But even many Republicans refused to go along with that approach. "This just screws up the situation terribly,'' said Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder.
But Minnesota's great outdoors isn't the only target for ALEC zombie Drazkowski. Students attending MNSCU campuses can also look forward to dodging bricks at their campuses (and driving on rougher roads to get there) if Steve has his way. Rochester Post Bulletin reporter and Tea Party scribe Heather Carlson reports in Prospects for passage of a state bonding bill unclear:
State lawmakers left town Thursday night for a week-long Easter/Passover break without voting on bonding bills, raising questions of whether these public works packages will happen this session.
Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, is among lawmakers hoping such a bill won’t pass. While the Legislature traditionally passes bonding bills in the second year of the biennium, Drazkowski said there is no need this time around. He points to lawmakers’ approval of nearly $500 million for construction projects last summer as part of a final budget deal with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to end the government shutdown. He says that should be enough.
“This isn’t money that just falls down (like) manna from heaven. This is money that is borrowed,” he said.
Others argue that if the Legislature does not pass a bonding bill, it will have failed in one of its key responsibilities — taking care of the state’s infrastructure.
The House bonding bill has been criticized for starving metro area project in favor of greater Minnesota MNSCU campuses, but Draz would shut them all out, as well as those pesky millions for bridge repairs.
Fifteen months after taking control of Minnesota's Legislature, Republicans have put a gay marriage ban on this November's ballot, moved to expand gun rights and cast dozens of votes to cut state spending. But there's one issue where they failed to get traction: watering down the strength of organized labor with a right-to-work law.
The problem isn't so much opposition from Democrats. And it isn't a lack of enthusiasm for the idea, which many conservatives consider essential for creating a business-friendly economic climate. The problem lies with Republicans who fear triggering a huge rebellion among opposition labor unions and sending a surge of sympathetic voters to the polls in November to vote Democratic.
In Minnesota and elsewhere across the Midwest, the question of what to do about the right-to-work issue is pitting Republican against Republican, straining relationships among longtime allies and weighing cherished ideals against political tactics....
The GOP's tea party flank also tends to favor action. Last weekend, Benson triumphed in a party endorsement battle with fellow Republican Sen. Mike Jungbauer, a right to work skeptic.
For many conservatives, it's a deeply felt goal. When Steve Drazkowski began serving in the Minnesota House in 2007, Democrats had controlled at least one chamber of the Legislature for a full generation. "Four decades, right there," in which they couldn't achieve their policy goals, Drazkowski said.
After Republicans finally won control in 2010, he put right-to-work state at the top of his to-do list.
Actually, Bluestem thinks that the rich west metro businessman's own tea party, The Freedom Club, told the ordinary Tea Partiers to get excited about this one. But that's us.
But nothing stops the Drazombie--and so there's more. In yesterday's Winona Daily News' oped section, Paul Hamernik notes in There’s fraud and there’s fraud ...:
Let me see if I’ve got this right: The Republicans are saying we need picture IDs — like a driver’s license — in order to eliminate the voter fraud that we have in Minnesota.
Yet, Rep Steve Drazkowski states in his April 4 column, “I was talking to a police officer who told me about his discovery of individuals in this state who owned and possessed multiple driver’s licenses in order to pad their pocketbook at the expense of Minnesota taxpayers.”
My question is this: If its that easy to obtain multiple driver’s licenses, why change a voting system that has been in use many years with negligible problems?
True, he wasn’t talking about voter fraud, but welfare fraud — but where does it say in the U.S. Constitution that I need to show a picture in order to vote?
As much as legislators like Steve Drazkowski are a gift to the blogging community, Bluestem finds itself pining for the days when Steve Sviggum filled that seat. Unfortunately, Sviggum has risen--to be the Peter Principle's poster boy in his current role as the Senate Majority's communications chief.
At least residents of Minnesota's First Congressional District can breathe easier. Redistricting placed both of these champions of contemporary conservative cluelessness in the Second. Draz is John Kline's problem now.
Image: White chocolate Draz Zombie bunny, by Tild.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is taking aim at longtime Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) with an ad arguing he has "changed." . . .
Peterson, now in his 11th term, has faced no serious challenges in more than a decade to his hold on a Republican-leaning northwest Minnesota district, although Republicans have periodically tried to target him.
But Republicans feel good about the chances of Minnesota state Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R), who announced her campaign in late February. Tea Party-backed Lee Byberg (R), whom Peterson beat by 17 percentage points in the 2010 GOP wave election, is also running.
Framing Norwegian-American anchor-baby Byberg as the "[t]ea party-backed" candidate is one deft stroke on the part of whomever pitched this story to The Hill.
In Minnesota, a GOP candidate for the state legislature with Tea Party support, Gretchen Hoffman, told a St. Paul reporter that she got involved during the U.S. Senate recount last year and “didn’t like the direction things were going in this country…I’d always been informed, but never really involved. And then one day I woke up and I saw my country going away.” She met with others who felt the same way, organized small gatherings and says that while they’re “not affiliated with any larger Tea Party group, there are a bunch of us around…. we have something to say and we’re going to say it.”
Hoffman not only appeared at Tea Party rallies, but organized meetings in her area. It's interesting to see the re-branding, with Byberg being cast as the Tea Party also-ran.
Regardless of which Tea Party candidate the Seventh District Republicans select at their convention tomorrow, the Peterson seat itself was chosen as a target in November 2010 by the NRCC. On November 4, 2010, Politico reported in 2012 targets already in GOP's sights:
But NRCC officials also signaled that even though Republicans took down roughly 50 Democratic incumbents Tuesday, they are already plotting how to pick off the ones who got away. . .
n a conference call with reporters Wednesday, NRCC Executive Director Guy Harrison listed 10 moderate Democrats who are in the committee’s sights for 2012: West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson and Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire. All four were held under 60 percent Tuesday and represent districts that voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008.
Perhaps the greatest asset Hoffman brings to the Republican race isn't a Tea Party-free status, but her trademark disagreeableness. Yesterday's Morning Take provided a snapshot of her campaign's rips on Byberg:
GOP: Hoffman has been relentless in going after Byberg in the last couple weeks. In addition to rolling out endorsements from her state Senate colleagues, she sent out releases with the headline “HOFFMAN ASKS BYBERG TO STOP LYING TO VOTERS” and a release that asks “...with media outlets reporting Congressional candidate Lee Byberg’s half-hearted apology for fabricating political endorsements he never had and his campaign acknowledging that it incorrectly represented endorsements it never received in both the 2010 and 2012 elections, state Sen. Gretchen Hoffman today called on Byberg to explain why the apology took so long and just what information delivered to Minnesota voters he is responsible for?” MORRIS: Then, an attack on Byberg’s touting of Dick Morris endorsement: VERBATIM: A letter from the Lee Byberg campaign arrived in mailboxes today touting the endorsement of Dick Morris, the architect of democrat Bill Clinton’s re-election strategy. QUOTE: “After failing to earn more than 38% of the vote in 2010, the best year for Republican victories since 1920, I don't see how Lee Byberg will improve upon his disappointing performance by aligning himself with a New York-based former campaign manager to Bill Clinton," said Hoffman.
Charming. Out here on the Bluestem, we anticipate two more years of representation by conservative Blue Dog Peterson, complete with the occasional auditory waterboarding by his country rock band, The Second Amendments. A small price to pay, we guess, for not having to listen to Hoffman or watch her antics on the state senate or U.S. House floor.
Update: Via Minnesota Conservatives, Hoffman's campaign is trashing conservative radio (and now TV) talker Scott Hennen as being bought by Byberg. Hoffman has been a frequent guest on Scott Hennen's shows and Hennen emceed several Tea Party rallies where Hoffman appeared. It's interesting to see her turn so quickly on the former ally.
Turning on him for this endorsement is curious indeed. Bluestem will be taking a look at other Republican advertising buys and will report back. In the meantime, pop some corn.
Photo: Tea Party darling Gretchen Hoffman (R-Hateuall) and Byberg's former communications manager Dave Thompson goof off during a Senate session, while Scott Dibble(foreground) diligently slogs ahead (above); Portrait of Hoffman (below).
Sometimes you read something in the news or see something on tv that strikes a deep nerve. That happened to me yesterday.
The news that Minnesota State Senator Linda Scheid had ceased treatment for ovarian cancer and was entering hospice care at home brought back a wave of raw emotions.
It seems like only yesterday that I went through this myself as a family member. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer around Christmas 2003. She fought it valiantly but in the fall of 2008 the doctors advised her that there were no further treatments that would be of help. She entered hospice care at home around Christmas time 2008 and died New Year’s Day 2009.
Sen. Scheid and her family are going through the same things my family went through. It is an experience I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.
I walked away from the political world with an apathetic finger in 2010 when I was told by a staffer of one of our federally elected officials that the senator would not sign on and support a bill in the Senate that would provide funding for ovarian cancer research because you can’t support every cancer research bill that comes along.
According to the American Cancer Society, in women age 35-74, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. An estimated one woman in 58 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2009, there will be 21,550 new cases of ovarian cancer and 14,600 women will die from ovarian cancer.
When one is diagnosed and treated in the earliest stages, the 5-year survival rate is over 90%. Due to ovarian cancer's non-specific symptoms and lack of early detection tests, only 19% of all cases are found at this early stage. If caught in stage III or higher, the survival rate can be as low as 30.6%.
There is still no early detection test available for ovarian cancer nor has Congress approved funding to develop an early detection test.
In honor of Sen. Scheid and her family, my mom and family and the 21,550 women who will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year maybe we can get our politicians to listen to our pleas and pass legislation setting aside funding to develop an early detection test for ovarian cancer.
One woman in 58 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime.
Are you going to be one of those 58? Will your mother, sister, daughter, girlfiend, wife?
Chad Larimer lives and works in Rochester.
Bluestem Prairie hopes readers will keep Senator Scheid in their prayers, and work for congressional action for funding for an ovarian cancer early detection test.
On this Memorial Day, I'm remembering those who defended my country, and those who died for it.
One story that's moved me this spring strikes at the core of what it means to be an American, to love this country, to honor its values: the death of Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt and his family's standing up for equality for all people. Andrew Wilfahrt was a gay man; this was the least interesting thing about him. What those who served with him remember is a soldier who was there for his fellow soldiers. He's buried now in the national cemetery at Fort Snelling, along with one of my own uncles who died in the Malmedy Massacre and with hundreds of others who served their country.
Wilfahrt's life and death became an emblem of equality in in recent debates over a bill to amend the Minnesota constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Those opposing the bill--and now the amendment--have risen to rare eloquence, none more than that of a Republican freshman legislator who lost the lower part of his legs in Iraq when an IED exploded.
In this video, John Kriesel points toward protesters chanting during this statement, saying that that America was the one he had fought for. I'd like to believe that this is where Andrew's heart is, in the America that includes everyone, and values everyone, but there are others, equally American, who believe otherwise. This is their right; some may even object to the posting of this video on Memorial Day. That, too, is their right.
My beloved state now faces a debate and a fight over fundamentals: who we are, what we love, how a society will recognize that love, and what love will matter. This Memorial Day, I'm siding with the Wilfahrt family and Representative John Kriesel, a straight, married, conservative man, in saying Yes to a society which respects love, and on Election Day in November 2012, saying "Hell No!" to those who would deny equality for Andrew and everyone. I'd prefer that no one's fundamental rights and dignity be put up for a vote, but since vote I must, it's "Hell No."
Thank you, John Kriesel. Thank you, Jeff and Lori Wilfahrt. And thank you, Andrew Wilfahrt.
A probable answer comes from behind the paid subscribers firewall at the Austin version of the Post Bulletin in the article County receives GOP payment, lesson:
As of three weeks ago, 31 counties still hadn't been reimbursed by the GOP, said Sharon Anderson, auditor/treasurer of Cass County. The total owed is about $31,000.[emphasis added]
The GOP still owes Cass County nearly $1,800.
"We have not received it," Anderson said Tuesday. "I've dropped that ball for the last couple of weeks; the reason I put that ball away is because our leadership spoke with the state party chair and the accountant and at least had a verbal assurance that as funds were raised, counties would get paid."
It's been frustrating, she admitted, but said she's been in regular contact with the Cass County attorney.
"I've lost patience," Anderson said. "I don't feel politically at liberty to go any further than the county administrators want."
Her position is an appointed one, unlike many of the state's auditor-treasurer roles.
Anderson hasn't spoken with Tony Sutton, the Republican Party chairman.
"Our leadership and association did the homework," she said, "and their advice to us is to keep sending the bill every month. I'm going to suggest to our county board that we should be invoking an interest charge on those late accounts."
Now, that figure is three weeks old, and presumably Sutton has paid a few more bills. Has he made a specific ask to contributors--or maybe to statewide Republican candidates who had money left in their kitties at the end of 2010? Say Pat Anderson's $3283 or Dan Severson's $8781?
A bitter divide in the state Republican Party over expanded gambling has activists saying they want a closer look at the party chairman's ties to the anti-gambling group he helps lead and the tribal money that funds it.
Republican leaders want Party Chairman Tony Sutton to explain how GOP activists on a closely held party database began receiving e-mails from Citizens Against Gambling Expansion, a group funded in part by American Indian casino operators opposed to gambling expansion.
"If Sutton wants to be part of CAGE, then he's going to have to answer questions," said John Gilmore, a St. Paul Republican who supports Sutton.
Sutton said Wednesday there's no proof CAGE even has the list. The group's chairman, Republican operative Jack Meeks, said the group built its own database over the past several years.
"We don't give anybody the list," said Sutton, a CAGE board member. He said the latest accusations are part of a "smear campaign" by those who want to expand gambling.
Sutton and the GOP are between a couple of rocks; I will not speculate about the hard places, as we simply aren't that close.
Image:Tild's take from last summer still has currency.
I'd been following the tragic story of the double suicide of Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz, two 14-year-old friends via the Marshall Independent, and thus was interested in Andy Birkey's fine story, Double suicide in western Minnesota puts bullying back in spotlight.
A couple of people leaving comments on the April 22 Minnesota Independent story suggest that the local paper isn't covering the story. "Dyna" posts that "The local press here in Marshall is not reporting this story at all" while "Bopper" writes "Nothing in SW Minnesota papers beyond a brief report that the suicides occured. This was the first real information I’ve seen." Both comments were left on April 22.
Bluestem readers know that I won't be shy in criticizing the Marshall paper if it were indeed ignoring this story. However, neither comment accurately reflects coverage of the story by the Marshall Independent, which first began reporting about the story on April 17 with Teens die in incident this weekend.
Willert and Cindy Manthey of the Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative's Critical Incident Stress Management team spoke to members of the media Monday, and answered questions about the incident. Willert said school administrators and staff have been in communication with the deceased students' families in order to respect their wishes and privacy.
"Based on information provided by the Lyon County Sheriff's Department, we have had two unexpected deaths of Marshall Middle School students," Willert said. Willert said Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz, both 14, died by suicide. . . .
"We need to model and talk with our children about how do we solve problems, how do we deal with things that are hard," she said. It is also helpful to teach monitor children and teen's use of cell phones and social media, and to teach them to be cautious about information they receive electronically. "Just because it's something was texted or someone put on Facebook, that doesn't mean it's fact." . . .
The article noted that there'd be a public meeting about the suicides and places for people to find more information.
On April 20, the Marshall Independent published an article about that gathering, Middle School meeting offers support for parents. The meeting mostly addressed how to deal with students' response to the deaths, but social media was brought up:
Cindy Manthey of CISM said parents should not overlook the role social media can play after the death of a student. Texting, Facebook and Twitter all make it easier for misinformation and rumors to get spread around. In working with Marshall students, she said, "We've been handling the rumors, we've been talking about the rumors."
Rumors are a concern because young people tend to be impressionable, Manthey said.
"They also don't have much of a filter as to what gets posted," she said. Supervising children, and shutting off cell phones or Facebook at night is good for everyone's well-being.
Marshall school officials, along with a crisis team from SW/WC Service Cooperative are doing a good thing by stepping up and reaching out to students and their parents and to the community as everyone copes with last weekend's incident outside of Marshall where two middle school students took their own lives.
As school officials and, in some cases, leaders within the community, this group expedited grief counseling Sunday and have continued it this week, held a news conference for members of local and statewide media to dispel rumors and organized an unprecedented event at the middle school Tuesday evening to give parents some kind of guidance as to how best to handle the situation within the walls of their own homes. . . .
All parents should be reminded to keep the lines of communication with their kids wide open, to listen to everything they have to say, and to encourage their kids to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions - not only about what happened last weekend, but about anything that's on their minds. Tuesday's meeting was designed to be a teaching tool for all parents that they can use now and in the future as their children grow up in a society full of pressures today's parents never experienced when they were 10, 11 or 12 years old.
If a child is looking for answers, we want them to turn to their immediate, personal networks - their parents or their school leaders - not to the social, online networks where the answers they're looking for cannot be found.
. . .On Monday, the first day of school after the incident, every advisory classroom at the middle school came with its own counselor, including fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms. Thomas said between 12 and 20 fifth- and sixth-graders have been seen by counselors throughout the week. Most of the counseling that has occurred with those kids, she said, has had a lot to do with previous life experiences they have had.
"This really resurrects so many emotions that kids and adults have stuffed away," Thomas said. "When something else tragic or critical occurs in our lives then all of it comes to the surface. Our team has really addressed a great deal of that as well as the tragedy that occurred last week.
Is the coverage muted? Yes, but it appears that much of the tone was set by the surviving immediate family members of the girls. What does emerge is a picture of a community and a paper that are not ignoring the deaths, but trying to address the immediate needs of middle school children.
Five news articles and op-ed pieces are not "nothing" or "ignoring" the story. Birkey's article keys on bullying related issues raised in an interview on the TODAY show with cousins and an uncle. It's worthy watching, as the grief-stricken relatives cautiously speculate about the deaths.
The deaths follow on the heels of the suicides of two teens in the New London Spicer area earlier in April. The community gathered for a discussion about suicide prevention. Groups like Minnesota Bully Busters are also organizing in West Central Minnesota communities and online.
Times Newsfeed shared a statement from Haylee's mother and older sister:
And in a written statement, Haylee's mother, Tracy Morrison, and her older sister, Ashley George, made it clear that they believe bullying played a critical role in the girls' deaths. “We need to stop pretending this isn't happening or that is just a cry for attention because obviously it is not,” they wrote. “This needs to be talked about and we need to try to prevent this by teaching kids in school, community and at home. They need to know they are not alone. It shouldn't take more tragedies to realize this.”
A monthly pension benefit that’s less than $200 for Michael Struck’s widow is generating concerns at the Capitol.
Struck, who was a Minnesota Department of Transportation employee, died in a March 22 accident while operating a backhoe. He was swept into a stream while doing flood-mitigation work at Seven Mile Creek County Park between St. Peter and Mankato.
The actuarial calculation in state law means that Struck’s widow will get $191 a month, according to Minnesota State Retirement System Executive Director Dave Bergstrom.
Struck, 39, of Cleveland, had worked for the state for about eight-and-a-half years. In addition to years of service, the actuarial process is based on the deceased age from age 65.
Policy issues in response to the tragedy could include considering a minimum death benefit for workers similar to Struck. By contrast, the widow of a state patrol officer who is killed in the line of duty receives 50 percent of final salary.
Right now it seems tasteless to this hick blogger--given my uncouth country manners--to delve into the political ironies of this situation.
Instead of just lamenting the pittance, Bluestem's readers who can afford it should send a donation to a fund set up by Struck's co-workers to help educate his small children, Kaylee, 6 and Gavin, 4:
Mike Struck Memorial Fund c/o Nicollet County Bank 220 South Third Street St. Peter, MN 56082
Consider also contacting your state legislators and ask them to put the survivors of other state workers killed responding to emergencies on an equal footing with those of Highway Patrol officers.
As has been widely reported, Struck was one of those guys who gave a lot back to the community--as a volunteer firefighter--as well as being the sort of co-worker who always pitched in. Help his kids out.
Like Seventh CD representative Collin Peterson, Gabby Giffords is a member of the conservative Blue Dogs Caucus. Peterson's statement about the shootings hasn't been as widely circulated as those of his colleagues, but it did find its way into the Fergus Falls Journal:
“I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting of my colleague and friend Gabrielle Giffords, and other staff and constituents in Tucson today.
“Gabby is a terrific Congresswoman, and someone who works very well with members on both sides of the aisle. She is really an up-and-coming leader in Congress. My prayers are with her and her family as she fights to survive, and my thoughts go out to the families of those who died or were injured in this senseless act of violence.”
That Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many others were shot at a meet-the-congresswoman event at a grocery store made today's tragedy in Arizona a little closer to home.
I'd been to a couple of Congressman Walz's famous stops at Hyvees and other grocery stores to observe and report on the Mankato Democrat and his staff listen to constituents' concerns. Over the years, I've got on a friendly footing with the staff, and knowing that those shot in Arizona are probably much like my friends here--kind, caring people who work hard for the people the boss serves--was a bit of a gut punch.
And I know other staffers for representatives and our two senators--so the notion that one of them might be murdered at work is chilling indeed. My sympathies go out to the victims and their families; it must be particularly brutal for the family of the dead child to go through such heartbreak.
We should be able to meet with elected officials without fear. And when people are angry--as Americans sometimes are--a soft answer should be able to turn away wrath, as Minnesota witnessed in the confrontation between Governor Dayton and a group of Tea Party protesters earlier this week.
Reactions to today's shooting are coming in from around the state and nation. Congressman Walz sent out the following statement:
Gwen and I are devastated. This is an unthinkable tragedy for our nation. Attacks on public servants and their staff have no place in America. Our thoughts and prayers are with Gabrielle, her husband Mark, Gabrielle’s staff and their families, and the families of everyone who was hurt or killed today.
Photo: Congressman Walz talking to Southern Minnesotans in a local grocery store, 2008.
Today marked the 148th anniversary of the largest mass execution in American history, in Mankato following the U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. I've written before about the conflict; today the Mankato Free Press and columnist Nick Coleman each touched on the execution.
Today, as on many a Dec. 26 of decades past, the Dakota Indians will commemorate the hanging of 38 of their ancestors in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
They will hold a ceremony at Mankato’s Reconciliation Park to remember this dark time in our history. 2012 will mark the 150th anniversary of the hangings.
Already there are preparations at the Minnesota Historical Society for a large exhibit and report on this significant historical event. Ancestors from both white and Dakota sides will be interviewed. Memories will come forth in a narrative that will be a somber reminder on the price paid by what seems like it could have been an avoidable conflict.
Many Mankato area residents know the story, although more and more it seems, some young people have not paid as much attention to it as their elders. . . .
. . . We should give pause to any reaction to declare a winner in a conflict that extracted so much violence on both sides. As we’ve watched the Dakota commemoration over the years, we see that spirit running through the ceremony. Many non-Indians have been invited and welcomed to the ceremony.
So it’s difficult sometimes to face an annual reliving of sorts of this dark chapter of U.S. and Dakota history, but it’s also a living reminder the reconciliation is just as important to history as the conflict itself.
Dec. 26, 1862: The execution of the 38 Dakota warriors at Mankato: Revenge and rage drove the flawed legal proceedings behind the kangaroo-court convictions of 303 Indians who surrendered after the U.S.- Dakota war of that autumn. Only President Lincoln’s aversion to mass punishment limited the hangman’s toll to 38. But the stain of those official killings, followed by the official banishment of the Dakota Sioux from their home (banishment or extermination was the state’s policy) left a mark of shame on Minnesota that has colored all the years since, and which has made it almost impossible to even talk about the events of 1862. Now, proposals have been made to extend a posthumous “pardon” to one of the hanged. Pardoning one man doesn’t even come close to an official recognition of the wrongs done to the Dakota, or to comprehending the scale of an avoidable tragedy that claimed hundreds of lives on all sides of the racial divide that was the cradle of Minnesota’s birth. . . .
After reviewing his extensive history of learning and writing about the war and its aftermath, Coleman includes his column from December 19, while observing that through the comments on columns about the conflict published at the Strib, he'sdiscovered:
through the kind of readers’ comments those efforts have received that the well of ignorance and outright racism remains deep and largely unplumbed in this state.
There's a great deal of truth in that observation. What will the 150th anniversary of the war draw from most: the spirit of the commenorations in the park today--or from that poisoned well at which so many readers of Coleman's columns drink?
— The largest mass execution in U.S. history occurred 148 years ago, when 38 Dakota warriors were hanged from a single scaffold in Mankato.
The shock waves of that mass execution still reverberate today among the Dakota people. A new documentary film remembers the 38, and also a group of Dakota who ride on horseback each year at this time to Mankato to commemorate the executions of Dec. 26, 1862.. . .
At the end of Dakota 38, the filmmakers reveal that one of the young men featured in the film recently committed suicide.
Dakota 38 co-director Sarah Weston, a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, said the suicide is part of what she calls the 'historical grief' left over from the traumatic collision in the 1800's between Native Americans and white settlers.
One of the film's messages, Weston said, is that the Dakota and other Indians should take a simple but difficult step: forgive the misdeeds of the past.
"The past is really, really traumatic," Weston said. "But we're going to reach our hand out and say that we forgive. Because when you're not in a forgiveness place, you're linked to that person or that trauma for the rest of your life, all day long. And so by forgiving we're no longer linked to that."
A point worth reflecting on in a dark and snowy December.
= I knew that Gwen Walz and Elizabeth Edwards had formed a friendship on the campaign trail. Today, Gwen and her spouse, Congressman Tim Walz, issued this statement, released by the Walz campaign office:
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Elizabeth. She was an inspiration to us and we were honored to call her a friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with her children.”
Below you will find a tribute Gwen penned after Elizabeth’s passing yesterday.
Elizabeth walked into our home and our hearts on a rainy day in September, 2004. Tim and I were hosting a discussion about military issues during the Presidential election. Elizabeth engaged in this discussion with a deep sense of awareness. She knew the issues and cared about the people. We were amazed at her genuineness. Elizabeth immediately felt like a dear friend.
Hope and I gave Elizabeth The Humanity bracelet. Elizabeth loved the words on each link: Hope, Courage, Truth, Family, Kindness, Passion, Loyalty. She wore the bracelet on campaign stops throughout the election in 2004 and after. I wear my bracelet regularly and am reminded of her. She loved words and knew their power.
Her influence on my view of the role of a political spouse has been profound. She was fearless in her advocacy of the issues and people about whom she cared. Elizabeth was never afraid to share her stories, lessons, and insights – it was a way she stayed true to herself, she said.
When Tim was elected to Congress in 2006, one of the first calls came from Elizabeth. She ended that call and many of those after with a comment about how proud she was to know and be associated with me. I was always humbled by her words. At the most unexpected times she would call. She knew the perfect thing to say – always. She was complete in her generosity of time and encouragement.
She is grace and dignity. I will profoundly miss her in the campaign of every day. Elizabeth was an inspiration and a friend. She signed notes, books, etc. to me “with love and affection. Elizabeth”
Good bye friend. With love and affection. Gwen
Photo: Elizabeth Edwards and the Walz family, 2004. Photo supplied.
Demmer’s campaign announced today that former Minnesota Rep. Vin
Weber has signed on as campaign chairman. Weber served in Congress for
Minnesota’s sixth and second districts from 1981-1993 and was an adviser
to Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Currently, Weber is co-chairman for Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Freedom First
political action committee and works for D.C. lobbyist group Clark
& Weinstock.
“Nobody understands southern Minnesota better than Vin Weber,” Demmer
said in a statement announcing Weber as chairman.
We beg to differ, being of the opinion that thousands of people who have lived there in the current century may have acquired a some understanding along the way--perhaps even more than a lobbyist in the District of Columbia.
As for Demmer, this move will certain help with FEC compliance. As I reported early Wednesday, Randy Demmer had spent nearly a grand of contributor cash on FEC compliance, but his report was riddled with incomplete but mandated information. I was able to locate most of the information for Demmer, but he has yet to find it in himself to make a Paypal donation for all that work! Maybe some of Weber's clients could fork over the money
My friends at the Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council sent Bluestem this invitation:
Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.
The first Workers Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.
Please join us for our annual commemoration of Workers Memorial in Rochester, MN.
Speakers include MNDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel, Congressman Walz's Office, and Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede among others.
Date: Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Time: Refreshments begin at 8:30 am; Program at 9:00 am
Place: MN DOT District 6 Offices, 2900 48th Street NW, Rochester, MN 55901
Please drive around the back of the offices to the Cold Storage Area
Read more about Workers Memorial Day at Workday Minnesota. Other events around the state from the article:
Superior, Wis., Federation of Labor tree planting and observance 9 a.m. – Bear Creek Park, Highways 2 and 53 and Moccasin Mike Road, Superior
Minneapolis and St. Paul Building & Construction Trades Councils observance Noon - United Hospital Project Site, downtown St. Paul
AFSCME and MnDOT observance 2 p.m. - Cedar Truck Station, 1900 E. 66th St., Richfield
West Area Labor Council observance, featuring singer Ron Franz and speakers 5 p.m. - Bringewatt Park, 2205 - 24th Ave. So., Grand Forks, N.D.
Southern Dakota County Labor Assembly and St. Paul Regional Labor Federation observance 7 p.m. - Lebanon Cemetery, 6442 - 140th St. W., Apple Valley
Panel discussion on current safety and health issues 7 p.m. - St. Paul Labor Centre, 411 Main St., St. Paul Featuring
Francisco Altamirano, Painters District Council 82; Lisa Brosseau,
University of Minnesota School of Public Health; and Belinda Thielen,
United Food & Commercial Workers. Sponsored by the University of
Minnesota Labor Education Service and co-sponsored by the Midwest
Center for Occupational Health and Safety and the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences
Image: Poster from a collection of international images at Hazards.
Once again. Bluestem will be putting together a digest of news from First Congressional District newspapers.
The congressional work break is ending, with the House convening in the afternoon. Papers throughout the district reported on Congressman Walz's visits throughout the district. One of the last stops was Austin. The Herald reports in Walz visits Austin for roundtable with businesses owners:
First District Congressman Tim Walz commended the City of Austin
Thursday for its collaborative efforts such as the Hormel Institute.
Calling the research facility a worldwide leader that combines
resources of the city, Mayo Clinic, the Hormel Foods Corporation and
the University of Minnesota, Walz told a roundtable of area business
people that he has enjoyed watching a community long anchored by a meat
packing plant reinvent itself. . . .
Just as they did with Social Security in the 1930’s and Medicare in the 1960’s, Republicans are saying ‘No’ to reform of our health insurance system once again!
Just last week 68 Minnesota Republican legislators urged state Attorney General Swanson to repeal the new health insurance law. They want to return to the bad old days of medical bankruptcies. They want to let insurance companies deny people’s legitimate medical claims and to deny care to those of us with pre-existing conditions.
Alliance for a Better Minnesota reported that in just one day, thousands of average Minnesotans had showered these legislators with over 140,000 letters. Their message? That working people don’t appreciate the Republicans putting insurance companies ahead of them yet again.
I just wish the Republicans would stop being against any and all reform efforts, and cooperate for once with the Democrats for some positive change.
The $347 million in proposed cuts to the state's health and human
services budget may look good on paper, but could actually increase
costs to the state in the long run.
"The cuts to human services
acts as a tax on the most vulnerable people in Minnesota," said Steve
Larson, public policy director for ARC Minnesota. "It will be more
expense on these people and their families."
Members of ARC
Minnesota and ARC Southwest, along with Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont,
and directors of programs such as REM and STEP Inc., gathered Saturday
to speak out about how some of the proposed cuts will affect people
with disabilities and the organizations that serve them. . . .
The Jackson County News notes Another Senate candidate, the entry of Rep. Doug Magnus into the open seat created by the retirement of Senator Jim Vickerman. Here's the lineup so far:
Magnus joins two Jackson County residents, Mike Garbers and Kim Hummel,
in the race for the GOP nomination. Murray County Commissioner Kevin
Vickerman recently announced his intention to seek the Senate seat
currently held by his uncle, Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy. Kevin Vickerman
is also running as a Democrat.
Thumbs down: To a large portion of society and a stunning number of
Republicans who accept loopy falsehoods as facts while party leaders
fail to disavow such nonsense.
A new Harris Poll found those
polled who identified themselves as Republicans believe as fact: That
President Obama was not born in the U.S. and so is not eligible to be
president (45 percent); that Obama is Muslim (57 percent); that Obama
wants to take away Americans’ right to own guns (61 percent); that
Obama is doing many things Hitler did (38 percent); that Obama is the
“domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of” (45 percent); and
that the president “may be the Anti-Christ” (24 percent).
It’s one thing to vehemently disagree on political issues, it’s another to disregard well-vetted facts in order to demonize.
. . .Speaking, though, will be restricted to a pre-ordained list of local
residents and political candidates asked to talk about three issues:
fiscal responsibility, constitutional limits on government and the
importance of free markets.
So far, one Independence Party
candidate for Congress is planning to speak, as are Republicans seeking
congressional and legislative seats. Democrats were invited but are not
expected to attend.
Johnson Jr. is on the board of the Minnesota State University College
Republicans, but he characterizes his views as
independent/conservative. His father was active in the Ross Perot
presidential campaign and was a supporter of Jesse Ventura’s campaign
for governor.
“We don’t want the Republican Party to think they’re going to absorb
us,” Johnson Sr. said. “We’re not an organization that endorses
candidates.” . . .
. . .Maves said several candidates are expected to be at the rally
representing the Constitution Party, Independence Party and the
Republican Party. Several speakers are expected to address the crowd at
6 p.m. They include KROC conservative radio host Tom Ostrom, Republican
Secretary of State candidate Dan Severson and former Republican 1st
District Rep. Gil Gutknecht.
Gutknetcht's [sic] speech is aimed at
firing up the crowd to get conservative candidates elected. He said
that while he has not been involved in the Tea Party movement, he said
he has been impressed by how passionate members are about politics. . . .
The paper looks forward to this weekend's GOP endorsing convention in Republicans set to endorse challenger of Walz and profiles each Republican contender. As these are rich fodder, I'll discuss them in a separate post in the morning.
The forum will be upstairs [Tuesday] at the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna. A
fundraiser — an ice cream social — begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission to
that is $5 per person. The forum itself will start at 7:30 p.m. There
is no charge to get into the forum.
The room can accommodate
more than 100, Schiell said. The forum will be a warm-up for the
endorsing convention in Mankato, when delegates will select one of the
five to vie against Walz in the upcoming election.
Bonnie Austin of Wykoff sent a Letter about immigrant workers to the editor of the Fillmore County Journal: she supports CIR. A university student writes Letter about many helped by Walz Vote in appreciation of a provision in the health care bill which allows her to retain coverage on her parents' health insurance plan should she need it.
. . . Republican members of Congress have called it the ruination of “the
best health care system in the world”. Don’t believe it. Indeed, the
USA has the best-trained providers, the best hospitals, the best and
newest technology....and yet ranks in the lowest quartile among
industrialized nations in many health quality indicators, including
infant mortality. . . .
. . .Technically,
we can’t call the Republican Congressmen liars on this issue. With
their privileged position and Cadillac health insurance, they do indeed have the “best health care system in the world”! They just don’t want
to share it.
On this day in 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, after being found guilty of war crimes in charges stemming from the Treaty Conflict earlier in the year. The trials are thought by most modern historians to be a miscarriage of justice, since each trial last an average of 15 minutes.
For many years, the mass execution was celebrated on commemorative plates and commercial giveaways, but work by Amos Owen and other leaders helped begin the hard work of reconciliation.
The incident will forever remain a blot on the city's name, however.
The execution wasn't the only cruelty that befell the Dakota bands. Dakota people were marched to concentration camps, then exiled to reservations far from their homes. Children were forced to attend schools where native language and religion were banned. Dancing and other important expressions of Dakota culture were forbidden until the 1930s, and Native American religions were not secured full protection until the early 1970s.
Ho-Chunk bands who lived on the "Winnebago" Reservation south of Mankato were also deported. Although none of the Ho Chunk participated in the war, they were still deported to the Dakota Territory and their lands stolen. Some returned to Minnesota and Wisconsin (their original home), while others went to live on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska.
Photo: the concentration camp at Fort Snelling. Minnesota State Historical Society
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, served as a New Media training and strategy consultant for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from October 2009 through mid-April 2010. She now serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors.
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