Bluestem Prairie

Emo Senator: Amnesia plot twist thickened as Mike Parry forgot which office he was running for

The screenwriter furrowed her brow as she read the end-of-year campaign finance reports from The Emo Senator's state and federal races.  Could it be as she feared? Had the Belle of Waseca County, Mike Parry, R-ALEC, suffered yet another bout of his famous amnesia? 

The malady strikes our hero so often when it comes to money and holding office. Just last year, he defended taking full per diem because he had no other income during the session--forgetting that he owns and operates a Godfather's Pizza in sunny Waseca, Minnesota.

What office did Mike Parry campaign for once he declared himself a candidate for Congress?  Judging by his congressional committee's spending, he didn't put out for mileage to drive around the sprawling First Congressional District, which extends across southern Minnesota from Wisconsin to South Dakota.

Other congressional campaigns in Minnesota's rural areas, like Republican Lee Byberg's race against Blue Dog Collin Peterson in the Seventh, are ponying up for gas. Several staffers are reimbursed for gas in incumbent Tim Walz's report.

How does our hero travel these distances without spending money on gas? Astro-projection? Teleportation? A sprinkle of former senator Dick Day's famous foo-foo dust? A sudden burst of charity on the part of campaign volunteer Ben Golnik, who accompanied him on a two-day from Winona to Worthington? 

The screenwriter doesn't know, but did find that in Mike Parry's other campaign, he was filling up at local gas stations quite regularly. There's the state campaign finance reporting of gas purchases: $48.50 on November 15; $73 on November 18; $71 on November 25th,  $48.65 on December 2; $64.06 (including a car wash) on December 12; $68 on December 16. 

For that much gas, Mike Parry must have doorknocked much of his district for the state senate campaign in November and December.

Indeed, the state report shows a great devotion to the state bid. Mike Parry purchased and activated a phone on September 3--the first phone for the state level campaign in 2011--and began paying Verizon for phone service on October 7, with a charge of $123.52, followed by payments in November of $153.44 and December of $148.03.  There are no phone or cell expenses in the Congressional campaign report to the FEC.

Parry also purchased other equipment for the senate campaign. On November  28, he visited the Owatonna Office Max and purchased card scan equipment for $182.94. Radio Shack supplied a power strip and USB cable on October 1 for $34.18 and there's the Ipad purchased a few days later from the Apple Store in Bloomington for $688.32, a better way to tweet spiteful remarks about the staff at the governor's residence perhaps--though maybe not Walz.

Then there's the dedication of Senator Parry's state campaign workers, who drove all the way to The Cities (or was it Duluth?) to attend a campaign meeting on October 6 at Pizza Luce, where they ordered $76.03 worth of food and beverages.  Persumably, they forgot--like Parry himself back in early summer--that The Belle of Waseca County owns a Godfather's Pizza.  Certainly, it's more forgettable fare than Pizza Luce.

Another indication that Parry may be carrying on a state senate campaign: using that campaign committee's dollars--reported as campaign expenses--for 2012 dues and county fair registrations. There's the $185 going toward 2012 dues for the Faribault Chamber of Commerce, for instance.

And residents of Steele County can look forward Mike Parry's appearance at the Free Fair as a state senate candidate, since the state-level committee shelled out early for a $500 SCFF sponsorship on November 16, 2011. (All earlier fair sponsorships had been paid at the time of the fair, held each year in August).

Forgetful as our hero is, certainly he'd never forget that state campaign funds can't be spent on federal campaigns.

Indeed, Emo Senator was so intent on campaigning for the state senate, that he closed the year with only $42.95 in his committee's account.  Now that he's back on track for campaigning for congress--having only spent $3402.14 last year, while banking $29,182.86--we'll no doubt see more spending from that account. Tune in again!

Or maybe it will be more foo-foo dust renewable energy used for mileage, since the Emo Senator now recalls only congressional campaign stops since October, according to the Owatonna People's Press:

Parry, a Waseca Republican whose district includes all of Steele County, announced in October he was running for the Republican nomination. Since then, he has scheduled many meet and greet events at the crack of dawn.

“Part of the reason is that I’m a seated (state) senator and so I’m working all day long up at the Capitol,” Parry said. “We’re taking Saturdays and Sundays and we are doing meet and greets all over the First District.

Stay tuned.

Photoshop image: the Emo Senator, by Tild.

 

Emo Senator: Mike Parry said he had no goal for fundraising & he meant every word of it

Loyal fans of Emo Senator, southern Minnesota's most beloved telenovela, will remember that Mike Parry's congressional campaign stops are drawing voters like Limburger cheese attracts the ladies. In Emo Senator: lost episode shocks Mike Parry fans, the Austin Herald reported that two men gathered for coffee with the Belle of Waseca County.

It's looks like his campaign checkbook is just as attractive.

Minnesota Public Radio's Brett Neely reports in Congressional fundraising numbers streaming in:

First District Rep. Tim Walz raised $210,000, making 2011 a million dollar fundraising year for the former teacher. His campaign has $617,000 in the bank. Two of Walz's three Republican challenger Allen Quist raised $6,200 for the entire year. A third opponent, Mike Parry, has not yet released his fundraising totals.

Within ten minutes of each other, devoted Emo Senator admirers pointed the screenwriter to Senator Parry's FEC filing:

Covering Period 09/14/2011 Through 12/31/2011:

	Column A This Period	Column B Election Cycle-To-Date
6. Net Contributions (other than loans)
(a) Total Contributions (other than loans)	32585.00	32585.00
(b) Total Contribution Refunds	0.00	0.00
(c) Net Contributions (6(a) - 6(b))	32585.00	32585.00
7. Net Operating Expenditures
(a) Total Operating Expenditures	3402.14	3402.14
(b) Total Offsets to Operating Expenditures	0.00	0.00
(c) Net Operating Expenditures	3402.14	3402.14
8. Cash on Hand at Close of Reporting Period	29182.86
9. Debts and Obligations Owed TO the Committee	0.00
Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D
10. Debts and Obligations Owed BY the Committee	0.00
Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D

When he entered the congressional race in early October, the Emo Senator told the Mankato Free Press that he didn't have a fundraising plan, but that he felt very good about himself. Veteran political reporter Mark Fischenich wrote in Parry to challenge Walz for Congress:

Parry hasn’t set a goal for campaign donations but said he has strong skills in fundraising.

“I do know that I’m a hard charger. I work from sun-up to sun-down and then some.”

Senator Parry hasn't done much had charging, spending only $3402--including one $600 in-kind contribution for munchies--so Bluestem can't speculate on just how hard it may have been. Such fundraising figures surely could barely cover the copying fees for the  crack public-relations legal team recently hired by Parry's best-known campaign volunteer, Michael Brodkorb.

Curious items in the contributor list suggest that Parry's on-and-off again amnesia has affected his accounting.  Information has been requested about the occupation of one "Gretchen Hoffman" of Vergas, Minnesota. Bluestem has it on good authority that Ms. Hoffman is a state senator. 

Additionally, Parry seems to have forgotten what Dick Day did for a living when he wrote the check.

Most of the rest of the haul is standard issue Republican checks--no surprises there, other than the fly speck quality. 

The contrast with earlier  Walz challengers? Eventual (and spectacularly dismal) 2008 nominee Brian Davis took in close to $55,500 in late 2007. Former Senator Dick Day was also seeking the seat, and raised nearly $53,000. Randy Demmer, who won the nomination in 2010, took in about $35,000 during the same time period in 2007.

Looking at 2010 cycle figures, we learn that the Demmer campaign closed 2009 with a $19200.00 haul, though the campaign remained in debt to the tune of $135,150.00 in loans from the candidate to himself. At the end of 2011, $92,000 of that debt remained on the books. Quist, who lost the endorsement after several rounds of balloting at the 2010 convention, took in $32,853 in late 2009. 

Two other candidates, Jim Engstrand (now running for Congress in Texas) and Mr. Conservative, Jim Hagedorn, who moved to sunny Blue Earth to run, and who is now supporting Newt Gingrich from an undisclosed location.

But all hope is not lost, completely, if we turn our eyes to fundraising in the legendary 2006 election that swept Walz into office. Mostly lost, but not totally.

And the 2005-2006 unknown who challenged six-term representative Gil Gutknecht?  At the beginning of 2006, Walz had $78,103.24 cash in hand, having just experienced a final quarter in which he'd deposited $48,444.39 in the bank. The campaign carried $5755.93 in loans the candidate had borrowed from Wells Fargo.

Gutknecht, whom Walz would defeat in one of the biggest surprises of 2006, entered that fateful year with $620,101.24 in the kitty, having just raised $144,406.57. 

While the Walz and Gutknecht totals are close, the candidates' approaches are far different. Gutknecht failed to preceive the Walz campaign as a threat until well into 2006, whereas Walz is listed as one of 20 most vulnerable Democrats by his own caucus's campaign wing. 

What will happen?  Tune in again--this is an episode of Emo Senator, after all. Anyone, except for Walz himself, may well be surprisedby what Mike Parry will do or say.

Image: Mike Parry, the Emo Senator. By Tild. With that sort of fundraising, of course he has to wear the parlor drapes from Tara.

Earlier episodes:Emo Senator: lost episode shocks Mike Parry fans

Emo Senator: Amnesia! Mike Parry forgets he's his own boss during MNSCU benefits hearing (a complete list of episodes is found at the end of this post).

 

Emo Senator: lost episode shocks Mike Parry fans

Fans of Emo Senator, southern Minnesota's most beloved telenovela, weren't surprised to learn that Senator Mike Parry's amnesia had returned and the Belle of Waseca had forgotten that he doesn't have a boss who forces him to take vacation time.

More shocking? The lost episode of Emo Senator a reader dug up in the Austin Herald. The day before Parry's grandstanding performance in Emo Senator: Amnesia! Mike Parry forgets he's his own boss during MNSCU benefits hearing, voters in Spamtown seem to have forgotten that Parry is running for office.

In the lost episode, Sen. Parry talks campaign in Austin, the fan called this passage to Bluestem's attention:

Sen. Mike Parry, R-Waseca, spent Wednesday morning drinking coffee and talking politics with two men at the Mower County Senior Center.

The stop was one of many meet-and-greets Parry will hold this month as he campaigns for Democrat Rep. Tim Walz’s congressional seat.

Parry said he has been meeting many new faces on the campaign trail and has been well received.

Two men at a campaign stop?  Stupendous!

Arch rival Tim Walz visited Austin the next day, the paper reports in Walz tours Innovance in Albert Lea:

First District Congressman Tim Walz, D-Minn., looked at Albert Lea’s Innovance Inc. Thursday as a successful business model for creating and maintaining jobs.

The parent company to four businesses — Lou-Rich, Almco, Panels Plus and Exact Manufacturing — Innovance now has 340 full-time employees and 30 temporary or part-timers. It has three facilities in Albert Lea and one in Hayward.

“It’s a powerful story,” Walz said of the company’s growth. “It’s positive to walk around here.”

Meeting with company officials and a few other business leaders, Walz had a roundtable discussion about the company and then took a tour to see how the business operates. . .

. . .After his visit at Innovance, Walz was slated to visit Albert Lea City Hall to meet with some of the city’s leaders.

Tune in tomorrow for more tales of Emo on the campaign trail--and the money trail, as the deadline approaches for Parry and Quist to report on their Q4 2011 fundraising. Walz raised $1 million last year and ended 2011 with $617,000 in the bank.

Image: Emo Senator, by Tild.

For all past episodes, see Emo Senator: Amnesia! Mike Parry forgets he's his own boss during MNSCU benefits hearing

ALEC consolidates MN operations after sudden downturn in loon state Republican brand

Two seemingly disparate news items suggest some shifting ground in the Minnesota political landscape, a place where ordinary geology tends toward erosion and collapse, rather the earthquakes suggested by headlines the day after elections. Witness the victory of Chip Cravaack over Jim Oberstar in a congressional district where political currents pulled away the riverbank from the under the Democrats fishing there.

Much has been made of the implosion of the Republican brand in the past few month, but the entirely self-inflicted river of shame has been gnawing on that bank for years. We only now see the bloom of slit depositing itself as the current slows.

Bluestem has looked -- in a snarky, bloggy way -- at some of the points made by Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck, Catherine Richter, and Bill Wareham in Chairman's spending decisions on insiders helped lead to GOP debt.  The latter report, out this morning, should serve as a reminder of what real journalism looks like: digging into records, rather than tweets.

There's real paydirt in that current.  Go read the whole thing. Bluestem is pleased to read these passages, beginning with the lede about the failed burrito baron:

A Republican leader with 25 years of hard-earned respect from the party that prides itself on fiscal discipline, awarded contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to consultants, lawmakers, candidates and party insiders over the course of nearly 30 months as state party chairman, contributing to the financial wreckage the party is trying to fix today.

And there's this:

MAJOR DONOR SECURES PARTY CONTRACT

Sutton and the Republican Party also did business with at least one major donor.

Donors typically give money to political parties they agree with to win elections. In this case, a donor gave money to the Republican Party and also created a business to sway voters.

The donor is Robert Cummins. The business is Civis Communications.

In 2009 and 2010, the party paid Civis Communications about $82,000. Roughly half the cash was for direct mail services and the other half was for voter identification efforts.

Cummins, CEO of Primera Technology, is one of the GOP's top donors. In 2010, according to records, Cummins gave $425,000 to the party's state account. In addition, the Freedom Club State PAC, which Cummins helped create, gave the party $400,000.

Mike Scholl, who is the company's executive director, said he leads the daily operations of the firm and did not want to comment on Cummins' role. He said that Cummins' influence within the party did not help Civis secure the contract.

Fascinating stuff in and of itself, but also for Cummins' role in other hanky-panky related to constitutional amendments.  Readers may recall how we asked about GOP consultant Greg Peppin's hire by House Speaker Kurt Zellers to "lobby" his own caucus on behalf of the marriage inequality amandment. In Peppin pimping hate: House member's spouse "lobbies" caucus on amendment--for whom?, Cummins put in a star turn via PIM's Brianna Bierschbach:

Donations played into the calculus of the amendment vote in another way, according to one source who monitored the amendment effort. House Republican caucus uber-funder Robert Cummins, the chief executive officer of Primera Technology, is a fervid backer of the amendment and a past donor to anti-gay-marriage initiatives. Since 2004, Cummins has contributed more than $408,000 to groups like Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage — now Minnesota Majority — and the Minnesota Family Council, and has thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars at the House GOP caucus campaign chest. In a June 2010 Capitol Report story, then-caucus treasurer Matt Dean said Cummins is much more involved than the average donor. He works directly with House leaders to recruit Republican candidates to run in each district. “He understands the importance of winning elections,” Dean said at the time.

“Promises must have been made to outside sources,” the source said, adding that the caucus was reportedly promised several million dollars for the 2012 elections from various groups if the amendment passed this session.

Peppin understands that the vote was likely difficult for freshmen to make, especially those who narrowly won in swing districts last fall or those who campaigned on fiscal issues, not social ones. That was the case for freshman Rep. Kurt Bills, a schoolteacher from Rosemount who ultimately voted for the legislation.

Bills now faces a bid from Jeff Wilfahrt, the father of the late Andrew Wilfahrt, a gay soldier whose ultimate sacrifice helped give freshman Republican and disabled veteran John Kriesel's passionate  speech against the amendment on the floor of the House such power.

There are some truths money can't buy off.

The Freedom Club, Minnesota Majority, Robert Cummins: these are names we'll hear a lot about, and the cautionary tale investigated by Scheck and his associates should be told and retold to voters in the coming days. To paraphrase a common chant: This isn't what democracy looks like.

It's what cronyism smells like.

The pattern continues. The Scheck and Richter report notes one case of a GOP employee collecting a consulting fee while on the payroll:

During Sutton's tenure, Ryan Griffin served as the party's executive director. But in addition to his annual salary of $85,000, he was also paid roughly $14,000 for consulting and legal work, according to campaign finance documents.

Sutton characterized the payments as a bonus for advising the party on legal issues during election season.

And who does Griffin have as a client now that he's laid off?  None other than the Freedom Club, a contract tweeted by none other than the late Michael Brodkorb at the time when the MNGOP laid Griffin off, and evidenced by this Freedom Club's talking points document pimping Steve Drazkowski's Right To Work For Less Money Amendment, helpfully posted by the Rochester Tea Party Patriots.  Mr. Griffin's phone number is on the document, in case anyone in the press wants to interview him about his service to the Republican Party of Minnesota and the big donors who bought it.

Mr. Cummins has indeed purchased a small circle of loyal friends and retainers.

However, for most of the amendments to the state constitution that Mr. Cummins and other wealthy business men are promoting, Bluestem offers the kindly suggestion that those seeking answers on this development should simply give the American Legislative Exchange Council a call-- it's the author of model bills for much of Draz's legislation, including this particular amendment and his supermajority amendment. Copycat bills from ALEC are responsible for much of the recent unrest in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana.

The financial erosion of the Republican Party of Minnesota under the management of Tony Sutton (who brought Baja Sol to the brink with his lovely wife Bridget) appears to have altered the river of cash that waters the broader conservative valley in the North Star State, and this brings Bluestem to the second news item mentioned in the lede.

The conservative megablog True North reports that Two Major Minnesota Conservative Think Tanks Join Forces.

Upon reviewing the press release, our conclusion is that the wedding of the Center of the American Experiment and the Minnesota Free Market Institute isn't a merger, but rather a consolidation at a moment of coming austerity and ambition on the part of those big donors who've been funding the Republican Party (MPR reports that the party received only $255 from small donors in 2010). ALEC's think tank division, the State Policy Network, lists  both organizations in its directory entry for Minnesota.

Hard times indeed.

Photo: Failed burrito baron Tony Sutton, photo courtesy of Fibonacci Blue.

Emo Senator: All those MNGOP kids with their pumped-up kicks can run on property tax hikes

As we rejoin the Emo Senator, star of Southern Minnesota's best-loved telenovela, our hero is appearing in the pages of the Waseca County News with a gaggle of local elected officials who are mistaken by a headline writer as legislators.

The Belle of Waseca County brags to area mayors and county board members concerned about rising property taxes that the Senate Caucus has rummaged through the adults' closets for footwear:

Parry said the Republicans “took a hit” by getting rid of the Market Value Homestead Credit. “We’re taking the blame but we can take it. We’ve got big boots and high heels. The governor accepted it and it’s time to quit playing games,” he said.

Kuntz said not everybody understood the ramifications of the change.

“No one did the homework on this. Outstate Minnesota took a bath,” Johnson said. Jasinski said the elimination of MVHC caused huge shifts, 15-20 percent higher values, and much more tax on businesses.

His own business saw an increase in taxes of 13.8 percent and the tax on his home increased by 10.2 percent, Parry said. The elimination of the credit came in during the last hours of budget negotiations and is what happens when there isn’t adequate time to do the research, he said. Still, Parry said the Republicans don’t want to revisit the issue.

“As you deal with LGA, remember MVHC,” Whiting said. Almost all the city officials told Parry their cities are not able to reduce their budgets any further; that they are at the bare minimum in revenue.

Meanwhile, those dirty hippies at MNPublius chastize the GOP for the bump in property taxes (though nothing about the fashion sense):

While they fought tooth and nail to protect millionaires from paying their fair share, the Republican legislature had no such qualms about hurting the middle class. Their cuts to local government aid and changes to the property tax system mean real pain for Minnesota families.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s what a nonpartisan House Research study concluded:

Statewide, property taxes would increase by $413 million, or 5.2%, if all local taxing jurisdictions were to adopt their proposed levies…. Increases on the largest property types are 4.9% on residential non-homestead property, 8% on regular apartments, 4.2% on commercial industrial property, 11.4% on agricultural property, 11% on low-income apartments, and 4.8% on seasonal-recreational property.

When you dig into the details, things looks even worse — especially in Greater Minnesota.

Don Davis's Capitol Chatter has more:

Property taxes outside of the Twin Cities are rising faster than for those in the state’s largest metropolitan area.

Taxes to be paid this year are up an average 3.1 percent in the Twin Cities, a Minnesota House report shows, but for others the increase is 8.7 percent.

Increases reach the double digits for rural townships, cities in taconite mining areas and Duluth.

Parry flounced down to the Waseca City Hall to talk about shoes following a rumored closed door meeting in his senate office with his key (and possibly only) campaign advisor Ben Golnik (our sources claim to recognize that voice anywhere).  Bluestem will be curious to see how many meetings Parry has with members of his congressional campaign in his state senate office.

It's not illegal on the federal level, but such behavior may raise eyebrows about our beauty's behavior.

Parry is trying to position himself as a reformer ready to storm The Beltway, but than frame may simply be a signal that our hero is having another bout of amnesia equal to that suffered in last spring's episode, during which Emo claimed he needed all the per diem money he could snatch since he had no other source of income.

Fans cheered when he later remembered that he owns a Godfathers Pizza in Waseca and position himself as a small business owner.

As a reformer (he heads a state senate committee with the word "Reform" in it, right?) will Parry follow the high road taken by Dick Day, his predecessor in Senate District 26?

As the Rochester Post-Bulletin reported in 2008 when Day was running in the Republican primary for the honor of losing to Walz in November of that year:

Day said he raised about $25,000 for the first quarter but did not pursue donors aggressively because the state Senate is still in session. He said he was uncomfortable meeting with donors before adjournment in mid-May.

Parry does love consorting with corporations, to the point that he bragged about corporations that hoped to get contracts with the state submitting budget estimates.

In 2000, Common Cause criticized DFLer Steve Novak,* then chair of the Minnesota Senate Jobs and Energy Committee, for taking over $40,000 in contributions for his congressional campaign from lobbyists, business executives and PACs for businesses that had issues coming before his state committee. Under state ethics rules, legislators can't collect contributions for state-level office from lobbyists while the legislature is convened.

Federal law doesn't forbid it, however; but if while the Senate meets, Parry chases contributions from companies that would benefit from the sort of outsourcing and privatization that Parry considers to be state government "reform," it will be curious to see how Golnik pitches that revenue stream to the media. Who defines reform this way? What fashion sense does tht show?

Bluestem wouldn't want to be in his shoes. We fear what sentiment that might foster in the people.

But the first FEC report that reveals a slice of fundraising during the session won't be due and public until mid-April.  Until then, Emo Senator fans can speculate among themselves as to whether our hero will prove to be as ethical as Dick Day.

Image:  The Emo Senator, by Tild

*   (Update: An earnest Washington County Commissioner took it upon herself to write and tell me that the story below is 12 years old; yes, dear leader, the story about something that Common Cause objected to in 2000 is twelve years old, and it's reprinted here because it's no longer online at the Star Tribune--hence the need to document.

That little star thingie [*] is called an asterisk, and people who paid attention to basic conventions of reading and writing in junior high understand that it usually signals that another asterisk will appear below the main article and, following the second asterisk, an explanation or footnote will appear. It this case, it's an article that documents my statement about  Common Cause's 2000 criticism of a Senate committee chair who took money for his congressional bid from interests appearing before his committee.)

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
May 6, 2000, Saturday, Metro Edition
Legislators' in-session fund-raising draws fire;
A watchdog group says that PAC and lobbyist donations to five state senators and representatives who are running for Congress, while legal, aren't right.

Conrad deFiebre; Staff Writer

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5B

LENGTH: 945 words


Five of six state legislators who are running for Congress have raised a total of more than $60,000 in campaign money from lobbyists or interest groups during the legislative session, a practice that drew criticism Friday from Common Cause Minnesota.

     "This may be legal, but it doesn't make it right," said Bruce Miller, executive director of the political watchdog group. "No wonder people are cynical about government when things like this happen. It has all the appearances of a shakedown."

      He called for the legislators to give the money back.

     The biggest in-session fund-raisers didn't return calls for comment Friday. But Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, said he had no intention of sending back the $3,750 he has received during the session from special interests.

     "My current reaction is no," he said. "I think I've acted legally and appropriately." He also said the contributions had no effect on his votes in the Senate.

     Rep. Mary Jo McGuire, DFL-Falcon Heights, who listed a single lobbyist donation of $250, also said she won't issue refunds to lobbyists. "I felt that to be a viable candidate I had to take their money," she said. "The rules are there, and I have to play by them until I can change them."

     Since 1990, Minnesota legislators and party caucuses have been barred from raising money for their legislative campaigns from lobbyists and political action committees (PACs) during legislative sessions.

     But a series of state and federal rulings has created exceptions for legislators running for other offices. That has allowed Kelley and Sen. Jerry Janezich to raise money legally from lobbyists and PACs for their U.S. Senate campaigns. Likewise, McGuire and Sens. Steve Novak and Linda Runbeck have accepted special-interest money for their campaigns to replace U.S. Rep. Bruce Vento.

     Only Rep. Betty McCollum, also running for Vento's seat, has refused lobbyist and PAC money during the session.

     The ban on in-session fund-raising is intended to avert the possibility or the appearance of special interests buying legislators' votes. But a Star Tribune review of the six candidates' federal campaign finance reports for the first three months of this year shows dozens of lobbyist and PAC donations since the legislative session started Feb. 1.

.

Chairmen cash in

     By far, most of the cash has flowed to Novak and Janezich, the only two in the group who head legislative committees.

     Novak, DFL-New Brighton, is chairman of the Senate Jobs, Energy and Community Development Committee, which wields influence over Minnesota utilities. The $37,900 he raised from lobbyists and PACs during the session largely came from lobbyists and PACs for utilities interests such as AT&T, MCI, Minnegasco, Northern States Power Co. and U S West Communications.

     Novak's total does not include several thousand dollars more from executives of those and other utilities who are not registered lobbyists.

     Janezich, DFL-Chisholm, is chairman of the Senate Economic Development Budget Committee. He raised $17,600 from lobbyists and PACs for a broad range of economic interests, plus $2,500 from three Minnesota Indian tribes that are not listed as PACs.

     As a freshman state senator, Kelley does not head a committee. Runbeck, R-Circle Pines; McCollum, DFL-North St. Paul, and McGuire are members of minority caucuses and also do not head committees. Runbeck and McGuire each raised $1,000 or less from special interests.

     McCollum said Friday that her refusal of money from lobbyists and PACs was only for the legislative session, which she hadn't expected to extend beyond today's DFL endorsing convention in the Fourth Congressional District.

     "I unilaterally disarmed enough during the session," she said. "But I have raised all the money I needed to go after the endorsement, even though I knew I stood to be criticized for not raising a lot of money."

     As it stands, McCollum goes into the convention having raised $12,875 through March 31 of this year, far behind Novak's total of $91,225. McGuire reported raising $15,900 overall.

     Runbeck raised a total $34,886, including $1,000 from a PAC, en route to winning the Fourth District Republican endorsement last Saturday.

     Kelley, meanwhile, noted that nonlegislators running for Congress face no complaints about the source of their funds and no drain on their campaign time from serving at the Capitol.

     "Our competitors are out contacting delegates and raising money," he said. "We've been spending most of our time doing our jobs. It makes it nearly impossible for people in office now to run for federal office."

Legislators' fund-raising

     Five state legislators running for Congress have accepted campaign contributions from lobbyists and/or PACs during the legislative session, which began Feb. 1.

 

                       Lobbyist              PAC

Legislator        contributions    contributions      Total

Sen. Steve Novak,

     DFL-New Brighton $18,900           $19,000    $37,900

Sen. Jerry Janezich,

     DFL-Chisholm       $3,405           $14,200    $17,605

Sen. Steve Kelley,

     DFL-Hopkins        $2,750            $1,000     $3,750

Sen. Linda Runbeck,

     R-Circle Pines          0            $1,000     $1,000

Rep. Mary Jo McGuire,

     DFL-Falcon Heights   $250                 0       $250

Rep. Betty McCollum,

     DFL-North St. Paul      0                 0          0

     Source: Candidates' federal campaign finance reports for Jan. 1-March 31, 2000.

The Bad Burrito Chronicles: MNGOP flack Heather Dodgers-Rubash explains it all for you

For months, Bluestem has been rasslin' with news reports, tips made on background, and campaign finance reports filed monthly, documents that provided a glimpse into the financial acumen of our overlords at the Republican Party of Minnesota.

Especially that of failed burrito baron and former Republican state chair Tony Sutton.

But now we know we've found someone who dwells in the house of mirth itself when MNGOP communications director Heather Dodgers-Rubash speaks in the Pioneer Press's article, Campaign finance board to investigate Minnesota GOP after local group lodges complaint.

The less-than-artful dodger says of a complaint lodged by Common Cause with the State Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

Heather Dodgers-Rubash, the state GOP communications director, noted the party released this detailed information to activists, donors, the media and the Federal Elections Commission last month before Common Cause even filed the complaints.

"The only reason these liberal organizations are aware of the...financial issues is because we told them," she said.

Well, that settles it.

Not entirely. The documents released to the press and party activists are hardly a full accounting. At the state central committee meeting on December 31st, some of those very activists asked for a full audit.

Instead, they got calls for "unity," and moving forward. This should be a dogwhistle for underemployed accountants everywhere. Moreover, the past experience of Republican Party of Minnesota with FEC reports indicates that it's not enough to disclose. One must be accurate. 

Otherwise, fines ensue, sometimes to the tune of $170,000.

Given other news reports related to the state of Republican Minnesota, prudence indeed will dictate that perhaps it's time for GOP politicians to declare their independence from the shopworn analogy of how they want to run our government's finances like a family.

In Minn. Senate budget cuts could lead to staff layoffs, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports:

Koch's replacement, newly-elected Republican Majority Leader Dave Senjem of Rochester, said the reductions will also include some health care cuts, bringing the total to about $2.7 million. Senjem has not yet detailed how he'll approach the cuts, but he said since most of the budget goes toward the salaries of 194 employees, the solution will have to include some job losses.

"Taking $2.7 million out the Senate will obviously -- you just don't do that with electricity and utilities and pencils and paper," he said. "Certainly there will be some people."

Senjem said the number of committee pages and interns will be reduced first. The Senate could have saved some money by not filling the post of majority caucus communication director, a $90,000-a-year job that Michael Brodkorb lost last month following Koch's resignation.

But the Senate is accepting applications for Brodkorb's replacement. There are also current postings for a committee administrator, a committee page and a leadership assistant. . . .

How does the Fail of the House of Brodkorb compare to the other chamber? MPR reports:

The Minnesota House was also required to reduce its operating budget by 5 percent. Those cuts, totaling $3.6 million, were detailed in a budget proposal finalized last year. The House cuts include the elimination of five full-time positions, a 50 percent cut in temporary staff, a salary freeze and the savings from limiting the 2012 session to 10 weeks.

A spokeswoman for the GOP caucus said House finances were in good shape to absorb the needed reductions.

Late last year, sources close to the House suggested that Koch's lack of a plan for bringing the Senate staffing under control were just part of the troubled Republican Party family in that chamber.

Perhaps we should all respect their privacy, and let the party of ideas spin its way out of this one. Indeed, Bluestem expects no less from some of the most respected names in politics and the press.

Image:  The Sutton currency. By Tild.

 

Sutton's secretive slush fund, Count Them All Properly, Inc., changes management

Bluestem has a long history of posting about "Count Them All Properly, Incorporated," the 2010 gubernatorial recount slush fund for which failed burrito baron and former state party chair Tony Sutton committed the Republican Party of Minnesota as the equivalent of an unknowing co-signer for a pile of debts.

Last month's revelation was news to everyone except Sutton and a small group of lawyers, seen and unseen, since he'd bragged last winter that unlike party finances, CTAPI's books wouldn't face public scrutiny. With the party under new management, the current occupants have owned up that they're disputing whether they have to pay Count Them All Properly's $719,000 unpaid legal bills.

In mid-December, Bluestem noted that Daniel Puhl,  go-to FEC compliance guy for Minnesota federal office candidates and agent for the recount fund, had moved on to a higher calling as the CFO and Director of Administration for the Republican National Committee.

That move is now reflected in Count Them All Properly, Inc's filing at the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. On December 15, papers were filed naming Mary Igo as CTAPI's registered agent. 

According to December 20, 2011 annual filing, the new CEO is Maple Grove's Jon Richard Schroeder, owner of  Maple Grove firm that represents manufacturers of heating and plumbing supplies. Schroeder has no record of large giving to the Republican Party on the state or federal level, according to databases at the Minnesotan Campaign Finance Board and the FEC. And while Maple Grove is located in SD32, there's no evidence of Republican activism by the businessman at the local GOP website (albeit the page hasn't been updated for months).

Igo is well-known in Republican circles; Schroeder, apparently not so much. Given the large role this entity now plays in determining the financial well-being of the Republican Party of Minnesota, it bears watching.

Image: The enduring legacy of Tony Sutton's fiscal genius, by Tild.

Will Dave Thompson, reputed contender for Senate Majority leader, still work as MNGOP consultant?

Back in the sunny days of early summer, Bluestem posted information gleaned from reading federal campaign finance reports in From the fascinating FEC reports of the Republican Party of Minnesota: of counties, committees, and candidates.

With Senator Dave Thompson emerging as a frontrunner for new Senate Majority Leader, this passage gains some new relevance:

What is interesting, however, are the debts and payments to consultant Dave Thompson, who is also a high-profile freshman state senator. While running for state senate, Thompson seems to have been paid or  contracted for $3750.00 a month. In the amended 2010 end-of-year report filed on April 25, 2011, Thompson's name appears on the list of people and businesses to whom the Republican party owes money. In this iteration of the year-end debt, Tony Sutton's federal account owed senator-elect Dave Thompson $7500 for "General Party Media Consulting."

He  also had another politically-related job. Back in June 2010, PIM's Paul Demko reported that Thompson was pulling double-duty, serving as communications director for CD7 challenger Lee Byberg. Byberg's own FEC statements show that the congressional campaign appears to be on a separate contract; Byberg paid Thompson $1500 in early October. Perhaps Thompson was doing triple duty: candidate, congressional campaign comm director and general party media consultant (whatever that is).

In the next amended report  for the RPM(Febuary 2011), also filed on April 25, 2011, Dave Thompson was owed $18750.00 during the month of January. Thus, one might infer that the Republican Party of Minnesota retained Senator Thompson for $11,250 worth of additional services for "General Party Media Consulting." Thompson was not paid in January 2011 though March 2011 for any of the 2010 debt.

This changes in the May report, which details financial activity during April 2011. Thompson received two equal payments during April for the $7500 owed for 2010, when he was a candidate and consultant, while the $11,250 of consulting work from January 2011 remains charged as a debt.

I'll leave the questions of what it means for a political party to hire a candidate during a campaign for people more versed in campaign ethics than myself. 

What's troubling here, though, is not just that the RPM can manage to pay off one of its own, while simultaneously preaching about cities and counties living within their means--and not paying bills to Minnesota counties for work it insisted had to be done. It's that Thompson performed $11,250 worth of work in the few days in January before he was sworn into office--and that the Republican Party thought this was special enough not to tighten its belt and live within its means, but worthy enough to rack up more bills as if on an extended New Year's bender.

Although he campaigned on cutting spending, Thompson had so far taken the max allowable amount of per diem, PIM's Briana Bierschbach reported in late April.

An assistant majority leader in the senate although a freshman, Thompson has been a high-profile figure in Senate Majority leader Michael Brodkorb's caucus. It's fair to say that not even Michele Bachmann commanded such attention as a first-term legislator (and she was very much disliked immediately with the caucus, I've been told by lawmakers and  former GOP staff alike). I think this is a bigger problem internally for the GOP than it is a public concern, however irritating the triple-dipping might be.

Still, the activity sends a signal to Thompson's constituents that he is more interested in serving party goals than representing the public he serves. It bolsters the point Tom Bakk made about the GOP lawmakers' cult  (and Thompson seems to be making that faith work for his own career, however late the checks may arrive).

It's most likely all legal-- though there might be so much dancing going on here it could be an ecstasy-laced rave at old man Drazkowski's farm--but the paper trail of payments and per diems undercuts the messages about austerity that Thompson was hired to craft during the campaigns and after. This is, after all, the caucus run by a communications director who is also deputy MNGOP state chair.

Oh, and it's good to be senator. (But not a county, even those that vote Republican).

That was posted on June 1.  While the DFL has filed its December 2011 report with the FEC, that from the Republican Party of Minnesota has yet to put in an appearance on the FEC web site.  Monthly reports were due yesterday. Stay tuned.

Notes on the departure of Minnesota's favorite failed burrito baron from the Republican Party

Were it not for the inherent hilarity of the Allen Quist--Emo Senator Mike Parry duel for GOP endorsement in Minnesota's First Congressional District, the denizens of Bluestem Prairie would be bereft at the departure of Tony Sutton from the ranks of leadership of the Republican Party of Minnesota.

That, and the mirth provided by the pratfalls buried in Sutton's exit note and former deputy chair Brodkorb's multiple meltdowns--and the impending revelations that will come as more details emerge about the Count Them All Properly Inc Slush Fund.

While BSP is no fan of Tom Emmer--who just signed on as Minnesota's point man for Abramoff shell gamesman Ralph Reed in the coming culture war by proxy--the finger pointing at the Delano barrister as the source of the party's financial woes by Sutton and Brodkorb is as entertaining as it is essentially unchallenged by the Twin Cities twitterific political press corps.

They still love them some Brodkorb, and with the Minnesota legislative session opening in a few months, who can fault them? Were they to question Mike's narrative of the financial fall, they might lose that precious access to Republican Senators  he gatekeeps for titular Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, and they'd actually have to work for their leads.

In these days of meager media budgets, that's enough to make Baby Jesus cry.

But Bluestem digresses. A few observations on the skids marks left as Sutton and Brodkorb threw Tom Emmer under the bus.  First, the roots of the MNGOP's financial woes burrow back before 2010 convention delegates picked Emmer in the second ballot. Indeed, as Bluestem noted in Sutton was treasurer: failed burrito baron's MNGOP fined $170K for shifting party funds,the recent FEC fine covers oopsies made during Sutton's tenure as treasurer in the mid aughties. If Tom Emmer contemplated running a run for governor at the time, it was but a gleam in his eye--and we seriously don't want to know more.

Second, Sutton claims in his farewell letter that shifting responsibility for the recount from the gubernatorial campaign to the party was something Tom Emmer avidly sought. Upon reviewing memory and available media via Mr. Google and Nexis, this claim  seems a bit dicey, since Sutton staged a press conference on the morning after the election during which he raged on like "a drunk baby," as one charming young friend described it.

Sutton was eager to press claims of ballot box malfeasance, to a degree that prompted articles like Jay Weiner's GOP's saber-rattling Tony Sutton vows aggressive recount fight at MinnPost. A week had barely past when Sutton and Brodkorb installed Emmer adversary Ben Golnik as head of the party's recount effort, which was heavy with Seifert allies as well as the fiance  (now husband)of Annette Meek's mole on the Emmer campaign staff. It didn't look like an operation Tom Emmer craved--and it still doesn't, regardless of how Sutton spins it.

Perhaps an enterprising journo might interview those who were in the MNGOP war room that night to see if all share Sutton's recollection.

Similar circumstances operate in the creation of Count Them Properly, which is chaired by Mary Igo. Igo had endorsed Seifert for Governor prior to the convention. Moreover, the slush fund was set up on December 3, 2010, which makes one wonder how Sutton was managing the legal invoices and other recount-related paperwork prior to its formation.  Details, details.

Perhaps we'll learn them if the fund ceases to exist, AKA goes bankrupt. Given the looming debt, there's always that possibility.

One final note: CTAP registered agent Daniel G. Puhl, head of Cardinal FEC Compliance and perennial feeder at the post-event trough of the 2008 Republican National Convention, has moved on to the Republican National Committee along with running buddy Jeff Larson. Bluestem wishes them all well.

Perhaps--far removed from the financial acumen that Sutton brought to both Baja Sol and the MNGOP--they'll both do just fine. If not, they'll still have Tom Emmer to kick around.

Failed burrito baron's financial genius makes headlines again; Strib glosses over details

A week ago, a little bird whose right wing flaps much stronger than its left called to suggest that Dark Lord Brodkorb had flown the coop at Tony's Turkey Farm (political division) in the belief that pastures will be greener in Southern Minnesota.

Indeed, Bluestem eagerly awaits the guiding hand of Brodkorb when Emo Senator runs to character and starts tweeting about Congressman Walz's lawn care issues, just as he did with Governor Dayton during the shutdown.

But back to bird calls. Part of that song convey a frustration among party activists with the Republican Party of Minnesota's financial straits, along with a sense that large FEC fines aren't imposed for simple bookkeeping errors. There's a certain merit in that hunch, given that Randy Demmer's  congressional campaign was never fined, simply asked to revise their homework.

Today's Strib confirms the lilting call of the Great North Star Speckled Dime Dropper. Baird Helgeson reports in State GOP faces $533,000 in debt:

Still reeling from months of debt, the executive board of the Republican Party of Minnesota held a closed-door meeting Thursday night to discuss party finances and its path forward.

State Party Chairman Tony Sutton emerged after more than an hour and declared it a "positive meeting" but declined to release any further details.

Despite Sutton's assurances, some GOP leaders are surprised the party remains in a $533,000 financial hole.

"It's how much?" said state Sen. John Howe, R-Red Wing. "It appears we have some fundraising opportunities we need to address." . . .

. . .Sutton took the helm of the state GOP in 2009 with more than $1 million in the bank and by January of this year the party owed creditors $750,000.

And then there's this:

A recent Federal Election Commission report showed that the party continues to burn through money faster than it is taking it in. The party also racked up significant expenses in the gubernatorial recount between Dayton and GOP candidate Tom Emmer. Although the party is not legally obligated to pay those debts, several party officials believe the GOP is ethically bound to do so.

Given the Strib's perpetual incuriosity about all things corporate and Republican, it's not surprising that there's no more than that. 

But it's a paragraph that deserves unpacking to see what lovely feathers emerge from that nest of prose. First, the FEC report relates only to the MNGOP's federal account and not to its state account, although a note in the October 2011 monthly report reveals that a check from Minnesota for Marriage had been mistakenly deposited in the federal account(page 6/163).

Nice to get an advance heads up on Sutton collecting checks from that "nice" crowd. We won't know what the balance is on the state account until the party's yearly report to the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board is due by the end of January 2012. Bluestem suspects the document will have more readers than former Governor Pawlenty's memoir.

Second, the construction:

The party also racked up significant expenses in the gubernatorial recount between Dayton and GOP candidate Tom Emmer. Although the party is not legally obligated to pay those debts...

obscures ratherthan illuminates the story of Count Them All Properly Inc, a separate fund that Sutton set up after he wrestled recount responsibility away from the Emmer campaign. Some rightish friends waggishly suggested at the time that Sutton had hoped to find a cash cow in the recount, as well as a fund whose contents needn't be disclosed to state or federal regulators. A pity.

And the notion that the MNGOP can set up an account, called Count Them All Properly, and not be obligated legally to pay those debts, perhaps suggests that Sutton has transferred a curious set of talents from his time at the helm of the Baja Sol restaurant empire. And those mad skillz? Developed earlier while treasurer of the Republican Party of Minnesota.

Image: Sutton's currency, courtesy of Tild.

Related post: Missing at Minnpost: Why isn't Tony Sutton talking about Count Them All Properly Inc.recount fund?

Rural newspaper calls for sunshine, no veil of anonymity for funders of public debate

Sunshine, like rain, should fall on everyone--and various passages in the Bible suggest that this indeed happens. Some conservative Christian groups are begging for indulgences nonetheless.

In Anti-gay marriage groups say they won’t follow new campaign finance guidelines, Minnesota Independent's Andy Birkey reports:

A coalition of groups working to convince voters to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage said on Tuesday that it would not follow new rules being proposed by the Minnesota campaign finance board, which watchdog groups say would violate the law.

Minnesota for Marriage is a partnership between the Minnesota Family Council, the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the National Organization for Marriage.

Last week, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board announced it was considering updating its rules to close loopholes in the ballot initiative’s reporting requirements. The board released guidance to outside groups that want to donate to ballot campaigns such as Minnesota for Marriage which supports the amendment or Minnesotans United for All Families which opposes the amendment, and spelled out how those donations would be disclosed.

In the heart of a deeply Catholic community, a local newspaper is having none of the conservative reluctance to disclose. The editorial board of the New Ulm Journal writes in Donations should be reported:

The right to express one's political opinion has been guaranteed to US citizens since the adoption of the US Constitution. But speaking up has always carried with it the implication that one should be accountable for one's opinion . . . .

. . .The state's Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board issued new guidelines on reporting private donations on public ballot measures. Critics of the decision fear it may discourage some donors from giving to groups involved in the marriage amendment battle because they are afraid of backlash.

But heat has always been part of poltics. "Politics ain't beanbag," as humorist Finley Peter Dunne pointed out way back in 1898. Those who choose to get involved in political debate, either by standing up on a soapbox and shouting, or paying others to shout for them, should have the courage of their convictions and not expect to be protected by a veil of anonymity.

Those who seek to shove their own identity as political contributors back into the closet where they also propose to shove the lives of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals are simply going to have a hard time with their attachment to secrets. 

Good. By pressuring the Republican legislature to pass the marriage inequality amendment, this is a problem they've brought on to themselves. It's hard to muster any sympathy for their sudden need for privacy.

Photo: Stereotypical couple defending marriage, please disclose the source of those bills.

Related post: Peppin pimping hate: House member's spouse "lobbies" caucus on amendment--for whom?

Carver County GOP tells City Pages it so wasn't auctioning anything at online legislator auction

Earlier this week, in Cravaack goes public in Duluth, quake strikes East Coast, Republicans admit golf is boring, Bluestem posted about the Carver County GOP's email invitation to registered lobbyists to bid on a chance to do a round of sporting clays with select Republican lawmakers.

After Common Cause posted the invitation that its registered lobbyist received, along with telling screenshots, and Cucking Stool picked up the narrative, we were able to report Carver Co GOP pulls lawmaker auction; lobbyists will have to find other means to buy Republican.

This morning, MNPublius posted Carver County GOP tries to cover up auctioning its legislators.

Now the Carver County activist who organized the event tells it was so not what it appeared to be in Carver County Republican Party tries to auction off legislators, then denies it. New CP staff writer and human mongoose Gregory Pratt reports:

But something has changed since the party sent out that fundraising pitch Tuesday afternoon. The party took down the auction, and is distancing itself from the event. City Pages called O'Brien to ask about it and he denied that any online auction was ever going to take place, blaming the original setup on "configuration" issues.

"It's not an auction itself," he says. "It's an ecommerce site. There are many different ways to purchase tickets to the event. We don't have sophisticated tools to handle that so we're using the ecommerce capabilities of that website." . . .

Pratt observes that it certainly looked like an auction, and plays show and tell with screenshots that illustrate the point. Go over and take a look, and read more about what the organizer had to say for himself.

Meanwhile, one waggish lobbyist friend wonders when the apology to Republican golfers in Edina and Wayzata will be forthcoming.

Image: The invite.

Related posts: Carver Co GOP pulls lawmaker auction; lobbyists will have to find other means to buy Republicans

Cravaack goes public in Duluth, quake strikes East Coast, Republicans admit golf is boring

Cravaack goes public in Duluth, quake strikes East Coast, Republicans admit golf is boring

On a freaky headline day, Bluestem is seeing more evidence of the waning days of Babylon. Among the signs and wonders: Cravaack gives in, will conduct Duluth town hall (a meeting for which, miracle of miracle, those attending need pay no admission fee) and Photos of devastation from the East Coast earthquake.

Chad McKenna, the Field Coordinator for the North East Area Labor Council, sent the following statement about the meeting:

After weeks of public pressure and protests, Chip Cravaack has finally conceded to have a town hall tomorrow. Until now, Cravaack has been unwilling to have a public townhall with constituents in the largest city in his district.

Chip Cravaack gave 25 business members/donors a month's notice before meeting today's meeting, but only gave 28 hours notice for a public townhall, held during the workday, and on the outskirts of town. While he is agreeing to finally meet with constituents, he is making it as difficult as possible.

Parking will be $2.00

Where: Duluth International Airport, Alpine Room
When: TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 24 @ 4pm
Who: YOU and all citizens of NE MN
Why: To hold Cravaack accountable for his refusal to stand up for middle class Minnesotans.

But neither a Cravaack town meeting in Duluth nor an East Coast earthquake ( both thought a rarity) rivals the shocker of an email invitation to a Carver County GOP fundraiser a number of readers passed on to Bluestem. The only common thread these readers share is that thety are registered lobbyists; none has attended a  Republican fundraiser in Minnesota before.

Here's the astonishing item:

From: Joe Emmett [email redacted]
Date: August 23, 2011 1:54:04 PM EDT
To: [redaced]
Subject: Fundraiser: Kline/Paulsen/Ortman/Hoppe - Thu, Sep. 1st, 3:00PM-4:30P

[name redacted]

Tired of the same old golf fundraisers?!

Bid, online auction style, for an exclusive opportunity to be one of just five people on a Shotgun Sporting Clays course walk/shoot (shooting is not required to participate) with your favorite legislator at the Horse & Hunt Club from 3:00PM-4:30PM on Thursday, September 1st.  Sporting Clays is like golf, but with a shotgun!  :-)

And Wikipedia says so!  But that's a commonplace.

What's remarkable here is two-fold. First, the admission by a Republican that golf is boring.

The second is the open auctioning off of elected officials. While all of those who passed this on to Bluestem are registered lobbyists, without additional investigation, we cannot assert here that only lobbyists received an offer to bid on Republican legislators. We might also assume, for instance, that corporate CEOs, bank fat cats, private sector ALEC members, and other folks who who might wish to bid on chance to golf-with-a-shotgun with lawmakers, also have been given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And they don't have to worry if they don't have their own shotgun, shells or experience. The invitation continues:

If you are not able to attend this event, please do your contacts a favor and forward this email on to others that could benefit from this opportunity.

Fundraiser benefits Carver County Republican Party.

These special event tickets are available for Congressman Kline, Congressman Paulsen, Sen. Julianne Ortman, Rep. Joe Hoppe, and a number of freshman.  Rep. Hoppe said yesterday that he was planning on bringing House Speaker Zellers but it is not confirmed.

- Shooting is not required to be part of a five-person "Legislator Team" for the Clays Course walk/shoot.  
- BBQ social to follow.  
- Loaner shotguns are available.
- shells can be purchased on site.
- event will have famous shotgun pro Pat LaBoone available for instruction and demonstrations.

Just five tickets for each "Legislator Shooting Team" are being made available via silent online auction.

http://auctions.readysetauction.com/CarverGOP

Call with questions.

Regards,
Joe Emmett O'Brien
Carver County Republican Party

[contact info redacted]

What will it cost the winning lobbyist to hang with John Kline, who recently brought home first place in the Congressional Shoot-out, Republican category? (Collin Peterson was the top gun among the Democratic contenders in the competition sponsored by the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus.)

What's Paulsen worth? Ortmann? Hopper?

For the record, Bluestem rather enjoys shooting with our bosom companions. However, we're not too keen on legislators for sale to lobbyists, and wonder what those who object to human trafficking might think about the example this human auction sets.

Bluestem believes that we may also have found a clip on Youtube that illustrates the outdoor excitement that high bidders might enjoy at the fundraiser:

Photos: Chip Cravaack (above); The graphic version of the invite (middle); Congressman John Kline and his 2010 "Top Gun" honors, via Kline's website (below). For the record, it's not just Kline and Peterson who are members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. Other members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation belonging to the caucus include Sen. Al Franken, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and Congressmen Tim Walz, Erik Paulsen, and Chip Cravaack. With that sort of representation, Bluestem thinks maybe all Minnesotans, and their livestock, should start wearing orange vests and hats year round.

Boehner shoots 4-over-par 76 from middle tees; Minnesota's protestors hit an ace in The Hill

Wednesday's perfect swarm of protest in Wayzata is making news, along with Speaker Boehner's golf score for the fundraiser for Minnesota's Republican congressional delegation.

Sportswriter Charley Walters at the Pioneer Press reports:

That was U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner golfing Wednesday at Wayzata Country Club. Boehner shot a 4-over-par 76 from the middle tees.

Spring Hill Golf Course, the exclusive club listed on the original invitation that Minnesota Public Radio obtained for the Republican fundraiser, is a longer course, so perhaps the Speaker should be happy that he ended up at a different club after word of coming protests got out.

The protests aced it in the media, acing the longest shot in the course as the lead example illustrating  a  late Friday afternoon headline in the Hill, Republicans face Tea Party-style protests from liberal, labor groups:

Hundreds of people showed up at the Wayzata Golf Club in Wayzata, Minnesota, Friday to protest a fundraiser for Reps. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), which was attended by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Holding signs that blared “Jobs, not cuts!” and “People before profits”, the protesters, some wearing labor tee shirts, sought to put a hot spotlight on the exclusive event, which charged donors up to $10,000 to play a round of golf with the lawmakers.

Cravaack, who does not play golf, attended the fundraising lunch but stayed off the links.

Dozens of constituents held a rally in Duluth earlier this month to protest Cravaak’s refusal to hold a town-hall meeting in that part of his district, which is a Democratic stronghold.

Well-played!

Photo: Wednesday's protest. Photo by Rafael Morataya. Used with permission.

Related post: The Freedom Project in Wayzata: who golfed at Spring Hill Golf Club in 2007 on PAC's dime?

Golddigger of 2006?: Golnik was MNGOP ED while treasurer conducted naughty fund transfers

Upon reading Sutton was treasurer: failed burrito baron's MNGOP fined $170K for shifting party funds, a friend of Bluestem wrote to remind us that Ben Golnik was executive director of the Republican Party from 2006 until March 2007. Prior to taking the position in January 2006, he served as political director beginning in April 2005.

Golnik's tenure as state party director becomes relevant when reviewing the period during which the party committed the acts for which the FEC fined it, and for Golnik's subsequent involvement in a party affair that concealed financial activity: the 2010 gubernatorial recount.

Unlike the Dayton campaign, which has publicly reported its recount spending, the Republican Party created a special account that isn't subject to public disclosure laws, the Associated Press reported.

The heady election of 2006

Back to the series of unfortunate financial events that happened during Sutton's watch as treasurer and Golnik's gig as Executive Director. Most of the mischief took place in 2006, an election year that ushered in Tim Pawlenty's reelection and Michele Bachmann's elevation to the national stage. Perhaps Sutton and Golnik were too busy to think about bookkeeping.

The consent agreement between the Republican party of Minnesota and the Federal Election Commission was generously posted at the Hot Dish Blog by Rachel Stassen-Berger. In it, readers learn that the party violated federal election law in two ways:

1.Respondents violated 2 U.S.C. § 434(b) by failing to report debts and obligations.

2.Respondents violated 2 U.S.C. § 441a(f) and 11 C.F.R. §§ 102.5(a) and 106.7(f) by making excessive transfers from the Committee’s non-federal account to its federal account for allocated administrative expense

Read the entire document for the details. According to sources who have worked with the MNGOP, expenses have to be approved by the Executive Director, and the ED reviews campaign finance reports for the treasurer. Current MNGOP chair, failed burrito baron Tony Sutton, was treasurer at the time the violations were set in motion.

The forgotten years of Ben Golnik

Golnik left the MNGOP and its mixed up financial files in March 2007 to work for McCain's early presidential campaign, the Big Question noted, but was demoted to volunteer Minnesota coordinator when the Arizona senator ran out of money. Golnik rose from the dead with the McCain campaign, the BQ reported, serving as "regional campaign manager for a territory stretching from Minnesota to Idaho, including the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming."

A month after Golnik left the party without helping to clean up, Darren  Bearson, now ED for the Ohio Republicans after serving as a regional political director for the RNC during the midterm elections, was hired as Golnik's replacement. The FEC reports were amended under his watch, if Bluestem reads the timeline of the consent agreement correctly.

Then Tony Sutton was elected chair in the summer of 2009. In New state GOP chairman reorganizes staff, Capitol View readers learned:

Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman-elect Tony Sutton today announced he would be appointing Ryan Griffin executive director . . .

Sutton praised the work of Carey and executive director Darren Bearson, who he says will continue to play a role in helping elect Minnesota Republicans.

"I was impressed by Darren's achievements during his tenure as executive director. His considerable skills in decision-making, political strategy and financial management have helped make our Party stronger. I look forward to continuing to work together in the future," Sutton said.

"2010 is going to be an important year for Minnesota Republicans. It will be an incredible opportunity to focus on the future of this great state, and I look forward to working with the new team," Darren Bearson said.

Ryan Griffin previously worked on Gov. Tim Pawlenty's successful 2002 race and has worked with both the House and Senate Republican Caucuses. . . .

Golnik would pop up again, working for energy concerns and Marty Seifert's gubernatorial endorsement bid, then move on to engineer the GOP senate caucus takeover of the chamber. Then the 2010 gubernatorial recount happened.

Counting them all properly in 2010

Tony Sutton quickly took over the recount efforts from the Emmer campaign, as MinnPost reported in GOP's saber-rattling Tony Sutton vows aggressive recount fight:

This time, the state GOP is taking over the legal reins for candidate Tom Emmer, and they've hired Michael E. Toner. He's the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission under George W. Bush. He is highly respected by election lawyers nationwide. But Democratic sources told me they were unaware whether he has any extensive recount experience.

Minnesota Republican Party lawyer Tony Trimble, who was one of Coleman's chief lawyers, is also on the team. . . .

A few days later, Sutton hired Golnik to run the recount effort for the Republican Party of Minnesota.  Using AP and original reporting, Minnesota Public Radio reported in Emmer attorney says no thought to waiving recount:

Meanwhile, the state Republican Party, which is coordinating Emmer's recount efforts, announced that a prominent strategist would lead the team. Ben Golnik is a former party executive director, who ran presidential candidate John McCain's campaign in the state in 2008. . . .

The Republican Party then created Count Them All Properly Inc., a separate account free from state or federal disclosure.

MPR reported in MNGOP won't disclose recount fundraising:

The Republican Party of Minnesota and Republican Tom Emmer's campaign for governor will not disclose the money it raised to help with the recount. Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton said today that the group created a separate corporate account, Count Them All Properly Inc., for their recount efforts. He said they won't disclose the amount of money raised or by whom -- and state and federal laws don't require them to release it.

Golnik's firm does show up in the RPM's state account end of year report.  According to the amended RPM year-end campaign finance report, Golnik Strategies LLC was paid $6000.00 on November 19, 2010, by the Republican Party of Minnesota, for fundraising and political consulting. It's likely this is his fee for the recount.

But since the public doesn't get to see the secret account, Bluestem will never know what was spent, but at last Golnick and Sutton had found a way to keep those thugs at CREW off their backs while they hid money.

Golnik-Emmer tensions continue

Perhaps the story should end there, but there's a sequel every bit as dramatic as the pelf: the Great Golnik-Emmer Conflict of 2011.

Golnik's involvement in the recount didn't end tensions between the one-time Seifert supporter and Emmer. Both threw their hats into the ring for an open RNC committee seat, while political observers with a keen eye order popping corn by the dump truck load.

They didn't disappoint. A Weekly Report in PIM from reported:

We also hear Emmer and political operative Golnik mixed it up a little this week at an 8th Congressional District Republican gathering in McGregor. There's, of course, history between Emmer and Golnik. Golnik was a campaign advisor for Emmer's 2010 GOP endorsement opponent, Marty Seifert. However, Golnik also managed the Emmer campaign's recount efforts following the razor-thin general election.

The final sentence has value only if one assumes that Sutton's takeover--which ran the recount, not the Emmer campaign--was entirely welcomed and voluntary on Emmer's part. Sources tell Bluestem that efforts to extract not only the recount effort itself, but the remaining dollars in Emmer's campaign committee kitty, weren't entirely amicable.

That effort is said to have fortified Golnik when he was able enact his revenge against Emmer at the 2011 state central committee meeting when Jeff Johnson was elected RNC delegate in one ballot. Golnik himself had wanted to be a RNC committee member, but withdrew when he decided to spend more time with his young family. Bluestem looked at the politics of his departure in Disturbance at the elephant house: MNGOP party platform purity tests RNC candidates.

Upon leaving the RNC committee member race, Golnik threw his energy behind the remaining candidate Not Named Tom Emmer. PIM's Charlie Shaw wrote in RNC upset: Johnson spanks Emmer on one ballot:

. . .Johnson ran an aggressive effort that included a strong floor presence at the State Central Committee meeting. In some respects, the RNC election was a rematch of the 2010 GOP State Convention fight in which Emmer beat Seifert. Key operatives for Seifert, including campaign veterans Gregg Peppin and Ben Golnik, helped execute a thorough floor strategy. "A lot of the Seifert team was in [the Johnson campaign's] red T-shirts, and that made a difference," one attendee noted. . . .

. . .On the campaign finance front, Emmer drew the ire of some in the party by not using the $46,000 in leftover cash to help the state GOP pay off its legal expenses from the statewide ballot recount that followed last year's general election. While the issue of financial support would be mere background noise in the context of a campaign for public office, the issue was a sore spot to some party activists. . .

In many feuds, that would have ended it, but a chafing public embarrassment remained for Tony Sutton and the Republican Party. As part of the recount effort, the Republican Party--and not the Emmer campaign--had ordered every county to send copies of every election related record to it post haste, with threats of legal action if the records weren't prepared immediately.

Then the party failed to pay many of the counties.

Newspaper reports of the bad debts flowered like spring beauties in the hills, Senator John Howe pleaded for senate majority caucus members pony up, and then Cindy Brucato's column appeared MinnPost, Emmer sends checks from campaign fund to reimburse counties for recount expenses.

Bluestem used the final item in that series to ask Missing at Minnpost: Why isn't Tony Sutton talking about Count Them All Properly Inc. recount fund? because we could.

In short, the FEC fine doesn't look out of character for guys like Sutton--it only looks like an early career blunder, before they learn better ways to hide the lettuce.  If it weren't for those pesky rural counties, that is.

Update: Ben Golnik is now serving as a campaign adviser to freshman congressman Chip Cravaack, and was recently heard from in Cravaack's Campaign Disputes Legal Bill:

A New Jersey law firm has filed a claim against U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack for unpaid legal services.

Jeff Neu, of J.C. Neu & Associates of Red Bank, N.J., says his firm is seeking reimbursement of legal services provided to Cravaack during his congressional campaign. The Republican congressman reported a $32,250 claim from Neu to the Federal Elections Commission and characterized the bill as "disputed." Cravaack's campaign adviser, Ben Golnik, tells the Duluth News Tribune that it's an ongoing legal matter which they are working to resolve.

Neu says the case is in arbitration. No hearing has been scheduled before the New Jersey Arbitration Board. . . .

Popcorn, anyone?

Photos: Ben Golnik, above; Tony Sutton, below.

Excited Republicans: leaders led protest, while Howe enjoyed energy Obama brought to district

A reader in the Red Wing area called Bluestem's attention to an item published Tuesday in a longer article, Audience brings rural focus back to bus tour, in the Fargo Forum:

Republican excited

State Sen. John Howe, R-Red Wing, may hold a different political stance from Democrat Obama, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t excited to hear him speak in Cannon Falls.

“It’s an honor and a privilege that the president has selected my district,” Howe said.

In a five-minute meeting with Obama, Howe said he asked for a blue-ribbon panel to study nuclear waste storage. As former Red Wing mayor, Howe dealt with that issue from the nearby nuclear power plant for years.

Prior to the president’s speech, Howe said he thought most people would be interested in hearing him talk about tax reform.

“But I also hope the president is coming to listen to rural America,” Howe added.

And that’s exactly what Obama did, spending a majority of his time at the event holding a question-and-answer session and hearing from all different ages in the crowd.

Howe said Obama brought a lot of energy to his state Senate district.

Senate Majority Leader and Deputy Chair Mike Brodkorb can't be pleased with that message, which showed up in the Red Wing Eagle under the subheading "Howe's five minutes."  The Eagle reported on the GOP press conference--that morphed into a tea party rally--in Republicans rally to make Obama “one-term president." 

According to AP reporter Brian Bakst, Howe had received an invitation  to the creekside town hall from the White House.

It's hard to say just how upset the Republican Party really can be, however, since Howe expressed his devotion to the GOP through a heartfelt fundraising letter this June. As readers may remember from Amid failed burrito baron's promises to pay counties, state senator rattles a tip jar, Howe did some of FBB and GOP chair Sutton's rainmaking for him when the freshman state senator wrote in his Epistle to the Deadbeats: news of MNGOP debt "spreading through the political blogs."

Hower does appear to like meeting with Democratic leaders. In a column, Senators eschew party favor for local values, Winona Daily News editor Darrell Ehrlick noted that Governor Dayton ad had Howe to lunch:

Howe said the lunch was a great, honest conversation about the budget and priorities.

He said they talked about what was possible - and impossible. For example, Howe, along with the party, seems to be toeing a hard line against increasing income tax.

"With the population getting older, income tax isn't stable," Howe said. "But I think we can look at broadening sales tax to raise some funds, as well as keeping things like food, medicine and clothing tax-free."

Howe also expressed some discomfort about the GOP's $34 billion budget. The keyword contained within, of course, being "budge."

Republican legislators say they're unwilling to consider a budget that is more than $34 billion. Howe can't help but wonder if it was a good strategy to draw a $34 billion line in the sand.

"We boxed ourselves in," Howe said.

The Post Bulletin has more on how the meal came to pass. It also notes that during the session, the Red Wing senator push[ed a] rail funding compromise.

It wasn't the last time headlines like that appeared for stories in which Howe played a role. The Star Tribune reported in In GOP, a deep divide over hard line on budget:

Republican leaders across Minnesota aren't just locked in an intense budget struggle with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. They are tussling with each other, too.

Before and since the state government shutdown began, GOP leaders have insisted that rank-and-file legislators not give an inch on new government spending. Lined up behind the leadership is a fervent group of freshmen lawmakers emboldened by the fact that their party is in the majority at the Capitol for the first time in decades.

But others in the Republican ranks are arguing quietly for ways to reach a budget agreement with the governor -- partly out of fear that a rigid stand could cost them their newfound political clout as early as next year's elections.

"There's no question there's a clash of political cultures between many of the Tea Party members and the old guard," said former Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad. . . .

 . . .In March, state party chairman Tony Sutton told party leaders that Republicans would pass a balanced budget "and put the shutdown on the shoulders of Governor Dayton."

However, a handful of Republican legislators are continuing to toss around ideas like expanded gambling, cigarette fee hikes and other forms of non-tax revenue to edge closer to a budget deal.

Sen. John Howe, R-Red Wing, continues to meet with Dayton and some state commissioners, as he has for weeks, talking about tax reform. He said he doesn't want to increase the tax burden or grow the government.

But, Howe said, "I would hope that we could operate and represent our constituents in an atmosphere that is free from intimidation and bullying." Asked if he thought lawmakers were being intimidated or bullied, he said: "I will leave that up to others to judge." . . .

What form could that intimidation and bullying take? Bluestem is tracking down a fairly tip from within Howe's district.

Howe seems to have developed a reputation as a moderate Republican in his first term. In recent Minnesota pachyderm politics, this might be fatal for him, but Bluestem believes that he's holding a get-out-of-being-primaried-free card.

Jon Collins reports in Kiffmeyer: 30 Minnesota legislators are ALEC members that Howe answered a citizen email that he is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, and he's got an ALEC-y bill on VoterID he introduced.

He also supports ALEC's approach to nuclear energy, but some of that can be attributed to local politics. The Star Tribune reported:

Sen. John Howe, R-Red Wing, said he had gotten a brief meeting with Obama earlier in the day that he described as "very personal. He makes you feel real good."

Howe said he asked Obama to send a blue-ribbon panel to the area to study nuclear storage. Red Wing officials have sought for years to lift the nuclear moratorium in the state but those efforts vaporized after the Japanese nuclear disaster. . . .

In short, Bluestem concludes that Howe's a made man as far as the corporate bill factory crowd goes. A little face time with the president or lunch with the governor probably won't erase that saving grace.

Photo: Senator John Howe.

Sutton was treasurer: failed burrito baron's MNGOP fined $170K for shifting party funds

Leave it to failed burrito baron Tony Sutton to blame someone else for the $170,000 fine his debt-ridden party was just handed by the Federal Election Commission.

Not that he is. Oh no. Of course not.

In Minnesota Republican Party to pay $170K fine for federal campaign finance violations, Rachel Stassen-Berger reports:

“I could say something here about excessive government regulation but we’re taking our lumps and moving forward," Sutton said.

Sutton's got the Minnesota Nice passive-aggressive voice down pat these days. It wasn't his and Cupcake's fault the Baja Sol chain shrank until it was yanked away from them by TCB and former party boss Bill Cooper. Nope, that was the business climate. And if he wasn't the big man that he is, he'd blame the government for this fine stemming from his own violation of the rules.

Stassen-Berger has posted the party's agreement with the FEC here. Read it.

Minnesota Public Radio reports in Minn. GOP pays $170K penalty for illegal fund transfers:

The FEC found the Republican party of Minnesota failed to disclose nearly $100,000 in debt in 2006. The same year, the party withheld retirement contributions totaling nearly $8,000 dollars to four employees. Also that year, state Republican party made illegal excessive transfers totaling more than $560,000 from its non-federal account to its federal account.

In an agreement with the FEC released by Minnesota Republicans, the party says the errors and omissions were not intentional. GOP chair Tony Sutton said in a statement the party has taken steps to correct problems, including hiring an outside firm to produce financial reports.

Kudos to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and local attorney and watchdog, Diane Gerth, for calling the mischief to the commission's attention.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sutton does get to pay the fine off on the installment plan. The first payment of $20,000 is due within 30 days of when the agreement becomes effective, with 10 monthly payments of $15,000.

On August 1, Bluestem reported in State party federal accounts: MNGOP reports negative cash-on-hand; HRCC federal fund that the MNGOP's federal account showed a negative balance of -8354.96 as well as $608,147.51 in outstanding debts.

Under a new agreement with the party's executive board, Sutton started to receive an annual salary of $100,000 in July.  It's good to see that one corner of the American Dream remains, and a young man from Hibbing can grow up, shift money around, run a business into the ground, head a party that can't live within its means, and still rise to the top like sweet cream. A regular Horatio Alger.

Given the way Sutton and Deputy Chair/Senate Majority Leader Mike Brodkorb keep a tight, disciplining hand on the majority legislative caucuses, it shouldn't come as any surprise that those legislators brought forth the sort of state budget agreement that relies on shifting money from school payments to the general fund and borrowing with tobacco bonds.

Bluestem has one favor to ask Republican leaders. In the future when they speak of how government has to balance its budget, just like a family, they should really share the fact that it's the Sutton family that they're using as their mental model.

llustrations: Sutton bucks, by Tild; Minnesota Republican chair and failed burrito baron Tony Sutton frowns for the camera at a Tax Cut Rally St. Paul, Minnesota May 7, 2011. Photo by Fibonacci Blue; used with permission.

Related posts:  State party federal accounts: MNGOP reports negative cash-on-hand; HRCC federal fund

Mankato editors slam tobacco bonds sale: "loan-shark, pawn-shop type of public finance"

What not to wear: Previewing MNGOP's "Rad Reform Red" porcine gloss for 2012

Failed burrito baron and party boss Tony Sutton stiffs counties, looks to MNGOP to stuff tortilla

The Freedom Project in Wayzata: who golfed at Spring Hill Golf Club in 2007 on PAC's dime?

Tuesday evening, Bluestem posted Green is new Boehnertone: Orange speaker to raise some lettuce for GOP peers in Wayzata, a headline and entry that evolved the next day as the location for Speaker Boehner's fundraiser for his Republican posse changed locales.

The tony Spring Hill Golf Club was familiar to Boehner's Freedom Project PAC. Records at ProPublica and the FEC reveal that two bills for green fees and food and beverages were listed as September 13, 2007 expenses.

First made public on August 10 by MPR after it obtained an invitation, Wedensday's $10,000 per person golf outing (and companion $1000 lunch for pikers), was to be held at Spring Hill Golf Club, an exclusive club designed by Tom Fazio. There are exceptions to the exclusivity, however, since public university teams play there.

Public Radio's Brett Neely reported:

President Obama won't be the only high-level political visitor to Minnesota next week. Republican House Speaker John Boehner will hold a fundraiser in Wayzata on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

According to an invite given to Minnesota Public Radio News, tickets for a round of golf at the Spring Hill Golf Club with the Speaker and a lunch cost $10,000, while lunch-only tickets run $1,000. Boehner's hosts for the event are all four Republican House members from Minnesota, John Kline, Erik Paulsen, Chip Cravaack and Michele Bachmann.

Politico picked up the item in an omnibus Boehner golf outing post, John Boehner golfs, raises cash in the Midwest:

Speaker John Boehner’s staff has always been fairly quiet about where the Ohio Republican jaunts during congressional recesses to raise money for the GOP.

But when the top Republican comes to town, local newspapers catch wind. And the stories paint a picture of a man who is racking up quite the frequent-flier miles this August. His staff confirms the reports are true.

Wednesday's outing was cancelled at Spring Hill and quietly moved to Wayzata Golf Club, creating a golf scramble of another sort for hundreds of Minnesotans who wanted to share their views on job creation with the speaker.

Despite the move, they found the new location, as Fox News 9 reported in Protest at $10,000 Republican Golf Outing in Wayzata: Organizers blast pricy outing as inaccessible:

Hundreds of protesters showed up at a $10,000 per ticket golf outing in Wayzata, Minnesota on Wednesday that featured House Speaker John Boehner and two Minnesota congressmen.

Boehner was joined by Republican congressmen Erik Paulsen and Chip Cravaack. Donors who bought a $10,000 ticket for the golf outing had the opportunity to tee off with the Republican lawmakers at Wayzata Golf Club.

Organizers of the protest say the members of Congress should be spending their recess with common workers and the unemployed, rather than entertaining big-dollar donors on a golf course.

With chants, signs and cardboard cut-outs of Republicans -- even a plane flying a message from above, protestors worked to make their anger known.

Similar reports on the protest showed up in the Star Tribune Protesters picket GOP at Wayzata fundraiser, where Eric Roper reportsed

Organizers found themselves briefly playing cat and mouse with Boehner on Wednesday morning after learning that he had nixed plans to hold the event at nearby Spring Hill Golf Club. Shortly before 11 a.m., they discovered the new location and redirected three busloads of protesters.

KSTP-TV covered the ruckus in Protestors Greet Big Names in GOP At Golf Fundraiser in Wayzata, while The Uptake offers its coverage in Boehner-Bachmann $10,000 Golf Event Attracts a Crowd.

Fox News interviewed members of the club, who weren't annoyed by the protesters, but felt that free assembly was important for the country.

An item in Scott Goldberg's report on Fox 9 piqued my curiosity:

A 2005 Golf Digest article said Boehner found time to play 100 or more rounds of golf per year, citing opponents. The article says Boehner belongs to the prestigious Burning Tree club outside of Washington, which costs $75,000 to join and $6,000 in annual dues. The club’s membership is said to have included more than 70 lobbyists over the last decade.

"If someone I've gotten to know on the golf course comes into my office with a good argument, I tend to want to listen," Boehner said.

I wondered if Boehner had been to either Spring Hill Golf Club before--and if he had other golf dates in Minnesota--and who he might have met on our Gopher State links.

Reading about Spring Hill Golf Club shows that it's pretty pricey--though the price has come down of late--and frequented by high-profile movers and shakers in the Republican Party. Prominent Republicans, such as former MNGOP chair and TCB CEO Bill Cooper (link goes to downloadable Morningstar report) and Norm Coleman insurance chum (Laurie Coleman's employer in 2008) Jim Hays are or were members of Spring Hill. There might be more.

Imprisoned auto dealer Denny Hecker was also a member, and while Republicans received the lion's share of his ill-gotten largesse, DFLers took checks as well.

Spring Hill Golf Club: Golfing on Freedom Project's dime

As it turns out, the only Minnesota golf-related expenses for Boehner that I could find by looking at records were two bills paid to the club listed on the original invitation to yesterday's fundraiser: Spring Hill Golf Club. They're listed here in one of ProPublica's databases, while Freedom Project's October 2007 monthly report to the FEC provides more specific details on the expenses:

Spring Hill Golf Club 725 County Road 6 Wayzata, Minnesota 553917600		09/13/2007
	Gen. fund. Greens fees	1467.88

Spring Hill Golf Club 725 County Road 6 Wayzata, Minnesota 553917600		09/13/2007
	Gen. fund. - food & bev.	293.48

Wondering what then the minority leader might have been up to in Minnesota on September 13, 2007 (presuming that the date on the invoices reflect the date on which the expense was incurred), I searched for The Orange One's whereabouts in Nexis--and that search makes me question whether John Boehner was doing any golfing in Minnesota at all on September 13, 2007.

While in Baghdad, John Boehner was interviewed on CNN on September 12, 2007, making remarks that drew criticism when he responded to Wolf Blitzer's question:

regarding the "$2 billion a week or $3 billion a week" spent in Iraq and the "loss in blood, the Americans who are killed every month," in which Boehner said: "We need to continue our effort here because, Wolf, long term, the investment that we're making today will be a small price if we're able to stop Al Qaeda here."

That observation prompted Tim Grieve at Salon's War Room to write in Republican leader: Iraq is a "small price" to pay:

We're not sure which investment Boehner considers such a "small price" -- the trillion dollars the United States will eventually spend in Iraq, or the 3,776 American soldiers who have already lost their lives there. Nor are we sure how much "smaller" that price might have been if we'd actually put our resources into fighting al-Qaida where it was after 9/11 rather than creating a new and deadly battleground where it wasn't.

Calling the loss of American lives in a war "a small price" was not appreciated by many Americans, perhaps even those who don't know the price for a golf outing with Mr. Boehner.

It's not just a question of whether Brave Sir Orange follows peculiar accounting, where service members' ultimate sacrifice and $1467.88 green fees are ordinary expenses.

Boehner's presence in Iraq on September 12, 2007, makes it unlikely that he personally was golfing in Wayzata on September 13, 2007, no matter how much he likes the game. Friends serving in Iraq have taken long time to get home when they've gotten leave, but perhaps Boehner found faster transportation back.

So another question arises: who golfed on the Freedom Project's dime? And who was in that party?

Photo: Speaker John Boehner golfing, via Down with Tyranny.

Update! New location! Green is new Boehnertone: Orange speaker to raise $$ for GOP peers in Wayzata

Earlier this month, Politico reported in John Boehner golfs, raises cash in the Midwest:

Speaker John Boehner’s staff has always been fairly quiet about where the Ohio Republican jaunts during congressional recesses to raise money for the GOP.

But when the top Republican comes to town, local newspapers catch wind. And the stories paint a picture of a man who is racking up quite the frequent-flier miles this August. His staff confirms the reports are true.

The Politico article mentions a Boehner golf fundraiser that's scheduled for tomorrow at Wayzata's Spring Hill Golf Course. Not that you'll learn anything at the club's website: it's member-only access.

Update #3 The new location has been found. From MFE:

NEW LOCATION: Wayzata Country Club

200 Wayzata Boulevard

West Wayzata, MN 55391-1557

There will be no protests at Sugar Hill or Paulsen's office.

The fundraiser was moved to the Wayzata Country Club location, apparently so that that these politicians and their high dollar donors could attempt to avoid Minnesotans angry over their job-killing policies.

Update #2: Just recieved an email from Minnesotans for a Fair Economy:

Minnesotans angry over the job-killing policies of Boehner/Pauslen/Cravaack/Boehner/Bachmann will still demonstrate at 11:00 a.m. as scheduled at Spring Hill Golf Club, 725 County Road 6, Wayzata, MN. 

Because press reports indicate that these politicians and their high dollar donors may have moved their event to avoid Minnesotans angry over their job-killing policies, the crowd will also make a second stop at 11:45 a.m. Rep. Eric Paulsen's office, 250 Prairie Center Dr. Eden Prairie, MN 55344. [end update]

Tomorrow's access to the Speaker is probably easier than joining that club [update: apparently not]. Bluestem know of two ways to let the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Honorable John Boehner of Ohio. The first is the sort of event the press gets wind of that Politico mentioned.

Last week, Minnesota Public Radio's Brett Neely reported in Boehner to attend Minnesota fundraiser next week:

According to an invite given to Minnesota Public Radio News, tickets for a round of golf at the Spring Hill Golf Club with the Speaker and a lunch cost $10,000, while lunch-only tickets run $1,000. Boehner's hosts for the event are all four Republican House members from Minnesota, John Kline, Erik Paulsen, Chip Cravaack and Michele Bachmann.

Don't have that kind of coin lying around but still want The Orange One to know you're here? Bluestem recommends cavorting with the fun people at Minnesotans for a Fair Economy who'll be asking for their slice--not on the golf course, but of the economic pie Boehner and his pals are bogarting.

UPDATE 8/17: The Morning Hot Dish notesthat The Orange One reportedly is fleeing to an undislosed green:

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner will be in Minnesota today raising money, his spokesman Cory Fritz said, and protesters will be ready to greet him. But protesters planning to be at Spring Hill Golf Course, based on a news report, may not find themselves at the right place. An assistant golf pro at Spring Hill told Hot Dish Tuesday that the event at the club had been cancelled. -- Eric Roper

Does Boehner fear pale puppets? Ordinary people? Bluestem recommends showing up at the launch sites regardless. [end update]

The MFE crowd will even give you a free ride to the club:

While Minnesota's families struggle...

Speaker of the House John Boehner and Michele Bachmann are hosting their rich donors for a $10,000 day at the country club.

Regular Minnesotans will rally to demand GOOD JOBS NOW — and a piece of the pie for the rest of us.

WHEN:
Wednesday, August 17 at 10:00 a.m.

WHAT:
Rally to demand good jobs now

WHERE:
Free buses will bring people to the rally location outside the Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata.

Board the bus at SEIU Local 26 at 10:00 a.m.
706 N 1st St Suite #110 in Minneapolis (Parking available)

OR -- Board the bus at SEIU Healthcare MN at 10:00 a.m.
345 Randolph Ave, Suite 100 in St. Paul (Parking available)

Sign up here. Word is that there will be puppets and other fun stuff.

This event reminds me of Boehner's gala fundraiser for Randy Demmer--also in Wayzata. Bluestem chronicled the visit in It's not easy being orange: John Boehner to stump for Hayfield Republican Randy Demmer and Chronicles of Demmer: John Boehner's secret mission to Wayzata.

That orange dude certainly likes Wayzata is that all Bluestem can say.

Image: The divine Tild captured this beach frolic last year. Left to right, John's extended Republican family: RNC member at Anderson; Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Speaker Boehner and little Randy Demmer from Minnesota's First, who has a committee but no money or apparent place on the invite MPR snagged (above); Wells Fargo CEO Jon Campbell, and Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. Erik Paulsen. We hear nobody's much jealous of Big Head Jon and his Little Monsters; we just want some pie.  Via Workday Minnesota. (below)

Teabagger turns carpetbagger: left off Patriot Program, Cravaack moves family to NH

Today's Duluth Tribune News reveals that Cravaack’s re-election campaign begins; family moves to New Hampshire.

Thus, Bluestem's headline isn't exactly accurate: the term "carpetbagger" entered America's political lexicon during Reconstruction, where Southerners used the power of metonymy to describe Northerners who moved in on South during that era,  reducing the newcomers to the luggage they carried into town.

In modern usage, the word describes those who run for office in a place where they don't live. But perhaps Cravaack is simply acting according to a revised definition drawn the Michele Bachmann History Channel. First, Cravaack stages an upset win by portraying 18-term Congressman Jim Oberstar as as out of touch with a district from which the incumbent was often absent. Next, a successful Cravaack moves from the district before the first year of his first term is up. He may have carpetbagging in reverse, but, hey, close enough for a teabagger.

The News Tribune reports that Cravaack is a bit whiny about having to defend his seat early:

“We’re putting our team together a little bit earlier than I thought we were going to have to, but it seems as though the campaign is just on us,” Cravaack said. “When you’re the No. 1 target  of the (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and you’ve had three major campaign ads already run against you, it’s unfortunate, but I had to put my team together earlier than I anticipated. We had to be able to respond to some of these, quite frankly, attack ads.” [links added by BSP]

If only Cravaack hadn't moved his family to New Hampshire--had he not, the freshman legislator culd have asked third-term representative Tim Walz how he did it in the 2007-2008 cycle after upsetting Gil Gutknecht and the attacks came in early.

But since Walz's 30+ victory in 2008 came after Tim and Gwen Walz's commitment to their home in Southern Minnesota was firmly established in voters' minds, Cravaack may have to find another mentor, as well as hope district DFLers pick a candidate as hapless as Brian Davis.

Cravaack revealed the deets of the move to the DNT:

The family’s decision to move to New Hampshire was made so that Cravaack and his wife, Traci, could spend more time with their two children. Cravaack said his wife often had to spend three days a week in the Boston area for her work with a medical supply company.

Cravaack said he’s selling his home in Lindstrom and moving to North Branch, where he’ll be closer to his office.

“We have decided to move the kids closer to me in the New Hampshire area,” he said. “She’ll probably be no more than 40 minutes away from the children.”

Cravaack said he’ll spend most Saturdays in the 8th District and his Sundays in New Hampshire.

“My wife and I said, ‘Just because I’m in Congress, I’m still a father.’ And being a father comes first,” he said. “I have to take care of my children the best way possible, and still be able to serve the country at the same time.”

It sounds like Cravaack will be a once-a-week visitor, while Congress is in session, to the district he represents. One does wonder, though, how often he'll see his children, who now live in New Hampshire, during the campaign season.

Perhaps as often as a good father should. Today's news might go some distance in explaining both Cravaack's lackluster fundraising and his absence on the NRCC's incumbent protection Patriot Program. Did the NRCC know the move was coming? On June 1, the Strib's Hot Dish blog reported in Cravaack not in first round of GOP incumbent-protection program:

The National Republican Congressional Committee has released the first members of its Patriot Program —an incumbent-protection program that offers fundraising and other help — and Minnesota’s most vulnerable House freshman is not on the list.

Rep. Chip Cravaack, who won his Eighth District seat in a close upset in 2010, was not among the 10 House Republicans included the NRCC’s program.

Cravaack is considered one of the most vulnerable freshmen Republicans in 2012, as he represents a district that went Democratic for more than 60 years. . .

. . .One potential issue for Cravaack is his own first-quarter numbers: He has raised less than eight of the 10 House members on the list.

In Q1 2011, Cravaack raised $121,024.70, with $113,039.72 cash on hand and $32,550.30 in debts and obilgations at the end of March.  The second quarter numbers?  Decide for yourself:

Covering Period 04/01/2011 Through 06/30/2011

	Column A This Period	Column B Election Cycle-To-Date
6. Net Contributions (other than loans)
(a) Total Contributions (other than loans)	223703.91	406575.37
(b) Total Contribution Refunds	0.00	1800.00
(c) Net Contributions (6(a) - 6(b))	223703.91	404775.37
7. Net Operating Expenditures
(a) Total Operating Expenditures	69014.25	181196.63
(b) Total Offsets to Operating Expenditures	1213.30	2124.61
(c) Net Operating Expenditures	67800.95	179072.02
8. Cash on Hand at Close of Reporting Period	268942.68
9. Debts and Obligations Owed TO the Committee	0.00
Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D
10. Debts and Obligations Owed BY the Committee	32550.30
Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D

Image: A Bachmann History Channel carpetbag. However one reads this story, Cravaack is going to be doing a lot of packing. Just saying.