Bluestem Prairie

Emo Senator: battling phantom EPA dust menace key to Parry's totally straightforward campaign

This morning's episode of Emo Senator, Southern Minnesota's most beloved online telenovela, is brought to you by a sharp-eyed farm activist in Steele County. This friend called Bluestem's attention to Emo's star performance in an Owatonna People's Press video at the bottom of the article, Sen. Mike Parry kicks off Congressional campaign.

A classic moment of Emo Senator starts around the eight minute mark:

Another thing about it is this combine dust. We don't need it. You know that's a rule and regulation that will be devastating to our agriculture, to our farmers.

Bluestem agrees that a rule against combine dust would be devastating to farmers. However, far more devastating to the poltical process is basing campaigns on pure cow flops, as legendary Minnesota politician Magnus Johnson liked to point out about the Republican platform of his time.

Parry is riding that manure spreader. The Washington Post reported in Bill to ban phantom EPA dust rule approved by House panel:

Earlier this year, Republicans found what they saw as an ideal talking point to illustrate a federal bureaucracy gone batty.

The Environmental Protection Agency, they warned, was trying to regulate something only God could control: the dust in the wind.

“Now, here comes my favorite of the crazy regulatory acts. The EPA is now proposing rules to regulate dust,” Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) said on the House floor. He said Texas is full of dusty roads: “The EPA is now saying you can be fined for driving home every night on your gravel road.”

There was just one flaw in this argument: It was not true.

The EPA’s new dust rule did not exist. It never did.

Still, the specter of this rule has spurred three bills to prevent it , one of which was approved Thursday by a House subcommittee. It sparked a late-night battle on the Senate floor. GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain cited it in a debate as a reason to eliminate the EPA.

The hubbub over this phantom rule — surely one of the most controversial regulations that never was — involved a slow-moving federal agency and a Republican Party with the EPA in its crosshairs.

This isn't the first time--or the only time--The Emo Senator stood on the Republican "platform" during his two-day swing through Southern Minnesota towns with daily newspapers and a dozen GOP activists able to swell the progress.

Take his claims to a reporter at the New Ulm Journal. Josh Moniz writes in today's Parry talks politics in New Ulm:

. . .He addressed a group of 10 local residents, primarily Brown County Republicans of Minnesota (BCR) members, at the Ulmer Cafe. His visit was part of his two-day campaign kick-off tour that consists of nine stops in the district.

. . .He called his legislative record strong. He said he can both press those he disagrees with and reach across the aisle to accomplish work. He said Walz lacks bipartisanship and accused him of voting in lock step with President Obama.

This statement must leave his fans totally baffled and shuffling through past episodes to figure out just what the hell the Emo Senator is talking about with regard to his own bipartisanship.

Is it flouncing out of a budget meeting during the government shutdown?

Or calling the Governor lacking in feelings while calling for his resignation?

Or his famous failure to yield to questions from a DFL colleague on the Minnesota Senate floor? 

That particular episode prompted a defense from Congressional candidate and Senate Majority leader Michael Brodkorb that Democrats so did it too. Unfortunately for the Republican caucus, the City Pages' Erin Carlyle deftly pointed out the flaws in the Dark Lordkorb's assertion:

But the truth is that the two situations are actually pretty different. In 2009, the Senate was in the middle of a roll call vote, after all debate was supposed to be closed. When Cohen asked his question last week, the bill was up for debate on the Senate floor--the appointed time for asking questions.

"I can't think of another situation that's parallel to that, where they just literally refused to answer questions," says David Schultz of Hamline University. "It's pretty unusual--and I've been observing it for 15 years."

But the Emo Senator didn't stop there. One of his talking points is that Walz has "sold out" to a Washington crowd, but Mike Parry himself is quick to defend his introduction of model bills written by the American Legislative Exchange Council's corporate bill factory as mere "information" that's useful. From today's NUJ article:

Similarly, he said he thought his work with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) would not be a factor. ALEC is conservative non-profit policy organization that consists of legislators and members of major corporations. The organization has generated controversy over accusation of business professional providing "template bills" for legislators to pass. Parry is a member of ALEC's Minnesota branch.

"What I get from ALEC is information. The more information I have, the more I can make the right decision," said Parry.

That's the ticket, yeah. Those wishing to gather more information about ALEC might start here. Longtime fans of the Belle of Waseca County may also remember how Parry bragged about private companies were providing budget figures for the Republican Senate majority. Bluestem noted at certain issues with this approach in Looking a gift Little Pony in the mouth: Are Parry's pals poster kids for privatization's perils?

But perhaps on The Emo Planet, that's not selling out.  As a friend fondly says, grifters have to grift.

Parry also defended taking a salary during the shutdown and drawing full per diems during the session to the NUJ. This is classic straight-talking,Mike Parry-style, who so did not take all the out-of-session per diems he was entitled to:

Parry said his decision to take pay during the state government shutdown would not affect his campaign. He was one of the few to publicly defend his decision.

"I work my tail off for the citizens of this state," said Parry. "I believe that if you look at my records, you would see I only took 52 percent of the allotted per diem I could have taken."

Parry, who took the full per diem during the regular session, said his figure comes for the out-of-session per diem he could have taken but turned down.

Bluestem expects little of the Twin Cities press corps, but perhaps they might take a look at that claim, and see which Senators do take out-of-session per diem.  A truly enterprising reporter might dig into the actual extent of Parry's out-of-session self-sacrifice. Just who often has he failed to claim out-of-session per diem due to him while going about the people's business? Does he draw any out-of-session per diem? And what records does he have of official senate business conducted on his own dime? Or should voters take his word for it?

Dust. Reaching silently across the aisle by refusing to yield. Calling ALEC corporate factory bills "information." Out-sourcing budgeting to the private sector, which then might score contracts. It's a career fueled by urban legend and redirection.

All epsiodes certainly add irony to the lede in the Worthington Globe's article today:

He describes himself as a straightforward person who is disappointed with the spending in Washington, D.C.

Republican State Sen. Mike Parry stopped in Worthington Friday afternoon to speak about his upcoming bid for the congressional seat currently held by Tim Walz — the 10th such stop in two days.

Straightforward never looked so tangled, and the number of stops? Somewhere between New Ulm and Worthington, another town was added. Not even the Post Bulletin's Heather Carlson gave him that extra ghost town.

Bonus: The Star Tribune's Rachel Stassen-Berger, who so never reads this unnamed country blog, gets the political acumen award today for this tweet:

@RachelSB R. Stassen-Berger

Suspecting @mikeparry isn't tweeting his own tweets since last bunch have been @mbrodkorb RTs. Maybe it's a Brodkorb @klout score lifter.

Perhaps she and others might ask why Senate Majority Leader and Parry volunteer Lord Darkkorb is tweeting at all about a congressional campaign while he is at work for the state senate in St. Paul. Perhaps his public sector job allows unlimited coffee breaks to check on what the candidate he's advising for federal office is up to in the field.

Tune in next week as The Emo Senator does Windom and Blue Earth (or so our star promised in the OPP) where people want to know exactly who he is.

Photo: Mike Parry, the Belle of Waseca County and Emo Senator, now flouncing through southern Minnesota.

Earlier episodes below the fold.

"Our own army": Emmer and Davis play doctored Hoffa tape when kvetching about political tone

Over at City Pages, Mike Mullen sends up conservative carping about glitzkrieg in in a glorious post, Tom Emmer wants criminal prosecutions for glitter-bombing.

But the whinging about poor Nick Espinosa as an obscure subject of desire doesn't come until late in the podcast. When Bluestem was asked by friends to listen to the podcast, we noticed something even more striking about Emmer and Davis's lamentations about the tonal horrors of contemporary political discourse.

To prove their points--and then to bash unions while calling for right-to-work-legislation to be passed in Minnesota--Emmer and Davis played a doctored tape of a speech by International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Jim Hoffa. By leaving out references to voting, what was Hoffa's call to the ballot box in November 2012 becomes instead a call to violence.

Some tone, dudes.

The Real Hoffa Speech

Here's what Hoffa said (full transcript taken from the Detroit Free Press):

Here is a transcript of Hoffa’s entire speech on Monday:

“Are there any Teamsters in the house? This is Motown, but today, this is union town. We are union, we are workers. That is the message that we send today, and that is the message that we send to America.

There is a war on workers. You see it everywhere: It is in the unemployment, it is in the Tea Party, it is in the people that fight what we believe in. And we see the war in Wisconsin where they try to take collective bargaining from our public employees. We took two senate seats back, we are taking Wisconsin back.

That’s number one. Number two, in Ohio, we are fighting a battle there with regard to taking away collective bargaining. We will beat SB5. We’ve got a million signatures. We are going to win in Ohio — that is our number two. And in Michigan, they are thinking about right to work. It ain’t going to happen in Michigan. No way.

We have to keep an eye on the battle we face — a war on workers. And you see it everywhere there is the Tea Party. And you know there is only one way to beat and win that war.

The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what, they’ve got a war, they’ve got a war with us and there is only going to be one winner. It is going to be the workers of Michigan and America – we are going to win that war. All the way.

But it starts with your involvement, it starts with next November. We’ve got a bunch of people there that don’t’ want the president to succeed, and they are called the Tea Party – the people who don’t want him to do anything right and he is working hard for us.

President Obama is frustrated by what’s going on. Well, guess what, we’ve got the vote. And the answer to what we say is, we remember in November. We will beat the Tea Party and give this country back to workers and America. We can do it together.”

We’ve also got to talk about jobs. I get so tired about people who …(inaudible) these big corporations that send our jobs to Mexico, they send our jobs to China, and they’ve got the audacity to say ‘where are the jobs?’

Well I’ve got news for you. It’s time to bring those jobs back to America and bring America back to work. That’s what we’ve got to do.

We are going to hear from President Obama in a few minutes, and I am so glad that he has come to Michigan because this is where he sees the real America. He looks out on this army of people and you know what I say? President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. President Obama, we want one thing: Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs…(The crowd joins the chant.)

That’s what we are going to tell America…..When he sees what we are doing here, he will be inspired, but he needs help. And you know what? Everybody here has got a vote. If we go back, we keep the eye on the prize, lets take these sons-of-bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”

Some excerpts from the speech are found at ABCNews.com [link here] in which it's obvious that he's talking about working people will "take these sons-of-bitches out" of office via petition and the ballot box.  [Update] Moreover, it's not unusual for campaigns to be compared to war; indeed conservative bagman Charles Koch recently compared the 2012 election to the Iraq War. [end update]

The Origin of the Smear

But the tape Emmer and Davis play doesn't contain any reference to voting. Instead, they're playing the audio of a Fox News segment described in Media Matter's Timeline Of A Right-Wing Media Smear: Hoffa's Call To Vote Became "A Call For Violence":

Fox Then Aired Clearly Edited Video Of Hoffa's Comments. Approximately 20 minutes after Henry's initial report on Hoffa's comments, Fox News' Megyn Kelly reported that Hoffa had issued "a pretty harsh attack on the tea party and Republicans. Here's some of that now." Fox News then aired a clearly edited version of Hoffa's speech:

HOFFA: We gotta keep an eye on the battle that we face: a war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there's only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what, they got a war, they got a war with us, and there's only gonna be one winner. It's gonna be the workers of Michigan and America. We're gonna win that war.

[...]

HOFFA: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march.

[...]

HOFFA: Let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong! Thank you very much! [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11]

Blakeman: "I Think It's Thuggery At Its Best." After she aired the clearly edited version of Hoffa's remarks, Kelly asked Republican consultant Brad Blakeman to respond. He said, "I think it's thuggery at its best" and "these are the kind of remarks you'd expect out of Tony Soprano, not a union president." Blakeman further said: "When a union president says, 'let's take these son of a bitches out,' it usually means somebody's legs are going to get broken, somebody's going to disappear." [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11] . . .

It's that sort of discourse Emmer and Davis decry; sadly, they don't seem to know what Hoffa really said. There's no evidence of due dilgence, just two guys repeating a something they heard because it supports a talking point the political agenda they support: passing right-to-work laws.

Bluestem thinks that the right-to-work champion American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its corporate sponsors scored some real value last month when it gave Tom Emmer a press pass and let him in to its annual convention for free. Who says you can't buy earned media like this for your agenda?

Mosh now

Willful misinterpretation of Hoffa or just convenient laziness in failing to do the due diligence of checking a tape for accuracy? Does it matter?

The blather about the doctored audio Emmer and Davis bloviate over brought to mind words about voting by  another famous Detroit native, pop star Eminem. In 2004, he urged Americans to good to their polling places, knowing that his call for a fight would be taken the wrong way. He wrote in Mosh:

I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel and re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I'mma whip someone's ass
If you don't understand, don't even bother to ask

Just in case people were confused about what it means to speak and be heard in this country, the artist had a video made. It's dated and it's a different election, but by the end, it's clear what process Eminem is talking about. It's what Hoffa was talking about. Voting, dudes, but perhaps Emmer and Davis didn't hear that part.

Shifting percentages: Glenn Gruenhagen's message in a bottle on his shutdown salary

Glenn Gruenhagen sent out an email today in which he hoped to clarify what he did with his legislative salary for July, but a review of earlier statements to the press show that his story has shifted a bit across the summer.

It's as if he were castaway--and forgot h'd already shared his plans for the money back in July. Fortunately, those messages corked in the media still wash ashore in Google searches.

Back on July 2, 2011, the Mankato Free Press published State shutdown: Q&A with local legislators. Gruenhagen responded to the question about taking pay and per diem (later news reports clarified that the House had decided not to allow per diems for anyone during the session, so this choice wasn't really in any state representative's hands by July):

Will you collect any pay or per diem, now or later, for the period that state government is shut down?. . .

Gruenhagen: “I’m considering giving the additional pay to local district charities, depending on how long it goes. ... Who knows how long this will drag on?”

As the shutdown lingered, Gruenhagen's answer to press inquiries grew more firm. On July 18, 2011, the Arlington Enterprise published Some legislators still getting paid during government shutdown. Editor Kurt Menk had interviewed both Representative Glenn Gruenhagen and Senator Al DeKruif about their decisions to accept their salaries during the shutdown.

DeKruif repeated his peculiar explanation--shared with other news venues--about accepting his salary based on what he perceives to be the power and agenda of Senator Larry Pogemiller. Bluestem had posted about the odd reasoning in The Pogemiller prophecy; or, Senator Al DeKruif's secret history of the MN government shutdown.

Gruenhagen was more straightforward in the reasoning shared with the Arlington editor:

State Representative Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) has decided to receive the base salary in July.

“I plan to donate it to food shelves and district charities,” said Gruenhagen. “If the shutdown continues past July, I am considering refusing pay in August although I believe the charities will spend it on the real needs of people better than government.”

Given that reasoning, it would seem that Gruenhagen won't join Ron Shimanski in supporting a bill that prevents non-profits from getting government grants if a public agency can do the same tasks.

But today, Gruenhagen's story about his pay has altered a bit. In an email letter titled, Clearing the air on salaries, Gruenhagen tells his constituents:

Dear Neighbor,

Please allow me to clear the air regarding recent reports pertaining to legislative pay during the July state shutdown.

While news stories correctly reported who did and did not receive their regular salary, many accounts failed to provide the background necessary for an accurate portrayal. Unfortunately, this has left many Minnesotans with a skewed perception of how things unfolded.

If I had been asked to comment, I would have explained how I accepted my legislative salary in order to donate a substantial portion of it to area food shelves. If I had simply refused my paycheck in July, that money would have remained in the Legislature’s hands for future use instead of being returned to the state’s treasury. I did not want that to happen.

Had I been asked, I also would have indicated I accepted nearly 20 percent less in per-diem payments than I was entitled during the regular session, saving taxpayers several thousand dollars. This may seem insignificant in terms of our total state budget, but it shows I am committed to walking the walk on fiscal responsibility.

My integrity as a person and as a public servant are very important to me and I take the trust local citizens have placed in me very seriously. I did not want to receive my full salary during a state shutdown when many Minnesotans were suffering economically, but chose to accept it in order to make these charitable donations.

Thanks again for the opportunity to clarify this issue.

Sincerely,
Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen

Bluestem reprints the entire message above for fairness sake.

A couple of observations. First, Gruenhagen implies that he didn't have a chance to tell his side of the story during the shutdown, and yet at least two newpapers posted his varying responses online.He will be hard-pressed to play the victim or claim he wasn't given a chance to tell his side of the story.

Second, during the shutdown, he told the Arlington paper that that he was donating his pay to charities. Now, it's a significant part of the salary, but not the whole thing.

Third, if he doesn't trust the legislature--which is controlled by the folks with whom he caucuses--with money, is the House really the best place for him? What's he telling them--and us?

A final thought: Bluestem has been highly critical of Gruenhagen in the past and it stands by those remarks. However, a number of acquaintances who work for nonprofits and unions have praised his willingness to meet with them, however far apart they may be on issues. In these divisive times, that openness is to be respected--and recognized, even by the most "refreshingly confrontational" blogger.

Photo: Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen

Protesting too much: high-maintenance Marcus Bachmann glitter bombs self in New Yorker

Those urbane hipsters at the City Pages call readers' attention to Five interesting revelations from the New Yorker profile on Michele Bachmann for those who don't have the time to read Leap of Faith: The making of a Republican front-runner.

Both the hipster and long-form versions are serious enough.

Bluestem was drawn to something else entire: Marcus Bachmann's protesting--protesting too much--about a nickname. From Ryan Lizza's profile:

Marcus Bachmann plopped down on the seat next to me, in the back of the plane. He pointed at my laptop and asked if he could take a look. “All I want to know is what they’re saying about me,” he said. “Newsweek came up with the word ‘silver fox.’ Tell me what ‘silver fox’ means.”

“Do you want me to tell you honestly?” I asked.

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s something gay!” he said. “Because I’ve been called that before.” Marcus is a psychologist who runs a clinic that employs people Michele described in 2006 as “Biblical world-view counsellors,” who “reach out and try to bring the medicine of the Gospel to come and heal people.”

I explained that “silver fox” probably had more to do with the color of his hair.

“O.K., I can handle that,” he said. Tera, the assistant, assured him that it was a positive term.

Yeah, Marcus, when Americans hear "Silver Fox" applied to a man in his mid-50s, we immediately question his sexual identity.  Yeah, that's the ticket. 

Most of the definitions of "silver fox" in the urban dictionary are variations on a theme:

An attractive older man. Generally, one that has gray hair and is often desired by younger women.

Okay then: I can't speak for the tastes of younger women.

And those of us who are country music fans think Charlie Rich, whom the New York Times described in his obituary:

Mr. Rich, called the Silver Fox because of his prematurely gray hair, reached his commercial peak in 1973 with two million-selling singles, "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl," both of which featured his smooth, slightly world-weary baritone.

Maybe Mr. Bachmann was thinking of a different strain of pop culture: the female character from the X-men comics. From Wikipedia:

Silver Fox is a lover of Wolverine who first appeared in Wolverine vol.2 #10, where she is killed by Sabretooth. She is later revealed to be alive and a member of "Team X", the best covert ops team the CIA had to offer, and is one of a few female victims of the Weapon X project. Fox betrays Team X and becomes a member of HYDRA, a subversive terrorist organization

Er, probably not, Marcus. Whatever this cartoon is, she's not a gay man.

But there's yet another PopTart served up in the profile:

Inside the airport, another reporter pulled up an image of Buddy Garrity, from the TV show “Friday Night Lights.” The character, played by Brad Leland, is a dead ringer for Marcus, and the reporter showed him the image. “He does look like me,” Marcus said. “My goodness, you guys are quick, sharp, and complimentary so far—just until I get to know you long enough, and then you might even tell the truth.” He paused. “Which I’m really afraid of!” He grabbed a large suitcase from a cart—“I’m the high-maintenance traveller here, with the biggest, heaviest bag”—and he and Michele walked away.

The lady's companion doth protesteth much, too much. With these sorts of cameos in the press, who needs barbarian hordes to show up and demand discipline from Marcus before launching a Lady Gaga Dance Pillage.

Marcus can just glitter himself.

Image: The Silver Fox from one of Wolverin'es excellent adventures (top); A still from "Friday Night Lights" of Buddy Garrity disciplining a young football player (bottom).

Marcus in a respectable Republican cloth coat? Bachmann demands press not raise questions about her self-described strategist husband

From the way Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is carrying about scrutiny of her husband Marcus, the American public might think she believes political spouses are off limits during campaigns.

And that Marcus Bachmann is merely a humble partner wearing a respectable Republican cloth coat, and Michele could always tell he would look good in anything.

But Bachmann's history of criticizing Michele Obama--and her husband's own claims to being a strategist in her public life--don't let her evasions pass a smell test.

In Bachmann Declares Husband Off Limits In Campaign — After Slamming Michelle Obama In ‘08,TPMDC has pointed out one problem for Michele Bachmann's assertion that her husband Marcus is off limits for media attention:

Michele Bachmann isn't happy with the attention her husband, Marcus Bachmann, has been getting in the press lately over allegations his clinic practices gay conversion therapy. In fact, she thinks he should be kept out of the campaign entirely.

"I am extremely proud of my husband, I have tremendous respect for for him," Bachmann said at a luncheon in DC on Thursday. "I am running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not running for the presidency. Neither are my children, neither is our business, neither are our foster children."

But Bachmann has a very different take when it comes to other candidates' spouses: She's repeatedly attacked Michelle Obama in the harshest terms and specifically challenged the press to join in on her condemnations.

But Bluestem thinks there's another problem: statements by Marcus Bachmann himself about his role in the campaign. Back in March, when the Bachmann family took its first exploratory trip to New Hampshire, Marcus Bachmann told Star Tribune political reporter Kevin Diaz:

Bachmann's closest aides say that until now, the three-term congresswoman's kitchen cabinet has consisted mostly of her family.

"The only person she talks to as an insider is her husband, Marcus, who's a wonderful man, and her son Lucas," said former Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey, who served as Bachmann's chief of staff last year. "That's really her brain trust."

"Yes, I'm her strategist," said Marcus Bachmann, a Christian therapist, as he dashed into Calef's.

Lucas Bachmann, 28, also acknowledged a role, calling himself a William F. Buckley libertarian conservative. . . .

That was March.  In May, Roll Call's David Drucker reported in Bachmann Brain Trust Looks to 2012:

Bachmann has had difficulty holding on to senior Congressional and campaign staff during her four and a half years on Capitol Hill, a problem that could easily persist in the pressure cooker of a White House bid. However, Bachmann’s inner circle of political advisers has remained constant — a fact often overshadowed by her Congressional staff turnover — and she does boast close relationships with Republican operatives who have presidential campaign experience.

Bachmann’s most trusted advisers include media strategist Ed Brookover; Chief of Staff Andy Parrish, a former campaign aide; fundraising consultant Guy Short; and her husband, Marcus Bachmann, a marriage and family therapist.

In June, PIM's Paul Demko reported in Veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins joins Bachmann campaign:

. . .Rollins told The Hill that he’ll be working exclusively for Bachmann as she mulls a longshot bid for the GOP nomination. “It’s totally premature to say I’m running it or not running it,” he said of her campaign.

Bachmann’s chief of staff in her congressional office, Andy Parrish, recently joined her campaign team as a top advisor. Her husband, Marcus Bachmann, is also expected to play a key role in the campaign.

There are more examples--and no instances of the Bachmann campaign crying foul over the description of Marcus Bachmann being described as a political insider and strategist on the campaign.

Now that Congresswoman Bachmann has pulled him off the campaign bus, will Marcus be staying home and minding the family business?

Or, given that Pawlenty's staffers and strategists are up for scrutiny (ask Nick Ayers) will Marcus receive more scrutiny if he stays on as a campaign strategist?

Photo: Michele Bachmann and self-proclaimed strategist Marcus Bachmann. For some awesome meanness,  Mean And I Do Mean Mean check out Tild's interpretation of the respectable Republican cloth coat.

Birkey's super powers, or, toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean thinks locally, sues nationally

Think a journalist has a super power? Like, say, the ability to see into the future?

If you're toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean Smith, and you also think Andy Birkey is a naughty gay man and atheist, it's time to act, and take the publication he works for, MSNBC, and Rachel Maddow along in your $50 million lawsuit.

Dean is accusing the defendents of saying naughty things about him to take down Michele Bachmann's presidential bid, even before Bachmann decided to run. In short, an appeal to motive.

Seriously, there's nothing as deadly as an atheist on God's speed dial, getting word even before Minnesota's Best Christian that she'll be running for President.

And for your lawyer for this hot mess? Freedom Watch's Larry Klayman, a professed close friend of Michele Bachmann. (Hat tip to Karl Bremer).

The Klayman connection

In a January column for World Net Daily, Klayman praised the Sixth District Republican in The left's maniacal fear of a President Bachmann:

Michele is not a "Republican In Name Only" (derisively known as "RINOs'); she is someone who puts conviction to action, and I have come to know her very well in the last year. . . .

. . .I became reacquainted with Michele last fall when I visited her in her office in the Rayburn Building. As I waited in the lobby, I remember her "bouncing" out of her office like an energetic, enthusiastic staffer, quickly walking over to me and with a warm smile holding out her hand. Looking into her eyes, I told her how nice it was to meet her. In a quick response she quipped, smiling, "Larry, I met you many years ago at CNP!" The Council for National Policy is a group of conservatives that gathers in private quarterly to discuss policy. I obviously did not remember this (Michele had not yet run for office), but it said a lot to me that she remembered. Michele obviously was a fan of Judicial Watch, the public-interest group I had founded and built into an anti-corruption fighting force – the real "People's Justice Department." Now I was visiting her as chairman of Freedom Watch, which is the next generation of freedom fighters I founded later on, my having left Judicial Watch in 2004 to run for the U.S. Senate in Florida.

The cornerstone of Bill Prendergast's Michele Bachmann's America is that Bachmann was groomed for office by the Council for National Policy, so Klaymann's cameo appearance as Bradlee Dean Smith's lawyer will seem like a godsend (or something).

In his column, Klayman scorned Maddow and others in the press in observations close to the claims in the lawsuit:

Because of her popularity among tea partiers in particular, Michele has been vilified by the left for quite a while. But now that Michele in recent days has made it known that she is considering a run for the presidency, the left has emerged from "its venomous closet" in an attempt to abort her presidential bid prior to birth – pun clearly intended!

Not that she was treated well by the likes of Chris Matthews, Keith Obermann, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell – the vicious male and feminist lesbian ultra lefties of MSNBC – before her tacit announcement, but now that she is taking on the leftist establishment on the ultimate scale, and has arisen like Lazarus (ironically my name in Hebrew) as the replacement for their previous heterosexual female victim, the already politically assassinated Sarah Palin, Mathews, Obermann, Maddow and O'Donnell – along with the pliant lackey commentator minions who suck up to them to qualify as "regulars" on their programs – are foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs.

Oh, the victimization.

Attacking Bachmann by attacking Dean

And it does seem like Dean yokes his claims close to attacks on Bachmann, his lawyer's close friend.

In Heavy metal minister Bradlee Dean sues Rachel Maddow, Minnesota Independent, Todd Heywood reports:

Controversial pastor and rock musician Bradlee Dean filed suit Wednesday in federal court alleging he was defamed by reporting from the Minnesota Independent as well as MSNBC star Rachel Maddow and her show.

Dean, of the ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCR), claims that reporting on his May 15, 2010, radio show “maliciously set out to and did harm not only the Plaintiffs but by extension also the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.”

The Minnesota Independent story: May 25, 2011

The Minnesota Independent published GOP-linked punk rock ministry says executing gays is ‘moral,’the article about the broadcast, on May 25, 2010. The article makes no mention of a presidential bid by Bachmann.

A Nexis search reveals that while Birkey has written extensively about Bachmann, very few articles posted prior to the Dean piece focused on a Bachmann presidential bid. Those few that did were mere blog posts about questions Bachmann fielded from other publications about a possible run.

It's not as if Birkey possesses a gift of prophecy.

In August 2009, Birkey blogged about a WDN interview with Bachmann in which the question was raised and answer: President Michele Bachmann? Only if God says so. In October, 2009, Birkey noted a Sioux City Journal blog interview in which Bachmann says no to White House run, wants controversial Rep. King instead.

In February 2010, Birkey reported in Bachmann: Nancy Pelosi hates me that radio talk show host Michael Savage asked if Bachmann sought higher office, mentioning a Bachmann-Romney ticket. Bachmann stressed that she was focused on being re-elected to the house, according to Birkey.

Nor did the pace pick up following the Bradlee Dean story. On September 7, 2010, Birkey reported Bachmann, Pawlenty listed on religious right’s presidential straw poll. On September 17, Birkey wrote that Bachmann pulled out of a 2012 presidential straw poll at the Value Voters Summit in Washington DC, following an email sent out by her opponent in the 2010 congressional race:

Clark’s campaign asked, “What’s she running for?” in a fundraising pitch Friday:

Today, Michele Bachmann will appear on the presidential preference ballot at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC before jetting off to Miami to speak to the ultra right-wing fringe Taking America Back Conference.

Bachmann is campaigning for candidates throughout the nation. She’s got a national PAC. She’s visited Iowa multiple times. She’s even got a fancy tour bus. It’s like my grandma used to tell me: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, Michele Bachmann is considering running for President.

As news surfaced in the press about the emerging Bachmann bid, Birkey's coverage increased.

In covering the preacher, the Minnesota Independent did not single out Dean's relationship with Bachmann, but covered his connections with other Republican politicians as well, including gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Dean's beliefs played a part in the criticism Target received for a corporate contribution to a business PAC that supported Emmer.

Given the paucity of material published by the Minnesota Independent about a hypothetical presidential run by Bachmann before May 2010, Dean must imagine that Birkey has super powers, setting up the May 2010 article as a marker for the destruction of both preacher and a yet-to-be announced presidential bid. That will stand up in court. Ya betcha.

Maddow and more at City Pages

Over at City Pages, Andy Mannix takes a long look at the Maddox side of Dean's accusations in Bradlee Dean sues Rachel Maddow, following up with Bradlee Dean suing Andy Birkey of Minnesota Independent as well as Rachel Maddow. The accusations against Maddow appear to be equally thin gruel.

Former City Pages reporter Nick Pinto, now at sister paper Village Voice, attended the press conference and snagged video of the press conference. Dean dwells at length on his connections with Bachmann during the prepared statement to the press. Read the Pinto report in Homophobic Preacher Sues Rachel Maddow for $50 Million, Claims She Overstated His Homophobia.

Also in the Mannix package: Minnesota Independent, MSNBC respond to Bradlee Dean lawsuit:

"The allegations by Bradlee Dean and You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCR) are completely without merit," the statement says.

 The statement continues:

The American Independent News Network stands firmly behind our news site, The Minnesota Independent; our reporter, Andy Birkey; as well as their reporting on Dean and his ministry. The complaint describes Birkey as taking "a 'special interest' in Plaintiffs Dean and YCR because he is a secularist and/or atheist and gay activist with a politically left ideology who despises people of faith."

However, in giving Birkey and The Minnesota Independent first prize for Best Continuing Coverage of their reporting on YCR, the 2010 judges for the Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist's Page One Awards stated, "the reporter [Birkey] takes a deep-dive with an even-handed approach into a weighty subject sure to provoke controversy from various standpoints. Leads readers to think about serious public policy and constitutional issues."

 We are confident that the courts will agree that this lawsuit is completely frivolous and is a blatant attempt to chill freedom of the press.

MSNBC released a slightly less detailed statement:

This suit is baseless and we stand by our reporting.

Final thought: how these people find each other?

And so it goes. Bluestem is curious: did Dean find Klayman, did Klayman find Dean, or is the Bachmann campaign the go-between? Is Bachman, the attorney of record's close friend, comfortable in being mentioned so prominently in the case?

Photos: Dean at today's presser, photo by Nick Pinto, used with permission of the Minneapolis City Pages (above); Andy Birkey (below)

Related post: From Bluestem's own Onion County, Minnesota: Bradlee Dean to sue Rachel Maddow (and others) 

Disclosure: I have freelanced for the Minnesota Independent, but didn't write about Bradlee Dean for the venue.

More anger, no glitter: Bachmann disciplines local Iowa station for question about ex-gay clinic

Those progressives who chide Minnesota's glitter-bombing gay barbarian horde as "not helpful" in focusing media attention on the harmful, tax-funded "pray away the gay" therapy offered at Bachmann & Associates clinic might need to think that through a bit.

Or at least not take their cues from the Right.

When the Right--like GOProud or Glenn Beck--weighs in with advice that a strategy isn't "helpful," that unsolicited advice from the other side of the aisle is a sign that the action is effective.

Any time the Right--like Glenn Beck or True North-- trots out an absurd argument that claims if those in an action did something else, other than what actually happened, they'd be dangerous, that tactic is working. 

It's clear from latest news that the Bachmann campaign doesn't want to answer to barbarians or to the traditional media, but to shove this issue back into the closet.  TPM reports that the Bachmann campaign is aggressively acting to stifle any scrutiny of the clinic, in which the presidential candidate is a co-owner, by the traditional media.

The Minnesota Independent reported that the Christian counseling clinic has taken in $137,000 in Medicaid payments over the last several years.

Bachmann campaign snubs questions in Iowa

At TPM, Igor Volsky reports in Bachmann Campaign Takes Retribution Against Local Iowa Station That Asked About Ex-Gay Clinics:

Earlier this month, after an undercover investigation confirmed that Marcus Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinics performed ex-gay therapy, Michele Bachmann was asked about the practice by Iowa’s WQAD, a local ABC affiliate. The Congresswoman refused to comment on the matter, saying only that she is “very proud of our business” and “proud of all job creators in the United States.”

During the interview, Bachmann’s advisers reportedly “threatened WQAD producers that they would cut off the feed if Rae Chelle [the anchor] repeated the question.”

The TPM report cites WQAD's most recent and more troubling report, Bachmann walks away from WQAD:

Michele Bachmann made a visit to the Quad Cities last night to speak with supporters and give interviews to the local television media, that is, with one exception. Despite promises to WQAD for a one-on-one interview the Congresswoman's managers openly, and aggressively denied News 8 access to the Iowa Republican front-runner.

At the end of last night's event the Bachmann campaign said the snubbing was based on interview questions News 8's Rae Chelle Davis asked the Congresswoman during a satellite interview two weeks ago. . . .

. . .Voters wanted to know if the story [about gay reparation therapy at the Bachmann & Associates clinic] was true and to hear what Michele Bachmann had to say about it.

But the Bachmann campaign isn't just snubbing one station. It's actively and aggressively stifling all questions  from the  media about the clinic's controversial practice. The WQAD report continues:

Then the same man came over and said I could have my interview outside," said Chuck McClurg a veteran News 8 photojournalist.

McClurg continued to shoot the event. Afterwards, he walked with the Congresswoman and her team down the stairs and out the door.

"I followed them outside hoping to get the interview I was promised," said McClurg

McClurg began rolling his camera as another local Quad Cities news station started asking their questions.

"I started to tape something off of that interview and a staffer pushed me aside and stood in front of my camera and said that this was for the other station only."

The reporter asked a question about Bachmann's clinic and her husband. At that point, McClurg says the staffer took the microphone off of Bachmann, tossed it to the reporter and said their interview was over.

That's the treatment a second reporter, from another station, received at the hands of the Bachmann campaign.

And this isn't the first issue over which Bachmann's campaign mishandled the press corps. Earlier, the Washington Post reported Michele Bachmann’s handlers get rough with reporter over a question about the candidate's migraines. Those questions emerged following a hit piece in the conservative Daily Caller, Stress-related condition ‘incapacitates’ Bachmann; heavy pill use alleged.

Why the clinic questions matter

Why do these questions matter? After the first WQAD interview, in Michele Bachmann Clinic: Where You Can Pray Away the Gay?, ABC News  asked the American Psychological Association about "reparative" therapy:

The controversial practice of trying to change someone's sexual orientation was roundly discredited by the American Psychological Association in 2009 as ineffective and potentially harmful. The first-hand accounts and video evidence surfacing Monday have rekindled questions about the Bachmann family business.

Clinton Anderson, who heads the association's Office on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, told ABC News that his organization did an exhaustive review and found no evidence that efforts to convert someone from gay to straight could succeed.

"The harm is that when people are already in distress, and feeling conflict about their religion and their sexuality, to tell them they can change if they work hard enough, when in fact they can't do that … just makes their distress and their shame -- their depression -- even worse," Anderson said.

Enter the barbarians

So what is to be done when a candidate's campaign literally disconnects from reporters' questions? The question about the clinic's offerings are a matter of public concern on several levels. First, taxpayer dollars are going toward the operation of the clinic, and the public has a right to know whether its money is being spent wisely.

Second, the therapy is harmful. It hurts real people who come to the clinic seeking help.

But when a campaign dodges questions and seeks to shove questions back into a closet, it becomes fair game for publicity stunts. These stunts are common enough, regardless of the motivation:  from the College Republican who dresses like an ear of corn to support ethanol after a candidate flubs an answer about E85 to an alt-journo crank yanker's style "Koch Brother" phone call to Governor Walker.

And in LGBT politics, there's a long history of civil disobedience and street theater that paralleled the activism of the more respectful and respectable organizations like the HRC. Witness ACT-UP's strategies during the AIDS crisis.

Now, Get Equal is helping the glitterati,  LGBT activists and allies who recently took Marcus Bachmann's barbarian remarks quite literally and decided to dress the part while visiting Bachmann & Associates to demand the discipline that Marcus Bachmann prescribed for them. Failing to receive the discipline they craved, they acted like joyous barbarians, dancing and throwing glitter over their heads.

The Youtube went viral, from organizer Nick Espinosa's "Robert Erickson" facebook page to the Washington Post. A story that might have been a blip in the news cycle--easily swept into the closet by the Bachmann campaign--enjoyed a glittery second act.

Not Helpful: GOProud,Glenn Beck and Bill Prendergast react

The reaction to that second act from the right was predictable, the cable equivalent of the neighbor stomping out the fire on the go-bang-go bag on his doorstep. The Daily Caller posted a video, GOProud: Glitter bombing the “stupidest thing I’ve seen in politics”. 

The now out-foxed Glenn Beck threw a rhetoric bomb in Glenn Beck on 'Gay Barbarian Horde' Glitters Bachmann Clinic, breathing pretty hard when he imagined a frightened clinic receptionist, but not before noting the "violent" protest "wasn't helpful."  Locally, and more hilariously, a conceptual-challenged right-wing blogger sounded the alarm about glitter bombers ramping up.  The glitterati throw glitter; indeed, in the latest action, they throw it above themselves. Only in the blogger's fecund imagination is anything other than glitter flying. She should stick to critiquing office design.

Let me repeat two universally acknowledged facts about strategy and tactics:

Anytime the Right weighs in with advice that a strategy isn't "helpful," that unsolicited advice from the other side of the aisle is a sign that the action is effective (as the hit count on the Youtube also suggests).

Anytime the Right trots out an argument that claims if those in an action did something else, they'd be dangerous, that tactic is working. For the truth is, the gay barbarian horde threw glitter. Nor has anything other than glitter been thrown with each additional action. But, Beck's own rhetoric and suggestions for countering glitterbombing is, on other hand, getting more charged, with thinly veiled threats that security officers might cap a gay barbarian.

Bluestem agrees with the need for calling the fashion police that's implied in Wonkette's headline, Mismatched Youths Attempt to Glitter Bomb Marcus Bachmann. BSP fears these barbarians will wear white to their after-Labor Day actions, so perhaps a past wardrobe designer for Xena could stage an intervention.

But Wonkette Burke's hipster summary of the strategy/tactic is dead on:

But it is 2011 now, and young activists require tactics that not only prove a point, but provide really hilarious videos to post to the YouTube. This is why we now have “glitter bombing!” The young people love to do the glitter bombing, because they get to throw stuff on hate-mongering anti-gay wack jobs and gain Internet celebrity while also participating in the democratic process.

And singing, dancing and laughing while they do it. The right provides its own chuckles as they pass out over the WMD potential of glitter, while simultaneously sniffing at the ineffectiveness of the protests. (Of course they want it both ways). Both the action and the reaction kept the story in the news cycle that Bachmann owns a clinic that practices a discredited and harmful therapy.

But since the Right criticized the tactic as not "helpful" for recognition of equality, as well as scary, the knee-jerk section of the progressive movement instantly surrendered, as is so often the case in American politics. Witness Bill Prendergast at the Minnesota Progressive Project, yelling at those kids to get off his turf because they couldn't possibly know what they're doing.

And now, back to the news

What did the glittery gay barbarians accomplish? Several more days of the story in the news cycle, and hundreds of thousands of more people knowing that there's a story here at all.

And so, with  as new reports  surface about the Bachmann campaign's attempt to suppress news inquiry about the clinic's practices, those folks have a glimmer of what this story is about. 

Screenshots: Chuck McClurg, WQAD photojournalist (above); Mismatched gay barbarian horde (below). Video (below) via WQAD.

When a newspaper loves a Republican, he can do no wrong (and the FDN can't factcheck Parry)

Repeating her pattern of Parry puffery, Faribault Daily News' managing editor Jaci Smith pretends to cover the Waseca senator's continuing projectile twitterhea in Sen. Mike Parry's love/hate affair with Twitter:

Sen. Mike Parry's Tweets have been in the social media quite a bit lately. The Daily News compiled some of the commentary about his controversial, plain speak posts, using storify.com

Smith's story includes  tweets Parry posted about a laid-off state employee on Saturday, July 9 that generated another controversy. Unfortunately, the article fails to include any information about why the two tweets (two of the three Parry tweets included in the piece) drew criticism.

Nor is any of the responses she cites about the July 9 tweets. Without fact checking or including social media critics who directly address the information in Parry tweets Smith selects for her article, the editor may leave her readers thinking that Parry's false statements about the laid-off employee are correct. This is sloppy work at best.

Let's looks at the piece. Smith cites four tweets, three of which are by Parry; the fourth a Minnpost article:

More recently, Sen. Parry has been posting his thoughts on the state government shutdown and drawing media attention -- again.

• Reply Retweet

  Accding to #mDayton, the only way to end this shutdown is to stop serving my constituents and start serving him. I'm sorry, Gov. I will not.

  

  mikeparry July 12, 2011 at 10:35
• Reply Retweet

  Excited to have a few mins to share thoughts with fellow tweeters. By the way, my lawn looks a hell of a lot better than the Mansion.

  

  mikeparry July 9, 2011 at 16:14
• Reply Retweet

  Just got done weeding the garden. Wish I had a gardener like Dayton that was an essential service!

  

  mikeparry July 9, 2011 at 15:59
• Reply Retweet

  GOP hardliner Sen. Mike Parry not afraid to tweet what he believes http://t.co/GQaBXJ0

  

But by repeating his tweets without fact checking--and labeling them as "plain speak" while omitting tweets that do point out that Parry is bullshitting in his July 9 tweets--Smith grossly misleads her readers.

By not conducting any due diligence, Smith merely repeats the false information in the tweets she cites. She fails to tell her readers that Parry's tweets about the gardener are not true.

And the Minnpost piece isn't about those tweets.

It gets worse. While the article includes both of Parry's tweets from July 9 about the laid-off staffer--whom Parry's tweets suggest is still working--none of the critical tweets included in the FDN piece are from Saturday or are about Parry's Saturday tweets. Check out the dates of the tweets included:

Predictably, the senator has his share of supporters and detractors on the Internet.

• Reply Retweet

  Hey Sen. Mike Parry: Shut up and do the people's business. #mnleg #stribpol #endthegridlock #fercriminyssake

  

  Snowman406 July 11, 2011 at 10:24
• Reply Retweet

  @mikeparry maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. Oh well I've never seen a politician be such a jerk on twitter before. You're so funny!

  

  coconicco July 12, 2011 at 11:19
• Reply Retweet

  RT @CGoHome: Boy, I wish I could get paid by taxpayers to tweet all day about how people waste taxpayer $. @mbrodkorb @mikeparry #smh #mnshutdown #mnleg

  

  nickespinosa July 11, 2011 at 20:06
• Reply Retweet

  @mikeparry Right now, you're not serving anyone. And still getting paid.

  

  JamesAnder1 July 12, 2011 at 10:38
• Reply Retweet

  GOP hardliner Sen. Mike Parry not afraid to tweet what he believes http://t.co/HH2vVP0

  

  batty3d July 12, 2011 at 17:34

Instead, all of these critical tweets are in response to that July 12 Minnpost puff piece about Parry by Doug Grow. Not that the FDN reader would know this--since this is another vital piece of information Smith leaves out in the list of "responses," even though the Minnpost article had the only "media attention" Smith brings up.

Instead, she represents a retweet of the Grow headline as a that of a supporter. However, the accompanying URL doesn't go to Minnpost--so once again, FDN readers who don't already know this won't learn otherwise.

But perhaps she's riht to put the Grow piece in the "supporter" category.

Grow's piece isn't about any of the Parry tweets included in the FDN article.  It's about Doug Grow's own passion for Parry after interviewing him following  an agist tweet about Mondale and Carlson and tweets about Dayton resigning.  The latter were made only after the Waseca senator first brought up the notion of Dayton's resignation to the traditional press.

And after that media veteran bonding experience, Grow too lost out on providing any context for Parry, as Bluestem noted in Emo senator Mike Parry pats self on back for compassion, reveals another income source. Grow portrayed Parry as a beleagued small business owner, but missed that fact that Parry had whined to MPR just a month before about needing a higher state salary because he only had one source of income: that senator check.

If this were a larger media market, Smith's fake objectivity (and Grow's laziness)  would be worthy of comment by media critic Jay Rosen.

What's the problem with the gardener tweets? Bluestem first posted about Parry's tweets on Saturday in Emo tweeting senator Mike Parry can see Governor's mansion lawn from Waseca:

Bluestem wonders what's more remarkable: for Mike to be able to see the governor's lawn from Waseca, on Highway 14, deep in the heart of Minnesota's First Congressional District (not unlike Sarah Palin's ability to see Russia from her house in Alaska).

Or for Parry to brag that his lawn looks better than the lawn he imagines he sees on St. Paul's Summit Avenue. Three facts underscore how remarkable his lack of couth really is.

First, there's that little matter of the gardener. Bluestem checked, and there's no gardener deemed an "essential service" in the list of "essential" staff published by Politics in Minnesota.

Contacted via email about the gardener's employment status during the shutdown, a source in the Governor's Office wrote that "Gardener is laid off, not working and not getting paid." Perhaps that might explain why the lawn looks the way it does.

Bluestem's tweet of the post was circulated  on July 9 by tweeps  calling Parry on his bullshit.

By omitting any component of the controversy and fact checking generated by the Parry tweets she herself includes in the story, Smith paints Parry as a controversial, "plain spoke" leader beseiged by critics on social media. It's a classic Republican Victim narrative, aided and abetted under the guise of news.

In the interest of a better informed readership for the Daily's News audience, Bluestem is fixing the paper's headline: "The Faribault Daily News managing editor's love affair with Mike Parry."

The larger question remains: why is this piece in the Faribault Daily News? Pro-Republican bias? Sheer incompetence on the part of Jaci Smith? Both? You be the judge.

Related posts: The Emo Senator cont'd: rocking chairs, resignations, and a retreat to retweets

Emo senator, part 3: Mike Parry collecting paycheck and per diem during shutdown

The Emo Senator, part 2: Mike Parry cries crocodile tears over laid-off state workers

The Emo Senator: Mike Parry calls for Governor Dayton's resignation, cites feelings, trust fund

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

Mike Parry tells public employees they'll get bigger pensions, suggests new tax on services

Greater Minnesota editors on shutdown: from critters to compromise

Looking around at Greater Minnesota editorials online this steamy July evening, Bluestem is reading calls for compromise.

If the editors are being Minnesota Nice.  Those who are following in other traditions in a state that brought both the administration of Jesse Ventura and the 1934 truckers' strikes aren't being quite so reticent. And  they're evoking a bit of a menagerie.

Some stick with near relatives. In Next election, bring in the monkeys, Henderson Independent editor James Brenno writes:

. . .Both sides are to blame for this mess, but what confounds me the most about the shutdown, regardless if it goes on for just a few days or weeks, is that for some reason Republican legislators were able to live with seeing thousands of people lose their jobs and millions lost in private sector revenue than support a tax increase on the very rich - couples making over $1 million.

At times, I think some our elected politicians believe the state government is its own special entity removed from society. But believe it or not, there are real people with real families who pay real taxes that work for the government.  . . .

The Winona Daily News call on a more cold blooded image. In Our view: GOP remains the party of no, Darrell Ehrlick writes on behalf of the editorial board:

When GOP legislators cry loudly about not being called back into session, pinning the blame on Gov. Mark Dayton, those tears are crocodile.

On Wednesday, Dayton proposed several options to close the $1.2 billion revenue gap, turn on the lights of state government, and give lawmakers a week to pass legislation reflecting the compromise.

The Republican leadership turned down a combination of five different solutions and offered absolutely nothing in return.

Check that.

The leadership offered something - the same old, tired excuse, which fits nicely on campaign literature but leaves lights dark in government. . . .

Read the entire, pithy opinion at the WDN.

Way over in the opposite corner of the state, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported last week that state senator Gretchen Hoffman [is] frustrated by lack of “lights-on” bill. Bluestem finds the notion of a frustrated Gretchen Hoffman sitting around with the lights off to be a very unsettling image indeed. That being the case, the motive behind the editorial board saying that the GOP [will] have to allow tax increase to end shutdown is in no way mysterious. We can't blame them.

Down in Marshall, the editors of the Independent also agree that a tax increase has value in Vulnerable residents need more protection than wealthy:

This might not go over well in a Republican-heavy area, but if Gov. Mark Dayton is right and his budget plan would do as much as possible to protect state services and prevent cuts to social programs, we're behind it - not because of his party affiliation, but because it's what's best for the people who rely on those services. If it turns out that the newly-formed independent commission comes up with a better plan to protect those people, we're all for that, too. . . .

Up in St. Cloud, the editors of the Times say in  Politicians' top priority isn't people:

. . . At this point, if you’re a legislator and you are not talking about constructive solutions and compromise, you also are not caring that:

» About 20,000 state workers marked their first week of unemployment because of you.

» The state’s coffers, which you ultimately control, are going south faster than Matt Capps’ pitching.

» Your political games are putting increasing stress on everything from inspections of health care facilities to helping vulnerable residents.

Collectively, even though it’s only been one week, Tom Stinson — himself laid off as the state’s economist — says the shutdown is dragging down all of Minnesota’s economy. . . .

Another Central Minnesota voice, Tim Douglass at the Pope County Tribune, writes about the narrow margins in the last election in There really was no mandate for either party:

Does that give either party a mandate from the voters? I don't think so. It simply reveals that compromise would be important if re-election is important. And even if re-election isn't an issue, compromise would be appropriate because each party should realize that they are representing just half, at best, of those who voted in the last election.

Don Heinzman at the ECM chain implores in Dear Legislators, Come on. Compromise:

Forget giving in to your base and do what’s best for Minnesotans.

You were not elected to represent just your base of political support.

As a legislator you represent all the people in your district, not just Republicans and not just Democrats.Your vote also represents all of the people of Minnesota.

Allowing a shutdown to continue just to appease your base in the next election is disgraceful.

It’s becoming apparent that Minnesotans are frustrated because the ones they elected to make a difference are betraying that confidence.

The governor is agreeing to make significant budget cuts in health and human services for the most vulnerable Minnesotans who depend on government programs. He wants to tax the wealthiest Minnesotans who can afford them to prevent further cuts in the Human Services budget. Most Minnesotans agree with that.

And so it goes. There are some voices that agree with Senate Majority Leader Brodkorb, The Not-Brodkorb Senator Koch and House Speaker Zellers about no compromise, but it's more like the voices of slough-pumps' lonely calling in the swamps. A bittern's narrative.

More often, Minnesota's small town editors are sounding like Joel Alstad, the sports editor of the Cottonwood County Citizen, who writes in the Lost art of compromise:

.  . .In fact, both sides are to blame. Both sides have opted to stand up for their own political ideology rather than doing what is best for the state of Minnesota. One would think, by witnessing today's political environment, that the word "compromise" was synonymous with "weakness." In fact, compromise is a necessity in effective government.

Former Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri, a Republican, had a history of conflict with the Democratically-controled Assembly of his state yet won election in 2002 and again in 2006, largely due to his ability to compromise with the Assembly. He is noted for saying, "Healthy disagreement, debate, leading to compromise, has always been the American way."

And noted businessman Andrew Carnegie once said, "I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle."

To serve a greater principle - the state of Minnesota and its people - should stand ahead of any rigid political principle on either side of the aisle.

A recent Star Tribune poll showed that 67% of Minnesotans agreed with Gov. Dayton's plan to both cut spending and increase revenue. On Thursday, just prior to the state shutdown, Gov. Dayton lowered his demands of increasing the income tax on the top 2% of wage earners in Minnesota to just those making $1 million or more annually.

Gov. Dayton's proposed budget and that of the Republican-controlled legislature are still over $3 billion apart, but at least Gov. Dayton has shown a willingness to meet the Legislature in the middle. The Legislature has shown no such movement as of yet.

For compromise to work, there must be give and take on both sides. Clearly a "my way or the highway" approach has not worked, nor will it. And the side that refuses to meet somewhere in the middle will likely suffer at the ballot box in the next election.

Let's hope, for the good of the state, that the middle ground is found sooner, rather than later. For the state to move forward, compromise and common sense need to come before political principles.

Note: For a daily link farm of news and views from Greater Minnesota, check out Al Juhnke's Middle Minnesota.

The Emo Senator cont'd: rocking chairs, resignations, and a retreat to retweets

The Emo Senator's tender tweets from Waseca have once again enthralled the imagination of the traditional media and the inspired PhotoShop software of the divine Tild, who marshalled her vast knowledge of film and fiction to capture the zeitgeist.

Minnesota's legacy media is applying conventional standards of fairness and accuracy to report the incident. Drawing from AP reporters, Fox News 9 reported yesterday in Minnesota Governor, Lawmakers Meet Again Amid Government Shutdown:

Twitter has also become a forum for partisan bickering in both parties. On Wednesday, Sen. Mike Parry called on Walter Mondale and Arnie Carlson to "stay in their rockers" and also said Dayton should resign. Dayton responded, saying if Parry thinks he should resign, he must be doing something right.

The rhetoric only seems to be heating up, and Dayton has said the so-called "cone of silence" that was established prior to the shutdown is now gone because he doesn't believe the Republicans are giving an honest representation of the negotiations.

Perry had tweeted this respectful remark about the bipartisan commission started by former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson:

@mikeparry mikeparry

With all due respect, Mondale & Carlson need to stay in their rockers unless they can get Dayton to do the right thing....RESIGN!

5 Jul

Since that loving comment, the Southern Minnesota senator has only retweeted posts by other tweeps, leaving Parry watchers inside of the press corps and out to stand watch until he rises again from this personal cone of silence. Bluestem is scanning the skies.

To paraphrase the opening words of Criswell in Ed Wood Jr.'s classic opus:

Good night, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious...the musings of Mike Parry, twit extraordinary.

Image: via Tild.

Related posts: Emo senator, part 3: Mike Parry collecting paycheck and per diem during shutdown

The Emo Senator, part 2: Mike Parry cries crocodile tears over laid-off state workers

The Emo Senator: Mike Parry calls for Governor Dayton's resignation, cites feelings, trust fund

Tales of Hoffman: Scenes from the ideological struggle in Fergus Fall, Minnesota

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

The Emo Senator, part 2: Mike Parry cries crocodile tears over laid-off state workers

About an hour ago, Minnpost columnist David Brauer made a very pointed point, while linking to a Mankato Free Press article from June:

MnGOP wailing about laid-off state workers seems hollow considering budget plan would fire thousands more than #mdayton http://bit.ly/mueW4U

In that article, State payroll: Shrinking what some see as already thin, readers learned:

There are about 36,000 Minnesota state workers, not counting the college and university employees. One of the few things Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled Legislature agree on is that two years from now, there will be fewer of them.

Dayton proposed a roughly 6 percent reduction. The Republicans want a 15 percent cutback.

And who in the Mankato area was proposing that cut? According to the MFP June 24, 2011 article that Brauer cites, it's none other than Waseca's ersatz socialist Emo Senator, Mike Parry:

Sen. Mike Parry, a Waseca Republican who serves as chairman of the Senate State Innovations and Veterans Committee, helped craft the latter bill that finances several agencies ranging from the tax-collecting Department of Revenue to the soldier-supporting Department of Veterans Affairs.

It cuts spending by 13 percent compared to the current two-year budget.

The bill also requires the overall state work force — excluding higher education employees — to be reduced by 15 percent by 2015. Parry said neither the spending cuts nor the downsizing of the work force will be noticed by most Minnesotans.

“Government will still be operational and will still offer the services of the past,” Parry said.

and:

And Parry insists that one of every seven state workers can disappear without a meaningful reduction in the work accomplished by agencies.

“Let’s think about new technology,” he said. “Let’s think about updating our agencies and computers. As you do that, it reduces the size of the work force because you don’t need as many people.”

But this month?  Parry, who in June saw no problem with permanently disappearing one out of every seven state workers, now says:

“Let me tell you, the governor has no feelings,” Parry said. “If he did, he would not put 22,000 people out of work on July 1. He has no feelings. ... The shutdown doesn’t bother him at all. .

Brauer nails it in a follow-up tweet:

I mean, MnGOP re: state workers is like jailer who wants to let you out of solitary so you can face the firing squad. #mnshutdown

Perhaps Parry and the MNGOP philosophy went beyond that, for even a man who is a jailer took issue with the philosophy. As the Mankato Free Press reported in back in June:

Even some Republican lawmakers have expressed reservations about the state government finance bill. Rep. Tony Cornish, a Good Thunder Republican and former state conservation officer, voted against it.

Cornish currently serves as chief of police in Lake Crystal, Minnesota.

Meanwhile today, Senator Majority Leader Brodkorb, the de facto voice of the Republicans in the Minnesota legislature, has suddenly discovered Parry's extreme rhetoric from this weekend's Mankato Free Press and is tweeting and re-tweeting it.

Extremism at the helm? A distraction to point Minnesotans away from the failure of the Republicans to compromise as they serve that tiny wealthy sliver of the state to which they bow in allegiance? You be the judge.

Image: Emo senator Mike Parry's deep mourning for state workers.

Related posts: The Emo Senator: Mike Parry calls for Governor Dayton's resignation, cites feelings, trust fund

Tales of Hoffman: Scenes from the ideological struggle in Fergus Fall, Minnesota

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

Tales of Hoffman: "I never knew how poor we were" (and neither did her radio audience)

As a devoted Gretchen Hoffman watcher, I was a bit startled when I first heard the freshman state senator contrast her loving childhood where she "never knew how poor we were" with the rhetoric of  "class warfare" she finds in Governor Dayton's politics. Here's the audio from a radio broadcast last month:

On May 26, 2011 (mp3 podcast), Hoffman, born Gretchen Marie Pflugrath, told radio listeners tuned into AM 1100, the Flag,  that her father was a construction foreman and her mom was a stay-at-home mother.

That might have been true for part of her childhood--but that storyline changed in 1971 when her father started a PVC pipe manufacturing firm that was to become very successful. Hoffman turned 14  in 1971.

It's great that her father started a successful business. Now retired, he received an award for his business leadership in 2006,  KXnet.com reported in U-Mary Honors Mick Pflugrath With Entrepreneur Award:

America's Leadership University and its new Gary Tharaldson School of Business and Technology will proudly present the 2006 Leader in Entrepreneurship Award to Mick Pflugrath CEO of GPK Products, Inc. of Fargo on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006, at 6 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Holiday Inn in Fargo.

At 4:30 p.m. in the Holiday Inn's Dakota Hall, a panel with Pflugrath; Spencer Hildre, president of GPK Products, Inc; and Wayne Voorhees, president of Northern Pipe Products will discuss "Building a Business: Reaching a Global Market."

GPK Products, Inc. is a wholly owned corporation of the Pflugrath family and located in Fargo's industrial park. Its plant, approximately the size of six Football fields, is the largest producer of PVC fittings for the wastewater industry in the United States. Its growth has been approximately 20 percent annually since 1971. . . .

That's awesome, an American success story. What isn't so great is that Hoffman didn't think to share that success story with her listeners, instead, opting to blither on with an implied "poor but loving and stable" narrative to underscore her preceptions of Dayton's "ideology"  and perhaps his own upbringing as a retail princeling.  It's well-known that Dayton was born into a wealthy family; the GOP seems to kvetch about this a great deal, while deploring envy itself.

I'm less clear just what the heck Hoffman was up to when she was less than candid about her own background. Since she serves on the board of GPK Products, Inc., she probably knows when the company was started, right? One would think that she'd be proud of the family firm's rise to national prominence.

And this isn't the first time she's been a bit fuzzy about the firm. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Daily reported that she had said that the North Star state's business climate forced the company to build in North Dakota.

A hardship, Bluestem is certain, for a company that was started in North Dakota. Life is always so rough for poor Kvetchin' Gretchen, whether she knows it or not.

Note: In this Facebook post,  readers see a photo of "Gretchen Hoffman, Pat Pflugrath &" another person. "Mick and Pat Pflugrath" show up in a google search as contributors to the NDSU Foundation. Googled separately, they turn up as generous contributors to Republican political committees in North Dakota; both are now retired. It's safe to say these are Hoffman's parents. And the issue here isn't with their success; it's Hoffman's radio tale--condemning class warfare while playing a sly hand of it herself--that's the problem.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts"

: Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet

: Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

 

Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts"

Although two supporters of Senator Gretchen Hoffman have written that death threats and bullying during the session required escorts for the freshman legislator by law enforcement at the state capitol, an investigation by Bluestem Prairie finds no evidence to support the claims.

Last Friday, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal published a letter, Should advocate for Hoffman abasement, in which Fergus Falls resident David Adams scolded the newspaper for not defending the freshman senator against the ethics claims menace and the senator who generated it:

Additionally, you seem to think that she must obey your demands that she grovel to a mean-spirited and vindictive Sen. Goodwin who does nothing but promote a hedonistic agenda aimed at demeaning our traditional cultural values.

Okay then. Bluestem has not found the pursuit of pleasure to be the province of the mean-spirited and vindicative, but as a poor country blogger, my perspective on hedonism might suffer geographic limitations.

Adams is entitled to his opinion, as we all are, but later in the letter, he asserts a claim which stopped me cold:

In keeping her promise to us, Hoffman has been threatened with loss of her life, and bullied so badly by liberal groupies within the capitol halls that she has had to have capitol police escort her from her offices to committee hearings.[emphasis added]

However, The Daily Journal is more concerned with some perceived insult to someone who does not even represent our district or our interests. . . .

. . .You should be advocating for the protection of our senator not for her abasement.

Has Senator Hoffman's life been threatened? Has she been "bullied so badly by liberal groupies within the capitol halls that she has had to have capitol police escort her from her offices to committee hearings"?

If so, this isn't a joking matter. Death threats and a need for police escorts are no laughing matter. It's also a feminist issue, since historically violence and threats of violence have been used to keep women--regardless of their party--from participating in politics. More broad human rights considerations suggest that everyone has a right to feel secure in his or her person as we go about our business.

Nor is this the first time that a letter writer has claimed that Senator Hoffman has had reason to fear for her life. Back in  early April, Jerome Mullins wrote in Hoffman garners even more respect from voter:

And her work in committees to expose and cut unnecessary jobs and payroll expenses in some bloated governmental agencies and departments has got the government labor unions so angry with her that there are days when several Capitol police have to escort her and other conservative lawmakers around the halls of the legislature to provide her safety from the threats of the unions.

If these claims are true, this is serious stuff--for while Bluestem believes in felicitously composed ridicule, it doesn't support threats to people's lives. There should be no "Second Amendment solution" in disagreements with our elected officials; the solution is civic engagement and elections.

Have liberal groupies and public employee unions threatened Senator Hoffman with bodily harm? I couldn't find any news reports that support Mullins' claim that she and "other conservative lawmakers" had to be escorted by law enforcement inside the capitol--nor any reports of Hoffman being singled out.

One blogger had asked Are Conservative Lawmakers Being Escorted Around Capitol By Security? after reading Mullins's LTE in the Wadena Pioneer Journal, but appears to have directed his question to the world at large, rather than those involved in providing capitol complex security.

Others were asking more general questions about security on the hill. Indeed, questions of capitol complex security were deemed important enough by Governor Dayton, legislative leaders and the state supreme court to put together a review of the state's approach to the issue, following the attack on Representative Gabby Giffords in Arizona. The final report of the Minnesota committee can be read here.

Given the seriousness of the letter writers' claims--and Adams' request that the Fergus Falls Daily Journal begin advocating for Hoffman's protection, Bluestem started asking the specific question: Has Senator Gretchen Hoffman needed a police escort inside the Minnesota State Capitol because she has received threats?

My first call was to the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms office. The person who answered the phone hadn't heard of any threats to Senator Hoffman, but noted that "Capitol Security" would be in charge of investigating any threats to senators, as well as providing any "police" escort inside the building. I was directed to call John Mock at Capitol Security.

Returning my call later yesterday afternoon, Mock said that no state patrol officers had been assigned to escort Senator Hoffman during the session, and his office had no record of any death threats to Hoffman that had been reported to Capitol Security.  However, he added that this is not a definitive answer.

He noted that while people often refer--as the letter writers did-- to "capitol police," this phrase is a misnomer. Two state patrol officers are assigned to Capitol Security, although their numbers are often supplemented as security needs change (say, when large rallies are planned).

The uniformed state patrol officers on duty are assisted by uniformed civilian security officers, who are employees of the state patrol, Mock explained. The  uniformed civilian security officers are the men and women at the state capitol who wear blue uniforms.

Finally, a third group assists with securing the capitol, non-uniformed civilian security personnel. This final group is largely composed of retired law enforcement officers. They wear maroon blazers, khaki slacks, and badges (not shields) that identify them.

Mock thought that it was possible that Hoffman might have asked for an escort from any of these levels, although his office has no record of such a request and no state patrol officers were assigned to protect her.

He noted that anyone at the capitol complex--including any visitor--can ask for an escort if he or she feels the need for one; one doesn't have to be a state employee or legislator working at the state capitol to receive assistance from Capitol Security. This policy is very much in line with security procedures at universities; escorts can be requested by anyone who feels the need for one. It's  "better safe than sorry" common sense.

So it is possible that at some point in the session, Senator Hoffman asked for an escort from Capitol Security. However, the office didn't receive reports of any death threats nor did it provide a "capitol police escort" as a consequence of them.

Given that this is the case, Mullins and Adams' claims seem more like the posings of characters from a reality show than solid concerns about Senator Hoffman's security. Indeed, I can't find any instance of Senator Hoffman herself making statements about threats or a need for "capitol police" escort.

I suspect a couple of DFL activist friends may be reading this and wondering where "liberal groupies" might be found, while public employee union members are probably just rolling their eyes at the "government employee union" rhetoric. One of the tactics of the right is to invoke dislike of the "government" with that dog-whistle label, in order to better demonize all public employees.

Let Bluestem make a modest proposal to Mullins and Adams. Given their flair for hysterics, and the overall lack of evidence at the state capitol for their claims, let them go into show business. All across greater Minnesota, cable access channels are crying out for material. These budding scriptwriters should pitch a show that will demonstrate their creative potential. Call it "The Real Drama Queens of Otter Tail County."

Photo: State Senator Gretchen Hoffman

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet

: Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

 

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

When Bluestem last posted on the unfolding story generated by Vergas yarn-entreprenuer-turned-state-senator Gretchen Hoffman's recklessly rude tweet, the freshman legislator had yet to come to terms with the unanimous decision of the Senate ethics committee.

News venues across the state are reporting that Hoffman has finally complied--but in the Fergus Falls newspaper comments section, a local Republican and his fellow decency deniers have rallied to her defense.

It's quite the read as the co-founder of the Republican Bulldogs, who organized campaign events last year, skewer the DFL Senators for daring to bring a complaint and the local media for daring to report the story. Update: Republican Bulldog co-founder Dave Lindberg is the Vice Chair of House District 10A, according to the Otter Tail County GOP website.end update

Down in Worthington, a couple of days away from Fergus Falls as the crow flies, Forum political reporter Don Davis reports on the Globe's website:

Sen. Gretchen Hoffman has apologized for a tweet she issued last month during a heated Minnesota Senate debate on health-care funding.

As required by the Senate ethics committee on Monday, the Vergas Republican sent a letter to Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights.

“This letter is intended to be the written apology from me to you indicated by the Minnesota Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct...” Hoffman wrote. “I am certainly sorry for my misunderstanding of what you said and how I subsequently handled it.”

During debate on the health and human services funding bill on May 18, Goodwin told colleagues that state institutions for the mentally ill used to be called homes for the “idiots, imbeciles and the insane.” She used the phrase three times to illustrate how far treatment for the mentally ill has come.

“Sen. Goodwin just called people with mental illness idiots and imbeciles while debating HHS bill,” Hoffman tweeted to her followers.

Hoffman has not talked about the incident in public and did not testify at Monday’s Senate hearing, although her attorney did speak. The senator is a nurse who has worked with the mentally ill and her spokeswoman said she was concerned about Goodwin’s remarks.

Hoffman did not approach Goodwin on the Senate floor and she did not rise to protest the remarks, as allowed under rules.

The ethics panel voted to dismiss charges against Hoffman if she apologized to Goodwin, if she removed her original tweet and if she tweeted a link to the committee’s report on the case.

Hoffman’s Twitter page, including the original tweet, was removed on Wednesday and on Thursday a new one with a different address was created with a lone tweet that directed readers the report. . . .

KARE-11 adds in Sen. Hoffman issues apology for tweet, message still on website:

. . .Thursday Susan Closmore of the Senate Republican Caucus said that Senator Hoffman has complied with all the demands of the Senate Ethics committee.

The tweet was removed from Twitter. However, the tweet still remained on Sen. Hoffman's website as of 8pm Thursday evening. . . .

No word on where Senate Majority Leader Communications Director Michael Brodkorb was lurking.

The Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported earlier that the Subject of Hoffman’s tweets satisfied with ruling.

And while Kvetchin' Gretchen has begun to move forward, and Goodman has received satisfaction, a key Republican activist still carries a torch for the best version of Hoffman 1.0.  David Lindberg, co-founder of the Republican Bulldogs, has a lot to say in the comments.

Some background: Lindberg's name and that of his group pops up a few times in 2010 election coverage. The Star Tribune took note of Lindberg's organizing in a July 2010 article, Tom Emmer: Riding a new populist wave:

On a cold and drizzly Saturday afternoon, Tom Emmer was edging his way through the crowd at a Tea Party rally in Fergus Falls. . . .

. . ."I've think I've had a vision into Tom's heart," said David Lindberg, co-founder of Republican Bulldogs, which organized the rally. "I think he's a good person, and that he's willing to work with or at least listen to people."

Closer to the election, the Fergus Falls paper reported that Michael Brodkorb himself spoke at a Bulldog rally in GOP confident of gaining seats:

The Minnesota Republican party has had its feet on the ground all over the state in the last couple of months, and the Fergus Falls area has been no exception. About 65 party faithful were on hand at a Republican rally on Friday, and another 25 were at the Westridge Mall on Saturday for a rally hosted by the Republican Bulldogs.

While much of Saturday’s crowd was on hand to hear speeches by the candidates at the event, including 7th Congressional District candidate Lee Byberg, Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Tim Tingelstad, and state auditor candidate Pat Anderson, there was another speaker at the event who wasn’t running for political office: Michael Brodkorb, the deputy chair of the state GOP.

What is the leader of the Republican Bulldogs saying now about the ethics case? Just check out a comment left at the paper by Lindberg:

David Lindberg June 16, 2011 at 10:47 am Link

So Senator Hoffman misunderstood Senator Goodman. Is this why they (the democrats) need to raise taxes? So we can spend countless dollars investigating misunderstandings? I would like to share with everyone that I am a little thin skinned when it comes to our State Government wasting money on frivolous BS. Simply asking Senator Hoffman to retract the statement because she misunderstood Senator Goodman was never considered. Also isn’t the result the same? Senator Hoffman needs to apologize and remove the tweet. No there is hay to be made there for the democrats. God how I wish I could get a committee to meet every time I thought somebody either took me out of context or misunderstood what I had to say. Better yet I would love to be able to demand a committee meeting every time I took exception with somebody’s words or actions. This is a sad case of gotcha at best, and a pathetic attempt to tarnish the reputation of an exceptional Senator who has done a terrific job so far fighting to lower taxes, and reduce regulations so that we can get our economy growing again in Minnesota. One last thing, I would like to know how much Senator Goodman’s and the democrat’s gotcha game cost the hard working tax payers of Minnesota.

Poor Senator Hoffman! And curses on Goodman for asking for justice.

Will Lindberg be chasing after those Republicans on the committee who ruled that Kvetchin' Gretchen misled the public by misrepresenting Goodwin's remark? Take, for instance, remarks by Douglas County's Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, that Star Tribune columnist Jon Tevlin wove into High-tech legislators still indulge in Stone Age behavior:

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, played the adult for much of the hearing and provided a little levity with his lack of sophistication in social media.

"I struggle with this, Twitter-Tweeter thing we have there," he said.

"Anybody who knows me, I get up every morning, roll the stone from the front of my cave and drag my knuckles to work."

Ingebrigtsen noted that his statements had been misstated on social media before, but "my skin is a little thicker than others'," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't worth its weight in tweet, or Twitter."

Then Ingebrigtsen offered some wisdom that could only come from a knuckle-dragger: Hoffman should probably apologize at some point. He didn't post it on Facebook or send it out on his iPad, he just said it, straight up. The committee agreed and told Hoffman to remove the tweet.

It seemed like a very adult thing to do.

A fair point. 

Perhaps Brodkorb can visit Fergus Falls once more and use his much-touted powers of message discipline to provide a bit of obedience training for the Republican Bulldog.

Photo: Senator Hoffman. Tip of the hat to Phoenix Woman for the Kvetchin' Gretchen moniker.

Related posts: Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Note: Without acknowledging the original headline (captured in the screenshot to the right), MinnPost has changed the line to reflect the facts of the matter. Nice to see the thoughtful, well-funded editors correct the record, but leave no trace of it. [end note]

If I were a progressive movement blogger, I'd pile on with the framing of the Gretchen Hoffman social media ethics scandal delivered in the headline and content of a thoughtful analysis by James Nord at Minnpost.

As a writer, I'll have to break with the collective on this one, and consider what the facts of each incident can tell readers about policy debates, politics and reportage in Minnesota.

Framing: a new window for an old social media tool

He writes in Sen. Gretchen Hoffman ordered to apologize in first legislative ethics complaint involving social media:

Twitter seems to be getting to some Minnesota lawmakers, both seasoned veterans and freshmen newcomers.

While some legislators have used social media effectively to air their views in cyberspace, others, like freshman GOP Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, have faced backlash for inflammatory tweets sent to their followers.

Others seem perplexed by the whole social media phenomenon, and it showed during the nearly six-hour Monday meeting that ended with a legislative ethics subcommittee ordering an apology. . . .

. . .First ethics complaint over social media
The kicker? Hoffman must also remove the offending tweet and link to the subcommittee's resolution on the matter. Thomas Bottern, Senate counsel, said to his knowledge this is the first ethics complaint regarding social media in the body's history.

That last paragraph is true; the headline is inaccurate.

For while Bottern's observation is most likely true about ethics complaints in the Minnesota Senate, the first ethics complaint involving social media in fact took place two years ago, in late May 2009. And the first person summoned for a social media-related ethics violation was a DFLer, former State Representative Paul Gardner.

Old news, old tool: the case against Paul Gardner

Minnesota Public Radio reported in Ethics complaint filed against Paul Gardner:

GOP Rep. Mark Buesgens and GOP Rep. Tom Emmer have filed an ethics complaint against DFL Rep. Paul Gardner for comments Gardner made on Twitter. Gardner has deleted his twitter account but in his tweets on May 8th he wrote "Emmer seems to belittle his female colleagues (rage, sarcasm) on the floor more than the men? Great face to the GOP?" and "Why is Buesgens wearing sunglasses? Black eye?"

In the complaint, Emmer and Buesgens wrote:

"Representative Gardner's communications were clearly designed to suggest that his colleagues are physically violent and prone to harassment of female members of the House of Representatives." Representative Gardner knew or, at the very least, should have known that his written comments were false and injurious to his ALL (sic) of his legislative colleagues...."

"...There can be NO dispute that Representative Gardner's actions violate his ethical obligation to treat his legislative colleagues with "respect" and "fairness." Nor can he be said to have exercised "sound judgment" by publishing false statements to the public from the House floor."

The complaint asks that Gardner be properly reprimanded and disciplined.

Gardner did write a formal apology to the entire House floor on May 11th. In an interview, he also said he apologized to the two personally and posted a link to his apology on twitter. He added that "I don't understand how many times that you can say you made a mistake and take ownership for actions and seek a remedy that seems to resolve their actions."

Minnpost's own Casey Selix mused about the upshot of the ethics complaint in Trouble in Twitter-land: tweeting without thinking:

The last time the Minnesota House Ethics Committee considered a complaint against a lawmaker, the year was 2003 and Twitter.com did not even exist. Last week, committee members and others found themselves tripping over the Twitter lexicon at a hearing on a Democrat's unflattering tweets about two Republicans during a budget debate.

The complaint filed against Rep. Paul Gardner, DFL-Shoreview, is one of several instances in recent months where pols, pundits, celebrities and job applicants have gotten into trouble by typing their thoughts and activities — in no more than 140 characters at a time — into what Twitter describes as a "real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices." . . .

A troubling introduction to Twitter  
A teed-off Emmer told the Ethics Committee that he and Buesgens weren't familiar with Twitter until they were shown Gardner's comments while they were on the House floor. Indeed, their complaint (PDF) twists Twitter's lexicon a bit by describing Gardner's tweeting as "twitting.

Therein ends the old lesson.

New story, old medium: Hoffman free-floats amid signifiers

The Hoffman story--two years later--is a much different tale, although the same breathless tone about the "new" toy, twitter, informed both yesterday's hearing and the coverage of it.

It's useful to step back first and take a look at the policy area being considered before the Senate when Hoffman and Senate Majority Leader Michael Brodkorb made their series of unfortunate tweets.

While Minnpost and others--including the Senate ethics committee--are a-flutter about the medium, let's reconsider the bill under debate on the Senate floor that prompted Hoffman's misleading tweet. Barbara Goodwin was reviewing the disregard for people-- disregard literally set in brick and stone by the very words chosen to name  the facilities --for those actual people the state once warehoused in state hospital buildings. She did this in a floor statement during which she fought against cuts to the Health and Human Services budget where the needs of real people and their families are met.

Hoffman's tweet boldly misrepresented Goodwin's words and, as Bluestem pointed out this morning, the attorney defending Hoffman's behavior tried to make the issue about those words wounded the poor dear's soul-felt sympathies toward the vulnerable.

That the words upset Hoffman, but cutting funding for the vulnerable did not, suggested that the ethos of Michael Brodkorb's majority caucus floats in a post-modern world of liberated signifiers that would impress Claude Levi-Strauss himself, if only he were not dead.

And poor Hoffman. Life must be a deeply painful experience, as she wades into the pool of language where free-floating signifiers nip at her ankles like hungry panfish.

Back to the future: debate free floating in the twitter

And so back to the earlier (and first for Minnesota, as far as I can tell) ethics complaint involving twitter. What was the substance of Gardner's tweets? Twitting Buesgens about wearing sunglasses on the floor of the House.

Rude, to a certain degree, but in light of the subsequent and very public emergence of the house member's substance abuse issues along a remote Wright County road last fall, nearly prophetic. And Emmer's aggressive sarcasm? Certainly subjective as to how people might respond. Ask Robert Erickson for details.

But unlike Hoffman's tweets, neither of Gardner's comments related to a policy debate that could lead to life-threatening conseqences for vulnerable Minnesotans. While Buesgens' drunk driving was a threat to other drivers, he's mostly taking responsibility and adhering to the conditions of his probation.

Perhaps the media with far greater reach than this blog could link the attendant policy discussion of the Goodwin-Hoffman ethics incident than repeatedly focusing, like magpies or jays with a pilfered shiny bauble,  on the new-ness of Twitter. It was new in 2009 with the Gardner complaint. It is not new now, and each caucus in both chamber might spend the requisite five or ten minutes reviewing principles on basic civility. Then, perhaps, the legislature might focus more on the job for which its members are elected.

Gardner, Hoffman contrasting apologies

Finally, there's a stark difference in the way in which Gardner and Hoffman responded to the initial complaints about their short messages. Even before the formal complain was filed, Gardner apologized. Prior to the hearing on the ethics complaint, MPR reported back in the day:

. . .Gardner did write a formal apology to the entire House floor on May 11th. In an interview, he also said he apologized to the two personally and posted a link to his apology on twitter. He added that "I don't understand how many times that you can say you made a mistake and take ownership for actions and seek a remedy that seems to resolve their actions."

And Hoffman? As Nord's article points out, she remained unapologetic about the truth of her tweet as yesterday's hearing approached, while her lawyer warned about the "thought police" snooping through tweets, looking for pearl-clutchable items.

Moreover, while Republicans demanded further action from Gardner, who had repeatedly apologized before the earlier House ethics hearing, Don Davis reports that:

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, led debate against forcing Hoffman to apologize multiple times, calling it “piling on.”

Perhaps Bluestem can go out on a limb and suggest there's a bit of a double standard at work on the part of the Republican Party.

However, Hoffman's approach to language, however, has been eclipsed by a new disturbance in the force of discourse, as evidence comes forward about an email exchange in which everybody's favorite pistol-packing Republican rep abuses both history and analogy. Check out Paul Demko's Union seeks explanation from Hackbarth about email complaining of ‘communist’ propaganda in which Minnesota's public professional employees union is compared to the rise of Hitler and Castro.

Screenshot: Minnpost's most likely unintentionally misleading headline.

Bleg: Like what you're reading? Throw a few coins in Bluestem's tip jar for the blog's June reader support drive. Need more information? Read all about it here.

Hickster papers stick it to Sutton-Brodkorb caucus circus and budget bluster

The calliope of criticism of the Republican legislative caucuses continues in newspapers across Minnesota, a trend strong enough that it's been noticed in metro media. While the Twin Cities can brag on its "hipsters" (whatever they are), hickster practical common sense is calling for compromise, while holding the line on programs like LGA.

We've seen the elephant, and it ain't pretty.

Yesterday, the Albert Lea Tribune editorial board concluded in Maintain local government aid:

It is not welfare. It is simply relief from high property taxes for places that don’t have property wealth. It is a return on the taxes we send to St. Paul already. The roads work both ways, not just for Interstate 35, but for the sharing of revenue.

Cutting LGA further would cut into necessary services in many cities, including Albert Lea.

We urge our legislators to make this a line in the sand. Always remember that the platform of representatives and senators from the Twin Cities suburbs does not mesh with the needs of Greater Minnesota. [emphasis added]

The fiscally conservative editors of the New Ulm Journal examine dueling letters from area legislators in Doing the math and conclude:

This is not so much a budget debate as a tax debate. Republicans are firmly sticking to their "no tax increase" stance, which is actually a "no income or sales tax increase" stance - they don't seem to recognize the impact they are having on property taxes, or accept any blame for it. DFLers want to increase revenues by $1.8 billion above the $34 billion we are expecting to minimize the impact on programs for the poor, sick and elderly.

We have long been an advocate of fiscal responsibility. But fiscal responsibility for a government goes beyond not upping taxes. It means providing necessary services as efficiently as possible and levying taxes fairly. It means exploring all options to get through a budget crisis.

With less than a month to go before a government shutdown takes place, it is time for the parties to come together and negotiate a new budget for the state. A good starting point would be to put aside the fuzzy math and the budget semantics and work on what we're going to do in the next two years.

The Journal references an earlier and far more scathing editorial in the Rochester Post Bulletin, Partisan math clouds budget debate. The May 31 piece rips a document handed out by a freshman state senator:

Sen. Carla Nelson, a Republican from Rochester, handed out an interesting and enlightening document during Thursday's Eggs and Issues event sponsored by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce.

Under the headline "Here are the actual budget numbers for your consideration," she provided the following figures...

Go read the widely distributed piece, which includes the following apt observation:

After hearing endless comparisons to households and businesses that "tighten their belts" and "learn to live within their means," we'd hasten to point out that when times get tough, businesses and households don't merely cut costs. They also look for ways to increase their income.

We believe Minnesota should do the same.

Even a small time blog like this one grasps the notion of increasing income. The reconstructed Wobblies up at the Timberjay have, for instance, put their content behind a firewall, but their editorial headline, GOP shouldn’t shut down state government over rigid ideology, gives a fair share of what they're thinking.

In Detroit Lakes, the DL Online editors repost an editorial saying that  It’s time for Minnesota GOP to give a little in budget fight:

If the intention of Minnesota residents in electing a Republican Legislature and a Democratic governor was to ultimately take a balanced approach to the $5 billion budget deficit — that is, not too heavy on either spending cuts or tax increases — clearly, the leadership in the House and Senate didn’t see it that way.

We believe it is time for the Republicans to give a little.

State polls suggest that Minnesotans want a budget in which both sides compromise. While state residents elected a Republican Legislature, they also elected Dayton, who throughout his campaign pledged to use a tax increase on the wealthiest Minnesotans to help solve the budget deficit . . . .

The editorial originally appeared in the Fergus Falls paper. Down in Willmar, the West Central Tribune (via MinnPost and the Park Rapids Enterprise) board writes in State standoff, A budget showdown:

The bigger challenge facing state leaders today is the House’s Republican freshmen class of legislators. These legislators — including Rep. Bruce Vogel, R-Willmar — believe they were elected by a mandate of the voters.

These freshmen legislators have never been through a complete session to this point, but they are driving the House GOP Caucus leadership. These legislators have never been through a government shutdown. These legislators have never walked a summer parade during a budget deadlock and government shutdown.

These House Republican freshmen need to remember how fast the public opinion can turn. Their 2010 caucus victory was a margin of only 1,500 votes across a handful of House districts. . . .

. . . House Republicans believe strongly in their principals. Dayton believes strongly in his principals as well. Therefore, this may be a long standoff.

However, once the government shutdown begins, the political fallout will soon follow. Moreover, the governor does not face re-election in 2012.

Admittedly, the Republicans have the backing of the Fairmont Sentinel--sorta. That must be worth something; ask Brian Davis. Both this year's Republican majority and the 2008 GOP First District noncontender appear to share similar levels of popularity. Perhaps the legislative majority will get a dead cat bounce to put them at Davis levels by the time the 2012 elections roll around.

So who is leading the GOP legislators in this circus parade? The Uptake has posted a video in which the press grilled the titular caucus leaders about Sutton and Brodkorb. Like Sergeant Schultz routine in the old "Hogan's Heroes" sitcom, they know nothing, nothing, athough that schtick gets a bit wearisome as reporters press her about Tony Sutton's pesonal remarks about the governor the presence of her executive assistant, majority caucus communications director, and deputy GOP chair at the Republican Party's boorish press conference.

Images: The Great All-Powerful Brodkorb, via PW at Mercury Rising, Renaissance Post, and FDL (above);Steve Sacks editorial cartoon (below).

Are Draz's "backward" ideas "too goofy for the GOP"? WDN misses the mark on Tentherism

Writing about the newspaper niche industry that is Mazeppa's Representative Steve Drazkowski, Winona Daily News editor Darrell Ehrlick believes Drazkowski misses the mark about "Tenthism." Bluestem believes that Ehrlick in his turn misses the mark about how the Draz's ideas are central to the contemporary iteration of  the GOP.

Ehrlick writes:

Amazingly for all the backward ideas floating around in St. Paul during Round One of the legislative session, even some ideas appeared too goofy for the GOP.

Did I say “amazingly?”

Minnesota newspapers’ niche industry, state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, who represents a wide swath of the Winona area, had enough time on his hands to contemplate the limits of federalism.

Apparently Team Draz wants Minnesota to become a tenther state.

For those unfamiliar, this is a movement of conservatives, tea partiers and other assorted conspiracy theorists who believe the not often used Tenth Amendment holds the key to breaking free from the tyranny of the federal government.

The Tenth Amendment for those of you who may not remember (it’s only been invoked directly twice in Supreme Court cases in the last 60 years), says that powers not given to the federal government remain the province of the individual states or individuals.

Borrowing from the playbook of doomsday prophets and movies like the “Da Vinci Code,” tenthers, as they’ve been called, believe the amendment’s spartan language and straightforward approach is really a secret code for states to nullify any federal legislation they don’t like.

Walk It Back

Let's walk back the cat on Drazkowski's idea and see what else and who else is lurking there among those Ehrlick implies are extremists. When one does so, it doesn't really seem that Drazkowski's ideas are too goofy for the GOP; in fact, last year's party standard bearer, gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, co-sponsored a 2010 Tenth amendment bill.

In April 2010, the Minnesota Independent's Andy Birkey reported in Republicans push for Minnesota sovereignty:

Senate Republicans introduced a constitutional amendment Wednesday that would make Minnesota the first state to require a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature to approve federal laws affecting the state. “Minnesotans enjoy inherent, natural, God-given rights,” the bill states, and “Citizens of Minnesota are sovereign individuals, subject to Minnesota law and immune from any federal laws that exceed the federal government’s enumerated constitutional powers.”

The bill was introduced by state Sens. Mike Parry of Waseca, Bill Ingebrigtsen of Alexandria, and David Hann of Eden Prairie, and is a companion to a House bill introduced by Reps. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Bruce Anderson of Buffalo, and Tom Emmer of Delano last month.

Emmer has also authored a resolution that would lay claim to Minnesota’s sovereignty: “[T]he State of Minnesota hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.”

The bills are part of a larger conservative push, following the election of President Barack Obama, to give states power to reject federal policies. Seven red states passed Tenth Amendment resolutions following Obama’s inauguration: Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee. Five others have passed a resolution since health care reform passed: Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming.

And Emmer isn't the only GOP leader in the list above.  Mike Parry, for instance, is a communications point man for deputy MNGOP party chair and Senate Majority caucus leader Michael Brodkorb. Brodkorb has put Parry on the radio as host of "Inside the Senate."

ALEC's support

The "larger conservative push" Birkey mentions later drew support from two of the more powerful policy groups in Republicanland: the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Drazkowski didn't drop his fancy toward Tentherism a year ago, but rather, he went national with other like-minded Republicans, lending his words to a media advisory issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on November 24, 2010:for the related federal "Repeal Amendment":

“The federal government continues to squash the sovereignty rights of the states as guaranteed by the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution unrelentingly and at an accelerating pace. From countless unaffordable federal mandates imposed upon Minnesota's healthcare system, education programs, and even families, the overreach of Congress has gone unchecked. It's time for the states to restore their Constitutionally-protected autonomy, and that's why I am going to sponsor the Article V application for the Repeal Amendment.”
Steve Drazkowski, member, Minnesota House of Representatives

Draz wasn't able to make the press conference ALEC staged for the announcement of the legislation, but plenty of Republicans were there, including Congressman and 10th Amendment Task Force Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Bill Howell, Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia, David Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Utah, and Mike Haridopolos, President of the Florida Senate.

It would be goofy not to see those folks as part of the GOP--and somewhat irresponsible of Ehrlick and others to continue to frame the Tenthers as simply a fringe. While the idea itself might indeed be goofy, it's not  so goofy that Congressman and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor refused to put his name on the media advisory along with that of the Draz. Indeed, Cantor's name heads the list of sponsors on ALEC's November 2010 media advisory. So far as I can tell, no Democrats there. And while ALEC claims a few Democratic members, it's by far a Republican dominated group.

And while ALEC is one of the great conservative satans for the left, Minnesota conservatives typically say that the group is no different than another membership group (though the legislative membership of ALEC is never disclosed to the public; a transparency law like that in Florida might change that).

If we take Republicans at their word about ALEC being just another group, then Tentherism is just another idea that's not too goofy for Minnesota Republicans.As we should see, it's not too goofy for Republicans in Congress to consider.

Tentherism goes to Congress: the role of the RSC

ALEC--composed of public elected officials and the private sector members drawn from industry lobbyists and corporations that provide most of the funding for the group-- isn't the only high profile member of the club of what Ehrlick calls "conservatives, tea partiers and other assorted conspiracy theorists" supporting Tentherism.

Bishop's "10th Amendment Task Force" is a project of the conservative Republican Study Committee, the U.S. House's conservative caucus. In Minnesota, Congressman John Kline and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann are members.

Wikipedia notes that there are over 170 current members of the RSC--a majority of the caucus. Moreover, like ALEC, it was founded by the profilic foundational conservative godfather, Paul Weyrich.

Is the GOP "too goofy"

As much fun as it is to laugh at ALEC member Steve Drazkowski--and Bluestem often delights in our own share of belly laughs at his expense--neither Ehrlick nor BSP should claim that many of his laughable ideas are "too goofy" for the Republican Party. Indeed, given their provenance and the investment corporations put into groups like ALEC, the Tentherism might be some of the best ideas at the core of the Republican Party, the best and most central ideas money can buy.

Photo: Zombie Draz Bunny. And yes, he caught those ideas from somewhere, from other Republicans and respectable conservatives. Bluestem can't remember him coming up with a single goofy notion on his onliness.

Losing Fairmont: Marriage inequality amendment questioned by Greater Minnesota media

Via  MiddleMinnesota (Views of a Moderate Pol)'s round-up of Outstate News headlines, Bluestem learns of more Greater Minnesota newspapers challenging the wisdom of the Republican legislative support of the marriage inequality amendment to the state constitution.

It's not just the editorial boards of papers like the Winona Daily News--which tends to be socially liberal--but conservative papers like the Fairmont Sentinel that are calling out the Republican majorities for fast-tracking the constitutional amendment through the state legislature.

The Sentinel weighs the question in Gay marriage issue is about clashing cultures:

Why is the state involved? Why does it have the final say on what constitutes "marriage"?and what does not? The answer lies in legal history and rights associated with property, inheritance, tax law, work benefits, etc. Marriage is like a permit into these benefits.

It's difficult to imagine how letting gay partners enjoy these rights causes real harm to any other member of society. Those other members still retain their rights. However, gay marriage - or triangular marriage, or polygamy - does represent a direct threat to the religious and cultural beliefs that tend to dominate our society. But we have to ask whether it is these specific beliefs or a tolerance for others' beliefs that underpins our free nation. [emphasis added]

Other papers are taking a stand as well.

Rich Glennie, editor of the McLeod County Chronicle, opposes putting same-sex marriage on the same footing as hetero marriage. He also opposes the amendment, he writes in Use constitutional amendment process only when necessary:

The Minnesota Legislature is playing a dangerous game with proposals for state constitutional amendments on the ballot in 2012. If Minnesotans are not careful we will be running down the same road with California and its endless supply of propositions and state plebiscites. With all these votes, who needs representative government? Let us become a pure democracy, put everything to the popular vote and then see what happens.

The Minnesota Constitution should not be used for political games. It should be amended only for compelling reasons that benefit the entire state, not just to further one party's political agenda...

. . .First of all, we happen to agree with the Republicans' intent. Gay marriage should not be on equal status with traditional marriage. We can live with statutes for same-sex arrangements to protect their legal rights, but we do not support stepping over that line.

We already have a same-sex marriage ban on the books. Republicans argue that "activist judges" have overturned state statutes on same-sex marriages in other states, and only a state constitutional amendment can stop such rulings. ...So instead of zeroing in on "bedroom issues" and photo IDs, legislators need to get at the real problem - the budget shortfall.

You are running out of time.

Add the objections to the New Prohibitionism by the New Ulm Journal, the Austin Herald's annoyance at the distraction from the budget with the marriage inequality amendment, the Albert Lea Tribune's indignation at the Red Herring amendment, and we're seeing real frustration, if not outright objections, to the distracting and costly, job-killing politics of this legislation.

Photo: So what if it's Adam and Steve buying those engraved invitations and that cake?

Parry in Faribault: "a lot of juking and sliding around some questions"

While the Faribault Daily News reporter covering last night's Town Hall intrudes to paint Parry as the Brodkorbian Hero of the Right Revolution, even this article shows glimmers of the event that actually happened.

In Parry blitzed with questions at town hall meeting, readers learn:

Not everyone was impressed.

“I saw a lot of juking and sliding around some questions,” said Mark Amman. “It wasn’t as genuine as it was supposed to be.”

Fear not, Republican overlords. The FDN's is there to protect your narrative of Mike Parry the Bold. Joseph Lindberg steps into the story (and a lot more) with some gems of reportorial brilliance.

Take the lede paragraphs:

Sen. Mike Parry (R - Waseca) hasn’t shied away from confrontation in his tenure in the state Senate. That didn’t change Tuesday night at a town hall meeting at St. Lucas Care Center.

Fielding questions on education, government spending, pensions and even marching straight into the murky waters of “class warfare,” he seemed to relish the opportunity to discuss the bills passing in and out of committees in St. Paul — even as the crowd grew tepid to his responses.

Ah, the tepid bath of public meetings in the murky waters of class warfare. Bold Sir Parry and his championing of the business acumen of the Senate caucus, dutifully transcribed by the paper:

“[Business people] took the risks, they went after it,” he said. He then recalled his own experience in the media business, overseeing the operations of 10 radio stations. “I puked when I didn’t make payroll, but I kept going, I didn’t stop. And if all those business people didn’t take those risks and go through that, you wouldn’t have a job.”

Many reeled at his frank answer. Others nodded. Some shook their heads. But everyone was invested in the discourse.

"Invested in the discourse" of Parry's puking. That's one way to put it. 

There's more:

Tuesday night, he kept stressing the business savvy of the Republican Legislature.

“It’s all about return on investment,” he said. “Are these programs working or not? The taxpayers deserve to get the most for their dollars.”

He said business principals can lead the state to a more sound financial future, and it starts with stopping automatic spending increases. While he did not identify any particular program, he was adamant government could be reformed to work more efficiently with the funds it already has.

Because saying nothing specific, but saying it with complete confidence, trumps a solid plan.

And as far as those "business principals" go, perhaps it's not a homonym error on the part of the earnest writer, but an admission that Parry is proud of letting Accenture, Deloitte and IBM write the Republican fiscal notes.

Photo: Senator Mike Parry. Be grateful, peasants, because he puked for you (above); Screenshot of "business principals" homonym error (or maybe not) in the FDN (below).

Hutchinson Leader editorial board calls Senate Majority's bluff on HTI distortions

As readers know, Bluestem has been tracking the way members of the Senate Majority Caucus members and staff have used Hutchinson Technology's decision to end manufacturing in Minnesota as an example of the way the Gopher State's business climate sends companies fleeing to Scott Walker's Wisconsin.

Now the Hutchinson Leader's editorial board--publisher Matt McMillan and editor Doug Hannemann--have opined about three cases where that Republican Party line distorts the facts of the matter.

In Dispelling distortions, they write:

Rumors and other misinformation can be disastrous for any organization. But when elected officials and big-city media say or report things that aren’t true about one of Hutchinson’s largest employers, the entire community suffers.

We bring this up after reading several recent news items that really stuck in our craw. They might also stick in yours’ after reading them.

News Item 1: On March 24, Minnesota Public Radio reported: “Remember those cries that Hutchinson Technology was shifting jobs from Minnesota to Wisconsin? Well, there are layoffs in Wisconsin, now, too.”

The facts: If you equate jobs with workers, MPR’s statement requires clarification. Hutchinson Technology never said it was creating more jobs at its Eau Claire, Wis., plant. All along, it said it was moving production there, and terminating 600 jobs or more here. And all along it said jobs would be terminated in Eau Claire, too.

Well, okay, but both MPR and the Leader ought to have noted just who uttered "those cries."  Who started the crying game? Bluestem readers know: Senate Majority caucus staffers, who tweeted a message that soon made its way to committee meetings, town halls and emails, including one sent by Glencoe's Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen.

On to the next item:

News Item 2: Don Davis, a seasoned, respected reporter for Forum Communications, wrote on April 5 that our own Sen. Scott Newman said during a Minnesota Senate debate that “Hutchinson Technology is sending jobs overseas in a large part because of Minnesota tax law that penalizes businesses. He said the company once employed 2,500 in his community, but just 500 remain.”

The facts: Hutchinson Technology never said Minnesota’s tax climate was causing it to move jobs overseas. It never said that in the news release it issued March 8 when it announced the layoffs, and company officials never said that in their subsequent contacts with news reporters. . . .

We suspect that if taxes were such a serious concern for Hutchinson Technology, the company would have moved out of Minnesota years ago. Instead, the first of its four plants to close was in Sioux Falls, S.D. South Dakota ranks first in the Tax Foundation’s state business tax climate index. ...

Excellent points--brought home even stronger in the full editorial.

The final case:

News Item 3: In the April 20 Marshall Independent, we spotted what is possibly the most misinformed statement from an elected official that we’ve seen in years. Sen. Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls was at a town hall meeting in Marshall last Tuesday when he said this: "If we want to keep people, we need to make (Minnesota) more attractive. Look at Hutch Technology — 600 jobs went to Wisconsin. They're gonna go to Wisconsin and build a new facility when they had a facility here in Minnesota, yet it was so attractive tax-wise and incentive-wise that they went to Wisconsin. Those are 600 jobs that just left southern Minnesota and they're not gonna come back."

The facts: Nope, 600 jobs aren’t going to Eau Claire. In fact, jobs are being cut there, like we’ve already said. No, there is not a new facility going up there, either. The new facility is in Thailand. And the main reason Hutchinson Technology is consolidating manufacturing in Eau Claire is because the plant there is better equipped and has the capacity for the production of TSA+, the company's newest line of suspension assemblies.

Misinformation, whether intended or not, leads to more misinformation. And it does nothing to help the 600 people who are losing their jobs in Hutchinson, the company that employs them, or the community.   ...

Great work by the Leader in setting the record straight here in Hutchinson. Go read the full editorial.

Representative Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) also deserves praise for being honest about the situation in his letter to the Litchfield Independent, the Leader's sister publication in Meekr County.

Screenshot: Senate Majority staffers tweet up distortions.

Related posts: Playing politics with pain: Glenn Gruenhagen blames Hutch Tech lay-off on taxes

Playing the politics of pain, part 2: Will Hutchinson Technology receive Wisconsin's two-year tax credits/deductions for relocation?

Having it all in Hutchinson: Senator Scott Newman shows up for photo op

WQOW in Eau Claire reports Hutchinson Technology laying off workers at WI plant

A Dahms shame: MNGOP Senate Majority takes false talking point about Hutch Tech on road