Bluestem Prairie

Searching for a sticky story on Legacy fund changes: it's Snooki in the library now

Watching Matt Dean and the House caucus pivot away from their original anti-arts and MPR message on Wednesday (based on a committee hearing and Dean interview on  Tuesday) to a lazer-focused tiny library cut on Friday's coverage is fascinating.

On Wednesday, the Strib reported that the bill Dean Urdahl submitted and discussed in committee on Tuesday had to do with making grant programs for the arts and public radio competitive. In GOP targets Legacy funds for MPR, arts, readers learned:

Republicans made an abrupt move with a new bill to end earmarks and require competition for money.

House Republicans are reexamining state funding for some key arts and cultural heritage groups -- a move that may take political aim at Minnesota Public Radio, the Minnesota Zoo and other entities that have gotten special appropriations.

In an unusual move on Tuesday, Rep. Dean Urdahl, who chairs the House Legacy Funding Division panel, introduced a new version of a Legacy amendment funding bill that would remove specific money recommendations for the state's influential public radio network and other cultural organizations and said they would instead compete for grants.

Urdahl, who struggled at times during a hearing to explain the sudden move, said it was partly the suggestion of Republican legislative leaders.

Legislation that Urdahl's panel adopted less than a week ago recommended that Minnesota Public Radio receive $2 million in Legacy money over the next two years, that public television get $7.8 million and that an assortment of minority groups, including the Council on Black Minnesotans, share $1 million.

In the new version, most of the groups that previously were to get specific appropriations would now have to compete for the money.

House Majority Leader Matt Dean said he reminded Urdahl of the "importance of making sure he has [Republican] caucus support" for Legacy funding for arts and cultural heritage projects, an area of spending that Dean acknowledged had rankled some Republicans. "MPR, it's safe to say, has been a concern in the past," said Dean.

Dean also singled out a $45,000 payment of Legacy money that was made last year to science fiction writer Neil Gaiman for a four-hour speaking appearance. Dean said that Gaiman, "who I hate," was a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota."

Were either Urdahl or Dean articulating one word about the fund from which Gaiman was paid? Why, no.

But by Friday, the Strib reports  the House Republican Caucus has pivoted  so that the major changes in the bill are ignored--and the "furor" over the library's payment to Gaiman led to a focused, indeed petty, cut to the total library appropriation.

In Furor keeps building over author's $45,000 speech fee, it's as if Dean's original junior high taunt never hopped out of the Majority Leader's mouth to justify changes to the way in which grants to the arts and radio are distributed. It wasn't about the libraries on Tuesday.

Update: A reader commented that since the fee wasn't $45,000, this reduction makes the Republicans look even more petty.  From an interview in the City Pages:

The entire controversy from last year consisted of a Republican blog drawing attention to this speaking gig, using the $45,000, which actually wasn't the true number, but it got picked up.

I received a grand total of $33,600, and I know because I checked this morning. That went to charity. I'd been doing a bunch of library-based events. It was at the end of a week where I'd done a huge pro bono Comic Book Legal Defense fund event, then I'd gone to Indianapolis to receive the Kurt Vonnegut award for literature, and then I was coming home.[end update]

Now the story is simply about $45,000 being cut from the regional libraries--but nothing about the larger change in Legacy appropriations that formed the heart of Wednesday's coverage.

Readers learn now:

The feud between celebrity author Neil Gaiman and House Majority Leader Matt Dean took several bizarre twists Thursday, when lawmakers threatened retaliation against local libraries, Gaiman threatened retaliation against Dean, and the cast of characters expanded to include Snooki from MTV's "Jersey Shore.''

The action started when a House Republican committee chair said he is recommending a $45,000 cut in the Twin Cites' regional library system budget to make up for the state Legacy money it paid last year to Gaiman for a speaking appearance.

Gaiman quickly defended his speaking fees, saying they are comparable to those charged by Snooki, the reality TV star.

Way to cover for the boss, Mr. Urdahl. Funny how that wasn't important enough to bring up Tuesday in the Legacy bill discussion in your committee.

And indeed, there's only a summary about the "concerns" that Republicans had that are leading to bigger changes:

Dean' comments, however, underscored the ongoing concerns of the Republican majority about Legacy money being spent on arts and cultural projects as the Legislature struggles to solve a $5.1 billion budget deficit. The Legacy amendment, passed in 2008 with considerable financial support from arts groups in Minnesota, raised the state sales tax for 25 years to fund outdoors, clean water, parks and trails and arts and cultural heritage projects.

And Urdahl says his concern are leading him to cut a sliver from the regional library funds:

Urdahl, himself an author, said, "I simply subtracted out $45,000 -- just making a point," in explaining why he cut the library system's proposed Legacy budget to $3.45 million. The Legacy funding proposal, including the reduced budget for the regional library system, is being reviewed by legislators.

That wasn't the point Urdahl and Dean made in their respective committee hearing and interview on Tuesday.

So--Bluestem returns to its original point: if Gaiman's fee is all they've got--and it came from a fund in which the basic formula isn't changed--why are grants to public broadcasting and arts board projects to be made competitive?

Why the "fix" on programs for which neither Matt Dean nor Dean Urdahl has been able to offer any evidence--however juvenilely expressed--as to the nature of their "concerns" that is at the core of the major changes offered in Urdal's bill?

What "concerns" and what evidence do the Republicans have that something is amiss in other cultural programs? Or do they simply disagree with the will of the voters who passed the Legacy amendment? Do they have more than a shout out to stereotypes about individual artists to justify changes?

Are the Legacy funds to become like local funds for the Range? Do these cats have any real (or legal) plan at all to fix the state's revenue crisis?

Photo: Majority Leader Rep.Matt Dean. Why the wrinkles?

Spinside the Senate: Senate Republican Majority Caucus produces Radio Free Mike Parry

Update! In Part Two, Spinside the Senate: send GOP Senate Majority Caucus comm shop your questions, Bluestem suggests some questions for readers to ask the GOP Senate Majority comm shop--then asks a few of my own.

Parry opens the show by calling it, "the official news." Is this "official news"--which discusses partisan campaign strategy--produced at the expense of the Republican caucus or by the State of Minnesota? Are state time and equipment used to produce the show? Don't state ethics rules forbid partisan campaigning on the public's dime? If taking about a party campaign strategy, as Senate Majority Leader Koch and Parry do at the beginning of the show, isn't partisan, what is? [end update]

 

Before he established himself as a twitter presence, Republican State Senator Mike Parry (Waseca) was a farm radio guy. More recently, he got on the state's radar from refusing to yield during senate floor debate and answer some questions, as has been the custom in the upper chamber's past.

Now he'll be able to combine the two strands of his legacy, by offering, "Inside the Senate," which will be aired for now on Owatonna talk radio station KOWZ.   Politics In Minnesota reported in Senate GOP launches radio show on February 24:

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and Sen. David Hann will be the program’s first guests on Friday.  The radio show will regularly feature Senate Republicans.

Perry tells a slightly different story to the Owatonna People's Press:

Parry was in the midst of his first show on Thursday. The first show will include the majority leader, Republican Sen. Amy Koch and her colleague Sen. David Hann, who will discuss bills he has recently introduced.

When asked if the opposition, the DFL, would be allowed to speak on the program, Parry said, “Those doors are open.”

Parry’s show will air on Friday mornings at 10 a.m.

The short news piece in the Owatonna People's Press on Thursday, Feb. 24, suggests that the show is taped (since Parry was "in the midst of his first show on Thursday") --and a press release put out that same day by Parry's producer, the Republican Senate Majority Caucus, raises questions about why he was being a tad liberal in saying the door to the recording studio was open to DFLers:

-The Senate Republican Majority Caucus announced today a weekly radio program “Inside the Senate.” The program, hosted by Senator Mike Parry (R-Waseca), will begin airing Friday mornings at 10:00 am on KOWZ News Talk AM-1170 of Owatonna, MN.

 Senator Mike Parry, “Inside the Senate” host, stated, “I look forward to this opportunity to communicate with the public through a weekly radio program. With massive budget and jobs deficits, it’s more important now than ever that we create a constructive dialogue with people as we seek the best solutions to move Minnesota forward. ‘Inside the Senate’ gives people with busy lives and busy schedules a consistent, focused update on the news of the legislature.”

 Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R-Buffalo) and Assistant Majority Leader David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) are the scheduled guests for Friday, February 25.

 “Inside the Senate” will feature Senate Republicans as guests to discuss legislative initiatives, session updates and other news of the legislature. Listeners are able to submit questions and comments to the show via email at insidethesenate@gmail.com.

 This program is produced and authorized by the Senate Republican Majority Caucus. It is offered as a free public news service and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s campaign committee. Copies of the program are available upon request.

Perhaps my readers could send in questions about where the senate majority plans to cut programs. And, since Mike Parry told the local paper that the door is open to DFLers, I think it's in order for Senator Dick Cohen to be a guest on the show.

Would Parry answer the questions he refused to address on the floor of the state senate?

It's also worth observing that--unlike live radio shows hosted by former Governors Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty--the "dialogue" Parry welcomes doesn't seem to be coming from callers, but from email. Former Governor Pawlenty took some harsh questions live, as noted by a Hot Dish Politics post from March 2010.

Not that the post about the Republican Caucus show in the Strib's Hot Dish Politics could note the difference between live and taped shows.

Instead, readers are left to think taped content provided by a partisan caucus is the same as a live show with a governor taking callers' questions.  The lead in If radio's good enough for the governor...

A weekly radio show hosted by Minnesota's governor has been a staple of the state's airwaves since the days of Jesse Ventura. Now, the state Senate's Republican leadership has decided to get into the act.

The show, dubbed "Inside the Senate," will launch at 10 a.m.Friday on talk station KOWZ AM-1170 in Owatonna -- slightly outside the Twin Cities media market.

A non-answer about questions about the cost of production dutifully provided in an update:

It was not immediately clear exactly how the show will be paid for; when a response comes from the caucus, it will be posted here. UPDATE: Caucus spokesman Christopher Van Guilder said no money is changing hands to broadcast the show, that "we are providing content that they are choosing to air." "We are not campaigning" on the show, he said.

"Providing content"?  Good one. The last paragraph of the Republican caucus's press release sounds an awful lot like disclosure language for an independent expenditure, and indeed, it will be interesting to see whether this Republican news shows up on the year-end campaign finance report from the Republican senate campaign committee, or if the content is being produced at public expense.

The first venue is local to Parry's district, but part of a rural media network owned in part by a contributor to Republican candidates. According to the FCC ownership database, KOWZ is owned by Blooming Prairie Farm Radio, Inc. Another report lists Lynn Ketelson and John R. Linder as BRFR directors and stockholders, each with a 50 percent share of voting stock.

While neither director/stockholder gave any money to Parry's campaign (or at least not enough to trigger disclosure under Minnesota campaign finance rules), it's safe to say that John Linder contributes to Republican candidates--and thus might be a Republican. 

Records available at the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board indicate that a "John Linder" at at KTOE/KTOE Radio, another BPFR-owned stateon in  Mankato, made two contributions to Tim Pawlenty's gubernatorial campaign in 2005 and 2006 for a total of $500.  Linder has been more generous on the federal level, according to the FEC database, having given $2000 to Bush-Cheney 2004, $2000 in two 2002 contributions to the Coleman Leadership Committee, $1000 that same year to Coleman's Senate campaign, and $500 to Mark Kennedy's dismal 2006 Senate run.

The Linder name is familiar and respected in Minnesota broadcasting--and the FEC individual contribution database indicates a pattern of extened family giving to Republican candidates.

Perhaps no money needs to exchange hands in this content sharing among like-minded friends and former colleagues. According to his Linked-In profile, Parry was employed as a general manager for the Linder Farm Network from 1999 through 2007.

Finally, Senator Parry appeared in an Almanac Public Television Lovefest with TPT hosts Mary LaHammer and  Erik Eskola on Friday night.

Always on top of things, Parry said that he hadn't heard about Dayton's request for bids for a radio show. However, I can't fault him for being out of the loop. He's been equally clueless about when his own show was airing.

Parry first tweeted about the program on February 18 (at 11:11 a.m., according to a mouse-over pop-up on Twitter):

mikeparry mikeparry

Great show today on AM 1170. Inside the Senate airs every. Friday at 10 am.

18 Feb Favorite Retweet Reply

That's six days before press release, PIM and Hot Dish Politics article, and Parry's discussion with a local reporter about how he was taping his first show, and a full week before he appeared on Almanac.

I've emailed the station to ask if indeed "Inside the Senate" aired on February 18 at 10:00 a.m., over a  hour before Perry--or someone--tweeted about the great show.

This isn't the only time of late that Parry gets a little fishy about what's going on. In yesterday's Owatonna People's Press article, Parry: Show us results, or face cuts to funding, Parry reveals that his understanding of arts funding is at best a muddle:

. . . “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we’re going to hold the arts harmless or that you’re not going to get a cut,” Republican Sen. Mike Parry told a group of arts advocates on Saturday. “It’s just a fact of life — there is no room for any tax increases whatsoever.”

Many may have heard of the Legacy Act, a fund for the environment and culture that the electorate OK’d in 2008. However, a large chunk of Minnesota’s arts funding does come from the state’s general fund. As fate would have it, much of the arts funding in the state will come through Parry’s committee. Parry chairs the State Government Innovations and Veterans Committee. . . .

In the meeting with local arts advocates described in the article, Parry questioned the accountability of their organizations, citing the case of a best-selling children's author paid $45,000 to appear at the Stillwater Public Library (The event was part of the Club Book program sponsored by the Metropolitan Library Services Agency, which received a $150,000 grant for the project for public readings by authors. The money was drawn from Legacy funds allocated for regional library systems).

The arts advocates pointed out that out to Parry-- and that the money didn't come out of arts funding over which the committee he chairs has oversight--but Legacy funds--and that it was not given to arts organizations:

Brenda Byron, the executive director of Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, pointed out that the money in question came out of a Legacy grant to libraries.

“We see that as a red flag, too, because we knew what an arts group could do with that,” Byron said.

Paint me a red herring, someone, with Parry throwing it into an argument.

Photo: Mike Parry meets with arts advocates (via Owatonna People's Press).

Update: A reader who remembers such things emailed to say that while "Quick on the Uptake" was running on AM950, the DFL Senate and House Caucus supplied some content. According to this reader, sometimes it was taped, while other times caucus staffers showed up. "Quick on the Uptake" ended on July 27, 2010, after host Mike McIntee decided to devote time to his video production business and the Uptake itself. If this reader is correct, "Inside the Senate" isn't exaclty the bright shiny object the old media was so fascinated with last week, though it certainly is more formal than the content supplied to KOWZ. [end update]

 

Found in the Hutchinson Post Office on a cold December day

I missed the postal carrier today when she stopped by to deliver the new Monfrotto monopod, and so ventured to the Hutchinson post office. The line was longer than usual, and when my turn came, I learned this was their busiest day of the year.

During my wait, I noticed a WPA mural high on the wall behind the clerks, and mentioned it to the young woman who was cheerfully helping me. She had never heard of the WPA, but knew the mural was painted as part of a government program to help out artists in the Depression, and that the presence of the art work placed the building on the National Register of Historic Places.

I was charmed that she'd remembered the substance over rote memorization of the program that created the art. Noting my interest, she went back into the sorting room and returned with a folder of photocopied articles about the mural's artist. She gave me one and we chatted about the image behind her: stockaded settlers on the left, the Hutchinson brothers making music in the center, and Dakota men about to torch a school, presumably in 1862.

She pointed out that the image was of its time--1942--and a more positive image of Little Crow now stands by the new bridge at the north end of town. Given the line behind me, probably best not to bring up what the citizens of Hutchinson did with the real Little Crow in 1863.

The lines long and the modern town conservative, unwisely for me to dawdle over the fact that the Hutchinson Family sang edgy tunes, promoting  abolitionism, women's rights and community organizing, and toured England with Frederick Douglass.

The article the clerk handed me for later reading, "Mural Master" from Minnesota Monthly in November 1997, provides a brief biography of the mural painter, Elsa Jemne. That last name might be familiar to St. Paul residents, for Elsa and her husband Magnus designed the Jemne Building, once home to the Women's City Club and the Minnesota Museum of American Art.

According to one biographical note online:

As an important Minnesota artist, Jemne was an inspiration to other women, and in 1921, she helped found the St. Paul Women's City Club (former home to the Minnesota Museum of American Art) to help promote women's rights.

The Art Deco building now houses an architectural firm, so I'll assume it's in good hands, though Elsa's murals were gone long ago.

A small historical sidenote--but one that illustrates the connections that tie a small town and a big city artist together.