This year's real Minnesota winter has signaled the return of "The Shining" quality cabin fever, and with United States Senators nearing agreement on broad immigration reform proposal, Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform (MinnSIR) anti-immigrant Ruthie Hendrycks has updated her website and is blogging again, as well as hosting weekly "The Ruthie Report."
Susan Tully, the national field director of the DC-based
anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
voiced a number of conspiracy theories and made many
anti-immigrant comments during an interview with a right-wing radio
show on January 17, 2013. . . .
During the radio interview, Tully disparaged DREAM
Act-eligible students for what she called arrogance and accused
Democratic politicians in California of having ties to Mexico.
She also claimed that students are crossing the U.S./Mexico border on
a daily basis to attend American schools.
The claims of "arrogance" aren't particularly original, having been circulated in Ruben Navarrette’s nationally syndicated column “DREAMers are pushing their luck. Former City Pages staff writer Gregory Pratt effectively takes down that piece at Vivelohoy in The DREAMers I know; Pratt's reporting on Arizon's DREAMers won state press club awards when he worked in Phoenix.
When talking about a potential comprehensive immigration
reform bill, Tully argued that there should be a study of people
granted documented status in the 1986 to see what became of them
since that time, insinuating that many may have become criminals. . . .
Read the entire post at the ADL's blog. Listening to the podcast, Bluestem noticed that the ADL, a group not especially known as shy, actually holds back. Tully claims that a corrections officer at Folsom Prison told her that 90 percent of the inmates in the famous penitentiary are the children of people who gained citizenship as part of President Reagan's 1986 immigration reforms.
Tully also claims that undocumented Latinos are smuggling piranhas into California, and that when their hapless owners are faced with feeding their pets a pound of prime rib each day, they release them into California's waters.
Images: Ruthie Hendrycks (yellow jacket, above); Piranhas: invasive species, agents of liberty, or just signs of really nutty obsessions about brown people? (below).
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This is another wake-up call for us to pay attention. Many in
leadership were sold on a shiny feel-good flyer without reading the
small print in the Green Step Program. If the program has not yet been adopted in your city,
forward the info to your city representatives. If it has been adopted,
fight on any future ordinances (like the transit requirement shown
above) that might be adopted.
In the meantime, here’s a toast to one city who 86’d this Agenda 21 initiative.
So where did GreenStep Cities come from, anyway?
After all, it's that scary Agenda 21 environmental thingie that conbloggers and Minnesota's Tea Party activists see ex-Dayton spouse Alida Messinger implementing everywhere the words "evironment" and "sustainable" appear.
The New Napoleon Solo: Tim Pawlenty as the Man from U.N.C.L.E.*?
This time it's even more devious than those dirty hippies at the Environmental Quality Board inviting farmers, small business people, chambers of commerce and the entire state to Citizens Forums. Messinger's minion this time was none other than Governor Tim Pawlenty.
During fall 2007, Minnesota's Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs)
held regional listening sessions around the state to discuss
community-based energy opportunities and the state's Next Generation
Energy Act of 2007. The idea was raised of creating a sustainable cities
program, free to cities, that would challenge, assist and recognize
cities that were "green stars." This idea was taken up by the 2008
Legislature, which directed the MPCA, the Division of Energy Resources
at the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and CERTs to recommend actions
cities could take on a voluntary basis.
Those recommendations are contained in the report Minnesota GreenStep Cities.
Representatives from dozens of cities, non-profit organizations,
businesses and state government agencies provided the outline for what
has been developed as the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program, which
began in June 2010.
In reality, the GreenStep Cities was vetted not only by the Pawlenty administration working with representatives from area non-profits and business groups, but by the state legislature as well. While the DFL controlled both houses of at the time, the enabling legislation passed with overwhelming, bipartisan majorities in roll call votes.
Secret blue helmets in Minnesota GOP caucuses? A roll call
Conservatives might find the lop-sided votes on the bill that expanded the "green cities" program even more frightening than the role of the Pawlenty Administration, or at least conducive to cognitive dissonance. According to the history of the enabling legislation--which was heard by committees and taken up on the floor of both chambers--the language passed 120-10 in the Minnesota House and 55-11 in the Minnesota Senate.
Who are the Republicans who are still sitting in the House and Senate who voted for the "Green Star" program in the 85th session of the Minnesota Legislature in 2008? Who still remains who voted "No"? Remember: there's been a large turnover in both houses.
"Yes" in the Senate: Michelle Fischbach, Julie Rosen, Dave Senjem
"No" in the Senate: David Hann, Bill Ingebrigtsen, Warren Limmer, Julianne Ortman
Voted "Yes" in the House; Elected to the Senate 2012: Bruce Anderson,Torrey Westrom
"Yes" In the House: Sarah Anderson, Tony Cornish, Matt Dean, Bob Dettmer, Sondra Erickson, Steve Gottwalt, Bob Gunther, Rod Hamilton, Denny McNamara, Bud Nornes, Dean Urdahl, Dean Zellers
"No" in the House: Mike Beard, Tom Hackbarth, Mary Holberg, Steve Drazkowski, Joyce Peppin, Pat Garofalo
Who knew such conservatives as Michelle Fischbach, Bruce Anderson, Torrey Westrom and Sondra Erickson were dupes of the United Nations' plan to steal American sovereignty?
Probably no one, because GreenStep Cities and sustainable development simply isn't a secret plan for the United Nations to take over. Instead, both are openly discussed, debated, and developed by citizens and elected officials.
Nor does it appear that any serious attempt to repeal the legislation was made while the Republicans held the majorities in both chambers.
MN Anti-Agenda 21 Field Guide: is that a tinfoil hat in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
Grass-roots leaders said this month that after losing any chance of repealing the national health care law,
they would press states to “nullify” or ignore it. They also plan to
focus on a two-decade-old United Nations resolution that they call a
plot against property rights. . .
. . .But unlike the broader, galvanizing issues of health care and the size
of the federal government that ignited the Tea Party, the new topics
seem likely to bolster critics who portray the movement as a distraction
to the Republican Party.
So what's the gain in the new-found focus?
Part of the answer has to lie with discovering, organizing and training the Republican base, which was outnumbered and outhustled big time in Minnesota. Bluestem believes that with the state legislature and constitutional offices in the hands of the DFL, as well as both U.S. Senate seats (and five of the eight congressional districts), actions like those in Crystal and other lower-level municipal, township and county governments can help Minnesota's GOP discover some fresh blood while providing victories for the grassroots in training.
Minnesota's conservatives need some victories, and shattered but regrouping movements can find new life in the small ones. Think of it as training exercises for 2014.
Second, anti-Agenda 21 conspiracies rachet up the fear factor on a couple of classic property rights and climate change denier narratives, and the groups pushing these stories are on the ground in Minnesota. Back in late June, Treehugger's Lloyd Alter worked on Exposing the Influence Behind the Anti-Agenda 21 Anti-Sustainability Agenda.
When he is not out on the public speaking circuit, Tom DeWeese is President of the American Policy Center,
the loudest mouthpiece of the anti-Agenda 21 crowd. He claims that the
anti-sustainability movement is not just crazy people: "The tin foil is
falling off of our hats rapidly as the fight against Agenda 21 is
quickly escalating into the main stream of the political debate."
He has a well-connected board of directors and advisors that includes:
Bonner Cohen, who, according to Sourcewatch, ran EPA watch, which was funded by Philip Morris and accused the EPA of "everything from destroying the US economy to trying to stop people from taking showers." He was the sole director of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition with his partner Steve Milloy of Junk Science fame. TASSC was funded by Amoco, Chevron, Dow Chemical, Exxon, General Motors and many more.
He is a senior policy analyst with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow,
which gets most of its money from the Carthage Foundation and Sarah
Scaife Foundation. Oh, and ExxonMobil, to the tune of $ 577,000 between
2000 and 2007 according to ExxonSecrets.
John Meredith is a director as well; he is a Washington lobbyist (and the son of civil rights icon James Meredith) and is on the Advisory Board of CFACT. . . .
The Board of Advisors includes Alan Caruba, who is a major contributor of articles to CFACT, which, by the way, was a gold sponsor of the Heartland Conference on Climate Change, infamous for its Unabomber ads (along with Americans for Prosperity) . ..
EdWatch--founded by Renae Doyle and Julie Quist, who would later become Bachmann congressional staffers--was among the organizers of the Freedom 21 annual conferences. And the guides to blocking the "Delphi Technique" touted by EdWatch? APC Board of Advisors member Beverly Eakman was a frequently cited source and spoke at EdWatch's Oct. 14, 2000 and May 21, 2004 banquets, according to Eakman's Wikipedia page.
Another player in Agenda 21 conspiracy games with a Minnesota tie? Alter reports that Americans for Prosperity is involved:
As Far as the Koch's Americans For Prosperity goes, they hand out brochures about Agenda 21 that are almost fair and balanced compared to some of the stuff I have read.
Some
conservatives worry that sustainable development is just a disguise for
a larger scheme to adopt radical environmentalism, wealth
redistribution, or some form of “world government” through local
initiatives. But whether this is true is largely irrelevant: regardless
of the underlying motives and regardless of the source, the policies
themselves prove to be an affront to property rights and harmful to the
American economy. To those who favor economic freedom and limited
government, this alone is grounds for concern.
AFP branches from Kansas to Oregon appear to have Tom Deweese constantly on the rubber chicken circuit, he is everywhere.
. . .Americans for Prosperity is quietly establishing a long-term presence
in the state. The group opened a Minnesota office last year, and has
hosted tax day rallies, conducted a poll on the Minnesota Vikings
stadium debate and backed candidates for the state Legislature.
Dropping hundreds of thousands on
ads may affect an election, but they do little to shift public sentiment
beyond November, said John Cooney, who leads Americans for Prosperity's
Minnesota branch. . . .
"We're aggressively discussing policy, but we want to create the
infrastructure so that we've got an active grassroots organization
engaged not just on federal issues, but with state policy makers and
local policy makers," Cooney said.
. . .What's been happening in Minnesota
reflects Americans for Prosperity's broader strategy of focusing on
local issues through its 34 state chapters and counting on incremental
change, spokesman Levi Russell said. Small victories can add up to
produce a long-term effect on how people think about the economy.
"We want [voters] to have an ongoing
awareness for free-market issues so that they can make daily decisions
that impact that and not wait until it is election time," Russell said.
Bluestem will continue to monitor anti-sustainability politics in 2013.
*Yes, Bluestem is aware that in the public iteration of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E," UN didn't stand for United Nations; however, the original concept for the show did operate under that conceit.
Photo: Governor Pawlenty. Republican or United Nations international man of mystery?
Donate: If you enjoy reading posts like this at Bluestem, consider throwing some coin in the plate at Paypal:
Minnesota would create an extreme voting restriction for seniors, lock
in outdated technology and cause higher local taxes for everyone if the
Voter ID Amendment passes.
There’s been a good amount of new information on problems with the
proposed Voter ID amendment and some misconceptions that need clearing
up.
While supporters will say that more than a dozen others states have
Voter ID laws, they fail to mention that only one other state —
Mississippi — has made it a constitutional amendment. And that amendment
offers flexibility absent in the Minnesota Amendment.
Voter ID laws have been turned back by courts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri and Texas.
Many Minnesota voters are seeing flaws in the amendment as polls have
decidedly been moving in favor of rejection. The latest Minnesota Poll
by the Star Tribune shows barely a majority of those polled — 52 percent
— still support the amendment. A little more than a year ago, support
was about 80 percent. The latest poll also shows 42 percent oppose the
amendment.
That may be in part because a large tri-partisan coalition has
recommended against voting for the amendment. A few months ago, former
Republican Gov. Arne Carlson, former Democratic Vice President Walter
Mondale and former Independence Party candidate for governor Tim Penny
held a press conference urging rejection of the amendment.
Groups like AARP, League of Women Voters and others advise voters to
reject the amendment. Their strongest argument is that if people feel
there are voting fraud problems, those problems should be addressed in
legislation, not a constitutional amendment. The only reason Minnesota
is voting on a constitutional amendment is because the Republican
Legislature did not provide a bipartisan Voter ID law to Gov. Mark
Dayton.
Dayton had urged bipartisan legislation just as his predecessor, Gov.
Tim Pawlenty had urged bipartisan voter verification and reform
legislation. Both vetoed proposals on election reform because they were
not bipartisan. . . .
They conclude:
. . .It’s important to remember that a vote against the Voter ID amendment
is not a vote against better verification procedures. Those changes can
be handled in bipartisan election legislation. That’s the way Minnesota
should go in resolving voting verification improvements. We shouldn’t
restrict rights of something that is essential to American Democracy.
Read the whole thing. It's a strong case for voting no.
Parry also traveled up to St. Paul in August to vote against flood
relief for Duluth area residents, one of just seven legislators to vote
against the bill, which was signed by Gov. Mark Dayton on Aug. 24. It
was reported in Sunday’s paper that Parry supported the $1 million in
flood relief, but he instead voiced concerns over a $1 million
allocation to the Department of Natural Resources to compensate for lost
timber sales in areas where many trees were blown down, according to a
story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Before getting into politics, Parry owned and operated a
Godfather’s Pizza restaurant in Waseca. He said he was tired of his town
poorly managing its finances, so he ran for city council in 2004.
Parry, who lost a city council election in 2008, still believes Waseca
officials don’t work together to grow the city.
“In Waseca, there is still an intergovernmental power struggle
going on, not the cooperation there should be,” he said. “Waseca appears
to have a lot of individuals that want to make a name for themselves.
There are certain pockets of teamwork, but nobody wants to come together
and have a plan. That’s everything from trying to bring an event into
town to trying to bring a business into town.”
In fact, Mike Parry first ran for city council in 1998, shortly after he moved to Waseca, challenging and losing to Fran Zwach. He ran again in 2004 for an open seat; he was unopposed. The citizens threw him out of office resoundingly in 2008. Read the details in Bluestem's January 2010 post, Who's the power hungry man?: Mike Parry's bids for public office date back to the 1990s.
Then there's a larger claim that appears to be unsupported by the record; it's about the state government budget bill. From today's Owatonna People's Press article:
Parry’s state government committee also passed a State
Government budget bill, which he said was a highlight of his two-plus
years in St. Paul.
After what Parry called a “furious” five-hour debate, the bill
passed with a 37-29 party-line vote. The bill spends about $600 million
on state government in 2012-13, which amounts to a nearly 35 percent
cut. The bill also calls for a 15 percent state workforce reduction by
2015.
Parry said Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim
Schowalter praised the bill as a key reason for the current $323 million
surplus in Minnesota.
Bluestem finds several important factual errors in Parry's memory.
But Governor Dayton vetoed the bill, the government shut down, and an entirely different bill was passed during the summer 2011 special session. The Session Daily reported in State government bill goes to governor [emphasis added]:
The House passed the bill 81-47 after the Senate passed it 40-24. It now goes to Gov. Mark Dayton for action.
“The state government finance bill comes before you tonight with some substantial changes,” Lanning said.
The bill would reduce General Fund spending on state government by 1
percent. The net spending reduction would rise to 10.3 percent when the
impact of new revenues are included. Both figures are modest compared to
the 32.3 percent cut that Republican lawmakers sent to Dayton earlier
this year.
Proposed cuts to many state agencies have been dramatically reduced
from the original bill, with most agencies now receiving a 5 percent cut
in their operating budgets rather than 10 or 15 percent. . . .
A controversial requirement to reduce the state’s workforce 15
percent by 2015 was dropped from the bill as part of the final budget
agreement. Also left on the chopping block was a plan to shift $90
million of the total cost of state employees’ health insurance premiums
off of the state and on to the workers, as well as a $94.9 million
general reduction across all state agencies.
Parry may have loved his draconian cuts, but they weren't part of the final bill that legislators voted for and Governor Dayton signed.
Finally, Bluestem finds no evidence that Commissioner Schowalter credited either Parry's fantasy legislature bill or the real one as "a key element" for the surplus. In fact, Schowalter was quite dour about that surplus and was scolded by a prominent Minnesota conservative blogger for his assessment of its meaning.
The latest economic forecast puts Minnesota an additional $323 million in the black for the remainder of the 2012-2013 biennium.
The added surplus was due largely to a $230 million decrease in
spending, mostly stemming from lower-than-anticipated enrollment in the
state’s early Medicaid expansion under the federal health law for single
adults. The state also took in about $93 million more in revenues than
anticipated, state budget officials announced on Wednesday.
What's more, the "surplus" had already been "spoken for" to pay some bills:
Despite a desire from lawmakers to use the money to push major policy
initiatives sought this session, the surplus already is spoken for
under current law. The first $5 million will be used to replenish the
state’s budget reserve, bringing the emergency fund to a total of $653
million.
The remaining $318 million will be used to begin repaying more than
$2 billion in state aid payments to school districts, $750 million of
which was added to the tab as part of last year’s budget compromise
between Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP leaders of the Legislature. The first $200 million of those payments are set to go out to districts March 15.
That was the first surplus in four
years, and state law required the money be used to restore the state's
depleted cash-flow account and budget reserves. The trend of reduced
state spending and better-than-expected revenue collections has
continued since December, but Schowalter said the 1 percent improvement
in the forecast is also spoken for under state law.
"That anticipated $323 million
balance does not stick around long. It immediately goes to replenish the
state's budget reserve and then starts to repay some of the school
shifts for our K-12 institutions," he said.[emphasis added]
Those delayed payments to schools
helped DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders erase a
$5 billion deficit and end a government shutdown last summer. They also
tapped other one-time money as part of the fix. That's why another
modest surplus has not yet put state finances back on solid ground for
the long term.
Schowalter said the new forecast
projects a $1.1 billion deficit by fiscal year 2014. That's a little
better than the $1.3 billion projected in the last forecast, but he said
it still presents big challenges.
"We were able to balance this year's
budget, if you'll recall, with sizeable one-time resources from the
tobacco bonds, from the school shift. Those aren't there in 2014-15, but
the obligations and the continued programming is," said Schowalter. "So
as a result, we have a structural balance that we're going to have to
resolve."
Bluestem suspects that Parry's confused memory may be substituting remarks made by Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem in a caucus press conference later that day. Here's a video synopsis Senate media put together:
Video of the entire press conference is available here in the Senate media archives in Flash and Windows Media formats under "Minnesota Management and Budget presents the 2012 February budget
forecast at the State Capitol. Republican and Democrat legislative
leaders and Governor Mark Dayton respond in separate press conferences" for Wednesday,February 29, 2012.
Parry mentioned in the first OPP article that he's helping the endorsed Republican candidate running for the senate seat he vacated to unsuccessfully seek his party's endorsement for MNCD1 congress. Bluestem has heard from a source closed to the Jensen campaign that many voters ask DFL-endorsed candidate Vicki Jensen if she's running against Parry. When told he's campaigning for her opponent, voters assure her of their support. He's just that popular.
In Parry's own mind, he passed that fantasy legislature budget bill. He tells the OPP he loves that part of politics:
Parry wouldn’t rule out another run or taking a job as a lobbyist or a position within the Republican Party.
“I like politics to the point where if you can convince people
to come together and being able to pass state government budget bill. I
like that part of it. I hate the things that happen during a campaign.”
Since the primary ended, Parry has been talking with constituents. He
also voted to offer disaster relief to flood victims in Duluth, raised
funds for Republican candidates and has spoken to GOP leaders on
possibly running for various offices.
Senator Parry voted against flood relief and was quite vocal about his opposition on the floor of the state senate, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reported in Gov. Dayton signs flood relief bill:
One other point of contention with
the bill surfaced during a morning Senate Finance Committee hearing.
State Sen. Mike Parry, R-Waseca, objected to a $1 million allocation to
the Department of Natural Resources to compensate for lost timber sales
in areas where lots of trees were blown down. Parry said it didn't seem
right when private businesses weren't getting similar compensation.
"How do we justify that?" Parry
asked. "How do I go back to Steele and Rice County businesses when they
that see we're bailing out our own state government because of loss of
sales, and yet we had businesses that couldn't even keep their doors
open? They lost sales."
Rep. Kory Kath, DFL-Owatonna,
thanked his House colleagues for working across party lines to help
people in need.
"This is what we do. We look out for
Minnesotans," he said. "We do what is right, and we make sure that in
times of crisis that we react in a way that really reflects our
Minnesota values."
Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, offered a similar endorsement of the measure.
"This is the good work that
government does, and can do and can continue to do," he said. "This is
the good work that people can do in Minnesota to help those who truly
are in positions that can't help themselves."
In the Minnesota Senate, GOP
Minority Leader Dave Senjem of Rochester said Minnesotans won't soon
forget last month's heavy rainfall and flooding.
"Tell you what, Sept. 22 to 24 will
be a period of time, at least in southern Minnesota -- they will talk
about those days 100 years from now," Senjem said.
Lawmakers pieced together the aid
package at a time when state finances are still in a mess. . .
The 2010 bill passed unanimously in both chambers of the state legislature, but Parry couldn't return the favor in 2012.
It's hard to tell from the passage whether Parry told the reporter that he voted for the 2012 flood relief or the OPP is simply mistaken. Either way, a clarification should be made.
Photo: Flood damage in Duluth, 2012 (above); flood damage in Owatonna, 2010 (below).
In Rochester Post Bulletin staff writer Ken Hanson's report, Brede, Wojcik speak against photo ID amendment, the city clerk notes the potential costs of changes Minnesota's third largest city:
Judy Scherr oversees elections in her capacity as city clerk.
“I’m not here to tell you to support or oppose the constitutional amendment but to tell you my concerns and the impact that it could have on Rochester and Olmsted County,” Scherr said. “I am a firm believer in the right to vote and have worked with elections for the past 32 years. My biggest concern is that those citizens eligible to vote may not be able to vote because of lack of required government-issued IDs.”
Scherr said Rochester might be faced with more than $100,000 in costs should the amendment pass.
Read the whole thing at the Post Bulletin.
As is the case with any remotely political article in the Post Bulletin, a swarm of conservative commenters weigh in. The most frequent claim for support of the notion that fraud takes place seems to be the case of "Victoria Ayoola," the Kiffmeyer-era hire who worked in the Secretary of State's office from 2005 until the discovery of her crime.
Several of those making comments at the PB throw George Soros's name in the brew. If Soros can induce former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer to allow "Victoria Ayoola" to first vote in 2004, then cause the Big Lake Republican to hire and promote "Ayoola," then the billionnaire is indeed far more powerful than we thought.
Unfortunately, the photo ID amendment won't stop fraudsters like "Ayoola," since her driver's license was valid, though obtained by fraud.
Rather, when the 2008 one-time scan of photos in the DMV database revealed 24,000 suspect licenses, the Pawlenty administration ought to have fought tooth and nail to obtain facial recognition software that would regularly detect possible fraud in new licenses--and to seek changes in Minnesota's license system to deter criminials from getting valid licenses obtained through fraud.
And Pawlenty might have signed the bill that the legislature sent him that would have given the Secretary of State office the tools Ritchie sought to be able to address problems created by criminials like Ayoola. Pawlenty vetoed the bill.
Instead, Minnesota Republicans put all their energy into requiring a photo ID to vote--a change that will cost local government while force those without government-issued photoID to spend time and money to obtain the documents needed to get an ID. Rooting out the real fraudsters? Not so much.
As we rejoin the Emo Senator, Southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, we learn that the Belle of Waseca County, Mike Parry, has a BFF willing to help him win the Republican Primary in Minnesota's First Congressional District.
Or that a search of the Nexis "All News" database reveals a single hit for the keyword search "Carol Molnau AND Mike Parry": Mark Fischenich, "Early filing deadline puts pressure on potential candidates: Bidwell flip-flops on decision," The Free Press (Mankato, Minnesota), February 26, 2010 Friday (accessed 7/25/2012, 12:49 p.m Central time). And forget that the two were mentioned in different items in the digest-style article.
Or that he was only in the Senate during her final few months as Lt. Governor. Or that her husband received $392,802 in the very same farm subsidy payment programs for which the Parry campaign has scolded Quist for partaking.
Or that she represented Carver County and environs when she served in the Minnesota House, with only a wee bit of LeSueur County actually in the First, having been folded in by redistricting earlier this spring.
Her time as lt. governor was not without controversy. The Minnesota Senate rejected her confirmation as Transportation Commissioner (she served two roles in the Pawlenty Administration) because of the way she handled the I-35W bridge collapse, and because Democrats believed she wasn't doing a good enough job improving the state's roads and bridges. She was also criticized for being absent during key moments of the planning for new the I-35W bridge.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation emergency response executive who failed to return to the state for 10 days after the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed was fired Friday for taking unauthorized trips, making excessive personal calls on her MnDOT cell phone and bringing embarrassment to the state.
Sonia Kay Morphew Pitt, who has been MnDOT's director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management since 2003, has been on paid leave since early September.
Pitt has the right to appeal her firing. To do so, she would have to respond to a voluminous investigative report by MnDOT that details a state-paid vacation flight to Las Vegas, unauthorized flights to Washington, D.C., and a finding that she made frequent, lengthy personal calls to a male friend at the Federal Highway Administration on her MnDOT cell phone during work hours.
The investigation found that there was no work-related reason for her to be in Washington, D.C., for 13 days before and after I-35W bridge collapsed on Aug. 1, killing 13 people. In the days after the collapse, the investigation also found that she spent more time on the phone with Daniel Ferezan, her friend at the highway administration, than on work-related communications.
Yes, Carol Molnau and Mike Parry are now BFFs. This is indeed the boost that Parry needs to take and the friend to replace the fickle Michael Brodkorb. Nice clam bake.
The fallout from a one-time 2008 facial recognition scan conducted under a grant from the Department of Homeland security is being used to slam Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. However, a closer look at the politics of voter integrity in 2009 reveals how the revelation underscores how Republican leaders tossed spike strips in the path of reforms sought by Ritchie.
This week we learned that a woman working with a fraudulent identity was hired and promoted by Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, and when her successor tried to implement changes to catch this kind of criminal, she voted against them and argued the state could not afford the technology the Secretary of State needed to do his job.
Parry's show hearings
Mike Parry isn't afraid to glean earned media from his own grandstanding against Secretary of State Ritchie, despite Friday morning's snoozer of a hearing.
Parry, who faces a tough congressional primary against former state Rep. Allen Quist on Aug. 14, denied that he harbored any political motives in calling the hearing. He said he has heard complaints about Ritchie's activities and wanted to investigate them. He said Ritchie's public descriptions of the amendment, if shown to be untrue, could amount to violations of campaign laws.
The main anti-Ritchie testimony came from Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, sponsor of the photo ID bill, and Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority, one of the chief lobbyists supporting the measure. Newman -- saying he was appearing as a private citizen, apparently because he, too, is a named plaintiff -- cited newspaper clippings from Mankato and Marshall, Minn., in which Ritchie discussed the amendment and its effects.
Minnesota Majority has already produced an ad calling Ritchie's integrity into question. The ad includes this text: "
Well, guess what? Minnesotans recently learned that one of Secretary Ritchie's own employees appears to have voted illegally in at least two elections using a false identity. If Mark Ritchie can't smell voter fraud when it's right under his nose, how can we possibly trust him on Voter ID?
Kiffmeyer was the first executive director of Minnesota Majority. Using the group's own logic, if she couldn't smell fraud when it was right under her nose, how are we to trust her or Minnesota Majority on Voter ID?
More seriously, in early 2006 the Pawlenty administration first raised the possibility of using a Department of Homeland Security federal grant to suss out potentially bogus drivers licenses, then conducted the scan of the drivers license photo database using facial recognition software in 2008. Around 24,000 possibly fraudulent licenses were flagged. Pawlenty was governor for two more years--and he, not Secretary of State Ritchie, had oversight of the DMV database.
Why didn't the governor take action or build a system for routine scans? Some friends have suggested that the findings would have proven damaging to his presidential ambitions, since no Democrat had served as governor of Minnesota for decades. With the amendment on the ballot, there's a chance to misdirect the indictment of a Kiffmeyer hire--and Pawlenty inaction--to Ritchie.
What's more, Minnesota leads the country in convicting felons who mistakeningly vote.This is the "voter fraud" that Minnesota Majority shrieks about. It's strangely silent about how its Republican allies--including Mary Kiffmeyer--have blocked Mark Ritchie's attempts at legislative relief for this problem. And there's little suggestion that asking for photo IDs at the polling place will address this problem.
ST PAUL, Minn.-March 20, 2009-Secretary of State Mark Ritchie today announced that his legislative proposals would strengthen Minnesota's election system by making use of state and federal databases. Technological advances would allow the state to largely prevent those who are not eligible from registering or voting before elections take place.
"Individuals who are not eligible to vote should not be registered or able to cast ballots. The legislation passed by the House State and Local Government Committee yesterday would authorize our office to use a variety of federal and state databases to ensure that our elections laws are enforced," Ritchie explained.
The legislation Ritchie proposes would allow the Office of the Secretary of State to compare new voter registration applicants against the Minnesota Department of Corrections' list of felons, so that ineligible individuals can be identified and flagged. It would also give legal authority to this office to compare the statewide voter registration list against the Social Security death registry to identify Minnesota voters who died while outside of the state. Finally, the legislation gives authority to the Office of the Secretary of State to check the citizenship status of voters using data maintained by the Department of Public Safety.
"This is not a new issue, but we are taking a new approach to it. For example, historical data indicates that 70 felons may have voted in the 2004 presidential elections and 61 may have voted in 2008. I do not know what action was taken in 2004, but under my administration, we have moved swiftly to notify county attorneys of all individuals who may have voted illegally and they are now investigating each incident. These types of cross-checks would make it easier to prevent those who are not eligible from casting a ballot in the first place" added Ritchie.
Another example of the importance of this new legislation is the ability to identify and remove from the voter rolls individuals who are not in Minnesota at the time of their death. By doing electronic data matching with the national death registry maintained by the Social Security Administration we ensure that Minnesota's voter registration lists are up-to-date at all times.
The proposed measures are part of the office's comprehensive legislative package to modernize voter registration, which is currently moving through the legislature as House File 1053 and Senate File 660.
Mary Kiffmeyer, one of the founders of Minnesota Majority, was serving her first term in the Minnesota House when HF 1053 came up for a vote. What did she have to say about implementing the technology that would actually deal with felons voting? (Again, not a problem solved by asking for a driver's license). Here's what she said about an oral amendment offered by Laura Brod:
From the description:
Mary Kiffmeyer, former Secretary of State and executive director of Minnesota Majority, said in 2009 that it would be too expensive to ask the Department of Corrections to produce electronic data on convicted felons to the Secretary of State.
Section 9 dealt with automatic motor voter registration, substituting an opt out system for the current opt-in provision, but Kiffmeyer's objection had to do with the supposed cost of constructing data systems to prevent felons and non-citizens from voting. Sections 6,7, and 8 of the bill would have required monthly review of data by the appropriate departments to make sure that people registering were eligible.
This is a surprising argument from a supporter of "voting integrity," because we're told repeatedly that no cost is too great to the counties and townships to prevent voter impersonation by requiring a government-issued PhotoID to vote.
What happened to the bill?It passed both chambers, though Mary Kiffmeyer voted against it, then Governor Pawlnety vetoed it.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Friday vetoed a bill that would have automatically signed up Minnesota driver's license applicants to vote.
The move means those applying for or renewing driver's licenses and state-issued IDs will still have to check a box to register to vote, instead of being automatically enrolled as voters if they were eligible.
"Registering to vote should be a voluntary, intentional act," the Republican governor's veto message said.
The change was pushed by Democrats including Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who said it would have streamlined bureaucracy for voters and saved time and money for local governments that process voter registrations. Ritchie claimed it would cut the number of Election Day registrations by as much as 75 percent.
A spokesman for Ritchie said neither Ritchie nor his staff were available to comment.
Rep. Steve Simon, the bill's House sponsor, said it also would have improved the integrity of Minnesota's voter records by giving Ritchie's office access to Social Security death records and requiring more extensive reporting from the state Department of Corrections on felons who aren't allowed to vote.
He said the changes would have minimized improprieties by ideologically motivated organizations that register voters.
"I wish some of this other stuff hadn't been vetoed," said Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park. . . .
Given what we now know about the state of the drivers' license database--and surely Pawlenty knew about the results of the 2008 scan when he vetoed the bill--why did Republicans think software upgrades necessary for voter integrity were too costly? What was the delay in adopting routine and regular facial recognition software scans?
Meanwhile, MN CD1 Republican primary opponent Mike Parry reminded voters that Bachmann did so love him too, having endorsed him in his two state senate races. Meanwhile, he had local Republican leaders supporting him.
Quist dodges issue
While Mike Parry might fear meeting Quist in a real debate, the Norseland farmer and retired college professor did a bit of conflict avoidance himself Friday night, side-stepping questions about Bachmann's controversial statements, which have earned the scorn of Republicans like John McCain and House Speaker John Boehner.
. . .Newspaper and TV reporters covering the fundraiser were informed shortly before it started that the congresswoman would not answer questions, and the media was not allowed to cover her speech. Asked about Bachmann's recent accusations, Quist declined to weigh in, saying, "It's just not my area." . . .
Back in Minnesota Friday to headline a fundraiser for Allen Quist, Bachmann declined to speak with reporters or even to allow them in the room with her. About 75 people turned out for the Rochester event, which raised about $9,000 for Quist, who is in a contested GOP primary race for the First District seat. Her lone interaction with journalists was a wave out of a car window and a cheery "bye-bye!" as she drove away.
Quist sought to distance himself from the controversy, saying, "I'm delighted to have her here." Of her comments, he said, "It's not my issue. My issue is the national debt."
In some respects, Quist's avoidance is a giant step back from statements made two years ago. In his 2010 bid for the Republican endorsement, Quist famously said that defeating Walz and Obama was more important than defeating terrorism. Quist wasn't alone in invoking fears of terrorism. The Minnesota Independent reported in ‘Fear mongering,’ little substance in Hagedorn’s terror ‘white paper’:
Hagedorn, with his terrorism white paper, now joins Quist in that camp, says Hamline University professor David Schultz . . .
In Schultz’s eyes, though, they’re using nearly identical rhetoric. “In a variety of ways, they’re doing what I call interesting McCarthyite actions… It’s a form of red baiting: Equating Democrats and liberals with Muslims and terrorists. It just depends on where they want to put the accent.” . . .
Equating all Muslims with terrorists and groups thought to be extreme seems to be the game Bachmann is playing to the point where she defames her colleague Keith Ellison. It is indeed unfortunate that Quist doesn't have the decency to call her out; one of the responsibilities of friendship is to let your friend know when she's full of it.
Quist famously said during his 2010 bid that defeating Walz and Obama was more important than defeating terrorism; Hamline law professor David Schultz told the Minnesota Independent that Quist's formulation was a form of back-handed "red-baiting" intended to equate Democrats with terrorists.
Parry: Bachmann likes me too
Flailing Quist primary rival Mike Parry, whose checkbook held a mere $30,600 at the end of the Q2 reporting period, misses a chance at showing some integrity about Americans who are Muslims as well.
Instead, the Parry campaign opted to remind Republicans that Congressman Bachmann has blessed his lesser bids for office. The Post Bulletin reports:
Bachmann has been a Parry supporter in the past, Parry's campaign noted.
"Congresswoman Bachmann endorsed my two winning campaigns for state Senate," Parry said in a statement. "I'm honored to have the support of Rochester legislators, like Sen. Dave Senjem and Rep. Mike Benson, in our campaign for Congress."
Isn't that special?
Huckle Media executive demands apology or resignation
But scolding Bachmann isn't just a bipartisan Beltway thing. In the district, Steve Pope, the chief operating officer of the conservative Huckle Media chain--which owns district newspapers in Faribault, LeCenter, Le Sueur, Owatonna, St. Peter and Waseca--contributed a guest editorial to the OPP, Minnesotans should be ashamed for Michelle Bachmann:
We all know bigotry should not happen. So does Michelle Bachmann. Bigotry, intolerance and blatantly unfounded accusations have no place in a position at the level of the one she holds.
She should be ashamed. We should be ashamed for her. She should apologize or consider resigning.
Curiously, the comments run toward defense of Bachmann and criticism of the Owatonna People's Press. The OPP's Mao-worthy name is the only thing about the paper that might suggest left-leanings, so complaints that Huckle Media is part of some liberal media conspiracy are laughable.
A recent example? While the rest of Minnesota's papers reported that Parry and Quist's fundraising for both the quarter and the election cycle lagged far behind that of Walz, the OPP only reported on the cycle totals. In Parry, Quist raise money for potential run against Walz in southern Minnesota, readers were also left in the dark about how much cash Parry and Quist had on hand:
As the campaign for the Republican nomination for Minnesota’s First Congressional District enters its final weeks, candidates Mike Parry and Allen Quist are checking their bank accounts.
As of the end of June, the Quist campaign said it has raised $218,160 for the Minnesota primary, which takes place on Aug. 14. The Parry campaign has raised less than half that — just $102,305.10.
The article then goes into the spat over Quist's self-funding, but never reports either Republican's cash on hand. This isn't true for its reporting on the Walz campaign's fundraising:
Walz, DFL-Minn., stands second among Minnesota Congressional candidates with $808,000 cash on hand. Sara Severs, campaign manager for the Tim Walz for Congress, said the three-term Congressman has raised $1.4 million in the 2012 election cycle.
One could forgive readers in Owatonna for imagining that the gap between Parry and Walz's bank accounts isn't that large--an 8-to-1 or a 4-to-1 difference, rather than the $30,608.46 v. $808,000 gap (Parry v. Walz) or $165,214.32 v. $808,000 gap (Quist v. Walz). Whatever the spin on this, it's not toward the Democratic incumbent.
Speaking of witchhunts: Parry threatens more action on Secretary of State Mark Ritchie
While Bachmann's headline-garnering witchhunt is the more reckless, Mike Parry isn't afraid to glean earned media from his own grandstanding against Secretary of State Ritchie, despite Friday morning's snoozer of a hearing.
Parry, who faces a tough congressional primary against former state Rep. Allen Quist on Aug. 14, denied that he harbored any political motives in calling the hearing. He said he has heard complaints about Ritchie's activities and wanted to investigate them. He said Ritchie's public descriptions of the amendment, if shown to be untrue, could amount to violations of campaign laws.
The main anti-Ritchie testimony came from Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, sponsor of the photo ID bill, and Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority, one of the chief lobbyists supporting the measure. Newman -- saying he was appearing as a private citizen, apparently because he, too, is a named plaintiff -- cited newspaper clippings from Mankato and Marshall, Minn., in which Ritchie discussed the amendment and its effects.
Minnesota Majority has already produced an ad calling Ritchie's integrity into question. The ad includes this text: "
Well, guess what? Minnesotans recently learned that one of Secretary Ritchie's own employees appears to have voted illegally in at least two elections using a false identity. If Mark Ritchie can't smell voter fraud when it's right under his nose, how can we possibly trust him on Voter ID?
Kiffmeyer was the first executive director of Minnesota Majority. Using the group's own logic, if she couldn't smell fraud when it was right under her nose, how are we to trust her or Minnesota Majority on Voter ID?
More seriously, in early 2006 the Pawlenty administration first raised the possibility of using a Department of Homeland Security federal grant to suss out potentially bogus drivers licenses, then conducted the scan of the drivers license photo database using facial recognition software in 2008. Around 24,000 possibly fraudulent licenses were flagged. Pawlenty was governor for two more years--and he, not Secretary of State Ritchie, had oversight of the DMV database.
Why didn't the governor take action or build a system for routine scans? Some friends have suggested that the findings would have proven damaging to his presidential ambitions, since no Democrat had served as governor of Minnesota for decades. With the amendment on the ballot, there's a chance to misdirect the indictment of a Kiffmeyer hire--and Pawlenty inaction--to Ritchie.
As we return to another episode of Emo Senator, Southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, now in its extended summer primary season, we find our hero, Mike Parry, the Belle of Waseca County, being savagely attacked by Christian conservative Republican Allen Quist for an alleged indifference over Medicaid fraud.
In an email sent to supporters, Quist claims Parry told members of the First District Republican's Central Committee earlier this month, "There is no fraud." He said that Parry failed in his duties as chairman of the Senate Government Innovation and Veterans Committee by not calling a hearing after federal investigations into potential Medicaid fraud in the state were launched. . . .
Parry's principle paladin points a finger back at Quist:
Parry campaign spokesman Ben Golnik said Quist is misrepresenting what Parry said and it "is outrageous" to suggest the senator from Waseca does not believe there is fraud in the state's Medicaid system.
While low-information voters in the GOP base may think that the two are arguing over which contender has the potential to be meanest to poor people who so don't deserve heath care because they are poor and obviously scamming someone, the "fraud" has to do with overpayments by the state to HMOs. Carlson explains:
Minnesota's program came to Grassley's attention after the state announced UCare was donating $30 million to the state. The federal government argued it was a reimbursement for Medicaid overpayments and that it should get half of the money. The state ended up agreeing to send half of the money to the federal government.
Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson has said the problems with the state's Medicaid program stem from contracts with HMOs that were signed during Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration.
Golnik tells Carlson that the overpayments aren't an indication of fraud, but Parry so too believes there is fraud in the system. There's more over at the PB; go read the whole story.
Earlier this year, the DFL tracker taped Allen Quist's press conferences about the allegations, posting the eight Youtube episode online. Mike Parry claims that the DFL only tracks him, and that this is an indication that the Democrats fear the Emo Senator. Fiddle-dee-dee!
Stay tuned for future episodes.
Image: Mike Parry, the Emo Senator, photoshopped by Tild.
Victim who claimed she was sexually assaulted changes story
Citing a recent conversation he had with his key witness, Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Mike Hanson confirmed that he is planning to dismiss felony sexual assault charges filed against Jeremy Giefer in November 2010.
"Based upon what we learned at that meeting, we don't have the evidence we need to move forward with trial," Hanson said.
The new statement, which was acquired by Giefer’s attorney, Mark Kelly, was recently provided to Hanson because Kelly plans to use it as evidence during the trial.
“The nature and content of the statement may make us ask for more time beyond the trial date,” Hanson said.
The alleged victim, who is now an adult, was 16 years old when she told a mandated reporter Giefer had been sexually abusing her since she was 9 years old. She described situations, dating back to when she was 13 years old, where she was coerced into sexual situations by Giefer.
A later statement that the same teen provided to Giefer’s attorney was discussed during a pre-trial hearing Monday. Kelly and Hanson didn’t discuss details, but Kelly did say the alleged victim recanted what she said when she was interviewed by Blue Earth County sheriff’s investigators. . . .
. . .If the woman’s testimony is consistent with the statement she provided to Kelly, the statements to deputies would lose credibility, Kelly said. He did not file a motion Monday to have the charges dismissed due to the new statement.
The case drew national attention after Bluestem first broke the story about Giefer's earlier pardon for a sex offense; he is now married to his victim in that first case.
It sounds like something right out of a science fiction novel - making human organs from pigs - but Robert Cohen, chief executive officer of MiroMatrix Medical, said that is exactly what is planned when the start-up company opens its doors Oct. 27 with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility in Glencoe's industrial park.
MiroMatrix will be housed in the same building as Midwest Porcine Recovery, which opened its doors in 2010.
The two companies will be working in tandem - Midwest Porcine supplying the raw material and MiroMatrix the technology and know-how.
MiroMatrix is now in the process of finding more investors for its cutting-edge technology, and Cohen sees the potential for the new company as being great. "When all is said and done," Cohen told a chamber of commerce gathering last Friday, "we can make new organs for your body. It sounds like science fiction, but this can actually happen."
Miromatrix Medical Inc., a regenerative medicine company engaged in the development of commercial products based upon its perfusion decellularization/recellularization technology licensed from the University of Minnesota, announced today that Timothy Pawlenty has joined its board of directors.
The Miromatrix Medical technology has the potential to enable the creation of fully biological replacement organs for the human body. In addition to the Company's internal efforts focused on the development of its first product - a biomesh for hernia repair and breast reconstruction - scientists around the globe are working with the Company's technology and are taking the first steps toward the creation of human organs including the liver, lung, kidney, pancreas and heart.
Miromatrix has enjoyed significant support and cooperation from both the State of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota. The city of Glencoe recently joined this list of supporters by attracting the company to its industrial park, where Miromatrix will move into a new laboratory constructed to its specifications within the facility of one of its primary suppliers.
Following his election to the Miromatrix Board of Directors on Oct. 17, Pawlenty said, "I am extremely excited to join the board of a company that has the potential to improve human health in an historic way within its reach. In my view, Miromatrix likely will be Minnesota's next medical and business miracle."
Even as Cohen prepares to raise capital and figure out a new product, he has had to deal with some dirty laundry being aired involving the ouster of Taylor from the company’s board. Cohen declined to comment on the matter, but said that her absence will not hurt the company’s prospects and fundraising efforts. The co-inventor remains on the board.
Miromatrix has already raised $1.4 million in a seed round that included two $250,000 loans from the state of Minnesota. Impressed by Taylor’s success and attracted by the hope that Miromatrix might one day spawn a regenerative medicine industry in Minnesota, state officials provided those loans in 2010. However, the loans don’t place any limits on where the company needs to be based, Cohen said. The company needs to begin repaying those loans in 2015.
Or maybe it's that dirty laundry? Perhaps Pawlenty's there to make sure the academic scientists don't get too biggety around the job creators. The Star Tribune reported in April's Lavish praise, then a quick ouster for star U scientist:
"Because I'm a scientist and because I'm curious, I asked a lot of questions, and that wasn't particularly well received," she said.
Taylor put her questions, including how the company was spending its limited cash, into writing for a July board meeting.
"We all had what I thought was an open, honest conversation, and I left,'' she said. . . .
Taylor's dismissal occurred during a period of financial instability, according to Peter Bianco, DEED's paid observer of Miromatrix. He wrote last September that the business was on the verge of collapse unless new money could be raised.
In response, DEED provided a second $250,000 loan to attract a matching amount of private money. The cash bought the company time to work on two key unfinished initiatives: introducing its first product, which Cohen wouldn't identify, and raising more money.
Bob Isaacson, who manages business subsidies for DEED, said the level of Taylor's involvement doesn't matter as long as the company has her technology and is moving forward. But experts say that university spinoffs are far more likely to flourish when the founding scientist stays on during the early years. . . .
The MNDaily reported on the July 2010 ouster here. Having underfunded the U for years, T-Paw has a record of putting those research geeks in their place.
Photograph: Nope, kids, MiroMatrix's research isn't like that.
Scuttlebutt in rural Blue Earth County had it that sexual assault and incest charges against Jeremy Giefer would be dropped at a pretrial hearing yesterday.
That didn't happen. District Court Judge Bradley Walker set a December 19 trial date for the high-profile case, the Mankato Free Press reports in Trial date set for Giefer sex assault case.
Staff writer Dan Nienaber notes the courtroom scuffling between Giefer's attorney and the assistant county attorney over the findings from DNA samples taken from the victim's bedroom. Check it out in the MFP.
Giefer’s arrest after the allegations were made in November drew statewide attention. He had received a pardon from former Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2008 for a 1996 sexual assault conviction. In that case he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl when he was 19 years old. He requested a pardon for employment reasons, pointing out he is now married to the victim.
Giefer is facing additional charges for allegedly violating an order to have no contact with the victim.
With Pawlenty's withdrawal from the presidential race, it's unlikely that the case will attract much interest, however lurid the details that emerge next December may be.
After listening to a podcast where conservative talk radio personality Scott Hennen and failed burrito baron and MNGOP chair Tony Sutton agree about the politics of cleaning bathrooms, I had to hope Sutton had never been allowed to determine janitorial standards when he was CEO at the Baja Sol restaurants.
On July 5, Fargo-area conservative talk radio personality Scott Hennen ranted about the closing of Minnesota's rest stops as part of a ploy on the part of Leftists to grow government--and MNGOP Chair Tony Sutton agreed with him at the beginning of the interview. Full podcast here.
Bluestem had to laugh, since the Pawlenty Administration closed the rest stops when the government shutdown in 2005 under TPaw's watch as well. And frankly, we don't think bathrooms clean themselves or public health issues created by an absence of janitors are anything to take lightly. Both governors' administrations were using sound judgement in closing the rest stops.
The bigger question though: What's Sutton doing hanging around with this ranter at a time when citizens are asking for some real common sense, not just a club brand?
It’s still early in the presidential race, so the opposition research dumps haven’t really begun. But when the skeletons in the closets of 2012 GOP hopefuls begin to be revealed, the unique shape of the field — which will almost certainly feature a handful of current or former governors — makes it a good bet that someone is going to have a Willie Horton problem.
That’s code for a violent or deranged felon run amok on their watch — a reference to the notorious convict who went AWOL during a furlough from a Massachusetts prison, committed more crimes and ultimately became the subject of a devastating ad that helped seal the fortunes of1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
With former Govs. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Mitch Daniels in the 2012 mix — and a few other current and former chief executives perhaps in the wings — the issue of pardons and furloughs is one that could play an unexpected and damaging role for some campaigns.
Before he departed from the race, Mike Huckabee, who issued more than 1,000 sentence reductions and pardons as Arkansas governor, was widely viewed as having the most exposure. While no one in the current field has anything close to that in the oppo files, Romney and Pawlenty might be haunted by a few cons who could undermine their law-and-order credentials.
Pawlenty’s pardon problem involves Jeremy Geifer, who had been convicted in a statutory rape case involving a 14-year-old girl he later married. Geifer had been described by everyone in his life as a model of reform, which eventually led to a 2008 pardon by a three-person board led by Pawlenty.
But late last year, Geifer was accused of sexually assaulting another underage girl more than 250 times. Pawlenty moved swiftly, asking for a probe into whether Geifer lied on his pardon application and pushing to close down a day care run by his wife.
While finishing his term as Minnesota’s governor last year, Pawlenty said he never would have made that decision had such information been known at the time. And he pointed out that Geifer had finished his prison stint well before the pardon was granted – a mitigating factor that could lessen any of his rivals’ blows.
Yet there is also the case of Dru Sjodin, a college student who was murdered in 2003, early in Pawlenty’s administration, by a repeat sex offender who had only recently been released from prison. That case became national cable TV fodder, as the tragic search for the pretty blonde gripped viewers.
A Pawlenty aide referred to the governor’s book, “Courage to Stand,” in which he wrote that people played politics with the case and often had the facts wrong, and that Pawlenty was “horrified” by the man’s release.
The governor later proposed stiffer sentences for sex offenders, including doubling their jail time.
Romney is at an apparent advantage over Pawlenty — in his lone term in office, the former Massachusetts governor never issued a single pardon or commutation. But that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear. . . .
Though it’s typically pardon-empowered governors who must fret about their felons in the closet, legislators can also have some cause for worry. Case in point: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who might need to explain her support for a pardon for a donor named Frank Vennes.
Vennes was convicted in 1988 on money-laundering charges, and pleaded no-contest to illegally selling a gun and aiding in a cocaine sale. He claimed he discovered religion while in prison, and went on to become a well-known donor -- in fact, he was a top giver to Bachmann’s 2006 congressional campaign.
She reportedly wrote in a pardon letter to then-President George W. Bush in 2007, “Mr. Vennes is truly a unique man in that he is not asking for a pardon that he may achieve personal success. By the grace of God, this has been done. Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others.”
Well, that depends on the meaning of helping others — in 2008, the feds raided Vennes’ home as part of a probe into a massive Ponzi scheme.
In response, Bachmann wrote another letter to the White House -- this time saying she “too hastily accepted” Vennes’ claims that he was a new man, and withdrawing her earlier letter.
Vennes was indicted on new fraud and money-laundering charges a few weeks ago. . .
Bremer, also nominated for a Page One Award in one of the same categories for which Pinto is up for (though about different Bachmann scandal, the Bobby Thompson scam), also has the dogged quality that makes for an strong investigative writer.
The potential effects of drastic cuts in Minnesota Republican higher education funding bills are beginning to make news in Greater Minnesota. Particularly damaging to students and employers alike? Cuts to MNSCU institutions, including tech colleges.
Minnesota lawmakers voted to cut $300 million from college and university spending as they craft a state budget while plugging a $5 billion deficit.
Opponents of the Republican-written bill said that some campuses are threatened and up to 1,500 higher education workers could lose their jobs if the bill becomes law.
Jim Johnson, president of Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical, said because over 80 percent of the college's budget goes to staffing, the cuts would definitely mean laying off employees.
"We will be looking at less staff, doing some layoffs, looking at how we can do things more efficiently," he said.
Bills passing the House and Senate Tuesday set a $2.5 billion two-year budget for state-run colleges and universities. That is down from $2.8 billion in the current budget.
The technical college would have to shave off about $1 million from its budget this year and another $1 million next year, Johnson said. . . .
But the GOP legislators say they're not hurting students by cutting funding to the public colleges and universities:
Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, said his higher education bill allows schools to make up a third of their lost money by raising tuitions.
However, both the House and Senate bills place a limit on how much colleges and universities may raise tuition, ranging from 2 percent to 5 percent.
Both bills increase funds for grants available to students attending public and private schools.
"We did preserve a lot for the students," Sen. Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, said.
However, Johnson said the tuition cap puts the technical college, which has campuses in Red Wing and Winona, in a hard place. He said in the past, the college has been able to make up for cuts in state money by raising tuition. Because of the cap, that wouldn't be possible, and the college would have to cut services more.
"Whenever you're looking at downsizing, you like to have as much flexibility," Johnson said. He said the cap on tuition would really "hamstring" the college.
Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, said the state budget cuts are the deepest he has seen to higher education.
The cuts come at a time when the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system serves 40,000 more students than a decade ago, with less state money than it received then. The University of Minnesota, with 12,000 more students, also would get less money than 10 years ago.. . .
The failing logic of the privatizers: "high aid, high tuition" = high debt, high barriers
The Republican logic follows the line of the "high-aid, high tuition" model that has not lived up to its promises.
Back in the day, Minnesota's public technical schools were known as vo-techs, and the post-secondary education they afforded to students was essentially free. That's because the guiding philosophy in those days was to fund the institution, making school as affordable as possible. While not free, going to school at what was known as Mankato State was a lot cheaper for my brother than my sister's classes at Gustavus were.
Of course, this sort of arrangement couldn't last. Enter one of the most boneheaded, longterm policy decisions ever: the introduction of "high aid, high tuition" for public post-secondary institutions. If these schools cost more, the logic want, they'd have to get better in order to "compete," and if the funding went to the students (ah, a little conservative voucher love), then the marketplace for education rather than government would make everything peachy, and the benefits of higher education would flower through the land.
Fat chance. While public institutions receive less of their money from the legislature, financial aid, other than loans, didn't increase, while student aid itself took on shades of "welfare." And so more roadblocks go up on access to higher education, one of the avenues to the middle class and cradles for American ingenuity.
Mankato presidents feel students' pain
In the Mankato Free Press, Minnesota State University-Mankato president Richard Davenport and South Central College president Keith Stover spell out more problems with the axe-murdering bills in No matter the enrollment, cuts hurt:
Because we have fewer faculty members and more students, our class sections are larger. This means that students who need personal attention must wait longer to see their professors. Some students won’t or can’t wait, reducing the quality of their education.
Because we have fewer faculty members, we are offering fewer sections of classes. This means students have fewer opportunities to get the courses they need to graduate, and some must delay graduation.
We have cut some academic programs, which gives current students fewer choices and turns some prospective students away from higher education. We have fewer student services staff members, which delays financial aid processing, advising and other needed services, as well as reduces the extracurricular activities and the life experiences that we can provide to students.
Over the last decade state support for higher education has consistently declined, shifting greater financial burden to students.
These impacts on students do not help the state to recover from the recession. Each student who can’t get personal attention is a future employee who’ll need more on-the-job training. Each student who must delay graduation is a person who doesn’t contribute to the economy this year. Each student who quits college is a potential loss to business and industry.
A lost generation on the prairie?
And in Marshall, Worthington and other towns served by Southwest Minnesota State University and the network of five small campuses that make up Minnesota West, the talk is of closing and consolidating campuses.
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is studying the potential for consolidation and alignment among some of its schools in southwestern Minnesota.
MnSCU officials will hold a public forum Tuesday night at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall to get input from residents on the educational needs of the region.
MnSCU's spokeswoman Melinda Voss said the study corresponds with the retirement of Southwest State's president, along with the changing demographics in the region.
"We just really want to identify the key higher education programs and services that are needed by this region now and in the future and the most efficient way to deliver those things," Voss said.
"Some students need face time, but only a small percentage," [MNSCU consultant] Thompson said. "But some places have been trimmed down so much already that they're working with a skeleton crew. Some people might be wearing 10 hats already."
So as the population drain from the prairie continues, the cycle will speed up as opportunities for education and employment shrink.
Tim Pawlenty Memorial Berm: MNGOP legislative majorities hold back rising tides of higher ed
Year after year, the news from Minnesota isn't good. It's so bad after eight years of Pawlenty, that the Iowa Democratic Party issued a statement in advance of T-Paw's tiger-bloodless pandering to the Iowa College Republicans last week explaining the Pawlenty record that the current Republican Senate and House Caucus seem determined to top with their own anti-prosperity berms.
UNDER PAWLENTY, HIGHER EDUCATION IN MINNESOTA COST MORE BUT DELIVERED LESS
2008: “Students Are Leaving Minnesota Colleges With Record Debt,” With 2008 Minnesota Graduates Shouldering The Sixth-Highest Average Debt In The Nation. [Star Tribune, 12/1/09]
2008 Minnesota Office Of Higher Education Report: “Minnesotans Pay Twice As Much As The National Average To Get A Public College Education, But They’re Not Getting Double The Results.” [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]
Star Tribune: “For A State Where High Schools Students Traditionally Fare Well On College Entrance Exams, That’s Disconcerting To Those In Charge Of Assessing The Quality Of Higher Education In Minnesota.” [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]
Only 36.7 Percent Of College-Bound Students Graduate In Four Years And “Only Five Of The State’s 36 Four-Year Schools – Public Or Private – Had A Four Year Graduation Rate Of Better Than 70 Percent.” [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]
Only 20 Percent Of Black College-Bound Students Graduate In Four Years And More Than Half Didn’t Graduate Within Six Years. [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]
AS A RESULT OF PAWLENTY’S CUTS TO HIGHER EDUCATION, TUITION HAS INCREASE BY 60 PERCENT
Minnesota 2020 Economic Policy Fellow: Under Pawlenty, “State General Fund Support For Higher Education Has Declined By $521 Million… As A Result, Tuition Has Risen By A 60 Percent Real-Dollar Average Across Minnesota’s Higher Education Institutions.” [Lee Egerstrom op-ed, Bemidji Pioneer, 10/24/10]
2010: Pawlenty Proposed Cutting $47 Million From Higher Education, But Said He Would Have Liked To Cut More – And Claimed “They Got Off Relatively Easy Here.” [Star Tribune, 2/16/10]
2009: Pawlenty’s “Hit To Higher Education [Was] Big” When He Unilaterally Cut Minnesota’s Higher Education Budget By $100 Million. [Star Tribune, 6/16/09]
University Of Minnesota President Called Pawlenty’s Proposed Cuts “Savage And Severe.” [Minnesota Public Radio, 5/16/09]
Photo: Shuttered building. Will there be a closing of the Minnesota mind?
Giefer is not in custody. After he was able to post large bail bonds in November and January, eventually totaling $350,000, prosecutors raised questions about whether he qualified for a public defender. Giefer gave notice Tuesday he had switched from a public defender to [Mark] Kelly, who is a private criminal law attorney with the Klemp & Stanton law firm in Mendota Heights. [hyperlink added by Bluestem]
UPDATEKelly's most high profile case to date may have been that of former KFAN-AM sports radio talk show host Jeffery Dubay, who was charged in October 2008 with felony fifth-degree cocaine possession, entered a pre-trial diversion program, but later violated the terms of his probation (Case No. 62-CR-08-14166; Case ID=1612205461). [end update]
Pardoned in 2008 for a 1996 sexual assault conviction by the state board of pardons, Giefer is accused of sexual assault and incest. Because former Governor Tim Pawlenty is exploring running for president, the case gaine statewide attention after Bluestem first broke the news of the 2008 pardon of the accused Vernon Center resident.
Hiring more expensive counsel may not have netted Giefer the results he sought at Wednesday's hearing. Nienaber reports:
A suspected sex offender’s request to delay providing a DNA sample was denied by a Blue Earth County District Court Judge Wednesday.
Judge Bradley Walker issued an order in December allowing a DNA sample to be taken from 37-year-old Jeremy Giefer of Vernon Center. Giefer was in jail at the time, but a sample wasn’t taken.
Update: Court records online (Case No. 07-CR-10-4341; CaseID=1614103258) indicate that the court set the following conditions for the defendant:
Interim Condition for Giefer, Jeremy Alan
- Stay a reasonable distance away from victim's residence - Pay bail - Conditions, other - Keep court/attorney informed of current address - No alcohol/controlled substance use - No contact with victim(s) - No contact with witness(es) - No possession of alcohol or drugs - Random testing - Make all future court appearances - No use or possession of firearms or dangerous weapons - Domestic No Contact - GPS Monitoring
Photo: Jeremy Giefer and his wife, who was his first victim in the 1996 case (above); former Governor Tim Pawlenty (below).
Look, I've been saying this for a while now: There are two types of Republicans: Those who understand what the country is facing and what we're up against in terms of battling the left....and there are those who don't. You shouldn't need to go to organizations directly connected to George Soros to figure these things out and I don't care how nice or free the trip.
Being one to make lists, Kihne constructs a list of Republican who have traveled on the Aspen Institute's dime, including two Minnesota Republicans--her own congressman, Erik Paulsen and former state representative Laura Brod--and some who have not, including Michele Bachmann.
A well-respected researcher within the conservative blogger community, Kihne employs a very direct methodology for her sleuthing. She uses the Aspen Institute's own search engine to find who among the local elephants has been naughty and who's been nice.
Using Legistorm, I was able to determine that there are additional Minnesota conservatives who are the second kind of Republicans Kihne identifies: the ones who, in her view, have gone to the wrong place to "figure things out."
That's twice as many Minnesota Republicans spinning on Aspen's Axis of Soros than DFLers--if we accept Kihne's definition.
It's not surprising that Representative Tim Walz, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and Senator Al Franken don't show up on the list; records at Legistorm show no privately-funded member or staff travel at all for them (a spokester for Walz's congressional office said the three-term DFLer maintains a no-privately-funded-travel ban for himself and his staff).
Other current and former members of the state's congressional delegation travel or have traveled in varying degrees on others' dimes. My congressman and his staff seem to spend a lot of time with groups related to farms, food, and pheasants (big rural district), while Michele Bachmann not surprisingly does a lot of travel on ideologically conservative dimes. Check out the rest at Legistorm.
Frankly, I'd like to see Congress and the state legislature put severe restrictions on all privately funded travel, if not ban it outright--and have everyone follow the self-imposed restraint that Walz and others practice. Just don't take it--from anyone.
For while I don't see Soros as the Bugaboo that Kihne does, the larger concern about private interest money corrupting public officials is a valid worry. However, in the era of the Citizens United decision and other revelations of the role big money plays in the lives of elected officials, I'm not particularly optimistic that much will change on the institutional level.
For now, we'll have to look for individual acts of integrity in elected officials who are willing to turn all offers of privately-funded travel down. Chip Cravaack has had to report travel yet; let's hope he joins Walz, Klobuchar and Franken in just saying no.
Disclosure: The Minnesota Independent, where one of my freelance pieces was posted today (a first for me), once recieved support for its national nonprofit from Soros' Open Society Institute, although the American Independent News Network no longer receives such funding, according to my editor.
But now Pawlenty is campaigning as if he's some sort of Southern preacher. At the Faith & Freedom event, he was dropping g's all over the place, using "ain't" instead of "isn't," and adding a syrup to his vowels not indigenous to Minnesota. He didn't utter the word "jobs," made only passing reference to economic woes, and instead gave the assembled religious conservatives a fiery speech about God, gays and gynecology.
There's a logical explanation. When Tim Pawlenty grew up in South St. Paul, the stockyards were still going. Little Timmy probably slipped out of the house and his father's Teamster vernacular to punch a few cows and pick up the inflections of the High Plains drifters who herded Elsie through the streets to her fate.
It doesn't sound like he was talking to Minnesota farmers who raised the cattle, by golly.
In 2010, Republicans harnessed anger at Obama for his perceived overreaching, particularly on health care. But that theme has been blunted: Now in power, Republicans such as Scott Walker have demonstrated that they are every bit as capable of overreach. Likewise, the Republicans' economic message is beginning to atrophy as private-sector job growth improves and the new House Republican majority struggles to focus on the economy.
Instead, the religious conservatives who dominate primaries are pulling Republicans back toward themes such as abortion and gay rights. The Tea Party is morphing from an economic movement into a conventional moral crusade.
Or as in the case of Minnesota, they might follow Glenn Gruenhagen's lead and mix it a bit, blaming both "sodomy" and, as I noted yesterday in Playing politics with pain: Glenn Gruenhagen blames Hutch Tech lay-off on taxes, taxes--in cases where manufacturing lines (set up during the administration of a Democratic governor of a neighboring state or in Thailand) were the greatest factors influencing restructuring.
But why play straight with the facts?
Note: As someone who studied poesy at the University of Arkansas with some wonderful writers from North Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas, I appreciate an authentic southern accent. But those of us from South St. Paul and Southern Minnesota have our own dulcet tones.
Photo: The last days of South St. Paul's Central Livestock Association in 2008. via the NYTimes.
Having written about Glenn Gruenhagen's incendiary remarks about castrating sex offenders, made during the testimony of Dennis Benson, executive director of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program to the Minnesota House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, I thought I'd be much happier with today's column on the Star Tribune's op-ed by the paper's Commentary Editor, D.J. Tice.
"This is a very difficult subject to have a rational conversation about."
Sadly no.
Tice doesn't mention Gruenhagen's rants, which actually were part of the discussion in the committee that day, when he scolds politicians about the need for a calm, rational conversation.
Nope. In Tice's view, those who need to stay calm weren't in the room. Rather than addressing Gruenhagen's advocating of castration as something that "sure worked on the farm," Tice admonishes Linda Berglin and Mike Hatch to stay calm. Hatch especially is put in a difficult position, since the non-calm conversation took place on the campaign trail in 2006, not in the room where Benson was testifying.
Moreover, Tice rewrites a bit of history in order to blame the burgeoning population of civilly-committed sex offenders on Mike Hatch, rather than allowing any accountability to fall at Tim Pawlenty's feet.
All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, served as a New Media training and strategy consultant for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from October 2009 through mid-April 2010. She now serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors.
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