In addition . . . [f]ormer state Sen. Mike Parry, who ran for the seat last year but lost in the Republican primary to former state Rep. Allen Quist, is also considering another run. Also seriously considering a bid is Byron resident Aaron Miller, a command sergeant in the Army reserves who was awarded the Bronze Star and works for a medical technology company.
Another name being mentioned is Jim Hagedorn of Blue Earth, who ran unsuccessfully for the 1st District Republican endorsement in 2010. At this point he said it is "premature" to talk about whether he will run for the seat, but said he is not ruling it out. His father is former 2nd District GOP Congressman Tom Hagedorn.
Bluestem can barely contain our glee. A sequel to Emo Senator: The Telenovela? The City Pages cited the serialized blog melodrama in awarding Bluestem the 2013 Minneapolis Best Blogger Award:
We particularly enjoy her ongoing series on Mike Parry, a.k.a.
Minnesota's ex-"Emo Senator," who can't keep his racially charged tweets
to himself.
Yes, we've missed Mike Parry.
But we've also preserved large chunks of the equally uproarious online testimony of Jim Hagedorn, who sought the endorsement in 2010. Like Parry, Hagedorn did a bit of scrubbing of his more controversial remarks, as we noted at the head of Rightwing
values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative". (Sadly the archived content of the Minnesota Independent is no longer online). Here are gems there, including this racially charged--but deleted post--from Hagedorn:
The race has been highlighted by a Democrat drive to
register voters in several of South Dakota’s expansive redistribution of
wealth centers…err…casino parlors…err…Indian Reservations. Remarkably,
many of the voters registered for absentee ballots were found to be
chiefs and squaws who had returned to the spirit world many moons ago.
What is truly astonishing is not that the Democrats would cheat, but
that the FBI and other law enforcement types actually took the
initiative to catch them.
Voter backlash against the Democrat’s (typical) election-stealing
maneuvers will be the margin of victory for Thune. Leave it to liberals
to ruin John Wayne’s* wisdom of the only good Indian being a dead
Indian.
Not only did that smear Dakota and Lakota people, but John Wayne as well. Actually, the saying is attributed to General Philip Sheridan, though Representative James M.Cavanaugh (D-MT) is more accurately the source of the saying. Apparently such sentiments were acceptable in the U.S. House in 1868.
Despite the headline, the body of the Josh Moniz article makes it clear that DeKruif served in the Minnesota senate (not the House) for two years during the short term created by redistricting. (State senators ordinarily serve four years, with a two-year term at the top of each decade while district lines are withdrawn.)
In March 2012, the Mankato Free Press reported in Al DeKruif steps out of legislative race that DeKruif chose not to move to a nearby open district because of family concerns:
DeKruif briefly considered running against Rosen before announcing a
week ago that he wouldn’t challenge the 10-year veteran but was
considering moving to an open district just north of his rural Elysian
home.
As recently as Saturday, DeKruif told delegates at the Blue Earth County
Republican Convention that he was still conflicted about making the
move, mentioning his 32-year-old son Jason, who has cerebral palsy.
“I can’t displace him very far,” he told the delegates. . . .
By Sunday afternoon, the owner of the Sakatah Trails Resort and a
transportation consulting business reached the conclusion that moving
his residence was the wrong decision.
“I need to do what is best for my family and businesses,” DeKruif said
in a written statement. “After all, it is Minnesota families and job
creators that led me to serve in the first place.
DeKruif also supported Mike Parry's notion that members of the Republican senate caucus had no obligation to follow the leadership of former senate majority leader Amy Koch during the shutdown negotiations. (Parry had no trouble later following the suggestions of her lover, Michael Brodkorb, who ran Parry's own campaign to unseat Walz until the scandal became public.)
And then there's the Agenda 21 stuff. Yes, DeKruif joined Senator Dave Brown (R-Becker) in supporting the cockamamie Bircher blue helmet phobia about sustainable planning, wetlands and buffer strips.
We may have found our next telenovela star to replace the cancelled "Emo Senator."
He was elected to the former Senate District 25 by 44 percent of the
vote in a close three-way race and served in the Minnesota Legislature
for the 2011 - 2012 session. When the redistricting process put him into
the same district as fellow Republican Sen. Julie Rosen, he declined to
take up another run for office.
He is the owner and consultant
of DeKruif Enterprise, Inc., which handles permitting and planning for
"super load" truck hauls across the country. The business separately
handles moving large electric transformers into both nuclear and
coal-fired power plants. He is also owner of the Sakatah Trail Resort
near Madison Lake.
DeKruif's legislative record is available online. He became an Assistant Majority Whip
in 2012, in the leadership shake-up that followed Koch's stepping down as Majority Leader.
Most of the bills that DeKruif sponsored that became law were minor tweaks. Governor Dayton vetoed DeKruif's bill to require E-verify-ication of all new state employees. The bill had no co-sponsors in the Senate, and Ernie Leidiger, Steve Drazkowski and Peggy Scott sponsored the bill in the Minnesota House.
In his veto letter
(PDF), Dayton said Minnesota already has a federally audited process
that checks the identity of new employees and whether they can be hired
under the federal mandates.
Dayton also said an audit found lots
of problems with the federal E-Verify program, showing it is vulnerable
to fraud and inaccuracy. And he noted that many, including the Minnesota
Chamber of Commerce, opposed the bill and want immigration issues to be
handled by the federal government, not the state.
Indeed, expansion of E-verify on the federal level, which would expand the program from reviewing seven percent of new hires to all new employees in America, is part of the Senate bill now under consideration. The Christian Science Monitor reports in US immigration reform: Why 'E-Verify' screenings, while flawed, will pass:
At the heart of immigration reform proposals in Congress is an idea
that’s simple in concept but very difficult in practice: keep illegal
workers from getting US jobs by conducting checkups on all the new hires at employers across America.
This idea of new-hire verification is highly popular. With 85 percent
support from the US public, it is the most strongly supported of five
basic elements of immigration reform, according to a February Gallup
poll.
But the system, known as “E-Verify,” has shown plenty of flaws as well as promise in its early years of being available (but not widely required).
The problems: Many illegal immigrants slip through the cracks and win
employment, while many legal workers face significant bureaucratic
challenges – sometimes even losing their jobs because government
databases deliver an erroneous “nonconfirmation” of their status.
Is E-Verify ready for prime time?
The short answer may be that, ready or not, here it comes. ...
Check out the details at CSM. Not all of the opposition to E-Verify comes from the left. In May, the online paper reported in Rand Paul's beef with immigration reform bill: the E-Verify system that libertarians fear that including photo-ID in E-verify is the path to a national id card:
“Many see measures contained in this bill, such as a strong E-Verify
and a ‘photo tool,’ as a means to control unlawful immigrants’ access to
unlawful employment. I worry that they go too far,” Paul wrote in the Washington Times. “I will fight to remove the photo tool from this legislation because I think it will become a national ID.”
Here's
what Paul is referring to: The Senate immigration bill contains
language that would, over the next five years, expand the nation’s
current photo database system to include all Americans, not just
foreigners and US passport holders. Employers would use photos in the
database to help validate an employee’s identity. Currently, the system
does not use photographs for identification and is rife with identity
theft, as illegal workers use stolen Social Security numbers or forged
documents to gain employment.
Dekruif also endorsed losing 2012 contender "Emo Senator" Mike Parry over Allen Quist, who trounced Parry in the Republican primary. The First Congressional District Republicans are now chaired by Quist's home county's Carol Stevenson. Bluestem suspects Stevenson will be professional in managing the endorsement process; we note her leadership only to point out the supremacy of the Quist wing of the Republican Party in the First.
Who are the others? We anticipate a clown car, as we've heard Senator Julie Rosen is once more taking a pass on this one.
Photo: Al DeKruif, the man who maybe would be Congressman, with Minnesota Viking Jared Allen at a Sheriff's Youth Benefit, via DeKruif's old senate committee website. Bluestem believes that the message on Allen's gag T-shirt riffing on a logo associated with people living with disabilities just goes to show that the Vikings can't all be Chris Kluwe. (Allen does support Homes for Wounded Warriors, so while he's not p.c., he's not a clod).
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We've taken a screenshot, which also includes a link to bare-bones Mike Benson for Congress website.
The ghost leads to an error message on the Post Bulletin site, but the existence of the website suggests that the two term Rochester-area Republican is exploring a bid.
This strikes Bluestem as odd, since the Minnesota House is up for re-election in 2014, and the swing Rochester area is fairly volatile in terms of the electorate. Benson has also proposed cigarette tax increases in the past; now that the tax was raised in the last session, the Republican caucuses are citing it as an example of DFL tax mania.
Apparently, it's another pass at a "Rochester Run" strategy, since the med city is the largest population center in the district. Walz defeated Rochester six-term representative Gil Gutknecht in 2006, trounced Rochester doctor Brian Davis in 2008, beat Hayfield Republican Randy Demmer in a close race in the 2010 Republican banner year, and handily defeated perennial candidate Allen Quist in 2012.
Benson's record is singularly undistinguished in the Minnesota house, favoring such things as the voter id and marriage amendments. He works as a professor at Crossroads College, a tiny former bible college in Rochester; there's a bio on his website but little else, not even a disclaimer with the campaign's committee name.
Last year's Farm Bill stalled in the House when Tea Party Republicans decided not feeding the poor was a winning meal ticket in the 2012 elections. That worked well for folks like Allen Quist, sent him back to his rural Nicollet County farm instead of the big hotdish contest in the Beltway.
. . .Some House Republicans, often from the rural Midwest, began proposing
putting food stamps—which make up more than 70 percent of the
Agriculture Department budget—into a separate bill. This would be a way
to reduce food-stamp spending or get the program turned over to the
states. These members seem to have forgotten that Congress created food
stamps as part of the farm bill in the 1960s, when the declining rural
population translated into fewer rural representatives in the House and
fewer votes for the farm bill, and that the number of rural
representatives continues to decline. . . .
. . . The participation in food stamps appears to remain higher than
anticipated, however, because wage rates are so low. Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack has suggested that the way to resolve the problem
is to help food-stamp beneficiaries improve their skills and get better
jobs.
Meanwhile, House Republicans press for cuts and most
Democrats resist. House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin
Peterson, D-Minn., said he has told his panel’s chairman, Rep. Frank
Lucas, R-Okla., that he wants to be part of any decision-making on
food-stamp cuts. Peterson also defended food stamps with a statement
that is sure to raise hackles in farm circles: “There is less fraud in
food stamps than in any government program. There is five times as much
fraud in crop insurance than in food stamps.”
Even an old Blue Dog can stay on point when the scent's strong even.
Leaders of congressional ag committees from both parties
seem optimistic that there will be a farm bill this year, but tough negotiating
remains, especially if committees have to trim spending even more than they did
when putting together bills in 2012. . . .
The House ag committee's ranking Democrat, Collin Peterson of Minnesota,
seems to be a strong supporter as well. But he is hearing complaints
from some of his farmer constituents about insurance not being limited
for very large farms. . . .
Just as a year ago, negotiating changes to the commodity
title of the farm bill and the spending level for the nutrition title remain
difficult.
Peterson said that more money
could be saved from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, if the
federal government and not states, determined the income level for eligibility
for what used to be called food stamps.
The federal threshold for food stamp eligibility is 130% of
the poverty level, Peterson said, but in red states, it's actually higher--200%
in North Dakota, 165% in Texas and 185% in Arizona, versus 130% in Peterson's
state of Minnesota.
"The states that you would think would use this (the
lower, federal level) are not," he said.
Peterson said he's urging his committee colleagues "we
should be looking at policy here, instead of a number."
A good point, dawg.
Photo: Minnesota Seventh District Congressman Collin Peterson.
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It's no secret any longer: the secret ingredient in Congressman Tim Walz's first place "Hermann the German" hotdish is Schell's beer, brewed in New Ulm, Minnesota. Walz's hearty meal won Senator Franken's annual Hot Dish-off today.
U.S. Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat and former comedian,
will host his third annual Capitol casserole contest today in
(appropriately) the Senate Agricultural Committee Hearing Room in
Washington.
Franken will be joined by Democrats Sen. Amy Klobuchar
and Reps. Rick Nolan, Collin Peterson, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison
and Tim Walz and Republicans Eric Paulsen and Michele Bachmann.
Franken
started the friendly competition in 2011 as a way to bring the
delegation together to put partisanship aside and celebrate a Minnesota
culinary tradition. This year’s event will be judged by former Minnesota
congressmen Vin Weber and Gerry Sikorski.
Just as the contest began, Walz press secretary Tony Ufkin tweeted:
Walz's "Hermann the German" hotdish is in place. Secret ingredient from New Ulm... pic.twitter.com/fQ8Y4h1rAc
We guessed beer and Ufkin confirmed. The secret's also out on Franken's website:
Walz's Hermann the German Hotdish
Ingredients: 1 package of brats 1 bottle Schell's beer 1 onion 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 cup of chopped celery 1 can cream of cheddar soup 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup milk 1 cups sharp cheddar cheese 1 package tater tots.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, add beer, onions and garlic powder.
Submerge the brats into the pot and reduce heat to medium and cook for
10 min. Remove and let cool. Butter the casserole dish. Combine
remaining ingredients into a separate bowl, minus the tots. Chop up the
brats into bite sized pieces and add to the other ingredients. Pour the
mixture into the casserole dish, top with tater tots and bake for 1 hour
at 350 degrees. Sprinkle with cheese for the last 10-15 mins of baking.
Photo: The hotdish prior to judging. Twitpic by Tony Ufkin.
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About $11,000--a fraction of the estimated $70,000 the primary and special elections will cost county and township governments--remains in Morrow's campaign treasury.
Dayton, Walz, Clark Johnson GOTV rally Monday
Baring blocked roads and blizzard conditions, Governor Mark Dayton and Congressman Tim Walz will stump for DFL endorsee Clark Johnson at Gustavus Adolphus College's Alumni Hall in St. Peter on Monday, February 11 at 5 p.m., the St Peter Herald reports in Rally for Clark Johnson to be held at Gustavus.
New Ulm Journal: Forums and fundraising
The candidates have met in one public forum and one two-day radio debate. Josh Moniz covers the wide-range of questions at the former in 19A candidates offer diverse, divided views. Go check it out at the New Ulm Journal.
The Journal also checked out the campaign money chase in 19A fundraising reports show divergent campaign emphasis. Johnson and Quist are nearly evenly matched in the dollar game but are spending their cash in much different ways. Read how in the Journal.
Since Moniz turned in that report, Clark Johnson's committee has taken in $2000 more in large donations, all from terminating DFL committees; the old SD 23 DFL and Linda Pfeilsticker's 2008 state house campaign each gave $500 and former DFL rival Karl Johnson's committee ccontributed $1000. SEIU's MN state council endorsed Johnson today, so it's possible an addition contribution will be posted.
None of the other candidates report new large contributions.
The ever-sharpeyed MNA New Journalist of the Year Josh Moniz just tweeted a curious observation about a press release that the Republican Party of Minnesota sent out scolding DFL voters for selecting endorsed Democratic candidate Clark Johnson in yesterday's primary for the February 12 HD 19A special election.
The Republicans didn't mention the name of their own candidate, Allen Quist.
The candidate whose campaign has had the benefit of not just one, but two fundraising emails from the extreme Gentlewoman from Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, Michele Bachmann.
Jan 29, 2013Voters in House District 19A Deserve More Than a Rubber Stamp for the Dayton Agenda
St. Paul - Republican
Party of Minnesota Chairman Pat Shortridge issued the following
statement regarding the DFL primary win by Clark Johnson in House
District 19A:
“Governor Dayton and the Twin Cities’ liberals who run the
Minnesota House of Representatives have proposed huge new taxes hikes to
pay for big increases in government spending. They are proposing new
environmental regulations that will severely hamper Minnesota
agriculture. They have already begun putting into place the ObamaCare
health insurance exchange.
We're not sure what "new environmental regulations that will severely hamper Minnesota agriculture" have been introduced in the Minnesota House. (Instead, the sort of one-sided partisan whining chronicled in House ag chairs put their heads together as Hamilton sour grapes whine tasting continues is going on. Do they mean the new drainage legislation that Rod Hamilton is a co-author of? Or are they just picking empty template out of their--ahem--coffee cups at MNGOP headquarters in St. Paul?
“Now that the field is set for the special election in House
District 19A, the question is: Do voters in Nicollet, Blue Earth and Le
Sueur Counties want a rubber stamp for this extreme agenda? Or do they
want a representative who will try to stop it and offer better solutions
based on tried and true principles?
“Voters in House District 19A have a chance to send St. Paul a loud
and clear message: Focus on economic growth and job creation instead of
passing job-killing tax hikes. Stop trying to have government direct
our economy. Stop rewarding special interest groups. Stop pandering to
liberal environmentalists who would do harm to our agriculture economy.
Yes, kids: instead vote for our extreme agenda and our candidate. But we're so not telling you his name.
Even though, unlike the phantom environmental menace the MNGOP is evoking to scare the tar out of you, he actually has a name, and it's Allen Quist. Voters in 19A may remember rejecting him in 2012 when he ran against Congressman Walz.
Only 37 percent of November's voters in HD19A voted for Quist--and it's his home turf.
“Voters in House District 19A deserve a Representative that
reflects the values of the district - responsible spending, efficient
government, and a focus on job creation. They don’t need a rubber stamp
for an extreme agenda in St Paul. On February 12, they can send a
powerful message to Mark Dayton and Paul Thissen.”
Nope, voters don't need a rubber stamp for an extreme agenda, and they can send a pwoerful message that they're sick of this rhetorical hogwash by voting for local college professor and advisor Clark Johnson.
Cartoon: Allen Quist, the Republican Party of Minnesota's Love That Dare Not Say Its Name.
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During a Debate Minnesota forum with Congressman Tim Walz at Minnesota State--Mankato during last year's campaign, Allen Quist famously repeated (until college students in the audience were lip syncing) that we must "unleash the lion" of free enterprise.
Unleashed from the phrase, "unleash the lion" became a touchstone for mirth in the race. Now that Clark Johnson has won the DFL primary with 66.29 percent of the vote, and thus the field set, Bluestem hopes that Quist will unleash the lion of his catchphrase once more.
Creative friends have drinking games devised.
Here arethe results for the primary today (for a few minutes, it looked as if St. Peter Mayor Tim Strand had scored by in Kasota, but sharp-eyed friends noted that the early totals were an exactly match for Terry Morrow's figures in 2012, and thus a reporting error; this proved to be true and Clark Johnson took the lead):
The seat, which includes all of Nicollet County and Kasota, as well as parts of Mankato, became vacate with the resignation of Terry Morrow to take a job in Chicago. The special election is Tuesday, February 12.
Image: Photoshop of Allen Quist by Ken Avidor.
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Because DFL party rules forced the endorsing convention to be held after the date for candidates to withdraw their candidacy, all four names remain on tomorrow's ballot.
Two more letters in today's Free Press support Clark Johnson; a third urges support for Karl Johnson, as a backer decides that he's not taking Karl's word for it that he no longer wants the job. All three letters are from respected area citizens.
I am supporting Clark Johnson for the House of Representatives in
District 19A. Clark Johnson will stop the borrowing from public schools
to balance our state’s budget. He would partner with the majority
seeking reason and rational solutions to a decade’s worth of budget
deficits.
Clark Johnson is committed to a four-lane Highway 14 to New Ulm. Clark Johnson would work with the majority to find solutions.
Join me and support Clark Johnson for the House of Representatives in District 19A Jan. 29 and Feb. 12.
I will vote for my longtime neighbor, Clark Johnson, the DFL-endorsed
candidate for state legislator for District 19A, in the primary Tuesday
and again in the special election Feb. 12.
Clark Johnson’s ability to listen to and connect with people would aid
him greatly in working towards his top priority, a stable economy that
recognizes the importance of agriculture and small business in our area.
His would be an articulate, thoughtful and strong voice for outstate Minnesota. Vote twice for Clark Johnson.
After Terry Morrow resigned, I was very happy to see that Karl Johnson
decided to run as a Democrat for the now open District 19A seat.
As a farmer and a small business owner, Karl Johnson would be a refreshing change for this district in St. Paul.
I was disappointed that Karl Johnson didn’t get the party endorsement. I believe they really missed the boat on this one.
If you want someone who will work to relieve the taxes and
over-regulations on small business and local government and get this
state going in the right direction again, vote for Karl Johnson.
In addition to being a veteran, McLaughlin served on the Mankato City Council in the 1990s and the Blue Earth County board from 1999 through 2010.
Update: MN HD resident and Bluestem contributor Max Hailperin has commented:
It is perhaps worth noting that two of the letter writers live in 19A,
whereas the third does not appear to. (1129 N Broad St., like most of
Mankato, is in 19B.)
Fleming and Solo live in the district, while Mclaughlin does not. [end update]
The dueling letters do not appear to be hijinks on the part of Republican or Independence Party agitators. Solo's daughter Leah was instrumental in the election of Tim Walz in 2006 and has since become a bright light in the state DFL. McLaughlin's son Mike, an Iraq War veteran, was featured in a Walz television ad last year.
The dueling letters represent an honest split on the part of their authors, however much both Johnsons want voters to pick Clark Johnson in tomorrow's primary.
A scattered wintry mix, followed by dropping temperatures, is predicted for tomorrow's primary, so turnout is likely to be light. Stay tuned.
The special election, set for February 12, was triggered by the resignation of former state representative Terry Morrow to take a job in Chicago. Morrow had run without opposition in the 2012 election.
Photo: Clark Johnson supporters prevailed at the endorsing convention; will they prevail tomorrow?
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Indeed, Golnik's hard work revived memories of Quist's underdevelopment in the minds of House District 19A in particular, where Quist drew only 37.05 percent of the vote in the general election as opposed to 42.33 percent throughout the First as a whole.
And 19A is, obviously, Quist's home house district.
With just weeks before the August primary election that will decide
who gets to take on DFL Rep. Tim Walz this fall, Parry, a state senator
from Waseca, kicked off a week-long media barrage with an email blast
pointing to a few eyebrow-raising remarks made by Quist about two
decades ago. In particular, Parry pointed to a 1994 comment from Quist
comparing a center for gays to a center for the Ku Klux Klan, a comment
about men’s “genetic predisposition” to be the heads of households, and
Quist’s comments about visiting adult bookstores (to assess the public
health conditions, he said) during his time in the House.
Quist countered that Parry was making it all up and was attacking out
of desperation, but before long Twin Cities media reporter David Brauer
jumped into the mix, digging up the tape of the interview in which
Quist made his remark about men’s leadership DNA. . . .
Team Parry is hitting the anti-Quist message hard, also criticizing
his conservative credentials for past legislative votes in favor of a
gas tax and light rail projects, Parry spokesman Ben Golnik said.
That’s not going to change in the next few weeks. “Republicans are
united around replacing elected officials,” Golnik said. “We don’t want
voters to have buyer’s remorse if Allen Quist is a candidate. If Parry
is the candidate, this race will be a referendum on Tim Walz.”
Parry says people are asking him about what Quist has said in the
past. “People are very concerned that if Allen Quist is the general
election candidate, knowing the DFL campaign machine, they will go in
for television ads and radio ads showing Allen Quist at a triple-X porn
shop, and point out the gas tax,” he said. “It will be all on him, and
he will have to respond to that.”
At least Golnik won't have to make pitches to potential fund contributors based on party purity. Bluestem will grant him that.
With a local television station, a number of local radio outlets, two daily newspapers (Mankato and New Ulm) and a weekly paper with a lively website (St. Peter Herald), there's more media for this market than most Greater Minnesota districts. Both sides' dollars are certainly welcome for rural development.
Clark Johnson campaign hits the ground at GAC
DFLer Clark Johnson was endorsed today on the fourth ballot, beating nearest rival Karl H. Johnson on a 62--38 percent split.
When the local DFL party was preparing for Saturday's nomination convention, they should have selected a bigger room.
One organizer said, "Wow, we thought there was more snow birds in our group than there are"
Special elections don't usually get a lot of attention.
Candidate Karl Johnson said, "I was very concerned we wouldn't have more than 30–40 people here."
But with long–time DFL legislator Terry Morrow leaving, and
republican candidate Allen Quist, fresh off his defeat in November's
1st–District congressional race, the DFL needs a solid candidate to keep
the seat.
Representative Kathy Brynaert said, "I think you see democracy at work here."
Minnesota state professor Clark Johnson won the popularity contest
with signs....and after 3 hours and 4 rounds of voting, he won over the
delegates too.
...Clark Johnson received 32 votes for 61 percent.
Johnson defeated North Mankato Farmer Karl Johnson, educator and union activist Robin Courrier, and St. Peter Mayor Tim Strand.
Johnson said, "We're going to make this campaign happen, you saw the
energy in this room today, people backing me and we are going to make
this happen fast by marshaling the supporters we got."
And fast he will have to be the special election will be held on
February 12th, less than a month away. Johnson said he would start
fundraising and campaigning immediately.
From the reports Bluestem is getting from the endorsing convention (we kept our sniffles at home), Clark Johnson charging ahead with an on-the-ground campaign and will be on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus on Monday.
GAC College Democrat organizer Megan Nelson posted on Facebook:
I'm excited to start campaigning for the 19A DFL endorsed candidate Clark Johnson! If you're at Gustavus on Monday for the MLK service, stop by the College Dems table outside the caf at 11:30 to meet Clark.
The February 12, 2013 special election in Minnesota House District 19A was triggered by the resignation of Representative Terry Morrow to take a job in Chicago. Morrow was unopposed in the November 2012 election. In addition to Allen Quist, endorsed IP candidate Tim Gieseke will appear on the February 12 ballot.
Because party rule cause the DFL endorsing convention to take place after the deadline for candidates to withdraw, all four DFL candidates' names will appear on the ballot in a January 29 primary. All of the other DFL candidates have agreed to suspend their campaigns in favor Clark Johnson, the endorsed candidate.
Here's KEYC-TV's coverage:
Images: Clark Johnson supporters via Facebook; Quist Crazy Quilt, by Ken Avidor; a packed house (twitpic by Eric Nelson)
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When Tim Gieseke found out about Representative Terry
Morrow's resignation, the first thing he did was call the Independence
Party. With unanimous approval, he's now running to represent District
19A under the Independence party. Gieseke says, "Change is the game on
how the people feel public policy is written and I can bring that up
there."
Read about Gieseke's positions at KEYC-TV. The CD1 party chair believes the biggest challenge for Gieseke and the IP will be turnout:
Independence Party Chair Mark Meyer says the party's number one hurdle
for this election is voter turnout. Meyer says, "We know based on our
research that people are ready and want change, but the only way to make
that change happen is to care enough to go and vote."
Readers may recognize former Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial School Board member Meyer from the 2008 contest for the Republican endorsement to run against Congressman Tim Walz. Meyer jumped in the race in January, 2007, but garnered little support.
Will Gieseke's entry make a difference in the 19A special election? Will he draw disaffected Republicans more moderate than Quist? Swing voters? Democrats? Stay tuned.
Photo: Tim Gieseke.
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Headlines during the bruising 2012 Republican Minnesota Congressional primary
contest between Allen Quist and Mike Parry revealed the rancor between
the two candidates.
Now Quist plans to bring a little ugly to tonight's Republican
endorsing contest for the open seat in Minnesota House District 19A.
Jim Golgart is a veteran and long-time officer with the Veterans
Affairs Office. He ran for the Nicollet County District 1 seat last
fall, but came in third.
He said he feels competitive because he is a common sense leader who wants to get the state's budget under control.
While working with veterans, Golgart also has an opportunity to make himself seen as a leader on veteran issues.
However,
Quist said he plans to bring up that Golgart's previous praise of 1st
District Rep. Tim Walz, the DFL congressman who defeated Quist in
2012. Golgart said he was unconcerned and was only praising Walz as a
function of his position as president of the Minnesota Association of
County Veteran Service Officers, which was awarding Walz the "Legislator
of the Year."
The award was actually from the National Association of
County Veteran Service Officers and Golgart was speaking as the state
president of the group. Bluestem had gotten a bland comment from a rader
about this in a post about Golgart's remarks This time, Quist himself
is bringing it up in the worst possible way.
Even as an old country blogger who has written a lot about Allen
Quist, we're dismayed by the Norseland farmer's lack of grace and
surfeit of partisanship about a relatively nonpartisan area of policy.
Good county veteran service officers are some of the most respected
members of rural committees, as they should be. They make sure that men
and women who served this country receive the services promised to
them.
And by all accounts, Golgart's been one of the best of them, untiring
in helping LeSueur County's veterans and speaking out to state and
federal legislators about what our country can do better. Golgart has
done this in a way that former congressional and senate staff for Walz
and Franken said they had no inkling of what his personal politics were.
Today at Soldier’s Field Veterans Memorial, Congressman Walz received
the Legislator of the Year Award from the National Association of
County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO). . . .
. . . Rep. Walz received the award in recognition of his outstanding
record in Congress working on veterans’ legislation. Walz enlisted in
the Army National Guard at the young age of 17, and retired 24 years
later as Command Sergeant Major. He is the highest ranking enlisted
soldier ever to serve in Congress and a member of the House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs.
“Congressman Walz is a soldier’s soldier,” said Jim Golgart,
President of the Minnesota Association of County Veteran Service
Officers. “Whether he is fighting for a new GI bill, fighting to make
sure that MN National Guard gets the benefits they had been promised, or
fighting to increase the mileage rate for veterans traveling long
distances to VA hospitals, Congressman Walz’s passion for helping
veterans has been unwavering.”
“This award was established about 15 years ago to honor the
Congressman or woman who the National Association of County Veterans
Service Officers felt had worked the hardest for veterans. There have
been years where no award was given because we didn’t feel it was
merited,” said James Young, President of NACVSO. “However, this year
Congressman Walz’s work clearly deserved recognition as it will help us
fulfill the obligation proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln; ‘to care
for him, who shall have borne the battle and for his widows and
orphans.’”
Golgart was doing his job as the Minnesota state president for a
national association. Walz was doing his job--working with Republicans,
Democrats, independents and a host of veterans' groups--to get veterans
what they need. Did Quist expect Golgart to say at that moment, "Jeepers, this award means nothing because I'm a Republican, and Walz stinks"?
Imagine what it would be like if conservative bono fides were
challenged nationwide when Republican members of the House Veteran
Affairs committee went to home and heard remarks from ideologues--ala
Quist--scolding them for working with that Walz fellow in that swing
district the GOP so deserves to get back?
You don't hear that. Veterans thank Representatives for working together.
Back in the 1980s, Quist peeked into a Mankato bookstore, looking for
glory holes. Now he's taking on the reputation of a devoted public
servant. And this after proclaiming his own bipartisan abilities in his press release announcing his bid for endorsement in the 19A special election.
Let's hope that the Republican delegates have enough sense to retire this clown. Enough. Quist is unfit for duty.
Cartoon: Quist is trying to return to the state capitol. His
hyper-partisan remarks about a Republican opponent's conduct as leader
of a veterans services officers organization are unacceptable. Cartoon by Ken Avidor.
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Today's New Ulm Journal and Mankato Free Press both carry news of Allen Quist's entry into the contest for Republican endorsement in the special election for Minnesota House District 19A.
His platform will focus on small business and agriculture in southern
Minnesota. He said he opposes tax increase as a solution and believes
regulations reform could have big benefit for the district and region.
He said a four-lane expansion of Hwy 14 would be important in many of
his proposals, but would not be a main platform focus.
"The irony of it is I was working on trying to get Hwy 14 funded back in the 1980s," said Quist.
He
declined to say how he would vote on a gas tax increase, but said a
fully funded state transportation system is essential to his small
business and agriculture focus.
Quist said he will also focus on the state's welfare programs and the state's education standards. . . .
. . .Quist admitted it was unusual that he was running for state office
again. He said he had thought he would retire after last year's
unsuccessful congressional race, but found he could not spend retirement
simply doing something like golfing.
Read the rest at the Journal. In a companion fact box, Moniz outlines the endorsing convention process:
The Nicollet County Republican Party has scheduled an endorsement
convention for Republican candidates in the 19A special election race
for next Thursday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m.
The convention will follow
traditional endorsement convention procedures and is open the public.
There are 160 delegates and alternates in the Republican's 19A district,
which will consist of approximately 120 primary delegates.
So
far, the only two announced Republican candidates, Allen Quist and Jim
Golgart, have said they would abide by the convention's decision.
Republican leaders in the first district have indicated they expect the
two candidates to be the only ones seeking endorsement.
In Mark Fischenich's article in the Mankato Free Press, Quist confirms he'll run for St. Peter House seat, the Norseland farmer and retired college professor notes that he may have some of an advantage at the convention, given the pool of delegates who will attend:
One thing will be constant between the Republican conventions -- a
fraction of the delegates who will do the endorsing. Quist and Parry
were actively trying to get their supporters elected during precinct
caucuses last February, and some of those Quist supporters were elected
to the county level and will be making the decision Thursday night at
the endorsing convention in Mankato Place.
He estimated about 10 percent of the 100-plus delegates Thursday will
be supporters who were also elected to the 1st District convention last
April. A much larger number will be people he's worked with in previous
campaigns for state House in the 1980s -- where he won three and lost
two -- and for governor in the 1990s.
"The endorsement, I'm quite optimistic, partly because I'm pretty well known," Quist said.
Fischenich also notes some of the downsides for Quist:
On the flip side, there's a certain degree of notoriety surrounding
Quist, who was heavily involved in social issues during his legislative
career, including leading efforts to crack down on anonymous gay sex.
Quist is also deeply conservative -- he characterized himself as "a
far-right conservative" during the April endorsing convention -- running
in a legislative district that leans Democratic.
Read the entire article at the Free Press. Bluestem also believes that if the Republicans pick Quist, Julie Quist's blaming GOP losses on college students may work to motivate students to head to the polls in a special election.
While much of the real estate in the Greater Minnesota district is beautiful farmland, the bulk of the voters live in St. Peter, North Mankato and Mankato, home to a state university, a four-year private college and a comprehensive public community college.
In this fall's congressional race against Representative Tim Walz, Quist received 37.05 percent of the votes cast, with
Walz receiving 62.76 percent. While that doesn't exactly make Quist Mr.
Popular in a presidential year, it does give him something of a base; Quist took 58.41 percent of the vote in the Republican primary against Mike Parry in August.
Governor Dayton has yet to set the date for the special election in MN HD 19A
prompted by the resignation of Rep. Terry Morrow, who ran unopposed in
the 2012 election. Morrow has taken a job with the Uniform Law Commission in Chicago.
Robin Courrier, Clark Johnson and Karl Johnson are competing for the
DFL endorsement, Tim
Gieseke plans an Independence Party bid and Jim Golgart will battle Quist
for the Republican nod. The winner will represent Nicollet County,
Kasota, and parts of Mankato.
Cartoon: Drawing by Ken Avidor. Allen Quist returns yet again to politics, using academic standards for Minnesota's K12 schools as a campaign issue. He has edited a series of teaching modules for homeschoolers that includes a unit on dinosaurs living at the same time as people.
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Blue Dog Collin Peterson is angry about the short shift farm programs got in the fiscal cliff deal. Minnesota's Land Stewardship Project, which works on local food, sustainable farming and economic justice issues in rural Minnesota, isn't pleased either.
That's a wide spectrum of ag grumpiness--although there's no sign yet that producers are ready to tractorade to DC. Yet.
Many farm groups sought changes that would have given farmers
protections, such as in the case of bad weather, while eliminating
controversial direct payments to farmers.
They didn't get them because the 2012 Farm Bill didn't get a vote in the House--although the Senate and the House Ag Committee approved it. Instead, Davis reports that the reset button was hit, and Congress has to work up a new bill. Meanwhile, the fiscal cliff deal cut out or didn't fund some important projects for conservation, new farmers and other pieces of the puzzle that help rural communities.
Farm policy takes a dramatic step backwards in the fiscal cliff deal
brokered in Congress and soon to be signed into law by President Barack
Obama. Rather than moving forward with much-needed financial and policy
reform Congress and the Administration prioritized continued excessive
commodity subsidies.
After expiration of the farm bill on October 1, 2012 and the
inability of the U.S. House to deliver a bill for conference, pressure
was on to include a farm bill extension in the ongoing fiscal cliff
deal. But along with a few other plums, what ended up being the center
point of the farm bill extension was continuation of the egregious
commodity program known as direct payments – subsidies provided to
producers with no regard for current production or market realities. The
fiscal cliff deal and all agriculture policy within it was initiated by
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Vice President Joe
Biden.
Extending direct payments was unexpected since nearly everyone in
agriculture has recognized the $5 billion a year in subsidies for this
commodity program as outdated and in need of reform. There is no logical
explanation for the extension of direct payments other than it panders
to southern commodity growers in favor with Senator McConnell.
And while wasteful commodity spending was extended, frozen out of the
late-breaking deal was virtually any support for new farmers, rural
development and even disaster aid; despite the worst drought gripping
our country in decades.
Another major failure was the decision not to remedy a funding
hang-up that will prevent farmers from using the Conservation
Stewardship Program (CSP) in the coming year. CSP is aimed at supporting
farmers who are maintaining and improving soil and water conservation
on their active farm land. The program has been popular in the Midwest
and nationally with 50 million acres now enrolled by farmers and
ranchers.
To add insult to injury, Congress gave the wealthiest Americans
increased exemption from estate taxes, a measure that is not only
fiscally imprudent, but will serve to keep more land locked up in the
hands of the heirs of large landowners and decrease new farming
opportunities.
All in all family farm agriculture loses in the fiscal cliff deal –
reverting to the policies of old and disregarding the growth areas in
this sector of our economy.
LSP continues to be committed to advancing a farm bill and
agriculture policy that provides for prosperous rural communities, a
healthy environment and more, not fewer opportunities in agriculture. In
the coming year we will renew efforts to demand reform and
accountability to wasteful and detrimental spending while supporting new
farmer and conservation provisions.
While Peterson and LSP don't always see eye-to-eye, clearly there's a lot of shared frustration over ag and rural America taking a back seat (or no seat at all) in Congress. When it comes to making cost-cutting elimination of programs like direct payments, the Senate and House Ag committees got that work done but had it disregarded, while far less costly but innovative programs that farmers and consumers want are cut or left without funding.
Urban readers: remember this the next time you blame Minnesota's farmers for direct payment subsidies. That's not what they've asked Peterson and Walz for in a farm bill.
And while Bluestem doesn't agree with all the cuts the House Ag committee made in the now-moribund 2012 Farm Bill, Peterson does have a point here:
The ag committee cut $35 billion in the bill it passed, but House
leaders never allowed the full body to consider. That cut was sought by
top Republicans, but Peterson said other committees did not comply by
finding cuts in their parts of the budget.
“The committees that were irresponsible and didn’t do their work got
what they wanted, and the Agriculture Committee got screwed,” Peterson
said. “It is a little hard for me to swallow.”
Hard not to be grumpy about that.
Photo: We're all Grumpy Cat now.
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National Farmers Union's government relations staff has posted a Fiscal Cliff/Farm Bill Extension Update that illustrates some of the reasons for the vulgar language flowing from the lips of MN Seventh District Congressman Collin Peterson.
Turning to the ways in which the compromise will affect rural Minnesota, Bluestem is pleased with some provisions like the extension of the wind energy production tax credit, but not so happy to read about developments like these on the nine-month extension of the Farm Bill:
The provisions included in the fiscal cliff deal were not a straight
extension of the 2008 bill, and the legislation provides no mandatory
funding for the energy title, specialty crop and organic provisions, and
beginning farmer and rancher programs, among others.
Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota Farmers Union and the Minnesota Farm Bureau have all worked for beginning farmer and rancher programs. With the aging of the state's farmers and high economic barriers to entering agriculture like the price of land and equipment (even for smaller operations), the programs are growing in importances for producers and consumers.
Late last night the House of Representatives passed Senate-negotiated fiscal cliff compromise legislation, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8 ),
sending the bill to the president’s desk and finally putting to rest
the negotiations that had dominated the lame duck session of the 112th
Congress. The Senate had previously passed the legislation in the early
morning hours of Jan. 1.
Included in the legislation was a one-year extension of the 2008 Farm
Bill, in addition to numerous provisions reauthorizing various expiring
tax rates and credits. The final extension was a great disappointment.
Congress had every opportunity to pass a new five-year farm bill by the
end of the year but chose instead to ignore its rural constituents. In
addition, the extension that was finally included in the fiscal cliff
bill was not the version drafted by the chairs of the House and Senate
Agriculture Committees, but one that was developed by Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., without input from agriculture leaders.
Lovely. Forum Communications' Ag Week has more in Bad step for ag?
Photo: Western Minnesota cattle farmer and LSP staffer Terry VanderPol explains dirt to new farmers. It's soil science, people.
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While Minnesota's U.S. Senators and the Democrats on the House Ag Committee argued throughout the summer and fall for the need to pass a new Farm Bill,many of Bluestem's friends didn't pay much attention to their warnings.
That is, until they realized one consequence might be outrageously priced milk.
It's not them, Bluestem must admit. It's the complexity of a bill that deals with food, from farm to fork, that got mired in what Tea Party Republicans in the House of Representatives thought was a winning message about SNAP, or food stamps. While that narrative of "takers" didn't pan out in November, the GOP still controls the House, and the bill, approved by the Senate and the House Ag Committee, languished without coming to the floor.
The deal only prolongs the 2012 saga over farm programs. The Senate
and House Agriculture committee in 2012 both passed five-year bills to
replace the 2008 farm bill. While differences remained over how southern
crops were treated and how much food-stamp benefits were to be cut, a
compromise long appeared at hand. The deal guarantees that those
five-year bills are dead and lawmakers will have to start over again
once the new Congress convenes Thursday.
The deal simply extends the 2008 farm bill, which expired Sept. 30, for one year.
Efforts
to craft a new farm bill will in turn be affected by the
debt-ceiling-sequester-continuing-resolution-tax-reform mess that is
coming in late winter and spring.
Extending the old bill--without reforms either the Senate or House versions--is more expensive than passing those versions, but would have left less for House Republicans to bicker about.
One proposed House Republican version on the dairy extension already causes the bickerfest to go on at the expense of farmers, Bloomberg Businessweek's Derek Wallbank reports in Budget Deal Add-On Would Stop U.S. Milk Prices Doubling:
House and Senate agriculture committee leaders said they backed a
different one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill. Representative
Collin Peterson of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture
Committee, said he would oppose the short- term dairy-only bill if it’s
brought to the floor, calling a one-month extension measure a “cruel
joke” on American farmers.
The Senate "fiscal cliff" bill may be no gift for farmers in the Upper Midwest either, if David Rogers' report in Politico is to be believed.
The giant New Year’s tax package rushed through the Senate Tuesday
morning includes a nine-month farm bill extension that forestalls ill, even some of Bluestem's best informed friends didn't start paying attention.any
immediate spike in milk prices but also represents a bitter blow for
farmers who had hoped for long-sought changes in the dairy support
program.
In the final hours, Senate Agriculture Committee
Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) found herself pushed aside in favor
of legislative language generated by the office of Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a bit player and frequent “no” vote when the
Senate adopted a more comprehensive five-year farm bill last June.
The upshot is a victory for Southern agricultural interests with the
greatest stake in a costly system of direct cash payments to often
already profitable producers. In the dairy arena, giant processors like
Dean Foods Co. come out ahead while the outcome is a major blow for the
National Milk Producers Federation, which watched with disbelief from
the sidelines on New Year’s Eve.
“The deal is blatantly anti-reform,” said Ferd Hoefner, policy direct
for the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “Many smaller, targeted
programs to fund farm and food system reform and rural jobs…were left
out completely.”
“The message is unmistakable - direct commodity subsidies, despite
high market prices, are sacrosanct, while the rest of agriculture and
the rest of rural America can simply drop dead.”
The impact in the House is still unclear.
Coming into Tuesday, Republicans were scheduled to bring up their own
short-term solution to the milk crisis . . .
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the top Democrat on the House
Agriculture Committee, had warned the White House that it must tread
carefully on the dairy and farm bills issues or risk a backlash. But at
this stage, given the size of the Senate vote, milk producers risk being
swept away with the tax cut surge.
Beyond dairy, the outcome is a wake-up call to the entire farm lobby
of its weakened political standing in Washington and need to avoid so
much infighting.
Update: The Politico story has been revised to include the reaction of Peterson to the passage of the bill, which he voted against:
“Upset is an understatement,” Peterson told POLITICO. “I’m not going
to talk with those guys. I’m done with them for the next four years.
They are on their own. They don’t give a sh-it. about me, anyway.”
“This is crazy, “ Peterson said of the tax package itself. “The farm
bill is one thing, but there’s just no way I’m going to add $4 trillion
to the deficit. … We’re not doing anything. We’re making it worse.”
In Minnesota, farm groups from across the production and political spectrum had urged the House to pass the 2012 Farm Bill (the Senate bill had already been approved) to no avail. However, a least one farm leader called for the passage of the nine-month extension so that farmers, processors and consumers would have some measure of certainty.
"With Congress at an impasse, a
nine-month extension may be the only path to a five-year farm bill in
the new Congress,” said Doug Peterson, MFU President. “An extension must
be responsible and protect baseline
funding and continue vital farm and consumer programs such as the Milk
Income Loss Contract Program (MILC), crop insurance, child and elderly
nutrition, and conservation.”
Since Minnesota has so far been spared the worst of the nation's drought, agriculture has remained a bright spot in the state's economy. In December, CBS Minnesota reported that Minnesota Agricultural Exports Hit Record $6.8B for 2011.
Photo: Farming in Minnesota.
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Now the media is widely reporting a consequence of the Republican leadership's inability to bring the Farm Bill to the floor: the return of the Agricultural Act of 1949. This will be a disaster for both milk drinkers and producers. Back in September, Collin Peterson to Julie Rovner of National Public Radio:
"At that point, we'll have $38 milk," Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.,
told a rally at the Capitol last week. "So what do you dairy farmers
think about that?" (That $38 refers to the price per 100 pound weight —
the wholesale pricing unit. Basically, it works out to nearly four times
what dairy farmers are guaranteed now.)
That's a temporary boon. As a Southeastern Minnesota dairy farmer told Winona Daily News reporter Nathan Hansen in US heading toward a ‘dairy cliff’:
Shelly DePestel, partner at Daley Farms near Lewiston, Minn., said
the increased price levels wouldn’t be good for dairy farmers if it
disproportionally impacts consumers.
“If the support price
doubles, consumers are going to feel the brunt of that,” she said.
“Consumption will go down and the price will also go down. It’s a
vicious circle, that won’t take care of itself.”
But farmers still shudder at the thought of any prospect, even
remote, of reverting to an old system under which milk could surge to $6
a gallon.
The Agricultural Act of 1949 contains the basic
provisions for setting milk prices. The act is superseded every time a
new farm bill is passed, but if no new bill or extension is passed the
old act goes back into effect.
That law includes a mechanism
for guaranteeing a minimum milk price that covers producers’ costs. The
government guarantees to buy their milk products at that price, but
producers can usually do better selling on the consumer market. But if
the old mechanism were applied to current market conditions, the
government price could be double the current rate, industry officials
say. Farmers would sell their dairy products to the government instead
of the private market and store prices would surge. Then prices might
collapse as the government eventually sold its dairy stockpiles.
“I certainly feel like I have been screaming into the wind for months
now,” said Rep. Tim Walz. “This thing has been done, passed out of the
Senate with almost a two-thirds majority. Just like so many other
things, it’s just kick the can down the road.”
It's hard to fault Walz for his anger. Passing a Farm Bill was a big issue in the First Congressional District contest between Walz and Republican opponent Allen Quist, who blamed the food assistance title in the bill for everything from America's divorce rate to single ladies voting for Democrats (seriously).
Voters and ag leaders rejected Quist, signaling they want Congress to quit dawdling. Sadly, it looks like Boehner, Cantor and company will continue to dawdle until the cows come home--and head to the auction barn as the dairy industry suffers.
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Politico reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has tapped Minnesota First District congressman Tim Walz to run its Frontline Program, "which provides support for vulnerable incumbents," but that nod of approval from DC isn't stopping him from loitering in local grocery stores with his constituents.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Thursday
its leaders for the 2014 election cycle, handing top slots to Maryland
Rep. Donna Edwards and Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz.
DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) appointed Edwards to oversee
recruiting for House Democrats and Waltz [sic] to manage the Frontline
Program, which provides support for vulnerable incumbents.
Meanwhile, back in the pastoral winter wonderland of Southern Minnesota, Walz plans to hang out at a Hyvee grocery store in his hometown of Mankato tomorrow, the Owatonna People's Press reports:
[walz] will host a “Congress on Your Corner”
event 10:30 a.m. – noon. Friday, Dec. 14 at Hy-Vee – Hilltop, 2010 Adams
Street in Mankato to hear directly from southern Minnesotans.
“Hearing the thoughts and ideas of southern Minnesotans is the
cornerstone of our representative democracy. I am looking forward to the
opportunity to hear from folks,” said Walz.
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Looking to break the “fiscal cliff” gridlock, House Democrats are attempting to use a “discharge petition,” a little-known procedural move, to get around Speaker John A. Boehner
and force a House vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts for everyone
except individuals making $200,000 and more and couples making $250,000.
Such a vote would give Republicans who want to abandon the speaker and the GOP “no-higher-tax-rates” position a chance to buck party leaders and cut their own deal with Democrats to avert the “fiscal cliff” — the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that will take effect in January.
No Republicans have signed or said they would sign the petition, but Democrats are optimistic they can find more than two dozen GOP lawmakers needed to send the stalled bill to the floor for a vote — especially if negotiations between the president and Mr. Boehner remain stalled.
Walz asked his colleagues again today to sign the petition, and this time, he's really pissed--on behalf of Americans who are tired to watching what he calls "kabuki" while nothing gets done.
Here's his speech today (transcript followed by video):
“Mr. Speaker, my discharge petition at the desk is really an approach that the American people spoke loudly in. Every single one of us just came through an election and the message was abundantly clear to me. Why do you continue to bicker? Why do you continue to stand on the floor and make these ridiculous kabuki dance statements with one another, when it shouldn't be that difficult?
“We came out of a Constitutional Convention, and when they asked James Madison what the secret to this new government was; compromise, compromise, compromise. Mr. Speaker, to sit here and do what we're doing, not bringing this forward and releasing the tension on the middle class, making sure the economy knows there's stability amongst taxes, is holding our economy back, and to be very honest it's insulting to the American people.
“This is a nation that won two world wars. This is a nation that split the atom. This is a nation that put a man on the moon. This is a nation sending pictures back from mars and curiosity. You know what? Sign the discharge petition, bring it to the floor, get 435 votes, put it online for 24 hours, send it to the president and by three o’clock tomorrow a big chunk of the fiscal cliff is done.
“Don’t insult the people with things that aren't true, don't tell them that it's not about compromise, and don't sit here and pretend like we're working when we're not. They know better, they're smarter, they deserve better.
“Bring the discharge petition to the floor, allow Members to vote for it, give the American people what they want; stability and a Congress that works, and let's move on to other pressing issues. I yield back.”
Photo: Tim Walz.
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Since his surprise upset of Gil Gutknecht in 2006, Congressman Tim Walz's candidate committee has filed post-election reports that show slender balances and some unpaid bills after vigorous campaigns in the swing district.
At the same time in the 2009-2010 cycle (amended report)--a Republican wave year during which the Mankato Democrat squeaked out a win over Hayfield's Randy Demmer--Walz enjoyed a cash balance of $23,083.12 with $35,976.83 in unpaid bills. These oblligations were paid by the end of June, 2011, when Walz had $397,556.54 cash on hand.
After Walz's freshman year, he blew Republican Brian Davis out of the water, but closed the campaign with $59,965.27 in bank and no debt, according to the committee's 2008 post-general report.
Walz went for broke in the 2006 upset, reporting $18,759.90 in debts and a $-17568.33 cash balance in an amended filing. All debts were paid and the committee had $452,881.45 by the end of June 2007 in anticipation of what was anticipated to be a close race in 2008.
Quist and Parry reports
Allen Quist's post-election report reveals that the Norseland farmer came nowhere living up to his endorsing convention promise to commit $1 million of his own money to the campaign. Quist gave $205,000.00 to his campaign during the cycle, while lending the committee $315,000.00. Outside of self-funding, the Quist for Congress committee raised $101,214.50 from individual, $4,100.00 from party committees and $14,600.00 from PACs for the cycle.
Quist's primary challenger Mike Parry--who jumped into the race last year with more fanfare and the assistance of then top Minnesota Republican operatives Michael Brodkorb and Ben Golnik--reports having $-1109.85 COH and no debt. The Parry for Congress raised a net $114,560.10 in contributions.
Photos: Tim Walz (top); Emo Senator Mike Parry (bottom; photoshop by Tild).
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader
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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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