Bluestem Prairie

Some facts MN conservatives can't ignore: Laura Brod's August 2010 salute to Tea Party Patriots

There's been much appreciative murmuring--much of it on the left--for Some facts Minnesota conservatives can't ignore, a piece co-authored by Norm Coleman and current U of M Regent/former Minnesota state representative Laura Brod (R-Once Upon A Time In New Prague). 

Here's some of the wisdom Coleman and Brod shared in their manifesto in the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Conservatives need to accept that Minnesotans are not anti-government. They believe that government has a legitimate role to play in Minnesota. . . .

The Minnesota GOP, and conservative candidates, will continue to lose ground with Minnesotans unless we dramatically change our level of empathy towards the people we seek to support.

The fact is, Minnesotans want a social safety net to support those who may need help from time to time. Republicans shouldn't be seen as attempting to dismantle the social safety net, but working to make it more efficient, effective and truly capable of helping those who can get on their feet, and do so with compassion.

Minnesotans support business and job creation, but they believe that Republicans have become too concerned with defending the wealthy and corporate interests at the expense of workers and small businesses.

While in reality this may not be accurate, perception is reality. We should not support positions that are not only unattainable, but unsupportable by a majority of Minnesotans.

Listening to Minnesotans when they tell us they support a certain level of government that is efficient and effective should not be met with calls by conservatives to dismantle government and eliminate agencies simply for the sake of downsizing without drawing out the argument to focus on the trade-offs if we do not act. . . .

Conservatism intent on focusing on economic issues, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government, ensuring that those who most need help in our society are able to have the support they need while still standing firm on their principles with regard to social issues, will gain support and trust from Minnesota voters.  . . .

Laura Brod delivered a slightly different message to the Southwest Metro Tea Party Patriot (SMTPP) multitudes gathered at the Chanhassen Rec Center on August 16, 2010 when she appeared on a double bill with right radio talker Sue Jeffers. 

Brod seems to be modeling herself off of Coleman's earlier example, although she's pulling leftward after her courtship of the Tea Party, whereas Coleman veered right, ambitiously switching parties in the 1990s.

The SMTPP has removed videos from that time; fortunately, a clip of Brod's chat remains on her old Laura Brod House District 25  Youtube channel (hat-tip to Ken Avidor at Dump Bachmann). Brod led in with an anecdote drawn from a Tom Emmer fundraiser (Brod was an Emmer endorser in January 2010), then praises the conversative bedrock that she will conclude make the Tea Party the faction of ideas.

Some select excerpts:

We have such a tremendous opportunity as conservatives. You know you guys are feared, don't you? Look  around you. You're scary. And that's exciting, because that means that the liberal left understands the value of this movement. They understand the power of this movement and it's not because you're scary people,  it's because you speak scary things called common sense.

Now the liberals don't like common sense. They didn't like it way back when, they don't like it today, because they would like to have their reality, they would like to have their "interpretation" of the Constitution, they would like to have their "interpretation" of where we have to go as a country, but it's  actually quite simple. Life. Liberty. Property (or the pursuit of happiness).

Nevermind that those items are in the Declaration of Independence. She is being simple and this is "common sense" after all. She continues:

Limited government, lower taxes,  that works. And people understand it. . . .

And that's a scary message to the liberals, because they want everybody to be victims. This victimology that we have out there from the left tells you as an individual that, you know what, you could be better if only the government would help you.  You really could, you know that don't you, right?

But the fact is that people are rejecting that, you are rejecting that because you're here tonight, and the left and their media allies like to say that the Tea Party is this or the tea party is that,. . .it's a fiscal call to arms that we have in this country and in this state . . .

Later Brod talks about making tough choices and buckling down on spending. Granted she doesn't claim to be willing to take it out of the hide of the "victims," but she doesn't bring up any other target it her 2010 talk.

Ah, but times have changed! No long an Empress of Emmerism, the Pythoness of New Prague is the Emissary of Empathy, as genuine as Norm Coleman's teeth--though certainly far more charming.

Here's the video;  the "scary" talk begins around 1:30:

Photo: Laura Brod, addressing the Southwest Metro Tea Party Patriots in Chanhassen, 2010.

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At GOP rally, SD24 candidate Swedin calls DFLers "rats," Nov. "Rodent Removal Month"

There's nothing like an old-fashioned political rally, featuring failed 2010 gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, Senate Majority Leader wannabe David Hann and former congressman Gil Gutknecht, to get the Steele County Republicans going.

Then there's the local talent.

Owatonna People's Press staff writer Ashley Stewart reports in Republicans rally in Steele County to show support that Senate District 24 Republican candidate Vern Swedin has mastered the art of exterminationist rhetoric. Stewart writes:

The message for changing the course of those representing the state and the country continued throughout the rest of the rally.

Swedin made those in attendance laugh with his “spelling lesson.”

“The last four letters American is ‘I can.’ The last four letters in Republican is ‘I can.’ The last four letters of Democrats are ‘rats,’ and remember November is Rodent Removal Month,” he said.

Steve Swiggum, Minnesota Senate communications director, said what is ahead of the country is a lot better than what is behind it if Republicans dominate this year’s elections.

“There’s something better coming for this state and this country, folks. There is,” Swiggum said. . . .

Swedin usually isn't such a hyper-partisan kidder--at least not while out in public among nonpartisan crowds.

Update: it looks like Swedin--original thinker that he is--borrowed his rhetoric from a "joke" making the rounds on the innertubes. This stroke of genius puts him in the Mary Franson School of Deep Thinking. [end update].

Take his campaign webpage, for instance. On the front page, in the Vern Swedin Radio Spot, there's this:

This is Vern Swedin, your "first things first" candidate for the open District 24 Senate seat in Southern Minnesota.  As your next State Senator, I want to help put truth back into politics, hold leaders accountable to hear and represent their people and to work across partisan lines to accomplish meaningful initiatives for our state.

. . .And the truth is that I will not engage in attacking my opponents or their party.  I am committed to cooperation, understanding and working together across party lines to focus on human need, not political gain.

Surely, that starts with calling one's opponents "rats" and calling the election part of "Rodent Removal Month."

Swedin's remarks are in response to a radio spot produced and paid for as an independent expenditure by the Alliance for a Better Minnesota.

And then there's the letter from supporter Larry Tindall, "Honesty In Politics - Part 1," which states in part:

If "we the people" understand how this daily process works, why do so many of our aspiring leaders appear to have sold their integrity for a party endorsement?  Why do they and their parties seem more engaged in burying their opponent at all costs, than in honestly displaying their own core values and effective solutions?  People of heroic quality simply don't have a personal need to attack the opposing side.

At least not most of the time.

And it's not just on his website. Earlier in the month, Mankato Free Press veteran political reporter Mark Fischenich  wrote in District 24: Jensen, Swedin seek Parry’s Senate seat:

While he might share some policy positions with the Republican senator he hopes to succeed, Swedin said he would bring a different style to the Capitol. And he’s confident that senators from all political perspectives can share one goal.

“I don’t like to be adversarial,” he said. “... We have to make sure our 67 senators are focused on the same priority — good-paying local jobs.”

This week, Minnesota's voters learned from Ousted GOP insider Brodkorb: Marriage amendment about votes, not values:

Ousted state Senate Republican insider Michael Brodkorb says GOP leaders put the proposed marriage amendment on the Minnesota ballot this fall not to protect family values but to drive social conservatives to the polls. . . .

In an interview Tuesday, Oct. 16, Brodkorb said that when Republicans took control of the Legislature two years ago, leaders discussed how to ensure high conservative voter turnout in 2012 so they could retain the majority. . . .

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, said Brodkorb's assessment rings true.

Dibble, who is gay, said several GOP senators told him they voted for the amendment for political reasons, not personal beliefs, and some even asked for his forgiveness.

"They have violated their own conscience for political reasons while claiming to be standing on principle," Dibble said. . . .

Proclaiming one value in public while violating it elsewhere for political reasons? Sounds like Swedin will fit right in with that crowd.

Photo: Vern Swedin, present master of exterminationist rhetoric. At least among friends.

Related post: UPDATED! Third GOP Jensen mailing, ABM radio ad dishing Swedin's business record raises rancor in SD24

Count Them All Properly board chair Mary Igo learned about new CEO from reading Bluestem

Bluestem hadn't waded through all the depositions attached to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's ruling on Minnesota Common Cause's complaint about the MNGOP and Count Them All Properly, Inc. (CTAP), when a young writer drew our attention to a passage in CTAP board chair Mary Igo's statement.

The passage begins at the point when CFPDB executive director Gary Golbsmith asked the St. Paul Republican activist what she learned about CEOs on the shell corporation's listing at the Secretary of State's business records section:

Q: . . .First of all, tell me what you learned about Mr. Schroeder's being listed as CEO.

A: I don't know anything about Mr. Schroeder. And, actually, the first time I became aware of it was when

--THE WITNESS: John, I think you forwarded me the article from Blue Stream or something in Southern Minnesota that listed those two.

MR. GILMORE: Blue Stem Prairie.

THE WITNESS: Blue Stem Prairie. And I didn't know either of those names. I asked Dan if he knew those names and he didn't. I had changed the legal representative, I believe it was like December something. And at that time the Secretary of State's website had a notation on there of, how do you like our new format; you can now see the CEO and other people on the forms. I didn't realize you couldn't see it before.

The post that blogger John Gilmore--Igo's legal counsel during the deposition--forwarded to the Deponent is Sutton's secretive slush fund, Count Them All Properly, Inc., changes management.

This surprise provokes a couple of reflections. First, we are happy to have been of service and to learn that keeping an eye on the slush fund was helpful to someone. Second, that people of all political persuasions read Bluestem.

Third: was Mr. Gilmore acting as Mary Igo's friend or was he acting as her attorney (or a Count Them All Properly Inc lawyer) when he forwarded the article? If he was her/CTAP's lawyer, when did he begin working in that position?

If Bluestem recalls correctly, Gilmore has echoed Michael Brodkorb,  blaming Tom Emmer for the problems surrounding the recount, as have most Progressive bloggers to varying degrees. Reading the deposits and Cyndy Brucato's Stung by fines and ruling, Minnesota GOP tries to regroup in MinnPost this morning suggests that, however one might not like Mr. Emmer's politics, failed burrito baron Tony Sutton is now far more on the hook for the party's financial woes than the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate who ended up paying many of the party's county recount bills:

With the party’s new leadership, it’s time to move forward, [Emmer] said, because “who are you going to punish?”

“Tony Sutton,” responds a chorus of Republican activists, new and old – and the campaign finance board agreed. Although it placed some of the blame for the party’s sloppy financial reporting on its former treasurer, David Sturrock, the board named the former chair as the ultimate responsible party. Sutton alone received a personal fine.

Photoshopped : Tony Sutton's Bank of the MNGOP peso bill, by Tild.

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

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

Spectre of failed burrito baron haunts GOP as authorities scrutinize Count Them All Properly

That's some funny money: failed burrito baron, MNGOP, shell corp fined big time for recount

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That's some funny money: failed burrito baron, MNGOP, shell corp fined big time for recount

As early as December 3, 2010, Bluestem posted about the troubles the Republican Party was having paying counties for recount costs. And while other bloggers pointed the finger at unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer as the cad, Bluestem leaned toward the hijacking of the recount by Sutton and Brodkorb:

It's looking more and more that failed taco lord  and MNGOP chair Tony Sutton runs the party's recount    much like he's run his ailing franchise restaurant empire.

Last night in Recount Investigation: Calculating Another Cost, KEYC Fox reported:

County Auditors have been busy this week recounting election night ballots...but they've also been working hard to finish an even tougher task.Both political parties involved in the recount are asking counties for copies of data practices and election documents. . . .

The deets may bedevil the MNGOP in public opinion (ellipses in the original copy; I've divided the copy into visual paragraphs for readibility):

Bridgette Kennedy, Nicollet County Auditor say, "Staff has been stretched really thin and I don't say that only for Nicollet County but I know that's across the state, everybody's in the same boat.

That's because every county in the state was contacted by the Republican Party the day after the election and asked to produce a long list of election documents...Documents that were also requested by DFLers a week later. . .

As the months wore on, honest Republicans told us to look more at Count Them All Properly, a Republican shell committee set up by Sutton to handle the recount costs. Indeed, by July 2011, we asked Did Emmer finish paying party's bills? MNGOP to pay failed burrito baron $100,000 salary and on January 2, 2012, we noted that Sutton's secretive slush fund, Count Them All Properly, Inc., changes management.

We weren't the only ones watching, and fortunately, Common Cause Minnesota acted on the growing clouds of smoke that might well mean fire:

On January 4, 2012, the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board received a complaint from Common Cause Minnesota (CCM) signed by Mike Dean, its Executive Director, regarding the Republican Party of Minnesota (RPM). Although not specifically identified as respondents, the complaint also made allegations that, if true, could result in statutory violations by Mr. David Sturrock, RPM treasurer, Count Them All Properly, Inc., a Minnesota corporation (CTAP), Mr. Dan Puhl, incorporator of CTAP, Mr. Tony Sutton, former RPM Chairman, and others.

The findings of the investigation that complaint triggered are online here and the supporting evidence here.

For the short skinny: news reports. Writing for Politics in Minnesota, Brianna Bierschbach reports in MN GOP on the hook for recount debts, Sutton and party fined:

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board has found that the Republican Party of Minnesota is responsible for nearly $600,000 in legal fees accrued during the 2010 gubernatorial recount and has fined the party $27,000 and former party Chairman Tony Sutton $3,000 for failure to properly report to the board. . . .

The board found that instead of operating recount activities through the corporation, Sutton worked through the state party, thus putting current leadership and members on the hook for the fees.

“Mr. Sutton’s recollection and understanding of the events concerning his retention of counsel to assist with the recount was contradicted by each of the attorneys that he hired,” the report said. “All three lawyers testified that they understood they were working for the RPM. Mr. Sutton alone suggests that the lawyers understood that they would be or were working for an independent entity. In fact, after [Count Them All Properly] was formed, the law firm of Trimble and Associates had Mr. Sutton sign a guaranty agreement confirming that the RPM was responsible for its fees.” . . .

At MPR, political reporter Tom Scheck writes in Minn. GOP, former chairman face fines over recount:

Minnesota Campaign Finance Board Executive Director Gary Goldsmith said the board found that the recount effort was conducted by the party and funding for it should have been disclosed.

"Minnesota statutes prohibit routing a contribution through some other entity for the benefit of yet a third, namely the Republican Party, for the purpose of avoiding disclosure," Godlsmith said. "And the board concluded that that is what in fact what Mr. Sutton had done in this case, and by extension the Republican Party."

Both Bierschbach and Scheck note that Sutton could face criminal charges if a county attorney decides to pursue the matter.

Scheck notes that over at Dispatches from the Trenches, Sutton's blog, the failed burrito baron continues to dig.

Bluestem will have more after we've had a chance to fully savor the documents. Kudoes to Mike Dean and Common Cause Minnesota for their watchdog role in this sad chapter of Minnesota political history.

Image: Tony Sutton's funny money, by Tild.

July 2012 Sixth Anniversary Bleg Notice: Like what you're reading on this blog? Help support an independent voice from Greater Minnesota:

Please consider using the paypal button above (checks accepted; email for my snail mail address) or something from my modest wish list (mostly coffee and cat treats).

The blegathon will run through July.

Thank you

Sally Jo Sorensen
Editor and Proprietor

Will Tom Emmer put Ralph Reed's badger field-blessed voter contact program in play in MN?

A longform investigation by Alternet's Washington correspondent Adele M Stan, Religious Right's Ralph Reed Field-Tests Plan for Beating Obama, takes an in-depth look at the "steroids" Reed promised he'd put his 21st-century Christian Coalition on.

The field-test was Wisconsin and the numbers for the voter contact micro-targeting campaign that Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition contracted out to  "Millennium Marketing, a division of Century Strategies, a political consulting firm whose CEO happens to be Ralph Reed," Stan reports.

 Minnesota's Faith and Freedom Coalition is chaired by Tom Emmer; its last news release applauds the Wisconsin recall results.

In a release announcing Emmer's role as chairman early last December, the MFFC noted that the effects of taxes on families and small businesses would form the focus of its voter education effort:

The Minnesota Faith & Freedom Coalition is committed to educating voters on how new tax increases would impact family budgets as well as the bottom-line of small businesses. Minnesota FFC seeks to empower voters to express their views about what is best for Minnesota families at every level of government. The Minnesota Faith & Freedom Coalition believes strongly that Minnesota state legislators should hear from their constituents who are closest to the grassroots; not from the bullhorns of special interest groups and public employee unions.

Field tested blessings in Wisconsin

According to the Stan article, much of the education field tested in the Wisconsin recall deployed social media tools, though the "voter education" went far beyond taxation:

Furr explained how he targeted somewhere between 17,000 - 20,000 conservative Wisconsin voters for text messages on the recall that included a link to the Faith and Freedom Coalition voter guide -- a link that was opened by 30 percent of those who received the text message. (See graphic, taken from Millennium Marketing's promotional packet, here.) Like the Christian Coalition voter guides of yore, the FFC guides list a number of deceptively framed issues in a table format, with the name and photo of its preferred candidate (in this case, Scott Walker) topping a red column noting whether the candidate "SUPPORTS" or "OPPOSES" those rhetorically presented positions. A photo of the opposition's candidate (Tom Barrett, of course) tops a blue column.

Faith and Freedom Coalition's guide for the gubernatorial recall election listed six issues: "abortion on demand," "parental choice in education," "taxpayer-funded abortion," "same-sex marriage," "eliminating the death tax," and "opposes any new taxes on Wisconsin families."

Text messages, Furr explained, are an especially effective means of communicating in elections, because, unlike e-mails or snail-mail appeals, they are almost always opened by recipients.

Nonetheless, Furr also ran an e-mail program for FFC in Wisconsin. One effort of which he is most proud is the targeting of conservative small-business executives. Furr said his firm collected more than 51,000 e-mail addresses in that target group, and of those targeted, only 43 individuals opted out of receiving future e-mails.

Furr also lauded the fundraising effectiveness of text messaging, especially when combined with micro-targeting. As an example, he said he could reach into databases and filter for Catholics who gave to particular charities or causes. Then he could solicit donations for the Faith and Freedom Coalition by text message through a link that immediately generated a thank-you message to the donor -- all for a mere 50-cent transaction fee. If an organization that raised funds this way wanted to do follow-up thank-you calls, that could be added to the package for a low rate of 7.5 percent of the donation, and a call center would handle the task.

Tom Emmer's second chance at making Wisconsin look like a poor ugly stepchild?

While the state of Minnesota seems solidly in the Obama column--and already buried by the avalanche coming in Senator Klobuchar's timid landslide--it might seem that investing in the Emmer-chaired operation would offer little return on investment of fat-cat dollars.

Except for those two amendments to the state constitution and the security of the Brodkorbian holy grail, control of both houses of the Minnesota legislature. And while Bordkorb, like Lancelot, may have lost his luster by porking the lady of the castle, the cup of control is no doubt still prized by the faith and freedom crowd. After all, there's that union-busting amendment waiting, sword in hand, beneath the 10,000 lakes.

For Reed, there's the green, as well as the grail. Stan writes:

For Reed, however, there's likely another prize to collect, win or lose. It may be wrapped up in the old Red, White and Blue, but this prize comes in a distinctive shade of green. AlterNet learned that, in order to identify and make its 600,000 voter contacts in Wisconsin -- many of them by text messaging and e-mail subscriptions -- Faith and Freedom Coalition contracted with Millennium Marketing, a division of Century Strategies, a political consulting firm whose CEO happens to be Ralph Reed.

AlterNet contacted Billy Kirkland, FFC's national field director, by phone on June 29 to inquire about FFC's use of Millennium. "We did use them and they were a big help in Wisconsin," Kirkland said. "It was one of those things where any time you can use a new technology to reach voters and educate voters on issues that are important to them -- we're trying to be on the forefront of that, so I'd be more than happy to respond by e-mail, but I've got a 4:00 [meeting] I've got to walk into."

So I e-mailed him a few questions, including: "How much did FFC pay Millennium Marketing for what appears to be a broad array of services provided in the campaign against the Wisconsin recall?" At press time, he had yet to respond.

How much was spent? The national Faith and Freedom Coalition doesn't have to disclose its spending, Stan reports:

To billionaires willing to stake nice little chunks of their fortunes on the outcome of the 2012 races -- presidential, Senate and gubernatorial -- a little greasing of Ralph Reed's palm could be deemed a small price to pay, especially when they can launder their contributions, without fear of disclosure, through Faith and Freedom Coalition, a 501(c)(4) non-profit under the U.S. tax code. This type of organization is not required to disclose its donors to the general public. However untoward, none of this is illegal -- not the contracting of Reed's own for-profit firm by the non-profit he runs, not the undisclosed sums from undisclosed donors that help to get carefully profiled voters to the polls.

Faith and freedom isn't free but the price may be undisclosed

How much will Minnesota Faith and Freedom Coalition spend on voter education?

We may never know. As of now, the MFFC isn't registered as a political action committee with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The name was registered as a Minnesota non-profit with the state Secretary of State in August 2010; the address in the filing is a condo in Eden Prairie. The organization is not in the searchable database of Minnesota charities online at the Minnesota Attorney General's Office website.

Photo: Dramatization of Faith and Freedom voter education for workers in the cheese caves near Faribault or some place like that (above). Cartoon: Emmer told the Kandiyohi Tea Party  "if he was now the Governor in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, Minnesota would 'make Wisconsin look like the poor ugly step-child that they are.' ” Cartoon by Ken Avidor; quote from the West Central Tribune.

Related post: Kandiyohi Tea Party's discourse on ostentation celebrates novel ways to torture badgers

July 2012 Sixth Anniversary Bleg Notice: Like what you're reading on this blog? Help support an independent voice from Greater Minnesota:

Please consider using the paypal button above (checks accepted; email for my snail mail address) or something from my modest wish list (mostly coffee and cat treats).

The blegathon will run through July.

Thank you

Sally Jo Sorensen
Editor and Proprietor

Express Scripts worked to bring "certainty" to Minnesota's (GOP?) voters during redistricting

In Groups Shield Political Gifts of Businesses, an article first online in yesterday's New York Times by Mike McIntire and Nick Confessore, readers learn:

Beyond the contributions to large, established nonprofits like the chamber and American Action Network, corporate money is also quietly shaping the political discourse through more obscure groups, none of which are required to disclose their donors.

In Minnesota last year, Express Scripts, a major drug benefit manager, gave $10,000 to a Republican-linked group, Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting, involved in a partisan fight over redrawing legislative boundaries. Express Scripts made the donation, previously unreported, because the “electoral maps in Minnesota were in doubt and we supported efforts to bring certainty to Minnesota voters,” said Brian Henry, a spokesman for the company, which is based in St. Louis. He added that the firm has a facility in Bloomington, Minn.

And who is "Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting" to supply that "certainty"?

Minnesotans for a Fair (Republican) Redistricting

Last year, MnIndy's Andy Birkey reported in Undisclosed money flows into Minnesota’s redistricting process:

Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting shares the same address and some staffers as the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, a conservative think tank, according to a ProPublica report. Fair Redistricting’s address is listed as that of Annette and Jack Meeks, a husband and wife duo active in Republican politics who work for Freedom Foundation. Annette Meeks was on Tom Emmer’s Republican ticket for lieutenant governor in 2010.

Freedom Foundation has worked with the Cato Institute on research and events, which was founded by Charles Koch. It is also part of the State Policy Network, a network of 59 state-based conservative think tanks. Freedom Foundation is listed as a “regular member,” while other Koch-backed groups such as Americans for Prosperity are listed as “associate members.”

Neither group legally needs to disclose donors. As ProPublica noted in their research, there is no direct evidence that either group is directly funded by the Koch brothers, who have bankrolled libertarian and conservative causes across the country. Annette Meeks denied any connection. Jack Meeks, who also serves on the board of the Freedom Foundation, did not return requests for comment by ProPublica.

But Freedom Foundation and Fair Redistricting are indeed very connected. In addition to sharing an address with the Meeks, the groups share staff.

Fair Redistricting is registered under Jack Meeks’ name; Jack is a member of the Freedom Foundation board. Chris Georgacus [sic] is heading up the Fair Redistricting effort and is also member of the Freedom Foundation board. Also working on redistricting for Republicans is lawyer Tony Trimble, who also sits on the Freedom Foundation board.

The Meeks are also known for their certainty that gambling is bad, bad, bad, as witnessed by their service in executive roles at Citizens Against Gambling Expansion (CAGE).

Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting is not registered with the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General Division of Charities, nor with the Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board. Guidestar's entry for the organization notes that it is registered with the IRS but no reports are available for it.

In June 2011, MPR's Tom Sheck reported in Briggs and Morgan lines up on GOP side of redistricting battle:

The Republican Party of Minnesota is working with an independent group, "Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting," on redistricting efforts. . .

One of the citizens being represented by [former state Supreme Court Eric] Magnuson, Gregg Peppin, said a lot of the litigation work has been coordinated by the Minnesota Republican Party and "Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting." He said the filing indicates that Briggs and Morgan will be working with attorney Tony Trimble on redistricting efforts for Republicans in Minnesota.

"They told me they were going to get a litigator and this confirms that," Peppin said about Magnuson's filing.

Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton confirmed that Briggs and Morgan has been hired by "Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting" but said he or other members of the MNGOP have nothing to do with the hiring. He said former MNGOP Chair Chris Georgacus [sic, link added] is heading "Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting."

Scheck's article was cited by the ProPublica report, The Hidden Hands in Redistricting: Corporations and Other Powerful Interests. ProPublica investigators wrote in September 2011:

In Minnesota, for instance, the Republicans’ legal efforts to influence redistricting are being financed through a group called Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting.

Fair Redistricting describes itself as independent, but it has much of its leadership in common with the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, a group with ties to the political empire of the Koch brothers, industrialists from Kansas who’ve spent millions funding conservative causes. The head of the Freedom Foundation, Annette Meeks, told ProPublica she has “no involvement” with Fair Redistricting. But both organizations’ tax filings list the same address: Meeks’ home address.

Fair Redistricting is registered under the name of her husband, Jack Meeks, who is also on the board of the Freedom Foundation. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Who is actually paying for Fair Redistricting’s lawsuit and lawyers? And what district lines are they pushing for? The group doesn’t have to say and has so far kept its finances and plans under wraps. Annette Meeks did not respond to questions about the group’s donors or its ties to the Koch brothers, but she said the group complies with all legal filing requirements. But the group’s public tax filings contain no information on its contributors.

MN for Fair Redistricting in the MNGOP Party Budget Fiasco

The entangled fortunes of the players in that scenerio was raised by Republicans made anxious by their party's squalid economic situation. In State GOP report finds no illegal activity related to party debt, PIM's Brianna Bierschbach reported in early May 2012:

Similarly, the report offered no further clarification regarding the legal bills accrued during the past year’s redistricting efforts. “Some have asked whether allegations have been made that the [party] is responsible for debts of [Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting],” the report read. “To our knowledge, no commitment has ever been made by any officer of the RPM to have the party serve as a financial guarantor of the MFR’s financial obligations.”

The internal report is available online here.

Express Scripts PAC and executive money in Minnesota

Express Scripts' money is no stranger to Minnesota's Republicans, however much their allied nonprofits may quietly deposit the drug benefit manager's checks in bank accounts away from the sunlight of public scrutiny. In August 2011, Bluestem posted in State party federal accounts: MNGOP reports negative cash-on-hand; HRCC federal fund:

An added bonus in the FEC reports? The mid-year report for the federal account for the House Republican Campaign Committee, a.k.a., the campaign wing of the House of Zellers.

It's quite legal for a state-level committee to set one of these up, the better to coordinate with campaigns for federal office like congressional candidates. Ian Marsh, who now serves as Zellers' legislative director, serves as treasurer of the committee, which was set up in August 2010. (All filings here).

Nearly all of the money received by the committee is from federal PACs, like the one run by the company formerly known as Philip Morse, now Altria, or like Express Scripts, the giant pharmacy benefit manager firm, which laid off 70 Minnesotans this spring when it sent their jobs offshore.

Express Scripts PAC was the largest single contributor to the fund, at $15,000 in three contributions, since the HRCC federal account received $5000.00 more in January 2012.

Minnesota politicians receiving the benefit of ES's largesse include CD6 Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, CD2 Congressman John Kline, CD3 Representative Erik Paulsen, former congressman Jim Ramstad, and former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.

Giving was not entirely on the right side of the state. The Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party received $5000.00 from the federal ES PAC in 2010, and Amy Klobuchar received and returned two checks totaling $6000. However, the parsimony toward Minnesota Democrats is an exception nationally, as the PAC gives freely across party lines elsewhere.

Individually, Express Scripts Vice President of Government Affairs Vern Rowen splits his state level contributions, listing more toward the DFL side in the legislaure. In the 2010 gubernatorial race, Rowen gave checks to the Dayton, Emmer, Horner, Kelliher, Seifert and Thissen campaigns. He also gave $1000 to the Minn Business Partnership PAC in 2010 and two gifts of $250 to the DFL House Caucus in 2008 and 2009. On the federal level, Rowen split his giving to Tarryl Clark ($750.00) and Erik Paulsen ($250 and $1000) as well as to the Express Scripts PAC.

Much of the company's executive individual giving to politicians goes to electeds in the company's home state of Missouri. The company is an ALEC member, a co-host of Missouri Night at ALEC's 2012 Annual Conference in Salt Lake City at the end of July 2012. The company also sponsored the "Missouri Night" at the 2011 ALEC meeting in New Orleans.

Photos: Annette and Jack Meeks, smiling all the way to wherever they happen to be going at the time (above); The Sutton Peso note, by Tild (below).

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Kandiyohi Tea Party's discourse on ostentation celebrates novel ways to torture badgers

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the assembled multitudes that they should avoid ostentatious displays of their own generosity, piety, and stuff, then shares a model prayer. As prayers go, it's a good--no, great one, and has come to be known as the Lord's Prayer. It's in Matthew 6, right after Christ talks about loving one's enemies, that humdinger that closes Chapter 5.

According to Tea party rallies faithful to get involved with 2012 election, a report by Carolyn Lange in the West Central Tribune, the fourth annual Kandiyohi County tea party rally has turned that wisdom on its head. Lange reports:

Starting with an opening prayer that called President Obama the “liar in chief,” the fourth annual Kandiyohi County tea party rally Monday night in Willmar featured a lengthy line-up of fire-brand speakers that encouraged participants to get involved with the 2012 election to oust Obama and Minnesota Democrats. . . .

. . .During the nearly three-hour long rally there were speeches about the desire to repeal Obama’s health care act, protecting gun rights, stopping abortion and the importance of family, faith and free enterprise.

A far cry from forgiving others as one has asks for forgiveness, but so far as Bluestem can tell from the article, a perfectly robust expression of the meeting's sentiments.  

Unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was there, in fine form, telling the assembled (who filled an entire room in the Kandi Entertainment Center after renouncing meeting outdoors like those dirty hippies in the Occupy Movement):

Emmer said if he was now the Governor in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, Minnesota would “make Wisconsin look like the poor ugly step-child that they are.”

Because nobody gets enough total recall, mass protest and duct tape on capitol marbles, one supposes.

Curiously, some of the dirty hippies we know who pine for total revolution share Emmer's wistful yearnings for a Emmer governorship. If only we had more radical.

Other elements of the faith were shared over hours of fellowship:

Speakers also mocked renewable energy and those involved with the “Occupy” movement for being “politically impotent.”

Conservative radio talk show host, Scott Hennen — who is from Montevideo and now broadcasts from Fargo — said the federal budget is an immoral fiscal mess that makes Obama a “fiscal child abuser” because the debt will be passed onto future generations.

Hennen is a leading authority on immoral fiscal messes. Lange doesn't note whether or not Hennen shared his financial abuse of the congressional campaign of pilgrim child Lee Byberg. As BSP reported last week in Freedom Force Communications expands lucrative arrangement with Byberg campaign:

 Gilmore noted that " Scott Hennen has been paid over$35,000 by candidate Lee Byberg over the last two years."

Lee Byberg's Q1 2012 FEC report lists new payments to Freedom Forum Communications. The campaign paid FFC $10,000 for a new website design, with $4000 monthly web services fees ($12,000 total) following the design, $7000 for fundraising and  $7000 for administration/salary/overhead. That's $36,000 in three months; the campaign spent a total of $91276.64 for the quarter.

Thus, we see that 2012 payments over the course of three months eclipsed those spread over two years.

Reading those figures, one friend of Bluestem who leads a large organization prayed that Byberg never be let near the U.S. Treasury, since no one pays that much for web design and monthly service.

Another nugget in the Lange article:

Kurt Bills, who is the GOP-endorsed candidate to run against Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also spoke at the rally. Bills, from Roseville, is currently serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

That endorsement will come as a surprise to the other two candidates for the GOP-endorsement, as well as those faithful being selected for the Republican state convention in May, where the U.S. Senator candidate will be endorsed.

Some might argue that invective in an opening prayer and mean-spirited humor about our Badger neighbors are a form of hypocrisy for professing Christians. On the contrary, Bluestem finds those utterances to be completely authentic expressions of the gospel and the spirit of the Tea Party Movement.

Image: Emmer berates a badger. By Avidor, who took some liberties in the depiction of the badger.

In email to constituent, Senate Majority Leader bemoans lack of corporate power at MN capitol

It's the Feast of Fools, but a February email exchange just posted on a southern Minnesota DFL elist yesterday (and reposted here with permission) is no joke.

Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem's response to a constituent concerned about ALEC's influence in Minnesota paints a picture of a Republican caucus under seige by unions and lobbyists from tribal gaming concerns, while business people are restricted to contributing mere personal checks to their defenders in the MNGOP.

First the exchange, then a look at the reality of corporate, union and tribal gaming influence at the Minnesota state capitol. Perhaps the personable Senjem was merely tired when he sent his response early in the morning of February 21:

From: "Sen.David Senjem"
Date: February 21, 2012 12:53:09 AM CST
To: sen.carla.nelson@senate.mn, rep.mike.benson@house.mn, [redacted] Sen.David.Senjem@senate.mn
Subject: RE: ALEC outed, vetoed in Minnesota - Occupy Rochester targets corporate influence on election
Reply-To: Sen.David.Senjem@senate.mn

Thanks [redacted]......Senator Ortman authored 3 out of the 4 tort reform bills. I have not visited with her but there was never mention of these bills having an outside origin. Senator Ortman is an extremely able legislator and lawyer and my instincts are that she would not have needed a lot of help putting these bills together.

[redacted], did you read our Campaign Finance Rules as I suggested you should? If you did you would have quickly come to know that all donations to campaigns must be personal checks, nothing corporate. This is true of caucus money too except that tribes and unions have no limit on what they can and do give to the DFL caucuses. On our side, we cannot take bundled money and, of course, don't.

The tribes current have 57 lobbiests hired to work the State Capitol to prevent gaming expansion so part of what. you suggest in terms of the undue influence of lobbiests is true.

Dave

[Message delivered by NotifyLink]

----------Original Message----------

From: [redacted] Sent: Mon, February 20, 2012 11:47 PM To: David Senjem , Carla Nelson , Mike Benson Subject: ALEC outed, vetoed in Minnesota - Occupy Rochester targets corporate influence on election

Dear Senators and Representative,

With the help of Governor Dayton, Dr, Rich Van Dellen and other concerned citizens, the cat is out of the bag and voters will be well informed about ALEC long before the November elections. http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1487392

"The name "ALEC" was known by just a few people as recently as a few months ago. Now it's surfacing in the news -- it's about time! -- and in a speech by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. Dayton vetoed four "tort reform" bills, saying they came straight out of an ALEC boot camp manual." http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2012/02/20/alec-outed-vetoed-in-minnesota/

Sincerely,

[redacted]
Rochester, MN

The constituent provides URLs to support her claims--such as they are--but Senjem, author of the racino bill in the Senate, seems to have simply written off the top of his head.

Exercising due diligence with a vengence, Senjem claims that he hasn't discussed Ortman's legislation with her, a rather surprising claim given that the four bills made it on the senate floor and passage in the House before meeting with Dayton's veto pen.

Too bad that Senjem apparently is too old school to know that Google Is His Friend. He might have found Common Cause Minnesota's side-by-side comparison of parts of Ortman's legislation with ALEC model bills. Nonetheless, the Rochester Republican knows in some arcane fashion, without talking to her about the bills, that his colleague's work is totally original. It's a miracle!

And unlike traditional lobbyists or unions (which are heavily regulated by reporting requirements administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, the FEC and the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board), ALEC and its corporate funders are not required to disclose a dime of spending.

And corporate influence? In the world described in Senjem's email, it simply can't happen for his caucus, while unions and those lobbying for tribal gaming interests exercise undue influence, while only giving to Democratic legislators.

This worldview runs counter to recent reports about influence at the Minnesota state capitol and contributions to legislative campaign committee coffers. Three weeks after Senjem complained about unions and tribal gaming interests, Star Tribune political reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger's review, Business groups spent $14 million lobbying Minn. legislators, reported:

Business interests spent more than $14 million lobbying at the state Capitol last year, nearly a fourth of the lobbyist cash that flowed through St. Paul in 2011, according to new campaign finance reports.

Those reports show that lobbyists spent almost $60 million defending their interests, with a public utility -- Xcel Energy -- at the top of the list, followed by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Business Partnership.

Union groups and others who supported a failed quest to raise taxes on the wealthy last year were a distant second, clocking in at about $2.5 million.

Moreover, Senjem's view of tribal gaming influence seems quaint. In January, the Strib's Tony Kennedy reported in $15 billion stakes ride on epic gambling fight:

Long close to the DFL Party, the powerful lobby has been courting allies among Republicans and lacing those friendships with tribal PAC donations. When 2011 campaign finance disclosures are filed in the next several weeks, for example, they will reveal a fresh flow of cash to GOP organizations, said John McCarthy, president of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association (MIGA).

"It's a little bit of a new day," McCarthy said. "It's not so much that we won't support the Democrats, but there is also now room to support the other side to some degree."

Capitol insiders see other telling changes. In November, the prominent GOP aide Cullen Sheehan was hired by Lockridge Grindal Nauen, the Minneapolis law and lobbying firm that has long represented the state's Indian gambling industry. Sheehan was chief of staff to the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus and, before that, a campaign manager for Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman. . . .

Intrigue also has surrounded the Republican-led, Indian-supported Citizens Against Gambling Expansion (CAGE). It's a nonprofit with an operating budget of more than $115,000 a year. Tribal leaders support CAGE, but McCarthy said he doesn't know how much money they have given.

The group is led by influential Republican operative Jack Meeks and, until last year, counted Tony Sutton, the former Republican Party chairman, as a member of its board.

Tribal leaders say that while they work the Legislature aggressively, they abide by the same rules as every other constituency at the Capitol. . . .

Perhaps Sheehan, Meeks and Sutton are all strangers to Senjem.

Strictly speaking, corporations aren't giving money to the Senate Victory Fund, the campaign committee for the Republican Caucus in the Senate, but in 2011, plenty of business and business association PACs contributed to the fund--and those of some unions and tribal governments (which, like corporations, can't give directly to candidates' and caucuses' campaign committees under Minnesota law, however confused Senjem may have been about the universality of the rules that early February morning). Unions and corporations (think about the Target and Emmer uproar for a moment) can spend what they wish on independent expenditures, though both sides must disclose.

The Carpenters, Education Minnesota, and other unions gave money to the fund, for which retiring Geoff Michel serves as treasurer. After spending a couple of hundred grand in 2011, the Senate Victory Fund had $692,968.34 cash on hand on January 1, not all of it from personal checks written by Senjem's oppressed corporate executives.

A sharper picture of Senjem's caucus's ties to one slice of corporate money emerge in a report issued by TakeAction Minnesota in February, looking at the way in which Big Banks funneled money into the Senate Victory Fund and the HRCC, the SVF's companion war chest in the Minnesota House. (Bluestem disgrees with TAMN's linking of the corporate spending with the photo ID amendment. More on this in a bit*).

In Senjem's mind, the Senate Majority caucus and the corporate interests it champions may be powerless, and ALEC the legislative equivalent of that seldom-used gym membership, but that hardly seems likely as reports of ALEC's national influence--and the copycat bills it spawns--continue to emerge. Just today, a New Jersey newspaper chain reports that Some of Christie's biggest bills match model legislation from D.C. group called ALEC.

But Senjem's peculiar framing to a constituent obscures a more pressing issue: if the Senate Majority leader is so concerned about his preceptions of undue influence on the part of unions and tribal gaming concerns, where are the bills that would reform lobbying or campaign finance in Minnesota? 

The so-called "employee freedom" amendment is more of an "employer freedom" bill that would erode workplace rights--though at moments, its sponsors and talk about it as a means to deplete union treasuries as well. It's a unilateral attack on the worker's power in the marketplace and legislature. Were Senjem earnest, he'd be pushing bills that level the playing field at the capitol, in a state that just got a D+ for potential corruptibility from the State Intregity Project.

Bluestem has noted an amendment from Senator Dibble and a bill sponsored by Representative Kahn  requiring organizations offering "model bills" to conform to lobbying reporting requirments--a common sense approach. Where are those Republican bills that would apply equally to all players who hope to influence legislation?

Common Cause Minnesota and Sarah Janecek have raised questions about "public affairs" firms that mount "grassroots" support or opposition for issues. Where are the Republican bills to require transparency for those organizations?

Photo: Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, Pitier in Chief for Oppressed Corporations.

*Note: Bluestem sees little evidence that the Big Banks and other corporations' CEO, PAC  and independent expenditures sought to push through photoID requirements specifically when they bankrolled the GOP takeover of the Minnesota legislature. Rather, Bluestem believes that they sought to finance a Republican governor, Tom Emmer, and the takeover in the state legislature in order to achieve regulatory and tax changes, and that executive management of these organizations fail to see the voting rights of the poor, students and people of color, or the essential dignity of LGBT people, as any importance at all.

In short, caring not one whit about the rights or dignity of ordinary people, they are willing to hand over the government to those politicians who share their fiscal policy positions, without concern for social issues or human rights.  Indifference to humanity, rather than a conspiracy against it, marks their choices--and this indifference may be far more damaging for our civic culture.

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

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

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

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

Some tone, dudes.

The Real Hoffa Speech

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Origin of the Smear

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

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

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

[...]

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

[...]

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

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

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

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

Mosh now

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

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

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

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

If an immature young man dropped glitter on a student in Anoka, they'd call it the Glee premier

Note: The Davis & Emmer broadcast referenced in this post began with the pair lamenting another media travesty, although the talk radio guys may have had a hand in assisting one of their own. Learn more in "Our own army": Emmer and Davis play doctored Hoffa tape when kvetching about political tone. [end  note]

As a dedicated chronicler of the right's congenital inclination to paint itself as the victims no matter who it picks on, Bluestem is getting some good belly laughs from the "What if" school of mythmaking reacting to Sunday's Glitzkrieg at the State Fair.

Dismayed by the sudden appearance of a Minnesotans For [Discriminatory] Marriage booth on a grassy boulevard, clever giltterati dropped the sparkly on the booth from the Minnesota State Fair's signature skilift ride. The City Page's Roy Pratt noted that

As usual, Nick Espinosa chose the least violent, most colorful protest yet known to man.

The template response to glitterbombing is "What if these barbarians dropped something other than glitter?" with the expectation that the audience will then froth out at the imaginary image of acid or knives or fill-in-the-blank.  And already, a spokester for Minnesotans for Marriage passively aggressively whined to WCCO/CBS Minnesota and whomever else will listen about the "tolerance" from "the other side."

Bluestem gives a hearty thumbs up, though, to Tom Emmer for creativity in a post at True North, Emmer: I Guess The Mainstream Media Only Cares When Bad (and Potentiall​y) Dangerous Behavior Is Against Their Point Of View...:

When is this guy going to be charged?  Why do our so-called "reporters" give an attention-hungry child what he wants?  Why are the reporters not questioning authorities about their hands-off approach to this assaultive behavior?  Yes, we are just talking about glitter but that should not be the issue.  If an immature young man like this one was dropping glitter on a high school student in Anoka, wouldn't we hear the media cry for more bullying laws. . . .

In short, let's not talk about the glitter, but let's imagine that LGBT activists were dropping glitter on gay students, why then....

One simply can't argue with that logic, merely identify it as the chimera it is, a hybrid of Tom's legal horse puckey and High Post-moronic Style. If glitterbombing wasn't what it is, it might indeed be something else.  (Emmer doesn't mention his own earlier close encounter at the Fair with Espinosa).

The ability of orators and statesmen like Tom Emmer to inflict the hypothetical on impressionable minds may be in large part responsible for the popular cliche: "It is what it is." At a time in which some many wish to frighten us about what might happen, Americans need to be reminded of simple facts.

But even there, Emmer's hypothetical doesn't hit the target. After reading Andy Birkey's excellent analysis this morning, A new cultural phemonenon, the ‘glitterbomb’ hits anti-gay activists at state fair:

The “glitterbombs” that have targeted Michele and Marcus Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty were taken to the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday when Minnesota For Marriage, a group that opposes rights for same-sex couples, was showered with glitter from the fair’s Skyride. The glitterbomb phenomenon, homegrown in Minnesota, has also secured a place in pop culture. Fox’s hit show Glee is explicitly using the glitterbomb in its fall season promotional ads and the New York Times examined the phenomenon last week. . . .

The glitterbomb has quickly become a pop culture reference, especially following Fox’s decision to use it in its upcoming promotions of the hit show Glee. . . .

The ad makes direct reference to activist Nick Espinosa shouting “Taste the rainbow” as he showered presidential candidate Newt Gingrich with glitter at a book signing hosted by the Minnesota Family Council earlier this year.

No, Tom Emmer, the media wouldn't be calling for anti-bullying laws. They'd be calling it the season premier of Glee.

Image: The M4M booth at the fair on Saturday.

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

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

Did Emmer finish paying party's bills? MNGOP to pay failed burrito baron $100,000 salary

It's no wonder that the ersatz socialist Mike Parry whines about his legislative salary being too low, gobbles up all the per diem money and housing allowance that he can while the legislature is convened, and now takes his paycheck and per diem during the state shutdown.

A simple invidious comparison with the new $100,000 salary the Republican Party of Minnesota is doling out to failed burrito baron and state party chair Tony Sutton must make Parry feel as if he belongs in the Waseca County Poor Farm.

Such a state of affairs would provoke the urge for pecuniary emulation even in men with stronger wills than a state senator from Southern Minnesota.

Bluestem, however, frets over other concerns. Last Wednesday, June 29, over at the Minnesota Progressive Project, team member Tommy Johnson wrote in Tony Sutton's Deadbeat MnGOP Still Owes Minnesota Counties:

For months and Months and MONTHS here at MPP, we've covered the Deadbeat MnGOP's refusal to pay their debts to Minnesota Counties for the services they demanded - DEMANDED - concerning the  November 2010 Election Recount.

And that's just here, at MPP - - SallyJo at Bluestem Prairie has been all over this scandal, too.

And just this morning, I found two, and possibly three, Counties that STILL HAVEN'T BEEN PAID - Cass, Fillmore, and Grant.  There may be more; after two "No" and a "Don't think so; will get back to you" why keep going?

The funny thing is, despite Tony Sutton claiming way back in March that the MnGOP would pay it's bills, it took someone else to to it!

Yes, Beltrami, Chisago, and Clearwater counties told me earlier today that Tom Emmer stepped up and did what Tony Sutton's MnGOP wouldn't - pay some bills. . ..

One certainly hopes that Sutton is grateful to Emmer for clearing the way for an income stream to flow from the MNGOP into his bank account rather than to county coffers. 

The other Sutton item simply made Bluestem giggle like a schoolgirl in a new dress. Via Brian Lambert at the Daily Glean afternoon edition, the New American (the essential news source for freedom-loving Americans that's published by American Opinion Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of The John Birch Society), BSP learned that the failed burrito baron was judging Governor Mark Dayton by the exacting standards of his own business acumen:

GOP Chairman Tony Sutton: “[Mark Dayton] is a dilettante lecturing businesspeople in this state on how to live their lives and run their businesses. As a small business owner, I know what it is like to sweat out making a payroll. Sometimes you even hold your own check to ensure that people get paid because they depend on it. He has never had to experience these things.”

Bluestem hopes that Governor Dayton manages the state better than Tony Sutton handled Baja Sol before TCF boss,  GOP bigwig and relatively silent partner Bill Cooper assumed control of the business and showed the last Sutton to the door.

Photo: MNGOP party boss and failed burrito baron Tony Sutton probably isn't accepting his salary in these bills.

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

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

Ehrlick writes:

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

Did I say “amazingly?”

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

Apparently Team Draz wants Minnesota to become a tenther state.

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

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

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

Walk It Back

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALEC's support

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tentherism goes to Congress: the role of the RSC

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

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

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

Is the GOP "too goofy"

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

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

Tom Emmer's Lobbyistaloser 2011 tour bloviating about lobbying at St. Paul rally

Back in February, Jeff Severns Guntzel took a look at some 2010 data about Lobbying the Legislature: Who's spending what?

An interesting question.

If you listen to registered lobbyist and unsuccessful 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer speaking last Saturday, you'd think it was only groups wanting to fund public programs who lobbied. Certainly not him. And certainly not his corporate friends.

But Guntzel found that:

All told, lobbying organizations reported spending close to $11 million dollars in 2010.

At nearly $1 million, Minnesota Business Partnership spent more money than any other organization working to influence legislative action, which can include action by committees, subcommittees, resolutions, nominations, appointments, and even gubernatorial response to a bill. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce comes in a close second at $918,000...

 Via MN Forward, the Minnesota Business Partnership supported Tom Emmer for governor, and the Chamber's own PAC endorsed him. Did the Minnesota Business Partnership never visit Tom Emmer when he served in the Minnesota House through 2010, as it sought lowered taxes? And he never saw the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce?

Something seems to have worked out for them, since--as Growth and Justice notes, "the wealthiest Minnesotans pay the lowest proportion of their income in state and local taxes."

And why didn't Tom Emmer mention to the crowd that he indeed lobbies for government control, on behalf of the Minneapolis Radiation Oncology Physicians, a group which seeks to have the government prevent other doctors from entering their marketplace?

 A Bluestem Quicktake from the rally:

Screenshot: Lobbyist Tom Emmer is talking. You know what's happening.

Related post: A Republican Lupercalia; or, Whipping up a frenzy for Tom Emmer online.

Horses & committeewomen: Pat Anderson, new RNC member, runs with the wolves (and ponies)

Back in the waning days of the 20th century, the distaff version of poet Robert Bly's drumming guys Iron John movement was the archetype of the wild woman, Women Who Run With The Wolves.

Now making a run for those roses: former auditor and newly-minted RacinoNow lobbyist, Pat Anderson, who was just elected RNC committeewoman by the Republican Party of Minnesota State Central Committee.

What's the problem? As Bluestem explained in Disturbance at the elephant house: MNGOP party platform purity tests RNC candidates, a post about Ben Golnik dropping out in the RNC, there's that litle thing about no public financing of stadiums and no expansion of gambling in the MNGOP party platform. In various incarnations, the racino, an expansion of gaming, has been connected with funding sports facilities. (But as we all know now, funding for that must come from extending the sales tax to some clothing and putting a surcharge on some of Minnesota's high income earners on the part of the no-new taxes party).

But I disgress.

MPR reports in Pat Anderson now a racino lobbyist:

Minnesota's newly elected Republican National committeewoman may have already stepped off the party platform. Patricia Anderson, formerly the State Auditor and now a lobbyist, has added Canterbury Park and its racino efforts to her lobbying portfolio.

That's in spite of a party position against gambling in Minnesota. Here's the relevant section of the 2010 party platform.

We seek to eliminate all state-sponsored gambling and oppose any expansion of gambling in Minnesota. In regards to casinos already in place, current gambling laws should be changed so that Minnesota is allowed to tax profits and revenue of tribal casino gambling in the state.

Anderson registered with Canterbury via email over the weekend. She isn't officially listed on the state Campaign Finance Board website, but the board processed her filing this morning, according to staffer Patricia Waller, and Anderson confirmed she'd signed on with Canterbury.

My, oh my. Anderson is unapologetic, because a racino allowed at just one or two specific sites is, after all, free enterprise. You go, girl! Adam Smith, rapidly spinning in his grave, will take the first purse for that one.

RPM Uber-werewolf   deputy chair, Michael Brodkorb, isn't having a good day. MPR reports:

Deputy chair Michael Brodkorb said he thought the party faithful that elected her at the state central committee meeting earlier this month would be unpleasantly surprised by her new duties. He thinks she probably would have best brought this up during her campaign for the RNC.

"She is not starting off her time as national committeewoman in a very strong way," Brodkorb said. "There is an expectation that a national committeewoman can work with people and effectively communicate, and I don't think she's done a good job in this situation. I think she's got some work to do with relationships and internal discussions on these things. But ulimately, it's a conflict."

He stopped short of saying the party would take formal action against Anderson, although he did point out that she's only serving out the last year of Evie Axdahl's term, and will be back before the party sooner, rather than later. But he suggested the situation ought to resolve itself before it came to that.

"Look, I'm not saying by any stretch of imagination that she shouldn't be able to go out and work," Brodkorb said, "but the reality is that she has taken a position and handled this in such a way that I think she's ultimately going to have to make a choice. I don't believe that she can do both."

already, one RPM activist has posted I Agree With Brodkorb, Pat Anderson Must Choose.

Another plot twist in the wild woman story: one of the things that was used against unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was his registration as a lobbyist for a professional group that is perceived to stand in opposition to Republican principles. PIM's Charley Shaw reported in RNC upset: Johnson spanks Emmer on one ballot:

Lobbying job drew resentment

Emmer’s lackadaisical bid for RNC surprised many Republicans, because the race did feature substantive accusations directed at Emmer over lobbying, campaign funding decisions and media.

The lobbying issue stemmed from the announcement this winter that Emmer had registered to lobby for the Minnesota Radiation Oncology Physicians. That rankled many Republicans - not only because Emmer was turning to lobbying, a profession not much favored among the GOP base, but because of the side he landed on. MROP has spent years lobbying to block the efforts of another group to construct a new radiation facility in the Twin Cities. In signing on with them, Emmer was thought by many to be turning his back on Republican faith in free markets and competition - and on a specific party platform plank that called for more competition as the path to health care savings.

As a legislator, Emmer voted to lift the moratorium on new radiation facilities. His choice to represent the other side as a lobbyist was a subject of discussion at State Central. The only critical piece of literature to circulate on the State Central floor, which was distributed by Tea Party activist and former legislative candidate Nathan Hansen, lambasted Emmer for lobbying for MROP.

And which faction used this to defeat Emmer? Why, the "anti-purity" people who want to win and don't like losers, by picking a guy who lost  a couple races, including his AG race to Lori Swanson in 2006 by a margin Mark Dayton would envy.

Buy yourselves a tasty soft pretzel, gentle readers, and enjoy the logic of the show.

Photo: Platus's observation, Homo homini lupus, nussles its way in RPM politics.

Fresh from defeat in RNC member bid, Emmer rallies Tea Party in Willmar

In MN Republican Party Saves Itself From Oblivion. Minnesota Conservatives keeper John Gilmore wrote about Saturday's GOP State Central Committee meeting which picked defeated 2006 Attorney General candidate Jeff Johnson over defeated 2010 gubernatoral candidate Tom Emmer:

. . .the refudiation of Tom Emmer is a seismic shock to the established political order within the party. It represents the beginning of the end for those self-serving types--there is no other word--who insist that far right principles are to be preferred over winning elections.

Gilmore concluded:

Republicans typically do not reward failure. This is a distinct Democratic trait. Today the republicans in Minnesota redeemed their mistake in endorsing Emmer last year by refusing to grant him the RNC position for which he was neither qualified nor entitled. Today Tom Emmer's political career died. MC wishes him well as he pursues other opportunities.

Bluestem started calling Tom Emmer the Walking Dead last year once it became clear that he couldn't be saved by a recount. 

The bad news for Gilmore? Saturday's vote wasn't a double tap. In Tea Party uses Willmar rally as platform in push for change, the West Central Tribune reports that Emmer spoke to one of the largest 2011 Tea Party rallies so far in Minnesota, (along with defeated congressional candidate Lee Byberg):

Emmer said politicians who abide by the Tea Party principals to get endorsed need to stay committed to the conservative side during the campaign and after they’re elected and not “run to the middle.”

He criticized career politicians from both parties who make votes based on what will get them re-elected rather than doing what’s right for the country.

Lee Byberg, a Willmar businessman who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson and has already announced he’ll run again for the job, spoke about the “Goodness of America” and his concerns that the country is becoming a “welfare state.”

And freshman Representative Bruce Vogel complained to the 100 or so souls who thronged the rally that his other constituents didn't appreciate his willingness to strangle government in a bathtub:

Rep. Bruce Vogel of Willmar, who said he was elected with the support of Tea Party members to restore jobs, reform government and reduce government spending, said he wouldn’t mind getting a few friendly emails to counter the complaints from others.

Vogel said everyone that comes to his office in St. Paul says they understand the state needs to live within its means, but they don’t want cuts to be made in areas they support.

Thank heavens that Vogel still has 100 Tea Party folks to send him mash notes. Of course, there's always somebody there to complain:

Not everyone in the crowd was a Tea Party supporter. One man wore an Obama campaign hat and a shirt that said, “Stop 1 trillion in tax cuts for big oil and big corporations.”

Getting sideways: New Ulm Journal wonders, What if Emmer won?

In today's Thumbs Up/Thumbs down short editorial, the board at the New Ulm Journal posted this:

What if Emmer won?

SIDEWAYS THUMBS: The Republicans in the Legislature had a busy week passing legislation that is sure to be vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton. Their spending proposals left barely anyone untouched - cities, higher education, K-12 education, social services, schools, prisons, nursing homes all saw either financial cuts proposed, or major policy shifts, or both. Only the income tax payer is untouched, and in fact would benefit from proposed tax cuts.

Dayton has said he will reject all such bills until the GOP presents a complete plan for a balanced budget, and one that uses the projections from the Minnesota Management and Budget office, the non-partisan agency that has analyzed spending and tax bills for years.

Imagine now that Tom Emmer had been elected instead of Dayton. Most of these bills would have been signed already.

I suppose getting sideways is a polite way to speaking of the state the state would be in if Emmer were governor. I'll grant them that.

Note that it's "income taxpayer" that the paper says is untouched. As for the total tax --including property taxes--many middle and lower income Minnesotans could be enjoying nonquality horizontal time from that.

Photo: Sideways and belly up.

A Republican Lupercalia; or, Whipping up a frenzy for Tom Emmer online

It's mid-February in Minnesota, we're in the middle of a tardy thaw, barred owls are whooping it up in the woodlots, and Tom Emmer has a new job.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports in Emmer to lobby for effort he opposed:

Two years ago, then-state Rep. Tom Emmer made a fervent appeal on the House floor to lift a moratorium on new cancer radiation clinics not attached to hospitals.

In a spirited debate, the Republican from Delano called the ban "patently unfair" and "micromanaging in its worst form." He pleaded with legislators to let "market forces return."

Earlier this month, the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate registered as a lobbyist. His only client: Minneapolis Radiation Oncology Physicians, the outfit that wants to extend the moratorium. . . .

. . .He said that if the state were to rip open the marketplace now, "it could be very dangerous. ... I don't want to destroy what we have."

Oh dear. What would Joseph Schumpeter say?

Speaking of Schumpeter, it's the final day of the traditional festival of Lupercalia, and Emmer's return to the headlines has notable Minnesota conservatives out conducting a contemporary hybrid of purification ritual and creative destruction.

Take John Gilmore, @Shabbosgoy on twitter and a blogger at Minnesota Conservatives. He's launched a hashtag game, #WhyEmmerShouldBeOnTheRNC. In addition of measuring how much the lobbying market will bear, the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate seeks to become an Republican National Committeeman.

Good times, as an anti-purity guy whips the Republican purity folks. Perhaps more entertaining, though, was an earlier exchange between Gilmore and Bridget Sutton, Baja Sol burrito cryptkeeper and spouse of Republican Party chair and frequent Bluestem guest star Tony Sutton. Sutton twot that "'Purity' and 'politics' should never appear in the same sentence." (Screenshot)

The wellspring for all of the mirth: the legacy of Suttonian purity campaigns in the MNGOP. Take, for instance, last fall's purge of 18 prominent Republicans--including a basketful of former governors--who endorsed former Republican Tom Horner's bid for governor. Or the multiple times during the campaign when Republicans praised Emmer as a principled conservative.

And to think that that "true" conservative nature was the factor that led the Republican state convention to endorse Emmer over former minority leader Marty Seifert, who was seen as too compromised by legislative dealmaking.

Of course, the irony of Republican self-flagellation may be overshadowed by today's new behemoth of GOP hypocrisy risen from the melting drifts. In a glinting example of glass casas, Bridget's husband, failed businessman, deposed Taco King and inept former MNGOP treasurer Tony Sutton lectures Governor Dayton on budgets.

And in the latter man, Minnesota may find its last, best hope of recovering our state's old stoic virtues from the current decadence sweeping the Republican Party and the state legislature in which it conducts its axe-swinging orgies. The state's Republicans act recklessly, to protect those who need no protection, sacrificing the vulnerable and the middle class, as if in a fight to keep Caligula supplied with virgins and wine.

Not so with Dayton. He writes dispassionately today about governing, in the Star Tribune. To see what real leadership looks like, instead of an imperial Ronald Reagan LARP, go read Gov. Mark Dayton: Not a battle, not a game, but a budget.

Conservative sisterhood is powerful: VOICESPAC director throws Twila Brase under the bus after anti-Dayton protest fiasco

Earlier today, Bluestem reviewed how the rocking-chair media neglected one of the basic "5 Ws" of journalism by failing to identify Jake Macmillian/MacAulay as more than "citizen" in yesterday's coverage of Governor Dayton's press conference.

If that omission is neglect, then VOICES of Conservative Women director Jennifer DeJournett should be charged with depraved indifference to the facts in her treatment of Citizens' Council For Health Freedom President Twila Brase in the former's True North post, Dayton Press Conference sponsored by the Lifetime Movie Network.

The legacy press failed to identify Citizen Jake's activism and ministry; the conservative blogger went a step more by failing to use Brase's name at all.

She wrote:

To the amazement of Minnesota press, activists watching online, and, probably, the protesters in the room, Governor Dayton invited his detractors to the podium.   The protestors spoke with passion but were clearly unprepared for this important political moment.   There were no prepared talking points, no storytelling, and no clear action item to their message.  Watching from home, I wondered: where was one leader in the group who could concisely sum up the message in 2 minutes, with an action item for the people at home watching?  Why wasn’t this person speaking on behalf of the cause?   On this day, there was no coherent message.  As a result, our side lost the moment because we were not prepared, not because we were wrong about the matter at hand.  Their incoherent message detracted from the prepared remarks of our elected leaders who planned a concise message regarding the economic damage that Dayton’s signature would yield.

DeJournett could thus lament the quality of the conservative response to Dayton's move to expand Medicare in Minnesota, decrying the lack of leadership, without having to note--by name--the blistering failure of a well-known conservative woman who is an acknowledged leader in the health care debate. Moreover, DeJournett could also beat her hobby horse of the need of conservatives to recruit more women leaders.

This may be enough to hoodwink the North Star state's sleep-walking press corps, who will no doubt repeat the talking point that the Tea Party reception for Governor Dayton was grassroots and leaderless. Perhaps they might want to review the many tapes of the event, in which Brase clearly indentified herself.

DeJournett implies that the naifs at the podium--so generously offered in the spirit of free speech by Governor Dayton--were simply not prepared in the face of Dayton's lifelong preparation for singular, defining moment of his career.

Seriously?

While DeJournett sees Dayton as a master political actor, she must have missed the Star Tribune profile last year noting Brase's own mad skills:

Among insiders, she is an acknowledged master of political theater, turning out raucous crowds for hearings and staging publicity stunts such as a recent "Obamacare" shredding party in the Capitol rotunda. She said she solicited no votes for Modern Healthcare magazine's 2009 list of "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare."

And--unless she has a very short memory or really bad reception from where she was watching at home--Dejournett must know who Brase is. After all, they shared the stage at last April 15's St. Paul Tax Day Tea Party at the Capitol. As a matter of fact, Brase had third billing in the events, while Dejournett fell considerably further down the list.

Brase has been trotted out by Minnesota conservatives at nearly every debate and discussion of health care reform and "Obamacare" in the past few years.

Take a look at her credentials from a pdf on the Citizens Council for Health Freedom

In August 2009, Modern Healthcare magazine named her as #75 on the “100 Most PowerfulPeople in Healthcare” list. In May 2010, the Star Tribune profiled her on the front page: “Twila Brase: Health care power or health care pain?” In 2000, the Minnesota Physician magazine selected her as one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” . . .

Ms. Brase provides daily radio commentary through the “Health Freedom Minute” (AM 1280 - The Patriot), provides testimony at the legislature, meets with members of Congress, and speaks around the country. For example, she has presented on topics such as:
• The intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in ObamaCare (Washington, D.C.)
• Patient privacy and need for consent (Congressional staff briefings; NM legislative committee)
• Danger of “evidence-based medicine”(EBM) (Washington Policy Center (Seattle))
• Proposed health care reform ( Kentucky business forum/Minnesota Tea Party rallies)
• Evidence-Based Medicine (State Policy Network forum in Miami; Physician forum Ohio)

She also testified against imposing a national patient identification number before a federal committee in Chicago. Her article “Blame Congress for HMOs” has been placed into the Congressional Record of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is regularly invited to join with other health care experts in a 2-day summit hosted by The Cato Institute.

Ms. Brase’s media interviews include: CNN, Fox News, KARE-TV (NBC), KTLK, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC TODAY SHOW, NPR, New York Public Radio and WCCO-TV. She has been quoted in The Associated Press, Dallas Morning News, Medical Economics, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Modern Healthcare, St. Paul Pioneer Press, TIME, TheWall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, UPI, WORLD, andWORLDNETDAILY, to name a few.

This is not a newbie. This is a person quite practiced in speaking about health care issues. This is a person who can condense a message to a “Health Freedom Minute” on AM 1280 - The Patriot.

Leadership? This is a spokester who appeared on Glenn Beck's show with no less than Tom Emmer himself on April 24, 2009. (The Emmer channel is gone--but the clip can be seen here).

This is a person Minnesota Majority gave second billing only to Michele Bachmann herself at a rally last March, as the Minnesota Progressive Project reported.

This is a person who barnstormed across Southern Minnesota with Allen Quist, scolding Congressman Walz about health care reform.

Now, having been at one of the events staged by Quist at the Happy Chef in North Mankato, I can say from personal experience that I found Brase's notions to be close to barking mad. However, her presentation skills were acceptable.

And yet DeJournett has erased the name of this leader--who organized Wednesday's protest--as surely as a Stalin-era photojournalist in the old Soviet Union following a purge. What's up with that?

Photo: Twila Brase.

West Central Tribune reports "Emmer campaign stiffs Kandiyohi Co"

Give KEYC-TV credit for first investigating the Emmer campaign's reluctance to pay its bills for documents it requested for the recount. That was back on December 2.

The Friday, December 10, the Mankato Free Press revisited county election officials who still hadn't received checks.

Today, Carolyn Lange of the West Central Tribune reports in Emmer campaign stiffs Kandiyohi Co. out of $1,400 during recount:

Sam Modderman doesn’t know exactly how many hours he and his staff spent preparing a cache of documents requested by Tom Emmer during the governor’s recount. But he knows the county hasn’t been paid for the work.

“We completed all the requests, but no, we haven’t gotten paid for them all,” the Kandiyohi County Auditor said.

It’s a common story that’s been reported in other counties who rushed to prepare documents requested by the Emmer campaign but then didn’t get paid for the work.

Modderman said he spent more time at the office than with his family over Thanksgiving in order the meet the request for documents.

“They were a little demanding,” he said.

Lange writes that the Emmer campaign paid $58 for an initial request, but soon demanded far more documents.The documents were collated on a CD, but the Emmer campaign never paid and never picked up the CD, accordin to the article.

Other counties in West Central Minnesota handled the campaign's demand in other way. In Swift County:

Burned by the lack of payment two years ago during the Senate recount “when we did all that work and we made all those copies and never got paid a dime,” [Swift County Auditor Byron] Giese pretty much ignored the requests for documents he got this year from the gubernatorial candidates.

As a result, his county isn’t out any money.

He got the same nasty e-mails other county auditor’s did about providing documents by certain days, but Giese bluntly said he disregarded them. He said he was too busy providing election data to the state and preparing for the recount to deal with the candidates’ requests.

Meeker County was never paid by the Emmer campaign, though the Dayton committee paid its estimated bill (indeed the costs of the entire effort):

Even though Emmer requested the information, he never responded once the invoice was sent. Dayton requested his copies, however, and paid the $2,135 bill. Loch said she is reimbursing Dayton $450 because the actual cost was less than estimated.

Even though Dayton is covering the cost of the county’s research, Loch said Dayton was the only one who actually received the documents and therefore was the only one who should pay.

She’s happy the county’s costs were covered.

Loch said, however, Dayton’s representatives are now saying they only wanted copies of information that the county sent to Emmer and are questioning their payment of the full bill for all the county’s time to prepare the documents.

It's truly remarkable that a guy who campaigned on retooling government should so blatantly exploit cash-strapped rural counties by asking them to devote staff time gathering and copying election records--and then neglect to pick them up.

Next time a Republican complains about the election being stolen, ask how he or she would know that.

After all, it doesn't look like the Emmer campaign or Republican Party of Minnesota bothered to  pick up the election documents Republicans requested, much less read them. Perhaps "stolen"  is GOP code for "we lost."

 Note: this is Bluestem's "Bleg" week. If you like reading posts visit Bleg: Like Bluestem's investigative blogging? Drop some coin in the tip jar to make a contribution.

WDN: A really principled MNGOP would excommunicate Horner heretics forever

The Winona Daily News isn't the first Greater Minnesota newspaper to comment of the Republican Party of Minnesota's recent two-year ban of 18 apostates from pachyderm participation, but it does make the most modest recommendation. 

It is the first to suggest that failed taco lord Tony Sutton and his fellow ideologues didn't go far enough in defending extremism at the expense of the vice of moderation.

The former governors  and legislators had all endorsed IP gubernatorial candidate and former Republican activist Tom Horner.

In Our view: For state GOP, ideology trumps debate, WDN editor Darrell Ehrlick writes on behalf of the Winona Daily News editorial board:

. . .The two-year banishment is also a bit insincere. It’s important the period is two years. Just time enough for the party to look like it’s being tough on its rogue statesmen, but not too tough that they can’t endorse presumably GOP candidates again in the next election cycle.

If the Minnesota GOP really wants to be the party of principles and convictions, then it should be willing to really make a stand.

Kick ’em out.

Kick ’em out for good. . . .

Read the entire editorial--including those parts where Ehrlick removes his tongue from his cheek--in today's Daily News.

Photo: Tom Horner, the devil in disguise, via Politics in Minnesota.