Agri-news and KEYC: More fond farewells from Gil Gutknecht
Agri-news caught up with Representative Gutknecht in Chicago for the article Gutknecht wrapping up 12 years in Washington, D.C. Gutknecht shares thoughtful reflection about ag policy making:
It will also be increasingly important for lawmakers to talk to one another. Rural lawmakers will need to communicate in a way that their urban and suburban counterparts understand.
"If they don't we risk something that we've taken for granted since America became a country--that is an unlimited supply of young farmers who are willing to go out and take a chance at it," Gutknecht said.
Rural, urban and suburban folks are interdpendent, he added.
Mankato's CBS affiliate, KEYC-TV 12, reports on Gutknecht's final official visit to Mankato. Video available with the story. Representative Gutknecht assesses the reasons for his loss:
He says the war, combined with corruption within his party, the DM &E railroad controversy and widespread anti-Republican sentiment cost him the election. "Against the backdrop of what was a very strong democratic year, it just became too much for me to overcome."
Speaking of DM & E: City Pages looks at "Political Freight"
The City Pages provides an overview to the DM & E fight. Money quote at the article's conclusion comes from Larry Kaufman, a columnist and former transportation editor for Business Week:
. . .the real problem is the financial structure of the deal. "If there is economic merit to the DM&E proposal, then there are people in our society whose business it is to finance these things," he says. "And why, if there is no merit, is the federal government interested in financing it?"
Almanac video clip posted
Friday's discussion with Walz, Ellison, and Bachmann is available online here.
Money, it's a shame: fundraising in the First reaches $2.58 million
The Strib takes a look at politcal fundraising in Minnesota in Record-setting political fundraising this year may be prelude to '08:
And the Democratic congressional candidates were the biggest fundraisers, outraising Republican candidates by just under $1 million.
The Sixth District race between Republican Rep.-elect Michele Bachmann and Democrat Patty Wetterling, which broke the fundraising record for a U.S. House race in Minnesota, brought in $5.7 million.
And the First District, where Democratic Rep.-elect Tim Walz ousted 12-year incumbent Gil Gutknecht, generated $2.58 million. Those two races made up roughly 51 percent of the total raised for the state's House races.
Given the construction of the above paragraphs, Star Tribune readers might be forgiven for thinking Walz out raised and spent Gutknecht: this was not the case.
Competition drives money, said Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. "It's a purple state. It's a competitive state," he said. [snip]
The next elections could lure record amounts of money.
Jacobs predicted that the 2008 Senate DFL primary to pick a candidate to run against Coleman will be a "whopper" that could break fundraising records.
It's too early to tell what kind of dollars the House races will generate in two years, but the races in the First and Sixth districts could be a sequel to 2006. Both Walz and Bachmann will be vulnerable, Jacobs said.
PiPress: Protests at Senator Coleman's St. Paul office
The Pioneer Press reports that 200 people gathered at Senator Coleman's St. Paul office to protest the raid and arrests in Worthington:
They came to tell the stories they say aren't being told.
In the wake of last Tuesday's raids at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Worthington, Minn., and five other states, a group of about 200 people gathered Monday afternoon outside the St. Paul offices of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman to condemn the federal action and demand immigration reform.
After a 40-minute rally, a smaller group walked into the Republican senator's office and read stories about families affected by the Minnesota roundup of more than 200 workers on alleged immigration violations.
"One woman is pregnant and is terrified to leave her home. She'll only communicate by telephone," said Patrick Leet, an activist who collected stories last weekend in Worthington. "She's psychologically devastated."
The stories were told to Coleman's staff members; rally organizers were informed that the senator is out of the country. A few of the people visiting the office said the storytelling was necessary because the government is using accusations of identity theft as an excuse to round up undocumented workers.
"The only identity fraud that's going on here is people having to leave their countries" and their families to find work in the United States, said Eduardo Cardenas of the Center for Labor Rights. . . .
Workday Minnesota has posted video clips from Worthington along with an article: Fear remains in wake of Worthington raid.
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