Vilsack is well-liked by both environmentalists and food industry
leaders and has written opinion articles in recent months about
agriculture policy, linking farming to energy independence and national
security.
Reached at his Iowa law office this afternoon, Vilsack declined to
confirm that he had been selected for the job. But a Democratic
official said he has been picked to lead the sprawling Department of
Agriculture, which develops and executes the nation's policies on
farming and food safety.
While some purists who want an immediate end to the production and subsidy f biofuels, GMO crops and conventional farming using agrichemicals may object to the selection of Vilsack, we think he's a good choice who understands Midwestern farming and rural economic development, especially in the renewable energy sector.
. . .reforming farm programs; especially making farm program payment limits
more effective, reducing subsidies to the nation's largest farms and
investing the savings in conservation, rural development, nutrition,
etc.
while favoring crucial livestock market reforms. We wholeheartedly agree with his policy ideas here. The CFRA article also discusses his support for biotech, troublesome to some activists, though not so much an area of concern for us. Go read the entire piece at CFRA for the details. Overall, we're very pleased with the president-elect's choice.
This should be a good fit for most Southern Minnesotans working in the agricultural sector, though the folks at Wonkette might still be a bit logo-phobic.
No doubt about it: Minnesota is being swept by a blizzard in the northwest and blustery winds everywhere else. Stay off the roads if you live in those areas where MNDOT is advising no travel and bundle up and drive appropriately everywhere else.
The Winona Daily News reports today on a different sort of turning blue in today's article, County turning blue: Voters picking more Democrats in state, national elections. Unlike Twin Cities papers which are attributing Congressman Walz's win to his personality, the WDN looks at the deliberate grassroots organizing by local progressives.
Mark Sommerhauser, who has emerged as a top-flight political reporter among the First's daily papers, writes:
Winona County Democrats devised a blueprint for victory in 2004 in the aftermath of a dispiriting defeat.
Local
DFL activists campaigned hard for Democrat John Kerry, only to watch
him fall to President Bush in the general election. The loss left DFL
members “in shock,” wondering what more they could possibly do to
influence local voters, county DFL chairwoman Anne Morse said.
But instead of shuttering their party office between
elections, as in previous years, local DFL members redoubled their
efforts in early 2005. They enlisted volunteers to staff at their West
Fifth Street office year-round and initiated more-aggressive
voter-outreach efforts, which Morse said paid off beginning with the
2006 election of U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn.
The
good news for local DFLers continued in 2008, when Walz, Barack Obama
and Al Franken carried Winona County. Those results continued a trend
of Winona County turning a darker shade of blue in the past 10 years,
according to an analysis by the Daily News and the University of
Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
A side note: one of the interesting things about the press in the First is the presence of lively daily papers--and increasingly more robest and frequent reporting online at venues like the Owatonna People's Press. Sadly, the newspaper industry in southern Minnestoa is also being buffeted by the sector-wide downturn afflicting papers everywhere.
We'd liked to note our appreciation for the work of another reporter, who unfortunately has been let go as a full-time staffer by the parent company of the Rochester Post Bulletin. Washington-based Ed Felker, a meticulous researcher with a gold-plated horse apple detector, will be missed for his probing articles and his hard-pressing questions in Congressman Walz's news conference calls.
Photo: Behind every elected face, there's flourishing grassroots in progressive southern Minnesota.
Minnesota
West’s student parade entry, “Peach on Earth,” took first place in the
Small Business category of Luverne’s 2008 Winterfest
Lighted Parade Saturday. It also collected food and money for the Rock
County Emergency Food Shelf. Pictured are (front row from left)
Jessica Wipf, Anna VanOverschelde, Kimberly Xaisongkham, (back row)
Rebecca Potrament, Tricia Scholtes and Dylan Reisch. There were
16 entries in Saturday’s parade.
We're a little late with this, but these students also win BSP first annual Jared Stene award for the combination of humor and good citizenship.
The
former hospital at 305 East Luverne Street is now known as the Luverne
Education Center for Health Care Careers where, according to
Administrator Jeff Ernst, more than 100 students access classes every
day.
The Center, which opened in the fall of 2007, is a branch
of Minnesota West Community and Technical College, a member of the
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Students take classes
either by traveling to the Center or by taking them online.
Ernst
said Minnesota West created two programs - radiology and surgical tech
- specifically for the Luverne site. "These programs didn't exist at
Minnesota West prior to this year." Three other programs, medical lab
technology, medical assistant and phlebotomy, were relocated to Luverne
to take advantage of the hospital setting.
. . .Course
offerings at the Luverne Education Center are not limited to medicine.
Courses ranging from business law to geography to English 101 are
provided for students seeking general education credits.
Ernst
said some of the students are taking advantage of the post-secondary
education option. PSEO is a state program for public high school
juniors and seniors that gives them an opportunity to complete certain
high school requirements by taking courses at participating colleges
and universities.
"Given the economy, this is a tremendous
opportunity for families to get a jump on the cost of college," Ernst
said. "The PSEO course catalog gives high school students a broader
variety of classes than what might be offered at the high school level."
He was at the Rural Energy Development Initiative forum Dec. 6 at
Hayfield, there to learn about commercial scale wind energy, wind
rights and development options, land leases and agreements.
And to ask questions.
Jim Hartson asks questions wherever he goes.
He was also at the 2008 Truth in Taxation hearing held by the Mower
County Board of Commissioners Dec. 4 to ask questions, and also to
offer opinions and observations.
And, to crack jokes. Hartson’s sense of humor sometimes is forgotten
by the ultra-serious demeanor he exhibits at public meetings.
He is, however, the silver-haired devil’s advocate on many issues and a silver-tongued devil of a spokesman for wind energy.
So much so that the Waltham farmer believes wind energy can reduce the spiraling costs of county government.
Hartson and his wife, Jane, live on a farm in the countryside near Waltham.
A personal computer is his best technological friend. Hartson scours
the Internet for information about the most natural renewable energy
source: wind.
He tracks his own wind energy project and others in Mower County.
Hartson’s is the first and still only farmer-owned cooperative wind
energy project in the southeast Minnesota region.
He tracks wind energy projects’ progress through a maze of approval
hoops and hurdles on the Midwest Independent Transmission System
Operator Web site, which monitors the bulk power transmission system.
He follows closely the emergence of Minnesota’s Community Based
Energy Development, which encourages the growth of locally-owned wind
energy projects such as his own.
Critics may say he’s “windy,” but there’s no disputing: Hartson knows wind energy and its potential impact in many areas. . . .
Read the rest at the Herald.
We were somewhat concerned when we first saw the headline for a Herald editorial, Track the ox and lamb with GPS, but were relieved when we read they meant those Christmas nativity scene figures that naughty people are prone to steal, rather than bovine bloggers and the sacrificial Republicans who declare against Walz in the First.
The news is not so good on the other end of the district where the Winona Daily News reports Northern Engraving to close Spring Grove plant because of downturns in the automotive industry:
Northern Engraving Corp. announced this morning it will close its
Spring Grove plant by spring because of the dramatic deterioration of
the U.S. automobile business in the past few months and the overall
economy.
More than 200 employees are working at the Spring Grove
plant, which makes nameplates for appliances and automobiles,
decorative appliance panels and interior trim for cars.
The Sparta-based company will move the Spring Grove
plant’s production to its plants in Sparta and West Salem, Executive
Vice President Ed Johnson said in an interview. That will mean some
employment increase at those plants, but it will be less than the
number of jobs being eliminated in Spring Grove, he said.
Northern Engraving also has a plant in Holmen and one in Great Britain.
Johnson
said layoffs at the Spring Grove plant probably will begin in mid- to
late February. Employees were notified Thursday that the plant will
close. . . .
The papers also reports that the CP Holiday train stops in Winona to help local food shelves. In Some people just don’t get it, the editors scold Governor Pawlenty for going on a trade mission in Israel and Senator Klobuchar, to a conference in Poland, when there is work to be done at home.
A Navy mom's letter tells of her son's First Christmas away from home and asks that people send him greetings. Come on: you know you want to, and she provides his address.
Elsewhere some interesting reading about the financial crisis. The GAO's report on the oversight of the TARP bank bailout is online here in pdf format. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve discusses the myth of the credit crisis here. And the New York Federal Reserve looks at the effect of the 2005 bankruptcy deform bill on the mortgage foreclosure crisis. David Sirota looks at the three precious rings in this circus and says Ahem, we told you so. He isn't the only one. The late Senator Wellstone blocked bankruptcy deform reform while he lived; Congressman Walz cautioned against the lack of oversight in the Wall Street bailout.
OpenCongress is Announcing Battle Royale - May the Best Bill Win, which facilitates citizens' ability to follow different bills addressing the same policy areas work their way through congress. Speaking of transparency, we remind readers of Legistorm, which posts financial information about members and their staff. Salaries, financial disclosure statements, travel and other interesting information can be viewed at LegiStorm: Transparency's Sidekick.
And now little music from a silver-tongued devil who turned into a move star and moved off to LA:
The day I asked my father if I could buy the farm, he said no. I was
heartbroken. I was about 10 years old and thought that, of course, I
would live my life nestled in the Minnesota River Valley near the Bend
of the River in Mankato.
My heart broke and my stomach sank,
first, because of the harshness of the answer, but also because I had
no idea of what I would do with my life if I were not farming.
My father’s own limited education drove him to a strong belief that his
daughters needed more and higher education, a belief I am sorry to say
he may not have shared for my brothers.
He told me that day,
as we dragged bales of hay to the cattle, that the expectation was that
I would need to go to college and have a career. The strong implication
was that this would be a career that did not involve a farm. . . .
Most of the column focuses on a new issue of the Rural Minnesota Journal, published by the Center for Rural Policy and Development, that's devoted to rural women's issues. Kelliher notes near the end of her column:
I sometimes wonder — if I were a 10-year-old girl today and asked my
father if I could buy the farm, whether the answer would be different.
My guess is my father would have still expected me to continue my
education, but in 2008 he might have been able to envision my pursuing
an agricultural career, which could include me buying my family farm or
another nearby to run. . . .
As
someone who grew up imagining we'd be nestling in the Minnesota River
Valley, we know exaclty where she's coming from. The Rural Minnesota Journal is
published in pdf format online here.
Brad Finstad, who decided not to seek relection this year as a Republican state representative from the New Ulm, is the new executive director of the nonpartisan center.
The Republican-Leader reports that veterans in Fillmore and Houston Counties will gain a closer option for outpatient care because a VA clinic [is] coming to Decorah. The needs of rural veterans can cross state lines.
“It
doesn’t do enough to protect the taxpayers who are footing the bill,”
Walz said in a statement. Walz was one of just 20 Democrats to vote
against the legislation. Walz said the measure does nothing to prevent
automakers or their suppliers from outsourcing jobs abroad.
U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) — Yes
“With
up to 3 million American jobs on the line, more than 23,000 in
Wisconsin alone, I believe that allowing their collapse is not an
option,” Kind said in a prepared statement.
Kind called the $14
billion in emergency aid a “bridge loan to somewhere,” noting the bill
requires automakers to restructure, limits executive pay and ensures
taxpayers are repaid before shareholders.
Those who care to remember Walz's votes on the bank bail out correctly can look them up here and here. Hint: he voted "no" in the belief that both versions of the earlier bailout didn't do enough to protect taxpayers.
U.S. Rep. Tim Walz would
undoubtedly climb to the top of the heap if he decides to run. His name
recognition and charisma, along with the fact that he just won a
landslide re-election victory in a part of the state that traditionally
favors Republican candidates, would be an enticing combination for
Democrats. (Walz’s office declined to comment on his plans for 2010.)
That's a very favorable assessment, though we're not sure how well Twin Cities voters know the congressman. With the sort of reporting we've seen in the metro press this week, how could they?
To get everybody in the spirit, here's a Christmas carol from the Boss. We dedicated it to one special Pastafarian friend (she knows who she is):
In response to the Dec. 1 column by Phil Araoz in opposition to Gov.
Tim Pawlenty's green jobs initiative proposal, there has never been a
more important time to invest in our future.
As we face a
severe economic crisis, solutions that will stimulate the economy and
create jobs will also bring long-term sustainability to our environment
and economy.
Leaders such as Congressman Tim Walz, who realize
that Minnesota is blessed with renewable resources and are pushing for
development, deserve our praise and support. . . .
Read the entire, well-documented rebuttal in the PB's op-ed section. We're betting that a significant sub-set of the 62.5% of voters who voted for Walz in the First agree with the 2006 Gustavus grad, since energy policy was a major discussion during the congressional campaign.
The PB's own Greg Sellnow reports that a representative of Congressman Walz's office was onhand when the CP Christmas choochoo rolled into town in Holiday Train is good sign for Rochester:
The townsfolk, all bundled up in scarves, blankets and down coats on a
dark night when the temperature was about 15 degrees, were there to see
a 13-car train, facing west. It was lit with the outlines of flashing,
brightly colored Christmas trees, ornaments and snowflakes. There in
the middle was an open freight car where a band played. Santa stopped
by to say hello. Our mayor was there to welcome the train. So was
someone from Rep. Tim Walz's office. And a representative from the
Channel One Food bank accepted a giant check from the Canadian Pacific
Railroad for $2,500.
There were literally thousands of people braving the elements, all
waiting to see what the CP Holiday Train was about and support the
cause, when we pulled in! Mayor Ardell Brede, Cynthia Schaffer from
the Channel One Food Shelf and Rick Howden, representative for
Congressman Tim Walz, were on hand to kick things off on a high note.. . .
We applaud all efforts to make sure no one goes hungry, but also hope that Congress will quickly pass President-elect Obama's plan for putting Americans to work rebuilding infrastructure, updating schools, and other public investments that will--we hope--reduce the need for food shelves.
And so all those waiting for the tide to turn, here's a song from Nova Scotia's own Melanie Doane, who was on the train that came to Rochester:
Congressman Tim Walz is trying to educate local leaders and non-profits on how to secure a federal grant.
More than 200 people attended his workshop in Rochester.
With the economy in a recession, finding money can be difficult.
"Anybody who wants in local government or a non-profit understands that funding is significantly reduced," says Mary Gorfine.
For local government coordinator Mary Gorfine and non-profit
coordinator Gwen Wolters this event allowed them to network and get
advice on how to obtain grants.
One workshop focuses on childcare, while another revolves around economic development.
"Connect the people who are...who are making things happen making
that growth happen with some of the funding that needs to make that
investment possible," Walz says.
Even with these tools, Walz says it's always a challenge to get grants.
"There’s no guarantees ever but it's one more source and one more
tool and I want to see myself as a partner in that," says Walz.
"We do some great work in southern Minnesota and learning how to
bring federal dollars into this area is not important for our programs
but for the communities in southern Minnesota to be able to prosper,"
says Wolters.
As many of these organizations plan and research federal funding,
the hope is to be able to provide as many services as possible.
Walz calls the workshop a success.
He says they're already planning more for places like Mankato or Austin, early next summer.
A planned federal economic stimulus program, centered on public
works projects, has already succeeded in stimulating a stampede among
local government officials in Rochester.
Legislation prepared
by Rep. Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee, would send $45 billion across the country for
road, bridge, aviation and water and sewer projects in the first four
months of next year, the Duluth News Tribune reported on Tuesday.
Oberstar told the newspaper that his legislation could create as many as 7,000 new jobs in Minnesota alone.
The
same day the article appeared, discussion had already begun among
Olmsted County commissioners to do whatever may be necessary to secure
a piece of that funding for one or more projects.
Read the entire article at the PB for details about potential projects that might quality for the funding.
The prairie sunlight today is worthy of an artist's consideration, and so we present a slideshow of work by one of the American masters, set to a recent tune by Lucinda Williams:
While the nation's economic woes are creating greater need, First District residents are stepping up to help when they can. The Owatonna People's Press reports that local high school students raise over $11,000 in Food on the shelf: Annual Cash Drive benefits local food shelf.
The New Ulm Journal says that the New Ulm Area Emergency Food Shelf accepts donations of over 2,500 pounds of food in the last week, but the group will be serving a greater geographic area since the food pantry in Lafayette has recently closed.
In Giving thanks, giving back, the Waseca County News tells the tale of the Waseca Area Neighborhood Service Center teaming up with the Lions and Thrivent to provide Thanksgiving meals for 200 families.
Private charity is a good and blessed thing, but we're hoping that Congress moves on President elect Obama's plans for an economic stimulus package that focuses on jobs creation. CQPolitics says that's exactly what's in the works in Congress Will Work Through January to Send Obama Economic Stimulus Package:
Democratic leaders intend to break with
tradition and put members of the new Congress to work as soon as they
arrive in Washington, in order to prepare the huge economic stimulus
plan President-elect Barack Obama intends to request.
Normally,
a new Congress convenes on or shortly after Jan. 3 and then leaves town
until the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. In 2001, when President
Bush took office, the House didn’t cast its first vote until Jan. 30.
And in 1993, when President Bill Clinton took office, the first vote
was on Jan. 26.
But not this time. The 111thCongress
will officially convene on Jan. 6. “It is my hope that the new Congress
will begin work on an aggressive economic recovery plan when they
convene in early January so that our administration can hit the ground
running,” Obama said at a Chicago news conference Monday.
Senators
have already been told they will be in Washington throughout January.
The House also plans to get to work right after its swearing-in. Aides
confirmed Monday that the House hopes to have the stimulus ready for
Obama around the time he takes office.
“We are already tired, and he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet,” one aide said.
The
110th Congress isn’t necessarily through yet, either. Leaders have told
members to prepare to return around Dec. 8 to discuss aid to the Big 3
Detroit automakers in a continuation of last week’s lameduck session.
In Minnesotans disagree over Obama’s team, the Bemidji Pioneer reported that Congressman Walz looks for investments in infrastructure, modernized schools, energy-efficient cars and alternative energy technologies:
“People in southern Minnesota and around the nation are suffering
and they are nervous about the future,” Walz said. “Congress, working
together with the Obama administration, will address that crisis with
bold and effective action.”
Walz said the Obama economic team is
“an impressive group of intellectual heavyweights with a healthy
diversity of views about how our country can best move forward.”
But
the congressman said he is awaiting details of the Obama economic plan,
which the president-elect said on Wednesday would come only after his
new advisors have a chance to weigh in.
Walz said he expects the
plan to rebuilt the economy “by investing in infrastructure,
modernizing schools and building more fuel-efficient cars and alternative energy technologies.
The nation's automakers have asked for a bailout, and many critics are suggesting that conservation and alternative fuels should be proscribed as part of the funding mix. Consumers in Southwestern Minnesota are ahead of the curve; the Jackson County Pilot looks at soaring demand for flex-fuel vehicles and biofuels in the War on ethanol, part 2.
Thanks to PW at Mercury Rising for Rule Number One: Do Not Mess With Ollie Ox. and Jeff at the Twin Cities Daily Liberal Eric at LILOCfor including our media criticism in his Daily Romp. Grandma always said that you could sleep in the barn, but don't bother the cow. To those readers who have inquired, none of those involved in this accident are among our relatives. Thanks for asking.
We're back from a fun Minnesota Farmers Union convention and are placating the kittehs, who are insisting that their legendary independence is overrated.
lauded the efforts of U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, DFL-7th
District, who steered the farm bill through Congress as chairman of the
U.S. House Agriculture Committee.
“MFBF sincerely thanks Chairman
Peterson for his outstanding leadership on this legislation,” Paap
said, also citing Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Amy Klobuchar,
DFL-Minn., and Reps. Jim Oberstar, DFL-8thDisrict, Tim Walz, DFL-1st
District, John Kline, R-2nd District, Keith Ellison, DFL-5th District,
and Betty McCollum, DFL-4th District.
Readers can readily ascertain which of Minnesota's representatives are left off that list. Former Congressman Tim Penny writes the Mankato Free Press to say Area is ready for energy push. The reitred dean of engineering at MSU-M says A bold energy plan is necessary.
District 1--It's been amazing seeing how fast Rochester, Minnesota's
third-largest city and formerly known as "the heart of soul of the
Minnesota Republican Party, has changed. The first signs of GOP
softening came in 2000, with a Mark Dayton victory over Senator Rod
Grams and a soft four-point margin for Bush over Gore. After several
cycles of shifting, Rochester completed it's transition to a
Democratic-leaning community having voted for Barack Obama by nine
points. Considering that most of the rest of the district has been
more politically competitive, having the population anchor of the
district trending Democrat gives MN-01 a decidedly blue tint, at least
unless the Republican party moves back towards the kind of political
moderation that was the hallmark of the state GOP in decades past and
was embraced by Rochester.
Tim Walz mowed down third-rate competitor Brian Davis even more
lopsidedly than I could have imagined. Walz won all 23 22 counties in the
district, a feat I wouldn't have imagined possible this year given that
Pipestone and Rock Counties in the southwest corner are shut out of the
Minnesota media market (and thus tend to vote party line on essentially
every non-national race) and have populations that are more than 20%
evangelical that vote so overwhelmingly Republican that it makes nearly
any Democratic victory unattainable. I think Dick Day had the
potential to mount a stronger challenge to Walz had he won the primary,
but still would have likely fallen far short. Walz' rock-solid
30-point victory gives me confidence in his ability to weather more
defensive political cycles that may emerge in the years ahead.
Other thoughts.....Worthington, formerly a Democratic
stronghold in southwestern Minnesota that has been trending Republican
in the last couple of decades, had another pretty good year for
Democrats, following an upwardly mobile 2006. College towns Mankato
and Winona saw dramatic improvement for all Democrats on the ballots.
Traditional Republican strongholds like New Ulm and Owatonna were, for
the second election cycle in a row, softer than usual across the
ballot. That leaves Fairmont as the district's only population center
that remains unflinching in its allegiance to the GOP.
Tonight's video is Bob Marley singing (in part) about planting corn; we dedicate it to Kat the Warrior Princess:
Earlier this morning, we posted about a federal grants workshop that Congressman Walz is sponsoring in Rochester on December 3. One area covered in the breakout sessions is alternative energy. Judging from the district papers today, renewable energy continues strong in Southern Minnesota economic mix.
The
wind has long been used as a legitimate power source, but capturing and
storing that energy has been a missing piece of the puzzle.
Now
researchers believe they've cracked the code to wind energy storage,
and it is being tested on the local Minwind Energy turbines near Beaver
Creek.
On Monday Xcel Energy hosted tours of a battery test site
at the Beaver Creek substation and offered public information at the
Rock County Community Library.
The $4.5 million technology is the first of its kind in the United States to be used for direct wind energy storage.
The
battery module -roughly the size of two semi trailers - has the
capacity to store about 7.2 megawatt hours of electricity. It can
discharge one megawatt of wind power that can be moved to the
electricity grid when needed.
Fully charged, the battery could
power 500 homes for more than seven hours. Developers say it will be
key to expanding the use of renewable energy. . . .
Renewable energy isn't the exclusive franchise of the wind industry. In Madelia Model seeks alternative crops for energy, the New Ulm Journal reports:
Pieces of the Madelia Model project that would create alternative energy from alternative crops are moving forward.
The
model involves locally-grown biomass including natural and industrial
feedstocks within a 25-mile radius of rural Minnesota communities.
The
project creates rural jobs, improved water quality, carbon
sequestration, greenhouse gas reduction, improved wildlife habitat and
crop diversity.
The Madelia "fuel shed" would include Winnebago, Mankato, New Ulm, Sleepy Eye and St. James areas.
Sponsored
by Rural Advantage of Fairmont - which promotes the interconnection of
agriculture, rural communities and the environment - the Madelia Model
is built around crop initiative. . . .
The Post Bulletin reports in Rochester's health sector makes up for manufacturing job losses that employment is up by 600 jobs from a year ago, almost entirely because of the Mayo city's robust health care industry. The health sector growth masks losses in maunfacturing.
Photo: The kitteh isn't the only one basking in solar energy on the prairie. Last April, the New Ulm Journal reported on a solar project in Cottonwood County.
Since it's a cold November day on the prairies, here's a little music for the chilling economy:
U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., was hesitant to support anything yet.
“Until
we see details about an assistance package for the auto industry, we’re
just speculating about what might be included," Walz said. "But I would
be very hesitant about any package that does not include strong
protections for the taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill.”
The Globe also reports on the first wind-to-battery test project in the United States. In Capturing wind:
Roughly the size of two semi trailers and weighing nearly 80 tons,
groundbreaking wind-to-battery technology was unveiled in the middle of
farm fields northwest of Beaver Creek Monday morning.
The battery,
the first of its kind to be tested in the United States, will help
partners Xcel Energy and Luverne-based Minwind Energy capture and store
power produced by the 11.5-megawatt Minwind Energy wind farm. . . .
. . . Minwind Energy is comprised of 360 local investors who raised the
capital to construct the wind farm. They each have a stake in the
ownership of the turbines. Willers said the group is “very interested”
in what’s going on in regard to energy production.
Minwind
recently completed a two-year test project with Xcel Energy on a
biodiesel peaking plant, in which a 99 percent blend of biofuels was
used to power the wind turbines when Mother Nature didn’t provide
enough wind for them to operate.
“We’re locally owned and we
understand what energy is,” said Willers. “As Minnesotans, we want to
have an understanding of where our energy dollars are going and coming
from. Being an agricultural community, we’re always on the forefront of
environmental issues.” . . .
The 2008 Southern Minnesota Federal Grants Workshop connects local
government and non profit leaders to federal grant opportunities with
the goal of enhancing opportunity and prosperity. Come hear from
experts from federal agencies and local foundations about how to
research grant opportunities, review best practices in grant writing,
and discover current trends in funding priority projects in southern
Minnesota.
The Lakefield Standard reports dire need in Lakefield, Jackson and Heron Lake in Food shelf shortage: ‘Not nearly enough’. Demoand is up and giving is down. How far down? The Jackson County Pilot reports contributions are off by 50 percent.
The Rochester Democrat has posted Tim Walz's letter asking Democrats to volunteer to help with the recount in the U.S. Senate race.
Salon analyzes the pathos of lolcats, while it's International Laugh at Lieberman Day. Personally, we're fluffing up our Droopy Dog routine in Joe's honor. For now, here's the first Tex Avery cartoon in the Droopy series, since the Democratic leadership doesn't want to shake this guy:
. . .Using scare tactics and worse-case scenarios, leaders in Congress
including Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman and Wisconsin
Rep. Ron Kind told us that we simply must ship billions of dollars as
quickly as possible to the Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke or else the economy was going to crash and burn.
Even worse than it already had. . . .
. . .The bailout package has been a textbook example of how many wrongs by
the government doesn’t make anything right. The administration, along
with a Democratically controlled Congress, scared the American people
into signing a blank check with a few vague promises. The
administration insisted that too much oversight on people like Paulson
and Bernanke would only hurt the American economy. And now the American
public isn’t even getting what it was sold — help to homeowners and
taxpayers who got tangled up into this strange mortgage crisis. . . .
We're surprised that the paper doesn't remind its readers that their own Congressman voted against the bailout--twice. Re-reading Walz's October 6 column, Why I voted against the bailout bill, reminds us that the Congressman noted the very problems that the WDN board inveighs against. Walz wrote in early October:
The plan we voted on is a bad deal for the American taxpayers on several fronts:
•It lacks taxpayer protection, and there is no guarantee the
American people will get their money back from Wall Street. The
legislation simply requires that if, after five years, we have not
gotten a good deal on our investment, the president must make a
proposal for doing so. That proposal is not binding and will likely go
nowhere.
•It offers no real help for homeowners. As the New York Times
reported on Saturday, the way the plan is structured makes it highly
unlikely that more than a handful of struggling homeowners will end up
with more manageable mortgages.
•It continues to permit excessive CEO compensation by instituting
so-called limits on compensation and golden parachutes that are
essentially all bark and no bite. As the Washington Post puts it,
"executive pay experts said the regulations are too weak to spark major
reform in the way companies compensate top officers, and too narrow in
scope to change the pay structure that encouraged finance executives in
boom times to take on enormous risks."
•The plan proposes only weak oversight by putting enormous power in
the hands of the treasury secretary, leaving an oversight board that
can critique but not halt any of his actions.
Too many public opinion leaders, including those in the media,
committed the cardinal sin of panicked policymaking and fiscal
recklessness: They fell prey to the delusion that just throwing a lot
of money at a problem would solve it. . . .
Despite a lame-duck Congress and a nearly useless president, our
leaders should show some kind of leadership and ask the tough
questions. What are we getting for our money? Why are homeowners still
aching? And who’s looking over Paulson’s shoulder?
We’re not
sure what’s worse, not getting what we paid for or no one in Congress
willing to speak out about how the bailout money is being used.
We understood that politicians were distracted by the recent campaigns — now what’s their excuse?
Walz wasn't distracted by his campaign--far from it. On September 24, he sent Treasury Secretary Paulson a letter including eight questions about oversight and transparency. When these questions weren't addressed to his satisfaction, he voted against both versions of the bailout package. The Strib reported that his no votes (the Strib's board favored the biils) put him in the spotlight.
We'll have his current position (not much has changed, although the guy's looking pretty prescience these days) in the article we're working on that's based on Friday's interview. We understand that the news staff and the editorial board aren't one and the same, but if the WDN wants the opinion of Winona's congressman about these things--he'll be quite happy to talking to a reporter about issues, campaign or no campaign.
These sorts of governing and policy-making issues are why we care more about what Cognressman Walz is going to do as a U.S. representative about drafting the new transportation bill, creating a job stimulus package and the like, than we do about handicapping the gubernatorial horse race.
Oversized semitrailers carrying wind turbine parts are becoming a common sight in central Minnesota.
From
June through September, the Minnesota Department of Transportation
reports granting more than 2,400 permits for oversized wind loads.
That kind of travel frequency is causing some safety concerns.
Ted
Coulianos, a MnDOT permit supervisor, says people aren't sure how to
drive when sharing the road with a semi carrying huge wind turbine
parts.
But Coulianos says motorists should be prepared to see
more such loads in the coming years as the demand for wind energy keeps
going up.
Much of the turbine parts in the Upper Midwest arrive
by ship at the Duluth port before being transported to other parts of
Minnesota, Iowa and other states.
We've personally encountered at least ten of these transports in the last few months. We never had a problem figuring out how to share the road with the transports. We were far more perplexed by our questions about why the turbine parts were being shipped from Europe rather than being manufactured here in the Upper Midwest. Not only would local fabrication create jobs, but it also might serve to reduce the equipment's carbon footprint.
Workday Minnesota's article Euphoria over Obama win tempered by Senate recount cites the work done by Rochester-area labor leader Russell Hess and Southeast Area Labor Council field representative Liz McLoone in getting out labor volunteers and the vote. Hess was co-director of Minnesota Labor 2008.
Members said he had a phenomenal knowledge of their districts, and he
kept up to date well after the campaign ended. Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.)
said one of his supporters wrote a letter to the editor of a small
paper in his district, complaining about his vote on a rewrite of the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Walz mentioned the letter to the editor to Emanuel on the floor and was stunned by his response.
“You
mean the one about how you should caucus with the Republicans?” Emanuel
shot back. “That’s a good letter. Makes you look bipartisan.”
To this day, Walz is still amazed. “He had read the letter.”
While we at BSP are trying to focus on the coming policymaking by the 111th congress and President Obama, others in the blogosphere are looking at the 2010 Minnesota governor's race. Mankato Free Press night editor Doug Wolter ups the stakes by proposing a Sarah Palin--Paris Hilton presidential ticket for 2012 in Celebrity politicians: It's the wave. The silly season never ends.
Image: how quick the WDN editorial board forgets. A photo of Congressman Walz talking to constituents about the bailout appeared above the fold in the October 2 Star Tribune. The Strib chastized Walz for being "reckless" in voting against the bailout. Okay then.
We thought our readers might want to see a meme from Paris that's hot. You'll have to use your own judgment about whether La Meme is work safe:
Congressman Walz visited a class of meddling kids (his favorite kind) on Wednesday, according the Austin version of the Post Bulletin in Students grill their Congressman:
Congressman Tim Walz, who last week was re-elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives for a second term, faced tough questions Wednesday
from some of his biggest critics: students at Grand Meadow High School
who wanted to know what he was going to do to secure their futures.
Walz,
DFL-Mankato, spoke to students about his role in Congress, and about
their own roles in the country's future. Students asked a range of
questions, from where Walz lives when he spends his weeks in
Washington, D.C., to what he plans to do about the national debt,
failing economy and job losses. Many of Walz's responses emphasized the
importance of education.
The version posted under a tamer headline, Students quiz Walz, includes an interesting Q & A session. Our friends who speculate about a potential gubernatorial bid may latch on to this item:
Walz also remained mum on whether he plans to run for governor in 2010.
"Right now I'm focusing on getting through this re-election, so no decision yet," said Walz.
Mostly, Minnesotans can't help but think about last week's election because of the Senate recount. The Mankato Free Press editorial board notes that the Acrimony over Senate race grows. Conclusion:
Voters and average citizens probably thought the
political fighting and acrimony should have ended Nov. 4.
Unfortunately, there appears to be a few more weeks or months of
political nastiness they will have to endure.
Discourse simply isn't what it used to be in the Key City. The Free Press has shut down its online forum, the paper reports in Forum shut down after users go too far. Money quote:
“I don’t want to tell people they don’t have a right to
swear — they do. Just not at my party.” — Free Press Publisher Jim
Santori, explaining the reasons behind the decision to shut down the
forum on this Web site.
We'll miss the insanity.
Coleman supporters often imply that only Franken can benefit from the recount. Not all votes will go Al's way; some shifts occurred in the recent pre-recount audit. The Cottonwood County Citizen reports in Routine audit yields extra vote for Coleman in county:
After a few
days of seeing vote corrections land on the Franken side, Republican
Senate Candidate Norm Coleman received some good news from Cottonwood
County--he gained one vote.
The error was found during a routine
audit of county scanning equipment on Wednesday. Cottonwood County
Auditor Jan Johnson said a voter used a pencil (instead of a pen) and
didn't mark the ballot dark enough.
Consequently, the vote was not read by the scanner. Only two of the county's 28 precincts were tested on Wednesday.
However, Johnson says the public should not expect a major change, once next week's local recount is complete. . . .
Since election night, [Nobles County Auditor Sharon] Balster has had to meet special requests from
both the Coleman and Franken campaigns — including making copies of all
of the tapes from the counting machines, providing information on the
number of absentee ballots mailed out, returned, accepted and rejected.
Both political parties had representatives present at last Friday’s
board of canvass meeting and Monday’s post-election review.
“My list of things to do is enormous,” Balster said.
Newly elected GOP state rep Greg Davids puts his narrow rematch victory over Ken Tschumper into perspective for the Rushford Tri-County Record:
"We
feel very fortunate (to win) because the congressional candidate
(Republican Brian Davis) got 33 percent in the district, the
presidential candidate (Republican John McCain) got 42 percent, and I
got 51 percent. So we're excited."
The 2006 margin was so close that it triggered an automatic recount in the state house district. A
Republican friend in the First shared news that Davids has been mentioned as
a potential candidate to run for the congressional seat in 2010, but
we've heard no more about this rumor. Since Davids retains his
seniority in the Minnesota House after sitting out a term, it is likely
that he will garner his share of earned media.
The 2008 GOP congresssional candidate in the First questioned the emergency food shelf aid in the Farm Bill; this may not have been the cycle to challenge such programs. Federal aid to food pantries is not enough to meet the need and is intended to be a supplement to private support. The unfortunate need for emergency food assistance is clear as we read the district's papers.
The Owatonna Peoples Press notes that about ten percent of Steele County's population is getting helping from the food shelf in Boy Scout food drive kicks off this weekend. Steele County residents should give what they can:
On Saturday, Boy Scout troops from all over Steele County will be out
in the county collecting food donations from people’s door steps
beginning at 9:30 a.m. All donated food will be sent to the Steele
County Food Shelf.
Tom Barry, district executive for the Game
Haven Council (which oversees Steele, Dodge and Goodhue counties), said
they are looking for a variety of different foods, including canned
fruits and vegetables, soup, pasta and flour, to name a few.
“We hope that people have their food out by about 9 a.m. this weekend,” Barry said. . . .
. . .If people miss putting out the food for Boy Scouts on Saturday, there
will be two other drop-off sites. They include the Steele County Food
Shelf or at the old Century 21 Building at 1836 Cedar Ave., located
next to Godfather’s Pizza. Both drop-off sites will be open from 10
a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Trom added they are looking for
additional volunteers to help sort food donations at the old Century 21
building and then bring it to the Steele County Food Shelf.
If
people don’t have food to donate, Trom also said monetary donations
help. Because the food shelf is a non-profit, Trom said the
organization is able to pay for more items at a store compared to the
average dollar.
Photo: Walz returning to his Mankato West classroom in his first term. Washington's got nothing on the tough crowd in the public schools. Photo cribbed from the NYTimes.
Southern Minnesotans decisively returned Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato
for his second term . . .
With the dust of the campaign barely settled, it appeared
Walz was set on keeping his current committee lineup and will not seek
a leadership post in the new Congress.
Meredith Salsbery,
Walz's press secretary, said Wednesday that he wants to remain on the
Agriculture Committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee, and the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The transportation
committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Chisholm, plans to write a
new national highways and transit bill next year that will offer
committee members a chance to include local projects. "It's relevant
and needed," she said of the highways bill.
Though rumors have
circulated that the House might include local projects in an economic
stimulus bill when it returns for a session the week of Nov. 17,
Salsbery said Walz understood the opposite. Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., said Wednesday that House Democrats will stand by the $61
billion stimulus bill passed by the chamber in September, which
includes infrastructure money for states but no projects, and see if
the Senate and outgoing Bush administration agree to enact the measure.
If not, the Democratic majority will write a new stimulus bill
when it returns in January for the 111th Congress and deals with
Democratic President-elect Barack Obama.
Salsbery said Walz has
no plans to run for a leadership spot when the Democratic caucus meets
during the lame duck session. He was a co-president of the Democratic
freshman caucus during this first term.
Walz worked on the Farm Bill and major legislation to improve vets' benefits in his first term; spending time on the new transportation bill should appeal to his work ethic and boundless energy.
We're home after a good day in Mankato; headlines in Minnesota's media spell out just how good it was. The Mankato Free Press reports in Walz wins second victory:
The 1st District had long been portrayed as a Republican-leaning district, a description that may need to change.
“I think so,” Walz said at midnight. “But I
don’t think there should be any talk that it’s a Democratic district
either. I think it’s a pragmatic district that wants to get things
done.”
For the second straight election, Walz had
a strong Democratic wind at his back. But he won every single county in
the district, including deeply conservative counties in southwestern
Minnesota. In Pipestone County, for instance, Walz was given a 1
percentage point win by voters who preferred John McCain over Barack
Obama 55-42 percent.
On the verge of giving Walz a larger margin
of victory than Gutknecht ever recorded, 1st District residents were
quick to compliment the freshman lawmaker.
“He’s been doing a good job,” said Kris
Frohling after voting at Hosanna Lutheran Church in Mankato. “He thinks
of the people. He’s a down-to-earth kind of guy.”
As the results continued to pour in on Election Night, Walz credited
his efforts on veterans' issues, the farm bill and transportation for
his victory.
"This is a performance review of how you have done, and I am very
humbled by it and very honored," he said. "But I think it sets the tone
for what people expect. They are not really interested in partisanship.
They are interested in what you are going to get done."
First-term Democratic Rep. Tim Walz, representing the southern
counties, beat conservative Republican Brian Davis. With 93 percent of
the vote counted, Walz led 189,977 (63 percent) to 99,585 (33 percent).
Walz said he thinks one reason he won was because “I did not get involved in partisan politics.”
But, there was another reason he won so big: “There was a pretty good wind at Democrats’ backs overall.”
Democrats gained nearly 20 seats in the House, which Walz said should help Barack Obama to “have a vision.”
As midnight neared, Walz said that it is time to change gears from the campaign.
“Tomorrow we put the politics away,” he said. “We start working to find solutions.”
Election Day Events in Mankato, Rochester, Austin, Winona
( Mankato , MN ) – On Tuesday, November 4, Congressman Tim Walz will be barnstorming southern Minnesota with a series of Get-Out-The-Vote rallies and Main Street Stops with local residents all across southern Minnesota.
Throughout the day, Walz will be traveling to Mankato , St Peter, Rochester , Austin and Winona where he will visit with campaign volunteers and stop at stores to meet with local residents.
A complete schedule for Tuesday is below.
Mankato
Congressman Tim Walz will stop by local polling site to vote
When: 7:00 AM
Where: St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church
423 W 7th St
Congressman Tim Walz will kick-off a Get-Out-The-Vote doorknocking effort with campaign volunteers
When: Kick off with volunteers— 8:00 AM
Where: Local 49 Office
308 Lundin Blvd
Congressman Tim Walz holds a Main Street Stop to meet with local residents
When: 8:30 AM
Where: Wagon Wheel Café
609 S Front St
St Peter
Congressman Tim Walz will attend chapel service at Gustavus Adolphus College
When: 10:00 AM
Where: Gustavus Adolphus College
800 W College Ave
Rochester
Congressman Tim Walz will kick-off Get-Out-The-Vote doorknocking efforts with campaign volunteers
When: 12:00 PM
Where: Masonic Temple
2002 2nd St SW
Austin
Congressman Tim Walz holds a Main Street Stop to meet with local residents
When: 1:30 PM
Where: Coffee House on Main
329 N Main St
Winona
Congressman Tim Walz kicks-off Get-Out-The-Vote doorknocking efforts with campaign volunteers
When: Meet with campaign volunteers-- 4:00 PM
Doorknocking begins at 4:00 PM
Where: Winona DFL Office
685 W 5th St
Rochester
Congressman Tim Walz attends the Rochester DFL Election Night Party
When: 8:00 PM
Where: Marriott Hotel
441 W Center St
Mankato
Congressman Tim Walz attends the Mankato DFL Election Night Party
When: 10:15 PM
Where: Best Western Hotel
1111 Range St
Our only advice to the Congressman is to get to his polling place early to secure a place in line. We think turnout will be heavy.
We'd written early this morning that we'd be posting endorsements and individual supporters' statement of reason for casting a ballot for Congressman Walz. A couple of friends in the First sent us their reasons for voting for Tim Walz. A doctor in Rochester sent this:
Many people in Minnesota and throughout the United States have no health benefits due to lost jobs, pay cuts and downsizing. Tim Walz will work so that everyone can be covered for basic health needs. Universal coverage benefits everyone because costs of unpaid bills are spread across the system so people with insurance pay more. We also have an obligation as a society that all people have health care. Brian Davis has no plan other than the McCain plan to tax medical insurance benefits and to give a $2500 tax credit. That will not cover more that 25% of the cost of buying health insurance. More people without insurance will be the only result of the Davis-McCain plan. Moving in the wrong direction on health care and the economy would be the result if Davis were to win. Dr. Davis is the wrong man with the wrong ideas at the wrong time. Re-elect Tim Walz!
And ultimately, when Walz says he understands and appreciates the concerns of
the struggling middle class, we believe him. He's one of us -- a hard-working
Minnesotan who's served his country, taught young people and isn't afraid to get
his hands dirty, both literally and figuratively.
Although are many reasons to vote for TJW based on his first term, voters are looking to the future.
The next President will enter office assuming a National Debt that has doubled during the Bush Administration. Tax policy will have to be addressed, but NO President is going to RAISE TAXES on the Middle Class … McCain will push to keep the existing Bush Tax Policy which cuts the pie in favor of the highly paid doctors and beer distributors … while Obama will cut taxes for the Middle Class. Contrast Walz with his proposal for a Middle Class Tax Cut and Davis’s desire to make the existing tax policy permanent.
The Democrats will have a solid majority and will want to create jobs. Easiest (and smartest) way is to invest in infrastructure projects. Congressman Oberstar had hearings last week and has identified projects that can be started within 120 days. Obama wants this investment. Walz knows the district and how infrastructure investment is necessary to support the growing ethanol and wind energy industries in the First District.
Working Families is the Walz family. Tim and Gwen are teachers raising two kids … being affected by foreclosures in their neighborhoods … their everyday life is our everyday life. With all due respect for Drs. Davis and Lillienberg and their children, the salaries that they are compensated is considerably more than most working families … yet most working families pay their property taxes on time. Walz will represent Working Families while I have a concern that Davis will represent the Country Club Set.
The future is unknown, but based on Walz first term where he produced tangible results for Veterans and Family Farmers; there is no reason not to vote for Walz to help Working Families.
Xcel Energy will seek regulatory approvals to develop a 201-megawatt project in southwestern Minnesota's
Nobles County, called the Nobles Wind Project, and a 150-megawatt
project in Dickey and McIntosh counties in southeastern North Dakota,
called the Merricourt Wind Project. The projects are expected to be
operational by the end of 2010 and 2011, respectively. Together, the
projects will produce enough electricity to power approximately 110,000
homes.
Congressman Walz praised the project:
"Xcel Energy's
innovative project is one piece to the solution of moving our nation to
energy independence. This is a great example of how green jobs will put
people to work in our communities while producing clean and renewable
energy to power our country."
Back to campaign news. It's Halloween, and we're hearing grim rumors from the right side of the district. In honor of the walking dead, a classic from Concrete Blonde:
Congressman Walz is part of a bi-partisan group of U.S. Representatives who are sticking up for rural telecommunications firms, according to Members of Congress Urge FCC to Postpone Election Day Vote on Telecom, a press release from the Coalition for Affordable Communications that's now posted at Marketwatch. The group:
is an association of rural phone and broadband providers concerned with
ensuring that American consumers and businesses continue to enjoy
affordable telephone and broadband service. The CAC includes
CenturyTel, Consolidated Communications, Embarq, FairPoint
Communications, Frontier Communications, Iowa Telecom and Windstream
Communications, who collectively serve more than 17 million customers
in 42 states.
Potentially higher costs to consumers and the lack of transparency in rule-making are cited as reasons for delayed the decision and opening up the process for public comment.
The Post Bulletin's Regional news digest reports on federal funding for repairing flood-damaged road in SE Minnesota:
SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA: Federal money will help repair flood-damaged roads and highways
Seven southeastern Minnesota counties will get $7.4 million to
repair federal roads and highways damaged in the August 2007 flood.
They are Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted, Steele, Wabasha, Winona and Dodge, according to the office of Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato.
A record 15.1 inches of rain fell in 24 hours during the event, and
some places recorded substantially more. In addition to flooding
thousands of homes and killing seven people, the floods damaged
culverts, bridges and piers in many roads.
Walz's pro-active approach to the historic flooding was cited as a reason to support Tim Walz in this morning's endorsement by the Winona Daily News:
. . .And, when southern Minnesota flooded, he rushed to do what he could to help. . . .
Overshadowed by the Bachmann-Tinklenberg and Madia-Paulsen races, the
Tim Walz vs. Brian Davis match in the First Congressional District has
been a fascinating fight between lunchbucket DFLer and loyally
conservative Republican.
Tim Walz has been a champion for veterans since he went to Congress,
working for an increase in the mileage reimbursement rates for
veterans, making sure our soldiers going to Kosovo received combat pay
for their service, and supporting the new GI Bill. We need to make
sure that our representative in Congress has actually taken the time to
think about issues that are important to us.
In the same paper, Erin Hoban thinks Walz is right for the job. Jack Flinner's LTE, Walz opposed bailout bill, has been published by the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, which reaches readers in Southwestern Minnesota.
For all those readers who follow the beat of a different drummer, we offer this Rita Moreno classic (brought to our attention by that troublemaker, Jussein):
I am writing to urge veterans to support the re-election of Congressman
Tim Walz. I had become resigned to all talk and no action by his
predecessor.
When Tim first went to Congress in 2007, I was
especially glad to see him volunteer for the Veterans Committee. As a
leader of the group of newly elected Congress men and women, his impact
was immediate. This was one of the best places for a retired National
Guard Command Sergeants Major to continue taking care of veterans.
In
the two short years that he has been working in Washington for southern
Minnesota, Tim Walz has helped produce significant veterans’
legislation. First was the passage of the new GI Bill that helped
restore the value of GI education benefits to close to where it was
after World War II, when the first GI Bill was enacted. Our returning
veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan will be able to afford go back to
school when they finish their service. Second, this Congress passed the
largest-ever increase to funding for the Veterans Department. We see
this locally in the increased dollars flowing to the Luverne Veterans
Home.
Much of this legislation was achieved with bipartisan support. Both
parties worked to accomplish significant legislation for Veterans, and
Rep. Walz was one of many that reached across the aisle to get this
done. I know Tim Walz, and he will work without regard to party
affiliation to get things done for veterans.
It is so refreshing to
see Congress take veterans’ issues seriously. Veterans need to keep
this retired Command Sergeants Major working in Congress.
In the netroots, McPherson Hall asks an interesting question raised by language in the Fairmont Sentinel's endorsement of Davis. The retired accountant's query in MN-01 : Davis Endorsement – The End of Mortgage Tax Deduction warrants an answer.
Does Brian Davis agree with the paper's editors about ending the mortgage tax deduction for homeowners? The paper cites the tax break as a cause of the recent financial meltdown.
The National Journal's Hotline cites the New Ulm Journal's endorsement of Congressman Walz inIf You Work Hard, You'll Go Places...Like DC. Funny how people in Southern Minnesota like it when their representative works for them.
Some of our friends in the labor movement are working pretty hard in organizing GOTV phone banks and other efforts to contact union members. Here's a little dance music to get everybody in motion this Monday morning, in a shout out to Laura especially, but also to Dale and that troublemaker Jussein:
Photo: House Veterans Affairs Committee chair Bob Filner, Wayne Stillman, Congressman Tim
Walz & Chris Schmitter by "Nurse" at the Soldiers Field Veteran Memorial in Rochester.
Candidates vying to represent Minnesotans in the U.S. Senate and
U.S. House of Representatives were given the opportunity to complete an
agricultural survey from The Land.
Candidates were asked
to respond to a series of questions, on topics such as ethanol
subsidies, illegal immigration, agricultural trade policy,
environmental quality issues and how Minnesota can keep young people in
farming.
Ultimately, it came down to one final question for
all the candidates: “Why should a rural Minnesota voter cast their
ballot for you?”
Surveys were mailed in late September to
Republican, DFL and Independence Party candidates for U.S. Senate and
Minnesota’s eight congressional districts. Due to constraints of space,
some responses were edited for length.
Presented here are responses from U.S. Senate candidates Norm Coleman and Al Franken (PDF download), 1st District candidates Tim Walz and Greg Mikkelson (PDF download) . . .
Open the pdf file for the First, and you'll see a note saying:
Republican challenger Brian Davis did not respond in time to be included in The Land’s election guide.
Seniors and ag issues are pretty important in Minnesota's First and both seniors and farmers may notice these lapses. Davis also couldn't think of any way to improve educational and medical benefits for vets.
Whatever does the Davis campaign spend its time doing? Whatever it is, preparing issue briefs, answering surveys and briefing the candidate for debates don't seem to be priority items.
