A Bluestem Prairie

Sunday early afternoon digest: home in the valley edition

Update: we've read that servers on the Hill are getting slammed, so here's a mirror provided by the helpful good people at the Sunlight Foundation (pdf); embedded version here. end update.

News reports say that negotiators in Washington have reached an agreement on proposals to aid Wall Street. The final language has yet to be released to the public (and may indeed still be incomplete). When done, the deal will be posted here: http://financialservices.house.gov/.  (Isn't Michele Bachmann on that committee?)

From what we're reading in the papers, we're inclined to say  that Minnesota's congressional delegation should say no, but we withhold final judgment until the written details are made public.  Congressman Walz's constituents should let him know what they think. Contact information here.

It's times like this that we are grateful for once having dated a bank examiner for the FDIC.  Who knew that pillow talk would come in handy?

The Albert Lea Tribune reports in People using absentees can vote next week:

In Minnesota, people can vote absentee if they will be absent from the precinct the day of the election, if they have an illness or disability that disables them from coming out to vote or if they are serving as an election judge in another precinct.

Another reason people can vote via absentee is because of a religious discipline, religious holiday or observance. The last reason is if there is an eligible emergency declared by the governor or a quarantine declared by the federal or state government.

Martinson said a large number of people who vote with absentee ballots in this area are absent from the precinct and are in other states at the time of the actual election. There’s also a fair share of college students and others with disabilities that vote via absentee.

For more information on absentee voting, check out the details at the Minnesota Secretary of State's Voter Information page. Be very wary of requests for absentee ballots sent to you in mass mailings by a campaign or political party, as mischief has been reported elsewhere in the country in such devices.

Walz supporter Ron Yezzi writes the Mankato Free Press to say Walz not too liberal, concluding:

I strongly support Walz’s reelection. He’s an amazingly gifted person totally dedicated to serving the public interest with openness and fairness. His outstanding first term shows he can work effectively on the nation’s problems and he has the potential to attain national political stature. But if he ever gets derailed, it should not be because voters make the mistake of thinking he’s too liberal for the 1st District.

The Rochester Democrat notes that Walz Hails Passage of Second Economic Stimulus Package. Go read the details there.

Just across the river from the LaCrescent area, Sen. Obama stopping by La Crosse on Wednesday.

A little ditty to lighten up the day, from Minnesota's most prominent songbird:

KEYC-TV: A house divided can still be friendly

Update 9/1: Here's a letter of support in the Waseca Daily News for the Obama-Biden ticket from Marcus Penny: Obama-Biden ‘08 — It’s got a good ring to it.  Turns out that young Penny was originally a Biden supporter--and Obama was his second choice. Hmm: former Congressman Penny has indeed brought up a thoughtful son. [end update]

We'd noted a few times before how former Congressman Tim Penny and his son Marcus have split on their presidential choices. The Waseca County News reported in July that Marcus was staffing the DFL booth at the county fair, and one of our correspondents wrote that he'd seen both McCain and Obama signs on the lawn of the Penny manse.

KEYC-TV noticed, too, and the ever-charming Betsy Gessell reports that more Obama signs are up since our source drove by on the way home from the fair in July:

Campaign signs at the home of a well known McCain supporter have some Waseca residents questioning which side Tim Penny is really on. As News 12's Betsy Gessell explains... the answer is all in the family.After stepping out of the political public eye for 6 years Tim Penny is making another appearance - this time as Chair of Minnesota Citizens for McCain...Endorsing the Senator because of what he calls McCain's courage for bucking his party and President on major issues.

Tim Penny says, ''McCain is a maverick....It's a lot of personal connection with him and personal confidence in him that he in fact will continue to be the independent leader that he's been in the senate, able to work with both sides.''Working with both sides is very important for Penny.

Take his Waseca home for example.Five Barack Obama campaign signs belonging to his two children outnumber his one for McCain.Marcus Penny says, ''We're very much for Barack Obama, my sister - one day when my dad was out of town put them all up in the window to sort of surprise him when he got home.

''Fortunately, Tim supports the political diversity in his home.Marcus Penny says, ''He brought us up telling us to believe in what we believe in, and has no problem with us disagreeing with him as long as we're respectful of one another's views.''Something he feels the rest of the country should learn as well.

Tim Penny says, ''We have as citizens, I think have allowed our politics to get pretty nasty and ugly in the last number of years and we need to back away from that because it doesn't get us anywhere.''Supporting political diversity and possibly instilling the courage he says McCain shows in America.Betsy Gessell, News 12.

We've been experience a bout of civility emailing back and forth with our two old friends with Alaska roots. Christine B. respects Palin but is voting for Obama; Bill, her communications head, whole-heartedly supports his chief. Since she can be more candid, Chris's emails especially offer fascinating glimpses into Alaska's politics--a very different political world from Minnesota.

The Gavel: Walz questions VA Secretary Nicholson

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's blog The Gavel features today's hearings about  “The Results of the President’s Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes.”  Tim Walz (MN-01) questioned Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson in the following You Tube:

Hardball: Tim Walz paired with CA Representative Duncan Hunter

A Walz staffer emailed us to let us know that Representative Tim Walz will be paired with Duncan Hunter today on Hardball. Hunter has been exploring running for president, according to the New York Times. The paper reports that he recently won a Republican straw poll in Arizona's most populous county.

This match-up should make for interesting television: the first term prairie progressive populist v.s the long-serving California congressman from San Diego.

Hardball airs on MSNBC at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. EST.

Tim Walz among the "Macho Dems": another post moronic media moment

One of the curious things about Tim Walz's election has been how everybody wants to claim him as one of their own.  Last week it was the Blue Dogs; this week, it's the Tough Urban Guys.

Where to begin with Ryan Lizza's New York Times op-ed piece on The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrats?   

Lizza has been listening to political operatives who lump Tim Walz in with the "Macho Dems." We can't speak to the virtues of the other legislators Lizza writes about, but somehow, Everyman Tim Walz seems thrown in to bolster a point.  We not sure why the tough urban guys Lizza interviews are making their point:

NANCY PELOSI’S carefully crafted introduction to the American people last week seemed to reinforce some stereotypes of the so-called mommy party. On the day she made history as the first woman to be elected speaker, she appeared on the House floor, surrounded by children and bedecked in pearls.

But even as this nurturing image dominated the news, the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday was notable for another milestone in gender politics: the return of the Alpha Male Democrat.

The members of this new faction, which helped the Democrats expand into majority status, stand out not for their ideology or racial background but for their carefully cultivated masculinity.

“As much as the policy positions is the background and character of these Democrats,” says John Lapp, the former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who helped recruit this new breed of candidate. “So we went to C.I.A. agents, F.B.I. agents, N.F.L. quarterbacks, sheriffs, Iraq war vets. These are red-blooded Americans who are tough.”

Mr. Lapp even coined a term to describe these manly — and they are all men — pols: “the Macho Dems.” . . .

Except, of course, some of the candidates who weren't elected. That FBI agent named Coleen Rowley.  Or disabled war vet Tammy Duckworth.

And we don't recall Tim Walz being recruited to run by the DCCC; when the D-Trip and Walz did connect, he was positioned as a third-tier candidate until late in the cycle.  In Minnesota, the D-Trip pumped a lot more money into the Sixth. Lapp's remarks do provide a glimpse of the mind set that thought that changing Patty Wetterling's public image into an attack dog via television ads was a smart move. Impressive.

But some like 'em tough:

. . .The  architects of this strategy, Representative Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Lapp’s boss, as well as Senator Charles Schumer, are well-known political pit bulls. Mr. Emanuel won his Congressional seat by navigating the ward politics of Chicago’s old-fashioned political machine.

He is missing half of one finger — his aides refer to him as “nine point five” — and swears enough to make a Soprano blush. . . .

When Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Schumer set out to find candidates to run in the red states and districts of the 2006 electoral battleground they sought their own rural and exurban doppelgängers. . . .

. . .Other House members include Minnesota’s Tim Walz, an Army national guardsman; Brad Ellsworth, an Indiana sheriff; and Heath Shuler, a former N.F.L. quarterback from North Carolina. . . .

Only in the world of Washington DC insiders could anyone write that a genial teacher, coach, and sargeant like Tim Walz is Rahm Emanuel's "doppelganger."  Friends and former colleagues reach for the phrase "teddy bear" when describing Walz and his former students tease him about how he never assigned homework. "Pitbull"? Not so much.

Someone should give Lizza the news that Tim Walz is member of NOW as well as of Pheasants Forever. 

Did the young women who ran Walz's campaign construct an "image" of "carefully cultivated masculinity"?  Sure, if one defines macho as a guy who gets up in the middle of the night to change diapers and jokes about being fat and bald. Walz has said Camp Wellstone taught him to stay true to himself and that guy came out.  A down-to-earth everyman; even the New York Times got it right for a while.

We're trying to figure out when we started living by the Macho Dem creed. Without media folks like Lizza and DC operatives,  we might not think in approved patterns of women or of men. We might think about National Guard soldiers as being our friends, family, co-workers and neighbors. We might even remember those soldiers in Iraq who are women.

We'd talk about real things that matter to ourselves and our children, and elect people who will work in our best interests.

We'd remember that if there's a toughness in southern Minnesota and this part of the Midwest, it's the persistance of the notion that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.  It's not "macho" or "dem" but cooperative and practical,  born out of surviving blizzards and tornadoes, of working in the fields and factories, of building co-op creameries, public schools, and the Mayo Clinic, of reviving grassroots and persisting in the face of  impossible odds.

If voters saw a certain toughness in Tim Walz, it was the ethos of their own survival and prosperity.  One of their own, and they elected him to represent them.

OLLIE OX UPDATE:  The Wege takes up Lizza's putzhood in Diapers aren't the only things that need changing.

Spring Grove Herald: Girl Scouts reaching out

We read small town papers regularly, and today came across a worthy project that a Girl Scout troup in Spring Grove is working on for their Silver Award. From the Spring Grove Herald:

[Becky] Myhre is in the midst of her large project and is asking for help from the community. She is collecting fabric and thread to be delivered to Tutwiler, Miss. This town in the Mississippi Delta is very poor.

That's an understatement. The 2000 census revealed:

The median income for a household in the town was $18,958, and the median income for a family was $22,857. Males had a median income of $21,364 versus $17,222 for females. The per capita income for the town was $7,177. About 32.1% of families and 38.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.5% of those under age 18 and 31.1% of those age 65 or over.

Myhre's project presumably is helping the Tutwiler Quilters, a cooperative put together by the local Catholic-run education center, though the project is not named specifically in the article:

A group of ladies there have come together to make quilts, wall hangings, bags, and etc. to sell. This has become their income.

A visit to the cooperative's web site provides a history of the project, as well as information on ordering what are gorgeous quilts:

The Tutwiler quilters, members of the Craftsmen¹s Guild of Mississippi, are part of the Tutwiler Community Education Center (TCEC). Responding to a strong quilting tradition of women in Tutwiler and surrounding towns, Sr.Maureen Delaney SNJM, Director of TCEC and Sr. Joann Blomme O.P., Counselor at the Tutwiler Clinic, organized the group in 1988 as a way for these women to make money to support their families. As of today the quilters are about 25 to 30 women from Tutwiler and the surrounding communities.

The art of quilt making has been passed down from generation to generation with improvisation as the key word to this style of quilt making. Many of these piecers and quilters, learning quilting from their mothers and grandmothers, take traditional patterns, mix them up, turn them up-side down, mix colors, etc; the effect is a beautiful cacophony of color and design.

This quilt program not only preserves the rich quilt making tradition of these African-American women, but is also a way for women in our area to support themselves and their families. They receive 80% of the price of these products; the other 20% helps buy materials.

Quilts by the Tutwiler Quilters have been displayed at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and the Quilters have taken part in the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife. (Tutwiler and the Delta are home to other folk traditions; W.C. Handy claimed to have first heard the blues here).

Myhre's large project is being coordinated with the Platteville, WI, chapter of Habitat for Humanity:

Myhre is working with Mandy Landsom who visited the Tutwiler area last year. Mandy will be traveling to Tutwiler again this January with the Habitat for Humanity Chapter out of Platteville, Wis.

She will personally be delivering the fabric and thread that Myhre collects. The Platteville Chapter has also offered to pay for the shipping for any of the donations that will not fit on the bus.

Navy, light blue, rose, cream, maroon and forest green are the colors of fabric that are preferred by the Tutwiler ladies, but any will be accepted. At least one yard of any individual fabric would be appreciated. For questions or to donate fabric, contact Becky at (507) 498-5769.

The Girl Scouts have already helped out newborn babies in the Spring Grove area, with one member doing a little sewing of her own:

Landsom has already earned her Silver Award and received it in May at the annual Silver and Gold Award Banquet. Her large project was "Blankets for Babies." She collected fabric and made 24 baby blankets for newborns.

She worked with Vivien Mathsen and helped her deliver some of the blankets to the new babies. Mathsen works with the Friends of Family group that delivers bottles, bibs, pacifiers and books to new babies in School District #297 area.

Pretty cool. 

It's unfortunate that poverty persists anywhere in America, and we favor policies that work to end as much of it as possible.  Meanwhile, help some girls out as they work on quilting together small-scale solutions with some "real conservatives."

Winter Wednesday morning: Walz and Gutknecht contrasting styles

There's a leaden winter sky today on the prairie, a sure sign that we're in for a change in the weather.  Forecasts call for rain, freezing rain, then snow for much of the southwestern 2/3rds of the First, with conditions predicted to be worst around Pipestone.  Keep an eye on things and drive carefully.

MPR: Gutknecht looks to the future
Another farewell from Gil Gutknecht, with MPR throwing in dueling assessments of Gutknecht's records from the middle and the right.  The report begins with the Contract with America:

Throughout his tenure 1st District Rep. Gil Gutknecht did a radio show, "Conversations with the Congressman."

In his last broadcast on Rochester's KROC Gutknecht described signing Newt Gingrich's Contract with America. It was the cornerstone of the so-called Republican revolution. It promised a balanced budget, welfare reform and government transparency.

"And as we came out onto the steps to make this big formal signing in front of the press and everything, all of a sudden the clouds started to part, and the sun came out, and it was almost like an omen," he said.

The day after Tim Walz was elected, southern Minnesota enjoyed record high temperatures in the 80s.  The next day, it snowed.  This dramatic contrast was a sign that weather in Minnesota is like that.  The political lesson one might draw from it is to use the same common sense in watching the political skies that we use to gauge the weather. 

Gutknecht's reflections about his time in office and his loss are no different than those reported in other farewell articles. MPR adds third-party comments from the center and the right, with Tim Penny and Steve Sviggum assessing Gutknecht's 12-year career:

Tim Penny served as the first Congressional District Representative from 1982 until he retired in 1994. He is now a senior fellow at the U of M's Humphrey Institute. Penny says Gutknecht was a back-bench legislator, a follower as opposed to a leader.

"And lots of legislators survive quite nicely playing that role and retain a lot of popularity in their district playing that role," Penny says "But it seems to me that after 12 years you ought to aspire to a greater role than that."

Penny says Gutknecht's base of support wasn't as strong as some thought. Penny says Gutknecht didn't push through concessions for farmers or work on Mayo's behalf in health care or its fight against the DM&E railroad loan.

Penny says the district has a reputation for being more conservative than it actually is. He says Gutknecht never won by more than 60 percent of the vote, and his opponents were virtual-unknowns.

"Against those kinds of opponents typically a well-entrenched incumbent will win by a two-to-one margin or seventy percent or more," Penny says.

Minnesota's out-going Speaker of the House, Republican Steve Sviggum sees a much more effective lawmaker on a national level. He worked with Gutknecht in the state legislature.

"You take the oath of office to the United States of America, to the Constitution of the United States of America,"Sviggum says, "Not necessarily just to the First District."

He says Gutknecht lost his seat because of anti-Republican sentiment. He says Gutknecht shouldn't be criticized for not having bills to his name.

"I think Gil, knowing him quite well, would not need his name attached to every piece of legislation. But I can absolutely tell you he would be very, very, vital in the passing of a bill."

Gutknecht's successor, Tim Walz, is taking a more vocal approach to the job already.

He just called for a government oversight hearing on the contentious federal loan to DM&E railroad. That's something Gutknecht, despite sitting on the Committee on Government Reform, never did.

Or Senator Coleman, heading his own subcommittee on investigations, either.

Mankato Free Press: Schieffer welcomes oversight hearings
The Free Press reports on Walz's request for oversight hearings on DM & E. The newspaper draws on a statement from last month for Schieffer's remark:

DM&E officials have accused project opponents of trying to kill the expansion through delaying tactics, something Walz said he’s not attempting to do that with his request for oversight.

As for defending the project on its merits, DM&E President Kevin Schieffer said last month that he’d be happy to do that before congressional committees.

“There’s nothing I’d invite more than an open dialogue on this,” Schieffer said.

Congress to Treasury Secretary Paulson: Soft on yuan
Someone once asked how a high school geography teacher would know anything about trade policies with China.  Tim Walz answered in Chinese. Like the district he represents, Walz has a way of surprising people.

Today's Bloomberg reports on Congressional response to a Treasury report about the undervaluation of the Chinese yuan:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is heading for a confrontation on China with the new Democratic- controlled Congress after his department softened its criticism of the country's currency policy.         

Lawmakers condemned the Treasury for failing to label China a currency manipulator in its semi-annual foreign-exchange report yesterday and vowed to call Paulson to Capitol Hill to question him on the decision. Unions and manufacturers also criticized the Treasury report, which conceded China's policy of limiting gains in the yuan is a distortion.         

``It's the worst kept secret in the world that they are manipulating,'' said Representative Tim Walz, a Minnesota Democrat and Mandarin speaker. ``A sense of urgency is not there, and it's something we need to move on.''         

The chorus of criticism raises the risk that Congress will enact punitive actions designed to pressure China. More than two dozen measures aimed at decreasing the record U.S. trade gap with China were held up by Republican leaders in the past two years.         

``They are going to get exactly what they deserve from Congress,'' said Robert Baugh, an executive director of the AFL- CIO in Washington. The nation's largest labor federation contributed $40 million to help Democrats win control of Congress. ``Our argument is that this is an illegal subsidy under U.S. trade law.''         

Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, incoming chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the committee, said in a joint statement that they are disappointed with the Treasury report.  . . .

                                  

December 16 digest: bipartisanship, ICE, and more

The Mankato Free Press editorial board salutes Blue Earth County native Margaret Anderson Kelliher's collegiality:

Thumbs up:

To the continuance of collegiality in the Minnesota Legislature, where earlier this week several Republicans announced satisfaction with the way committee assignments were shaping up.

Republicans had made numerous committee requests that were treated with respect by House Speaker-designate Margaret Kelliher, whose Democratic party will be taking over leadership in 2007.

Republicans Laura Brod of New Prague, Bob Gunther of Fairmont, Tony Cornish of Vernon Center and Brad Finstad of New Ulm were among those happy about the committees they were granted. Gunther, for instance, will remain heavily involved in economic policy while serving on panels dealing with energy, the environment and education. Finstad will remain very much in the forefront on agricultural policies and health and human services.

The spirit of bipartisanship will be tested in the coming months, but so far, so good.

The Fairmont Sentinel writes up Representative Gunther's response in Gunther positive about DFL majority:

. . .What may serve Gunther well during the session, which begins Jan. 3, are the relationships he has cultivated across party aisles.

“Some ways I’ll be able to represent (District 24A) better because I treated the DFL as well as I wanted to be treated,” he said. “Isn’t that the Golden Rule?”

Seven DFL committee chairpersons will come out of Gunther’s Jobs and Economic Opportunity Policy and Finance committee, where he says he gave them all a fair shake. Their early actions would appear to prove his assessment.

“Four of them asked me to be on their committees,” Gunther said. “And three of them asked me how to effectively chair a committee. I felt good about that; their high opinion of me and my performance.”

Because of those relationships, Gunther believes he will get hearings for bills he sponsors.

“And if I don’t poke anybody in the eye, I’ll get them passed,” he added.  . . .

Ice Raids Reaction

The Mankato Free Press gives them a thumbs down:

Thumbs down

To the continued absence of sensible policies regarding immigration in this country, heightened by this week’s federal raids on meatpacking plants in six states, including the southwestern Minnesota city of Worthington where 230 people were detained.

While it is important to protect our borders and crack down on the illegal ID trade, Americans still don’t know what to do with the law-abiding people who are here contributing to their communities and raising children. This week’s raid disrupted the economic vitality of Worthington and placed a question mark on its future.

Meanwhile, we are left to consider how we can control our American borders without disrupting entire towns and causing undue mayhem with the lives of people who otherwise quietly go about the business of contributing to the local economy.

The Rochester Post Bulletin editorial board asks similar questions:

The raids this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials struck close to home, both physically and emotionally.

The enforcement action aimed at illegal immigrants swept through Austin, as well as Worthington. The Minnesota raid coincided with action across the country. In Austin, Post-Bulletin coverage reported 21 people arrested. In Worthington, some 400 people were detained at the Swift pork-processing facility there.

Those are, as they say, the facts. The story goes far deeper.

Law enforcement creates gut-wrenching stories

The Star-Tribune reports arrested women crying about who would look after their children. In Worthington, the newspaper reports, 39 percent of the children in the city's schools are Hispanic.

The same report detailed how school bus drivers were forced to leave children at churches because nobody was there to meet the children at their homes and that church volunteers were going door to door to look for children whose parents might have been caught up in the raid.

When this country calls for tough enforcement of its immigration laws, this is what it means. It is tough and emotionally painful. It is an outcome obvious to those caught up in the swirl, but to the community as well.

In Worthington, Minnesota Public Radio reports told of the fears in the business community because the raids might depress holiday shopping.

The grayness of illegal immigration: A policy of looking the other way leads to crime but also benefits

Yes, laws should be enforced, but the big picture of immigration is not black or white. A Post-Bulletin editorial on April 19 of this year detailed this grayness. Local law enforcement and social service workers described how nearly all illegal immigrants come here for the work and live quite lives.

The same editorial also noted that identity crimes are closely related to illegal immigrants. Because they are outside the law, illegals are also themselves extremely vulnerable to crime.

The sinister side of illegal immigration cannot be ignored but there is another take as well.

For starters, it is certainly true that the defacto national immigration policy along the U.S. - Mexico border has been one of looking the other way mixed with a smattering of law enforcement. The reason is the cross border migration of workers has benefited the U.S. economy.

For example, the presence of the illegal -- and low-paid -- workers benefits consumers. It's a system that holds down the price of pork and assists corporate profits while giving the illegal workers a greater wage than possible in their home country.

It is also anecdotally true that the presence of illegal workers drives down wages. Workers at Austin's packing plants have seen wages plummet over two decades.

Working illegal immigrants do burden social safety nets but they are also contributing tax dollars to government. These workers are getting the top layer of their paychecks removed to cover state and federal payroll taxes. Social Security payments attributed to a phony number won't be there when the worker needs help.

It is also true that they are deprived access to many social assistance programs that they are helping support.

Reform is a cliche but U.S. immigration policy does need change

The U.S. needs a comprehensive immigration policy. The country needs strong border control, but it also needs a compassionate legal framework that respects the humanity of workers who are contributing to the economy.

The last Congress failed to take up immigration reform. Come January, the next one needs to make it a front-burner issue.

Event: Walz at Rochester Chamber of Commerce
The Post-Bulletin takes note of two C of C events featuring elected officials on Wednesday:

First District Rep.-elect Tim Walz will be the featured speaker during a luncheon sponsored by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. The event is scheduled for Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Galleria Ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel.

Walz, a Mankato high school teacher, defeated six-term, incumbent Rep. Gil Gutknecht, a Republican from Rochester in the last election.

To register, visit www.rochestermnchamber.com or call 288-1122. The cost is $15 for members and $25 for non-members.

The chamber will host a reception for the Rochester area legislative delegation that will offer a preview of the 2007 legislative session. The event will be held Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Elizabethan Ballroom at the Kahler Grand Hotel.

The cost of the event is $25 for chamber members and $30 for non-members.

Netroots
The Rochester Post Bulletin takes note of Rochester-based YouTube videos.  Included in the round-up is Mrs. Evil Bobby's footage of Walz's victory stop in The Rock.

Minnesota Monitor asks if the DM & E loan may be near a negative tipping point. Leigh Pomeroy at Vox Verax reprints a column by the editor of the Brookings Register that's pretty scathing toward Senator Thune. 

Helping families in Worthington

Those readers who wish to help families and children in Worthington who have been affected by the ICE sweeps through the Swift hog processing plant can contribute in several ways, the Worthington Globe reports:

The Chicano Latino Affairs Council of St. Paul issued a press release explaining it was “coordinating a relief response with the City of Worthington to aid the children and families affected by the recent events” at Swift. The Council was encouraging metro-area residents to deliver cash donations, diapers, infant formula and non-perishable food items to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, St. Paul.

Contact information for the church for metro readers who wish to help:
401 Cesar Chavez St.
St. Paul, MN 55107
651-228-0506

“The Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce is coordinating all cash donations to provide relief to the families and children affected,” the Council’s press release added.

Checks and money orders should be made payable to Worthington Chamber of Commerce (memo: Latino Families); and are being accepted in person and by mail at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the Chicano Latino Affairs Council office, or at the Chamber at 1121 Third Ave., Worthington.

Mayor Alan Oberloh was also working Thursday with District 22B Rep. Rod Hamilton to set up a list of contact names of people who could meet various community needs and answer questions. Aid and donations were to be sent to the Chamber or be called into its executive director, Darlene Macklin, at 372-2919. Questions pertaining to locations of people detained may be addressed to Mike Cumiskey, Worthington’s director of public safety, at 372-2136.

Oberloh stressed anyone who phones Cumiskey would not need to “fear any type of repercussions,” and Cumiskey seconded that statement.

“We’re not asking any questions about status; we’re just providing information,” he said. “We can be a liaison for ICE in trying to get that information (locations) for them.”

Nobles County Integration Collaborative Coordinator Sharon Johnson is also available to answer general questions at 376-3300, and individuals with concerns about children being separated from their families may call Pam Fleming at Nobles County Family Services, 372-2157. Oberloh said he had heard some accounts of children left unattended, but added those reports were unsubstantiated. People calling Family Services would also not need to worry about any repercussions, he said.

On a national level, newly elected U.S. Rep. Tim Walz said he planned to be in Worthington a week from today to meet with local officials and leaders on the matter.

“Right now, we’re trying to gather as much information as we can,” Walz said by telephone. “We’re trying to monitor it … from people, to police, to members of community so affected by it. This puts an incredible burden out on the community. What it does is it causes a lot of animosity among all different people in the community, and that’s Congress’ job to help alleviate that.”

What needs have the raids created?  The Globe reports:

Gene Foth, Manna Food Pantry’s coordinator, wrote in an e-mail that his pantry, located inside Westminster Presbyterian Church, was hit with about $6,000 in excess food expenses Wednesday after having contact with about 60 families in need of food.

Worthington Daily Globe: ICE releases arrest figures for Swift plant sweep

The Worthington Globe reports that arrest figures have released for the ICE sweep of the local Swift hog packing plant.  ICE made 230 arrests in the Worthington plant:

There were 1,282 men and women arrested in Tuesday’s Swift and Company worksite enforcement investigation — 230 of them from the Worthington plant, according to numbers released today by the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Of the 1,282 workers arrested in six plants across the nation, 65 were charged with criminal violations related to identity theft or other violations, such as re-entry after deportation. None of those charged criminally were from the Worthington facility.

The Swift workers were brought to various locations for holding. Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening said 35 people were brought to the Nobles County Jail, which has a contract with ICE for such occasions. [there's more]

Seems that the action was originally scheduled for December 4, but Swift sought judicial relief:

Countries of origin of those arrested include Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Laos, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Immigration officials in November told Swift unauthorized workers would be removed Dec. 4, but Swift asked a federal judge to prevent the raid, saying it would cause "substantial and irreparable injury" to its business. The company estimated a raid would remove up to 40 percent of its 13,000 workers.

After a closed hearing, a judge rejected Swift's request Dec. 7, clearing the way for Tuesday's actions at the plants in Greeley; Grand Island; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington.

Mountain Lake Observer/ Butterfield Advocate: Religion as loyalty litmus test?

Another small town newspaper editorial about the Prager dust-up about Keith Ellison and the Qur'an. After a thoughtful review of the facts of the case, editor Kris Langland concludes:

Perhaps the most appropriate text to use would be the United States Constitution — with those elected to the highest positions in this country’s government willing to protect and defend the words and ideals that lie within the document.

Read the whole thing.

Tim Walz to DNC YouTube: Colbert seeking to do district report

Hat tip and thanks to Matt Klaber (one of those students whose ejection from the Bush campaign rally in 2004 prompted Walz to run for office).

Andy O'Leary's remarks are up too:

Update:  Apparently, Stephen Colbert believes that having Walz in the segment, "In Your Face, Nancy Pelosi" counts for the First's inclusion as a district that has been covered by "Know Your District."  It shows up on the show's map as a district that's been known.

New Ulm Journal: Ellison should swear by what's sacred to him

The New Ulm Journal vies with the Fairmont Sentinel for being the most conservative of the First District's daily newspapers.  The Journal was the only daily to endorse Gil Gutknecht in 2006.

Thus claims of liberal media bias can't be used to explain away today's editorial: Ellison should swear by what’s sacred to him:

Minnesota congressman-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, has raised some conservative hackles by saying he will place his hand on the Quran instead of the Bible when he takes his ceremonial oath of office.

That’s outrageous, harrumphs conservative (and Christian) radio commentator Dennis Prager. The U.S. decides what congressmen should swear on, and the U.S. says it should be the Bible, he says,

Actually, say constitutional scholars, congressmen don’t really have to swear on anything. The Constitution’s First Amendment clearly says Congress shall pass no law respecting establishment of religion, and requiring someone to swear on the Christian Bible sounds sort of like the establishment of Christianity as the official faith of the Congress.

Besides, wouldn’t we expect someone taking an oath to swear by whatever is sacred to them? To Ellison, a Muslim, the Bible is just a bunch of old books. Swearing on the Bible would have no more moral claim on him than swearing on a copy of “Moby Dick.” If he holds the Quran to be sacred, he should swear on that.

What would happen in Prager, by some stretch of the imagination, found himself testifying in a Muslim court somwhere. If they asked him to swear on the Quran, what would he do?

Ellison should have the same rights to practice his religion.

Can we get an "Amen" to that sentiment?

One caveat, though. In our experience, our devout Muslim friends haven't been dismissive of the old testament, nor of  the gospel of Jesus as just a "bunch of old books." They have said that the texts were divine revelations given to prophets, but the Qur'an is God's final revelation to humanity.  We don't know Representative Ellison's personal view on the subject, but aren't inclined to think his respect for his chosen religion's sacred text is cause for outrage.

Like all Americans,  he has the right to practice his faith of choice--or to chose no faith at all.  Prager's outburst is a distraction; Minnesota's congressional delegation has real work to do, and the media would do voters a service by focusing on policy deliberations rather than flaps, fashion, and furniture.

Minnesota House: Tina Liebling elected assistant leader

While liveblogging volunteer efforts in Rochester the Saturday before the election, we had the pleasure of meeting Tina Liebling, her spouse, and their son David.  Now we read in the Post Bulletin that she's to be an assistant leader in the Minnesota House DFL caucus:

State Rep. Tina Liebling, a Rochester DFLer, has been elected one of six assistant leaders in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Also elected to assistant leadership posts were Reps. Melissa Hortman, Brooklyn Park; Michael Nelson of Brooklyn Center; Aaron Peterson, Madison; and Steve Simon of St. Louis Park.

Liebling and the other assistant leaders will help move bills through the legislative process. They will assist Rep. Frank Moe, Bemidji, who was elected assistant majority leader, and speaker-designate Margaret Anderson Kelliher.

Having representatives from diverse districts in leadership positions will help balance power in the House, Kelliher and Moe have said.

Meanwhile, the selection of Rochester's Dave Senjem as Senate Minority leader gets a favorable nod from the Minnesota Farmers Union, accroding to Agrinews:

The next legislative session is going to be full of opportunities, Thom Petersen told delegates gathered for the recent Minnesota Farmers Union annual convention.

Petersen, MFU's legislative director, said it's an exciting time with new leadership in the state Legislature and Congress.

The new House leader, Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, grew up on a Blue Earth County farm. Rep. Marty Seifert, the minority leader, is from Marshall.

In the Senate, MFU will miss Dean Johnson, who narrowly lost his re-election bid. No matter how busy he was, Sen. Johnson always kept his appointments with MFU, Petersen said.

Sen. Larry Pogemiller, the new Senate Majority Leader, will make them work harder, Petersen predicted. The new Senate Minority Leader, Dave Senjem of Rochester, has relatives in Dodge County who belong to Farmers Union.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's re-election means there will probably be four more years of Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson, Petersen said. MFU has developed a good working relationship with the commissioner and the department, he said. It's not unusual for MFU staff to be at the ag department two or three times a week to work on issues.

Petersen, for example, chairs the state's organic task force.

Petersen thanked members for their involvement in the political process. Their efforts helped send two new Democrats to Washington: Amy Klobuchar and Tim Walz.

They also made a difference on state issues, with MFU staff or members testifying 30 times in the two-month 2006 legislative session. One day, they testified five times on an issue, he said.

Petersen reviewed a few of the issues MFU worked on last year, including eminent domain reform, clean water, bovine tuberculosis, property taxes and health care, and asked members to continue to stay engaged in the political process.

MANKATO FREE PRESS: DM & E DERAILMENT RASHOMAN
In the classic Japanese film Rashoman, viewers see an event from multiple perspectives.  So it is with the recent DM & E derailment near Cambria. The Mankato Free Press's Mark Fischenich writes that Lesson of derailment depends on viewpoint; DM&E, foe cite accident to support their view of project.

In a separate article, we learn that Clean up option are still being weighed.  Since the ethanol that spilled into the dry bed of the Little Cottonwood River is 98% alcohol, Leigh Pomeroy at Minnesota Monitor wondered whether Courtland could  become the martini capitol of the world.

Alas--a 2% dash of gasoline is mixed into ethanol to discourage imbibing. Readers who do want to savor the product of Minnesota's growing empire of distilleries should buy a vehicle that runs on E85, or mix their martinis with Shakers, from Benson, Minnesota.

If that ain't country: house speaker-elect visits rural roots

Those familiar with the area know about the bridge over the Minnesota River at Judson, useful for bypassing the traffic in Mankato when they need to get around between rural Blue Earth and Nicollet Counties.

Safe to say we can count the new Minnesota House Speaker among those who know their way around these county roads.

While Margaret Anderson Kelliher represents Minneapolis, her roots are in Blue Earth County's Judson Township, along the Minnesota River valley. She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.   She and her husband now have a lake cabin in nearby LeSueur County.

As part of a series on new leadership in the Minnesota state legislature, the West Central Tribune (a Forum newspaper) profiles Kelliher.  Scott Wente reports on Kelliher in ‘I’m a mix of country and city, and I think that’s OK’:

JUDSON TOWNSHIP — Margaret Anderson Kelliher of Minneapolis could become the most influential lawmaker in the Minnesota Legislature next year, but she insists she is not far removed from her days chopping cornstalks and feeding calves.

Kelliher, who successfully led Democratic efforts in the Nov. 7 election to recapture control of the Minnesota House, represents an urban legislative district but will rely on her “farm-girl sensibilities” as she guides a DFL caucus with members from throughout the state.

“I’m a mix of country and city, and I think that’s OK,” she said.

After Democrats regained the House majority in the election, following their eight years as the minority party, they voted to make Kelliher the next House speaker. Pending a formal vote of all House members on Jan. 3, when the Legislature convenes for the 2007 session, Kelliher will assume control of the House. She will wield the speaker’s gavel and be the lead House negotiator in budget talks with Senate Democrats and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was elected to another four-year term.

Republicans cite Kelliher’s election as House speaker-designate — and Senate Democrats’ decision to make Larry Pogemiller of Minneapolis their new majority leader — as indications the DFL-controlled Legislature will push a metropolitan, liberal agenda.

Kelliher, 38, was raised on a dairy farm in Judson Township, along the Minnesota River west of Mankato. Her supporters point to that background in defending their selection of her for arguably the state’s most powerful legislative post. The House speaker controls the chamber’s committee structure and decides what bills representatives vote on. Kelliher likely will succeed Republican Steve Sviggum of Kenyon, who served as House speaker since 1999.

It has been about two decades since Kelliher lived on her family’s farm, but she said the experience continues to influence her. Kelliher still visits the property and a nearby lake cabin she and her husband own.

During a recent trip to the area, she stopped at the Nicollet Veterinary Clinic, whose staff treated animals on Kelliher’s farm.

“Oh my gosh, the Honorable!” a surprised Gala Beckendorf said when she saw Kelliher in the lobby of the small clinic. Beckendorf, a veterinarian, said that she has known Kelliher for 25 years and that she remembers when the teenager was tasked with cleaning manure “gutters” in the barn.

“She was a punk,” Beckendorf joked.

Later, as Kelliher walked around her family’s Blue Earth County homestead, she talked about how the dairy operation ceased 10 years ago, around the time her father died. But she remembered numerous farm jobs growing up.

“They taught me how to drive tractor when I was 6,” Kelliher said of her siblings, “and one time we nearly went over the embankment by the river.”

Lawmakers say Kelliher’s appreciation for agriculture is legitimate. Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar, said he remembers talking about agriculture with her when they first met.

“It’s not just a come-lately song for the press. I think she really does understand her background,” said Juhnke, who was Kelliher’s pick for chairman of a House agriculture finance committee next year.

Kelliher often shares stories from her youth, including her involvement in the 4-H program and when she was Blue Earth County dairy princess.

“You can’t get more farm and rural than that,” Juhnke said.

Rep. Doug Magnus of Slayton said he doesn’t doubt Kelliher recognizes the importance of farm issues to the state. Magnus, who grows crops in southwestern Minnesota, said he has worked with Kelliher and plans to continue doing so next year. However, like other Republicans, Magnus said he believes rural Minnesota could be overlooked by Kelliher and other Twin Cities-area legislative leaders. That concern was highlighted when House Republicans recently elected Rep. Marty Seifert of Marshall, in southwestern Minnesota, to be their new leader.

Pawlenty, who served in the House with Kelliher for four years, has said he plans to work with her and the other new Democratic leaders.

Kelliher said she looks forward to her new position because she likes big challenges. She is a mother of two; both her son and daughter play hockey.

Kelliher said watching her 12-year-old son play goalie is more nerve-racking than anything she experiences at the Capitol.

“It’s more stressful than any of this,” she joked.

MPR picks up on the story:

Kelliher, 38, has represented her Minneapolis lakes-area district for eight years. Her roots are in rural Minnesota. In her youth, Kelliher held the titles of Blue Earth County Dairy Princess and state 4-H president.

"I grew up on a dairy farm, a working dairy farm, 70-cow dairy farm," Kelliher said. "Every day I went out and either liked cows or took care of livestock for nearly 20 some years of my life with my family. I know a thing or two about hard work and the values, rural values. I grew up immersed in those values and I carry those with me today."

An emerging talking point for the GOP minority in both houses of Minnesota's legislature is a "Minneapolis v. rural Minnesota" trope.

Never mind the rural roots of the new house speaker--or, more importantly, the crop of new DFL legislators from throughout greater Minnesota who unseated Republican incumbents, as well as those who held on to hotly contested seats in rural and small town districts. 

Maybe voters are looking for Minnesota values of hard work and fairness, instead of rhetoric that divides--before Kelliher has even picked up the gavel to call the 2007 session to order. 

Empire of the Clueless: Gutknecht won't cancel Boehner campaign visit

Following the lead of MnPublius, we post an article from today's Mankato Free Press:

Boehner is a "breathe of fresh air. I suspect that by the time he gets here, there will be an aggressive work plan on what to do," Gutknecht told the Free Press.

Voters might come up with an aggressive work plan of their own in November.

Especially if they continue to read articles like Joel Conason's  "THE GANG THAT COULDN'T TALK STRAIGHT":

Listening to the Capitol Hill gang explain how they handled the unappetizing matter of Mark Foley, the infamous Florida Republican forced to resign over his illicit behavior toward teenage male pages, isn't easy to distinguish between venality and stupidity.

Did Speaker Dennis Hastert R-Ill., Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the other Republican overseers ignore Foley's misbehavior in the expectation that he would reform himself? Did they really believe that he should continue to chair the House's Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus?

Or did they just hope in the midst of burgeoning corruption scandals and voter discontent threatening their majority that the Foley problem could be concealed until after the midterm election?  . . . . . . [more]

Or articles like Foley's emails and text messages "Lawmaker's Intentions Appear Clear In Exchanges" or the one about the four dozen subpoenas in the Washington Post.

Boehner and Foley are the people Gil Gutknecht considers or considered his friends in Washington DC. Does the man simply lack common sense?

OLLIE OX UPDATE: Back when we were posting at Blue Ox, we wrote "Lives of the Young Republicans; Or, Gil Gutknecht's moments with John Wayne Gacy," about the 1994 Rochester Post Bulletin story documenting Gutknecht's encounter with John Wayne Gacy. The PB article notes Gutknecht's acquaintance with Rochester's own David Brom:

Ironically, Gutknecht may be one of the few people acquainted with two killers. He was a good friend of David Brom and the Brom family, and was a pall bearer at the Broms' funeral.

David Brom is serving time in St. Cloud for killing four members of his family in 1988.

OLLIE OX UPDATE: The article at left is now online at the Mankato Free Press, albeit with a different headline: "Gutknecht calls for House page investigation"

SUNDAY UPDATE: The LA Times has a new development.

MN-01 Gutknecht's October 12 Guest: More on Boehner's knowledge of the Foley scandal

The Strib picks up a New York Times article on the Foley scandal in "GOP leaders kept quiet about e-mails." The article contains more about House Majority Leader John Boehner's role.

According to a Facebook, Gil Gutknecht's campaign will be bringing in Boehner on October 12 to campaign for Gutknecht at the Minnesota State-Mankato campus. The Facebook invite touts Boehner's leadership and commitment to reforming Congress.

Is this what the Gutknecht campaign has in mind as an example of leadership and congressional reform:

Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mails between Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and a teenage page, but kept the matter secret, GOP lawmakers said Saturday.

The revelations set off a political uproar with Democrats and some Republicans calling for a full investigation of Foley, who resigned abruptly Friday over the inappropriate e-mails, and whether House leaders did enough to look into them. Republican leaders sought late Saturday to detail how they had handled the case, which threatened to expand into intense turmoil for the party.

Among those who became aware of the e-mails between Foley and the 16-year-old page were Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader, and Rep. Thomas Reynolds of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Both men said their offices learned of the e-mails months ago from Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who sponsored the page.

And later in the article there's this:

Reynolds became the second senior House Republican to say that Hastert has known of Foley's contacts for months. Boehner told the Washington Post on Friday that he learned in late spring of inappropriate e-mails and that he promptly told Hastert, who appeared to know already of the concerns. Hours later, Boehner contacted the Post to say he could not be sure he had spoken with Hastert.

Now that we think about it, southern Minnesota should see more of the GOP House leadership in action. The way Boehner's story has rapidly changed is an eye-opener. The Chicago Tribune reports in "Why did Foley keep child-protection job?":

Another difficult aspect of the story is how the House Republican leadership dealt with Foley. According to a story in the Washington Post, House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) at the very least knew about Foley's "inappropriate contact" with a minor months ago:

"House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate 'contact' between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy."

So Boehner, at the very least, knew about the "contact" between Foley and the page. (The posting was revised to change the sentence: "So Boehner, at the very least, knew about the 'inappropriate contact.' " The sentence was changed to what now appears at start of this paragraph. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner didn't know about "inappropriate contact" between Foley and the teenager, thus the change.)

Crooks and Liars has more at "Foley’s Sex scandal continues: Boehner knew too."

SHOCKED! (YOUR WINNINGS, SIR)
CNN reports that Bush is "as shocked as everyone else' at Foley charges."

And after knowing about Foley's inappropriate contact for months, how does Boehner and the house leadership respond? The CNN article reports:

In a joint statement, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Ohio, said: "The improper communications between Congressman Mark Foley and former House congressional pages is unacceptable and abhorrent. It is an obscene breach of trust. His immediate resignation must now be followed by the full weight of the criminal justice system."

The scandal comes just weeks before the November 7 midterm elections. Republicans are hurriedly trying to find someone to replace Foley. (Watch how the handling of the scandal puts the GOP on the defensive -- 2:40 )

IS BOEHNER A BUST?
So far, only 13 people invited to the grand event plan via Facebook to show up. Yep, and 80 Facebook members were invited, which is doing pretty good considering that the Students for Gutknecht Facebook Group only has 61 members.

Over 700 students have signed up for Tim Walz's Facebook group.

CHRIS CARNEY ON BOEHNER AND HASTERT VISITS
The Wege sent a link to the Chris Carney campaign, which is asking GOP Rep. Don Sherwood to cancel fundraising with Boehner and Hastert in "Republican Leaders Cover Up Sexual Predator, Sherwood Should Cancel Fundraisers"

Clarks Summit, PA – Chris Carney’s campaign today called on Don Sherwood to immediately cancel his upcoming fundraisers with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, in light of reports that both Republican leaders knew about Congressman Mark Foley’s cyber-molestation of young boys and did nothing about it.

“Holding happy hour fundraisers with people who cover-up the cyber-molestation of children should be below even the questionable morals of Don Sherwood,” said Carney campaign manager Andrew Eldredge-Martin. “Sherwood should immediately cancel his upcoming fundraisers with Hastert and Boehner. Don Sherwood has already brought Washington’s values back to the district, now he wants to bring a depraved cover-up home.”

OLLIE OX UPDATE:
ABC's The Blotter reports that "GOP Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001":

Republican staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page.

Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office.

Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."

Loraditch's motive in speaking out? ABC reports:

Loraditch says that some of the pages who "interacted" with Foley were hesitant to report his behavior because "members of Congress, they've got the power." Many of the pages were hoping for careers in politics and feared Foley might seek retribution.

Loraditch runs the alumni association for the U.S. House Page Program, and he is deeply concerned about the future effects this scandal could have on a program that he sees as a valuable educational experience for teens.

Gutknecht's Guest: Boehner and GOP House leadership in Foley case

Gil Gutknecht is bringing House Majority Leader John A. Boehner to Minnesota State at Mankato for a campaign rally on October 12.  Does Boehner represent the sort of leadership young people expect? The Facebook invitation stresses Boehner's leadership and support for Gutknecht:

U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner (OH-8) is coming to town to support Our Congressman, Gil Gutknecht. Congressman Boehner has been a leader in the house ever since he was elected to his first term in 1990. His tenure has been marked by his commitment to reform Congress, improve education and support farmers. Join us in welcoming US House Majority Leader Boehner.

Perhaps those attending can get some answers from Representative Boehner about his leadership role in the matter of Mark Foley. Boehner is, after all, "marked by his commitment to reform Congress." The challenge posed by Foley's behavior in email and text messages to underaged pages could be considered a test of Boehner's leadership and commitment to reform.

Let's review when Boehner knew about his peer's page problem and what he did with the information.

CNN reports on Boehner's early knowledge of Foley's inappropriate email exchanges:

Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden, said Boehner recalls a conversation with Alexander "making him aware earlier this spring that there had been contact by Rep. Foley and a page. It was Congressman Alexander's opinion that the contact was not of a professional nature."

The Washington Post notes that Boehner first told the paper that he talked to House Speaker Denny Hastert about the contact, but later changed his story:

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

Roll Call (hat tip to The Moderate Voice) has published "Foley Interviewed About Page Last Year; Democrats Not Told; Ethics Inquiry Ordered," an article that looks at the role of House Republican leadership in looking into Foley's behavior:

At least four Republican House Members, one senior GOP aide and a former top officer of the House were aware of the allegations about Foley that prompted the initial reporting regarding his e-mail contacts with a 16-year-old House page. They include: Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) and Reps. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.), as well as a senior aide to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and former Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl.

Boehner strongly denied media reports late Friday night that he had informed Hastert of the allegations, saying "That is not true."

Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice observes:

The the emails in question are apparently some of the less sexually explicit ones than the highly explicit ones obtained by ABC News.[warning: link not work or family appropriate] But the implication is that it was kept under hush-hush (Democrats reportedly didn't even know about it) for political reasons

The Tallahassee Democrat has more about the page's work in the House; the young man was under the supervision of leadership:

The former page was sponsored by the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Louisiana Republican, but Alexander said the page was actually chosen to work on the House floor and was supervised by the leadership.

''My first action was to call his parents and make sure they were aware of the situation,'' Alexander said. ''They said they were and that they would handle it.''

Alexander said he also notified House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

''I don't know what action (the House leadership) took,'' Alexander said.

Boehner could not be reached for comment Friday night.

Alexander said he believed the e-mails were inappropriate.

''It certainly wasn't something I would say to a young man or woman,'' Alexander said. ''Obviously (the teenager) thought there was something wrong with it.''

Perhaps the young man thought there was something wrong with the e-mails because of Foley's reputation among House interns.  Today's St. Petersburg Times reports:

As a member of Congress, Foley was gregarious and charming and befriended the pages, the teen-agers who serve as the Capitol's official messengers.

"I was told by a few interns to be careful about Foley," Will Humble of California, a 2005 page, told the Times last year.

Why did Boehner change his story? To provide cover for Speaker Hastert?

The San Francisco Chronicle provides this round-up of the struggle of House Republican leadership to come up with a single unified narrative about Foley's resignation:

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who is single, apologized Friday for letting down his family and constituents. Once his resignation letter was read to the House late Friday afternoon, Republicans spent the night trying to explain — six weeks before congressional elections — how this could have happened on their watch.

Near midnight, they engineered a vote to let the House ethics committee decide whether an investigation is needed.

Among the Republican explanations during the night:

_The congressional sponsor of the page, Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., said he was asked by the youth's parents not to pursue the matter, so he dropped it.

_Alexander said that before deciding to end his involvement, he passed on what he knew to the chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y. Reynolds' spokesman, Carl Forti, said the campaign chairman also took no action in deference to the parents' wishes.

_Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the Page Board that oversees the congressional work-study program for high schoolers, said he did investigate but Foley falsely assured him he was only mentoring the boy. Pages are high school students who attend classes under congressional supervision and work as messengers.

_The spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, Ron Bonjean, said the top House Republican had not known about the allegations. Shimkus said he learned about them in late 2005.

Just as Shimkus' explanation was released, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California proposed to the House that its ethics committee investigate and make a preliminary report in 10 days. She demanded to know who knew of the messages, whether Foley had other contacts with pages and when the Republican leadership was notified of Foley's conduct.

Instead, majority Republicans engineered a vote to allow the ethics panel to decide whether there should even be an investigation.

If Boehner knew there was a problem, why didn't he tell Hastert? Or did he inform Hastert, tell the press he did, then deny the statement?

Perhaps someone can ask him when he visits Mankato on October 12.

And maybe ask a few questions about those contributions from student lenders to Boehner, and the pass-though to Gutknecht via the The Freedom Project.  Max Halperin provided an update on the dollar amounts in our comments section of our earlier post about Boehner's visit and his Freedom Project contributions to Gil Gutknecht's campaign:

Although you are correct that DCCC reports Gutknecht as having received $10,724 from The Freedom Project, if you trace through to the underlying FEC data, you'll find that the number is out of date. Another $5,000 was contributed in December of 2005, bringing the running total to $15,724. (The $10,724 number reflects two earlier $5,000 donations, plus $724 of in-kind donations.)

I haven't double-checked Halperin's FEC sleuthing yet.

OLLIE OX UPDATE: In "Sanctimonious Potemkinites," The Wege also noticed the connection between the Foley scandal, Boehner, and the visit to Mankato. The Wege's post is, as always, more succinct than BSP, but then, we like horseradish:

Josh at Talking Points Memo has been indefatigable in posting all the new developments, most of which are old (but suppressed) news. As it turns out, the House Republican leadership has known about the exact nature of Foley's problem for quite a while, and never did anything about it. The Republicans in charge of the pages didn't tell the one Democrat on their page board about Foley, and — before retracting his remark — John "Gil Gutknecht fundraiser" Boehner said that he had informed Speaker Hastert.

**** Foley (and in prison they will), this story is about the corrupt House Republican leadership that covered up for a pedophile.

The Blog of the Moderate Left didn't mention Boehner's visit, but Fecke does chastize Gutknecht and the rest of "The Party of Moral Values," noting that:

Mark Kennedy, Jim Ramstad, Gil Gutknecht, and John Kline all voted to support a House leadership that covered up evidence that a Congressman was soliciting sex with minors for almost a year.

Would Michele Bachmann do the same? Really, we want to know. Knowing that Denny Hastert covered up this investigation for a year, will she support Hastert as either Speaker or Minority Leader, pending the outcome of the election?

And how about you, Reps. Gutknecht, Kline, and Ramstad?  How do you feel about backing Denny?

Thursday morning MN-01 netroots

EVENTS
The Walz campaign calendar lists a host of traditional DFL fall events: bean feeds, forums, spaghetti feeds.  There's a doorknock this Saturday in Rochester beginning at 10 a.m. for those who might want to get out and campaign.

An additional event has been brought to our attention by the Dodge County DFL:

Wanted to let you know that there will be a Hog Roast fundraiser for Tim Walz on September 29th, 2006. The event is being hosted by Diane O'Brien Berge on her ranch in rural Dodge County (Vernon Township).  There will be all sort of entertainment, music, a laser shoot and of course great food. Suggested donation is $20 (more if you can....less if you can't).  The event begins at 5:30 p.m.

ACTBLUE UPDATE
As of  6 a.m. this morning, Tim Walz has received $9,672.20 in contributions by merit of being an ActBlue Netroots Candidate. Isn't it time you went to ActBlue and put him over $10,000?

MINNESOTA CENTRAL: GUTKNECHT HEALTH CARE PART II
Once more, Minnesota Central shows his chops by taking a close look at Gil Gutknecht's health care proposals. Wednesday's post looked at Medical Liability Reform and Medicare Part B.

Highlights--Malpractice Reform:

But what is the impact of the malpractice issue on the cost of total health care system ?

According to a Congressional Budget Office report “Malpractice costs amounted to an estimated $24 billion in 2002, but that figure represents less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Thus, even a reduction of 25 percent to 30 percent in malpractice costs would lower health care costs by only about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, and the likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small.”

Medicare Plan B:

Whoa ! Yes, Congressman Gutknecht voted against this, but now is encouraging people to use it. 

Here’s an analogy … the doctor warns you of obesity and then invites you to his patient appreciation event where he serves cake and cookies.

[snip]

. . .the law does not allow any price negotiations by the Federal government. Gutknecht['s] eline points out the price discrepancies between US and Foreign prices on a select group of drugs as a reason to allow importation. But couldn’t the same be accomplished by aggressive negotiations. The Veterans Administration has successfully done this. But there is legislation pending in Congress that would accomplish this – H.R. 376 which has 167 co-sponsors including Gutknecht. It was introduced on January 26, 2005 but is being held up by the Republican leadership. There is a discharge petition in process to force action – sadly, [neither] Gutknecht nor any other Minnesota Republican Congressman has signed it … but Democrats McCollum, Oberstar, and Sabo have. So why would you c-sponsor the bill, but not move it along ? Another example, illustrating that the Republicans are good talkers, but are operating a DoNothing Congress that advocates legislation they know we want, but stonewall[s] it from passage.

Go read it all.

THE CURSE OF THE WORKING CLASS
We go off to work and by the time we're free, MnPublius, North Star Politics and The Wege have had all the fun. Those people in the Cities have too much time on their hands. We have an email into the Walz campaign for more information.

OLLIE OX UPDATE: The Rochester Post Bulletin reports on the 1995 incident. The details are totally exculpatory. Is the Republican Party going negative? Did the sun rise in the east?

Katrina Time: Gutknecht and the Gulf

The Wege swiped Krugman's column yesterday.  Here's a choice lead:

The Bush administration likes to talk about all the money it has allocated to the region, and it plans a public relations blitz to persuade America that it’s doing a heck of a job aiding Katrina’s victims. But as the Iraqis learned, allocating money and actually using it for reconstruction are two different things, and so far the administration has done almost nothing to make good on last year’s promises.

Krugman's linking of aid to Katrina and aid to Iraq set us wondering what self-proclaimed budget hawk Gil Gutknecht (R-Wobbly) said about Katrina aid last year.  Through the memory hole that is Lexis-Nexis, we came across "Hurricane Katrina; Footing The Bill; Bush says taxes won't be raised; He said Congress will have to reduce spending," in the September 17, 2005 Star Tribune. Staff writer Rob Hotakainen wrote:

As President Bush ruled out a tax increase, White House officials said Friday that the cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast will add to the federal deficit.

And it quickly became evident that the president will have to convince skeptical members of Congress to cooperate. "You bet, it's going to cost money," he said at the White House. "But I'm confident we can handle it and I'm confident we can handle our other priorities. It's going to mean that we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending."

Facing a reconstruction bill that may top $200 billion, Bush said "it's going to cost whatever it costs."

The White House declined to say what programs might be cut to keep his promise to trim the deficit in half by 2009. And many members of Congress are wary.

"It is not my definition of compassion to simply write checks from the federal government and expect our children and grandchildren" to pay for it," said Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn.

He said that "real leaders would step up and say, 'Here are three ways we can help pay for it.'-"

And what three ways did Gutknecht come up with?

On Capitol Hill, Gutknecht suggested three ways to pay for the effort: delay the new Medicare prescription-drug program by one or two years, trim transportation spending and reduce the armed force in Iraq.

"If the president of Iraq is saying we can start drawing down troops from Iraq, then maybe we ought to start taking it seriously," Gutknecht said on his weekly radio show. "So there are a lot of things we could do in Washington to help pay for this and, frankly, I think we have a moral obligation to our kids to do this."

We know how well that draw down went, and how in June Gutknecht warned those wanting to withdraw troops from Iraq not to go wobbly. Until he went wobbly.

MN-01 seniors might consider how willing he was to delay their prescription program, flawed as that program is.

Those people concerned about the cost and risk of the proposed low-cost federal loan to DM & E could ask Gutknecht if he had it in mind when he talked about trimming transportation spending.

And a real leader might not chose to link a bill born out of the need to provide housing aid for Katrina victims to suppressing voter registration drives.