Bluestem Prairie

Addendum to MPR story: here's an ad Steve Wenzel ran in the Morrison County Record

Last Saturday, a reader sent the image above, an ad former state representative Steve Wenzel paid to have published in the Morrison County Record.

We believe it's an illustrative addendum to Riham Feshir's very fine story at Minnesota Public Radio, In Trump Country, immigration takes back seat to abortion, taxes and spending in many voters’ minds. Feshir reports in part:

Steve Wenzel hasn’t always been a strong and visible supporter of the Republican party. In fact, the former state representative from Morrison County served in the Legislature as a Democrat for 29 years. 

Now Wenzel takes credit for helping his rural Minnesota county back Donald Trump by the state’s highest margin four years ago. The 73-year-old went from being inspired by Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy to becoming a Republican delegate for President Trump the last two election cycles. He chaired the county’s Republican party and his name is well-known in a community influenced by his political activism in recent years. 

“I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left me,” said Wenzel, now a political science instructor at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. “The Democratic party became so far left that it became unrecognizable.” . . .

But for Wenzel and farmers who support President Trump, what’s top of mind is the conservative U.S. Supreme Court appointments, an improved economy and a commitment to the anti-abortion movement.

“The average person, the little guy didn’t have a chance,” Wenzel said. “That resonated with people, little people, including the good people of Morrison County who felt that this was the only one that was speaking of their concerns.”

Wenzel provided the Editorial counterpoint: Why Donald Trump is the president we need, after the Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

There's more to the back story of Wenzel's ideological transformation. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's page for Wenzel notes that beginning in August 2001 (George W. Bush's first term):

He was appointed State Director of Rural Development in the United States Department of Agriculture.

Wenzel had over a year left on his term. The page also states:

Steve Wenzel was a member of the DFL during his legislative tenure but became a Republican later in life, participating in the 2016 Republican National Convention and serving as a delegate to the 2020 Republican National Convention. (Star Tribune, August 25, 2020)

In 2009, the Forum News Service reported in Wenzel ready for the third act of his professional life:

After 29 years as DFL state representative and about 7 1/2 years as a Republican presidential appointee, Steve Wenzel of Little Falls is ready to start the third act of his professional life. And this latest act doesn't foretell a run for elective office. .  . .

Figuring where Wenzel now fits in politically might be a bit of a challenge. He said the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left, even though he still considers himself a Democrat. In addition to accepting an appointment in 2001 from President George W. Bush to be state director of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he has supported a number of Republicans in recent years. That list of GOP candidates includes former Sen. Norm Coleman; former Rep. Greg Blaine, who succeeded Wenzel; Gov. Tim Pawlenty; and unsuccessful House District 12B candidate Mike LeMieur, his nephew.

"I would describe myself as an independent, conservative Democrat," he said. "The party has become way too liberal for me."

As an example of how the DFL has changed he noted that in 1973 when he co-authored legislation to ask Congress to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling he said he obtained the support of 90 percent of the DFLers.

Looking at Minnesota's wide open governor's race he said that the Republican political landscape would be defined by whether former Sen. Norm Coleman decides to run. Without Coleman in the race, Wenzel said, former House Speaker Steve Sviggum is a person he admires and a candidate to be watched. On the DFL side, Wenzel predicted that former Sen. Mark Dayton would probably win in a primary contest. . . .

Although he wasn't looking for a new job, his long-standing interest in agriculture and rural communities prompted him to think seriously about a change when then-House Speaker Steve Sviggum said the Little Falls legislator was being recommended for the Rural Development post.

Did it occur to him that the Republican House speaker might have recommended him for the job to get rid of a Democrat who was firmly entrenched in a legislative seat?

"There was no question that was a part of the mix ... one of the motives," he said.

Still the honor of a presidential appointment and the chance to work in an area that he was interested in made the offer attractive.

"It was an opportunity to continue my work in agriculture," he said. "At some point you have to give it (elective office) up. You don't want to be disappointed." . . .

In 2017, Tyler Jensen reported in the Morrison County Record story, Mr. Wenzel goes to Washington... for Trump’s inauguration:

For Steve Wenzel, a former state representative and now a college professor in political science, the fourth opportunity to go to a presidential inauguration was the  charm.

Wenzel was a DFL representative in the Minnesota state legislature from 1973-2001 and a delegate at President Jimmy Carter’s nomination at the 1976 Democratic National Convention.

He had been invited to Carter’s inauguration and wanted to go, but the inauguration was during the legislative session and he didn’t plan to take a day off.

Wenzel also had the opportunity to go to both inaugurations for President George W. Bush, but again, the first inauguration was during a legislative session. By Bush’s second inauguration, Wenzel had met him a few times and chose not to go.

For Steve Wenzel, a former state representative and now a college professor in political science, the fourth opportunity to go to a presidential inauguration was the  charm.

Wenzel was a DFL representative in the Minnesota state legislature from 1973-2001 and a delegate at President Jimmy Carter’s nomination at the 1976 Democratic National Convention.

He had been invited to Carter’s inauguration and wanted to go, but the inauguration was during the legislative session and he didn’t plan to take a day off.

Wenzel also had the opportunity to go to both inaugurations for President George W. Bush, but again, the first inauguration was during a legislative session. By Bush’s second inauguration, Wenzel had met him a few times and chose not to go. . . .

While Wenzel was not a Trump supporter from the beginning of the campaign, going from Jeb Bush to Marco Rubio to Jon Kasich, he said he felt Trump was a better choice than Hillary Clinton, especially on the issues of abortion and combating terrorism.

If Clinton had been elected, Wenzel said, the Supreme Court would have justices who he said would continue the “abortion on demand climate,” in the country.

“I felt that this particular election was important for the future of the Supreme Court. . . .

Read the rest at the Morrison County Record.

Photo: The ad from the Morrison County Record, via a Bluestem reader.

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The peculiar knots of cannabis policy prompts GOP kinks in South Dakota and Minnesota

Reefer madness once again shades headlines in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Here in South DaCOVID--where the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported Wednesday South Dakota reaches new highs in COVID-19 hospitalizations, daily cases--Joe Sneve reported earlier in the week, Poll: South Dakotans narrowly favor legal marijuana in the state.

Also popular? The governor's handling of the pandemic, despite the climbing hospitalization and death counts, Sneve report Wednesday in Polling: South Dakotans like Noem's handling of the pandemic.

Sneve reported earlier this week in Personal freedom not part of Noem's thinking on legal pot in South Dakota:

Kristi Noem talks a lot about personal freedom while defending her hands-off approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first-term governor of South Dakota, though, doesn't support a libertarian approach to the use of drugs such as marijuana, which voters will decide whether to legalize for both medical and recreational use in next week's election.

Noem has said repeatedly during this campaign season that she opposes both Initiated Measure 26 (medical) and Constitutional Amendment A (recreational). And Friday during an interview with the Argus Leader at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, Noem said she opposes legalizing marijuana in any fashion because it would hurt South Dakota families in the long run.

"I ran for governor telling people that I wanted to build stronger families and create more opportunities for our kids, and i just don't see smoking pot as a gateway to helping people be better," the governor said.

But proponents of legal marijuana say that flies in the face of her repeated calls for less government involvement in people's lives amid the coronavirus pandemic. While Noem has championed personal responsibility during the pandemic, many of her fellow governors issued stay-at-home restrictions and mask mandates.

. . .Noem pointed to various studies linking marijuana use to mental health disorders like anxiety, depression and schizophrenia and said problems have arisen from marijuana use in places that have passed lax marijuana laws. She is appearing in advertising for No Way on A. . . .

While we don't agree with Noem  about cannabis policy, we applaud her for being straightforward about it, for all her disordered thinking about masks.

Minnesota Republican own reefer madness

Her reefer madness is a far cry from the complete labyrinth Minnesota Republicans have created for Tuesday's election. Let's review the coverage.

At the Star Tribune, Briana Bierschbach report in Pot party candidate said GOP recruited him to 'pull votes' from Minnesota Democrat:

Four months before Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate Adam Weeks died in September, sending the pivotal Second Congressional District race into a legal tailspin, he told a close friend that he had been recruited by Republicans to draw votes away from Democrats.

In a May 20 voicemail message provided to the Star Tribune, Weeks told a longtime friend that Republicans in the Second District approached him two weeks before the filing deadline to run for Congress in the hopes he’d “pull votes away” from incumbent DFL Rep. Angie Craig and give an advantage to the “other guy,” Tyler Kistner, the Republican-endorsed candidate.

The recording, underscoring the intense battle in one of the state’s most competitive elections, has come to light just as the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office listed Weeks’ death as a result of substance abuse, caused by ethanol and fentanyl toxicity. The death was ruled as accidental.

The message, left on the answering machine of his friend Joey Hudson, indicated that Weeks planned to meet with some GOP operatives in May, but he did not identify them other than as “CD2 [Second Congressional District] Republicans.”

The Craig and Kistner campaigns declined to comment on the recording. Second District Republican Chairman Jeff Schuette said no one in his organization met with Weeks about running in the race but other conservatives in the district could have recruited him.

In the Second District race and other swing seats across the state, Democrats have accused GOP operatives of recruiting third-party candidates such as Weeks to siphon off votes that would otherwise go to Democratic candidates. Weeks, an organic farmer from Red Wing who voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, publicly denied allegations before he died that he was running as a spoiler.

Privately, he was more open about the situation with friends and family — even if the campaign was taking a physical and mental toll. . . .

At Bring Me The News, Adam Uren put together a timeline of news reports on earlier reports of Minnesota Republican pot party recruiting efforts in Minnesota Republicans facing new claims they recruited legal weed candidates to run in swing races:

This is just the latest claim alleging Republicans in Minnesota have been encouraging candidates to run marijuana legalization campaigns in an effort to siphon votes for the DFL – which has itself expressed a willingness to legalize weed in Minnesota. This follows two pro-legalization parties achieving major party status in the 2018 elections, which meant they lost control over who could run under their banner.

MinnPost reported in August that there are marijuana candidates in several swing races in Minnesota who have little to no record of being involved in the legalization movement and who have links to the Republican Party.

The Minnesota Reformer meanwhile reported earlier this year that one of the pro-legalization candidates running in the tight 7th Congressional District was encouraged to run by a "youngish GOP operative." [Editor's note: that guy]

And in the wake of the report from the Star Tribune, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka came under renewed scrutiny after the Minnesota DFL shared a recent Politico article that reported he had met with a legal weed advocate named Sammy McCarty and asked him to run as a third-party candidate in a swing state Senate District.

What followed in response to the DFL sharing the Politico story on Twitter was a remarkable exchange between Gazelka and McCarty, in which the latter alleged Gazelka said he would be "rewarded" if he ran for the Senate.

Several leading DFLers, among them House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, have expressed a desire to make Minnesota the latest state to legalize and regulate the production and sale of marijuana, and should the DFL win the House and Senate on Nov. 3, it's likely to happen, with Gov. Tim Walz having already said he would sign off on such a bill.

After his tweet regarding Gazelka – about which he said he's "willing to go under oath" – McCarty tweeted that the "only shot" at legalizing marijuana and expunging criminal records for pot offenses "is straight-ticket Democrat." . . .

Read the exchange at Bring Me The News. Minnesota Reformer editor J. Patrick Coolican wrote in Wednesday's Daily Reformer Newsletter:

It may seem unrelated, but the Republicans' furious effort to prevent the counting of mail ballots is of a piece with Briana Bierschbach’s scoop in the Strib about the late Adam Weeks saying in a voicemail that local Republicans recruited him to run on a pot party ticket to siphon votes from DFL Rep. Angie Craig. Weeks has since died. 

Reformer readers were not surprised by the story, because it follows our reporting from June, as well as smaller items in this space, in which it’s become quite clear there’s been at least a loosely organized effort by Republicans to get people to run on the pot parties’ line. 

Even after Weeks assured me he was a changed man and that his candidacy was authentic, I published a photo of him at a big Republican bash this summer with a MAGA headband on.

We have a couple other examples of suspiciously Republican types running on pot party lines in state Senate races, including Jason Hoschette, Robyn Smith and Tyler Becvar. 

Sammy McCarty says he was recruited by Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka to run on a pot party line. 

(Gazelka took the extraordinary step Tuesday of taking to Twitter to deny it: “Not accurate. I told Sammy when he came to my office a dozen times about pot that if he was that passionate about recreational marijuana, he should run for office.  It wasn’t behind the scenes, I tweeted it.” Ok, senator, but who recruited Hoschette, Smith and Becvar? Smith told me she was recruited by a Republican, but wouldn’t say who it was.)

The reason I tie the situation to the extraordinary effort to prevent the counting of ballots is because this too-clever-by-half pot party okey doke is the result of a total lack of confidence that voters like what you’re offering. 

We agree. It's also a bit stunning to think that voters in South Dakota, now one of the most conservative states in the union, may just legalize recreational cannabis before the People's Socialist Republic of Minnesota's legislature manages to do so.

Holy smokes.

Related posts

• South Dakota governor signs industrial hemp bill
• Noem softens opposition to industrial hemp
• Will recreational pot be legal in South Dakota before farmers get to grow industrial hemp?
• Editorial review: South Dakota should learn to walk & chew gum with regard to industrial hemp
• Knowns & unknowns: SD Gov. Kristi Noem goes full-bore Donald Rumsfeld on industrial hemp
• Hemp: the weed with roots in Minnesota
• In 1937, industrial hemp was a thing in Winona, but reefer madness legislation killed the crop
• Representative Franson gets cosmic birthday present in today's industrial hemp news report

Photo: Cannabis leaf and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. Via South Dakota Marijuana.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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State Pollinator Coordinator: Rusty patched bumble bee scratch tickets coming to MN Lottery

We've been wallowing in state and federal campaign finance reports, and so an email from Rebeca Gutierrez-Moreno, the State Pollinator Coordinator at the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board was a welcome relief.

We have an exciting announcement. The EQB has been working on a project with the MN Lottery to create a pollinator-themed lottery ticket, with the technical assistance of the IPPT. The ticket will have the image of the rusty patched bumble bee, since it’s the official MN State Bee. This project also includes a blog post about pollinators in Minnesota, the stressors they are facing, and how we can all help them. We are hoping that our pollinator protection message will reach more audiences through this project

The ticket will be available during the Spring of 2021, the exact release date is upcoming. Here is the link to the MN Lottery blog announcing this special project.

That post, The Buzz About Minnesota’s State Bee:

Did you know that Minnesota has a state bee? The rusty patched bumble bee became Minnesota’s state bee in 2019. The rusty patched bumble bee has been listed as federally endangered since 2017.

Pollinators like our state bee help support Minnesota’s environment and economy. That’s why the Minnesota Lottery is working on a very special scratch ticket with our friends at the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board. Look for scratch tickets starring our state bee to land in retailers across Minnesota in spring 2021.

Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Facts

Where they live

In Minnesota, the rusty patched bumble bee has been found recently as far north as Bemidji, south to the Iowa border, with many sightings in the Twin Cities metro area.

How they got their name

Workers and males present the characteristic “rusty patch” on their abdomen. This rusty patch is sandwiched between yellow bands, and the rest of the abdomen is black.

Why They Are Endangered

Native pollinators, including the rusty patched bumble bee, are threatened by several factors:

1. Loss of habitat. Significant habitat loss and fragmentation has contributed to a long slow decline of rusty patched bumble bee by removing the essential things they need to survive such as flowers and nesting opportunities.
2. Pesticides. Insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides are applied in different types of settings such as urban and agricultural landscapes. Exposure to pesticides can happen when bumble bees eat nectar and gather pollen.
3. Diseases and parasites. The commercial production of bumble bees and management of honey bees to provide pollination services can introduce foreign pathogens and parasites to native bee populations.
4. Climate change. As temperatures across the globe change, extreme weather events connected with climate change such as flooding, drought, and fires directly harm pollinators. There have been reports of disruptions between bee emergence and flower blooms, reducing food availability and pollination services. For example, after warmer winters, some spring flowers will start blooming early, and by the time RPBB queens emerge, there will be fewer flowers available, meaning that bees miss out on food, and flowers miss out on pollination (Kehrberger et al. 2019).

These four factors interact and amplify the effect of each one on its own. For example, poor nutrition due to habitat loss can make bees more susceptible to negative effects of diseases and pesticides. In addition, habitat loss reduces the ability of pollinators to move when areas become unsuitable due to climate change.

To learn about how you can help, please check out the rusty patched bumble bee fact sheet here.

Pollinator policy is one reason elections matter.

Rusty patched bumble bees once lived here in Northeastern South Dakota but none have been seen for years. We keep an eye out for them when our partner's apple and plum trees blossom.

Related posts:

• Pollinator Friendly Alliance: the natural world, enviro policy & bringing back a healthy planet
• Good & bad news for pollinators: a news digest

Photo: A rusty patched bumble bee. Photo by Erik Runquist.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient

 

Best wishes: MNGOP U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis undergoes emergency surgery

From the Minnesota Reformer

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis undergoes emergency surgery

By Ricardo Lopez -October 26, 2020

GOP U.S. Senate candidate and former congressman Jason Lewis on Monday was rushed into emergency surgery because of a “severe internal hernia” after experiencing abdominal pain, his campaign announced.

“Early this morning, (former Rep.) Lewis was rushed to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain,” his campaign said in a statement. “Following tests and examination, doctors determined that he is suffering from a severe internal hernia, a diagnosis which they indicated is life-threatening if not treated quickly.”

His campaign said he was in “good spirits, optimistic” prior to undergoing surgery.

Minnesota GOP chair Jennifer Carnahan tweeted her well wishes.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with ⁦@LewisForMN⁩,” she said. “He’s one of the biggest fighters I’ve ever met in my life. We are praying for him as he undergoes surgery and wish him a speedy recovery.”

Lewis is currently running against U.S. Sen. Tina Smith as the GOP-endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate. It’s unclear how long he would be off the campaign trail. Previously, he was sidelined because of exposures to people who tested positive for COVID-19.

Smith on Twitter said she and her husband, Archie, wished Lewis well. “Archie and I are wishing Jason Lewis a successful surgery and a speedy recovery,” the tweet said.

Photo:U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis held a town hall in Bemidji in support of Beltrami County's vote to not accept new refugees. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.

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Winona district write-in candidate seems confused about Pelowski voting record

The Republican Party of Winona County may not have been able to endorse a candidate in Minnesota House District 28A, but as the screengrab of its Facebook page above illustrates, it's distributing yard signs for write-in candidate Carl Mastenbrook out of its office in downtown Winona.

The Winona County Republicans' website doesn't include the write-in contender on its "Our Candidates" page.

Mastenbrook, a naval veteran and welder, is running to "Stop Mpls Crazy"--whatever that means. It's an odd charge to lob at Pelowski. David Montgomery reported in the 2017 Pioneer Press article, We calculated how liberal or conservative each MN representative voted this year:

As partisan as the Minnesota House is — and a Pioneer Press analysis found it is very partisan — a number of Republicans and Democrats broke through the voting ranks and landed in the middle this year.

Moderate Republican Reps. Dario Anselmo of Edina and Keith Franke of St. Paul Park crossed party lines enough that they had more in common with moderate DFLers like Winona’s Rep. Gene Pelowski and Dilworth’s Rep. Paul Marquart than with conservative stalwarts like Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa. . . .

The ideology scores produced by W-NOMINATE are estimates and will usually vary a little from year to year depending on the particular bills that come up for vote. Most incumbent representatives had very similar ideology estimates in 2017 as they did in 2015-16 . . .

Mastenbrook's campaign seems to have launched its Facebook page around October 7. The ICANN Domain Name Registration Data Lookup for the campaign website name carlmastenbrookformn.com reveals that the domain name was created on October 6, 2020. The registrant is "Wireless270 LLC."

The write-in candidate is misrepresenting Gene Pelowski's Special Sessions voting record to align him more closely with the Majority Caucus. Heck, he's just plain wrong on a series of special session roll call votes..

On October 10, his campaign Facebook page shared a September 11, 2020 article from Session Daily, House again backs governor's emergency powers in special session, along with the headnote:

Governor Tim Waltz (Uncle Timmy) Emergency Powers. In the last 2 special sessions the house DFL (Gene Pelowski included) voted unanimously to not even bring it to the floor for a vote. That means there were no votes to end it. We are now 7 months into 15 days to flatten the curve. What has that gotten us, small business closing some forever, peoples lively hoods being taken away from them through no fault of there own. Winona is losing money and losing jobs still. If you write me in and I have the privilege of representing you I will work to stop Uncle Timmy's dictator powers.

The Session Daily article notes that the Fourth Special Session vote was 67-64. As many of our readers know, and the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library confirms, the partisan split in the Minnesota House is 75 DFLers and 55 Republicans. Nope, DFL members didn't vote  "unanimously" against the Neu Motion to Suspend HCR1.

A visit to the Roll Call  on Neu Motion to Suspend HCR1, reveals that Pelowski was among the DFLers who voted yes.

Moreover, Pelowski voted yeah on similar motions in other special sessions. According to the 64-69 roll call vote on the Neu Motion on October 12, there's a Pelowski yes vote in the Fifth Special Session. Not was he the only DFLer voting yes.

In the Third Special Session's August 12  Roll Call vote, Pelowski voted yes in a 61-71 split.

In the Second Special Session's list of Roll Call votes on July 20, there does not appear to have been a recorded vote on suspending the rules.

In the First Special Session's list of Roll Call vote on June 12, Pelowski voted yes on a Daudt motion to adopt a resolution to end the Governor's emergency powers. Pelowski was joined by Dilworth DFLer Paul Marquart in voting with the minority caucus.

The write-in candidate is either ignorant of the existence of roll call votes or lying. We're not close enough to know which one it is, though the usage errors in the text suggest the first option.

Mastenbrook's campaign page offers "A unique walking tour of the City with time to enjoy lunch and shopping too! Maximize your sightseeing with this exceptional tour" next to its PayPal contribution button. A screenshot:

In the first paragraph of his Who is Carl Mastenbrook website bio, we read:

I was born and raised in Winona Minnesota. My family has been a hard working family in the county since the 1800's. From farming to business and the business of farming each generation has worked to increase the opportunities of the next generation. I believe the Metro calls this white privelage, out here, we don't call it anything, it is just our way of life.

As we noted earlier, usage isn't the man's strong point, though he seems to be making a case that he can read the minds of "Metro" Minnesotans.

A wild stab at getting in office on the assumption Winona DFLers have voted early and left Pelowski's circle blank? We're not sure, but think it's sad that the young naval veteran is burning the ethos earned by serving his country by just plain lying about Pelowski's special session votes.

Screengrabs: From Facebook and Mastenbrook's campaign page.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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"Pink Slime" Metric Media outlet promotes Gruenhagen's Facebook bonding bill take

As a long time reader of small town newspapers, we had read accounts of the rise of sketchy news sites with great interest.

That reading helped process a "news" report, Gruenhagen votes 'yes' on bond bill, about the Gaylord Republican state representative's recent official  Facebook post on the October 15 passage of the bonding bill in the Minnesota Senate.

The online publication? SC Minnesota News, part of the Metric Media LLC network of 18 venues in the state.

We recognized the brand from our earlier reading about a  Tow Center for Digital Journalism report by Senior Research Fellow Priyanjana Bengani in the Columbia Journalism Review, Hundreds of ‘pink slime’ local news outlets are distributing algorithmic stories and conservative talking points. Bengani reported last December:

In increasingly popular tactic challenges conventional wisdom on the spread of electoral disinformation: the creation of partisan outlets masquerading as local news organizations. An investigation by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School has discovered at least 450 websites in a network of local and business news organizations, each distributing thousands of algorithmically generated articles and a smaller number of reported stories. Of the 450 sites we discovered, at least 189 were set up as local news networks across ten states within the last twelve months by an organization called Metric Media. . . .

In mid-July, we read Hannah Jones' piece in the City Pages, 'Hyperpartisan' right-wing news sites are thriving in Minnesota:

The Nieman Journalism Lab has some bad news.

In a study tracking hundreds of "hyperpartisan" news websites across the country, the Harvard-based organization has exposed many that are “masquerading” as state and local reporting. In reality, they’re often funded and operated by “government officials, political candidates, PACS, and political party operatives.”

Based on previous research by Columbia University’s Priyanjana Bengani, Neiman sifted through these hundreds of urls and pinpointed them on a map of the U.S., all to study how these left or right-leaning news sources are being deployed and where. Minnesota has at least 15 of these little pins studded across the metro and in the greater regions of the state – all with a conservative tilt.

In fact, the vast majority of the sites listed in our state belong to the same network: Metric Media, which claims to have over 1,000 different news sites. Titles include SW Minnesota Today, SC Minnesota News, and South Hennepin News.

You’ll find a lot of the same headlines shared between each, along with an astonishing variety of stock photos depicting stacks of cash money changing hands.

In short, it looks like news. Local news, even. But on second glance, it seems both weird and a little bit padded -- other than the more detailed, quote-heavy stories about Republican lawmakers and talking points. (Reopening Minnesota, for example, is a common theme.)

According to Metric Media’s mission statement, its goal is to “restore community-based reporting through modern platforms that make local news possible again.” The network, it says, works with “hundreds of freelance reporters around the country who adhere to strict journalistic standards,” and there’s “no political bias or favoritism.”

You won’t find many ads on any of the sites. That may be because, as Metric’s website claims, their funding comes from “donation and grants” from “contributors who care about restoring local news in their communities.”

According to Bengani’s research, Metric shares privacy policies, servers, and analytics identifiers with four other gargantuan, politically connected pseudo-news networks, including the Record network (founded by conservative businessman Brian Timpone) and Franklin Archer (the CEO of which is Timpone’s brother, Michael). . .  .

Read the rest at the City Pages. The notion that Gruenhagen's district is some sort of news desert struck us as odd, since it's served by a variety of bi-weekly and weekly small town newspapers like the McLeod County Chronicle, the Hutchinson Leader, the Arlington News, and others.

At the New York Times, Davey Alba and Jack Nicas reported on October 18 in As Local News Dies, a Pay-for-Play Network Rises in Its Place:

. . . Maine Business Daily is part of a fast-growing network of nearly 1,300 websites that aim to fill a void left by vanishing local newspapers across the country. Yet the network, now in all 50 states, is built not on traditional journalism but on propaganda ordered up by dozens of conservative think tanks, political operatives, corporate executives and public-relations professionals, a Times investigation found.

The sites appear as ordinary local-news outlets, with names like Des Moines Sun, Ann Arbor Times and Empire State Today. They employ simple layouts and articles about local politics, community happenings and sometimes national issues, much like any local newspaper.

But behind the scenes, many of the stories are directed by political groups and corporate P.R. firms to promote a Republican candidate or a company, or to smear their rivals. . . .

The network is largely overseen by Brian Timpone, a TV reporter turned internet entrepreneur who has sought to capitalize on the decline of local news organizations for nearly two decades. He has built the network with the help of several others, including a Texas brand-management consultant and a conservative Chicago radio personality. .  . .

The network is one of a proliferation of partisan local-news sites funded by political groups associated with both parties. Liberal donors have poured millions of dollars into operations like Courier, a network of eight sites that began covering local news in swing states last year. Conservative activists are running similar sites, like the Star News group in Tennessee, Virginia and Minnesota.

But those operations run just several sites each, while Mr. Timpone’s network has more than twice as many sites as the nation’s largest newspaper chain, Gannett. And while political groups have helped finance networks like Courier, investors in news operations typically don’t weigh in on specific articles.

While Mr. Timpone’s sites generally do not post information that is outright false, the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency. Only a few dozen of the sites disclose funding from advocacy groups. Traditional news organizations do not accept payment for articles; the Federal Trade Commission requires that advertising that looks like articles be clearly labeled as ads.

Most of the sites declare in their “About” pages that they to aim “to provide objective, data-driven information without political bias.” But in April, an editor for the network reminded freelancers that “clients want a politically conservative focus on their stories, so avoid writing stories that only focus on a Democrat lawmaker, bill, etc.,” according to an email viewed by The Times.

Read the rest at the Times.

So what's the focus of the article about Glenn Gruenhagen's Facebook post? In Gruenhagen votes 'yes' on bond bill, Kyla Asbury (whose LinkedIn profile describes the writer as a "A Result-Driven Written Communications Professional Delivering Quality Communications Solutions" based in Wayne County, West Virginia, which may explain why she calls it "a bond bill") reports:

House Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) said a recent bond bill does not include money to rebuild the City of Minneapolis, according to a Facebook post.

Gruenhagen said that while there was spending in the bill he didn't agree with, he voted yes to the bill to represent the people in his district.

"These bonding bills are difficult, especially when you have divided government as we do with Democrats controlling the House and the Governorship," Gruenhagen said in the post. "Bonding bills must be originated in the House, not the Senate. The House is controlled by Democrats, hence the Democrats stick things in the bill to force Republicans to take difficult votes that will anger their constituents either way they vote. It’s a no-win situation because no matter how you vote, someone will be disappointed."

He said he voted for the bill because it contains help for Section 179, which includes farms and small businesses, as well as money to raise a road for flood mitigation for Henderson, which is something he has been trying to get done for eight years.

Nothing for rebuilding the evil metro. Here's the beginning paragraph of what Gruenhagen wrote on Facebook (originally posted on his campaign Facebook page):

As you may have heard, the bonding bill passed in the House (100-34)last night. It passed in the Senate today (64-3). There are false rumors that the bonding bill had money to rebuild the city of Minneapolis. This is not accurate. There was about $5 million in the bill for "Civil Unrest" to fund overtime pay for law officers, firefighters, EMTs, etc., NOT to rebuild the city. The amount of destruction caused by the protesting and rioting is estimated to be between $300 to $500 million. There was no funding in the bill to rebuild the city. ...

This struck a chord with us, as we had seen a Facebook post by the conservative group Action4Liberty. On October 15, this turned up:

We posted earlier about a Minneapolis bailout, which is how many of us read the language in the multi-subject,...

Posted by Action 4 Liberty on Thursday, October 15, 2020

We're curious that someone thought Gruenhagen's Facebook post that started with talk of rumors--source unknown--was thought to be worthy of siccing a freelance reporter in West Virginia on the trail. Is there fear of the Action4Liberty take on the bonding bill?

There's coverage of the vote in the Belle Plaine Herald (owned by the same company that publishes the Henderson paper online) in State to Fund Flood Mitigation for Henderson:

Henderson’s prayer for flood mitigation has finally been answered. After months of political turmoil and multiple failed bonding bills, the Minnesota House and Senate last week successfully passed a $1.9 billion bonding bill that includes funding to fix Highway 93 and County Road 6 in Henderson. . . .

Walz, Sen. Scott Newman, and House Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen were among the state representatives that came to Henderson in July in a push to pass a bonding bill that includes flood mitigation.

At that time, Gov. Walz told the Independent that he would sign a bonding bill that includes flood mitigation for Henderson. . . .

And this from KARE 11, House passes $1.9 billion construction bonding bill, which starts out mentioning the flood prone highway near Henderson.

We're also curious if there were any elements of pay-to-play in the amplification of the Gruenhagen Facebook post as "news."

Those rumor-mongers at Action4Liberty describe their mission on their about page:

Our Mission at Action 4 Liberty is to expand individual freedoms by reducing government control. We concentrate our efforts on three policy areas: business freedom, health freedom and educational freedom.

We recruit conservative candidates for the legislature and equip them to win their elections. Our objective is to lead a conservative offense at the Capitol to overpower the liberal agenda that seeks to grow government and reduce freedoms.

The group does operate a state level political action committee, though filings at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board report taking in no donations this year, while contributing $1000 to a candidate committee, Marianne Stebbins, who lost the MN House 33B Republican primary (see 2020 September report here). Bluestem reported on her bid in early June's Pair to draw to: "Liberty Republican" Stebbins & Liberate Minn host Malsom file for MNHouse.

Representative Gruenhagen's district is deeply Republican, so we're puzzled about what the threat might be to trigger an article about his vote on the bonding bill.

Photo: Glenn Gruenhagen, Via Facebook.

 

News release: MN AG Ellison wins assurance Atlas Aegis recruits will not bug state voters

We had been dismayed by news articles about Atlas Aegis recruiting special forces veterans to patrol Minnesota's polling places. Andrew Mannix had reported at the Star Tribune back on October 10, Private security company recruiting armed military veterans to guard Minnesota polls from 'Antifas' in November election.

Minnesota election officials say they’re working with law enforcement to ensure voters won’t face intimidation at polling locations next month, responding to reports that a private security company is recruiting U.S. special operations forces veterans to protect the polls from “Antifas” intent on “destroying the election sites.”

Atlas Aegis, a Tennessee-based company, posted a job listing this week calling for “security positions in Minnesota during the November Election and beyond to protect election polls, local businesses and residences from looting and destruction,” according to a Washington Post report.

Minnesota election rules prohibit private security or other related individuals or groups from entering polling places, said Secretary of State Steve Simon in a statement Friday afternoon. Only one challenger per major political party is allowed inside, and anyone else who isn’t voting or working at the poll site must stay 100 feet away. . . .

Earlier this week, the Strib's Stephen Montemayor reported in Attorney General Keith Ellison probes firm hiring armed guards for Minnesota polling sites:

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has launched an investigation into a Tennessee-based company that listed job postings seeking ex-soldiers to provide armed security at polling places in the state next month.

The probe, opened last week, includes a demand for information about who contracted for Atlas Aegis' services, what the security guards' exact roles would be, and what training they would have on the state's voter protection laws.

Atlas Aegis, in a job advertisement that surfaced earlier this month, recruited for "security positions in Minnesota during the November Election and beyond to protect election polls, local businesses and residences from looting and destruction." The listing noted that the jobs were exclusive to U.S. special operations forces veterans.

The company is not licensed in Minnesota and has not disclosed what licensed entity it would work with. Its chairman, Anthony Caudle, recently told the Washington Post its guards would protect against "Antifas" and Black Lives Matter supporters who he said were intent on "destroying the election sites."

Ellison said the company is legally bound to reply to his office's civil investigative demand within 10 days, based on a Ramsey County District Court order. The formal request for information was sent on Oct. 14. . . .

That effort on the part of Ellison has yielded results. From a press release sent out by Ellison's office this afternoon:

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that his office has won a written assurance from Tennessee-based security company Atlas Aegis that it is not recruiting and will not recruit or provide private security at or near polling places in Minnesota in conjunction with the November 3 election. The company admits that its statements that it was doing so are incorrect. Attorney General Ellison announced on October 20 that his office had launched an investigation into Atlas Aegis. 

As part of the settlement, Atlas Aegis agrees not to provide any security services in Minnesota around the November 3 election; not to intimidate any voters in Minnesota; and to communicate through its channels that it was wrong to suggest it was recruiting security for “protection of election polls” in Minnesota. 

“Minnesotans should expect that our elections will run as safely, smoothly, and securely as they always have. One of the reasons is that my office and our partners are actively enforcing our laws against threatening, frightening, or intimidating voters,” Attorney General Ellison said. “I’m holding Atlas Aegis to account for their misstatements about recruiting security for polling places in Minnesota that potentially frightened Minnesota voters. They won’t be doing it again and will not be anywhere in Minnesota before, during, or after Election Day.” 

“Minnesota and federal law are clear: it is strictly illegal to intimidate or interfere with voters. I want to make to make it crystal clear to anyone who is even thinking about intimidating voters that I will not hesitate to enforce the laws against it to the fullest extent,” Attorney General Ellison concluded. 

Atlas Aegis was never asked to provide election security 

In an Assurance of Discontinuance filed today in Ramsey County District Court, Atlas Aegis admits the following:  

• A Minnesota security company sought security officers to work at the private property of its clients around the date of the November 3 election. It never indicated the work would involve any security at or near polling places, and made it clear the work would be performed only at the private property of its clients. 
• Atlas Aegis received word of this staffing request from other industry contacts. Those contacts did not indicate that the scope of work would encompass polling places. 
• Atlas Aegis solicited individuals in its network for this assignment. Of its own accord, without the prompting or knowledge of its industry contacts or the prime security contractor, it advertised that the scope of work included security “to protect election polls.” 
• Atlas Aegis and its chairman Anthony Caudle misunderstood the potential scope of work, which did not include any security at or near polling places or “election sites.”  Caudle had no direct information to suggest that Minnesota election officials or Minnesota law enforcement were aware that “armed civilians intended to guard polling sites,” as he represented to the Washington Post. 

Atlas Aegis acknowledges its statements were incorrect  

Atlas Aegis additionally admits the following: 

• Atlas Aegis acknowledges that its statements to the Washington Post were incorrect.  In making these statements, Atlas Aegis did not intend to intimidate, coerce, or threaten Minnesota voters, poll workers, or others aiding or urging Minnesota voters to vote; or to make Minnesota voters less willing to vote. 
• Neither Atlas Aegis as a company, nor any of its officers or employees, have been engaged to perform work in Minnesota in November.   
• No officers or employees or contractors of Atlas Aegis will be present in Minnesota in November, nor will they be acting as “security” at polling places or election sites. 
• Atlas Aegis is not aware of any other individuals or groups who plan to provide private “security” at polling places or election sites in Minnesota in connection with the election. 

Atlas Aegis will not provide security in Minnesota around November 3 elections, will not intimidate voters, will retract misstatements 

Atlas Aegis agrees to the following terms of the Assurance of Discontinuance: 

• Atlas Aegis shall not provide any protective agent services in Minnesota from October 22, 2020 through January 1, 2022.  
• Atlas Aegis will not seek to intimidate voters, in Minnesota or elsewhere, in connection with the election.   
• Atlas Aegis shall communicate to each and every listserv, job board, and individual to whom it originally sent its request for election security in Minnesota that it was wrong to suggest the scope of work included “protection of election polls.”  

If Atlas Aegis violates the Assurance of Discontinuance, it is liable for a $50,000 penalty. 

State law prohibits voter intimidation, private armed forces 

As a reminder, a variety of state and federal laws, along with the Minnesota Constitution, prohibit intimidating or interfering with voters and operating private armed forces in Minnesota. They include, but are not limited to:  

Prohibiting voter intimidation or interference  

• Minn. Stat. § 204C.06 
• Minn. Stat. § 211B.07 
• 18 U.S.C. § 245(b)(1)(A)  
• 18 U.S.C. § 594 
• 52 U.S.C. § 20511(1)  

Prohibiting operation or activities of private armed forces  

• • Minnesota Constitution, Art. 1, Sec. 14  
  • Minn. Stat. § 609.669  
  • Minn. Stat. § 624.61  

This is very good news, as voters should be able to vote without fear.

Photo: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

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A little pity party on the prairie: Rep. Tim Miller misleads fans on local paper's endorsements

On Facebook Wednesday, Rep. Tim Miller shared the image at the top of this article, in a post whining about the West Central Tribune's endorsement of his DFL opponent.

Miller wrote:

Proof positive I have been faithfully serving the people of my district. The West Central Tribune Circulation once again did not endorse me. In the past it’s because I was too Republican. This year I’m not Republican enough for them. I don’t serve a Party or special interests. I serve the people of my district.

I am proudly endorsed by the groups in the photo. I am also supported by multiple Ag groups including Southern MN Beet Sugar Cooperative, MN State Cattlemen, and MN Soybean Producers. All of the major pro-life groups support me. All major Second Amendment groups support me.

I am the only pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-small business candidate in my race. I am not pushed around by special interest groups. The WC Trib editor has always gone after me for those things. I embrace and proudly proclaim that paper’s lack of support. It confirms to me I am doing the right thing. I ask for your vote.

Your mileage, dear readers, may vary on whether the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the like are special interests. What does seem odd about the post is the impression that it leaves that the paper has never endorsed Miller. 

And the comments of Miller's followers about the paper being "a communist rag" and "they're a left-wing biased newspaper, just like the Star Tribune"? The paper's endorsement track record suggests otherwise.

Let's review that record.

The 2012 contest

In 2012, the paper wrote in Editorial: Our picks for the Legislature - Gimse, Falk, Sawatszky, and Urdahl:

House 17A: DFL incumbent Andrew Falk of Murdock is being challenged by Republican Tim Miller. Falk is a farmer and businessman from Murdock and Miller is a business development consultant from Prinsburg.

Falk has served two terms representing former District 20A and previously had worked as a legislative aid in the district. Part of a five-generation family farm, he focuses on agricultural and rural issues, including ethanol industry development. He believes the state needs to address the structural budget deficit, which began during the Ventura administration. He believes government and public policy have a role in improving people's lives. His weakness at times is his youthful exuberance at times become too focused on political themes.

Miller believes that state government should serve a greater good, but it has become too large and costly. He follows a conservative approach focusing more on reducing spending in the state budget and not raising revenues. He recommends targeting government inefficiencies to save budget funding. He believes he has the ability to be a good communicator and be a "translator" to facilitate compromise. His weakness would be the lack of legislative experience.

The West Central Tribune believes Falk has represented his previous district well, especially on agricultural and rural issues, and recommend his re-election in District 17A.

The criticism of Miller isn't of his conservatism, but rather his legislative inexperience. Note also that the paper endorsed two Republican and two DFL candidates for the races. Not exactly a bastion of liberal Democratic bias.

2014: No endorsement

In 2014's roundup, Editorial: A review of our 2014 endorsements, there's no endorsement for the Minnesota House 17A seat. The paper did endorse Republican challenger Dave Baker over the DFL incumbent in 17B.

Incumbent Andrew Falk remembers that the paper did not endorse in the 17A seat that year. We've contacted the editor to see if we've missed something here.

Editor Kelly Bolden replied via email: "The West Central Tribune did "not" make an endorsement of either candidate - Andrew Falk of DFL or Tim Miller of GOP - in House District 17A in 2014."

Miller won the election.

2016: Miller endorsed

Falk and Miller opposed each other for the third time in the 2016 election. There's only a headline online for the 2016 November 2 endorsement editorial, Tribune 2016 Endorsements: Re-elect Koenen, Baker and Miller in District 17 legislative races. Two of the three candidates endorsed by the paper are Republicans.

An November 8 editorial, West Central Tribune endorsements for 2016, states:

State senator, District 17: Our editorial board recommends incumbent Lyle Koenen be re-elected.

State representative, District 17B: Our editorial board recommends incumbent Dave Baker be re-relected.

State representative, District 17A: Our editorial board recommends incumbent Tim Miller be re-relected.

Koenen, the sole DFLer endorsed by the paper for the state legislature, lost to Andrew Lang.

2018: No endorsement, equal good will

In 2018, Koenen ran for the Minnesota House (he had served there before winning a special election following the death in office of Gary Kubly) against Miller.

The paper made no endorsement in the race, but praised the legislative experience of both men in Here are our endorsements for the 2018 election, while endorsing the Republican incumbent in the other half of the Senate district:

Legislature

House 17B: The House 17B race features incumbent Dave Baker, R-Willmar, who has served two terms in the Minnesota House. He should be re-elected for a third term.

House 17A: The House 17A race features two candidates with legislative experience - incumbent Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, and Lyle Koenen, DFL-Clara City. Either candidate would be a suitable choice for the district. The final choice will be up to District 17A voters.

Not exactly a Miller bashing.

2020: Now we're getting somewhere

Once again, after eight years, the West Central Tribune endorses a Democrat for this seat. In West Central Tribune Endorsements: Minnesota House, we read:

House District 17A

The House District 17B race has incumbent Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, being challenged by Ben Dolan, DFL-Appleton, and Ed Engelman of the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

Miller claims he works across the aisle, yet he cannot even get along with his Republican Party. After losing a bid to be the Republican House leader in December, he was one of the four Republicans to leave the House Republican Caucus and form the New House Republican Caucus of 4.

Most recently, when Minnesotans needed the long-delayed 2020 bonding bill, which included Montevideo flood hazard mitigation, Miller voted simply no. Other local legislators supported the bipartisan bonding bill.

Engelman will have minimal support and no chance of election in this contest.

Dolan is a graduate of Lac qui Parle Valley High School and attended Southwest Minnesota State University, where he was student body president. Then he earned a Juris Doctorate at the University of South Dakota School of Law, while also serving as a class president. He is currently a judicial law clerk in the Minnesota court system.

Dolan seeks to build positive change in his district, supports broadband investment and understands the importance of health care, daycare, housing and mental health in rural Minnesota. He believes you need teamwork within your party and across the aisle.

It is time for District 17A to choose a fresh face for its future. Ben Dolan is the right choice to represent District 17A in 2021 in the Minnesota House.

Smack!

It's worth noting that the editors of this "communist rag" that's "a left-wing biased newspaper, just like the Star Tribune" not only endorses Republicans Baker in MN17B and Lang in Senate District 17 over their DFL opponents, but they also endorse Dean Urdahl in House District 18A:

Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, is running unopposed in District 18A in 2020. First elected in 2003, he has served his district and Minnesota well.

Urdahl should be re-elected to continue as the District 18A voters’ state representative for the next two years.

Those dirty reds!

We can only conclude that Tim Miller has an awfully thin skin and his supporters have very short memories.

Screengrab: Miller whines about the West Central Tribune in a post accompanying this image. To visit the active Facebook page of the paper, try this link instead of the one Miller provides.

We recommend a subscription to those dirty hippies at the West Central Tribune; subscribers are able to access Forum Communications papers from Rochester to venues in North and South Dakota.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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MN01: Forum Communications and Star Tribune endorse Dan Feehan for Southern Minnesota

After no endorsement in the 2018 First Congressional District race between Jim Hagedorn and Dan Feehan, Forum Communications has endorsed DFL challenger Dan Feehan for Minnesota's Fighting First congressional district.

The chain publishes the Rochester Bulletin and Worthington Globe in the district.

Headline: Endorsement: Dan Feehan is the right fit for U.S. District 1.

Earlier, the Star Tribune endorsed Feehan in the October12 editorial, After close loss in 2018, Dan Feehan focused on First District's needs.

Forum Communications

Endorsement: Dan Feehan is the right fit for U.S. District 1 weighs the strengths of each candidate, concluding:

Hagedorn was elected in 2018 by a thin margin, and his first term has been marred by ethics questions. One concerned his use of the taxpayer-funded mail program and payments made to people tied to his campaign. Another is a report that his campaign was given rent-free office space by a supporter.

Overall, Feehan seems the better fit for District 1. He didn't play the blame game and demonstrated a common sense, let's-work-this-out-together attitude that is largely missing in today's politics.

Star Tribune

In After close loss in 2018, Dan Feehan focused on First District's needs, the Star Tribune editorial board wrote:

Dan Feehan won the Star Tribune Editorial Board’s enthusiastic endorsement to represent southern Minnesota in the U.S. House.

A decorated combat veteran with impressive experience, including a stint as an acting assistant secretary of defense, Feehan’s breadth of knowledge, eloquence and commitment to public service easily made him a standout among those candidates running for office in Minnesota that year.

Two years after losing the 2018 race by 1,315 votes, the 38-year-old father of three from North Mankato is again the clear choice in the First Congressional District. A promising talent during his first run, Feehan has become an even stronger candidate in 2020 and gets our recommendation again over Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who is seeking a second term. Also on the ballot: Bill Rood of the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota.

Feehan’s work since 2018 with the National Farmers Union, as well as consulting work with several reputable nonprofits, has focused on issues deeply important to this district: agriculture, education, veterans’ issues and health care. The additional experience has forged deeper connections to the district and made him an even stronger advocate for southern Minnesota families, farmers and businesses.

Feehan’s differences with Hagedorn on a key issue — health care — have also become more important in the past two years. . . .

Hagedorn, 58, declined the Editorial Board’s invitation for an endorsement interview. . . .

Read the entire editorial at the Star Tribune. While the incumbent refused an interview, the editorial has published (as is the paper's policy) Hagedorn's case for himself, This election gives voters a clear choice — socialism vs. freedom.

Weak sauce, given Feehan's combat military service. And there's this in the comments:

"Democrats...offer far-left transformational socialism and the end of the America we grew up with and love......I will continue to work across the aisle in bipartisan fashion and on behalf of southern Minnesotans and the United States of America."

A bit of cognitive dissonance here.

The Cook Political Report rates the race as a "Toss Up Republican," given that the incumbent is a Republican.

While Southern Minnesota historically has been Republican, both Tim Penny (1982) and Tim Walz (2006) won the seat (varying geography, depending on redistricting). Penny beat Hagedorn's father in a 1982 upset election, and Wikipedia notes, " Penny was reelected in 1984 with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the first non-Republican to win reelection in the district since statehood."

Photo: Dan Feehan.

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MN Reformer: Eichorn tries to hold off Bemidji Mayor Albrecht; control of MN Senate at stake

From the Minnesota Reformer:

State Sen. Justin Eichorn tries to hold off Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht, with control of Senate at stake

By Deena Winter -October 20, 2020

Justin Eichorn helped flip the Minnesota Senate when he beat then-Sen. Tom Saxhaug by fewer than 600 votes in northeastern Minnesota’s District 5 as part of a red wave in 2016, when Donald Trump was at the top of the ticket.

This year, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party hopes to win the seat back with Rita Albrecht. The Bemidji mayor charges that Eichorn, who lives in Grand Rapids, has largely ignored her city, the largest in the district.

The district is clearly in the crosshairs: Albrecht said at least five organizations have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in negative digital and print ads against her.

One mailer blamed her for doing nothing to stop the rioting, looting and arson in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death, she said.

It’s no mystery why corporate and labor groups would spend heavily. The stakes are high: If Republicans can maintain their current slim 35-32 hold on the majority, they can continue to thwart first-term DFL Gov. Tim Walz’s agenda while helping to shape how a $4.7 billion budget deficit will be erased during the next legislative session. Also on the agenda next session: additional police reforms, an expansion of government health insurance, paid family leave, legalization of marijuana and the redrawing of congressional and legislative maps.

All of that means the campaign up north has been more vicious than Albrecht expected.

“Lucky for me, in eight years as mayor, I’ve had a little practice in letting it roll off me,” she said.

Albrecht is no shrinking violet, criticizing Eichorn for a lesser known history of alleged labor violations, and his absence from whole swaths of the district.

Eichorn did not respond to a request for an interview.

Pivot counties

The sprawling district — which includes parts of Itasca, Cass, Beltrami and Hubbard counties — is home to more than 1,000 lakes. And it includes crucial “pivot counties” that voted for Trump in 2016 after going for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, according to Ballotpedia.

Bemidji and Grand Rapids were redistricted together in 2010, and the area has historically been represented by a Democrat, Albrecht said.

“We think this is a winnable seat and we’re gonna make it happen,” Albrecht said.

Getting through Eichorn won’t be easy, however. Trump won the district by nearly 7,000 votes in 2016.

Eichorn grew up in Grand Rapids, was the third generation to work at his family’s outdoor store and runs a small business there, according to his website. During his first campaign, he said his family’s store sold a wide range of firearms, and he learned early on the importance of the Second Amendment. He promised to be one of the Capitol’s staunchest supporters of the right to bear arms, fighting any additional restrictions on gun owners.

On his campaign website, he has said good-paying union jobs in mining, forestry, trucking and other industries are the backbone of a strong economy in northern Minnesota, which has long relied on taconite, timber and tourism.

“Recently our way of life has come under fire by groups who think they know our land and resources better than we do,” he said.

He has vowed to “support mining every chance I get in St. Paul and not just when it’s election season.”

“Mining is one of Minnesota’s greatest natural resources,” his campaign site says. “Strong mining operations will help bring back great middle-class jobs that we greatly need.”

(Taconite mining is not controversial in the district; copper-nickel mining, especially near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is a fiercely debated issue.)

Eichorn introduced legislation to give iron ore mining workers additional unemployment benefits. He also introduced a bill to prevent the state from closing a minimum-security boot camp in Togo, about 40 miles north of Hibbing, and another bill that would require the state to sell a St. Paul storage facility — purchased during the pandemic to store human remains — and use the money to prop up the Togo prison budget.

Albrecht says Bemidji people rarely hear from their senator: the Bemidji City Council has not had a visit from Eichorn in four years, she said.

“I want to be someone who represents the whole district because I recognize that everybody needs to have someone that cares about their voice,” she said.

Eichorn has lately been ducking events such as a League of Women Voters forum and Bemidji State University Student Senate forum. He did participate in a recent debate hosted by the local PBS station, where he said it’s time to reopen businesses in Minnesota, even as COVID-19 has begun to spread rapidly again.

From A&W to city planning

Albrecht, 65, grew up in northern Minnesota, went to Bemidji State University and owned the A&W in Bemidji with her husband Mike for 11 years. She went back to school when her two children were in high school, then became assistant planner for Bemidji and worked as a community development director and tribal planner for the Leech Lake Band of Objibwe.

She was elected mayor in 2012 after serving two years on the Bemidji City Council, and her fourth term as mayor ends in December. She was “happily retired” from her job as northwest regional director for the Department of Natural Resources last year and not planning to run for another office when she was encouraged to run for the Legislature. She felt like her region needed a strong voice.

“I do think my experience is something that would be valuable to have at the Capitol because I’ve just lived the kind of issues that affect us here and that the Legislature tends to take up,” she said.

Minnesotans are sharply divided on the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline, but the two candidates agree it should be replaced.

Albrecht said she wants to move away from fossil fuels, but right now the country still uses oil, and pipelines are the safest way to transport it.

Albrecht calls Eichorn a union buster, because his family’s car dealership, Eichorn Motors, was charged with a litany of labor violations — including refusing to bargain with the United Auto Workers International Union — after he and others bought the business in 2006. An administrative law judge wrote in 2008 that Eichorn Motors was a “brazen recidivist and egregious violator that has clearly demonstrated a general disregard for its employees’ fundamental rights.”

Eichorn has also supported right-to-work laws.

Eichorn made headlines in May when he compared homeless people living in tents to recreational camping. He questioned why people could live in tents in St. Paul even as campgrounds remained closed due to the pandemic. (Campgrounds opened shortly thereafter.)

In a statement to the Bemidji Pioneer, Eichorn said he may have “missed the mark” while trying to convince Walz to be aware of the problems caused by his pandemic-related orders.

Dennis Barsness of the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota and Robyn Smith of the Legal Marijuana Now Party are also on the ballot. Barsness and Smith did not respond to requests for interviews.

As the Reformer reported in June, Smith appears to be a Republican plant to siphon votes away from Albrecht. She admitted she was recruited to run by a Republican and would be glad to help Republicans hold onto the Senate.

Albrecht said the shenanigans are a sign that Republicans are desperate to win, even if it means tricking the electorate.

“It just shows that they will use every trick and tactic in the book to try and sideline good candidates and mislead the electorate,” she said.

Photo: Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht, the DFL candidate for state Senate, does some socially distanced campaigning this summer. Courtesy photo.

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