Bluestem Prairie

Detroit Lakes League of Women Voters president chastises Rep. Steve Green about voting facts

 

Pity poor Steve Green. He just can't seem to get some of the basics about government right.

Like voting.

Last week, it was his appearance in a national fact checking site, as we reported in Ruled false: Rep. Steve Green's Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry

This week, he's being taken to task by constituent Terry Kalil, President, Detroit Lakes Area League of Women Voters and past president of the LWV Minnesota in a letter to the editors of the Park Rapids Enterprise, for his remarks in his Legislative Update (6-18-20) and to the Hubbard County board in the now infamous article Reps. Green, Grossell criticize police reform, mail-in ballots, more.

In Thursday's online edition of the Park Rapids Enterprises, Kalil writes in Rep. Green should know how Minnesota protects elections:

In his June 18 legislative update, Rep. Steve Green makes several misrepresentations about the League of Women Voters (LWV) and our work to protect the voting rights of every citizen during the ongoing pandemic. The league appreciates this opportunity to present the facts on voting in 2020.

The League of Women Voters is a 100-year old nonpartisan, tax-exempt membership organization with more than 2,000 members across the state. The league does not endorse candidates or political parties. Our policy positions are based on researching issues, discussion and consensus among its members from all political parties. Rep. Green’s label is incorrect as he well knows since he’s participated in LWV forums in Detroit Lakes, Park Rapids and White Earth for years.

Rep. Green also misstates the intent and outcome of a lawsuit initiated by the league. The lawsuit addressed Minnesota's absentee ballot witness signature requirement that the witness be a registered Minnesota voter or a notary. Because of the COVID pandemic, many vulnerable voters are isolated and unable to secure a witness. The lawsuit aimed to have the witness restriction waived for 2020 in order to protect the health, safety and constitutional rights of voters. Two other nonpartisan organizations filed similar lawsuits. A state court judge ruled in favor of the agreement to waive the witness requirement in the August primary election. That lawsuit was brought by the Minnesota Alliance for Older Americans.

Why is absentee balloting critical in 2020? With 3,000 precincts in Minnesota, administering an election requires 30,000 election judges. Those judges are most often among those most vulnerable to COVID-19. Voting absentee, from the comfort and safety of home, reduces risk of exposure and lessens the strain on Election Day workers.

Rep. Green incorrectly attributes the question of counting ballots received up to two days after the August primary (if postmarked by Election Day) to the league’s lawsuit. In fact, it was the lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Alliance for Older Americans that was successful in state court. Given the delays in mail service we’ve all experienced, this is a common sense solution to ensure that all ballots cast by election day are counted.

Absentee voting has been a safe, secure part of the democratic process since the Civil War. Waiving a witness requirement for the elderly, vulnerable and those who are taking the recommended precautions against COVID-19 by voting from home does not cause "irreparable damage . . . to the foundation of our voting republic,” as Rep. Green claims. States, cities and even Becker County townships have all adopted vote-by-mail as the only method of voting in 2020.

Rep. Green is quoted in the June 20 Park Rapids Enterprise speaking to county commissioners: "Green said he’s seen 'the videos of busloads of people going from precinct to precinct. When votes are verified later, we’ve got into the tens of thousands that come back after elections that nobody lives where they were registered to vote.’"

An extensive Google search for these videos, along with verification by snopes.com, factcheck.org and politifacts.org — all nonpartisan websites — unequivocally found these claims to be false. We encourage Rep. Green to learn more about how Minnesota protects our elections from interference using multiple verifications processes and in close coordination with federal cyber experts. Green's voice as an elected official should be among those promoting free and fair elections where all eligible voters have a safe and secure way to vote.

The league’s mission is to expand voter access to the polls, something all citizens should support as an essential building block of our voting republic. Providing voters with accurate nonpartisan facts on how to vote safely from home should be the goal of all elected officials in 2020. To register to vote, update your name or mailing address, or request an absentee ballot, visit mnvotes.org.

What will it take for Green to master a basic understanding of how stuff--and facts--work?

Related posts:

• From our audio backfiles: epic 2014 Steve Green rant about Muslims & Ebola at the border
• DFL candidate Suby: Green should find facts
• Ruled false: Rep. Steve Green's Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry
• Career anti-Muslim figure Robert Spencer defends Steve Green against the MN Reformer
• Green and Grossell conduct dystopian fantasy workshop for Hubbard County Commissioners
• Only Steve Green gets the blues: Hubbard County's list of 2020 polling locations includes bunches of mail ballot townships
• LTE: U of M Regents professor kindly explains why Rep. Steve Green is confused about CWD
• The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal
• MN LWV president chides Rep. Steve Green for disregarding transgender student safety
• Nitrogen amnesia strikes state representative Steve Green during LWV Park Rapids Area forum
• In town hall & letters sections, constituents sass back to state rep Steve Green about lots of stuff
• MN 2B: Steve Green totally doesn't believe any science supports human role in climate change
• Too cute: if only Steve Green could have come up with a real defense against feral swine

Screengrab: The Park Rapids Enterprise's article --by Matt Grossell, no less. Who knew the Clearbrook Republican moonlighted as a reporter for a local Forum Communications newspaper? Update: the byline has been changed online at the Parks Enterprise to Shannon M Geisen.

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.

Press release via MN House Ag & Food Division chair: New benefits for farmers start today

From Austin DFL state representative Jeanne Poppe, chair of the Minnesota House Agriculture and Food Division:

New state benefits go into effect today for farmers who are facing economic hardship, including grain storage safety grants to address rising work-related accidents and deaths on the farm.

“Using federal CARES Act dollars, the Legislature worked together on a bipartisan basis this year to invest in mental health resources, prevent tragic accidents, expand MDA services, and quickly respond to threats to our food supply,” said Rep. Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin), the bill’s chief author and chair of the House Ag and Finance Division. “We know these actions will not fully address the needs of Minnesota’s farmers and producers during these challenging times, but it does provide vitally needed support and assistance.”

The bill uses federal CARES Act dollars to invest in farmer mental health needs, including suicide prevention training and awareness of mental health resources. To enhance capacity for services and support to farmers for their economic well-being, it invests in essential services provided by the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Advocate program. The bill funds the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab equipment which is needed to respond to poultry and livestock diseases like highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and African Swine Fever (ASF).

Specific details:

• $675,000 of the General Fund allocation in fiscal year 2021 to the Agricultural Research, Education, Extension and Technology Transfer program at the University of Minnesota is for Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory testing equipment and supplies necessary to respond to avian influenza, salmonella and other turkey-related diseases.
• $100,000 one-time General Fund expenditure in fiscal year 2021 for farm safety grant and outreach programs, with $50,000 for grain storage facility safety equipment grants and $50,000 for outreach, which can include “creating and presenting a grain storage facility safety curriculum.”
• Reestablishment of a tractor rollover prevention grant program that expired in 2019 takes effect July 1, 2020. It permits the Agriculture Department to award grants to farmers and schools that retrofit tractors built before 1987 with eligible rollover protective structures.

We had listened to hearings during the session that included these items, so it's good to see movement on them.

Photo: Rep. Jeanne Poppe's banner.

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.

 

From our audio backfiles: epic 2014 Steve Green rant about Muslims & Ebola at the border

One more post about Fosston Republican Steve Green's recent attention-grabbing remarks to the Hubbard County board, which got him a place in Snopes, as we reported in Ruled false: Rep. Steve Green's Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry.

It's not the first time Green has warned about the intentions of Muslims. We had forgotten about a six-year-old post, MN2B: in epic rant, freshman Steve Green stirs gun rights, immigration, terrorism & Ebola fears, which includes this audio:

The text from the unlisted Bluestem Youtube:

During a candidate forum held in Fosston MN on Monday and broadcast live over KKCQ radio in Fosston, Representative Green made the following remarks:

I know that people like to talk about the 2nd amendment rights like, like it’s your privilege to hunt.

Well, I got news for you, it’s not about hunting. It’s about protecting your family. It’s about protecting your country. It’s about being able to defend yourself. We have borders now on our southern borders in this country that are wide open. We don’t know who’s coming across. We’ve had our first beheading in the United States from radical Muslims. And, and this stuff is coming at us.

According to some of the news reports I’ve heard, these people now, have, have said straight out that they’re going to infect their own soldiers with Ebola and get them to cross the southern border. They’ve also said that when they get here they’re gonna hunt down and kill all the family members of the soldiers that are fighting overseas. We need our 2nd Amendment rights.

And we need a government that’s willing to stand up and defend this country. It’s one of its main purposes. It’s not; it’s not to give you a house. I hate to tell you that. It’s to defend you. It’s to get infrastructure in. And we’re failing in, the government is failing in the very places it’s supposed to be succeeding and it’s succeeding and growing bigger in areas that it has no business in.”

As the reader who sent Bluestem the clip to us notes:

This was part of Green's closing statement at the forum Monday night . . . . I was astounded when I heard it, especially since he managed to combine gun rights, immigration, terrorism and Ebola into one gigantic steaming pile of fear mongering.

Flash forward to April 19, 2020, which his 2014 opponent, David Sobieski wrote in a letter to the editor of the Park Rapids Enterprise, Spreading lies as bad as spreading virus:

In 2014, I ran against Rep. Steve Green for Minnesota House 2B. At a radio debate in Fosston that fall, I sat next to him and listened to him say that Ebola-infected terrorists were crossing our southern borders to kill U.S. servicemen and their families. It was one of the craziest things I think I have ever heard, but it was a story that had been making the rounds in right-wing media for a few weeks and it seemed to get people excited and concerned.

It was astonishing that, a few days ago, Green published a letter to the editor that appears on his official state page [link added] taking Gov. Tim Walz to task for “reactionary decisions” for extending his stay-at-home order to keep people safe. Republicans, at least according to the letter, aren’t telling folks to abandon social distancing or hand washing, but they are beginning to grumble that the governor and the Democrats are hamstringing the economy.

So, six years ago, be terrified! Now, when faced with a real pandemic and real loss of life, not so much. I say bullshit to that. I think the governor has been doing a good job. He has been informative and deliberative and has continually asked for Republican ideas and help. He has done as good as could be expected, given the slow and incompetent response of the president.

Ebola-infected terrorists are not crossing our borders. A pandemic is here and it's going to build and peak by May. We cannot be caught flat-footed. We have to be diligent in facing that threat. We have to have a plan. People will become sick in greater numbers as we go forward and we have to take care of our doctors, nurses, police, EMTs, farmers, grocery checkers, VA workers, elder care workers. We have to make sure the helpers have all the help they need.

And we need to begin with tests. We need to get the economy going and do it in a safe, tested, efficient manner where we are going to have to move people into and out of the workplace to keep all workers safe.

Steve Green, be a leader for rural Minnesota. Spreading lies is as bad as spreading this virus.

For more on the recent Green statements, check out Green and Grossell conduct dystopian fantasy workshop for Hubbard County Commissioners. The Minnesota Reformer soon posted a story (probably filed before our post appeared) as well.

Whatever the case--his anti-Muslim remarks are not a glitch, they're a feature.

Related posts:

• DFL candidate Suby: Green should find facts
• Ruled false: Rep. Steve Green's Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry
• Career anti-Muslim figure Robert Spencer defends Steve Green against the MN Reformer
• Only Steve Green gets the blues: Hubbard County's list of 2020 polling locations includes bunches of mail ballot townships
• LTE: U of M Regents professor kindly explains why Rep. Steve Green is confused about CWD
• The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal
• MN LWV president chides Rep. Steve Green for disregarding transgender student safety
• Nitrogen amnesia strikes state representative Steve Green during LWV Park Rapids Area forum
• In town hall & letters sections, constituents sass back to state rep Steve Green about lots of stuff
• MN 2B: Steve Green totally doesn't believe any science supports human role in climate change

Screengrab: The recent Park Rapids Enterprise's article originally appeared online with Matt Grossell's byline; the byline has been changed online at the Parks Enterprise to Shannon M Geisen.

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.

A tale of two cities in Albert Lea, Minnesota: from the local newspaper's opinion section

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. It was the opinion section of the Albert Lea Tribune.

In the last seven days, two items have appeared in the paper that suggest that even in the pastoral splendor of Freeborn County--so far south, it's almost Iowa--the notion of "One Minnesota" has its limits.

There's the paid political letter: What kind of country should we have?, by Mavis Jacobs Hanson, who apparently doesn't want a country where fact checks matter. Hanson writes:

In an underhanded attempt to turn the USA into a third-world socialist country, Democrats tried to sneak into the coronavirus relief bill:

• Mandating a $15 minimum wage, permanent paid leave and pay by race at companies receiving assistance.

• Requiring early voting and same-day voter registration.

• Paying off all current debt of the U.S. Postal Service.

• Bailing out the D.C. Kennedy Art Center, the IRS and the House of Representatives.

• Requiring full carbon offset of airline emissions by 2025 and greenhouse gas statistics for individual flights.

It’s an outrageous power grab.

President Trump is attempting to make things right for taxpayers.

When times get hard, we step up. It’s the American way! Together, our country made it through the Civil War, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, two world wars, the Korean War, Vietnam and Sept. 11 attacks, as well as the 2008 financial crisis, to name a few.

We didn’t hear from Obama [link added] about 60 million Americans who were affected with the swine flue [sic], resulting in 274,304 hospitalizations and 12,469 deaths. There was no media panic, no trashing of President Barack Obama and no travel ban. You don’t even remember it — according to Rush Limbaugh. [fact checks here, here, and here]

We could have learned from the swine flu and been prepared with masks and all equipment needed; however, none of the orders to restock happened, leaving to this administration to gather the necessary means to fight the coronavirus.

Jason Lewis, running for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat, disagrees with liberal incumbent Sen. Tina Smith, who is for removing President Trump and condoning lies, leaks, rigged rules, character assassination, secret hearings and secondhand testimony. She is for taxpayer-financed abortions on demand, and if a precious baby miraculously survives a botched abortion, she is for putting that innocent child of God to death. Also, she is for perpetuating the Obama policies that caused the immigration crisis. She is against the Second Amendment, and with her “F” rating from the NRA, she is an ever-present threat of grabbing the guns you use to hunt and/or protect your family. She is against America’s small business owners siding with the environmental extremists, whose radical agenda will snuff out our growing American economy. She is against President Trump’s strict constitutionalist judges, having fought President Trump’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Vote for Jason Lewis, who is a conservative Trump-supporting Republican who will defeat her.

Incumbent Tina Smith is an accidental senator. She was handpicked by her mentor, Gov. Mark Dayton, to fill the Senate seat of the disgraced Al Franken. Radical, bitter and angry, she is in lockstep with Rep. Ilhan Omar spouting the same far-left screed.

As we continue to battle the COVID-19 epidemic, we encourage all to remain strong and pray for our Constitution and nation with God.

We're baffled more baffled by the description of Smith as a protege of former governor Mark Dayton than by the empty "radical, bitter and angry" tag or that "radical agenda" those who seek clean air and water, which is totally rad.

We first met Senator Smith when she served as chief-of-staff for former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak; she was also running his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. While she later went to work for Dayton's campaign and administration, her career was well established by this time--she was in her early 50s and no late bloomer. Radical, bitter and angry? She struck us as corporate professional with an understated sense of humor.

Mavis' letter seems to include the entire playbook for the MNGOP and Lewis. Read it once and your work is done.

On Tuesday, the paper posted local DFLer Jennifer Vogt-Erickson's column, My Point of View: State representative has not challenged the status quo,a stroll through the perceived short-comings of State Representative Peggy Bennett. Vogt-Erickson writes:

We need fresh representation in the state house. Our current representative is short-sighted on investments, anti-science on life-threatening issues and silent on the racially-biased status quo.

Our state representative voted against a bonding bill that would have provided $1.75 million to extend the Blazing Star Trail over Albert Lea Lake (good for both Albert Lea and Hayward), $7.5 million for ongoing Fountain Lake dredging, $3.5 million for flood mitigation on water-prone East Main, plus $250,000 for the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency.

That is $13 million she rejected for our district. Do the population math — a nearly equitable portion of the overall $2.4 billion bonding bill would go to our district, and she thought it was too much.

Interest rates are very low, so now is a smart time to invest in projects that will provide long-term benefit to our economy. It’s fortunate Shannon Savick was representing us to get the dredging project initially funded, but our current representative is content to leave us stuck in the mud.

We’re also stuck with COVID-19. If there’s anything a retired first-grade teacher should have downpat, it’s the importance of following simple routines, being considerate of other people and setting a good example. Wearing a face mask checks all three of these boxes.

Our state representative is still, as of last Friday, not always wearing a mask in public places like the local grocery store, which is something that Mayor Rasmussen, Dr. Ciota and Sue Yost have asked people to practice to help stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community.

If people see our current state representative not wearing a mask, the message she is sending as a leader is that it’s not important to wear a mask, whether that is her intention or not.

Mask usage is simple and effective, it does not restrict oxygen intake (even though it may feel stuffy), and it is not “unmanly” nor any other nonsense excuse Fox News is spreading.

American public health officials figured out the effectiveness of wearing masks during the 1918 influenza pandemic, and it’s astonishing how hard it is to convince people of this simple fact after more than 100 years of medical progress since then.

Maybe our representative knows the importance of wearing masks or maybe she doesn’t. I’ve argued before that she’s anti-science and out of touch. She also rarely steps outside the messaging of her party, and Republicans have been dangerously obtuse about wearing masks, loathe to depart a hair from President Trump’s meandering and irrational rhetoric.

Finally, our state representative is timid about challenging the racial status quo. She did not provide a statement for the local Justice for George Floyd rally in early June, which she was not able to attend. It was a peaceful rally, in which over 100 people gathered. Despite the barricaded streets and SWAT team presence, the energy was welcoming and positive, and we listened to voices of community members who are often muted.

It felt like we could be a vibrant community with broad shoulders if we have the courage to do better, together.

Back in January 2018, though, our state representative did attend a Minnesota Coalition for Immigration Reduction meeting in which Ron Branstner, an Islamophobic, anti-immigrant guest speaker, spread misinformation about Somali immigrants. She declined to speak when invited, but she apparently felt it was a politically safe space — a white supremacist, Christian dominionist space — to be present.

That day it felt like we were in a community that was closed, brittle and scared of dying.

I think about the stark contrast of those two events a lot.

The status quo is comfortable for those who benefit from it. Like it or not, white supremacy is the status quo in Minnesota, a state with some of the most entrenched racial gaps in education, home ownership and criminal sentencing in the entire country. Our representative has not challenged this status quo. If anything, she has defended it.

If you want our part of Minnesota to do better and move into a future that invests in all rather than some, and follows science rather than dead-end misinformation, it’s time to step out of our familiar comfort zone and get uncomfortable.

It’s not enough to be nice. We have a better option in November, and his name is Thomas Martinez. It’s time for new representation.

Harsh? Here's Bennett official Facebook book page. There's a food drive for Minneapolis, for example, but no discussion of addressing "some of the most entrenched racial gaps in education, home ownership and criminal sentencing in the entire country."

Photo: Albert Lea, Minnesota, yesterday. Still from the KAAL-TV Albert Lea live cam.

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.

 

 

Base motives: Munson primary lit piece focuses on 2nd Amendment sanctuaries, Walz powers

A reader in rural south central Minnesota shared a mailed lit piece they received from Munson for House Committee for the August 11 primary. 

As we reported in MN23B Reindeer games: Republican challenger to Jeremy Munson has quite the resume, the Lake Crystal New Republican faces Yvonne Simon for the Republican nomination. Without opposition, Munson was endorsed by local Republicans; Simon filed her challenge at the last minute.

Given this turn of events, Munson is appealing to the Republican base in Minnesota House 23B district in his first mail piece: Second Amendment rights and disgruntlement over Governor Tim Walz's emergency executive order.

Learn more about the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement in Minnesota Public Radio's Second Amendment ‘sanctuary’ movement gets some traction in rural Minnesota.

Read Munson's lit about it at the top of this post.

The second issue--on the flip side of the mail piece--was explored in news reports including Munson Says Governor’s Emergency Declaration Must End to Give Minnesotans Their Voice Back on KTOE radio, and KEYC TV's Minnesota House blocks resolution to end Walz’ Peacetime Emergency declaration.

Our friends celebrated Pride Week by blocking out their names on the mail piece with some handy rainbow tape.

Will these pieces rally the base in the district? Will their logic work as well in the general election against DFL-endorsed candidate Leroy McClelland, a South Bend Township supervisor? Learn more about the DFL candidate in Mclelland to rival Munson for 23B seat, gets DFL endorsements.

Related posts:

• Random white guy with an opinion on PBS thinks Sioux & Dakota fought war against each other
• Passionate insulin "Mama Bear" follows the money on Jeremy Munson's diabetes authority
• He's on it: Jeremy Munson gets confused about when MN House HHS Finance Division last met
• MN23B Reindeer games: Republican challenger to Jeremy Munson has quite the resume
• Nazi namecalling: two Southern MN Republicans lose their wits about Warren, insulin critics

Screengrabs: A lit piece has two faces.

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.

Lake Traverse Reservation: Community Wacipi for local Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate members only

One of the best things about living within the historical boundaries of the Lake Traverse Reservation is being close to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate's wacipi, or powwow. It's the oldest powwow in South Dakota and the second oldest in the nation.

The Pow Wow Committee has been grappling with the question of how --and if--to conduct this event in a time of a pandemic. In this week's tribal newspaper, the Sota lya Ye Yapi, we learned:

The Pow Wow Committee announced that the 153rd Pow Wow will be a community wacipi.

Singers, dancers, and spectators from out of town will be not be allowed to participate.

Only local SWO Tribal members will be allowed to participate.

Covid-19 precautions will be taken.

Honorariums for dancers/singers.

Wacipi will be Saturday, July 4th, 1-5 pm.

Categories will 0-10, 11-17, 18 and over.

No specials, no drum hopping,

Must bring your own chairs.

Co-ed softball tournament will start Saturday evening and men's tourney on Sunday.

Concession stands will not be utilized, all venders must be local tribal members.

Venders must contact Jerry Eastman at Tribal office.

No camping, no outside food or craft venders.

SWO Powwow Committee will be staff, MC, AD, Registration, and Security.

Current royalty serve another year.   . . .

While our romantic partner is a Dakota elder and citizen of the Oyate, he's not attending given his health; we're not a tribal member, so we'll stay home.

Here's hoping we can all gather at the powwow grounds next July.

Related posts:

• SWO Enemy Swim district leader: checkpoint worked to curb COVID-19 in tribal housing
• The SWO Lake Traverse Reservation roots of some MN Zoo Dakota skipper butterflies

Photo: Dancers at the SWO's Wacipi. Via Crazy Crow Trading Post Calendar for 2019.

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.

Mankato Free Press: Hey GOP, stop placebaiting, start funding investments in rural Minnesota

As we've noted in posts like Mankato Free Press throws ban hammer at MN Senate Majority Leader Gazelka's stalling tactics and Mankato Free Press calls out GOP placebaiting, the editorial board of the south central Minnesota "Key City" doesn't pull punches.

So while we don't agree with everything in Our View: Politics: What rural areas need from legislators, there's a lot to love:

Why it matters:

The divisive narrative of the Minnesota GOP is a diversion blocking what the Legislature must do to meet rural Minnesota needs.

Taking talking points from the increasingly extreme ideology of its national party, the Minnesota GOP spends a great deal of time talking about how rural Minnesota is left behind by the interests of the big cities.

They say the Twin Cities are evil places where crime is rampant while their Democratic opponents do nothing. They say fat cat politicians spend too much on office buildings which nonetheless are often enjoyed in bipartisan fashion.

Recent events have allowed the GOP leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt to jump on Democrats and Gov. Tim Walz and twist the narrative for recent racial unrest to their political advantage. That goes too far and doesn’t seem right.

Rural Minnesota doesn’t need more divisiveness among its state leaders, whoever is driving the usually false or misleading narrative that plays well on unchecked and unhinged “anti-social media.” . . .

So we would urge legislators, particularly those Republicans who claim outstate as their constituency, to go far beyond what they’ve been willing to spend in the past on investments in rural Minnesota.

That means supporting a bigger bonding bill than the $1.35 billion compromise bill when Democrats wanted $2 billion or more.

It means releasing federal election money and not holding it up in a committee whose chairwoman makes ideological arguments about nonexistent voter fraud. It means fully funding the Minnesota State system request for crumbling buildings and updating technology to support a system where employers harvest a treasure trove of talented workers.

It means supporting police reforms to reduce deadly force encounters, 60 percent of which took place in outstate Minnesota during the last five years.

We’ve often pointed to leaders in the state GOP who have proposed compromise solutions on gun safety and other important issues, so we ask the GOP to look to them if they must tout a political victory above policy compromise.

Rural Minnesota doesn’t need more divisiveness, and it doesn’t need talking points devised to drive a rural/urban election narrative. Rural Minnesota needs investments, problem solving and results.

Not everybody in Greater Minnesota indulges in Evil Metro fantasies--and those divisive narratives do little even for those who do.

Photo: The Blue Earth River as viewed downstream from Rapidan Dam in Rapidan Township, Minnesota via Wikipedia. Photo by Tim Kiser, CC BY-SA 2.5.

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.

DFL candidate Suby: Green should find facts

In Minnesota House District 2B, the blowback from the June 22 Park Rapids Enterprise article, Reps. Green, Grossell criticize police reform, mail-in ballots, more, continues.

One change? The article is now attributed to Shannon M. Geisen, rather than to Clearbrook Republican state representative, as the screengrab (above) we captured close to the original time of publication showed.

That is a relief; state representatives shouldn't moonlight as journalists.

Second, in an opinion piece in the paper, David Suby, the endorsed DFL candidate for the seat, replies in Rep. Green should find facts:

In the [June 20] Park Rapids Enterprise, Steve Green made a number of statements I would like to address.

He said that "Antifa and Muslim organizations plan to police Minneapolis under Muslim rule.” If he makes such an outrageous statement, he should back it up with facts. In our politically divided society, this adds to fear and rumors.

Green talks about a bill that imposes eminent domain on destroyed businesses. He should know that few bills pass. Our state has just gone through a traumatic period. If the COVID pandemic wasn't enough, the killing of George Floyd by a police officer sparked long held-back racial tensions.

Green goes on to say that "communism is moving into Minneapolis and St. Paul.” What? In the midst of a serious health threat, Gov. Tim Walz, taxed with the job of protecting the safety of each citizen, has to make hard decisions. Everything about this virus is unknown. So what is a leader to do? He is looking at the facts, consulting the experts, talking with other leaders and putting together the best plan to keep everyone safe, which is hard to do, but easy to criticize. Green encourages forming coalitions to pressure the state to open businesses. But unfortunately, the virus is spreading, not diminishing. We all want this to go away. We are sick of it. We want life to return to normal. We aren't children incapable of thinking of no one but ourselves If the numbers get better, the economy can be safely opened. This is communism?

"Our governor has subverted our constitution,” says Green. Please explain, Mr. Green. Where does our constitution deal with a pandemic?

Green speculated that Walz’s goal is for total mail-in voting and removing “the county and local precincts.” What a divisive thought. Secretary of State Steve Simon would like to lower the amount of in-person voters by half. There are about 3,000 precincts, all with election officials and judges. Judges are usually older folks and are more susceptible to the coronavirus. Simon is worried about their health and willingness to volunteer. Absentee voting causes less strain on the election process.

It gets worse! Green said he’s seen “videos of busloads of people going from precinct to precinct." When votes are verified later, "we’ve got into the tens of thousands that come back after elections that nobody lives where they were registered to vote.”

Pat Kessler, from CBS Minnesota News, on January 10, 2018 wrote the following: "Were there any actual, voting convictions in Minnesota? You betcha — 11 of them.” WCCO tracks voter irregularities in Minnesota. There were 11 voting violations. Most were felons and didn’t know they weren’t allowed to vote. Where did those videos come from, Mr. Green?

Finally, Green claims that Attorney General Keith Ellison “may try to close down all of northern Minnesota.” Ellison is trying to prevent a St. Cloud area restaurant from opening dine-in service in six establishments he owns. He is open for delivery and carry-out service. Ellison's office "has the duty to enforce the law and the Governor’s order to protect Minnesotans’ health and to protect businesses that are complying with the order from unfair competition. I take that duty seriously." Is this closing northern Minnesota?

These comments by Green are not true. Elected officials should tell the truth.

Readers can learn more about the DFL candidate at his website: suby for 2b. Slogan: Before it's too late.

Related posts:

• Ruled false: Rep/ Steve Green Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry
• Only Steve Green gets the blues: Hubbard County's list of 2020 polling locations includes bunches of mail ballot townships
• Green and Grossell conduct dystopian fantasy workshop for Hubbard County Commissioners
• LTE: U of M Regents professor kindly explains why Rep. Steve Green is confused about CWD
• The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal
• MN LWV president chides Rep. Steve Green for disregarding transgender student safety
• Nitrogen amnesia strikes state representative Steve Green during LWV Park Rapids Area forum
• In town hall & letters sections, constituents sass back to state rep Steve Green about lots of stuff
• MN 2B: Steve Green totally doesn't believe any science supports human role in climate change

Screengrab: The Park Rapids Enterprise's article originally appeared online with Matt Grossell's byline.

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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Ruled false: Rep. Steve Green's Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry

After years of other misinformation about the cause of Chronic Wasting Disease and the presence of feral swine in Minnesota, Fosston Republican state representative Steve Green has finally hit the big time, with his remarks about Muslim policing in Minneapolis earning him a "False" rating at Snopes in No, Antifa and Muslim Groups Aren’t Policing Minneapolis Under ‘Muslim Rule.'

On June 21, Bluestem Prairie was first to publish a notice the Park Rapids Enterprise story in our post, Green and Grossell conduct dystopian fantasy workshop for Hubbard County Commissioners. The Minnesota Reformer soon posted a story (probably filed before our post appeared), and City Pages also noticed the remarks in a later article.

As did a noted anti-Muslim figure, as we wrote in Career anti-Muslim figure Robert Spencer defends Steve Green against the MN Reformer.

It's Spencer's article at FrontPage magazine that Snopes' Bethania Palma responds in No, Antifa and Muslim Groups Aren’t Policing Minneapolis Under ‘Muslim Rule':

The claim appears to have originated with a state representative who does not live in Minneapolis.

Claim

Antifa and Muslim organizations in summer of 2020 were planning to police the streets of Minneapolis under Muslim rule.

X False.

In late June 2020, social media users shared an article written by anti-Muslim propagandist Robert Spencer in which he claimed — without evidence — that “Antifa and Muslim organizations plan to ‘police Minneapolis under Muslim rule.'”

Spencer’s article, which was published to the far-right website FrontPageMag, was sourced from a quote by State Rep. Steve Green, a Republican who represents a district in northwest Minnesota.

Green made the comment among many other grievances he aired during a meeting with the Hubbard County Board of Commissioners on June 16, 2020. The remark was initially documented in a Park Rapids Enterprise post written by another politician, State Rep. Matt Grossell, a Republican representative for a district in northwest Minnesota who was also present at the meeting.

Note: the byline has been changed online at the Parks Enterprise to Shannon M Geisen. Snopes continues:

Grossell’s post reads like a partial transcript of the two men’s remarks at the meeting, and contains no corroborating evidence or reporting to support Green’s claims. At one point Green indicates that in his “humble opinion,” they’re seeing “communism moving into Minneapolis and St. Paul.” Despite a lack of evidence to support it, Green’s sensational quote was picked up by a number of websites.

We reached out to Green by email to ask where he got this information and whether he had any evidence for his claims, but got no reply.

We also reached out to Minneapolis Police Sgt. John Elder, who confirmed that while the City Council did state its intent to “reimagine” policing, the Minneapolis Police Department is still operating. “We absolutely are here and will not abandon our communities!” Elder stated in an email.

Not only is there no apparent evidence for Green’s claim that antifa and Muslim groups are policing Minneapolis, but the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has called on GOP leaders to repudiate Green’s statement, calling it hate-filled. . . .

Because there’s no evidence for Green’s comments and because the Minneapolis Police Department continues to patrol the city and respond to emergencies as city leaders hash out the future for public safety, we rate this claim “False.”

As far as Steve Green being prophetic about anything, as Spencer claims, we can only think of his concern about problem bears documented in The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal or the classic Green bill to promote hunting feral swine in Minnesota we covered in Too cute: if only Steve Green could have come up with a real defense against feral swine. Hint: no feral swine in Minnesota at the time and the "solution" was thought to be ineffective by wildlife management experts.

Related posts:

• Only Steve Green gets the blues: Hubbard County's list of 2020 polling locations includes bunches of mail ballot townships
• LTE: U of M Regents professor kindly explains why Rep. Steve Green is confused about CWD
• The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal
• MN LWV president chides Rep. Steve Green for disregarding transgender student safety
• Nitrogen amnesia strikes state representative Steve Green during LWV Park Rapids Area forum
• In town hall & letters sections, constituents sass back to state rep Steve Green about lots of stuff
• MN 2B: Steve Green totally doesn't believe any science supports human role in climate change

Screengrab: The Park Rapids Enterprise's article --by Matt Grossell, no less. Who knew the Clearbrook Republican moonlighted as a reporter for a local Forum Communications newspaper? Update: the byline has been changed online at the Parks Enterprise to Shannon M Geisen.

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.

Birth of a nation? Rep. Dale Lueck fears reconstruction on Lake Street

In the Brainerd Dispatch, Chelsey Perkins reports in Lueck talks CARES Act funding holdup, special session:

The Republican state representative explained his "nay" votes on some legislation, including a bill he said he couldn't support due to the creation of an organization that would've been a majority of people of color and Indigenous people.

“One example that just turned my stomach was the creation of an appointed board that specifically, specifically called, to be a member, you had to be a person of color or a Native American, period,” Lueck said. “ … That, I’ll be quite blunt, looks like the kind of things that happened under Reconstruction after the Civil War. No place for that in the House of Representatives and so I voted against that.”

Lueck appeared to refer to a proposal that would’ve created the Metropolitan Area Redevelopment Corp. Sponsored by DFL Rep. Fue Lee of Minneapolis, the organization would “identify and address the adverse impacts of racial discrimination in the metropolitan area by facilitating access by people of color and indigenous people to resources for development, improvement, and expansion of health care facilities and services, small businesses, safe and affordable housing, and other benefits of society that have historically been unavailable to them due to systemic barriers.”

According to Session Daily, an amendment to the proposal would’ve required the organization to be led by a person of color or Indigenous person, with a staff and board made up of 51% people of color or Indigenous people.

Bluestem wonders where Lueck got his ideas about Reconstruction. The movie Gone with the Wind (1939)? Early 20th-century novels by Thomas Dixon Jr.—The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (1905) and The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden – 1865–1900?  D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915)?

Or is it the once-acceptable academic racism of William Dunning's historiography, which enshrined the lost cause?

Session Daily's Jonathan Mohr reported in Long-term framework to redevelop cities damaged by unrest moves forward:

A new organization that supporters believe could help bridge wealth and opportunity gaps while helping rebuild areas damaged in the unrest that followed the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd took a step toward its creation Tuesday.

The House Government Operations Committee approved SSHF85, sponsored by Rep. Fue Lee (DFL-Mpls), on a party-line vote. It would establish the Metropolitan Area Redevelopment Corporation, a nine-member board that would oversee planning and award millions of dollars in grants to the impacted areas.

Grants would go to nonprofit organizations led by people of color and indigenous people working to rebuild areas damaged in the unrest. Lee said the bill would direct money to cities listed in Gov. Tim Walz’s Executive Order 20-64 – Minneapolis, St. Paul, Roseville, Brooklyn Center, West St. Paul and Blaine – until the end of 2025, and then any city in the metropolitan area thereafter. 

He said the bill would create a “long-term framework” to address systemic problems.

“We are not just looking at how we will rebuild the affected areas, we are addressing the long and historical exclusion of black, brown and indigenous people from owning assets, generating wealth and passing it down so that these communities can have generational wealth,” Lee said.

The bill was referred, as amended, to the House Ways and Means Committee. There is no Senate companion.

One amendment removed language that would have established how the grants would be funded. The original language sought to divert a portion of the proceeds from existing county transportation sales and use taxes imposed by metropolitan counties, which it was estimated would raise as much as $60 million each year.

Lee said the section removed from the bill would be taken up by the House Taxes Committee on Wednesday morning when it debates SSHF87, sponsored by Rep. Kaohly Her (DFL-St. Paul).

Members approved two other amendments, one that would allow the corporation to hire its own executive director and the other that would add a new definition for its purpose and also require that it is “led by a person of color or an indigenous person, and has a staff and board of which at least 51 percent are people of color or indigenous people.”

Rep. Duane Quam (R-Byron) was one of several Republicans to vote against the bill, saying that he supported its aims but was concerned the board would be appointed by a small group of people, which could lead to a repeat of past problems.

“Part of the reason why we’re in a bad situation is a repetition over decades by an entity or entities that have neglected these neighborhoods, these communities and caused some of the issues,” he said, adding that a lot of local government aid that should have gone for urban renewal over the years has been used for other things.

Representative Lee responded to the Dispatch article on Facebook:

The white fragility Kaohly Vang Her and I have to deal with from our Republican colleagues for intentionally centering black, brown, and Indigenous people in the redevelopment and transformation of the Twin Cities.

This isn't the first time Lueck has lashed out at his POCI colleagues. As we reported in our February 2019 post, Dominant culture: Lueck gets in a huff about proposal aimed at getting kids into the outdoors:

In Questions of equal access, outdoors outreach come out of bill debate, Lillie News staff writer Matt Hudson reports on a remarkable moment last week in the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee:

The proposed bill was straightforward. It would create a grant program aimed at getting kids into the outdoors.

The bill’s author, state Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, gave the bill the title No Child Left Inside. She introduced it to the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee on Jan. 30.

Becker-Finn told the committee that to maximize reach, the grants in the bill should focus on finding new groups of would-be outdoors enthusiasts. That means low income families, immigrants and people of color, all of whom have statistically lower access and participation rates in the great American outdoors.

Facing pushback about why existing state programs fall short, she said that the best conduit into those communities are often the organizations that are already there.

“We cannot just keep thinking that we know best and that we can send someone from the dominant culture into another community and when they say, ‘Listen to me. This is what you need to do,’ that that community is obligated to trust and engage with that person,” said Becker-Finn, who represents House District 42B.

The tone of the committee discussion changed. Some committee members took offense to Becker-Finn’s comment and said as much.

“I can tell you your program is not going to go very far if you’re going to go around and you’re going to label people you don’t know,” said state Rep. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin. “Label people you don’t know and anticipate how they’re going to deal with human beings. I find your comments about the dominant community very offensive.”

There was some back-and-forth in the official committee parlance. Lueck demanded an apology. Becker-Finn said none was needed. State Rep. Dan Fabian, R-Roseau, said he was troubled by Becker-Finn’s comments. State Rep. John Persell, a Bemidji DFLer and committee chair, tried to smooth things out. Everyone’s heart is in the right place, he said.

Near the end of the hearing, Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, was exasperated by it all, particularly by what she called hostility toward Becker-Finn’s bill presentation.

“I’m surprised at a lack of basic understanding about the history of our country, where we are, what the realities that people in Minnesota are living with, as indicated by some of the conversations that we had today,” she said. . . .

The day after the committee meeting, Lueck said in an interview that he took offense on behalf of the people at his local outdoors outfit, the Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade. He perceived that Becker-Finn attacked the ability of those organizations to conduct diverse outreach.

“The idea that if they’re crippled from a standpoint, because somehow this new phrase that has entered our language, the power of the majority, or you speak from a majority position, and then it goes downhill from there,” he said.

He disagreed with the idea that all communities might not get the same degree of outreach and referenced the “snide, almost ethnically motivated comment that Rep. Becker-Finn made.”

Lueck, whose district is 98.4-percent white, said that there are many organizations whose goal is to get young people outside. . . .

While the fragile Lueck felt "his local outdoors outfit, the Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade" would be discriminated against, testimony at a later House division hearing revealed that not all folks in his district shared his views. As we reported in Aitkin Co Land Commish: local conservation center would benefit from Becker-Finn bill:

Back on February 6, Bluestem reported in Dominant culture: Lueck gets in a huff about proposal aimed at getting kids into the outdoors that the Aitken County Republican state representative was offended on the part of local environmental education center:

The day after the [House Environment and Natural Resources Policy] committee meeting, Lueck said in an interview that he took offense on behalf of the people at his local outdoors outfit, the Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade. He perceived that Becker-Finn attacked the ability of those organizations to conduct diverse outreach.

Interestingly enough, Aitkin County Land Commissioner Rich Courtemanche showed up yesterday to support the bill at a special informational hearing at an informational hearing Friday in the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which met at the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul, according to KARE 11's John Croman in New push to get for children outdoors:

Aitken [sic] County Land Commissioner Rich Courtemanche told the panel that many school districts have backed away from the multiple-day trips to environmental learning centers such as Long Lake Conservation Center in north central Minnesota.

He said Long Lake averaged 6,000 student visitors per year before the Great Recession, and now that's down to 3,500 per year even though the economy recovered.

"Since 2010 budget shortfalls have eliminated nearly all funding for environmental education. Environmental learning centers throughout the state are feeling the pinch," Courtemanche explained.

He said if the trend continues there's a risk the next generation won't value the outdoors or understand the relationship between nature and people.

While the Aitkin County Land Commissioner was at the hearing, committee member Lueck was far, far away. At the Brainerd Dispatch, Gabriel Lagarde reports in Eggs & Issues forum participants talk scrambled politics in St. Paul:

The Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce's Eggs & Issues forum is an annual breakfast and interactive panel discussion featuring Brainerd lakes area legislators Friday morning, Feb. 15, at Madden's Resort on Gull Lake.

The panel included state Reps. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, John Poston, R-Lake Shore, and Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin, . . .

Both Heintzeman and Lueck serve on the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, but apparently scrambing politics with the local chamber of commerce was more important than hearing testimony  in a committee, even if a local official traveled all the way from Aitkin County to a nature center in West St. Paul to give testimony.

Lueck seems to have a bit of a pattern going here in expressing himself about the needs of people of color.

Related posts:

• County commish factchecks what Dale Lueck talks about when he talks about broadband love
• Good Lueck with that one: lawmaker was against climate change being real before he was for it
• Dale Lueck concern trolls Lee about DNR public land pollinator food plots--gets stung by Hansen
• Okay then: Dale Lueck wants legislature to take on Big Pharma like it did Big Tobacco

Still: From D.W.Griffith's critical view of Reconstruction, Birth of a Nation.

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.