Bluestem Prairie

Session Daily: Board certifies Minnesota election results; three #MNHouse recounts still possible

From Session Daily

by Mike Cook

Confirmation of all House election results is complete. However, recounts could still occur in at least three contests.

The State Canvassing Board unanimously certified the 2020 General Election results Tuesday, including state and judicial offices; the U.S. Senate race; and eight U.S. House of Representatives’ races.

“The election was secure on multiple levels,” said Secretary of State Steve Simon. “As of today, there have been no reports to the Office of the Secretary of State of particularized fraud or voter misconduct. Minnesota’s record of election integrity has been upheld. As of today, there is no evidence of any successful attempt by any unauthorized source, any adversary and so forth, to infiltrate election infrastructure.”

As things currently stand in Minnesota, the DFL will have a 70-64 seat advantage in the House when the 2021 session begins Jan. 5. However, by law, three races separated by less than one-half of 1 percent are eligible for publicly funded recounts if requested by the losing candidate by Nov. 30:

• 6A: Rep. Julie Sandstede (DFL-Hibbing) leads Republican Robert Farnsworth 10,781-10,741 (50.04%-49.85%);
• 19A: Republican Susan Akland leads Rep. Jeff Brand (DFL-St. Peter) 11,621-11,510 (50.15%-49.67%); and
• 38B: Rep. Ami Wazlawik (DFL-White Bear Township) leads Republican Elliott Engen 13,906-13,808 (50.12%-49.77%).

Candidates can pay for a recount themselves for larger margins.

More than 3.29 million Minnesotans cast a ballot in November’s election, more than 1.91 million via absentee ballot, said State Elections Director David Maeda. Simon said the shade under 79.96% voter turnout was not only the best in the country, but highest in Minnesota since 1956.

By comparison, almost 2.97 million votes were cast in the 2016 election, the last year the presidency was on the ballot.

[MORE: View the state canvassing report; post-election review report]

The New House Republican caucus and others filed a lawsuit Monday seeking a temporary restraining order to postpone the result certification.

In a statement, three caucus members said, in part, “Throughout 2020, Secretary Simon illegally altered Minnesota’s election laws. His office issued unlawful consent decrees that greatly affected the rules that govern absentee ballots and who can assist people at the polls. To circumvent the Minnesota Legislature and unilaterally change election law is entirely unconstitutional. This abuse of power must be addressed.”

In a Tuesday ruling, Chief Justice Lorie Gildea ordered all respondents be served a copy of the petition by 4:30 p.m. today, with any response memos due by 9 a.m. Nov. 30.

We'll let readers know if the recounts happen and their consequences--and the same with the lawsuit.

Photo: A view of the House Chamber during the 2018 session. House Photography file photo.

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Letter: MN Attorney General Keith Ellison declines invitation to Erik Mortensen's party

Early today, Bluestem posted Newest New House Republican to hold back yard party in Shakopee, invites Walz and Ellison.

A friend at the Attorney General's office just sent us a copy Attorney General Ellison's letter declining the invitation, as he had made plans earlier. Apparently, Ellison takes COVID-19 seriously, since his own mother died from it earlier this year.

Here's the letter:

Letter to Rep-elect Erik Mortensen uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd:

Photo: Keith Ellison.

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Newest New House Republican to hold back yard party in Shakopee, invites Walz and Ellison

 

UPDATE #2, November 23, 5:44 p.m.: In a letter, embedded in the new Bluestem post, MN Attorney General Keith Ellison graciously declines invitation to Erik Mortensen's party [end update]

UPDATE, November 23, 3:55 p.m.: Since we posted this article this morning, Ricardo Lopez has reported Incoming GOP state legislator planning Thanksgiving gathering in defiance of Walz COVID-19 orders at the Minnesota Reformer, and Torey van Oot closes Two Republicans join Minnesota House Democrats in urging coronavirus caution with this:

Not all Republicans share West's outlook. On Sunday, GOP Rep.-elect Erik Mortensen, who will represent the Shakopee area, posted a letter online inviting the DFL governor to a Thanksgiving gathering at his home.

The party, set to include darts, a bonfire and "a handful of constituents that live outside my personal residence," would violate Walz's latest executive order limiting private social events.

For himself, Mortensen vowed to continue to carry on in a tweet:

The America hating and anti-freedom media outlets are attacking me; trying to make me back down. But I will continue to be a warrior for everyone’s individual rights whether they appreciate it or not. https://t.co/wTeBVEDsMJ

— Erik Mortensen (@RepMortensen) November 23, 2020

[End update]

Governor Tim Walz's new coronavirus restrictions, detailed at Minnesota's Stay Safe Plan on the state's COVID 19 Response page, includes this item "Gathering outdoors is allowed with immediate household members ONLY."

That's prompted state representative-elect Erik Mortensen, R-Shakopee, to ask ". . . some close personal friends over next week for a get together . . . "

Back on Friday the 13th, Alpha News reported in Newly-elected GOP rep joins four incumbents who defected from Kurt Daudt’s leadership that Mortensen would join the New House Republican Caucus. Careful observers might have guessed this, given the number of Jeremy Munson signs in the election night watch party photo (from Facebook) at the top this post.

Here's Mortensen's first Facebook post about his backyard gathering, from November 20:

Just in case there were doubts about the invites to Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison, Mortensen posted the letters on Sunday (with the details of the party blacked out since it's not like he's asking the whole state over):

#StandUpToWalz Governor Tim Walz has gone too far and I will not obey his illegal and unconstitutional orders telling me...

Posted by Representative Erik Mortensen on Sunday, November 22, 2020

Lawn darts, beanbag toss and civil disobedience...

Meanwhile, a tweet by Representative-elect Mortensen prompted a tweet by liberal writer David Brauer:

This is the yutz that replaced @BradTabke. Pot party candidate got 7.4% here. Tabke won 2 years earlier in a two-way. What a downgrade for Shakopee. https://t.co/PGwSkccXyO

— David Brauer (@dbrauer) November 23, 2020

Given this copy in the Alpha News article, we had thought Mortensen was just a party-pooper:

Daudt was reelected to his leadership role during a House Republican Caucus meeting last Friday, which Mortensen claims he wasn’t invited to but attended anyway.

Mortensen said he plans to “pull back the veil” on what’s really happening at the Capitol and expose “how shady so much of this is.”

“I went into that meeting. They had no idea I was coming, which made it a lot of fun,” Mortensen said in a recent video. “They even tried to kick me out. They tried to pull me aside and say, ‘you need to leave or pledge that you’re going to join this caucus.’”

Mortensen won the Republican primary in August over former Rep. Bob Loonan, the House GOP’s preferred candidate for the seat. In his video, Mortensen said “establishment Republicans” spent “tens of thousands of dollars against” him, including the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, an organization founded by a former Daudt staffer.

“Unfortunately, that group elected the minority leader all over again, Kurt Daudt, and that person has lied to me repeatedly, he’s campaigned against me,” said Mortensen. “There’s no way I could look up to that person as a leader.”

In a recent email to his supporters, Mortensen confirmed that he will join the New House Republican Caucus when he’s sworn in, a decision he made after attending Friday’s caucus meeting.

“Unfortunately, Rep. Kurt Daudt was elected as minority leader again. Of course in his press release, Daudt made it sound like his support was unanimous but I can assure you that was not the case,” said Mortensen. “There was a lot of division in the room, other lawmakers even thanked me for speaking out against his leadership.” . . .

Perhaps being left out is where Mortensen got the idea to invite Walz and Ellison. Or he could simply be a yutz, as Brauer writes.

The MN Jobs Coalition spent $4,940 in independent expenditures (IE) against Mortensen and $2470 for his Republican primary opponent, according to its filings at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. That was the only Republican-leaning IE spent against Mortensen this year, according to data at the state campaign finance board, which indicates a total of $124,284.33 was spend for and against the race.

Most of the IE spending in the race was sprinkled about by the conservative Freedom Club PAC ($39,914.85; $30,914.85 pre-primary); and the state of Virginia-based Make Liberty Win PAC ($62,745.22; $28,102.63 pre-primary) according to pre-general campaign finance reports online at the board.

Looks like the pro-Mortensen conservative money-bags outspent the MN Jobs Coalition. Details, details.

Related posts:

• Facebook fundraising: Jeremy Munson cashes in on "Give to the Max Day" for political campaign
• MAGASOTA's surprising speakers list for Northfield Trump Rally Minnesota 2020 Saturday
• MN55A: Mortensen deletes fake news about Tabke's views after area hunter calls him out

Photo: An election night party, via Mortensen's Facebook page. No doubt about it, this one's a party animal. Or maybe not. If the Facebook embeds become unavailable, we'll fill the holes with screengrabs.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 rep hosts meeting in county making national news as COVID hotspot, slams Walz order

English writer Thomas Hardy waxed poetic about the Titanic meeting an iceberg in The Convergence of the Twain.

Two headlines in the Alexandria Echo Press and the Detroit Lakes Online (it's in Minnesota  BTW), nearly moved us to poetry this morning, but we're settling for a blog post.

First, Google alerts called Karen Tolkkinen's article in the Echo Press, Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order, to our attention:

Personal liberty and keeping businesses afloat during the pandemic were among concerns expressed at meeting in the town of Ottertail hosted by Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, on Friday, Nov. 20.

The 7 a.m. meeting was held at Betty's Pantry on the final day restaurants can be open in Minnesota before a four-week shutdown along with bars, salons and other businesses ordered by Gov. Tim Walz. It drew about two dozen people from around Otter Tail County. Most were not wearing masks.

COVID rates have been climbing in the heavily conservative county. On Friday, there were 463 active cases in the county, with 15 total COVID deaths since March. That was up from 20 active cases on Sept. 20.

Walz and his order drew heavy criticism from the crowd.

"Speaking of the Constitution, we also have the freedom of assembly, and the government has said now you can no longer assemble with your friends, with your family," Franson said. "Well, I find it hard to believe that our local police officers are going to come to our door."

She said police are cracking down in other countries, citing a Twitter comment about police telling an Australian he couldn't walk his dog.

"We watch these other countries saying, 'How, how is it possible? We are so lucky over here. And then we see what is happening over there start creeping into our country and we're like, how did we allow this to happen? Like frogs boiling."

What can we do with that, other than to recall James Fallows' classic 2006  short essay, The boiled-frog myth: stop the lying now!.

Of course, we are dealing with Representative Mary Franson, so perhaps it's too much to ask.

The newspaper article concludes:

There was resentment about Minnesota's large cities overruling the desires of rural Minnesota and about Walmart and Amazon taking business away from local businesses. They generally agreed that the coronavirus is real, but that people are too afraid of it, and that it's not as serious as people think.

Franson said that it's time for Walz to relinquish his emergency powers.

"We all went into it willingly," to give him his first 15-day emergency powers, but did not expect it to stretch into eight months, she said.

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, was originally scheduled to attend the meeting, but was unable to, Franson said.

We congratulate Senator Ingebrigtsen on his absence and hope nothing bad kept him away. Franson had shared notice of the meeting on Facebook earlier in the week and had said she'd be driving:

Ottertail is a thriving small town in Otter Tail County; its population has more than tripled since 1970.

One hopes that trend isn't reversed, whatever those smarty-pants at the New York Times print. Elsewhere in the Forum newspaper chain, Nick Broadway reports in the DL-Online article Otter Tail County makes national news as COVID-19 hotspot:

Data compiled by The New York Times says Fergus Falls, Minn., has one of the fastest rates of coronavirus spread in the United States.

The Otter Tail County seat placed second highest in the nation on Monday, Nov. 16. The ranking has lowered since then, but the area is still in the top 20 as of Wednesday, Nov. 18.

When comparing the Times report to their data, public health director Jody Lien said it appears to represent Otter Tail County as a whole. Fergus Falls by itself does not meet the 50,000 population threshold.

However, the spread has indeed gotten worse. Lien said small gatherings are mainly to blame, including in more rural areas.

CEO of Lake Region Healthcare Kent Mattson said their numbers do stick out when compared to the rest of Minnesota. He told Forum News Service that 30% of the area's overall positive tests occurred in just the last two weeks.

"We can only control so much in the hospital, but the community really controls the breadth of the spread, the rate of the spread," Mattson said. "To help us take care of them, we're just asking them to just do their part and slow it down. Let it come at us more evenly."

As of Thursday, Nov. 19, 65 of Mattson's hospital staff members were unable to work. He said if that gets between 75 and 100, they could be in trouble. He is urging the community to continue masking up and avoiding small gatherings.

"Now is really the time to change that behavior," Mattson said.

Dear reader, in case you missed it, the nuggets from each story:

The 7 a.m. meeting was held at Betty's Pantry on the final day restaurants can be open in Minnesota before a four-week shutdown along with bars, salons and other businesses ordered by Gov. Tim Walz. It drew about two dozen people from around Otter Tail County. Most were not wearing masks.( Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order)

As of Thursday, Nov. 19, 65 of Mattson's hospital staff members were unable to work. He said if that gets between 75 and 100, they could be in trouble. He is urging the community to continue masking up and avoiding small gatherings. (Otter Tail County makes national news as COVID-19 hotspot)

Draw your own conclusion.

Photo: From the article Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order: "State Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, greets those at a Nov. 20 breakfast meeting in Ottertail to discuss Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's emergency order closing restaurants and other businesses for four weeks. She soon pulled her mask over her mouth and nose. (Karen Tolkkinen / Echo Press)."

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Recount widens Commissioner-elect Gardner's margin in Kandiyohi County Board District 2

In Ahmann out? Steve Gardner likely to be next Kandiyohi County Commissioner for District 2 and Ahmann and Gardner recount on for Kandiyohi County Commissioner District 2 seat, we've written about former Willmar city council member Steve Gardner's kitten whisker margin of victory.

The West Central Tribune reported earlier today in Gardner confirmed the winner following Kandiyohi County Board District 2 recount:

Steven Gardner will be sworn in as the next Kandiyohi County Commissioner in District 2, following the recount performed Friday. He defeated incumbent commissioner Steve Ahmann 1,440 to 1,422.

Gardner increased his lead over Ahmann by 5 additional votes, while Ahmann's total remained the same.

The recount was requested by Ahmann, who trailed Gardner by 13 votes prior to the recount. Once the recount was completed, that difference widened to 18 votes. . . .

The transition looks like it will be a smooth one. The West Central Tribune's Shelby Lindrud reports in Gardner wins Kandiyohi County Board seat; Ahmann says he's enjoyed his 20 years of public service:

. . . "I am happy we got a resolution to it," Gardner said. "I am looking forward to getting on with the work."

Ahmann, who is finishing his first term on the County Board, said he accepts the results.

"The vote was tallied and it is correct and I believe the process is correct," Ahmann said. "The final tally was in favor of Mr. Gardner. A very close race." .  .  .

Each campaign was allowed two representatives to directly watch the recount. Ahmann and his wife, Heidi Jo Ahmann, were on hand, as were Bruce deBlieck and Rebecca Trongaard, acting as representatives for Gardner, who was unable to attend the recount. . . .

While his re-election campaign did not end the way he had hoped, Ahmann said he has nothing to complain about.

"I had 20 years of good service," said Ahmann, who served 16 years on the Willmar City Council before being elected to the Kandiyohi County Board in 2016. "I have 20 years of people putting their trust in me. I think that is a win as far as I am concerned."

Gardner said he is looking forward to representing District 2 and the county as a whole once he is sworn into office in January.

"We worked really hard to make our case to the voters," Gardner said. "They seemed to like what we had to say. I look forward to working on their behalf over the next four years."

That's the sort of faith in the election process we like to see.

Photo: Kandiyohi County Commissioner-elect Steve Gardner, via West Central Tribune.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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For National American Indian Heritage Month: Keeler to MnHouse; Kunesh-Podein to MnSenate

It's National American Indian Heritage Month. One of the exciting developments for that heritage is the election of indigenous women to state and federal office.

In Minnesota, Evan Frost interviewed Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan for MPR in ‘We are changing those systems for the better’: Peggy Flanagan, lieutenant governor, reflects on what it means to be an Indigenous Minnesotan right now. Flanagan reflected:

. . . I also feel like we're in this moment where you can feel things shifting and changing. Like just the number of Indigenous women who are leading across so many sectors right now, it’s not an accident, right? Like we know that Native women have been leaders since time immemorial. It's just the rest of society that is catching up to us. So I think at this moment, what it means to be Indigenous Minnesotan is complicated, but it's also I think, a really helpful and powerful time. . . .

I also hope that we have leadership that accurately reflects the communities it seeks to represent. I think that every election cycle we get closer and closer. Heather Keeler, who is just elected in Moorhead is going to be an incredible addition to the Minnesota House. We have leaders like Jamie Becker-Finn, who is a state representative who's just an incredible leader. Mary Kunesh-Podein, who's now over in the Senate. . . .

News about all three came across our feed today.

Here's a Facebook post from Heather Keeler--Yankton Sioux--marking her first steps on the Minnesota House floor. We first saw it on Facebook via Roseville DFLer and Leech Lake Ojibwe descendant Jamie Becker-Finn:

In all the election drama, maybe you didn’t notice that the people of Moorhead (yes rural MN) elected a strong, progressive Indigenous woman to serve in the Minnesota House. I’m so excited to serve with you Heather!!

 

My first step onto the House Floor, I brought many generations of resilience, pride and hope with me. 🦅 This was surreal. I'm beyond humbled by this opportunity to serve 4A.

Posted by Heather Keeler on Thursday, November 19, 2020

Along with Susan Allen and Peggy Flanagan, Becker-Finn formed Something new for the Minnesota Legislature: a caucus of first Minnesotans in 2017, Briana Bierschbach reported in 2017 for MinnPost. Allen, "the first woman who identified as American Indian elected to the Minnesota Legislature," retired in 2018. Flanagan was elected Lt. Governor that year, the first Native American to hold statewide office in Minnesota.

Mary Kunesh-Podein also moved up, winning a Minnesota Senate seat earlier this month. Known for her work on legislation to counter the scourge of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, she's the first indigenous woman to join the Senate. (Native men have served in the Senate since early statehood, including Becker-Finn's father Skip Finn from 1991-1996).

To get a clear picture of Kunesh-Podein, check out the Minnesota Senate Media Services YouTube posted last week:

Want to read more about indigenous women winning office in Minnesota? In Breaking barriers: Native women and the 2020 election, Emma Quinn reports on Audrey Thayer and Liz Jaakola's victories in city council races in Bemidji and Cloquet. At the Bemidji Pioneer, Hannah Olson provides more details on Thayer's win in A pebble in a lake’: Audrey Thayer to be first Indigenous woman on Bemidji City Council.

White Earth Nation member Steve Green serves on the Republican side of the aisle in the Minnesota House, although he has not reported that heritage to the Legislative Reference Library staff.

UPDATE November 22: A couple of hours after we posted this, Briana Bierschbach and C.J. Sinner reported in the Star Tribune article, Native American voters across Minnesota turned out to oust Trump:

. . . In Minnesota, Mary Kunesh-Podein, of Standing Rock Lakota descent, will become the first Native woman to serve in the state Senate in its more than 150-year history. Yankton Sioux Tribe member Heather Keeler of Moorhead will join Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, in the House.

. . . On the local level, Audrey Thayer, a White Earth band member, won a Bemidji City Council seat, and Fond du Lac band member Lyz Jaakola won a seat on the City Council in Cloquet, Minn.

. . .“Every year they kind of stack on each other,” said Keeler, who recently tweeted a picture of her moccasins planted on the floor of the Minnesota House. “A lot of people will stick to tribal government and they’ll step up in those spaces, but we have to blow the door open and say we’re here. We’re on our land, we’re supporting the people in our communities.”

The Bierschbach and Sinner article is worth a read on the larger issue of native voting. Check it out. [end update]

Photo: Heather Keeler's moccasins and ribbon skirt. Via Twitter.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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Hunted and roadkill wild deer in Dakota and Olmsted Counties test positive for CWD

Since we know readers haven't gotten enough news about terrible diseases, there's more news about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Minnesota.

Via the West Central Tribune, Forum News Services reports in 2 more southern Minnesota deer test positive for chronic wasting disease:

A wild deer harvested in Dakota County on Nov. 7 and a vehicle-killed deer in Olmsted County on Nov. 4 were confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

That makes a total of 95 wild deer in the state that have tested positive for CWD out of more than 90,000 samples taken since 2002.

The case of the Dakota County deer, an adult male, marks the first time the fatal neurological disease has been detected in a hunter-harvested wild deer in the newly established south metro disease management zone. The deer was harvested less than a mile from a CWD-positive wild deer discovered in March and was tested after the hunter provided the sample as part of the DNR’s voluntary sampling program.

The Olmsted County deer, an adult female, appeared to suffer injury from a vehicle before dying in Rochester. The resident who reported the dead deer brought the carcass to be sampled by DNR staff for CWD testing. While this is not the first wild deer to have the disease within Deer Permit Area 643, it is the farthest northwest that CWD has been found in the southeast disease management zone.

The DNR has notified the hunter and resident who submitted the deer for sampling of the positive test results, and the meat and carcasses from both deer have been properly disposed.

“It’s concerning to see these two positive test results. We will continue gathering data to see how prevalent the disease is in these areas, and maintain our aggressive management response,” Michelle Carstensen, DNR wildlife health program supervisor, said.

The DNR continues to collect samples from hunter-harvested deer in designated areas during all hunting seasons to help monitor the spread of the disease. Hunters in CWD management zones, control zones or surveillance areas are urged to drop off the head of deer 1 year of age or older at self-service sampling stations. Current sampling locations are listed at dnr.state.mn.us/cwd/index.html.

“We’re grateful to hunters and other Minnesotans for providing samples to test for this disease and help safeguard the health of our wild deer population,” Carstensen said. “These two positive test results are unfortunate, but highlight the importance of our sampling efforts in getting information that shows us how prevalent the disease is in an area. We urge hunters to continue bringing deer to sampling stations. Every sample counts.”

Here's the rest of  the DNR press release: Deer testing finds additional cases of chronic wasting disease; New detections are in the south metro and southeast management zones, from which the

. . .Keeping Minnesota’s wild deer population healthy remains the goal in the DNR’s response to chronic wasting disease. Since CWD was first detected in Minnesota in 2002, the DNR has tested more than 90,000 wild deer in the state.

CWD test results, including locations of confirmed positive test results and statistics, are available on the DNR website.

As part of its CWD response plan, the DNR is monitoring for CWD in disease management zones around areas that CWD has been detected in wild deer, as well as in CWD surveillance areas where CWD has been found in captive deer. The CWD management zones are located in the southeast, north-central and south metro areas of Minnesota; the CWD surveillance areas are located in the east-central, west-central and south metro areas of Minnesota.

Additional CWD information

CWD affects the cervid family, which includes deer, elk and moose. It is spread through direct contact with an infected deer’s saliva, urine, blood, feces, antler velvet or carcass. There is no vaccine or treatment for this disease.

For more information on chronic wasting disease, including maps of CWD surveillance areas, frequently asked questions and hunter information, visit the chronic wasting disease management page.

Photo: White tail deer in a Minnesota woods.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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.

 

MN Brown in MN Reformer: Bakk-assoni say they’re going “independent.” More like kept company men.

Over the years, we've tended to defer to Aaron Brown about Minnesota's Iron Range, a distinct region and culture from the south central Minnesota where we grew up and our father's maternal family had lived since territorial days.

That insider's knowledge is especially strong in his latest piece at the Minnesota Reformer.

Bakk-assoni say they’re going “independent.” More like kept company men.

By Aaron Brown -November 18, 2020

 

Two longtime Iron Range state senators will leave the DFL caucus and form an independent caucus for the 2021 legislative session. State Sen. David Tomassoni of Chisholm and former DFL majority leader Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook made the announcement Wednesday. 

The Republicans held a 34-33 majority in the State Senate. Now they’ll hold a 34-31-2 advantage. So, this is less a seismic shift and more an opportunistic realignment.

Tomassoni had already been elected Senate President in an elaborate political gambit last week. Now we see the move was part of a larger negotiated decision to reduce the power of the Senate DFL caucus and elevate the Range senators and their interests.

“People are going to wonder why I’m doing this — and to be honest, there are several reasons. I’m very disappointed by the extreme partisanship going on nationally and right here in Minnesota,” Bakk said in a joint statement with Tomassoni. “Both political parties are to blame. The constant negative and  sharp rhetoric is undermining voters’ confidence in our public institutions. It doesn’t have to stay this way.”

The move comes with Republican promises of committee chairmanships and other majority privileges, suggesting that this was a negotiated plan with the Senate GOP majority.

“Serving as chair of a Senate committee will allow me to better serve my communities and deliver results for my district,” Tomassoni said in the joint statement. “My constituents elected me to serve them to the best of my abilities. The Iron Range has provided the ore that has forged the steel that has made the bridges of America. If we expect to actually bridge the partisan divide, someone must take a proactive step to build such a bridge. I consider this to be a positive approach in an attempt to move away from the negative and partisan rhetoric while continuing to fully support our way of life on the Iron Range.”

The joint statement issued by Bakk and Tomassoni spends a lot of time talking about partisanship. But if that were really the motivating factor for the Range senators, I’d expect the statement to include assurances about DFL issues they still support.

For instance, the release doesn’t mention K-12 education, higher education, access to health care or the social safety net for poor and vulnerable people. It only mentions natural resources and the same vague notion of “our way of life” that has propelled the rightward shift of the Iron Range. It’s the terminal outcome of the “jobs, jobs, jobs” mantra that fails to address the changing economy and technology that has most affected places like this. 

So, we see quite plainly this move isn’t driven by a desire for bipartisanship. It’s about political power and the ability of these two senators to deliver the pro-mining company, anti-regulatory agenda of their districts’ most dominant political forces. Those being: mining companies, mining vendors, Minnesota Power and increasingly conservative trade unions. 

The word “independent” has thus reached its apex of irony. Tomassoni and Bakk just performed a massive display of dependence on the extraction industry. Not since U.S. Steel was the largest corporation on Earth have Mesabi Range state senators so blatantly maneuvered on behalf of the monied interests of this region.

Bakk and Tomassoni might still win elections on the Range. But surely they know that redistricting — no matter who does it — will be hard on them. Bakk’s Senate District 3  and Tomassoni’s Senate District 6 both sit near the top of underpopulated districts heading into this redistricting cycle. It is quite possible that the two of them will be drawn together in a new Senate district come 2022. 

Additionally, Bakk won his recent election by 10 points; Tomassoni won his by 15. You might call these good margins, but each actually faced the closest general election of his career against weak, underfunded opponents. President Trump won Tomassoni’s district and gave a strong showing in Bakk’s.* Better GOP candidates would give them trouble. So, dealing with the GOP means that Bakk and Tomassoni will have less to worry about on their right flank.

In doing so, however, Bakk and Tomassoni alienate the progressives in their base. Despite the narrative fueled by the Trump campaign, there remain a hefty number of actual Democrats who live in St. Louis, Itasca, Lake and Cook counties. Actual liberals, who believe in things. They will not allow two turncoat independents to go uncontested in the general election. 

And local Republicans will want total conversion on a number of issues before letting Bakk or Tomassoni have a free pass either. Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising to find Bakk and Tomassoni, like “Trapper” Bob Lessard before them, calling it a career after one last act of defiance.

This actually helps us understand the move. If these senators only have two years left, after decades of building seniority, they want all they can get. So, Tomassoni gets the Senate residency and a chairmanship. Bakk gets a chairmanship and an opportunity to flip off the Senate DFL caucus that rejected him for Sen. Susan Kent earlier this year. 

A good friend from Range politics, former Rep. Tom Anzelc, would always tell me that there is no purple button on a legislator’s desk. There is a green button and a red button. 

If the GOP takes the unprecedented step of giving chairmanships to independents elected as Democrats, they will have expectations. On all the votes that matter Bakk and Tomassoni will vote with Senate Republicans. 

So it goes. If trends hold, these two might be the last DFL senators elected out of the Iron Range for the next 10 years at least. What a pity this tradition of upward mobility for working class immigrants ends with the Machiavellian ascent of company lickspittles. 

All this for two copper-nickel mines that are unlikely to open anytime soon and a pipeline to bring wealth from one far-away place to another. Thirty pieces of silver would have been a better deal.

*This story has been corrected to note Trump did not win Bakk’s Senate district. 

Photo: State Sens. Tom Bakk and David Tomassoni left the Senate DFL caucus to form their own two-person caucus. Image via the Minnesota Reformer.

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Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources meeting is a marvel to behold

On Wednesday, the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources conducted a zoom meeting about special environment and natural resource projects, primarily from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF).

We'll have more in an update of this post later in the day.

Here's the Facebook video:

From the agenda:

10:15 a.m.	Approve the minutes for LCCMR meeting on August 13, 2020 ( Minutes)
	Members report potential conflicts of interest regarding today's business (COI PDF / Members COI 2020 / Members COI 2021)
	Director's report
10:30 a.m.	Status of M.L. 2020 Tentative Recommendations
10:45 a.m.	Action: Mesabi Trail request for extension ML 2015, Chp. 76, Sec. 2, Subd. 09i "Mesabi Trail Development Soudan to Ely - Phase II ", $1,000,000 ●   Bob Manzoline and Bill Dahl, St. Louis & Lake Counties Regional Railroad Authority
11:00 a.m.	Update and Possible Action: M.L. 2019, First Special Session, Chp. 4, Art. 2, Sec. 2, Subd. 09e “National Loon Center”, National Loon Center Foundation, $4,000,000 ( Memo) ●   Leah Heggerston, NLCF Board member, and NLC Project manager ●   Mike Angland, WSN, NLCF Board member, and proposed NLC project manager Materials     A.  5-year lease of “outdoor features” area     B.  5-year cooperative agreement that operates in conjunction with the 5-year lease     C.  25-year lease of building envelope     D.  Supplement to “outdoor features” lease     E.  Supplement to cooperative agreement
11:30 a.m.	Completed Project Presentation: M.L. 2017, Chp. 96, Sec. 2, Subd. 04g “Identification of Chemicals of Emerging Concern in Minnesota Fish”, $400,000 ●   Seth Moore, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
11:50 a.m.	Completed Project Presentation: M.L. 2016, Chp. 186, Sec. 2, Subd. 06e “Elimination of Target Invasive Plant Species – Phase II”, $750,000 ●   Monika Chandler, Department of Agriculture, $511,000 ●   Angela Gupta, U of MN, $239,000
12:10 p.m.	2021 ENRTF Recommendations: Peer review status update (Spreadsheet)
12:15 p.m.	Break
12:30 p.m.	Action: Review draft language for 2021 ENRTF Recommendations a.   Legislative Coordinating Commission: $2,000 for Legacy website b.   Draft letter re: criminal background checks c.   Draft 2021 ENRTF bill language d.   Specific project contingencies/issues      -  2021 language draft technical corrections      -  2021 language draft COVID Extensions      -  2021 language draft Mesabi Trail CSAH 88 to Ely Materials     -  Member followup questions and answers chart     -  Recommendations Spreadsheet     -  Recommendations Summary
1:30 p.m.	LCCMR Other Business a.   Next meeting: December 9 or December 17?
1:45 p.m.	Public Testimony The public is asked to keep their comments brief. If you would like to testify, please contact Diana Griffith at diana.griffith@lccmr.leg.mn by 4:00 pm the day before the meeting and specify to which agenda item your testimony relates. The chair will accommodate testimony at the requested agenda item as time allows.
2:00 p.m.	Adjourn

Photo: The banner background from the LCCMR page.

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Update: Kandiyohi County Board District 2 recount to be conducted on Friday

UPDATE November 20, 2020 post: Recount widens Commissioner-elect Gardner's margin in Kandiyohi County Board District 2

At the West Central Tribune, Shelby Lindrud reports in Kandiyohi County Board recount set for Friday:

The final answer on who won the election for the open seat on the Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners in District 2 could be known by the end of the week.

Challenger, and projected winner, Steven Gardner currently holds a 13-vote lead over incumbent Steve Ahmann.

As is allowed under state law, Ahmann has requested a recount. The recount will be paid by the county since the vote difference between the two candidates is less than one half of 1 percent of the vote total.

The recount, which is open to the public, will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Kandiyohi County Office Building located at 400 Benson Ave. S.W. in Willmar. . . .

We've posted about the race in Ahmann and Gardner recount on for Kandiyohi County Commissioner District 2 seat and Ahmann out? Steve Gardner likely to be next Kandiyohi County Commissioner for District 2.

Over on Ahmann's Steve Ahmann Kandiyohi County District 2 Commissioner Facebook page (it appears to be a campaign page), the comments on a post about filing for a recount range from thoughtful prayers and encouragement to one supporter claiming that the Willmar Town Crier (a Facebook gadfly) and friends are responsible for fraudulent ballots, while maligning the local police chief and Gardner. We've grabbed a screenshot, but don't think it's best to publish the screed here. Sheesh.

As to how the Willmar Town Crier was able to take over Kandiyohi County's election apparatus and change the count, we can't even.

Photo: Steve Gardner.

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