At last Friday's ag forum, I learned that the Minnesota Farm Bureau Political Action Committee (MFB PAC) had decided not to endorse a candidate thee Senate District 26 special election.
This development surprised me, since Mike Parry had worked in farm radio, and the organization tends toward backing Republicans--though not exclusively, as this list of 2006 endorsements reveals. A representative of the MFBF said that local Farm Bureau activists had screened the candidates and decided not to endorse.
Nor did the Minnesota Farmers Union FARMPAC--which tends to endorse DFlers--choose to back a candidate. According to local representatives, MFU local activists deadlocked over endorsing Engbrecht and Srp.
Nor did the NRA-ILA, according to Scott Stevens, a legislative aid for the group. After being asked to screen the candidates, the gun rights organization prepared a questionnaire which was sent to the DFL and Republican candidates.
in a phone interview, Stevens said that both Jason Engbrecht and Mike Parry received "A" grades for their answers on the questionnaire and so the NRA declined to endorse. He noted that the NRA does not under ordinary circumstances screen independent or third-party candidates; reached by phone, Srp said that he has not reached a questionnaire.
Finally, a conservative, pro-life friend from Waseca County observed that his understanding was that the Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life (MCCL) PAC had also made no endorsement in the SD26 special election, since both Mike Parry and Roy Srp oppose reproductive rights.
Since I have not seen any notice from the MCCL, I called the organization to see if this rumor were true. The woman who answered the phone on my first call thought that no endorsement had been had been made since two of the candidates are pro-life. However, she referred me to Legislative Associate Jordan Bauer, who was on the phone. I left a message in Ms. Bauer's voice mail, but she did not respond to it and repeated inquiries,
Frustrated, I called Roy Srp to see if he had any news. He noted that he had been endorsed by the MCCL in 1996 when he ran as a DFL, and had sent the organization a letter early in the special election campaign reminding the organization of its earlier endorsement. He had not heard back.
So I do not know if the organization has endorsed; unlike the NRA_ILA, the MFB-PAC and MN FARMPAC, the MCCL did not answer my inquiries. Perhaps I will learn on Election Day whether the group endorsed or did not endorse.
Each candidate has been endorsed by his respective party. Parry has received the endorsement of the Minn Chiropractic Political Action Comm, while Engbrecht is endorsed by the Minnesota AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and two Carpenters' union PACs. While Srp has screened with several groups, he has not received their endorsements; had he been endorsed, his campaign committee would not have accepted any PAC funds, as the IP's constitution forbids its candidates from accepting PAC money.
Comments