Bluestem Prairie

Breaking news! Jacob Grippen wins Franni Franken's SD26 apple pie

I'm in Breezy Point for a CD 6-7-8 DFL retreat but tweeps have broken the news that energetic Southeast Minnesota activist Jacob Grippen has knocked the most doors in today's Senate District 26 DFL doorknock in Owatonna.

An occasional contributor to the Minnesota Progressive Project and Bluestem Prairie, Grippen is also a musician and actor.

Congratulations to him!

Photo: Southeast Minnesota activist, musician, and actor Jacob Grippen flaunts his Franni Franken pie. Photo courtesy of DJ Danielson.

For a look back at Jacob work in summer stock at Spring Grove's Ye Olde Opera House Community Theater, check out What he does on his summer vacation: lucky stiff plays in horse barn.

Getting a piece of the MnDOT pie: Engbrecht shines at Highway 14 Partnership forum

While DFL doorknockers are busy trying to win one of Franni Franken's famous pies, the Owatonna People's Press reports on the candidates' answers to the long-running question of how and when Senate District 26 will get a piece of the pie adequate for improving Highway 14.

The Highway 14 Partnership held a forum Thursday night.

The Owatonna People's Press reports in Senate hopefuls field Hwy. 14 questions:

[MNDot's] decision-making is less than transparent, leaving many residents puzzled with MnDOT’s choices. As a state senator will you allow MnDOT the final authority to determine which projects get funding in the state or will you take an active approach in setting highway funding priorities by the legislative branch?” asked moderator Gary Zellmer, the mayor of North Mankato and president of the [Highway 14]  partnership. . . .

. . . [IP candidate Roy] Srp concluded that with [a share of Indian gaming] funds, Minnesota can pay for the Highway 14 expansion. He also suggested that the Legislature could boost the gas tax.

Republican candidate Mike Parry suggested that he would try to divert funds from other projects that are “not as important,” though he was opposed to raising taxes to fund it. He also did not address the question of MnDOT’s earmarking authority. . . .

Only DFL-endorsed candidate Jason Engbrecht addressed the question of transparency, according to the paper:

Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Jason Engbrecht said he would lobby for greater transparency. Engbrecht also said Highway 14’s condition was not just a threat to public safety, but that the expansion was critical to the region’s economy.

“MnDOT controls a large amount of money and when they’re not transparent, that’s a huge problem. People start losing trust,” Engbrecht said. “We need to work towards transparency and I’m absolutely confident that if we make sure the decisions are transparent that Highway 14 needs to come to the top of the list.”

Engbrecht also said that he would author legislation to obtain funding for the road.

Photo by DJDanielson, who is knocking until her drops to win that pie

SD26 news digest: Engbrecht supporters stoked for weekend

The Republican Party of Minnesota is paying College Republicans to "volunteer" in Senate District 26 and planning a getaway weekend for Young Republicans itself. But given the grand old party's increasingly desperate tactics in the face of the Engbrecht campaign's growing support, voters will probably be hearing ever-more reckless claims from GOP operatives via blogs and the airwaves as well.

News of two more doorknock organizing drives  for Engbrecht has coming my way following my post Al Franken, apple pie, door knocking for Engbrecht--and labor endorsements, too.

But first, news from area papers. The Owatonna People's Press reports in Senate candidates face off in Owatonna:

During a forum on Thursday night, the three candidates for Senate District 26 drew lines in the sand as they battled it out over everything from economic development to balancing the state’s $1.2 billion budget deficit.

Republican candidate Mike Parry hammered the audience with his stated desire to slash state spending by 15 percent. Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Jason Engbrecht painted himself as a realist, questioning the feasibility and desirability of such sweeping cuts. For his part, Independence Party candidate Roy Srp offered few concrete ideas but defined himself simply: Unlike his opponents, he was not beholden to the two major parties.

Local Government Aid (LGA) became the first flash point during the debate. LGA is tax money collected by the state then redistributed twice a year to cities and counties for operating expenses. The idea is to provide funds for communities who have smaller tax bases but nevertheless need the same basic services as wealthier, more populous areas. With extra cash on hand, the hope is that the property tax burden for residents will be lower. . . .

Read what the candidates said at the OPP. Readers say Parry needs to stay out of political arena and ask Do Republicans have a character flaw?

An article in all three papers illustrates that Engbrecht's points about education funding aren't pie-in-the-sky,  Local schools reeling from state payment shifts:

Cannon River STEM School was all set for a smooth opening this school year. Planners were conservative in spending and had secured federal grants to start up charter schools.

But they couldn’t have anticipated Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s decision to withhold nearly three times as much money from schools as the state normally does. Cannon River can now expect to receive several thousand dollars less than it had budgeted for the year. The school has secured a line of credit and expects to borrow money to get through until state money catches back up.

Cannon River isn’t alone. Schools from Northfield to New Richland and Waseca to Blooming Prairie are reeling from earlier, more long-term holdbacks — even as they learned this week that Pawlenty wants to delay further payments a couple months in order to balance the state’s books. . . .

Follow the link above to read the entire article.

Back to the organizing for Engbrecht. The first was news of organized labor sending letters to area union members, while organizing labor doorknocks for Engbrecht. Unions organize their own contact with labor members in a district.

A second, unrelated email  came in from a suburban DFL activist:

How You Can Help Add a Democrat to the MN Senate

* Send out an "Action Alert" to everyone on your e-mail list and from your Facebook page.

* Recruit a team of volunteers from among DFLer's you know to lend a hand with the campaign and set a time and place to drive down together.

Weekend Dates when Volunteers are Needed

Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17
Saturday, January 23 and Sunday, January 24
(The 23rd and 24th will involve Get-Out-the-Vote activities.)

Al Franken, Apple Pie, Doorknocking for Engbrecht

This is just in from the Engbrecht for Senate Facebook group: Al Franken will be kicking off our doorknock on Saturday the 16th at 10 a.m. in Owatonna. Frannie Franken will bake a pie for the volunteer who knocks on the most doors!

Saturday, January 16, 10:00 a.m.
Farmers Union Insurance
127 Oakdale Street, Owatonna
Questions? call 507-363-9556

Doorknocking and Phonebanking in Faribault

Sunday, January 17, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Sheetmetal Workers Hall Local 480, 16 3rd Street NE, Faribault
We will kick off at 1 p.m. and continue talking to voters throughout the day.

Doorknocking all of Senate District 26 - Saturday, January 23, 10:00 a.m.to 4 p.m.

Get Out The Vote Doorknock and Phonebank - Sunday, January 24, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information about Engbrecht and how you can help ensure victory, contact Brian Vats-Fournier, Director, Rice County DFL at vates001@hotmail.com

No sweet spot for GOP in MN07: Sacrificing Menze for the third time

While the Bemidji Pioneer and other venues are reporting that Glen Menze is challenging Representative Collin Peterson a second time for Minnesota's Seventh District Congressional seat, it's actually the third go-round.

Menze challenged Peterson in 2000, losing by a 2-1 margin. The Minnesota Independent gets it right:

Glen Menze has announced he will again run against Rep. Collin Peterson in 2010. Menze was defeated by Peterson in 2008 72 to 28 percent and was out-fundraised by Peterson by a factor of 100; Peterson raised $1.2 million versus Menze’s $12,900.

Menze, an accountant from Starbuck, also challenged Peterson in 2000, then losing by a margin of 68 to 28 percent.

Menze survived a primary challenge in 2008 from convicted felon Alan Roebke by a 51.77 percent  to 48.23 percent margin.

Roebke now hosts a site called Congressional Change. It's unclear from the site whether this is a venue for another bid for Congress.

Peterson chairs the House Agriculture committee.

As Bluestem had noted in an earlier post, Bigfoot, Collin Peterson and the Republican party, the Republican Party of Minnesota had circulated rumors that Peterson would not run again. Addtionally, the NRCC had boasted last summer that several strong candidates would emerge to challenge the Blue Dog Democrat.

Photo: A representative of Case (left) meets with Representative Peterson in Benson Photo courtesy Congressman Peterson's website.

SD26 news digest: peers on board respect Jason Engbrecht

The Faribault Daily News has published  Board members lean toward Engbrecht, a story about the way Faribault school board members regard DFL-endorsed Senate District candidate Jason Engbrecht. All are positive and with one exception, they're leaning toward casting their votes for him. 

The article parallels another published earlier in the week on Waseca city council members' views on IP-endorsed candidate Waseca Mayor Roy Srp and former city council member, Republcian Mike Parry.

A sampling:

. . . Engbrecht is in his second year on the board this month and has support and praise from his peers.

“I fully support him,” said James Wolf, a second-year board member. “I think he is a very easy guy to work with.”

Most board members agreed with Wolf:

He’s not afraid to ask the tough questions,” said board chair Jerry Robicheau. “He’s very methodical when looking at the consequences. He’s a very quick learner.”

Robicheau said Engbrecht has his vote, but said it has little to do with party affiliation.

“He is a person who walks through the process of understanding issues and will take the time to sort those out,” he said.

Board member Suzanne Berger said Engbrecht’s open-mindedness and willingness to listen has served him well and would continue to do so at the Capitol if elected.

“He really wants to know what’s going on and make the best decision,” she said. “He wouldn’t do this if he didn’t think he could improve it.”

Wolf and board member Dave Korbel said Engbrecht looks at both sides of the issues and is non-confrontational.

“I don’t think he would be real partisan about issues if elected,” Wolf said.

The one board member who is definitely not supporting Engbrecht praised his " intelligence and thoroughness," but disagrees politically with the St. Olaf atomic physics professor.

The paper published an LTE from Wolf urging support for Engbrecht, Engbrecht is a good choice.

In the Waseca County News, local citzen Kenneth Hamilton writes that Engbrecht concerned for people:

. . . He served on the Board of Education in Faribault and quickly earned the respect of his fellow board members.

Jason supports legislative efforts to encourage job growth to stimulate the economy, the investment in infrastructure and green technologies. He believes that the No Child Left Behind Act has had punitive effects on the educational system, and that more effective ways of holding schools accountable for student learning are possible. He also supports plans for the legislature to restore funding to the General Assistance Medical Care program while redefining the eligibility requirements to make the program more affordable. . . .

According to the FDN, Senate race absentee ballots are available for district voters; read the story to learn about eligibility.

Word has reached me that the candidate forumj went quite well in Owatonna tonight. More details as they come in.

Photo: Jason Engbrecht at a meet & greet in Owatonna last Saturday.

Julie Rosen: Not running for Congress in MN-01

When I last spoke with state senator Julie Rosen, she said the she would decide  by the beginning of 2010 whether or not she'd seek the Republican endorsement for to run against Representative Tim Walz in Minnesota's First.

She's made that decision. "I happy where I am," she said in a phone interview today. "I have goals I still wish to achieve in the [Minnesota] senate."

Rosen will be issuing a press release shortly that notes her decision. She plans to seek a third term for her Senate District 24 seat. No DFL candidate has emerged to challenge her.

Rosen's decision follows that of Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce President John Wade to sit this one out. 

State representative Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield), long-time DC insider Jim Hagedron and  former state representative and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Allen Quist have all filed statements of candidacy as Republicans contenders in the First.

SD26 news digest: Engbrecht in Owatonna, candidate forum on Thursday

In Engbrecht meets with voters in Owatonna, the Owatonna People's Press reports:

 With only two weeks before the special election, District 26 Senate Candidate Jason Engbrecht announced he has his funding in place and will be ramping up his campaign advertisements, although he says he plans to continue a more traditional campaign of door knocking and phone calls. . . .

According to the Engbrecht for Senate Facebook group, U.S. Senator Al Franken has stepped behind Engbrecht and will be in Owatonna Saturday to kick off a door-knocking campaign in Engbrecht’s name.

Laura Askelin, a political organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union, announced her union’s support of Engbrecht Monday and offered a campaign donation on behalf of AFSCM [sic] Tuesday. 

The article also proved a glimpse to one voter's view of the recent campaigning by one of Engbrecht's opponents:

“I just have one request,” said Nick Wagner. “Don’t put a sign in my yard without my permission.”

Wagner, a Waseca resident, said another campaigner had placed a sign on his curb without any consent.

“It’s just poor etiquette,” Wagner said.

The article also notes that Engbrecht refuted the claim being made--now in ads, according to the reporter, that Engbrecht has had poor attendence at Faribault school board meetings. As Bluestem noted last week, Across the Great Divide evisverated that claim last wekk in MDE & GOP: How to Lie with "Facts."

Certainly, ATGD owner Charlie Quimby isn't the only one to catch GOP mouthpiece MDE in manufacturing these sorts of smears. The conservative DFLer who runs The Loyal Opposition condemns another example in Luke Hellier and MDE have not retracted, while Ed Kohler at The Deets finds a wealth of questionable material. Too bad that the Owatonna People's Press can't do as much due diligence  bloggers.

Should the Owatonna People's Press wish to examine the three candidates' attendence at boards and councils to which they were elected, Bluestem recommends that it look no further than  past reporting by its sister paper, the Waseca County News. That's where I found the information about the one candidate of the three who truly did have a problem making it to meetings until voters turned him out of office.  In  Mike Parry and the Pawlenty syndrome (from Bluestem's back pages)

Back in October 2008, the Waseca County News reported in Meeting attendance by council members varies:

WASECA — At least once a year, the attendance figures for Waseca’s council, boards and commissions are tallied to see where members stand. At a recent council meeting, Waseca City Council member Robin Terrell asked for the 2008 numbers.

She said she requested the information because she thinks it is very important for elected officials to be present at city council meetings whenever possible.

“Our job is to represent the citizens and you can’t do that job well when you’re not at meetings,” she said.

Mayor Roy Srp, who is seeking the Independence Party endorsement for the seat,  missed only one of nineteen meetings in the period that ran from January through September 2008.

SD26 news digest: first forum coverage, PIM on special election wins

The local newspaper chain (Faribault, Owatonna and Waseca) covered last night's well attended candidate forum, and has posted 20 minute clip of excerpts from the discussion as well.

In Senate candidates meet in Faribault, special correspondent Corey Booker reports:

The state’s budget, economy and clean energy were just a few of the issues discussed at a forum featuring the three candidates vying for the Senate District 26 seat.

About 50 attendees listened to Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Jason Engbrecht of Faribault, Independence candidate Roy Srp of Waseca and Republican candidate Mike Parry of Waseca answer questions for about 90 minutes.

Questions were provided by those in attendance and the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, which sponsored the forum.

Read the rest at any of the three papers, though the Owatonna People's Press features the most lively reader discussion of the three.

The Faribault paper also includes an additional article covering the response from two audience members, Voters seize a chance to learn. Butler reports:

Alex DeMarco and Jason Hoffman both have their candidate pretty much chosen for the special election for Senate District 26.

Monday’s candidate forum at Faribault City Hall did little to change their minds, but said they left the 90-minute question-and-answer session with a better understanding of the three men vying for the seat.

“I’m more in (DFL candidate Jason) Engbrecht’s camp,” DeMarco said following the forum. “He has a hands-on experience with just about every issue mentioned.”. . .

. . .Hoffman is supporting Republican Mike Parry, who hails from Waseca, but said he attended the forum with an open mind.

“I like to listen to candidates,” he said. “I think what you have is a respectful race and you’re going to have a free exchange of ideas.” ...

...“All of them have good ideas, good opinions,” he said. “The more of those that you can adopt as your own, it means you’re going to better serve the constituents of the district at the end of the day.”

I was interviewed on Quick on the Uptake on AM950 last night before the forum. Listen here. As I predicted, the forum questions focused on issues, though Parry cracked a joke about blogs at one point. Perhaps the most surprising moment was Roy Srp's closing statement that within a few years, Rush Limbaugh would join the Independence Party.

The forum was presented live on local public access television; I called the station to see when and if it will be re-run.  Local tweep SD26chick watched from home on Owatonna channel 21-5.

 UPDATE:  Faribault's public access channel 10 will re-run the forum tomorrow Wednesday January 13 at 6:25 a.m and 3:20 p.m. and possibly at 7:25 p.m,depending how long the city council meeting goes that night. [update]

UPDATE #2: DJ Danielson looks at Srp's answer about the racino in Srp: Minnesota tribal gaming an “absolute crime” [end update]

The candidates participated in a radio forum today. Upcoming public forums (courtesy of the papers) include:

Thursday, January 14 7 p.m.
Owatonna Arts Center
Sponsored by the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and the Highway 14 Partnership

Monday, January 18, 11:30 a.m.
Owatonna Country Club
Sponsored by the Owatonna People’s Press, the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, the Owatonna Rotary Club and the Owatonna Early Edition Rotary Club

Friday, January 22 1 p.m.
Owatonna Elks Club
Sponsored by the Minnesota Farmers Union and the Minnesota Farm Bureau

How much will public forums In Republicans have fared poorly in recent special elections

Historically the district, which includes Faribault and Owatonna, has favored Republicans, with Day garnering at least 55 percent of the vote in each of the last four election cycles. But if recent outcomes in special elections are any indication, the GOP should be worried about keeping control of the post.

Democrats have won the last four special elections to fill seats in the Senate — often in districts that have leaned Republican. The winning streak started in 2005 when Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, won a special election to take a seat that previously had been held by the GOP Sen. Dave Kleis.

Al Franken, apple pie, door knocking for Engbrecht--and labor endorsements, too

This just in from the Engrecht for Senate Facebook group:

Al Franken will be kicking off our doorknock on Saturday the 16th at 10am in Owatonna. Frannie Franken will bake a pie for the volunteer who knocks on the most doors!

10:00 am
127 Oakdale Street, Owatonna
Farmers Union Insurance
Questions? call 507-363-9556

Franni Franken's apple pies are hot items at local DFL fundraising auctions. The photo illustrates why.

The photo was snapped at a local fundraiser by Southeast Minnesota Area Council President Laura Askelin; her union, AFSCME, announced its endorsement of Engbrecht yesterday. The Minnesota AFL-CIO COPE officially endorsed Engbrecht as well. From the endorsement letter sent to the candidate:

. . .The Minnesota AFL-CIO General Board voted to extend the Minnesota AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE) endorsement to you in your campaign for election as a member of the Minnesota Senate in the upcoming special election in Senate District 26.

In granting this endorsement, the MN AFL-CIO General Board accepted the recommendation from the Southeast Area Labor Council which evaluated your positions and record on issues of importance to workers and their families.  This recommendation is based on the belief that you are a candidate who will stand up for the interests of working families, not only in your campaign but after you are elected.

Engbrecht and Srp screened with the area labor council. The council's organizer was refused admittance to the GOP endorsing convention when she sought to invite the Republican endorsed candidate to the screening. Mike Parry did not attend the screening.

From #SESD26: Jason Engbrecht at Owatonna Dunn Bros Coffee, Tuesday 3 p.m.

The Steele County DFL chair just tweeted this message: 

  

Come meet Jason Engbrecht, SD26 DFL candidate in Owatonna tomorrow (Jan 12th) at Dunn Brothers Coffee at 3pm.

SD26 news digest: first candidate forum tonight, tweet scrubbing story churns for tenth day

Bluestem received word that a crew of DFL volunteers joined  DJ for yesterday afternoon's door-knocking in Faribault, as well as Senator Dahle as this blog reported yesterday. Later in the week DFL gubernatorial hopeful, state Rep. Paul Thissen, will assist Engbrecht at a campaign stop. I'm guessing more gubernatorial candidates will help as January 26 approaches. (See note on corrected copy below).

Rumors has it that a popular leader will be helping the campaign next weekend and an importnat endorsement is due out today. Stay tuned or follow the #SESD26 hashtag on twitter.

Tonight all three candidates in SD26 will meet for the first time at a candidate forum:

Monday, January 11
7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Faribault City Hall
208 NW 1st Ave.
Faribault, MN 55021

I hope to get a seat and live tweet the evening.

Elsewhere, the controversy over Parry's scrubbed tweets continues to churn. Four days after the DFL's press conference about the removed tweets, the OPP editorial board raged about it while taking the Minnesota Progressive Project to task. The MPP replies in Owatonna editorial board gets the facts wrong.

PIM's Paul Demko reports in Controversial tweets by GOP candidate Parry may upend special election to replace Dick Day:

Apparently this wasn’t the kind of political incorrectness Parry had in mind. He eventually issued an apology for the comments, declaring “I take full responsibility for all mistakes in my past tweets.”

The Republican is apparently trying to keep a low media profile in the wake of the fracas. His Twitter feed has largely gone dormant. Parry didn’t return a phone call seeking comment for this story. His campaign manager, Michelle Pederson, stated in an e-mail message that Parry was too busy campaigning and referred Capitol Report to his previously released statement.

Although he has apologized for the Obama tweet, Parry did appear to defend it to Waseca County News reporter Clare Kennedy in a January 5 story.

Read the entirely article at PIM. Perhaps the OPP editorial board will take heart at the response of Engbrecht and Srp, who are sticking to issues:

. . . Engbrecht, a physics professor at St. Olaf University, didn’t return calls seeking comment for this story. His campaign manager, John Coffey, says they intend to stay focused on the issues.

“His tweets are his tweets,” says Coffey. “That’s a whole different ball of wax. We’re talking about jobs and what we can do for people.” . . .

. . .“Too much time is being spent talking about this, and not enough time is being spent talking about the issues,” says [IP candidate Roy] Srp. “That’s what always happens.”

My favorite passage emerged from the mouth of former senator Dick Day:

“I don’t Twitter and I don’t have a Facebook account,” he notes, “and I definitely think if you’re going to run for office, the last thing you need to do is be on one of those things.”

Dick Day tweeting? He'd probably become a persona in a week. My only caveeat with the story is that MPP has done more with the material than Bluestem.

Meanwhile, by thus afternoon, Engbrecht's Facebook group had 320 members, while Parry had a total of 297 fans and Srp, 208 fans. And Parry's campaign website calendar  looks to have taken Day's online philosophy to heart.

Correction 2:40 p.m. 1/10: This post originally reported that Sen Bakk had joined the doorknock yesterday: I misunderstood a ource and so corrected the copy in the first paragraph. Apologizes to my readers.

Engbrecht's subzero SD26 Saturday and Sunday: "two open mouths . . .one open ear"

Volunteers are out doorknocking  and tweeting in Senate District 26, in the second day of the Engbrecht "Subzero Doorknock."  Update:  SD25 Senator Kevin Dahle is out knocking doors in "Faribo." Dahle was elected himself in a special election in January 2008 in the district to the north and west of SD26.  [end update]

Yesterday's campaign activity by Engbrecht supporters has had an effect, and Danielson is working in a balmy 12 degrees above zero this afternoon in Faribault. Other volunteers are phonebanking the district today.

Supporters were out doorknocking for Engbrecht yesterday in Faribault, while the DFL endorsed candidate held public meet and greets in Blooming Prairie and Owatonna.

Owatonna DFL activist Trevor Jensen attended the lunchtime event at the kitchen and  his spouse sent Bluestem the photos he snapped at the event. Jensen estimated that 20 attentive people attended.

After meeting Engbrecht, one guest later shared his thoughts in an email to the Steele County DFL, which sent an excerpt with permission:

“It is clear to me now that District 26 has two open mouths (behaving like their self declared 'squeaky wheels') and one open ear (behaving like an already well-oiled mind).”

According to Steele County Chair Vicki Jensen (Trevor's spouse), no media covered the event. 

This coming week marks a busy schedule for Team Engbrecht, with three forums slated from Monday through Wednesday, as well as opportunities for volunteers. For doorknocking and phone banking opportunities, sign up at the Engbrecht web site or Facebook group.

Forums:

Monday, January 11
7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Faribault City Hall
208 NW 1st Ave.
Faribault, MN 55021

Tuesday, January 12
1:00 p.m - 2:00 p.m.
KOWZ Radio 100.9 FM
No streaming audio available

Wednesday, January 13
Township Association Candidate's Forum
Woodville Town Hall, Waseca
7:30 p.m.

(update) Thursday, January 14 7 p.m.
Owatonna Arts Center
Sponsored by the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and the Highway 14 Partnership

Meet and Greet:

Wednesday, January 13
Meet and Greet Jason Engbrecht
State Street Bistro, Waseca
5-7 PM

Photos: Jason Engbrecht talking with voters at The Kitchen in Owatonna. Supplied photos.

SD26 weekend update: Engbrecht campaign pours on the heat; Repya endorses Srp

With a major endorsement rumored to be coming on Monday, the Engbrecht campaign is heating up SD26 with two public campaign stops today and a weekend of "Subzero Doorknocks" and phone banking.

Team Srp throws a fundraiser tonight with former Senator Dean Barkley and former Congressman Tim Penny featured as headliners, while a press report suggests that Mike Parry is distancing himself from his own apology in Tweetgate.

According to Engbrecht's Facebook page and Steele County DFL chair Vicki Jensen, Engbrecht has scheduled two public meet and greets today:

Blooming Prairie Bakery
8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
345 Main Street East
Blooming Prairie

The Kitchen
11:30 a.m.
329 N Cedar Ave
Owatonna

Volunteers will fan out through the district from the SMWIA Union Hall 16 NE3rd Street in Faribault, with voter contact packets available from 10:00 a.m. through 1:00 p.m; volunteers can doorknock or phone bank at the same location tomorrow from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The launch site is located across the alley from Faribault's Post Office.

Labor and DFL activist Laura Askelin recommends wearing a good pair of snowpants for midwinter doorknockers. Warm boots and socks are a must, as are a warm hat.

According to Roy Srp's new website, there'll be a fundraiser tonight with headliners Barkley and Penny at the Waseca VFW from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The Srp website also carries the endorsement of Joe Repya, the former Republican activist who  left the party last summer, announcing his departure in an op-ed community in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Will the endorsement of a well-known former Second District GOP activist help Srp capture more of the conservative vote? The Rice County section of SD26 in in the Second. Repya is also known statewide  for his "Support the Troops" signs that blanketed Minnesota in the early part of the War in Iraq.

As for Parry, his web site calendar remains blank, and his Facebook page doesn't include a calendar. College Republican "volunteers" are being paid to brave the cold and live to tweet about it.

Parry himself held a meet-and-greet in Owatonna yesterday morning, where a half dozen of so people met with the candidate, as photos on his Facebook page document. The Owatonna People's Press reported in Parry makes stop in Owatonna that the Republican is parroting Srp's rhetoric about being a squeaky wheel:

During his stump speech, Parry touched on many of the same themes as Srp, a fellow Wasecan who served with him in city government. Srp is in his third term as the mayor of Waseca. Parry served on the Waseca city council from 2004 to 2008. In 2008, he lost his seat to challenger Mark Christiansen, who took 64 percent of the vote. Parry took 35 percent of the electorate.

Like Srp, Parry used the “squeaky wheel” metaphor.

“My opponents are making fun of my squeaky wheel of common sense, but, in all reality, when you think about that all of those who have been the noisiest get everything that they want,” Parry said. “So you have to constantly be vocal. You have to constantly throw ideas out there.”

Actually, it wasn't the squeak that earned Parry attacks, but rather his ill-conceived content. Moreover, he seems to be reveling in his national reputation for lacking "political correctness." In short, backing down from backing down on his willingness to offend people. He calls this having ideas:

 . . .Parry painted himself as an “ideas” guy.

“A lot of times you’ll see that I’m not politically correct. I think being politically correct is nothing other than a way to hide what needs to be said,” Parry said. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I have ideas. If I’m getting spears thrown at me because I have ideas, then so be it, but somebody’s got to speak it.”

Parry's big idea on Friday was a 15 percent cut "across the board' for state spending. I'm curious what the impact of cutting 15 percent off the budget for Highway 14 improvements , snowplowing and other services would be for SD26 residents.

The OPP's video on the Parry meet and greet can be found here.

Images: DFL endorsed candidate Jason Engbrecht (above); Tild's artist rendition of Mike Parry.

How much cash did state Rep. Randy Demmer's congressional committee have on hand in 2009?

Congressional candidates have until January 31 to file their year-end Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports that cover the last three months of  the year 2009, but some candidates' committees routinely file their reports early. One such committee has been that of Randy Demmer, who kept his committee intact after his failure to capture the Republican endorsement in 2008. Instead, Brian Davis took the honor of being drubbed at the polls by Congressman Walz.

Demmer is seeking the endorsement again, and so I checked Demmer's records at the FEC site earlier this week to see if he had gotten a jump on the deadline again in reporting this final quarter. After all, Demmer's committee had filed its 2008 year-end report on January 13, 2009. At the end of 2008, Demmer's committee reported a cash balance of $99.25, while owing $135,150.00 in debts and obiligations, according to page 2 of the report. On pages 3 and 4, readers learn that the candidate loaned his committee $155,150.00 and the committee repaid him $20,000.

While there's no year-end report yet,  I did find three amended reports: an April 2009 quarterly report covering the period from January 1-March 31, 2009; a July 2009 quarterly report covering April 1 though June 30, and the October 2009 quarterly report, from August 1 through September 30.

The original reports are still available online: the first April 2009 report, the first July 2009 report, and the first October 2009 report. 

Ordinarily, amended reports are no big deal, and I nearly overlooked clicking on the links to the files, but I'm glad I did. The fun begins with the amended April 2009 quarterly report.

Here's how: at the bottom of page 4 of the amended April 2009 quarterly report, the committee's cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period, i.e., on January 1, 2009, is listed as $135,249.25.

In all of the amended reports, the "debts and obiligations" line--loans owed to the candidate from the 20007-2008 cycle--remains at $135,150.

That's a remarkable jump from the cash on hand that the committee report that it had on December 31, 2008, according to the 2008 year-end report filed on January 13, 2009. As I noted above, that figure was $99.25.

Where did the instant cash come from? Apparently not another loan from the candidate, if the reports are accurate.

Looking at earlier reports on file for 2008 isn't helpful. The Demmer campaign had $108.25 in the bank on September 30, 2008, according to its October 2008 quarterly report. The campaign had $217.25 on June 30, 2008, according to its July 2008 quarterly report.

Will amended reports correcting the 2008 documents--that explain where the money came from--be forthcoming from the Demmer campaign? Or will we see yet another set of amended reports showing a much smaller cash on hand balance?

If Demmer's committee did indeed have over $135,000 in the bank for all of 2009, how did the treasurer overlook this money?

On December 10, 2009, the FEC did request further information, asking the campaign file a missing  schedule on the status of the earlier loans. The loans remain unfulfilled.

Will the press look carefully at Demmer's odd reports--or simply gleeful note a cash-on-hand balance that--in the existing FEC reports at least--may not have the most reliable provenance? Where did that money come from? Or is it phantom money created by a bookeeping error? I hope the campaign can clarify these mysteries.

Across the Great Divide: MDE and GOP distort facts in SD26

When he's not tweeting as the satirical avatar @fakebrodkorb, Charlie Quimby blogs at Across the Great Divide.  He's posted a terrific analysis about the SD26 race that exposes Minnesota Democrats Exposed's misuse of statistics in MDE & GOP: How to Lie with "Facts":

MDE Exclusive: Jason Engbrecht's attendnace record - Missed 40% of special board meetings; missed 60% of votes in 2010 http://bit.ly/7xvbgq

– Tweet by MDE's @lukehellier

I've tackled this on Twitter, but because it's such an typical example of telling big lies with little facts, I thought I'd expand on it here.

Luke Hellier posts at Minnesota Democrats Exposed that DFL state senate candidate Jason Engbrecht has a terrible "attendnace" record in serving as a member of the Faribault School Board. This is a story worth pushing, because his GOP-endorsed opponent Mike Parry has a documented poor attendance record as a member of the Waseca City Council. ....

Let's note how it's done. Fortunately, the Board of Education makes its minutes available to fact checkers like me as well as oppo-slime specialists like Hellier (who does not link to his source, but shows two snapshots of Engbrecht's rarely empty chair). . . .

Fact: Engbrecht attended every single work session and business meeting held by the school board in 2009. If I were a taxpayer, that's what I'd care about.

Read the entire post over at ATGD. It's also worth noting that MDE never claims that Engbrecht missed the one meeting this year, only some votes (he obviously had to be there for the votes  even MDE credits him with).

So what did Engbrecht vote for at the one meeting so far?  The agenda included item 1.4: School Board Salaries.

As Bluestem reported in SD26 news digest: Faribault School Board takes pay cut; Srp campaigns in Owatonna, Engbrecht introduced a successful motion to cut Faribault School Board members salaries at that one meeting:

DFL-endorsed Senate District candidate Jason Engbrecht serves on the Faribault School Board. According to the Daily News, School board members take a paycut for 2010:

Just as they did last year, the Faribault School Board members reduced their monthly stipends.

Board members will receive $250 a month this year compared to $292.50 per month in 2009.

The 2009 rate of $292.50 was a 10-percent reduction from 2008’s monthly $325 stipend.

As board chair last year, Dave Korbel cut the chair’s stipend to that of a regular board member. The position traditionally received $25 more a month.

Two years ago, it cost the district $27,600 to pay the school board. In 2010, the district will pay $21,000. . . .

According to an email from the candidate to Bluestem, Engbrecht introduced last night's motion for the pay cut.

With Parry's tweeter troubles, own poor absentee record as a city council member and other issues popping up, is it any wondering that the Republicans rely on smears and paid "volunteers"?

Update on Maplewood Park story: more Mike Parry backtracking

Yesterday, I drove down to Waseca and spent a couple hours going through Waseca City Council minutes after being helped by the professional and cordial staff.

 One of the things that jumped out at me was the wording of the resolution Parry offered on November 1, 2005 about the future of Maplewood Park:

It was moved by Parry, seconded by Johnson, to direct City Staff to develop RFPs for the sale for residential or commercial development, Maplewood Park. [emphasis added]

I wrote about the Maplewood Park issue on Tuesday, but this clarification  from the public record was enlightening. No wonder the town was put into an uproar over the resolution, which came in open discussion. As one council member responded:

Councilmember Zwach stated this is the reason the Maplewood Task Force was developed, and Councilmember Parry’s motion is out of the blue.  She stated the Council is already throwing out options due to the budget for next year.  Councilmember Zwach stated that Maplewood Park is a treasure and it should be left as such, the Council should put this issue to rest and leave the park as it is.

Parry later said that he regretted the word "sale" but thought while he might have chosen his words more carefully,  the resolution did spark citizen interest in saving the park. Over 1400 people signed a petition opposing Parry's idea to sell the park (and it's worth noting again that before the public outcry, he spoke of having talked with developers about the city property, as the WCN reported).

Good one. This sort of behavior--say something, then excuse himself of responsibility--looks like the hallmark of Parry's leadership style.

This characteristic was clearly evident in the last few days, when Parry changed his story several times about who wrote and who deleted his offensive tweets before half-heartedly apologizing  under fire yesterday afternoon. (The remarkably bad press might have had something to do with that).

Parry's actions aren't those of a leader--and the Maplewood Park episode is only one of several incidents that make it easy to conclude why voters decisively kicked him out of city office after one term.

As the Washington Post said of "Tweetgate:"

Here's part 4,786 in our continuing series entitled: "Why politicians shouldn't use Twitter." In Minnesota, a Republican running for an open state Senate seat apparently tweeted back in May that President Obama was a "Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man." Later, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio, the same candidate sought to link Democrats to pedophilia. Um, not smart.

Below the fold, a review of the paper's coverage of the first meeting. As I wrote on Tuesday:

Was last month's John Wade rumor just another MNGOP balloon boy stunt?

Last month, the Post Bulletin's intrepid political reporter and blogger Heather Carlson dutifully reported on rumor floating by Rochester-area Republicans about the likelihood that Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce President John Wade would seek their endorsement.

The headline said it all: Local GOP: John Wade considering bid to unseat Walz. Apparently local media took it up, as did the usual gang of Republican Party of Minnesota office retweeters, but the rumor didn't get much national attention.

Now local ABC-TV affiliate KAAL-TV reports in Chamber of Commerce President Will Not Run for Congress:

Rochester Chamber of Commerce President John Wade says that he will not be running for Minnesota's 1st District congressional seat.

In a note that Wade sent out today, he says that he will “neither nor accept the Republican Party's endorsement.”

Wade goes on to say that the area should remain focused on growing and protecting jobs and further establishing Rochester as the world's premier medical community.

As I was complying this post, the PB's own story came in: Wade rules out run for Congress.

I suspect the trial balloon sent up by local Republicans received little serious attention because Wade wasn't ever really in the balloon.

Moreover, one can't blame media folks for having been a bit more skeptical last month about rumors the Republican party in Minnesota was trying to gin up.  The Post Bulletin report on the Wade rumor did, after, hit on the heels of the Colin-Peterson-is-going-to-retire urban legend repeated by the NRCC and state GOP operatives.

Bluestem looked at this tall tale on December 20 in Bigfoot, Collin Peterson and the Republican party; the Post Bulletin blog post and story were up on December 22.

For now, the CD1 Republicans have Randy Demmer, Allen Quist, and Jim Hagedorn. How's that working out?

Uproar: Parry twitter scrubbing story hits local papers in Waseca and Owatonna

Since his tweetstream was first discovered by  Patrick Timmons (mngopwatch), Bluestem has been reporting on the flurry of new media coverage about Senate District 26 GOP-endorsed candidate Mike Parry posting and scrubbing potentially offensive posts; the best single place to check out the development of the story nationally is memeorandom.

Now the story has gone local in the Owatonna People's Press and the Waseca County News. Both papers are onwed by the same company, along with the Faribault Daily News, the other larger paper in the district.

Clair Kennedy reports in Parry’s tweets cause uproar:

District 26 Senate candidate Mike Parry is under fire for some messages that he allegedly posted on Twitter and has since “scrubbed.”

In one, the Republican contender allegedly referred to President Barack Obama as a “power hungry arrogant black man” and in another linked Democrats with pedophiles.

Parry’s Twitter account dates back to late 2008. Many posts recount day-to-day tidbits or idle musings: On April 26, 2009 Parry wrote “made spaghetti for 100 at Masonic Temple Friday nite what a blast.” On another day Parry wrote, “If Kodak stops making Kodachrome, does Paul Simon have to stop singing his song?”

However, bloggers at the Minnesota Progressive Project contend that Parry’s past posts were decidedly more controversial until the candidate erased 33 posts that might be perceived as offensive. As proof, they posted screenshots of two posts that have allegedly been removed from Parry’s Twitter feed.

While Kennedy's story only looks at the copy on the Minnesota Progressive Project and doesn't tell her readers about the statewideand national uproar, it's a fairly extensive story.

Most notably, Mike Parry finally answers questions about the uproar--and those answers are at best unsatisfying.  He begins by saying he doesn't know anything about it:

When asked about the posts, Parry said that he had not seen MPP’s site nor heard about the allegations because he had been too busy.

He then moves to defend the posts (since deleted) about President Obama. Next he wavers about the tweet that equated Democrats and pedophiles:

Parry was vague about whether he was the author of the other post tying Democrats to pedophiles.

“I would think that’s wrong. If it’s on my account, I wouldn’t know how that one got on there,” he said initially.

 When pressed, he said, “I don’t remember reading anything that would connect me making a statement like that.”

When asked if he had not posted it, Parry said “As I recollect, I would have to have read something that would have created me making a statement like that.”

He then dismisses the posts he knows nothing about as  DFL spawned smears:

Parry then dismissed the matter as a Dem-directed smear campaign meant to distract voters from the real issues. It is unclear if the MPP is affiliated with the DFL, but the site has links to DFL opponent Jason Engbrecht’s campaign site, including ways to contribute to Engbrecht’s campaign.

“When people post through social media and are afraid to use their names it means nothing to me. Anything that I do has my name attached to it because I was raised that when you say something then you stand up for what you say and you’re held accountable for what you say,” Parry said. “I don’t hide behind the anonymity of having an Internet name. People need to know who I am."

That's pretty specific stuff coming from a man who had been too busy to know anything about the blog posts. Having watched the story material develop in real time on twitter, I know that the crowd-sourced research into Parry's twitter account began (as reported here) with Patrick Timmons (mngopwatch) noticing the Obama tweets; other tweeps went to Parry's twitter account and dug up their own pearls of Parry wisdom.

Led by the DFL? Hardily. The development of the material can be traced by anyone who searches @mikeparry on twitter. Readers may have to go back a ways to last week-- four to six days--but the search and discussion of the contents of the @mikeparry account is still accessible.

As for the bloggers at Minnesota Progressive Project, they mostly post under their real names; it's not difficult to learn the identity of those who use a screen name. Parry's complaint about anonymous bloggers rings hollow, especially coming in two newspapers where many readers post anonymously using screen names in the comment sections  (the practice of commenting in locally called "blogging" by many readers of the two papers). The local custom is very tolerant of anonymity.

Parry also denies scrubbing his account:

[DFL communications diorecotr Kristin] Sosanie said it was especially hypocritical of Parry to say he’s not afraid of political correctness and then pull the posts down.

On this count, Parry pleaded ignorance.

“I wouldn’t know how to erase a tweet. I had a friend help me set it up and I know I can go to my cell phone and tweet,” Parry said.

When asked if someone had erased the posts on his behalf, Parry said there are people who know his password but otherwise he had “no clue.”

This, too, is curious. Does Parry control his tweets? If not, then who?

From Waseca's back pages: Mike Parry and Maplewood Park

Bluestem readers may have noticed that Mike Parry isn't exactly as constant as the North Star. When the twittersphere got rough with observations about his tweet stream, the potentially damaging tweets were scrubbed.

A sharp-eyed area resident brought a similar incident--one directly related to Parry's veracity--to my attention yesterday. This new episode of revisionist history on former one-term council member Mike Parry's part concerns Waseca's Maplewood Park and the city council's discussion of it in 2005.

In December 2008, after losing his seat on the council by a 2-to-1 margin, Parry told the Waseca County News that he has suggested selling the park in order to shake up and wake up Waseca's citizens:

Only once in four years did he take action on the council that was not based on discussions with residents in his ward, he said.

That occasion was when he tried “to shock Wasecans into appreciating Maplewood Park,” according to Parry.

Fourteen hundred people rallied to tell the council they wanted Maplewood to remain a nature park.

Regardless of what people thought his intentions were, Parry said, “only Mike Parry knows what I had planned.”

“I’m proud of what I did,” he said, because the council should be opening doors to “one of the most beautiful sights Waseca has.”

The same citizens who rallied for Maplewood must rally now to help control spending in Waseca, he said.

That's a charming tale, but a WCN article from the time of the controversy tells a much different story--and city council minutes themselves contradict one of Parry's 2005 statements to the paper. The article isn't in the WCN's archives, which don't appear to go back that far, so I'm working from a hard copy.

According to "Council ties on Maplewood Park vote" (Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, page 1A, 3A):

A motion to ask for Requests for Proposals for both commerical and residential development of Waseca's Maplewood Park was defeated by a 3-3 vote at last week's council meeting. . . .

Council member Mike Parry said he made the motion because the process to find a use for the park is moving too slowly . . . .

Parry is not on the [Maplewood Park] task force, he said, because he is "so pro-development of that park" that he didn''t want to sway the group.

The task force stagnated, he said, and has provided no ideas for the park's future.

He made the motion during discussion, he said, because he wanted the dialogue to start with the entire city council.

Parry wants the future of Maplewood to be a focal point of community discussion and he wants people to be actively involved in researching park options. That includes contractors, builders and big thinkers, he said.

While Parry was not on the Maplewood Park Task Force, it does sound like he had been talking to developers interested in the land (was he somehow charged to do this, though not on the task force?)

. . .He advised the four developers who called him to put their ideas in writing, to be presented to the council.

"Maybe it's nothing more than a nature center with a coffee shop," Parry said.

Really? 

The Waseca City Council minutes from May 3, 2005, when the task force was proposed, state:

It was moved by Parry, seconded by Johnson, to form a committee which includes representatives from various boards and commission [sic] to consider future uses of Maplewood Park.

Considerable discussion was held regarding the need to further utulize the park, while still retaining the history and natural setting it evokes for Waseca.

Councilmember Parry stressed the need for a committee for further discussion of this item and stated he would be willing to serve on this committee that would include citizen input.

In May, Parry wanted to be on the task force he proposed.  That's quite a different story than Parry's spin to the WCN in November.  In November 2005, he told the paper he was "too pro-development" to be on the task force. By 2008, the entire episode three years before was simply a ruse to shocked city residents into appreciatring the park.

Will Senate District 26 residents ever know where Parry stands? Or does he just go for shock value as a leader?

SD26 news digest: Faribault School Board takes pay cut; Srp campaigns in Owatonna

DFL-endorsed Senate District candidate Jason Engbrecht serves on the Faribault School Board. According to the Daily News, School board members take a paycut for 2010:

Just as they did last year, the Faribault School Board members reduced their monthly stipends.

Board members will receive $250 a month this year compared to $292.50 per month in 2009.

The 2009 rate of $292.50 was a 10-percent reduction from 2008’s monthly $325 stipend.

As board chair last year, Dave Korbel cut the chair’s stipend to that of a regular board member. The position traditionally received $25 more a month.

Two years ago, it cost the district $27,600 to pay the school board. In 2010, the district will pay $21,000. . . .

According to an email from the candidate to Bluestem, Engbrecht introduced last night's motion for the pay cut.

The FDN and the Owatonna People's Press both carried Claire Kennedy's article, Srp makes campaign stop in Owatonna and link to a video edited from footage the paper shot during the visit. From the sounds of it, voters checking him out asked some tough questions:

If elected, Srp will face a lonely 10-month tenure. Currently there are no Independence Party Senators or representatives in the Minnesota Legislature. For this reason, even those gathered at a campaign stop at Central Park Coffee seemed dubious.

“At some point in time you’re going to have to caucus with one side or another. What side would you be caucusing with?” Leonard Binstock asked at the event on Monday.

  “I would believe that they would have to come to me and try to get me to caucus with them. I don’t know that there are any rules that say that I absolutely have to do that,” Srp said. “I’m not connected to (political action committees). I’m not connected to lobbyists. I’m not connected to anyone.”