Quist was wrong: here's what the Minnesota DFL is actually saying about Randy Demmer

In a last minute Hail-Mary pass late last  week, the Quist campaign attacked State Representative Randy Demmer, saying that the DFL would attack his amended FEC reports. Bluestem Prairie looked at the Quist attacks on Sunday, and the Post Bulletin split its reportage into two stories on Tuesday.

Nonsense. Now that Demmer has the endorsement, here's what the DFL is actually attacking Randy Demmer on. From its press release:

The Republican Tea Party Choice: Randy Demmer

GOP endorses Minnesota’s most hypocritical candidate

St. Paul (April 17, 2010) — Today, the Republican Party of Minnesota officially endorsed Randy Demmer for Congress in Minnesota’s first congressional district. The DFL Party released this statement from Chair Brian Melendez:

“Randy Demmer is about as inconsistent and hypocritical as they come. As a state legislator, Mr. Demmer regularly pandered to the far right instead of working for the needs of his constituents. Now he is trying to paint himself as a mainstream candidate. As a legislator, Mr. Demmer vehemently opposed creating jobs in the bonding bill, citing concerns over fiscal responsibility -- but as a taxpayer, Demmer had no problem taking millions of dollars in business and farm subsidies. And while opposing what he calls ‘government handouts,’ Randy Demmer took legislative per-diems when he was out of the state attending a partisan event.

“Randy Demmer’s actions do not match his words, and he will say and do anything to get himself elected. But the Republican Party has chosen him as its standard bearer, so today I am proud to be a Democrat, and I look forward to working against this hypocritical candidate.”

Randy Demmer – High on Rhetoric, Low on Substance, Without Action

• Randy Demmer has shown no ability to lead and make tough choices.
• He was unable to identify two legislative priorities he would support if he was elected, choosing instead to support vague sentiments and parrot Tea Party talking points. [Tea Party questionnaire* (link to RTPP site added by BSP) hihlights differences between Demmer, Quist. Rochester Post Bulletin. 3/31/10.]
• Demmer’s message of fiscal responsibility rings false, as he has chosen to take legislative per-diems while attending partisan candidate training in Washington, D.C.9link added by BSP). [A Monday Math Lesson: A word problem from Randy Demmer’s per diem. Bluestem Prairie. 10/15/07.]
• Randy Demmer has taken 74,707 in farm subsidies since 1995. [EWG. Farm Subsidy Database.]
• Randy Demmer has received $468,911 in small business subsidies through his company RKD Properties. [1999 Minnesota Business Assistance Form and 2001 Minnesota Business Assistance Form.]
• Voters in the first district deserve strong leadership and representation, not waffling and pandering aimed at winning an election.

Walz's campaign has issued this statement about the Demmer endorsement:

Walz Focused on Main Street, Veterans, and Growing the Local Economy

- Today, Richard Carlbom, Campaign Manager for Tim Walz for U.S. Congress, released the following statement following the Republican endorsement of State Representative Randy Demmer:

"After 6 months of negative campaigning, we are very interested in finally hearing State Rep. Demmer’s ideas to solve the immense challenges we face. We are going to continue running our campaign on Tim’s record of effective service for southern Minnesota. Tim has delivered for our businesses on main street while holding Wall Street accountable, delivered for our veterans by working to ensure they receive the benefits they have earned, delivered for middle class families with the largest tax cut in history and delivered for students by making sure college is more affordable. Folks in southern Minnesota know Tim works for them."

Note: The Rochester Tea Party Patriot's Questionnaire references a stimulus bill, H.R. 5140, the Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2008. This is a rather odd question, in light of the fact that most of the Tea Party anger about "the stimulus bill" seems directed toward President Obama. However, Bluestem will simply accept the notion that the Rochester Tea Party Patriots knew what they were doing when they put together their own survey. Randy Demmer indicated he supports the bill, which Congressman Walz voted for. Allen Quist indicated he did not support the bill

Images: Allen Quist (left) concedes that Randy Demmer (right) will persuade Southern Minnesota voters with his red eyes of death (unretouched photo-above); Randy Demmer as the No-Whammie Man from IDHA's Demmer takes per-diem to attend candidate school in D.C., misleads public about votes missed,a detailed analysis of the votes he missed while attending NRCC campaign school. I suspect DJ Danielson of retouching that photo (below).