On Tuesday, I went to St. Paul with a group of Minnesota Farmer's Union members to meet with our state legislators, Attorney General Lori Swanson, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Governor Dayton. Though a lot of work, it was interesting: watching a committee hearing on Green Acres and listening to the concerns of family farmers from across the state.
The group's star grassroots citizen lobbyist was eleven-year-old Jason Thormodson, from the Madelia area in Watonwan County. After spending a few minutes talking to Thormodson in front of the MFU delegation, Governor Dayton asked if he could mention him in the next day's State of the State speech. The quietly confident boy immediately agreed.
And the governor followed through in yesterday's speech, saying:
I want to thank Jason Thormodson, an 11 year-old future farmer and mechanic from Madelia, for reminding me yesterday how very important agriculture is to our state.
This attention has put the media spotlight on young Thormodson. The Mankato Free Press reports in Madelia boy gets governor’s attention:
Jason Thormodson is a fifth-grader from rural Madelia who has more interest in tractors, combines and electric cars than he does political machines.
Even after the 11-year-old quizzed Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday, got a mention in the new governor’s State of the State address on Wednesday and received statewide media coverage Wednesday and today, Jason said he has no interest in a long-term stay in the political limelight.
“Mmm, uh-uh,” Jason said of a potential career as an elected official. “Because it could get crazy, and I just kind of want a quiet life, like being a mechanic.”
Pascal himself would be proud of the young man's natural prairie understanding of diversion. The kid is staying pretty calm. The Free Press story was prompted by the speech and an MPR story, An 11-year-old may have worked his way into Dayton's speech:
Jason Thormodson is going to get his name in the history books. The 11-year-old from Madelia is more than likely going to get mentioned in Gov. Dayton's State of the State. The reason: Thormodson was one of the many Minnesota Farmer's Union members who visited with Dayton on Tuesday.
"Are you going to talk about farming in your State of the State address?" Thormodson asked Dayton.
Dayton said yes. He then added "What do you think I should say?"
A stunned Thormodson was speechless at first. Sensing Thormodson's hesitation, Dayton asked Thormodson what he thinks is important about agriculture.
He then asked his spokeswoman, Katharine Tinucci if she was taking notes. "I'm going to put this in (his speech)," Dayton said.
Thormodson mentioned farming, the seeds and the ability to feed the world through farming.
"What kind of farming does your family do?" Dayton then asked Thormodson.
Thormodson told him his family farm deals with cattle, soybeans and corn. . . .
On one level, it's a cute, spontaneous story; on another, it's a bedrock illustration of a state where politicians and other leaders are usually not too far removed from the ordinary citizen. The Free Press reports that Thormodson first chatted up Dayton at Farmfest during last year's campaign, and that the kid was willing to hold the governor accountable:
He was comfortable enough with Dayton on Tuesday to put him on the spot about why he hadn’t answered the letters his fifth-grade class had recently sent. Dayton admitted he was running behind on responding to his correspondence and pledged to get moving on the responses to the Madelia fifth grade.
This give and take made all of us smile in the governor's reception room on Tuesday. Another meeting took place that also reinforced the notion of civility: with several other MFU members, including the president of the Meeker County chapter, as McLeod County MFU president, I met with Representative Ron Shimanski, R-Silver Lake.
Although I had criticized Representative Shimanski on this blog for co-sponsoring last session's HF3830, a copycat version of Arizona's notorious SB1070 law, his office set up the meeting without hesitation, and he was very engaged and courteous during the talk. This response paralleled our interaction last year when we disagreed via email; from my observations, Shimanski always remains respectful and accessible, regardless of whether or not the constituent agrees with him.
In this case we agreed. We mostly found a lot of common ground on agriculture issues, especially his understanding of the need for small, "micro-farms" that can be used intensively, profitably and sustainably in growing crops for sale at local farmers' markets. Such small farms are often the entry point into agriculture for new farmers, especially immigrants.
Of course, state policy needs to be flexible to accommodate a wide range of farms, producing at different scale--such diversity is welcomed in the ranks of the MFU--but it's good to know there's at least one legislator in the majority party who gets it. Earlier in the day in committee, Shimanski had unsuccessfully tried to move forward an amendment to the state's Green Acres statutes so that micro-acreage farmers could have the same tool to use as larger-scale farmers.
It was a great meeting, and I look forward to talking more about ag with Representive Shimanski, who farms and grows apples.
Two episodes the next day underscored Tuesday's lessons, including young Thormodson's understanding that politics "could get crazy." One was already mentioned: Dayton's speech, a powerful example of a leader showing the way without showing anyone the door.
The other was the ethics hearing on the complaint against Senator Newman, who represents me in the legislature. One can watch the hearing (hours and hours of it) at the Uptake; Bluestem, which first published the offending email sent out by Newman's LA, is mentioned. Over at Cucking Stool, Aaron Klemz produced my favorite reaction to the hearing and the subcommittee's decision not to move forward with the ethics complaint, in "Who's Kidding Who?":
Everybody in the room deplored this email. They regarded it as "uncomfortable," an act that would exact a "political price" of Sen. Newman, who has "already paid the price." Newman, for his part, seemed contrite. So much so his lawyer, Fritz Knaak, stated that he was "surprised he's not blue in the face" from apologizing. In the end, the committee regarded his testimony that he had no knowledge of the email or policy against meeting with political opponents as "truthful and credible" and decided that there was no probable cause that he had violated Senate rules.So that's that! And no harm done!But on the path to that verdict, Newman (and former Coleman) lawyer Knaak held forth on the nature of the Minnesota Legislature. And boy, it's not a pretty picture. It's a world where everybody knows that access to legislators is for sale, and we should stop kidding ourselves. In his view, there's simply no rule that prohibits lawmakers from refusing to meet with political opponents. As Knaak put it, "while what happened is unfortunate, it is not a violation of the Senate rules." "If you look at past practice, and you look at history, something that is suggested in that particular email certainly was the case once upon at time if it isn't anymore."Or, as he succinctly put it; "who's kidding who?"
On Tuesday, one incident marred my visit. The Minnesota Farmers Union had requested a meeting for constituents with Senator Newman for our Day on the Hill. The office had asked for the names of those who would be attending, which the MFU cheerfully and dutifully provided.
No word came back from Senator Newman's office, and so we didn't meet with him. Was the lack of response due to his hapless aide? A decision on his part? No one knows. But readers might forgive me if I conclude that Newman is no Ron Shimanski or Mark Dayton when it comes to these sorts of things.
Or Jason Thormodson.
Photos: Jason Thormodson and SOS Mark Ritchie, photo by Sally Jo Sorensen (above); Ron Schimanski (middle); Scott Newman (below).
Great post and analysis. Bemidji citizens were at the Capitol last week and Governor Dayton was equally as accommodating and gracious to us and especially the student members of our group. He invited us into his reception room and spent about 30-40 minutes addressing the group, answering our questions and taking pictures.
Posted by: Rita Albrecht | Feb 11, 2011 at 09:23 AM