You have to hand it to Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton, whose conspiratorial rants failed the Smell Check during last year's gubernatorial recount. Now, only a few short months after drawing attention to himself in a way that made Tom Emmer look classy, he's started 2011 out with some remarkable whimpers.
First there was the brass parachute as he ejected from the coasting failure known as Baja Sol into the swamps of "public affairs" consulting. Bluestem reviewed the move in Google is not your friend; or, another winning strategy from MNGOP chair Tony Sutton.
That was followed by a moment of bluster that produced the best blog headline so far in Minnesota. Stamping political dirt with the absurd grace of a prairie chicken in full courtship dance, Sutton earned this one over at Minnesota Brown:Hibbing native who lives in Cities accuses Hibbing native who lives in Hibbing of not living in Hibbing.
The accusations were merely that, a distant political will o' the wisp lingering at the edges of the Carly Melin campaign. The Duluth New Tribune succinctly dispatches Sutton's bluster in a single paragraph today:
Last week, Republicans questioned Melin’s residency, saying she had lived in St. Paul last summer and may not have been a resident of the district for the required six months before the election. Melin, who grew up in Hibbing and went away to college and law school, said she returned to her hometown to take a job with the state judicial system last August, in ample time to meet the state rules. No official complaint has been filed on the issue.[emphasis added]
Had there been substance to Sutton's ravings, readers can bet the Republican Party would be have moved to have Melin removed from the ballot, just as Sue Ek, its own candidate, was removed from contention in another special election back in 2005.
Now the Republican Party of Minnesota--led by Sutton--has compounded the smear in a tone-deaf move.
Seeking to cement the notion that the local kid who came back home to work after going to school in the Cities is actually an alien landed from Mars, the MNGOP sent out a gun rights mail piece that's utterly lacking in common sense in the aftermath of post-Gifford calls for civility. The Duluth Tribune describes the piece in Gun ad for Republican candidate on Iron Range has DFLers up in arms:
A campaign brochure for Republican state legislative candidate Paul Jacobson depicting a hunter looking down a shotgun and urging voters to “take your best shot’’ while criticizing opponent Carly Melin has sparked outrage from some supporters of the DFL candidate.
The brochure, mailed this week to residents of Minnesota House District 5B, shows a person looking down the barrel and urges people to vote in the Feb. 15 special election to fill the open seat.
While the gun is not pointed at anything or anyone in particular, Melin’s photo is on the next page. The ad also calls Melin “a fake’’ and states that her campaign is “full of holes.’’
The brochure also inveighs against "St. Paul Politicians." The Tribune reports that the lit piece is an independent expenditure sent out by the Republican Party of Minnesota. Charming.
The piece misses the mark in a multiple ways. Former Hibbing native Sutton and his writers draw a blank on one of the most compelling narratives for Range and Greater Minnesota communities. One of our biggest exports are our most talented young people. Families love and nurture them, schools educate them--and then they head off to college if their ambitions exceed the opportunities offered by the local community college.
Carly Melin is the exception to that general rule. She finished law school, passed the bar, and got a job back home. By trashing her, the GOP indirectly bashes the hopes of many families who'd love to see their kids come home, as well as the longing of many young people to return home after college and grad school.
Second, it's plain tomfoolery--and subtly sexist--about Melin and gun rights thmselves. The Duluth paper reports:
The brochure also goes on to imply that Melin is part of a Twin Cities liberal elite bent on gun-control measures. Melin says that’s a lie, noting she’s an avid hunter.
“As someone who hunts and has a firearms certificate since I was 14, and whose dad teaches firearms (safety) classes, it is outrageous to question my stand on gun ownership. But this piece goes beyond that. It sends a chilling message to any young person who gets involved in public service and runs for office. (Neither) I, nor any candidate for public office, should be subject to such an assault,’’ Melin said in a statement to the News Tribune.
This isn't the first time in Minnesota politics where an attractive Democratic woman candidate has been accused of being anti-gun. The most high-profile case is drawn from early in the career of former state senator Becky Lourey, a crack shot who challenged her rivals to a target shooting contest. (Really, I'd think by now we'd be over this sort of thing).
In fact, were this election being conducted on a regular calendar, rather than the hectic pace pace of a special election, Melin could offer a good-natured Lourey-esque challenge to her two rivals. Time being what it is, with only a few days for all candidates to connect with the voters, umbrage at a moronic mailer will have to do.
Unlike Melin and her supporters, I can't say I want Tony Sutton to resign. Rather, let's hope he persists with the same mad skillz he brought to the Baja Sol Cantina concept.
Images: the offending brochure (via Duluth Tribune); Carly Melin, DFL candidate.
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