Bluestem Prairie

Tales of Hoffman: "Perhaps it’s Goodwin who should apologize" LTE published June 29

As much as yarn teller Senator Gretchen Hoffman may have told the local newspaper that the ethics committee ruling--and her apology--have closed the issue of the ethically challenged tweet, her supporters are not moving on.

In Wednesday's Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Perhaps it's Goodwin who should apologize, a letter to the editor from Sue Barasch, told readers:

My thanks to David Adams, Peter Balega, Jerome Mullins for their letters printed on Friday, June 17 regarding the situation between Hoffman and Goodwin.

Having met Sen. Hoffman, I found it hard to believe this story as presented originally. For an unfortunate number of years the media has been biased in the political area and I, for one, would appreciate getting a more complete report of happenings. It is up to “we the people” to decide … kudos to Hoffman. Perhaps an apology from Sen. Goodwin and those who misrepresented this situation is in order?

So much for the old saying that people can have  own opinions, but not their own set of facts. Having read letters of opinion, and having met Hoffman, she knows that media reports about the ethics charge and the committee's resolution are simply wrong.

Peter Balega chairs the Becker County Republican Party and is the father of Hoffman's LA.

However, Bluestem suspects that Sue Barasch can hold her breath until her face turns the color of our namesake prairie grass before Goodwin apologizes, since the bi-partisan ethics committee didn't so much mull over the facts of the matter itself, as it considered the suitable way to discipline Hoffman during its meeting to consider the complaint. 

Minnesota Public Radio reported in Ethics Committee says Hoffman should apologize over Twitter comment:

The Senate Ethics Committee says it will dismiss a complaint against Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, R-Vargas, if she apologizes to Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, in writing for a comment she wrote on Twitter about Goodwin. The Ethics Committee also says Hoffman has to delete the tweet in question and link to the Ethics report on Twitter. Hoffman was facing an ethics complaint for mischaracterizing on her Twitter feed that Goodwin called people with a mental illness "idiots and imbeciles" during a Senate floor debate.

Godwin says she's satisfied with the action taken by the Ethics Committee.

"We want to make sure that we prevent these kinds of things in the future," Goodwin said. "I'm hoping for a decent apology and that it's a sincere apology."

The committee of two Democrats and two Republican met to discuss an ethics complaint against Hoffman. Hoffman tweeted the comment in May when the Senate was debating a Health and Human Services budget bill. Goodwin said Hoffman mischaracterized her comments because she was discussing the historical context of mental health treatment in Minnesota.

Hoffman complied and the case was dismissed. But in the Tales of Hoffman's supporters, Goodwin should apologize. Yes, really.

Barasch is an infrequent letter writer, though her viewpoint consistently favors Republicans. In 2004, for instance, two of her letters were published in the FF Daily Journal, Swift Boat Veterans are on the mark and Two points for Bush. Neither link produces the text of a letter, but the headlines suggest that she supported George Bush's re-election. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 527 group is described here.

One wonders who established the narrative of the case that they all take as gospel, and when that individual or individuals crafted this yarn.

Photo: Gretchen Hoffman.

Gruenhagen gone wild: Glenn offers summer fiction pick to constituents

Unlike Gretchen Hoffman and her intern, I didn't attend colleges where professors said money was bad. Hence, I'm happy when people are able to pay me for writing; one of my freelance posts has appeared at the Minnesota Independent, Gruenhagen recommends questionable story on tax hike refugees to constituents:

Minnesota Representative Glenn Gruenhagen sent his constituents his weekly email newsletter Tuesday, cautioning them to purchase fishing licenses  now in advance of the looming likelihood of  a state government shutdown.

However, the Sibley County legislator was not content to leave it at that practical level, and concluded with a recommendation for a little summer reading:

I still hope we can find a breakthrough with the budget in time to avert a shutdown and I will keep you posted as things develop. I did come across an interesting Wall Street Journal article that shows how Gov. Dayton’s “tax the rich” plan has backfired elsewhere. Here is the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329282377252471.html.

The URL links to a May 2009 Wall Street Journal article, “Millionaires Go Missing: Maryland’s fleeced taxpayers fight back.”

However, his constituents may wish to consider whether the reading is beach-ready as commentary or as fiction.  Though the Wall Street Journal article is an article of faith among those advocating an anti-tax-the-rich agenda,  the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy suggested in 2009 that the millionaires hadn’t moved to a new state, but rather to a different tax bracket...

Read the whole thing over at MNIndy. And check out the articles.

For reading at the beach (if it's open) this weekend, Bluestem recommends Middlemarch, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, or anything by the late Bruce Chatwin. Much more fun than the Journal's staid economic fictions. Tell not a half-truth, but a truth and a half.

Tales of Hoffman: Scenes from the ideological struggle in Fergus Fall, Minnesota

As late as yesterday at 11:15 a.m., this was the line-up for Senator Hoffman's budget rally, via the Fergus Fall Daily Journal news brief, Hoffman budget rally today [UPDATED]:

Senator Gretchen Hoffman has organized a rally on the state budget at 5:30 p.m. today at N.P. Park. Radio host Scott Hennen is emceeing the event, and other speakers include Hoffman, Rep. Mary Fransen, and Danielle Saul, Fergus Falls resident and chairperson of the Minnesota State University Moorhead College Republicans, as well as others.

Speakers will be talking about the budget situation at the State Capitol. Admission is free.

However, something changed, and an hour or so later, this line-up appeared on Senator Hoffman's Facebook page:

Today is rally day! I'm looking forward to seeing everybody at the Fergus Falls rally today at 5:30 in NP Park! Scott Hennen will be MC'ing and I am happy to welcome Senators Parry and DeKruif as well as Representative Franson to SD10 for the rally. Other speakers include constituents from the district and there will be open mic time for a discussion about the Minnesota budget.

Why did Michael Brodkorb feel the need for re-enforcements  from Southern Minnesota for the rally? Do  Parry and Dekruif's constituents feel that their own senators' time is best spent in a district on the other side of the state? Shouldn't they be taking questions about the shutdown in Senate Districts 25 and 26?

I eagerly look forward to read news accounts of the rally and seeing YouTubes of what were no doubt stirring speeches.

Scenes from the ideological struggle in Fergus Falls, Minnesota

Update: The Fergus Falls Daily Journal has posted A rally for conservatism [UPDATED]. Some gems:

“We have been told in our classes over and over that being successful and making lots of money is bad, while we are being shown that if you do not work, you are often rewarded,” said Danielle Saul, Fergus Falls resident and president of the Minnesota State University College Republicans. “This mentality needs to end now, with my generation, and you have the chance to show us that hard work and perseverance are two characteristics that will not be forgotten.”

Saul, who was Hoffman's intern this past session, is sounding awfully like Hoffman herself. Perhaps they both could get a bit more specific and tell the general public which classes they enrolled in on Not Being Successful. None of my college friends have shared this experience with me--indeed, one includes a statement from a professor among his Facebook quotations: "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, having money is better."

But perhaps my young friends have had very different experiences than Danielle and thus are not in a position to parrot Hoffman's view of college.

Here's more:

Though billed as a budget rally, the topics of the gathering were wide ranging. Health care advocate Twila Brase spoke about stopping President Barack Obama’s health care plan, attorney and GOP activist Peter Balega thanked the nation’s servicemen and told attendees that they were engaged in an ideological struggle, and Hennen kept the crowd laughing with his lampooning of government and the news media (including jokes that State Government Innovation Committee is “an oxymoron” and that he sometimes refers to the Star Tribune newspaper as “The Star and Sickle.”)

But one theme was woven through all of the speakers’ talks: their frustration with DFL Governor Mark Dayton.

Hoffman, Senator Rick Parry and Senator Al DeKruif all spoke of Dayton’s unwillingness to compromise and inconsistency as a negotiator, with Parry going so far as saying that Dayton has been planning for a shutdown before the legislative session ended. . . .

In short, the usual template.

Photo and screenshot: Mike Parry, Waseca, traveled to Fergus Falls yesterday as a last minute guest at Senator Hoffman's rally (top); Hoffman's Facebook posting, captured about 11:30 a.m. today, with the time stamp, "23 hours ago." Image added at 11:42 a.m.(below).

Note: the title of this post has been changed from  "Tales of Hoffman: Senate Majority Leader Brodkorb sends Parry and Dekruif to Fergus Falls rally" to improve your snark intake.

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen tells local paper about nature of threats at state capitol

In today's Fergus Falls  Daily Journal, state senator Gretchen Hoffman talks about the threats made to her, which included visitors to her office trying to get her home address.

Perhaps they should have simply visited her official state senate web page, where her home address is listed, rather than her office. The webpage includes a notation that the senator "Prefers interim mail at this address."

Surely, in light of her perception of requests for her home address as threats, that information will be removed from her official web page as soon as possible.

Indeed, one wonders why this security flaw has been allowed to remain on Hoffman's page at all, since her supporters first began talking months ago about threats made to her. The Daily Journal interview marks the first time that Hoffman herself has spoken about the matter that I am able to locate.

In Hoffman reflects on first six months, the yarn peddler shares the deets as she sees them:

However, Hoffman was surprised by another group of political activists: protesters to the GOP agenda who she said used intimidation and dishonesty to try to influence lawmakers.

“There were a couple of threats we had to turn into the sergeant (-at-arm’s) office – one was an e-mail threat and one was some intimidation,” she said. She also once went to a meeting in which most of the attendees claimed to be her constituents but weren’t; the result included angry chanting and people demanding her address. It got so bad, she said, that she felt the need to call her husband at their Vergas home to warn him that people were trying to find out where she lived.[emphasis added]

Undoubtedly, Hoffman met with the least google-savvy group of protestors to ever visit the capitol, as they were not able to find her listing on the senate's website. Given that, as early as April, she found requests for her address threatening, it's also surprising that she hasn't asked that the home address be removed from the page, along with the request that mail be sent to this address when the legislature is out of session.

Perhaps Hoffman did, but the change has not been made.

Indeed, Bluestem thinks that any threat to a lawmaker and her family is so unacceptable that I hope the press corps in St. Paul and the Fergus Falls Daily Journal both dig in to find out why this information remains on the page.

The article continues:

But, Hoffman remarked, “I don’t need to run around and play a victim. I felt safe there. The sergeant’s office was very good about making us feel safe.” However, she added, she regrets that capitol reporters never saw a news story in her getting an armed escort. The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms could not be reached for comment.[emphasis added]

Last week, Bluestem --though not part of the capitol press corps--undertook such an investigation. However, neither the person I spoke to at the sergeant-of-arms' phone number, nor John Mock of the state patrol, to whom I was referred by the sergeant-of-arms' office. I retain records that the calls took place.

Hoffman's statement raises a number of questions. Do any members of the capitol press corps recall being contacted about these threats, and being pitched story ideas based on them? What group arranged for a constituent meeting, but packed that meeting with people who live outside of her district who are not able to google--but who can chant? Where and when did the meeting take place? Can the sergeant-at-arms' office produce the email that threatened Hoffman?

As I mentioned, Bluestem looked into this matter last week, and the information I received from two offices at the capitol concerned with security does not reconcile with what Hoffman told her local paper. Bluestem wrote up its  investigation in Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts."  From that post:

Given the seriousness of the letter writers' claims--and Adams' request that the Fergus Falls Daily Journal begin advocating for Hoffman's protection, Bluestem started asking the specific question: Has Senator Gretchen Hoffman needed a police escort inside the Minnesota State Capitol because she has received threats?

My first call was to the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms office. The person who answered the phone hadn't heard of any threats to Senator Hoffman, but noted that "Capitol Security" would be in charge of investigating any threats to senators, as well as providing any "police" escort inside the building. I was directed to call John Mock at Capitol Security.

Returning my call later yesterday afternoon, Mock said that no state patrol officers had been assigned to escort Senator Hoffman during the session, and his office had no record of any death threats to Hoffman that had been reported to Capitol Security.  However, he added that this is not a definitive answer.

He noted that while people often refer--as the letter writers did-- to "capitol police," this phrase is a misnomer. Two state patrol officers are assigned to Capitol Security, although their numbers are often supplemented as security needs change (say, when large rallies are planned).

The uniformed state patrol officers on duty are assisted by uniformed civilian security officers, who are employees of the state patrol, Mock explained. The  uniformed civilian security officers are the men and women at the state capitol who wear blue uniforms.

Finally, a third group assists with securing the capitol, non-uniformed civilian security personnel. This final group is largely composed of retired law enforcement officers. They wear maroon blazers, khaki slacks, and badges (not shields) that identify them.

Mock thought that it was possible that Hoffman might have asked for an escort from any of these levels, although his office has no record of such a request and no state patrol officers were assigned to protect her.

He noted that anyone at the capitol complex--including any visitor--can ask for an escort if he or she feels the need for one; one doesn't have to be a state employee or legislator working at the state capitol to receive assistance from Capitol Security. This policy is very much in line with security procedures at universities; escorts can be requested by anyone who feels the need for one. It's  "better safe than sorry" common sense.

So it is possible that at some point in the session, Senator Hoffman asked for an escort from Capitol Security. However, the office didn't receive reports of any death threats nor did it provide a "capitol police escort" as a consequence of them.

This is a serious concern. Security at the capitol is an important matter, regardless of how brave Hoffman may be, and the press corps really should check these things out. She has gone on record now with the Fergus Falls Daily Journal expressing her disappointment that the journalists did not do their jobs.

One additional recourse is available to Hoffman beyond her own personal fortitude. An NRA member, Hoffman says that she is the holder of a carry permit as well, according to the google cache of her campaign Facebook page, and so is legally able to use a firearm at the capitol.

Bluestem encourages her to ensure her legal right to defend herself, just as I urge the capitol press corps to seek out the truth about these conflicting stories. The Bill of Rights is a very fine thing.

Screenshots: From Hoffman's senate page. An old hand also tells me that other sources contain the home addresses of state lawmakers. Does Minnesota need a change of policy about disclosure of home addresses? (above); Hoffman touting her permit to carry (below).

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: "I never knew how poor we were" (and neither did her radio audience)

Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts"

: Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet

: Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Tales of Hoffman: "I never knew how poor we were" (and neither did her radio audience)

As a devoted Gretchen Hoffman watcher, I was a bit startled when I first heard the freshman state senator contrast her loving childhood where she "never knew how poor we were" with the rhetoric of  "class warfare" she finds in Governor Dayton's politics. Here's the audio from a radio broadcast last month:

On May 26, 2011 (mp3 podcast), Hoffman, born Gretchen Marie Pflugrath, told radio listeners tuned into AM 1100, the Flag,  that her father was a construction foreman and her mom was a stay-at-home mother.

That might have been true for part of her childhood--but that storyline changed in 1971 when her father started a PVC pipe manufacturing firm that was to become very successful. Hoffman turned 14  in 1971.

It's great that her father started a successful business. Now retired, he received an award for his business leadership in 2006,  KXnet.com reported in U-Mary Honors Mick Pflugrath With Entrepreneur Award:

America's Leadership University and its new Gary Tharaldson School of Business and Technology will proudly present the 2006 Leader in Entrepreneurship Award to Mick Pflugrath CEO of GPK Products, Inc. of Fargo on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006, at 6 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Holiday Inn in Fargo.

At 4:30 p.m. in the Holiday Inn's Dakota Hall, a panel with Pflugrath; Spencer Hildre, president of GPK Products, Inc; and Wayne Voorhees, president of Northern Pipe Products will discuss "Building a Business: Reaching a Global Market."

GPK Products, Inc. is a wholly owned corporation of the Pflugrath family and located in Fargo's industrial park. Its plant, approximately the size of six Football fields, is the largest producer of PVC fittings for the wastewater industry in the United States. Its growth has been approximately 20 percent annually since 1971. . . .

That's awesome, an American success story. What isn't so great is that Hoffman didn't think to share that success story with her listeners, instead, opting to blither on with an implied "poor but loving and stable" narrative to underscore her preceptions of Dayton's "ideology"  and perhaps his own upbringing as a retail princeling.  It's well-known that Dayton was born into a wealthy family; the GOP seems to kvetch about this a great deal, while deploring envy itself.

I'm less clear just what the heck Hoffman was up to when she was less than candid about her own background. Since she serves on the board of GPK Products, Inc., she probably knows when the company was started, right? One would think that she'd be proud of the family firm's rise to national prominence.

And this isn't the first time she's been a bit fuzzy about the firm. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Daily reported that she had said that the North Star state's business climate forced the company to build in North Dakota.

A hardship, Bluestem is certain, for a company that was started in North Dakota. Life is always so rough for poor Kvetchin' Gretchen, whether she knows it or not.

Note: In this Facebook post,  readers see a photo of "Gretchen Hoffman, Pat Pflugrath &" another person. "Mick and Pat Pflugrath" show up in a google search as contributors to the NDSU Foundation. Googled separately, they turn up as generous contributors to Republican political committees in North Dakota; both are now retired. It's safe to say these are Hoffman's parents. And the issue here isn't with their success; it's Hoffman's radio tale--condemning class warfare while playing a sly hand of it herself--that's the problem.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts"

: Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet

: Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

 

There's something about Gacy: Bachmann confuses Gutknecht's old boss with the Duke

Bluestem isn't quite sure what it is about Minnesota's Republican Representatives and the Clown Killer, but to the best of its knowledge, former Representative Gil Gutknecht never confused serial killer John Wayne Gacy, of Waterloo, Iowa, with John Wayne, of Winterset, Iowa.

Michele Bachmann, who yesterday declared "Everything I needed to know, I learned in Iowa," experienced an oopsie moment today:

This morning, while in Iowa to announce her candidacy for president, Michele Bachmann made a play for local brownie points by comparing herself to one of the town's native sons, John Wayne.

But John Wayne was from Winterset, Iowa. And the John Wayne from Waterloo is actually killer clown John Wayne Gacy.

Oops?

Speaking on the front lawn of a quaint little home, Bachmann told a Fox News reporter, "John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too."

Maybe it was the move to Anoka that launched her personal brain drain.

Bluestem would like to add a historical note: former Congressman Gil Gutknecht, a native of Cedar Falls, worked at the restaurant Gacy managed in Iowa. In 2006, the Mankato Free Press reported in Gutknecht calls for House page investigation:

Gutknecht — who worked as a teenager at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant managed by John Wayne Gacy, who the world would later learn had molested and murdered dozens of boys . . .

“There was something about (Gacy) that was very different,” Gutknecht said. . . .

Give Gutknecht credit for not confusing him with the Duke.  That honor belongs to Bachmann alone.

Photo: Bachmann shrugged; Galt's Gulch it's not.

Connecting the dots on fracking sand: from Hay Creek Township's citizens to the New York Times

A major investigative report in today's New York Times on the economic viability of the shale gas extraction industry, Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush, is closer to home than many Minnesotans might realize.

Just last week, residents in Goodhue County pushed for a moratorium on silica sand mining, the Red Wing Republican Eagle reported in Silica sand mine moratorium still up in the air. Minnesota's silica sand is a material uniquely suited for hydrofracturing-- or "fracking" as it's called in the slang of the debate--and hundreds of citizens are concerned about the effects of pit mining in their area.

It's not an abstract fear. I grew up along the Minnesota River Valley near St. Peter, and have seen the way that UniMinn's mines near Kasota and Ottawa have changed the face of the prairies there.

Or rather, I haven't seen the changes, given the ginormous berms that hide the pits from the curious.  I can't say that the walls that shield my eyes from glimpses of Mordor on the Minnesota River are reassuring. Or that they erase the memory of the loveliness that was, what those prairies looked like when I was a girl.

All company hype aside, it's not an improvement.

Shale plays: "giant Ponzi schemes"?

So it's worth readers' time to check out the New York Times article, which suggests that even within the natural gas industry, experts are questioning whether the rush to extract natural gas will pay for or sustain itself.

The short skinny from Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush:

Natural gas companies have been placing enormous bets on the wells they are drilling, saying they will deliver big profits and provide a vast new source of energy for the United States.

But the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents and an analysis of data from thousands of wells.

In the e-mails, energy executives, industry lawyers, state geologists and market analysts voice skepticism about lofty forecasts and question whether companies are intentionally, and even illegally, overstating the productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves. Many of these e-mails also suggest a view that is in stark contrast to more bullish public comments made by the industry, in much the same way that insiders have raised doubts about previous financial bubbles.

“Money is pouring in” from investors even though shale gas is “inherently unprofitable,” an analyst from PNC Wealth Management, an investment company,  wrote to a contractor in a February e-mail. “Reminds you of dot-coms.”

“The word in the world of independents is that the shale plays are just giant Ponzi schemes and the economics just do not work,” an analyst from IHS Drilling Data, an energy research company,  wrote in an e-mail on Aug. 28, 2009. . . .

And guess who is  being asked  to help foot the bill with subsidies for the natural gas industry? The Times notes:

If the industry does not live up to expectations, the impact will be felt widely. Federal and state lawmakers are considering drastically increasing subsidies for the natural gas business in the hope that it will provide low-cost energy for decades to come.

But if natural gas ultimately proves more expensive to extract from the ground than has been predicted, landowners, investors and lenders could see their investments falter, while consumers will pay a price in higher electricity and home heating bills.

At a time when renewable energy sources are under scrutiny, it's important not to give a more traditional source a pass. Read the Times article, which also raises questions about the consequences of frackin on local water quality.

Hay Creek Township: citizens object

What the reporters don't consider are the environmental consequences to local landscapes where fracking sand is mined. That's what's got people near Red Wing riled up, the Republican Eagle reports:

The moratorium was requested by Citizens Against Frac Sand Mining, a group of hundreds of concerned citizens who have signed petitions and held meetings in hopes of educating the public and ultimately preventing a silica sand mine from being established in Hay Creek Township.

Oklahoma-based company Windsor Permian has started experimental drilling, but has yet to apply for any conditional use permit in order to mine the 155 acres of land it purchased earlier this year.

More than 100 people crammed themselves into a stuffy assembly room - with many trailing out into the hallway - to offer their testimonies as to why silica sand mining should be prevented for the next year.

Citizens presented concerns over a mine ruining the area's natural beauty and geography, residents developing diseases from breathing in silica dust, water quality being affected and roads being destroyed by trucks hauling extracted sand. Many points were repeated several times as nearly 25 people came forward to share their thoughts and opinions on why a moratorium should be put in place. . . .

Although the number of citizens present at the meeting slowly faded as the hours ticked by, their opinions lingered in the minds of commissioners as they ended the night by tabling the issue until July "due to the volume of information and overwhelming public comment."

The moratorium will be revisited at the Planning Advisory Commission's next meeting Monday, July 18.

Fool's gold: Star Tribune sees shiny object

The Star Tribune took a long look at the local mining issue a couple of weeks ago in Silica sand is the new gold. The article didn't question the vitality of natural gas extraction, and  managed somehow to miss the large pit just south of Kasota. Both are unfortunate omissions, especially considering the historical battle local people waged as Unminn battled for the right to stripmine its Precious. At least one small sliver is left of the prairie that was, where pasqueflowers blossom in the spring. Once there were more.

With the publication of the Times' report, thoughtful Minnesotans might wonder if all that glitters here is only a new fools' gold, like the ring that drew the hearts of Middle Earth to Mordor.  The Times article concludes:

Still, in private exchanges, many industry insiders are skeptical, even cynical, about the industry’s pronouncements. “All about making money,” an official from Schlumberger, an oil and gas services company, wrote in  a July 2010 e-mail to a former federal regulator about drilling a well in Europe, where some United States shale companies are hunting for better market opportunities.

“Looks like crap,” the Schlumberger official wrote about the well’s performance, according to the regulator, “but operator will flip it based on ‘potential’ and make some money on it.”

“Always a greater sucker,”  the e-mail concluded.

Will Goodhue County's residents be asked to sacrifice their quality of life for market opportunites that may not deliver the affordable energy future in exchange?

Photo: Diagram depicting the layout of the proposed mining areas and its proximity to homes, via Citizens Against Silica Sand Mining's Facebook page; used with permission (above); Ottawa from space, Google satellite screenshot (center): Kasota SNA and Uniminn from space, Google satellite screenshot-- note that it's a closer shot than the Ottawa view, and so I left the zoom in/out feature on both screenshots for comparison (below) .

 

Guest post: Nolan Lenzen takes LSP's beginning farmer message to D.C.

Adapted from a post at Take Action Minnesota's website; republished with permission of TAM.

by Anna Cioffi

In mid-June, central Minnesota farmer and LSP member Nolan Lenzen was in Washington, D.C., carrying a simple, but critical, message: agriculture is a growing and vibrant sector of our nation’s economy, and it provides many opportunities for young producers such as himself. Yet farming is also one of the most difficult occupations to enter. Limited access to markets, hyper land price inflation, high input costs, and a lack of sufficient support networks are just a few barriers new agricultural entrepreneurs face. It doesn’t need to be this way.

Lenzen, a graduate of LSP’s Farm Beginnings program, joined beginning farmers from across the country in a fly-in to meet with agricultural policymakers in Congress and to discuss ways to expand and improve a comprehensive beginning farmer and rancher initiative that breaks down barriers to entry and gives real support to small and mid-scale producers across the country.

As was recently described in a Land Stewardship Letter profile and podcast featuring Lenzen, he started out as a conventional dairy farmer, but soon found himself on a speeding treadmill of mounting debt, an unsustainable workload and dwindling market opportunities. A few years ago, Lenzen transitioned into a grass-based organic system, finding it better for his bottom line, his cows, his family and the environment. Alternative systems like grass-based organic dairying have been a good fit for many young dairy farmers like Lenzen, but these innovative producers continue to face barriers in accessing federal programs designed to assist them with getting started.

If we want to encourage a new generation to pursue a career in agriculture, and to thus create vibrant rural communities, we must design public policy that responds to the unique needs of beginning farmers and ranchers.

Now is the time to begin discussing how good public policy can support the next generation of farmers. Policy makers are already beginning to debate the 2012 Farm Bill, making this a prime opportunity to get the message across to Congress that it has an opportunity to expand and improve comprehensive beginning farmer and rancher initiatives.

The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, a precedent-setting national initiative, is a big step in the right direction. Congress needs to continue to support and even expand BFRDP and programs like it in the next Farm Bill (click here for a fact sheet on BFRDP and here for a podcast describing the initiative). For more information on other policy initiatives that can help the next generation of farmers, contact LSP’s Policy Program at 612-722-6377.

Anna Cioffi

Anna Cioffi is a Policy Organizer with the Land Stewardship Project, one of TakeAction Minnesota’s 26 organizational members. 

Photo: The Lenzen family, via Land Stewartship Project.

Parry pitches bicker fit at Owatonna Coffee with Legislators; Kath provides grownup moment

While meeting with constituents, Senator Mike Parry had a public meltdown over the ongoing budget talks, blaming Governor Dayton for everything short of the weather. His tantrum left his much younger colleague, the baby-faced Representative Kory Kath, to provide the grown-up moment.

Yesterday's Owatonna People's Press reported in Local legislators butt heads over budget talk:

There was just one issue on everyone’s mind Wednesday morning when state Sen. Mike Parry, R-Waseca, and state Rep. Kory Kath, D-Owatonna, stopped by the AmericInn Hotel and Convention Center for the Coffee with Legislators event.

The issue? The unresolved state budget. . . .

The article chronicles the back-and-forth between Parry and Kath, until the Waseca pol decides that only one player is responsible for the situation:

Parry said that at this point, the shutdown was out of the Legislature’s hands and now in Gov. Daytons’.

“Let me be very straightforward. This majority produced 10 fiscally sound budgets. There’s only one person that shuts this state down, only one, and that is this governor that we have,” Parry said.

Kath was having none of it:

Kath quickly jumped in, calling Parry’s statement “completely false” and told him he was dishonoring his office.

“Everybody’s in this game right now about making sure this does not happen on July 1. Let’s be serious, negotiations are between two different sides,” Kath said. “Mike, don’t stand here and dishonor your office as a senator and my office as a representative to say we’re not all in this.”

Leave it to a star educator to know how to discipline the wannabe bully in the room.

Read the comments as well. For a paper whose readers tend to leave pro-Republican observations, the remarks don't particular trend toward Michael Brodkorb's pet broadcaster.

Photo: Senator Parry tries to grasp civility--and strangle it!

Related posts: Whatever the game may be, Parry borrows tax refugee fear talk from Glencoe Glenn Gruenhagen

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

Walz to host budget town halls in Rochester and Winona

Congressman Tim Walz asks southern Minnesotans to join him in Rochester and Winona on Monday, June 27th for town halls on the federal deficit.

The Winona Daily News reports in Help Walz tame the budget at town hall:

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., will host a town hall meeting Monday in Winona with the hope that some locals can offer a few ideas to help elected officials in Washington, D.C., find ways to reduce the national deficit.

Walz will be joined by Sara Imhof, a representative from the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that aims to educate citizens on issues surrounding federal budget deficits.

Imhof will lead attendees in a workshop that will give them a chance to discuss the current deficit in small groups and come up with potential solutions to present to Walz.

The idea behind Monday's workshop isn't necessarily that a small group of Winonans will singlehandedly balance the country's budget. Rather, it's a creative way for constituents to offer Walz feedback.

Update: The Rochester Post Bulletin has now posted info about the  early afternonn  town hall in the Med City : Walz to hold deficit town hall meetings Monday. [end update]

Deets from the press release:

RSVP appreciated by phone at 507-206-0643 or at www.walz.house.gov.

These town halls are open to the press and public. A representative from the non-partisan fiscal-watchdog group the Concord Coalition will be on hand to work with participants during the hands-on budgeting activity.

Monday, June 27th

12:30-2:30pm
Rochester Community and Technical College
3rd Floor College Center (CC 300)
851 30th Ave SE
Rochester, MN 55904-4999

5:30-7:30pm
Winona State University
Kryzsko Commons, East Hall
Huff & 10th Streets
Winona, Minnesota

Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts"

Although two supporters of Senator Gretchen Hoffman have written that death threats and bullying during the session required escorts for the freshman legislator by law enforcement at the state capitol, an investigation by Bluestem Prairie finds no evidence to support the claims.

Last Friday, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal published a letter, Should advocate for Hoffman abasement, in which Fergus Falls resident David Adams scolded the newspaper for not defending the freshman senator against the ethics claims menace and the senator who generated it:

Additionally, you seem to think that she must obey your demands that she grovel to a mean-spirited and vindictive Sen. Goodwin who does nothing but promote a hedonistic agenda aimed at demeaning our traditional cultural values.

Okay then. Bluestem has not found the pursuit of pleasure to be the province of the mean-spirited and vindicative, but as a poor country blogger, my perspective on hedonism might suffer geographic limitations.

Adams is entitled to his opinion, as we all are, but later in the letter, he asserts a claim which stopped me cold:

In keeping her promise to us, Hoffman has been threatened with loss of her life, and bullied so badly by liberal groupies within the capitol halls that she has had to have capitol police escort her from her offices to committee hearings.[emphasis added]

However, The Daily Journal is more concerned with some perceived insult to someone who does not even represent our district or our interests. . . .

. . .You should be advocating for the protection of our senator not for her abasement.

Has Senator Hoffman's life been threatened? Has she been "bullied so badly by liberal groupies within the capitol halls that she has had to have capitol police escort her from her offices to committee hearings"?

If so, this isn't a joking matter. Death threats and a need for police escorts are no laughing matter. It's also a feminist issue, since historically violence and threats of violence have been used to keep women--regardless of their party--from participating in politics. More broad human rights considerations suggest that everyone has a right to feel secure in his or her person as we go about our business.

Nor is this the first time that a letter writer has claimed that Senator Hoffman has had reason to fear for her life. Back in  early April, Jerome Mullins wrote in Hoffman garners even more respect from voter:

And her work in committees to expose and cut unnecessary jobs and payroll expenses in some bloated governmental agencies and departments has got the government labor unions so angry with her that there are days when several Capitol police have to escort her and other conservative lawmakers around the halls of the legislature to provide her safety from the threats of the unions.

If these claims are true, this is serious stuff--for while Bluestem believes in felicitously composed ridicule, it doesn't support threats to people's lives. There should be no "Second Amendment solution" in disagreements with our elected officials; the solution is civic engagement and elections.

Have liberal groupies and public employee unions threatened Senator Hoffman with bodily harm? I couldn't find any news reports that support Mullins' claim that she and "other conservative lawmakers" had to be escorted by law enforcement inside the capitol--nor any reports of Hoffman being singled out.

One blogger had asked Are Conservative Lawmakers Being Escorted Around Capitol By Security? after reading Mullins's LTE in the Wadena Pioneer Journal, but appears to have directed his question to the world at large, rather than those involved in providing capitol complex security.

Others were asking more general questions about security on the hill. Indeed, questions of capitol complex security were deemed important enough by Governor Dayton, legislative leaders and the state supreme court to put together a review of the state's approach to the issue, following the attack on Representative Gabby Giffords in Arizona. The final report of the Minnesota committee can be read here.

Given the seriousness of the letter writers' claims--and Adams' request that the Fergus Falls Daily Journal begin advocating for Hoffman's protection, Bluestem started asking the specific question: Has Senator Gretchen Hoffman needed a police escort inside the Minnesota State Capitol because she has received threats?

My first call was to the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms office. The person who answered the phone hadn't heard of any threats to Senator Hoffman, but noted that "Capitol Security" would be in charge of investigating any threats to senators, as well as providing any "police" escort inside the building. I was directed to call John Mock at Capitol Security.

Returning my call later yesterday afternoon, Mock said that no state patrol officers had been assigned to escort Senator Hoffman during the session, and his office had no record of any death threats to Hoffman that had been reported to Capitol Security.  However, he added that this is not a definitive answer.

He noted that while people often refer--as the letter writers did-- to "capitol police," this phrase is a misnomer. Two state patrol officers are assigned to Capitol Security, although their numbers are often supplemented as security needs change (say, when large rallies are planned).

The uniformed state patrol officers on duty are assisted by uniformed civilian security officers, who are employees of the state patrol, Mock explained. The  uniformed civilian security officers are the men and women at the state capitol who wear blue uniforms.

Finally, a third group assists with securing the capitol, non-uniformed civilian security personnel. This final group is largely composed of retired law enforcement officers. They wear maroon blazers, khaki slacks, and badges (not shields) that identify them.

Mock thought that it was possible that Hoffman might have asked for an escort from any of these levels, although his office has no record of such a request and no state patrol officers were assigned to protect her.

He noted that anyone at the capitol complex--including any visitor--can ask for an escort if he or she feels the need for one; one doesn't have to be a state employee or legislator working at the state capitol to receive assistance from Capitol Security. This policy is very much in line with security procedures at universities; escorts can be requested by anyone who feels the need for one. It's  "better safe than sorry" common sense.

So it is possible that at some point in the session, Senator Hoffman asked for an escort from Capitol Security. However, the office didn't receive reports of any death threats nor did it provide a "capitol police escort" as a consequence of them.

Given that this is the case, Mullins and Adams' claims seem more like the posings of characters from a reality show than solid concerns about Senator Hoffman's security. Indeed, I can't find any instance of Senator Hoffman herself making statements about threats or a need for "capitol police" escort.

I suspect a couple of DFL activist friends may be reading this and wondering where "liberal groupies" might be found, while public employee union members are probably just rolling their eyes at the "government employee union" rhetoric. One of the tactics of the right is to invoke dislike of the "government" with that dog-whistle label, in order to better demonize all public employees.

Let Bluestem make a modest proposal to Mullins and Adams. Given their flair for hysterics, and the overall lack of evidence at the state capitol for their claims, let them go into show business. All across greater Minnesota, cable access channels are crying out for material. These budding scriptwriters should pitch a show that will demonstrate their creative potential. Call it "The Real Drama Queens of Otter Tail County."

Photo: State Senator Gretchen Hoffman

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet

: Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

 

Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet

For the last week, Bluestem has chonicled letters and comments in the Fergus Falls Daily Journal, in which Senator Gretchen Hoffman's supporters paint the Vergas yarn seller as the victim in the self-induced social media ethics scandal that was officially closed yesterday.

Despite the unanimous decision of the bi-partisan ethics panels led by Republican President of the Senate Michelle Fischbach, which found Hoffman in the wrong and called for her apology along with other remedial action, the chorus in Fergus Falls maintains that Hoffman did nothing wrong.

A letter appear today that takes the discussion into Senator Hoffman's office. Danielle Saul of Fergus Falls interned in Senator Hoffman's office during the spring semester (see screen shot). And while a call to Senator Hoffman's office revealed that Saul's internship "ended at the end of the school year," it looks as if the learning process itself is still very much ongoing.

As is Ms. Saul's contact with Hoffman's legislative aid, Kimberley Balega. On June 17, Saul tweeted that she was at the RightOnline conference in Minneapolis with the Senate employee:

@DanielleRSaul Danielle Saul

Learning how to blog and twitter at RightOnline with @KimBalega #RC11 #AFP

Ms. Saul writes in The political double standard must end (published June 21):

If you watch the video of Senator Goodwin’s speech, the real video not the cut down and edited video, you can see for yourself that Senator Hoffman did nothing wrong. Goodwin started off by saying, “This is how far we’ve come: the way state institutions used to be — they were called ‘Institutions for Idiots, Imbeciles and the Insane,” however, she later added, “We might not have the 10 state ‘Hospitals for the Idiots and the Insane and the Imbeciles’ like we used to”.

Senator Hoffman did not tweet anything mean-spirited. She merely tweeted what was said on the floor. . . .

Apparently, learning about the ethics process didn't come up while Saul traveled the road from Hoffman's office to Senate floor. Or perhaps, the MSUM college student was so blinded by the light Hoffman's brilliance that she missed the spirit with which the ethics committee decreed that Hoffman had indeed done something wrong.

Along with Senator Hoffman, Danielle Saul is listed as a speaker for the budget rally next Tuesday in Fergus Falls, sponsored by the Otter Tail County Republican Party.

Did Saul invent the argument in her letter, as presumably bright college students are on occasion known to do? Looked back on the history of the Hoffman-Goodwin tweet episode, I think not.

Rather, the Senate Majority  Caucus itself posted a video of Senator Goodwin's remarks with the thought that somehow Hoffman's tweet would be justified; there were few takers, and the Republicans on the ethics committee, along with their DFL colleagues, found that Hoffman had indeed been wrong in misrepresenting the floor statements.

Hoffman apologized. Her supporters should move on.

Perhaps Hoffman  can use the occasion of Saul's letter as a teachable moment. The younger woman hopes to enter politics as an operative and someday run for office herself. Should Hoffman--and perhaps Amy Koch, Michelle Fischbach and Kimberly Balega--educate Saul about the integrity of the ethics process, she (and Minnesota's political discourse in general) would be greatly served.

The ethics committee found that the facts about the tweet are not in dispute. Hoffman has apologized. She might remind her supporters of this, especially those who are young and impressionable.

Screenshot: from Gretchen Hoffman's contact page today.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

 

New Ulm's creator of sacred local beer honored for service to humanity

Andrew Volstead, the original blue-nosed gopher, is still dead. In New Ulm, the Marti family continues to serve beer--and humanity.

The New Ulm Journal reports in Ted and Jodi Marti to receive Service to Mankind award:

Ted and Jodi Marti are best known as the owners of Schell's Brewery in New Ulm. But their activities above and beyond the brewing of beer have earned them the New Ulm Sertoma Club's Service to Mankind Award. . . .

Nominators for the Martis pointed to their long contributions to organizations in and around New Ulm, such as Flandrau State Park, the New Ulm Food Shelf, Bavarian Blast, Turner Hall, the Lind House, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

The brewery's tours and its Bock Fest are among the top tourist attractions in town.

The Martis have also gone above and beyond the call of duty with their participation in the Wounded Warrior Project, Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, and the members of the Minnesota National Guard. . . .

During the brewery's 150th anniversary celebration in 2010, the Martis hosted a variety of community events, even donating and helping plant 150 trees along the New Ulm bike path.

What can Bluestem say about Minnesota's brewery industry? In addition to providing citizens with the solace of tasty beer, it creates jobs and civic engagement. And beer.

Photo: Endearingly great beer puts a smile on your face.

Tales of Hoffman: Rally in Fergus Falls on June 28; secret DFLer Bill Ingebrightsen invited

As Bluestem Prairie noted in Tales of Hoffman: supporter blames "Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club" for ethics ruling, the Fergus Falls Journal's letters and comment sections are buzzing with local supporters of Senator Hoffman.

In the worldview of these folks, Hoffman is a victim of DFLers and the Old Boys Club,  both forces which rule the Minnesota Senate's Subcommittee on Ethics. One letter writer, Peter Balega (Becker County Republican Chair in 2010), noted Friday that Goodwin should be the one apologizing.

Okay then.

Perhaps these Otter Tail and Becker County conservative stalwarts can contact Politics in Minnesota to ask why it's carrying content like that in this afternoon's story, Hoffman ethics complaint dropped:

The Senate Ethics  Committee has dismissed a complaint against GOP freshman Sen. Gretchen Hoffman over a tweet she sent out about DFL Sen. Barb Goodwin in the midst of a heated health and human services debate.

GOP Senate Ethics Chair Michelle Fischbach issued a letter Tuesday saying Hoffman has fulfilled the requirements set by the committee and the complaint has been dropped. Last Monday the committee ruled that Hoffman must issue a written apology to Goodwin, delete the original tweet, and post the committee resolution on her Twitter account.

Hoffman angered DFLers when she tweeted that Goodwin had “just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill” on the floor in May. Goodwin was referencing the fact that state institutions for those with mental illness used to be called “institutions for idiots, imbeciles, and the insane,” and asked Hoffman to apologize on the floor. When she did not receive an apology, DFL Sen. Ann Rest filed an ethics complaint.

Hoffman sent a written apology late last week and removed the original tweet from her account, but further angered DFLers by closing her old account and tweeting the report link on a new account with no followers.

Perhaps the OTC/BC GOP sorts who champion Hoffman's victim status will have the chance to ask a member of the Old Boys Club of the Ethics Subcommittee in person why they oppress poor Gretchen at a rally next Tuesday.

Via the events page of the 7th CD Republican Party on Facebook, political junkies learn about:

Otter Tail Rally in Support of Conservative Budget

Tuesday, June 28 · 5:30pm - 8:30pm

NP Park, Fergus Falls, MN

This is a rally to show support of a conservative budget. Speakers include Senator Gretchen Hoffman, Representative Mary Franson, Peter Balega, Brian Nelson, Danielle Saul, and Brian Kohout. Representative Nornes, Representative Murdock, Representative, Westrom and Senator Ingebrightsen have been invited to speak as well.

Senator Ingebrightsen is a member of the ethics panel. If he shows, perhaps he'll let the locals--and LTE writer/speaker and Becker County Republican Chair Peter Balega--know why he and President of the Senate, Michelle Fischbach, both Republicans, voted to ask for the conditions outlined in the PIM news brief.

In High-tech legislators still indulge in Stone Age behavior, Star Tribune columnist Jon Tevlin noted that Senate Good Old Boy Ingebrightsen said:

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, played the adult for much of the hearing and provided a little levity with his lack of sophistication in social media.

"I struggle with this, Twitter-Tweeter thing we have there," he said.

"Anybody who knows me, I get up every morning, roll the stone from the front of my cave and drag my knuckles to work."

Ingebrigtsen noted that his statements had been misstated on social media before, but "my skin is a little thicker than others'," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't worth its weight in tweet, or Twitter."

Then Ingebrigtsen offered some wisdom that could only come from a knuckle-dragger: Hoffman should probably apologize at some point. He didn't post it on Facebook or send it out on his iPad, he just said it, straight up. The committee agreed and told Hoffman to remove the tweet.

It seemed like a very adult thing to do.

Ah, yes, telling Hoffman to remove the tweet and apologize. The old boy has some explaining to do if he shows in Fergus Falls in a week. The peanut gallery in Otter Tail County claims only DFLers object to Hoffman's tweet--will Ingebrightsen uncloak his secret donkey self?

More seriously: will Hoffman do the mature thing and  set her local supporters, some of whom are local Republican party officials, straight about the ethics process and her own apology? Since the letters are appearing in the local paper, Hoffman might want to put her corrections in writing in the paper as well.

Or does she approve of their mispresentations of the record and the Senate ethics process, including the conduct of that process by the Republican President of the Senate?

Photo: Gretchen Hoffman. Bluestem is not making this stuff up; these letters and comments really are in the local paper.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: supporter blames "Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club" for ethics ruling

: Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Tales of Hoffman: supporter blames "Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club" for ethics ruling

In a letter to the Fergus Falls Journal, yet another local supporter of ethically-challenged State Senator Gretchen has risen to defend her status as the real victim. The letter follows the "Hoffman-is-a-victim" messaging launched by the co-founder of the area's "Bulldog Republicans" in comment sections of Journal articles about the ethics review.

The letter writer has quite the record for veracity. Back in April, one of Gretchen Hoffman's supporters claimed in a letter,Hoffman garners even more respect from voter, that the freshman senator had to be escorted around the state capitol by law enforcement because of threats by public employee unions:

And her work in committees to expose and cut unnecessary jobs and payroll expenses in some bloated governmental agencies and departments has got the government labor unions so angry with her that there are days when several Capitol police have to escort her and other conservative lawmakers around the halls of the legislature to provide her safety from the threats of the unions.

Really? There were no reports at the time that Hoffman and others were being threatened by anyone or that Minnesota's conservative lawmakers needed escorts.

Now the same letter writer believes that he has discovered the reason why Gretchen Hoffman was reprimanded by the Senate ethics subcommittee, as he writes in Check out the public record:

Hoffman, a freshman senator (as you note) was unaware that in the Senate Book of Rules for Members was an archaic rule which said that if you are a senator in a committee hearing and another senator says something which offends you, you must either object openly, or wait to discusss the matter privately with the other party before you may offer any comments critical of the other.

Now, how many times can we all recall that politicians criticize each other, and are not called to account for it?

Many, no doubt, for that is part of the process, to point out differences between opposing parties. Hoffman made to apologize to Goodwin for criticizing her without informing her beforehand, but the DFL decided to make an issue of the matter, and charges were filed not by Goodwin but by a member of the DFL Senate leadership designated to roil the waters between the parties.

The ethics committee decided not so much on the accuracy of Hoffman’s comments, but on her failure to observe the Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club, and put her in her place as a freshman.

That Barbara Goodwin is also a freshman and a woman seems to have escaped this man's discerning eye. However, he has located the only victim here: not the woman who was smeared by a tweet about her speech from the floor of the senate (not in committee as the LTE writer claims). Nor is it the people living with disabilities who might have been harmed by the HHS budgt bill that Hoffman supported and Governor Dayon vetoed.

Oh no. Hoffman herself is the victim, put in her place as a freshman by the Old Boys Club. Okay then. On the Star Tribune report noting her apology, one commenter predicted a defense like that advanced by Mullins:

jo1glexJun 16, 118:20 pm

Hoffman is acting like a garden-variety sociopath. All too common these days, as the two parties become more and more the same and only value raw power. The worrisome part is that it looks like she's being coached by some downright cunning sociopaths. Because of course now it will be, "Gaw-lee, she apologized and everything, and those PC liberal nazi commie fascist bleeding hearts just won't let it go! And if she doesn't understand how The Tweeter works and all that, well, she's just a girl, and from the country to boot! But don't criticize her, you elitist sexists!" You know, the usual right-wing "I know you are but what am I" pity-party nihilism.

What Bluestem still can't puzzle out about this line of defense by Hoffman's supporters is the implied slam on the two Republicans on the evenly split Senate ethics committee, which issued the unanimous ruling concerning Hoffman's tweets. When he calls the decision partisan, does Mullins really mean to suggest that Michelle Fischbach and Bill Ingebrigtsen are closet DFLers?

If so, I'm ready to entertain strong doubts about the acumen of de facto Senate Majority Leader, caucus communications guru and Deputy Republican Party chair Michael Brodkorb. After all, Fischbach was selected as President of the Senate once the MNGOP took control of the body following the November 2010 elections.

Who knew she was secretly a Democrat wishing only to enforce the Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club? Who would have guessed the married mother of two was in reality a cross-dressing member of the Old Boys Club?

How could Brodkorb have missed it?

Photos: Senator Gretchen Hoffman, victim (top); President of the Minnesota Senate, Michelle Fischbach, secretly a DFLer and a dude, if a letter writer's argument is followed to its logical conclusion (bottom). Note: for the record, Bluestem's editor has met Michelle Fischbach and, unlike Mullins, does not seek to imply that the Stearns County Republican is either a dude or a Democrat.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Steve Drazkowski earns another accolade: Local Wall of Shame from Immigrants' List

Via today's column by Winona Daily News editor Darrell Ehrlick, Bluestem has learned of The Draz's anointment as a charter member of the Local Wall of Shame by Immigrants' List:

Steve Drazkowski, State Representative – Minnesota

In May 2010, Steve Drazkowski introduced a bill in the Minnesota House that was modeled on AZ SB 1070, permitting local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws, requiring possession of alien identification cards, and prohibiting transportation and housing, among other provisions.

But it's the way Drazkowski defended the bill that makes him distinctive -- fanning the flames of fear and mistrust of people different than you; Steve Drazkowski told the Minneapolis City Pages that “even more important than the money is the government's role of protecting its people. If we have people here who don't have a loyalty to their country, we need to be concerned.” In particular, Drazkowski said, he's concerned about “criminal alien felons who are being incarcerated for murder, rape, and child molestation."

It's shameless to exploit and prey on people's fears. Drazkowski can claim to be concerned about "the government's role of protecting its people," but when he uses fear as a cudgel to divide people and spread mistrust, he's the one creating the greatest danger and putting everyday Minnesotans at risk.

Apparently, reading about this honor fired up Ehrlick's formidable editorial resources, for he's in fine form in ‘Hall of Shame’ well deserved for Draz:

. . . Sure, Immigration List isn’t exactly a household name or power broker, but it is significant the rhetoric, legislation and the actions of a local (rural) politician have earned him a nationwide spotlight.

The point isn’t that Draz’s views seem to hurt his own constituents as well as being generally divisive. It’s that his views are so radical and out of step, they’re drawing attention from far away.

I worry that Winona County — the second-largest dairy producing county in the state — becomes known as a place openly hostile to those who are willing to work on dairy farms and just happen to speak Spanish.

I worry that southeastern Minnesota gets the reputation of being unwelcoming to those whose skin color is a few shades darker than mine. . . .

Ehrlick isn't alone in worrying that anti-immigrant sentiment will give Minnesota a reputation for being hostile to newcomers. Earlier this year, those dirty hippies at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce took a pro-reform message on the road.

Immigrants' List's leadership pointed out that Draz's anti-immigration legislation is a potential job-killer:

Immigrants List board member Amy Novick said, “He’s using his position as a state representative to import anti-immigration legislation into Minnesota — hurting Minnesota’s businesses and catching our farmers in his crossfire. Just as bad, he’s arguing for his job-killing policies by preying on people’s fears.”

Ehrlick concludes that things weren't always this way with the Draz. When he first took office

. . .we saw a capable, energetic and tireless worker who spent night and day working on flood recovery, fighting to get his district the help it needed.

In other words, solid work on real issues.

He broke with his own party to ensure his district was served.

He appeared to care more about the people than the politics.

A lot has changed, sadly.

Drazkowski has been a headline and editorial producer — championing one nutty bill after another.

But just think about all that time that could be spent actually helping people rather than driving them apart.

Good for headlines, newspapers, pundits, wonks and commentators, I guess.

Bad news for places like Winona County and Minnesota.

Photo: A classic from Tild.

 

Bradlee Dean's Street Team spotted canvassing in Coon Rapids' Walmart this afternoon

A friend forwarded a tweet by college journalist Anthony C. Maki:

@anthonycmaki Anthony C. Maki

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that 'You Can Run But You Can't Hide Ministries' is canvassing in front of the Anoka Walmart.

I was intrigued. On a day in which Congresswoman Michele Bachman was glitter-bombed by a LGBTQ ally protesting the Sixth District Republican's close connections with Bradlee Dean's anti-gay ministry, I was surprised to learn that a Street Team would be at any Walmart anywhere in the country.

So was Anthony Maki.

Reached by phone, Maki confirmed that he had seen two YCRBYCH Street Team members around 2:30 at the Coon Rapids Walmart, where he was picking up graduation pictures for a family member.

The young men at the Street Team table--cleary identified with a You Can Run But You Can't Hide banner--were talking to a female Walmart customer about the CDs set out for distribution along with magazines and pamphlets. Maki said that he couldn't say with any certainity that he saw a tip jar.

Maki didn't take a picture at the time.

"As a gay man, I don't feel comfortable being confrontational in situations like this," Maki said.

Reached by phone, "Jeremy" in management at the store confirmed that the YCRBYCH Street Team was indeed in the parking lot today, but referred Bluestem to a corporate media office 800 number. BSP left a message.

What's the surprise? First, back in May,Dean was condemned by nearly all of Minnesota's leadership following an exclusionary prayer on the Minnesota House floor in which Dean also implied that President Obama was not a Christian. Three days later, Bluestem's report on seeing a Dean Team in my local Walmart led to the Minneapolis City Pages inquiry about the fundraising.

CP reporter Nick Pinto reported in Bradlee Dean lied to Walmart about his church, is now banned from parking lot:

Now it turns out that not only is Dean permanently unwelcome in the state legislature -- he's also banned from the Walmart parking lot. . . .

Dean's You Can Run But You Can't Hide youth ministry was sighted yesterday hosting a fund-raising booth outside the Hutchinson Walmart.

We checked in with Walmart headquarters to ask if they knew they were playing host to a guy who says gay folks should be thrown in jail and has praised religious extremists who execute suspected homosexuals.

Walmart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie said Walmart didn't know -- because the ministry lied to them.

"They registered their request to solicit outside the store using a false name," Hardie said. "As soon as we learned the group's true identity, they were asked to leave."

And just as Kurt Zellers promised "That type of person will never, ever be allowed on this House floor again," Hardie said the ministry's hateful message has earned them a permanent ban from operating on Walmart property.

"Due to their actions towards our customers, we will no longer allow them to solicit outside our stores," Hardie said.

Will the Walmart ban be a setback for Dean? In his ministry's tax filings, Dean claims that his "street teams" raised $446,126 last year, working six days a week. Some have wondered whether operations like the one in Hutchinson yesterday can possibly be pulling in $1,400 a day.

The City Pages report raises questions about why a Street Team was tabling at the Coon Rapids store. Does the retail giant need to improve internal communications about a public news report? Or has something changed since the City Pages contacted the corporation?

Photo: Bluestem's picture from the Hutchinson Walmart in May.

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

When Bluestem last posted on the unfolding story generated by Vergas yarn-entreprenuer-turned-state-senator Gretchen Hoffman's recklessly rude tweet, the freshman legislator had yet to come to terms with the unanimous decision of the Senate ethics committee.

News venues across the state are reporting that Hoffman has finally complied--but in the Fergus Falls newspaper comments section, a local Republican and his fellow decency deniers have rallied to her defense.

It's quite the read as the co-founder of the Republican Bulldogs, who organized campaign events last year, skewer the DFL Senators for daring to bring a complaint and the local media for daring to report the story. Update: Republican Bulldog co-founder Dave Lindberg is the Vice Chair of House District 10A, according to the Otter Tail County GOP website.end update

Down in Worthington, a couple of days away from Fergus Falls as the crow flies, Forum political reporter Don Davis reports on the Globe's website:

Sen. Gretchen Hoffman has apologized for a tweet she issued last month during a heated Minnesota Senate debate on health-care funding.

As required by the Senate ethics committee on Monday, the Vergas Republican sent a letter to Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights.

“This letter is intended to be the written apology from me to you indicated by the Minnesota Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct...” Hoffman wrote. “I am certainly sorry for my misunderstanding of what you said and how I subsequently handled it.”

During debate on the health and human services funding bill on May 18, Goodwin told colleagues that state institutions for the mentally ill used to be called homes for the “idiots, imbeciles and the insane.” She used the phrase three times to illustrate how far treatment for the mentally ill has come.

“Sen. Goodwin just called people with mental illness idiots and imbeciles while debating HHS bill,” Hoffman tweeted to her followers.

Hoffman has not talked about the incident in public and did not testify at Monday’s Senate hearing, although her attorney did speak. The senator is a nurse who has worked with the mentally ill and her spokeswoman said she was concerned about Goodwin’s remarks.

Hoffman did not approach Goodwin on the Senate floor and she did not rise to protest the remarks, as allowed under rules.

The ethics panel voted to dismiss charges against Hoffman if she apologized to Goodwin, if she removed her original tweet and if she tweeted a link to the committee’s report on the case.

Hoffman’s Twitter page, including the original tweet, was removed on Wednesday and on Thursday a new one with a different address was created with a lone tweet that directed readers the report. . . .

KARE-11 adds in Sen. Hoffman issues apology for tweet, message still on website:

. . .Thursday Susan Closmore of the Senate Republican Caucus said that Senator Hoffman has complied with all the demands of the Senate Ethics committee.

The tweet was removed from Twitter. However, the tweet still remained on Sen. Hoffman's website as of 8pm Thursday evening. . . .

No word on where Senate Majority Leader Communications Director Michael Brodkorb was lurking.

The Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported earlier that the Subject of Hoffman’s tweets satisfied with ruling.

And while Kvetchin' Gretchen has begun to move forward, and Goodman has received satisfaction, a key Republican activist still carries a torch for the best version of Hoffman 1.0.  David Lindberg, co-founder of the Republican Bulldogs, has a lot to say in the comments.

Some background: Lindberg's name and that of his group pops up a few times in 2010 election coverage. The Star Tribune took note of Lindberg's organizing in a July 2010 article, Tom Emmer: Riding a new populist wave:

On a cold and drizzly Saturday afternoon, Tom Emmer was edging his way through the crowd at a Tea Party rally in Fergus Falls. . . .

. . ."I've think I've had a vision into Tom's heart," said David Lindberg, co-founder of Republican Bulldogs, which organized the rally. "I think he's a good person, and that he's willing to work with or at least listen to people."

Closer to the election, the Fergus Falls paper reported that Michael Brodkorb himself spoke at a Bulldog rally in GOP confident of gaining seats:

The Minnesota Republican party has had its feet on the ground all over the state in the last couple of months, and the Fergus Falls area has been no exception. About 65 party faithful were on hand at a Republican rally on Friday, and another 25 were at the Westridge Mall on Saturday for a rally hosted by the Republican Bulldogs.

While much of Saturday’s crowd was on hand to hear speeches by the candidates at the event, including 7th Congressional District candidate Lee Byberg, Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Tim Tingelstad, and state auditor candidate Pat Anderson, there was another speaker at the event who wasn’t running for political office: Michael Brodkorb, the deputy chair of the state GOP.

What is the leader of the Republican Bulldogs saying now about the ethics case? Just check out a comment left at the paper by Lindberg:

David Lindberg June 16, 2011 at 10:47 am Link

So Senator Hoffman misunderstood Senator Goodman. Is this why they (the democrats) need to raise taxes? So we can spend countless dollars investigating misunderstandings? I would like to share with everyone that I am a little thin skinned when it comes to our State Government wasting money on frivolous BS. Simply asking Senator Hoffman to retract the statement because she misunderstood Senator Goodman was never considered. Also isn’t the result the same? Senator Hoffman needs to apologize and remove the tweet. No there is hay to be made there for the democrats. God how I wish I could get a committee to meet every time I thought somebody either took me out of context or misunderstood what I had to say. Better yet I would love to be able to demand a committee meeting every time I took exception with somebody’s words or actions. This is a sad case of gotcha at best, and a pathetic attempt to tarnish the reputation of an exceptional Senator who has done a terrific job so far fighting to lower taxes, and reduce regulations so that we can get our economy growing again in Minnesota. One last thing, I would like to know how much Senator Goodman’s and the democrat’s gotcha game cost the hard working tax payers of Minnesota.

Poor Senator Hoffman! And curses on Goodman for asking for justice.

Will Lindberg be chasing after those Republicans on the committee who ruled that Kvetchin' Gretchen misled the public by misrepresenting Goodwin's remark? Take, for instance, remarks by Douglas County's Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, that Star Tribune columnist Jon Tevlin wove into High-tech legislators still indulge in Stone Age behavior:

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, played the adult for much of the hearing and provided a little levity with his lack of sophistication in social media.

"I struggle with this, Twitter-Tweeter thing we have there," he said.

"Anybody who knows me, I get up every morning, roll the stone from the front of my cave and drag my knuckles to work."

Ingebrigtsen noted that his statements had been misstated on social media before, but "my skin is a little thicker than others'," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't worth its weight in tweet, or Twitter."

Then Ingebrigtsen offered some wisdom that could only come from a knuckle-dragger: Hoffman should probably apologize at some point. He didn't post it on Facebook or send it out on his iPad, he just said it, straight up. The committee agreed and told Hoffman to remove the tweet.

It seemed like a very adult thing to do.

A fair point. 

Perhaps Brodkorb can visit Fergus Falls once more and use his much-touted powers of message discipline to provide a bit of obedience training for the Republican Bulldog.

Photo: Senator Hoffman. Tip of the hat to Phoenix Woman for the Kvetchin' Gretchen moniker.

Related posts: Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Missing at Minnpost: Why isn't Tony Sutton talking about Count Them All Properly Inc.recount fund?

In my twitter feed, many readers express astonishment at this passage in Cindy Brucato's column in today's MinnPost, Emmer sends checks from campaign fund to reimburse counties for recount expenses:

Thanks to recent Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, the check really is in the mail for Minnesota counties waiting to get repaid for their recount expenses.

When Emmer heard that around 20 counties were still waiting for the state Republican Party to reimburse them, he contacted the county auditors directly and sent them checks from the balance in the Tom Emmer for Governor campaign fund – about $20,000 to $25,000, he estimated.

"This is not my responsibility, but I feel it's my obligation," he said.

Emmer said he was startled to learn that the counties were still waiting for reimbursements almost six months after the recount was finalized. The invoices for such services as copying costs and requests for information had gone to the Republican Party which, like the DFL, is stretched financially after the 2010 election expenses.

'It allowed me to help the party'
"It caught me a little off guard and so I started calling some of them," he said. "It allowed me to help the party. It allowed me to call these folks to say thank you."

Provided that Sutton really was telling the truth in the past few weeks when he's said that he hasn't talked to Tom Emmer about the recount bills, Brucato's readers shouldn't find Emmer's statement surprising.

They might be better able to understand this passage if they simply recall two facts from last November. First,  failed burrito baron Tony Sutton moved with great alacrity to have the recount effort put under the control of the Republican Party of Minnesota, rather than the Emmer campaign.

The most entertaining contemporary analysis of this development last year remains Jay Weiner's article, also on MinnPost, GOP's saber-rattling Tony Sutton vows aggressive recount fight. Weiner wrote:

This was Day One of The Next Big Recount, and the Republicans aren't going to go gently after Tuesday's long election night.

For one, they're going national with their legal team. In 2008, Sen. Coleman oversaw his recount team and went local. This time, the state GOP is taking over the legal reins for candidate Tom Emmer, and they've hired Michael E. Toner. He's the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission under George W. Bush. He is highly respected by election lawyers nationwide. But Democratic sources told me they were unaware whether he has any extensive recount experience.

Minnesota Republican Party lawyer Tony Trimble, who was one of Coleman's chief lawyers, is also on the team.

For another, Sutton came out swinging, noting early and often at Republican Party headquarters today. . .

Thus, unlike the Coleman campaign, the Emmer campaign didn't oversee contact with election officials. Given that, why and how would Tom Emmer know--months later--who had or hadn't been paid? Has Sutton shared the RPM's books? Doesn't sound like in Brucato's article.

The second fact is like unto it, but more significant. For while the Federal Election Commission oversees regulation of the federal accounts of the Republican Party of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board reviews the state accounts of the party, no agency at either level reviews the accounts of Count Them All Properly Inc., the fund Tony Sutton set up to fund the recount efforts.

Via the Bluestem post, From the fascinating FEC reports of the Republican Party of Minnesota: of counties, committees, and candidates,  MPR reported in MNGOP won't disclose recount fundraising:

The Republican Party of Minnesota and Republican Tom Emmer's campaign for governor will not disclose the money it raised to help with the recount. Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton said today that the group created a separate corporate account, Count Them All Properly Inc., for their recount efforts. He said they won't disclose the amount of money raised or by whom -- and state and federal laws don't require them to release it.

How would Tom Emmer--or his treasurer--know if this separate corporate account had paid any of its bills? How will anyone?

Brucato notes that the assumption of the county bills by the Emmer committee will take some fancy footwork with regard to the state campaign finance rules that regulate gubernatorial committees:

Emmer said the campaign surplus came from contributions that arrived after the November election and that repayment to the counties leaves the campaign with just a few dollars on hand.

It also leaves the campaign with some explaining to do to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Usually, once all vendors are paid, campaign surpluses are designated to another campaign or political unit, like the Minnesota GOP, but Sutton believes such payments are a legitimate campaign expense.

There will be some kind of supplemental reporting, Emmer says.

Frankly, that seems fairly transparent. Meh.

Bluestem believes there's a far more interesting question posed by the element of this story that Brucato omitted from the columns. If Count Them All Properly Inc. didn't use money it raised to pay the counties, how was the money Sutton and his minions raised to pay for the recount spent?

While neither Sutton nor the RPM are legally obligated to disclose the books of CTAPI, perhaps the failed burrito baron might rise to the level of generosity displayed by Emmer and his committee. Surely, contributors must be wondering where the money went.

Related posts: From the fascinating FEC reports of the Republican Party of Minnesota: of counties, committees, and candidates

 From Howe's Epistle to the Deadbeats: news of MNGOP debt "spreading through the political blogs"

 

 

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

A handful of ethics-related items appear on Bluestem's radar this morning, like the low-hanging clouds promising rain. Like rain, the narratives fall on the just and unjust in Minnesota.

First, the good news.

In Our view: Walz wise to sever link to Weiner, the Winona Daily News notes:

Rep. Anthony Weiner appears to have ruined himself with the recent shameful sexting incident.

It would seem the Congressman from New York would have little to do with Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, but Weiner contributed a total of $3,000 to Rep. Tim Walz, our area member of Congress.

Though the two donations were made literally years ago, Walz decided to give the money to a local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans - a sensitive and generous move.

Walz had nothing to do with the Weiner scandal. The donations - a standard practice of Congress to contribute to each other's campaigns - were done long before the text message scandal, it would appear. The donations weren't illegal, and they were clearly disclosed. . . .

. . .But what cinched the deal for us was the nonchalant way Walz handled it. Walz didn't donate the money and then posture. He didn't call for Weiner's resignation as some have. He simply made the donation and moved on. While some might take that as an admission of embarrassment, we believe this demonstrates more about Walz's priorities. The scandal, while salacious and provocative, is nonetheless trifling for anyone outside of Weiner's legislative district. Regardless of political ideology, this scandal is disgusting and intolerable.

By not making more of this, Walz is not becoming part of the story. In other words, there are better things to be debating - better things to discuss. Like energy. Like the federal budget.

It says a lot about our congressman. He stepped up, even when he did nothing wrong in the first place.

Read the whole thing--and as is so often the case with Winona's daily, the editorial is on the money, so to speak, about priorities.

And to be fair, Walz isn't the only member of Minnesota's congressional delegation to contribute tainted campaign funds to a charity. Congresswoman Bachmann gave $9,200 in campaign contributions from scamster Frank Vennes to a charity (Minnpost said in April that Pawlenty's path was less clear) and donated her share of $10,000 from "Bobby Thompson," who bilked people who thought they were giving to a naval vets' charity, to veterans' groups.

The other ethics issues in the news?  A high-profile announcement by a consultant that no charges will be filed in the DOJ investigation of the propriety of a businessman spending over $100,000 on Norm Coleman's suits, travel and other gifts. No wrong-doing worth prosecuting, apparently, but a smudge mark on the brand image of a politician who was once seen as a bright rising star, first for the DFL, then the MNGOP.

Note: The Star Tribune reported at 3:56 p.m., June 16, that Hoffman has apologized in a brand new twitter account, having deleted her old one. Judge the apology for yourself here.

Finally, a more petty case--and petty in every sense of the word. As I write this post, State Senator Gretchen Hoffman has yet to come to terms with the decision of the Senate Ethics subcommittee. Her cleary misleading tweet remains online in her twitter stream and she has yet to note the decision in her twitter stream and provide a link to the decision. No word on her apology.

Thus, the complaint still stands.

In light of the contrast between her and Paul Gardner's behavior following complaints about their respective tweets, Minnesotans can be forgiven for thinking she's an awful person.

Bluestem adds a modest proposal about another offense to her list:  a course aimed at addressing Hoffman's basic skills in English composition. On May 11, Hoffman tweeted in reaction to a Minnesota Progressive Project post about The Not Brodkorb, Minnesota's other senate majority leader, Amy Koch:

Shameful!! from the folks who claim to advocate for strong, convicted women.#alinskytactic #mngop http://tinyurl.com/3ugaq32 #mnleg #mnsrc

I can see why pairing Senator Amy Koch with a Hollywood stereotype about strong women is objectionable, and indeed, the author of the MPP post apologized after being asked to do so in a comment left by the president of Minnesota NOW. Good for him--and to her.

Nonetheless, in addition to the committee-ordered apology to Goodwin, Hoffman should apologize to Koch while she's at it.  It's never been remotely suggested that the Not Brodkorb has ever been charged with a crime, much less convicted. Indeed, no one ever implies that there's an ongoing investigation anywhere.

To call Koch "convicted" is  misleading--and an offense to proper usage itself. Given that Hoffman is a co-author of the bill to adopt English as a the state's official language, perhaps she might learn how to use it first.

On the other hand, perhaps Hoffman took the Minnesota Progressive Project to be a non-profit aimed at rescuing robust female offenders. Bluestem leaves that question for others to ponder.

Images: Walz at a veterans' meeting (above); another offensive Hoffman tweet (below).