This has not been a good day for the Republican Party of Minnesota. Still groggy from the weekend CD1 non-endorsement hang-over, the poor-mouth pachyderms found a story from PIM's Paul Demko and Briana Bierschbach, State GOP served with eviction papers for its St. Paul office space waiting in their inboxes.
Later the same day, the Star Tribune exposed the latest rent in the worn fabric of the Gopher Grand Old Party, with the posting of State GOP warns college Republicans not to hold Bradlee Dean event. Some of the deets:
Top state Republicans sent St. Cloud State College Republicans a message: Allow firebrand preacher Bradlee Dean to speak and you may not get Republican jobs in the future.
"Sometimes young people need to have better judgment in who they invite to things under the Republican banner," said Minnesota Republican Party chair Pat Shortridge. "If you are going to do dumb things, and not take the advice of the state college Republicans and the state chairman of the Republican party, it might have some consequences."
Despite hearing the message from the party's executive director and being told they would no longer be a state chapter if they allowed Dean to speak, St. Cloud State College Republicans College plan to go ahead with the event. The event , an evening concert and "open-mic", is planned for Tuesday night at a St. Cloud State University auditorium.
Dean is a self-style hard rock pastor who has been ardent in his opposition of homosexuality, saying things that opponents say suggest he approves jailing of gay people. Last year he opened a Minnesota House floor session with a prayer prompting House Speaker Kurt Zellers to step down from his rostrum to denounce him and pledge, "that type of person will never, ever be allowed on the House floor again."
The new SCSU CR chair says Pat Shortridge is so not the boss of her and Shortridge makes her want to barf.
Also, the ministry is just "so nice" to the St. Cloud State University College Republicans.
But relief might be on the way, a least as far as Minnesota's Fighting First and money goes. Neglected after state senate Gretchen Hoffman's decisive late March first ballot defeat at the hands of Lee Byberg for the honor of losing to Blue Dog Democratic Congressman Collin Peterson, the Gretchen Hoffman Volunteer Committee Q1 2012 report filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reveals a nice stash of cash that, handled judiciously, might help the Republican Party out of its misery.
At least some of it.
Hoffman raised $50,450.00, mostly from members of her own extended family (the Pflugraths, whose family compound in Horace, North Dakota, was purchased from the sweat earned by manufacturing PVC sewer pipes). She only spent $1304.00, at Gridiron Communications, in lovely Granger, Indiana, while having one outstanding debt of $4300.00 to Aristotle in Washington DC, which can easily be paid out of the $49,020.37 cash that remained on hand at the end of March.
Given the mayhem facing the RPM, Bluestem offers a couple of modest proposals for putting that Pflugrath-Hoffman money to good use. First, Hoffman might take a page from Michele Bachmann, Chip Cravaack and Tarryl Clark, and move from bustling Vergas in CD-07 to sunny Cherry Grove or wind-swept East Chain, both nestled on prairies of the First, in order to seek the Republican endorsement in the First. As none of the other three have yet suffered any political consequences from moves to as far away as New Hampshire, she should be good to go.
And the good conservatives of the First Congressional District of Minnesota can simply put Saturday night behind them, and start fresh with an unsullied candidate who, when debts are subjected, has more money than either Parry or Quist.
Another option: paying down the $96,000 rent the state party owes.
As Bluestem's editor is not a Republican and has nothing to gain herself from either arrangement, we offer this modest proposal in the spirit of the commonweal and the earnest hope of renewal vigor and health to the two-party system.
The money:
5. Covering Period 01/01/2012 Through 03/31/2012
| Column A This Period |
Column B Election Cycle-To-Date |
|
| 6. Net Contributions (other than loans) | ||
| (a) Total Contributions (other than loans) | 50450.00 | 50450.00 |
| (b) Total Contribution Refunds | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| (c) Net Contributions (6(a) - 6(b)) | 50450.00 | 50450.00 |
| 7. Net Operating Expenditures | ||
| (a) Total Operating Expenditures | 1429.63 | 1429.63 |
| (b) Total Offsets to Operating Expenditures | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| (c) Net Operating Expenditures | 1429.63 | 1429.63 |
| 8. Cash on Hand at Close of Reporting Period | 49020.37 | |
| 9. Debts and Obligations Owed TO the Committee | 0.00 | |
| Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D | ||
| 10. Debts and Obligations Owed BY the Committee | 4300.00 | |
| Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D | ||
Photo: Is Gretchen Hoffman the salvation of the RPM?
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