As we rejoin another episode of Emo Senator, southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, fans of Mike Parry will be stunned to learn that the Belle of Waseca County may be told to walk away from the parade in the district's largest city.
The Post Bulletin's Heather Carlson has the scoop in Don't expect to see Parry or Quist with Olmsted GOP float. She reports that the Quist campaign paid the required $500 for a separate unit by the April 14 deadline after sensing some uncertainity as to whether the Norseland farmer would be able to join the county unit--a deadline that comes before the endorsing convention.
(Carlson doesn't state another possible reading of Quist's action: that endorsement or not, he was going to file and run in the primary).
Even more peculiar, Parry isn't marching with the county Republicans (though both men have been invited to join the float, since neither was endorsed. Instead, Parry plans a free ride:
Instead of marching with the Republican party, Parry is walking for free with the "Bell of Honor" float. He said local veteran and Rochester City Council member Terry Throndson approached him and asked him to join them in the parade. The 3,000-pound Bell of Honor is used at funerals and other special events to honor veterans, law enforcement officers and others.
There's only one hitch:
Rochesterfest's Executive Director Carole Brown said politicians are supposed to either walk with a political party unit or pay the $500 to march in the parade on their own. She said the Parry campaign would be violating those rules by walking with the Bell of Honor.
Meanwhile, Quist earned more media today in Winona, the publication of the reminding readers of his Town Hall. Don Evanson writes in Allen Quist is coming to town, a letter to the editors of the Daily News:
. . .The consistent conservative of the choices that the Republicans have is Allen Quist, former Minnesota representative, published author and spokesperson for keeping social issues in the public square.
Allen Quist is hosting a townhall meeting in Winona at 7 p.m. tonight at the Riverport Inn.
Stay tuned.
Cartoon: Allen Quist, by Ken Avidor.
Do you have any inside information on what hat Fiddle Dee Dee will wear in the Rochester Parade? It's southern Minnesota. I say "Go southern style"!
Posted by: T Pa or Coffee | Jun 21, 2012 at 07:44 AM
As someone who coordinates a parade, I sure hope he does not break the rules.
Posted by: Mike Worcester | Jun 22, 2012 at 12:58 PM