Bluestem Prairie: June 2013

Walz challenger Scott Wright hosted low-return Bachmann Quist fundraiser, advised Jim Graves

In Rochester doctor Scott Wright mulls challenging Walz, ace New Ulm Journal reporter Josh Moniz writes:

Rochester cardiologist Scott Wright, a long-time Republican activist, is strongly considering a run to challenge U.S. Rep. Tim Walz for Minnesota's 1st Congressional District in 2014. . . .
. . . Most recently, he hosted U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann's fundraiser last year for 1st District candidate Allen Quist in his house. He said he offered to also host a fundraiser for former Sen. Mike Parry, who was running against Quist in the primary at that time, but was turned down. [Bluestem's note: Wright contributed $250 to Quist before the primary, but nothing to Parry.]

Wright said that despite his frequent work with partisan politics, he is much more moderate on policy issues than people would expect. He said his background with medicine has made him more interested in the impact and facts of legislation than scoring partisan points.

You can say that again. In 2012, Politico's Jake Sherman reported in Michele Bachmann finds plenty of friends back home:

. . .[Michele Bachmann] was raising money in Rochester, hours away, with Allen Quist, the Republican challenging Democratic Rep. Tim Walz. The fundraiser was held at the home of Dr. Scott Wright — a Republican whom, coincidentally, Graves has been consulting on health care policy.

One wonders if that's too moderate and nonpartisan for First District Republicans, especially with district leadership in the hands of Quistian activists, many of whom are also fond of Bachmann, despite the fact that, as the Mankato Free Press reported Bachmann fundraiser for Quist not as lucrative as first reported.

In January 2013, Bachmann raised funds for Allen Quist's bid in the House District 19A open seat.

However, Wright does have one advantage here, so to speak. In 2006, he was Katherine Kersten's favorite state senate candidate recruited by then-congressman Jim Ramstad (the last Minnesota Republican congressman standing who was pro-choice). In her October 23, 2006 column Mayo cardiologist's next goal: A seat in the state Senate, Kersten wrote:

. . .At Mayo, he met U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota's Third Congressional District, who was first a patient and then a friend. (Ramstad, not Wright, talked to me about the patient relationship.) Ramstad urged him to run for the Minnesota Legislature as a Republican. "He told me, `We have lawyers and teachers; we need someone who understands the technicalities of health care - a physician voice to look out for the best interests of patients,'-" Wright explains.

For his part, Ramstad says, "When Scott Wright is elected, he'll become Minnesota's leading authority on health care reform."

Ramstad's encouragement struck a chord with Wright, whose interest in politics had started early. "My parents tell me that when I was 4, I would stop people in the grocery store and ask, `Are you voting for Humphrey or Nixon?'-" he says. "I had one parent voting for each."

As a legislator, Wright would aim to ensure health care for everyone. But he doesn't think a single-payer, government-run model is the answer. He's seen that in Appalachia, where about three-quarters of people are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, he says. "Too often, they're treated more like commodities than patients." . . .

Here's the Appalachian Regional Commission's report on Health Care Costs and Access Disparities in Appalachia. He forgot to mention high enrollment by veterans in the VA's care.

In 2009, Minnesota Public Radio reported in State GOP group out to stop health care takeover that Wright was a member of a MNGOP group that included such leading conservative lights as Glenn Gruenhagen (doesn't believe alcoholism is a disease); one short-term wonder Kvetchen Gretchen "Ethics Complaint" Hoffman and ALEC member Sondra Erickson. Hoffman was elected after the group was formed; Erickson was on hiatus from office after being defeated in 2008. She returned to the Minnesota House in 2010.

However, there's a final wrinkle in the story: the DFL's response at the time from then assistant chair Donna Cassutt:

" . . . It’s disappointing that rather than coming together with leaders in Minnesota and around the country to work to actually help families struggling with high premiums, inadequate coverage, or no insurance at all in these tough economic times, that the Republican Party of Minnesota instead chose to form a group to block reform and rehash the disastrous Romney-care policies that have hurt so many people in Massachusetts. Sadly, sometimes it’s true — you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

This is curious stuff, since parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or the "ACA, that passed in March 2010 ended up looking a lot like "Romney-care," including the dreaded mandate.

Single-payer it certainly isn't.

We look forward to seeing which Scott Wright--the Bachmann hosting one, the Ramstad pal, or the Jim Graves 2012 advisor--emerges in the endorsement and primary contest in CD1. With Representative Mike Benson in the race, Wright holds no advantage in being from Rochester, the district's biggest city, and the medical city's Republicans are likely to be split even more if all in the potential field NUJournal's Moniz enumerated today:

The current field of potential Republican candidates has risen to six with Wright's comments. So far, only Rep. Mike Benson of Rochester has officially declared his campaign. The other potential candidates are Aaron Miller of Byron, former 1st District endorsement candidate Jim Hagedorn, former Sen. Al DeKruif and former Sen. Mike Parry, who ran in the 1st District Republican primary last year.

Photo: Yes, it's a clown car. Will this road show help Tim Walz's fundraising for 2013 Q2?

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 30, 2013 at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Caught in a bad romance, WI citizen concerns over frac sand, water permit issues grow

Several news items suggest that Wisconsin's tumultuous love affair with frac sand mining might be going through a rough patch.

One side wants to change the rules in Trempealeau County and be allowed to run wild all night. Winona Daily News staff writer Samantha Luhmann reports in Fracking around the clock?:

Trempealeau County frac sand mines could soon be processing around the clock.

The county’s Environment and Land Use committee is considering a change to zoning rules that would let mines process sand any time — even at night — except Sundays, Saturday afternoons and holidays.

The proposal is drawing the ire of frac opponents.

“We need to stop and truly evaluate how we are going to live and what we’re doing for our community,” Ettrick resident Mary Hegnauer said. “We’re going to turn ourselves into a sacrifice zone, a frac sand waste land.”

Kevin Lien, director of the Trempealeau County Department of Land Management, said the committee is considering the changes to meet the industry’s demands.

“The industry was asking for more hours,” he said.

Trempealeau County has more than a quarter of the state’s 100 frac sand mines.

During processing, sand is crushed, washed and dried. The new rules would affect only processing and would not allow the companies to mine at night.

Check out the rest of the story at the Daily News. Elsewhere, people are wondering if this is a healthy relationship. In Baraboo, the News Republican reports in Healthy debate over frac sand:

Wisconsin’s frac sand mining industry has expanded in recent years.

Amid concerns about the potential health impacts of fine particles produced by the mines, Gov. Scott Walker’s budget includes additional staff for the state’s Department of Natural Resources to monitor air quality around frac sand operations.

The mining process isn’t the only concern. The Wisconsin Towns Association and other groups have raised concerns about the air quality impacts of shipping the product by truck and train.

The Baraboo News Republic reported earlier this week that some Sauk County citizens have warned that Reedsburg’s rail line has become the new “hub” of frac sand shipping in Wisconsin. While that would be good for some businesses, it may also pose a number of public health concerns, they say.

Long-term exposure to the sand particles, called silica, can increase a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, bronchitis, and lung cancer, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire that raised questions about the state’s frac sand regulatory practices.

But when it comes to how much frac sand already has moved along the Reedsburg line, estimates range from a lot or a little, to none at all.

Read about the Reedsburg pretend frac sand mining boyfriend at the News Republican. Meanwhile, the industry is looking like too tall a drink of water to some of its neighbors. WQOW Eau Claire reports in High capacity wells pump up debate:

The state budget is in the governor's hands and many people and businesses in our area want to know what he'll do with one provision about water.
High capacity wells handle anywhere from a few thousand gallons to a several million per year and are commonly used by farms and frac sand mines alike.

One part of the state budget would limit the power people have to challenge high-capacity well applications and permits.

"High capacity wells are being developed through this area on up," explains retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife regional assistant director Gerry Lowry.

High capacity wells aren't a new concept, but their popularity has grown in Western Wisconsin in recent years, leading to what opponents call a cumulative effect.

"When a large number of high capacity wells draw down the water, the underground water, the aquifer," says State Senator Kathleen Vinehout.

Something lawmakers didn't anticipate in the past.

"When the laws in relation to these and some other interests were first started, we didn't know as much about the impacts of groundwater and the interconnection between lakes and streams," says Lowry.

That can be problematic because the DNR doesn't record the proximity of one well to another when it gathers data and approves permits.

"I believe that the state should put more emphasis on monitoring. The state should look at all the wells in a single area. This is particularly important in the Chippewa Valley area as it relates to sand mines," says Vinehout.

Well then. There's even more bad water related news in reports from WXOW-La Crosse in Some frac sand mines in Western Wisconsin facing water violations:

A half a dozen frac sand companies are facing storm water violations.
The DNR says in each case, storm water left the site and reached surface water somewhere else. That storm water contained sediments. We are waiting for more specific information about those sediments, and also what kind of surface water was affected.

Here's what we do know: four companies in Trempealeau County: Arcadia Sand, Alpine Sand, Sierra Frac, and Patzner Pit, and two in Barron County: Superior Silica, and Great Northern Sand Were put on notice to make changes.

Lovely. But Minnesotans shouldn't get too smug in watching the frac sand soap opera across the river, because Senator Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), who has never concealed her deep affection for silica sand mining, is thinking about jumping into the governor's race. Josh Moniz reports in the New Ulm Journal article Rosen considers run for governor:

In a general election run, she could face criticism for voting in favor of the controversial constitutional amendments for voter ID and banning same-sex marriage. She was also against the statewide moratorium on frack sand mining, which has increasingly become an issue in out-state areas.

She did more than that: she told residents of Southeastern Minnesota that she considers industrial sand mining "agriculture" and that they should just get used it the noise and dirt. Who says love isn't blind? Watch the precious moment in the senate hearing to understand why some folks won't say yes to a Rosen gubernatorial bid:

Photo: a frac sand mine in Wisconsin. Photo by Jim Tittle, used with permission.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 29, 2013 at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Underdog: Kurt Zellers wants to tell you about a hardscrabble farm, not his stepdad's $1,763,823.07 farm subsidy payments

One of the staples of Kurt Zellers' political resume is his childhood on a "hardscrabble" farm that had been passed down for generations.

In a gubernatorial contestant atmosphere in which venture capitalist Scott Honour touts a summer job shoveling manure as a leadership credential, the Zellers homestead on the prairies would seem to be cred indeed.

Zellers' "hardscabble" farm isn't a new theme for the Maple Grove Republican. In November 2010, Pioneer Press political reporter Bill Salisbury wrote in New House speaker Kurt Zellers is a farm kid at heart:

Born on the Grand Forks Air Force Base, Zellers grew up on the farm near Devils Lake, N.D., that his great-grandfather homesteaded in the 1880s and his grandfather and father managed through the Great Depression and subsequent farm crises.

"My grandfather taught me how to drive tractor, shoot gophers, all the important things a farm kid needs to know," he said.

The family saved and used every piece of twine and baling wire they ever acquired, he said. His stepfather drove a pickup with 400,000 miles on it.

"I learned how to be frugal by living it," Zellers said.

It's a sympathetic tale, and Salisbury reports that Kurt and Kim Zellers picked Maple Grove for their domicile because "it was a good jumping-off spot for drives to his family's North Dakota farm . . ."

Since times were rough in farm country in the 1980s when Zellers came of age, Bluestem wondered how things were going on the ancestral home since Kurt moved to Minnesota in 1993.

The Salisbury article mentioned a stepfather, so we weren't surprised when we didn't find anyone in the Environmental Working Group's farm subsidies' database named Zellers receiving federal payments in North Dakota. Devils Lake supports a newspaper, the Journal, however, so we figured correctly that there'd be an article about the local boy done good in the fleshpots of the Twin Cities.

Sure enough, in Former ‘farm kid’ finds place in politics, we read this:

"Not too bad for a little old farm kid from Webster, ND," his mother Joann Paulson proclaimed this week.

When we plug the zipcode for Webster in the EWG database, the Paulson Brothers (Kenneth and Douglas), turn up at the top of the list for 58382:

Paulson Brothers received payments totaling $1,763,823 from 1995 through 2012.

Several obituaries--such as this one--note that Kenneth and Joann Paulson and Kurt Zellers are parents and son.

Thus, the payments are to Kurt Zellers' stepfather; this figure puts them in the top 100 farms payments during the time period for the state. Apparently things got better on the farm.

Salisbury also reported this about Zellers' first lesson in politics:

He said he never discussed politics with his family but recalled getting his first political lesson when his grandfather took him out to a low spot in a farm field where cattails were growing after two wet seasons.

"He told me, 'The government says this is a wetland now. We can't farm it; we can't grow food on it to feed people. It's not right for the government to make those decisions for us. That should be up to us farmers.' "

But take those government dollars? The evidence available to us doesn't answer how Zellers' grandfather felt about that--but his stepfather and his brother certainly took the checks.

Photos: Some of the cast of Underdog!: The Minnesota Republican Gubernatorial contest (left to right) Ole Saviour as Cad Lackey, Kim Zellers as Polly Purebred, Kurt Zellers as Underdog, Dave Thompson as Simon Bar Sinister, Jeff Johnson as Overcat, and Scott Honour as Riff Raft. Missing: David Hann as King Mange the leader of the Mole Men and Julie Rosen as Dinah Mite (above).

A sunflower field in North Dakota (below). The Paulson Brothers only received $9,288 in direct payments for their sunflowers from 1995-2012. The bulk of the $1.76 million they received came from various wheat programs.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 29, 2013 at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Turtle tells Mankato paper's Christian readers to speak up since Satan causes gay marriage

Bluestem is seeing a number of letters to the editors of small-town papers calling for Christians to publicly object to same sex marriage.

One such epistle in the June 26 in the Mankato Free Press, Speak up against same-sex marriage, sent in by Dennis Turtle, says that the devil makes gay and lesbian people want to marry the people they love:

Either you believe in the Bible or you don’t, and I believe in the Bible. I feel as a Christian, that I have an obligation to speak up on issues such as this, for we are the salt of the earth.

We all have this tendency to sin in our own areas, but it isn’t God who causes this, it is Satan.

Well then. Turtle certainly has the right to say what he likes, although somehow Bluestem suspects that he'd stick his head in his shell and hiss like his namesake if others exercise their own rights to speak up when they hear what he has to say.

However, Turtle also hedges about God's will a bit and suggests that money might have helped more than prayer during the legislative session:

If our side had spent as much money on this issue as on the other side, maybe it would not have passed.

Mammon over God? Goodness sakes!

Photo: A painted turtle.

Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 28, 2013 at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dissonance: peculiar information in latest Brodkorb discrimination lawsuit document dump

There's tasty cud to chew in the newly-released court documents in the Brodkorb gender discrimination case.

Exhibit B, about employment, is especially fascinating. Page 4 of Exhibit B states that after December 16, Michael Brodkorb was an independent contractor for "Mike Perry for Congress." That's the Emo Senator, Mike Parry. However, former City Pages staff writer Gregory Pratt reported on December 17 that Michael Brodkorb leaves Mike Parry congressional campaign.

Parry for Congress year-end FEC report doesn't list a disbursement to Michael Brodkorb. The July 2012 disbursements include $10,000 to Golnik Strategies, another client mentioned in Exhibit B, although Golnik was serving as de facto campaign manager and was fairly visible in the Parry campaign, while Brodkorb was not. Golnik Strategies also shows up in the post-primary report. We can't find a direct payment to Brodkorb anywhere in the Parry FEC records. This is a peculiar sort of employment. The other contracts--for public affairs firms--aren't covered by campaign finance disclosure rules.

There's also a statement on page 3 of Exhibit B that the plaintiff (Brodkorb) and former State Senator Koch were involved in an intimate relationhip between September 2011 and December 16, 2011. Bluestem doesn't read this text as indicating that the intimate relationship began in September and ended in December. This is simply the time frame for when Brodkorb wishes to demonstrate that by being fired when Koch stepped down, he was treated differently from female senate employees who found themselves in similar circumstances.

Indeed, there's some suggestive information that Brodkorb's intimate life was complicated as early as June 2011. The same former City Pages staff writer reported in Michael Brodkorb domestic dispute: Wife called 911 because "the level of anger in Michael's voice scared both her and their three children" that a domestic dispute call was made from the Brodkorb domicile on June 5, 2011.

Finally, there's mention in the documents of contact by the senate to the press that Koch was stepping down in the press because of the affair. Leaking to the press on the part of senate leadership has become a staple of Brodkorb defenders. Curiously, the electronic media stars who received the leak may have broken the tale of the affair, but not the identity of Koch's paramour. That revelation was first voiced by the City Pages as well. Funny how the settle now crowd only mentions Kessler, but not the independent work by a young alt-weekly reporter. Was City Pages in the leaking loop--or did an aggressive news hound get there on his own?

Here are the court documents:

Show Multidocs.pl

Photo: Michael Brodkorb.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 28, 2013 at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

MPCA issues alarming report on nitrogen pollution in southern Minnesota watersheds

Released on the heels of heavy rainfall across the state, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) released the findings of its study of nitrogen in surface waters today, right around the time that the Supreme Court released its landmark decision repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

It's no wonder that coverage of the study--which is fairly damning about the impact of commercial fertilizer used in production crop agriculture--was lost in the applause.

But the study is worth paying attention to, because it addresses the sources of Minnesota’s contribution to the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxia issue--that dead zone we keep hearing about. But the problem isn't just harming the Gulf, but our own drinking water and fish habitat.

MPR's Stephanie Hemphill reports in Nitrogen pollution in rivers deep, wide new Minn. report shows:

. . .The report says if farmers optimized standard best management practices, they could reduce nitrogen pollution by up to 35 percent. The practices include applying fertilizer at the optimal time and in optimal amounts, planting perennials along streams, treating tile drainage waters, planting cover crops in the fall, and converting marginal land to perennial vegetation. But national groups working on the dead zone problem in the Gulf of Mexico say reductions closer to 45 percent are needed.

Several environmental groups hailed the report as an important step toward cleaner water. But Whitney Clark, executive director of Friends of the Mississippi River, said the report makes it clear than current approaches are not working.

"The state appears to have committed itself to the voluntary approach," he said, "and many of us have been arguing that we've tried voluntary approaches since the Great Depression, and current practices don't work."

Farmers are exempt from regulation under the Clean Water Act, but at least two Minnesota statutes might supply legal backing for regulation. . . .

The Star Tribune noted:

Nitrogen contamination in the southern half of Minnesota is so severe that 27 percent of the state’s lakes and rivers could not be used as drinking water, according to a new and unexpectedly blunt assessment of the state’s most prevalent form of water pollution.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) said Wednesday that, overall, 41 percent of Minnesota’s streams and lakes have excessive nitrogen, all of them in the state’s southern and central regions. The nutrient, which is used as fertilizer in agriculture and comes from wastewater treatment plants, can be toxic to fish and other forms of aquatic life. It is a primary cause of the vast oxygen-depleted area in the Gulf of Mexico known as the dead zone.

Even ambitious efforts could reduce nitrogen runoff by less than a third — and that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, primarily in the agricultural regions of the state that contribute 70 percent of the total load, according to the MPCA’s report.

Check out both stories and read the report. It's worth the effort in order to understand that the talking points distributed by some ag groups are simply hollow air.

Here's a factsheet from the MPCA:

Nitrates in Surface Waters

Photo: Field tiling,

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 26, 2013 at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Underdog: Kurt Zellers wants you to look at his "hot" wife, not his record of fail as Speaker

Back when he was runnin' for president and dropping his terminal "g"s with all the grace of a sloshed WeFest fan trying to outrun memories of a second grade teacher's enunciation lessons, former governor Tim Pawlenty called attention to his perception that Mary Pawlenty is smokin' hot, isn't she?

In his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Underdog Kurt Zellers has ripped that page out of Pawlenty's playbook. It worked for the Sam's Club Republican, who's now on more corporate boards than ever, as well as lobbying for Wall Street banksters.

At City Pages, Olivia LaVecchia reports in Kurt Zellers says his "hot wife" separates him from gubernatorial competition:

So what sets Zellers apart? Is it the three-week government shutdown he presided over in 2011; his, er, nuanced stance on the Vikings stadium vote; or his willingness to reconsider his dislike of Leinie's? Well, no. It is, Zellers says, his "hot wife."

"What differentiates you from the other thousand Republicans wanting the job?" Zellers was asked during his Sunday announcement, which took place on a friend's lawn in his home town of Maple Grove.

"They aren't married to this hot a wife," Zellers replied with a laugh.

His wife, Kim, aside, Zellers's announcement sought to draw a distinct line between Dayton and his wealthy background as a department store heir, and his own experience as a self-described middle class family man familiar with odd jobs like pizza delivery.

Well, okay then.

Investment banker Scott Honour, also running for governor, can trump Zellers on the poor waif angle: while Zellers was the fourth generation to grow up on the family farm in North Dakota, the Orono tycoon started life in a trailer park in Fridley--and his dad lost his job flying planes for Braniff when the airline crashed:

When I was born in Fridley, my parents lived in a trailer park. My dad was a young airline pilot for Braniff International, which I thought was pretty cool, and over time he created a great middle class life for us. . .
. . .But, when I was in high school, Braniff went bankrupt and Dad lost his job and his future pension. That was a tough time for our family and it taught me that a family’s economic circumstances can change quickly through no fault of their own.

Perhaps Honour will get a Legacy grant to build a replica of his manger and haul it around the state, a relic of his simple roots to astonish the base in Echo and Climax. Perhaps a beauty pageant's in the works.

There's an old Monty Python routine in all this somewhere:

Image: Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Zellers. Hot.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 25, 2013 at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As district GOP tries to gong Petersen, businesses hear marriage equality cash registers

Two news items underscore the disjunction between silly Republican activists and the simply reality of love being the law.

In the Strib Hot Dish Politics blog post, Gay marriage support reverberates for Republican senator, Rachel Stassen-Berger reports:

State Sen. Branden Petersen's support of same-sex marriage continues to reverberate in his district.

Last week, his Senate district's Republican executive committee announced it voted to admonish the first-term Senator, who voted last month to legalize same-sex marriage. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill legalizing same sex marriage last month and Minnesota gay couples can be legally wed in August.

Petersen is actually serving his second term and voted to put the marriage amendment on the ballot while serving a term in the Minnesota House [thanks for correction, RSB]. The post continues:

The 'no confidence' motion, said several members of the executive committee, was not because Petersen supported legalization, rather it was his actions around that decision.

"It wasn’t really his view of on the marriage issue, it was just multiple violations of our trust," said SD35 deputy chair Don Huizenga.

Petersen is having none of that malarkey:

"What’s at the root at the issue is the issue itself, which is gay marriage," said Petersen.

The nitwits are talking about finding another Republican who reflects their way of thinking. It's pretty silly, since the libertarian conservative is indeed a bedrock sort on budget and spending, enough to receive a 93 percent on the Liberty Minnesota scorecard. The district party activists are like a bad act on the Gong Show.

Petersen's predicament is underscored by a second story, published in the St. Cloud Times, Same-sex couples and wedding planners prepare for special day, which documents the great joy small businesses are experiencing as they gear up for the blessings of marriage equality:

On Aug. 1, Minnesota will become the 12th state to make same-sex marriage legal, and some counties have begun distributing marriage applications.
That has state and local wedding vendors working to market themselves to that new, broader audience as committed same-sex couples begin to plan marriage ceremonies.

Central Minnesota Wedding Association recently offered training to its 70 members. It also plans a gay-friendly photo shoot, where vendors are working together to show same-sex couples modeling their wedding-related wares.

“Response has been overwhelming positive,” said Jake Sturgis, association president. “This is a whole new base of clientele.”

The average cost of a St. Cloud wedding was $19,948 in 2012, according to the Wedding Report, which estimates the wedding industry in the U.S. at $50 billion. The average wedding in Central Minnesota had 158-168 guests.

Several happy couples are interviewed as well as those who are helping to make their special day fabulous.

Bluestem suggests that the Senate District 35 Executive Committee contribute to the economy as well. Anxious about gay summer weddings? Xanax for gay summer weddings is just the thing as it will help the bottom line at both the neighbor drugstore and a giant corporation.

What's not for a Republican to love?

Image: Xanax for gay summer weddings.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 25, 2013 at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The jerk; or, Kurt Zellers claims poor underdog role in race for MN Republican gubernatorial nod

At his gubernatorial campaign kickoff this afternoon in Maple Kurt Zellers didn't quite go so far as to say he was a poor North Dakota sharecropper's son who moved to Minnesota when he heard Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra play "Crazy Rhythm."

Instead, he cast himself as Underdog, according to GOP Rep. Kurt Zellers launches 2014 campaign for governor, a report by Politics In Minnesota staff write Briana Bierschbach:

Zellers joins Republican Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson and Wayzata businessman Scott Honour in the GOP field for governor, with other candidates expected to announce as early as this week.

Zellers tried to differentiate himself from the rest of the GOP field by talking often about his family and his personal struggles. “I worked hourly jobs, I dealt black jack in college, I delivered pizzas, I bagged groceries. I don’t know if the rest of the folks in the race can say that,” Zellers said. “I think that’s what makes me different.”

Zellers said he plans to seek the GOP endorsement but is prepared to run in a primary election. “I’ll prepare for the convention first, the primary second and then Mark Dayton lastly,” he said. . . .

Unlike candidates like Honour, who runs a successful business and raised money for Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign last year, Zellers said he doesn’t have the personal wealth to back his own campaign.

“I consider myself an underdog candidate because of that,” he said

Bluestem has obtained an exclusive impression via Google Image of Zellers fighting Scott Honour and reproduce it above. Honour is the one in the suit.

Life was pretty tough for young Zellers, that's for sure. In 2010, Forum Communications Capitol Chatter political reporter Don Davis noted in A new Legislature: Zellers’ past made him next Republican speaker:

Much of his Devils Lake High School experience centered on sports. UND recruited him as a football walk-on, and he played until being injured.

He began studying accounting at UND, and switched to political science after he did a little work for Republicans and was elected to the Student Senate.

At first, Zellers’ political attention was split between North Dakota and Minnesota. While he walked in a parade for then-U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger of Minnesota, his roommate was Jim Poolman, who in recent years was North Dakota insurance commissioner. Drew Wrigley, a former North Dakota U.S. attorney and the state’s next lieutenant governor, recruited him to his fraternity.

Zellers quickly concentrated on Minnesota, where he worked for Republican U.S. Sen. Rod Grams and Norm Coleman.

There's nothing like being a poor boy without friend or fraternity. A similar story in the Pioneer Press spoke of the "hardscrabble" farm boy but also noted:

. . .He joined a fraternity filled with political activists and quickly became involved in campus and Republican Party politics. . . .

. . . After starting out as a pre-law and accounting major at UND, Zellers switched to political science, in part because he enjoyed the social aspects of politics. While there, he met then-Sen. Dave Durenberger and Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota at campus events and volunteered to work on Durenberger's 1988 re-election campaign.

He earned money for college as a "pit boss," dealing cards and overseeing black jack, bingo and pulltab operations at charitable gambling venues near campus (an experience that may help him spot cheaters in politics).

After graduating from UND in 1993, Zellers moved to the Twin Cities to become a management trainee at Menard's. But friends soon talked him into applying for a job on then-Rep. Rod Grams' 1994 U.S. Senate campaign.

A total underdog, indeed. He's different, that's for sure.

Image: Underdog takes out the riff raff.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 23, 2013 at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suburban guys dominate MNGOP gubernatorial field, eroding party's divisive rural-metro rhetoric

While rural Republicans spend a lot of time pitching along a rural-metro divide, that pitch conceals the moneyed power base within their own party: enclaves of suburban contributors.

This denial was underscored in a couple of recent polls that revealed that simple majorities in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties and "the rest of the state" approved of Governor Dayton's job performance as well as higher taxes on cigarettes and top wage earners. (Even in the metro suburbs, 56 percent of those polled approved of the cigarette tax hike).

Forum Communications political reporter Don Davis reports in Capital Chatter under the subhead, "Suburban candidate crop":

The Republican group of governor candidates appears to be an exclusive Twin Cities suburban crowd.

Businessman Scott Honour and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson from western suburbs were the first two to announce they are running.

Former House Speaker Kurt Zellers was to announce Sunday and state Sen. Dave Thompson is expected to jump into the race Wednesday. Zellers is from northwest of Minneapolis in Maple Grove and Thompson from Lakeville, to the south.

Davis notes that the gentlemen all claim rural roots, some as far away as North Dakota. Funny how those sorts of things don't count for urban DFL women in leadership positions, even actually owning a farm now.

Regardless of which suburban guy the Republicans select as their gubernatorial champion, Bluestem deeply looks forward to first time a GOP candidate from anwhere in Minnesota starts in with the divisive rural/urban rhetoric.

Image: The stores! The chores! We'll let the MNGOP's suburban chair, former state representative Keith Downey (R-Edina), explain how the suburbs are so not the metro. Perhaps suburbanite senate Minority Leader David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) and former suburban luxury car dealership business manager and car salesman Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) can lend a hand shaping the message.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 22, 2013 at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Frac sand WI: Pepin County preserves river corridor; new Buffalo County facility proposed

Two developments in Wisconsin illustrate a responses to the state's growing silica sand mining industry, while news from Minnesota painted a third picture.

KARE-11 reports in Pepin County leaders say no to frac sand mining plant:

Stockholm Township is just a whistle stop kind of place, population 66, nestled along the bluffs in Pepin County.
"People have been coming down here for hundreds of years and they know about the beauty," County Board member Bill Mavity said Thursday night.

Mavity says it was his duty to protect that beauty from the prospect of a massive silica sand processing plant proposed to set up shop in that township.

That is why he and eight other board members issued a 9-3 vote Wednesday banning a company from setting up the plant along the river in Pepin County between the townships of Pepin and Stockholm.

"It's quiet. It's clean, and it's beautiful. Frac sand mining, no matter how you look at it is dirty, noisy and ugly and once you lose the beauty it can't come back. You can't reclaim it," Mavity said. . . .

Here's the video clip of the broadcast:

The Winona Daily News reports in Frac mine, processing plant proposed in Buffalo County town of Dover that Dover will be going down that road, and the sand will be hauled to Minnesota:

Four landowners in Buffalo County’s town of Dover have applied for permits to mine and process frac sand on 359 acres over the next 20 to 30 years.

River Valley Sands LCC would mine 226 acres off State Hwy. 121 and use conveyors to move sand to a 133-acre sand washing plant. It plans to haul 1.44 million tons of sand a year, using 50 trucks to haul 200 loads a day on a planned primary route of State Hwy. 121 to State Hwy. 93 to State Hwy. 54/35 to Winona. A secondary route would send the sand to Wabasha. . . .

Read the whole article at the Daily News. Environment & Energy Publishing reports that Winona's location gives Wisconsin train shippers an advantage:

The rail-sand symbiosis works both ways, however, as seen less than 40 miles down the tracks in Winona, Minn. There, a rail loading terminal has temporarily closed its doors and officials report stagnant frac sand traffic in part due to infrastructure restraints.

"We're basically on a sand bar in the Mississippi River valley, so land is limited," said Carlos Espinosa, assistant city planner for Winona. "So the ability to create unit trains in the city is limited as well."

Winona sits at the confluence of several major rail lines, including a Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. route. In addition to operating the Soo Line along the Mississippi River, in 2008 Canadian Pacific acquired the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern (DM&E) railroad that runs west from Winona to South Dakota. The railway company did not respond to requests for comment about its Minnesota operations.

"We do have capacity to send out frac sand via rail," Espinosa said, "but the real room for growth is in western Wisconsin, where they have a lot more land, a lot more area."

Regulatory advantages

The regulatory environment in Wisconsin is also seen as friendlier toward frac sand miners. The Minnesota Legislature recently allowed local governments to extend moratoria on mining for up to two years, and companies hoping to mine on more than 20 acres of land must now complete a costly environmental impact assessment (EnergyWire, May 24). Critics of the frac sand industry often take issue with increased traffic near mining sites and point to the health hazards posed by silica dust.

Local pushback, infrastructure and regulatory constraints have combined to keep Minnesota's frac sand industry relatively small. Wisconsin has roughly 105 active frac sand mines, according to the state DNR, while Minnesota can claim eight or nine.

"Everything's working against [frac sand] in Minnesota right now," said Dave Christianson, senior planner for freight and rail at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. "And the industrial development in Wisconsin is pretty much picking up all the slack."

Christianson said many of the richest sand deposits in southeastern Minnesota fall too far away from existing rail lines to be readily developed. While frac sand companies in Wisconsin sometimes truck their product as far as 60 miles to reach rail or barge terminals, shipping directly by rail can save frac sand producers as much as $10 per ton, according to a Sept. 14, 2012, Raymond James report.

Meanwhile, MPR (via the Kenyon Leader) reports in Limited frac sand mining approved in Goodhue County:

After almost two years of debate, the Goodhue County Board of Commissioners approved two ordinances to regulate the frac sand mining industry.

The new rules in Goodhue County limit mineral extraction facility operation sites to 40 acres of exposed or uncovered ground at any one time; mining operations are limited to the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday; the county is given authority to require air quality monitoring; and mining must be 1,000 feet from any existing dwelling or platted residential subdivision.

The rules also allow the county to add additional conditions to mitigate noise, dust, hours of operation or blasting.

About 80 people filled a room in Red Wing for a public hearing that included comments from 25 people, including Red Wing resident Michelle Meyer.

Like most people at the meeting, Meyer asked county commissioners to extend an existing countywide moratorium on sand mining operations.

“It’s painfully obvious to me that the risks of frac sand mining outweigh any conceived benefits,” Meyer said. “Nearly everyone here is pointing those risks out to you, one by one, person by person, and we are not alarmists. We are not fear-mongerers. We are informed people.” . . .

Check it out at the Kenyon Leader.

Photo: A silica sand mine in Wisconsin. Photo by Jim Tittle.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 21, 2013 at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Something fishy going on in Minnesota River

The New Ulm Journal's Fritz Busch reports in Sparlin talks about river fishing:

River watershed district board members and Minnesota River enthusiasts attending a resources tour got a real time look at fishing Thursday at the Riverside Park boat landing.
Scott Sparlin, Executive Director for a Clean Minnesota River (CCMR) talked about the fishing on the river to several dozen people while a night crawler and spinner dangled on the end of a fishing line. Sparlin got a strike and reeled in a small catfish halfway into his talk. . . .

. . . Sparlin said the story of the American eel itself should be reason enough to feel strongly about improving the water quality of the Minnesota River and its big watershed.

"When they're (eels) ready to propagate, some American eel will swim the length of the Minnesota River to the Mississippi River at St. Paul, then swim south through St. Louis, past New Orleans, into the Gulf of Mexico, around the tip of Florida, far offshore to the Sargasso Sea to deposit their eggs," Sparlin said.

From there, young eels may take years riding ocean currents and migrating inland to rivers, lakes and streams where they feed and mature for 10 to 25 years, then migrating back to the Sargasso Sea.

"If that story isn't enough to make you believe its important to preserve the river, I don't know what it will take," Sparlin added.

Read the whole story at the Journal. Bluestem's editor is an unabashed Minnesota River Valley nationalist, so we hardly need any prompting, much less eel tales.

At the end of May, West Central Tribune staff writer and riparian enthusiast Tom Cherveny reported in Electro-fishing expedition shows fish taking advantage of removal of Minnesota Falls dam:

The news is good. The two temporarily stunned large numbers of blue suckers, evidence that this fish is migrating upstream. It seeks out riffles and areas where water tumbles over rocks, which is the habitat now restored to a three-mile run of the river thanks to the dam’s removal. Gizzard shad, river suckers, highfin carpsuckers and smallmouth buffalo were also shocked and counted by the two. Their presence is further evidence of that native fish species are returning to this section of river.

Aadland, a river ecologist, believes lake sturgeon and paddlefish from as far as the Mississippi River will be seen here soon too. This is ideal spawning habitat for them.

Image: American paddlefish. Have no fear: that scary-looking open mouth allows the fish to feed on zooplankton, not your teenagers.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 21, 2013 at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gunther: other than school funding and local government aid, session totally about metro stuff

Veteran House lawmaker Bob Gunther is so totally convinced that the final conflaguration in Minnesota pits the pastoral splendors of Martin County and its neighbors with the decadent masses huddled in the Twin Cities metro.

Maybe not that hike in local government aid (LGA). Or more money for schools.

Jenn Brookens reports for the Fairmont Sentinel in Gunther gives legislative review:

Gunther stated some good came out of the session, such as an increase for schools and in county aid, but he still sees a battle between the metro area and the rural areas of Minnesota.

"Everything that happened was advantage Metro," Gunther said. "I find we're fighting that more every year."

Everything, he tells the board. Take those taxes to pay for the stadium he voted for last session:

Gunther also voiced displeasure with the gasoline and tobacco taxes.

"That's more chasing over the border," Gunther said, citing a good portion of Minnesota's population lives close to a bordering state. "Now some of that tax is going to the Viking stadium. ... The last thing I wanted was taxpayers paying for a stadium. If I knew that was going to happen, I wouldn't have voted for it."

Well then: sounds like more of a bit of buyer's remorse than a metro problem.

And raise the gas tax? It might go it the metro area, where more Minnesotans live and to light rail. Alas, Gunther confuses commuter rail for light rail:

. . . .much of the funds will go to the metro area, including the light rail systems.
"We pay for those trains up there," Gunther said. "Have we gotten a thank-you note? I've seen that North Star one going up with absolutely no one on it. It's a 100-percent loss."

North Star is commuter rail. Light rail, on the other hand, is doing fairly well, according to 2012 ridership figures released by Metro Transit:

At 10,498,236, ridership on the Hiawatha Light-Rail line is the highest recorded since the line’s 2004 opening.

“We’re particularly grateful to our customers and proud to achieve this benchmark in a year that included the longest service disruption in Hiawatha’s eight-year history,” said Lamb.

In February, rail operations on a portion of the line were interrupted for a work week as crews stabilized a compromised pedestrian bridge that passes over Highway 55 and the Hiawatha Line near Lake Street / Midtown Station.

Average weekday ridership on the Hiawatha Line exceeds projections for the year 2020 by nearly 30 percent.

But no thank you note. Perhaps metro readers could send Gunther a few if that's all it takes.

Gunther also doesn't share that metro transit advocates didn't get what they'd asked for either. The transportation bill is widely considered a "lights on" measure. MPR reported in Status-quo transportation bill disappoints transit advocates:

Minnesota lawmakers this session passed a "lights-on" transportation bill, which does not include either a gas tax increase or a metro sales tax increase for transit. . . .

The bill passed by the Senate would have raised and expanded the existing quarter-cent metro tax by a half-cent to help pay for transit. It would also have increased the gas tax by five cents for roads and bridges. But that plan was dropped in light of Gov. Mark Dayton's opposition to raising the gas tax. . . .

The bill includes $130 million over the next two years for Met Council transit operations, $300 million in trunk highway bonding for roads across the state, and more money for outstate transit. It also includes $95 million in one-time money for Minnesota Department of Transportation road and pedestrian improvements. . . .

Despite the DFL majority in the House, Senate and governor's office, many rural lawmakers could not support more funding for metro-area transit unless the Legislature also passed an increase for roads, Beard said.

And then there was a new matching fund program for rural Minnesota along with more school and county aid:

But Gunther attempted to counter the downside with the news of increases in school funds, county program aid and a new capitol investment improvements project, which counties can apply for with bonding proposals if they have matching funds.

But everything went totally to the metro.

Photo: Bob Gunther arguing for a storm water project for Truman.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 20, 2013 at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dispatches from the War on All-Day Kindergarten: letter writer evokes Hitler

Bluestem's been following the War on All-Day Kindergarten ever since Representative Mary Sawatzky suggested that Senate Minority Leader David Hann "go for it" when she heard that Hann would campaign against kindergarteners.

However, even Hann has his limits in this battle. The wildest rhetoric is being left to shock troops like Swanville's James* Steinle who writes to the ECM papers editorial board in Let parents develop child’s good character:

The most important quality, however, is developing good character. This responsibility is the parents, not the state educational system. Children need time with their mother and father so proper character can be instilled.

Early childhood education as Minnesota has approved – and this Editorial Board promotes – reverses this Godly-ordained role.

History shows this can be dangerous. Hitler once said, “Let me control the textbooks and I will control the state. The state will take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing. Your child belongs to us already.”

He also said, “Give me the youth, and Germany will rule the world.”

Parents need to think through what is really important before they give their children over to early state education.

Well then. "Kindergarten" is a German word, after all--though coined in 1840 by Friedrich Fröbel, and fostered in the United States by 19th Century New England Transcendentalist and Hawthorne in-law Elizabeth Peabody-- who wrote to Congress in 1897:

The advantage to the community in utilizing the age from 4 to 6 in training the hand and eye; in developing the habits of cleanliness, politeness, self-control, urbanity, industry; in training the mind to understand numbers and geometric forms, to invent combinations of figures and shapes, and to represent them with the pencil—these and other valuable lessons… will, I think, ultimately prevail in securing to us the establishment of this beneficent institution in all the city school systems of our country.

Other than that long history in the century before the Nazis emerged and rose to power, Steinle must be totally right that Hitler invented early childhood education and kindergarten.

Photo: Yeah, we're crying too when we find letters like this one.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 20, 2013 at 09:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Crime and punishment in Mille Lacs County: band students at county attorney's party so not marching in Foley Parade tonight

It's been a while since Bluestem looked at the ongoing investigation of allegations of underage drinking at a graduation party on the property of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude.

Due to obvious conflicts of interest, Anoka County is investigating the situation and Russ Jude, an investigator for the Mille Lacs band's tribal police force has been reassigned, pending the conclusion of the investigation.

But a few unfortunate souls have been brought to justice: marching band members who attended the graduation bonfire for the county attorney's daughter.

The Mille Lacs Messenger reports in Milaca marching band members ineligible after attending party at county attorney's:

According to a parent of a member of the Milaca marching band, her child and "several" other students have been suspended from marching band today, June 19. They will be ineligible to march in the Foley parade tonight, June 19, but will be eligible to march in the Milaca parade tomorrow, June 20, and throughout the rest of the season.

She said her child came home from practice with a letter saying he had violated the school's alcohol policy and code of conduct policy on May 27, 2013, and would be ineligible for tonight's parade.

Milaca Superintendent Jerry Hansen would not confirm whether any suspensions were made in relation to a party May 26 and 27 at the residence of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude and her husband, Mille Lacs Tribal Police Investigator Russ Jude.

He said the school received a complaint and followed policies and procedures for students who violate the rules. . . .

The Messenger knows the names of the suspended students and that they were all in attendance at the party at the Judes but is not sharing their names to protect their privacy.

Well then.

In another story, the paper reports in Investigation continuing into party at county attorney's:

"This goes well beyond the drinking and the Judes," [Commander Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office] said. "There's a whole list of witnesses he's been interviewing, and he's not concluded with that."

"It's going to be a lot larger … There's going to be a lot more statements in there," he continued.

"I'm not sure how long it's going to take to reach these people and get their statements done. That takes some time. We want to be as thorough as we can given the nature of the allegations and the principals involved."

Sommer told the Messenger on Tuesday, June 11, that he expected the investigation to be complete within a couple of days. . . .

Stay tuned.

Photo: Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 19, 2013 at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The one about the state house committee: DeKruif throws some aged beef to CD1 GOP base

A friend calls Bluestem's attention to former one short-term state senator Al DeKruif's letter to the editors in today's Mankato Free Press The young man prefaces the link in his email with this observation:

DeKruif is campaign SO hard with this letter. There's so much Republican red meat that the cow's still breathing.

To the contrary, Bluestem believes that while DeKruif's tossing his red meat, that beef is so aged that many of the complaints in Democrats used bait and switch on business have been hanging so long that they meet the traditional definition of having a couple of maggots nosing their way around the quarter.

Take this one:

We need legislators who understand the significant impact of government regulations on farms and businesses. We all agree that clean air and water are important, but what happened in the 2012 election when folks voted for so-called business friendly Democrats is a whole other story.

In the House of Representatives, Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL- Minneapolis, became chair of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee (another “great” Democrat idea by the way : combining Agriculture with the “Environment” committee).

Rep. Wagenius is far from business and agriculture friendly being an extreme, environmentalist from the metro area; thus, the bait and switch. One votes for a legislator who seems business friendly based upon their campaign literature but one gets a chair of a major committee in St. Paul who knows nothing about agriculture, has never lived on a farm, and is not remotely business friendly.

One in five jobs in Minnesota is related to the agriculture industry [3]. The best interests of rural Minnesota and agriculture are not met by a chair who has no knowledge in those areas.

Poor Mr. Dekruif. Having heard the talking point, he missed the facts. Take this bit from Agri-News in February, in Poppe, Wagenius speak at Agri-Growth policy luncheon:

The two women in charge of House agriculture committees spoke before more than 70 people at the first Agri-Growth policy luncheon of the year last week.

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, chairs the House Agriculture Policy Committee. Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis, chairs the House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee.

The duo introduced themselves at the Jan. 29 luncheon, with Poppe telling of her upbringing in rural Houston County and Wagenius talking about her Douglas County farm.

When it was time for questions, no one broached the subject that has everyone talking -- putting agricultural finance with environment and natural resources – but Poppe brought it up.

In an interview after the meeting, Poppe said it's better to bring up the issue and deal with it in a way that's constructive. The more people are open about it, the more opportunity there is for discussion, she said.

During the luncheon, Poppe said that she was first elected; agricultural finance was in the environment, natural resources and agriculture finance committee, the same committee structure as this year. . . .

And who controlled the Minnesota House at that time? Republicans, who must have found that "Democrat" idea attractive. As Bluestem has noted before, suburban/exurban Dakota County representative Dennis Ozment (R-Rosemount) chaired that commitee.

A few days later in House Republicans balk at ag committee structure, AgriNews reported:

Wagenius owns land in Douglas County and her husband, Dwight, grew up on a farm. Her grandfather was a truck farmer. They have trees and gardens on their Douglas County land where research is conducted in cooperation with the Chicago Botanic Garden and the University of Minnesota.

This isn't the first time ag finance has been combined with other areas. In the 2005-2006 session, the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee was chaired by Rep. Dennis Ozment, R-Rosemount.

Poppe mentions that people had been judging Wagenius by what they had heard about her; one description passed around was "mother earth feminist." Oh noes! What was left out was the context (from a Wagenius campaign page):

During this time Jean and Dwight bought an old and very rundown farmstead in Douglas County near where Dwight had grow up. They could nourish family ties and the love of the outdoors at the same time. Jean went though Master Gardener training which prompted Koryne Horbal, a founding mother of the DFL Feminist Caucus, to call Jean a "mother earth feminist." The name stuck.

So an activist's reaction to Master Gardener training is more significant than the knowledge gained about soils, plants, and the like from the training itself--and owning a farm near rural in-laws? Grandfather a farmer? Fiddle-dee-fiddle! Al DeKruif thinks a Minneapolis address means person's interests--even that economic interest in the Douglas County farm, which is a matter of public record--couldn't possibly have anything to do with rural Minnesotans' interests.

Perhaps DeKruif has gone completely "paleo" conservative, ingesting truly "high meat" before writing his letter.

While the deep red Republicans in the First may scrape the slime from the hanging slab of this red meat talking points and eat up, Bluestem thinks that Southern Minnesotans will listen to Ag Policy chair and Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee member Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin) instead.

Divisive Republican rhetoric pitting rural and urban Minnesotans against each other isn't just showing its age. It's getting pretty rank in the heat, now that summer's finally here.

Photo: DeKruif's aging beef, going bad even while fresh. As far as the public goes, "Democrat" Governor Dayton is now enjoying his highest job approval rating ever, at 57 percent, and the "Democrat" tax package received 52 percent support of those polled outside of the Twin Cities (which liked it) and metro suburbs (didn't like it). Indeed, we wonder if DeKruif be a happier man if he built a place in the burbs, where his choice cuts would welcome at the local backyard BBQ. That might make it difficult to run against Congressman Tim Walz. Details. Details.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 19, 2013 at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

They eat their own: Republican strategist attacks MN Senate 2014 candidate Jim Abeler on taxes

Unless you're Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake), willing to build up a granary of talking points for the Agri-Growth Council, it's rough being a member of the Override Six, those mostly now-former Republican Minnesota House members who helped pass a gas tax increase in 2008.

One's even been resurrected as a Democrat.

Thus, it's not surprising to see Republican operative Andy Brehm, who served as press secretary for Senator Norm Coleman from May 2003 to June 2005, rip aspiring Republican US Senate candidate and Override Six member Jim Abeler in the AP report published in the Albert Lea Tribune, Anoka Republican wades into Senate race:

. . . Andy Brehm, a Republican strategist not aligned with any campaign, said having competition for the GOP nomination will make the party’s candidate stronger. But Brehm has trouble seeing a viable route for Abeler.

“This is a longshot candidate for sure,” Brehm said. “People are hungry for independent but they’re not hungry for inconsistency. Voting for taxes before is going to be a nonstarter.” . . .

At the Pioneer Press, Doug Belden reports in Anoka Republican Jim Abeler wades into Senate race:

. . .He caught heat from within his party in 2008 when he broke ranks and helped DFLers override then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a gas tax increase.

Abeler handily won re-election that year, anyway. In 2010, he was one of a handful of GOP legislative candidates endorsed by the Education Minnesota teachers union. . . .

So if members of the Override Six in Anoka County don't end up remaining in the Minnesota House with dreams of serving in the United States Senate, where do they end up?

Photo: The Override Six, via MinnPost's 2008 article by G.R. Anderson, The 'override six': Chastised by GOP leaders, they're feeling confident about re-election.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 18, 2013 at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A boy loves his dog: ECM story never mentions how Minority Leader makes a living these days

Did Minnesota House Minority Leader trade up when he exchanged pitching Lexuses and Acuras for restoring vintage Deere tractors and a 1966 Ford Bronco for his personal collection?

One thing's missing in T. W. Budig's description of the pastoral splendors enjoyed by Minnesota state representative Kurt Daudt, House minority leader thinks he’ll be speaker some day:

Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt sat on the farmhouse porch with a smiling lab at his feet and a cooing mourning dove in a nearby tree.

“When I am in St. Paul, I am so busy — and I really love what I do down there. But I can’t wait for the weekend to come,” Daudt said of returning to Crown.

Although Daudt spends many nights in St. Paul, his cabin on Spectacle Lake, the farm his grandfather bought in 1938, about a mile from the crossroads of Crown in southwest Isanti County, is old home ground. . . .

He grew up on a sheep farm near Princeton, a big operation with as many as 400 animals, But after graduating from the University of North Dakota, it was on his grandfather’s farm, 62 remaining acres, Daudt went to live.

Daudt and his brother Shane share the place, along with a coop of Cornish Cross chickens who will not live to see the autumn, six Black Angus, three of which are calves, and a black lab, Kurt Daudt’s pet, Lucy.

The lights of Crown do not blemish the evening sky.

A gentleman farmer, with an adoring dog. Who better to reclaim the Speaker's gavel from Paul Thissen, a lawyer who represents the fleshpots of Minneapolis in the legislature?

This honest yeoman farmer, this salt of the earth who restores John Deere tractors and uses the Green to haul manure and firewood. The manure is from six Angus cattle and a chicken coop. And on and on.

Budig does mention that Daudt and his brother don't farm any of the 62 acres they share:

The Daudts don’t work the farm fields. Instead, they rent 24 acres to a neighbor who works the land.

In the fall there’s deer hunting, pheasants, a pond for waterfowl[.]

What's missing--amid detailed explanation of Daudt's township, county and legislation service, is just what this neo-Cincinnatus does for a living. Ginseng hunting? Day trading? Surely it's not just the meager $31,000 and change that he makes as a citizen legislator or the rent money he splits with bro.

According to his economic interest statement (EIS) online at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, Representative Daudt is self-employed.

However, his EIS was updated on April 15, 2013, so he may have recently changed careers. When Daudt announced his bid for the legislature in 2010, his Facebook post noted:

Commissioner Daudt, 36, has been a resident of Isanti county and active in local and statewide politics for most of his adult life. For the last 15 years, Daudt has lived on the farm once owned by his grandparents in Crown, MN. . . .

Daudt currently works as a business manager for Buerkle Acura [link added], a position he has held since 2004. . . .

According to the luxury car dealership's web site, the Brookyn Park business serves Minneapolis. Not quite as rustic and pure as tinkering with vintage 1966 Ford Broncos and tractors, but we suppose that's all in the past now.

Also in his past? Selling Lexuses. In Kurt Daudt excited to begin next chapter in political career, ECM Publishers staff writer Rachel Kytonen reported:

When Daudt was elected county commissioner, he took a $40,000 decrease in salary. He had been in sales at Lexus in Maplewood, but his schedule as county commissioner required him to find a part-time job.

He now works 21 hours a week as a businesses manager at Buerkle Acura in Brooklyn Park. He said if it’s possible, he’s planning on still working while serving as state representative.

According to a January 9, 2013 article in the Isanti County News, the 2009 base salary for an Isanti County Commissioner was $27,013. Commissioners also receive a per diem, although we have not been able to determine what that amount was during Daudt's service. It's not as if the part-time position was as unpaid volunteer.

This leaves us curious: if Daudt required a part-time job while serving as county commissioner, and hoped to keep that job while serving in the legislature, what does he do in self-employment? It's obviously not the self-employment of a farmer. Does country gentleman on an old family estate--the only occupation delinated in the latest article--pay well enough to supplement that part-time legislative salary?

Photo: Kurt Daudt in December 2010, via Minnesota Public Radio.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 18, 2013 at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

West Central Tribune editorial board totally spanks Willmar mayor over Secret 8 committee

Last week, in D ata practice: Mayor so not disclosing names of members on secret committee for town's future, Bluestem examined Willmar mayor Frank Yanish's questionable (and possibly illegal) stoicism on giving up the names of his "Secret 8" panel.

The post was based on superlative reporting by the West Central Tribune. On Saturday, the editorial board of the Forum Communications chain paper took him to task in Mayor Yanish is not being open with Willmar about his Secret 8 meetings:

Willmar Mayor Frank Yanish, the business man who campaigned in 2010 on the need for more city government transparency, apparently does not believe that transparency applies to his actions.

Shame on Mayor Yanish.

Yanish last week released a major position paper on city reorganization. In his proposal’s opening paragraph, he specifically credited an eight-person “ad hoc advisory group” for helping him craft his proposal.

The mayor proposed an old idea of a joint human resources department between the city and Willmar Municipal Utilities. He also proposed including Kandiyohi County in the joint HR department, but he had never spoken to anyone at the county before making the proposal.

We commend the mayor for seeking out “effective government,” including government reorganization and/or collaboration.

However, “effective government” also includes open and transparent governance by all public officials, including the mayor. The mayor’s refusal to tell the public who the eight volunteers are on his “ad hoc advisory group” is not being open or transparent. Is the mayor ashamed to have the volunteers’ names revealed to the public? Are the eight volunteers ashamed that they volunteered for the city? Or is this secret group controlling the mayor and his actions? It makes no sense and it simply is not good governance. Frankly, Yanish is just not being forthright with the citizens of Willmar. This is not surprising with this mayor, who appears to be more interested in driving his own political agenda rather than practicing open and transparent governance. . . .

The West Central Tribune has filed a Minnesota Freedom of Information request with Yanish requesting access to all public data concerning his “ad hoc advisory group.” He has not yet responded to this request.

Citizens certainly have cause to wonder just what the mayor and/or his committee members are afraid of or are trying to hide. . . .

Read the entire editorial at the Tribune. As we noted earlier, transparency is neither liberal nor conservative, just an essential part of good government--and civic engagement for citizens.

Photo: Willmar Mayor Frank Yanish.

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 17, 2013 at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BSP giddy as schoolboy in new dress at news Emo Senator, Hagedorn contemplate MN1 bids

The Post Bulletin story about Mike Benson's bid that we wrote about in Ghost link at Rochester Post Bulletin: "Mike Benson to run for Congress against Walz" has finally been unembarged at the Rochester paper.

In the meantime, gumshoe journalist Josh Moniz got there first yesterday with Benson intends to run against Walz in 2014 and Former Sen. Al DeKruif may challenge Walz.

Nonetheless, Heather Carlson gets the gold star with Benson to run for Congress against Walz for naming the other potential candidates in the race:

In addition . . . [f]ormer state Sen. Mike Parry, who ran for the seat last year but lost in the Republican primary to former state Rep. Allen Quist, is also considering another run. Also seriously considering a bid is Byron resident Aaron Miller, a command sergeant in the Army reserves who was awarded the Bronze Star and works for a medical technology company.

Another name being mentioned is Jim Hagedorn of Blue Earth, who ran unsuccessfully for the 1st District Republican endorsement in 2010. At this point he said it is "premature" to talk about whether he will run for the seat, but said he is not ruling it out. His father is former 2nd District GOP Congressman Tom Hagedorn.

Bluestem can barely contain our glee. A sequel to Emo Senator: The Telenovela? The City Pages cited the serialized blog melodrama in awarding Bluestem the 2013 Minneapolis Best Blogger Award:

We particularly enjoy her ongoing series on Mike Parry, a.k.a. Minnesota's ex-"Emo Senator," who can't keep his racially charged tweets to himself.

Yes, we've missed Mike Parry.

But we've also preserved large chunks of the equally uproarious online testimony of Jim Hagedorn, who sought the endorsement in 2010. Like Parry, Hagedorn did a bit of scrubbing of his more controversial remarks, as we noted at the head of Rightwing values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative". (Sadly the archived content of the Minnesota Independent is no longer online). Here are gems there, including this racially charged--but deleted post--from Hagedorn:

The race has been highlighted by a Democrat drive to register voters in several of South Dakota’s expansive redistribution of wealth centers…err…casino parlors…err…Indian Reservations. Remarkably, many of the voters registered for absentee ballots were found to be chiefs and squaws who had returned to the spirit world many moons ago. What is truly astonishing is not that the Democrats would cheat, but that the FBI and other law enforcement types actually took the initiative to catch them.

Voter backlash against the Democrat’s (typical) election-stealing maneuvers will be the margin of victory for Thune. Leave it to liberals to ruin John Wayne’s* wisdom of the only good Indian being a dead Indian.

Not only did that smear Dakota and Lakota people, but John Wayne as well. Actually, the saying is attributed to General Philip Sheridan, though Representative James M.Cavanaugh (D-MT) is more accurately the source of the saying. Apparently such sentiments were acceptable in the U.S. House in 1868.

See also Entering the Teabagger Zone: Will Jim Hagedorn dilute the brew in Southern Minnesota? and the whole cache of posts here to refresh your memory, gentle reader.

Will Josh Moniz once more catch Emo Senator saying cray-cray things about Governor Dayton's anti-acids? Tune in for our next exciting episode!

Image: Who wouldn't want to use the divine Tild's "Emo Senator at Flouncette O'Parry" again?

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Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jun 17, 2013 at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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