One characteristic of Tales of Minnesota Election Fraud is--like zombies and urban legends--they're hard to kill. But unlike zombies, a good tap to the head won't stop a Tale of Minnesota Election Fraud. Conservatives continue to dig up and repeat this stuff.
Take Harold W. Rippe's most recent letter in the Pope County Journal, DFL, liberal media go after Bachmann again. Rippe pulls out the discredited "ballots in the trunk" campfire story not once but twice:
. . .The DFLers' icon, the donkey, planted its two front legs firmly on the
ground, raised its two rear legs into kicking position, while hee-hawing
trying to belittle the U.S. Congresswoman's work and record. First,
and loudest from the icon, was that she only eked out the fourth term by
a razor-sharp, hairsplitting razor thin 4,300 votes (one and one half
percent). The DFLers and their icon were sent back into the stable ,
when it was called to their attention that DFLer Gov.Dayton only won
by 8,000 votes (less than one/eighth of one percent) out of Minnesotans
5,232,521 voting public. Next the faithful were seen installing locks
on the stable door, when they were reminded that Al Frankin [sic] became
Senator by only a 300-vote margin percent win, at .0000000001%. I
believe these wining ballots were found in the trunk of a car days after
the election some where in the stronghold of the DFL party in the
Twin Cities. . . .
And:
. . .I do want to acknowledge that the Minnessota [sic] DFL party can also be
two faced or better yet, have two faces. The ugly one was displayed at
U.S. Rep. from the Sixth, as in above opinion, The other face was
happy, smiling, slick , smooth, polished, well buttered, etc.. This
face was evident when Mn. Secretary of State, DFLer Mark Richie [sic],
announced that he had enough politics after only two terms. That party
face heaped praise glory on his work . And why not? After all as
chief cook and bottle washer (vote counter) for Minnesota, he saw to it
hat DFLer Al Franken won his senate seat. Wasn't it his people who
found 200 votes in the truck of a car days after the election in the
Twin Cities? That along with the double counting of 300 votes, put
Franken in office. . . .
Let Rippe stand on his own two hind legs and bray this story as often as he likes. Bluestem believes that we take no risk in predicting that he won't be alone, just part of a herd of silly letter writers across the state as November 2014 approaches.
Cindy Reichert, then the elections director in Minneapolis, was about to find herself in the cross-hairs, too.
Election Day in Minneapolis had been chaotic, especially the
absentee ballots. There were a record number, and Reichert's staff spent
the day processing them. Some overseas absentee votes didn't arrive at
Reichert's office until an hour before polls closed.
In Minnesota, absentee ballots are processed at the precinct
level, meaning those that arrive on Election Day have to be delivered to
any of 131 precinct locations in the city. Using the city's snow
emergency hot line, Reichert had created an automated voice messaging
system for all precincts and alerted them not to close the polls until
all the absentee votes arrived.
Not everyone got the message, and the city didn't deliver every
absentee ballot to the precincts before they closed. In all, there were
32 ballots left over.
They were returned to City Hall, but Reichert couldn't count them
right away. She needed the voter registries from precincts so she could
make sure the absentee voter didn't show up at the polls on Election
Day and vote in person. And those registries, which are locked in the
voting machines, were slow in arriving.
But by Friday, Minnesota's most liberal city was ready to open
and count 32 additional, validly cast ballots. The campaigns and the
public were keenly aware of how close the race was, and the Coleman
campaign reacted swiftly.
"I let (the campaigns) know we were going to be working on
Saturday. And they said, 'Really? What are you doing on Saturday?' And I
said we're going to count the ballots that didn't get counted on
Election Day. 'What do you meeeean ballots didn't get counted!' "
Reichert recalled.
After learning of the development, Knaak called Ramsey County
Chief District Judge Kathleen Gearin at home Friday night to tell her
the Coleman campaign would be filing a case over Minneapolis' decision
to count the ballots. Gearin had been hosting a dinner party and — maybe
it was the wine — had a hard time taking Knaak seriously.
"I said: 'This is a joke. You've got to be kidding,' " Gearin
said. "It took him a while to convince me that this really was serious."
Gearin quickly hung up, vowing not to speak to either campaign unless both were present.
On Saturday morning, the recount landed in court for the first time.
The proceedings were hectic, and Lillehaug was peeved at the
emergency hearing — he'd been taking his dog to the vet when he got the
call. A harried Reichert did not hear when Knaak told Gearin he thought
the ballots had been in Reichert's car.
While state election law assigns many of the burdens of
litigation to Ramsey County, on this particular issue Gearin ruled that
she didn't have jurisdiction over Minneapolis. The importance of what
was about to happen had already dawned on Gearin, and she admonished
everyone — "as a citizen, as well as a judge," she said — to proceed
carefully.
Meanwhile, the story that Reichert had been driving around with
the ballots in her trunk spread like wildfire, from blogs to Fox News,
feeding a suspicion that the fix was in for Franken. Reichert learned
about it for the first time after walking out of Ramsey County court,
when a lawyer for the city told her.
She was upset. Stoked when Gov. Tim Pawlenty mentioned it during a
news conference, the story called her integrity and her competence into
question, and it still lingers despite Knaak's almost immediate
insistence that there was nothing to it.
"My mom called and said: 'Put it on Fox News! They're going to be
talking about Minneapolis elections!' I thought, 'Oh, gee, wonder what
this is?' " Reichert said.
What she saw alarmed her.
"They've got a picture of an open car trunk on one side with an
arrow pointing in it, and a picture of Al Franken with his angry fist up
on the other side, and they're reporting that I've been driving around
with ballots in my car," Reichert said.
Reichert doesn't even own a car — she drives an SUV. It doesn't
have a trunk. Yet more than any other, this story has persisted as an
emblem that there was something very wrong with Minnesota's 2008
recount.
Despite the headline, the body of the Josh Moniz article makes it clear that DeKruif served in the Minnesota senate (not the House) for two years during the short term created by redistricting. (State senators ordinarily serve four years, with a two-year term at the top of each decade while district lines are withdrawn.)
In March 2012, the Mankato Free Press reported in Al DeKruif steps out of legislative race that DeKruif chose not to move to a nearby open district because of family concerns:
DeKruif briefly considered running against Rosen before announcing a
week ago that he wouldn’t challenge the 10-year veteran but was
considering moving to an open district just north of his rural Elysian
home.
As recently as Saturday, DeKruif told delegates at the Blue Earth County
Republican Convention that he was still conflicted about making the
move, mentioning his 32-year-old son Jason, who has cerebral palsy.
“I can’t displace him very far,” he told the delegates. . . .
By Sunday afternoon, the owner of the Sakatah Trails Resort and a
transportation consulting business reached the conclusion that moving
his residence was the wrong decision.
“I need to do what is best for my family and businesses,” DeKruif said
in a written statement. “After all, it is Minnesota families and job
creators that led me to serve in the first place.
DeKruif also supported Mike Parry's notion that members of the Republican senate caucus had no obligation to follow the leadership of former senate majority leader Amy Koch during the shutdown negotiations. (Parry had no trouble later following the suggestions of her lover, Michael Brodkorb, who ran Parry's own campaign to unseat Walz until the scandal became public.)
And then there's the Agenda 21 stuff. Yes, DeKruif joined Senator Dave Brown (R-Becker) in supporting the cockamamie Bircher blue helmet phobia about sustainable planning, wetlands and buffer strips.
We may have found our next telenovela star to replace the cancelled "Emo Senator."
He was elected to the former Senate District 25 by 44 percent of the
vote in a close three-way race and served in the Minnesota Legislature
for the 2011 - 2012 session. When the redistricting process put him into
the same district as fellow Republican Sen. Julie Rosen, he declined to
take up another run for office.
He is the owner and consultant
of DeKruif Enterprise, Inc., which handles permitting and planning for
"super load" truck hauls across the country. The business separately
handles moving large electric transformers into both nuclear and
coal-fired power plants. He is also owner of the Sakatah Trail Resort
near Madison Lake.
DeKruif's legislative record is available online. He became an Assistant Majority Whip
in 2012, in the leadership shake-up that followed Koch's stepping down as Majority Leader.
Most of the bills that DeKruif sponsored that became law were minor tweaks. Governor Dayton vetoed DeKruif's bill to require E-verify-ication of all new state employees. The bill had no co-sponsors in the Senate, and Ernie Leidiger, Steve Drazkowski and Peggy Scott sponsored the bill in the Minnesota House.
In his veto letter
(PDF), Dayton said Minnesota already has a federally audited process
that checks the identity of new employees and whether they can be hired
under the federal mandates.
Dayton also said an audit found lots
of problems with the federal E-Verify program, showing it is vulnerable
to fraud and inaccuracy. And he noted that many, including the Minnesota
Chamber of Commerce, opposed the bill and want immigration issues to be
handled by the federal government, not the state.
Indeed, expansion of E-verify on the federal level, which would expand the program from reviewing seven percent of new hires to all new employees in America, is part of the Senate bill now under consideration. The Christian Science Monitor reports in US immigration reform: Why 'E-Verify' screenings, while flawed, will pass:
At the heart of immigration reform proposals in Congress is an idea
that’s simple in concept but very difficult in practice: keep illegal
workers from getting US jobs by conducting checkups on all the new hires at employers across America.
This idea of new-hire verification is highly popular. With 85 percent
support from the US public, it is the most strongly supported of five
basic elements of immigration reform, according to a February Gallup
poll.
But the system, known as “E-Verify,” has shown plenty of flaws as well as promise in its early years of being available (but not widely required).
The problems: Many illegal immigrants slip through the cracks and win
employment, while many legal workers face significant bureaucratic
challenges – sometimes even losing their jobs because government
databases deliver an erroneous “nonconfirmation” of their status.
Is E-Verify ready for prime time?
The short answer may be that, ready or not, here it comes. ...
Check out the details at CSM. Not all of the opposition to E-Verify comes from the left. In May, the online paper reported in Rand Paul's beef with immigration reform bill: the E-Verify system that libertarians fear that including photo-ID in E-verify is the path to a national id card:
“Many see measures contained in this bill, such as a strong E-Verify
and a ‘photo tool,’ as a means to control unlawful immigrants’ access to
unlawful employment. I worry that they go too far,” Paul wrote in the Washington Times. “I will fight to remove the photo tool from this legislation because I think it will become a national ID.”
Here's
what Paul is referring to: The Senate immigration bill contains
language that would, over the next five years, expand the nation’s
current photo database system to include all Americans, not just
foreigners and US passport holders. Employers would use photos in the
database to help validate an employee’s identity. Currently, the system
does not use photographs for identification and is rife with identity
theft, as illegal workers use stolen Social Security numbers or forged
documents to gain employment.
Dekruif also endorsed losing 2012 contender "Emo Senator" Mike Parry over Allen Quist, who trounced Parry in the Republican primary. The First Congressional District Republicans are now chaired by Quist's home county's Carol Stevenson. Bluestem suspects Stevenson will be professional in managing the endorsement process; we note her leadership only to point out the supremacy of the Quist wing of the Republican Party in the First.
Who are the others? We anticipate a clown car, as we've heard Senator Julie Rosen is once more taking a pass on this one.
Photo: Al DeKruif, the man who maybe would be Congressman, with Minnesota Viking Jared Allen at a Sheriff's Youth Benefit, via DeKruif's old senate committee website. Bluestem believes that the message on Allen's gag T-shirt riffing on a logo associated with people living with disabilities just goes to show that the Vikings can't all be Chris Kluwe. (Allen does support Homes for Wounded Warriors, so while he's not p.c., he's not a clod).
If you enjoy reading posts like this on Bluestem Prairie, consider throwing some coin in the tip jar:
Gazelka wants you to pay for a program that's based in the Assemblies of God and cites dubious statistics to support his claim:
In mid-April a significant debate took place in the senate
regarding funding for Teen Challenge. An amendment was offered to SF
1607 to add $1.5 million in funding for housing for Minnesota Teen
Challenge. Senator Dibble, (D-Minneapolis) strongly opposed this
amendment on the grounds that Minnesota Teen Challenge is a faith based
recovery program. Senator Gazelka commented that “with Teen Challenge’s
recovery and success rates of up to 75%, this is clearly one of the few,
if not the only recovery program that has gotten the job done and
helped many thousands of young people and even some adults to break free
from the chains of addiction, live a life free from these chains, and
become productive members of society. This is clearly a program that has
significant return on investment.” Teen Challenge relies heavily on
private donations, the proposal to add $1.5 million would not go toward
religious instruction, but to help them with their building foundation
and maintenance of their facility. Gazelka went on to say, “I believe
that the spirit in which opposition to this amendment was intended was
misguided, it is imperative that we support programs that support
Minnesotans.”
Between 2007 and 2009, 315 men, women, and youth graduated from the Minnesota Teen Challenge 12-month Life Care program. Nearly two-thirds of program participants (66%) were adult men, 23 percent were adult women, and 11 percent were teenagers at the time of treatment.
That's about about 29 teens for three years. Moreover, the number of teens who took part in the survey is even lower:
Wilder Research, an independent evaluator, sampled and conducted one-year follow-up telephone interviews with graduates who completed treatment between August 2007 and May 2009. In total, 154 graduates, 59 percent of the sample selected for follow-up, were interviewed by Wilder Research staff. . . .
Over half (55%) of respondents were adult men, 34 percent were adult women, and 10 percent were teenagers (6% boys and 4% girls).
That takes it down to 15 or 16 teens interviewed for the survey. Within that sample, sobriety rates were lower:
Among youth graduates, abstinence rates are lower with 64 percent of youth reporting no use in the prior six months and 47 percent reporting no relapses since graduating Teen Challenge.
No wonder the program changes its name to Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. Note how Gazelka tells his constituents that the program primarily serves teens (thousands of them): ": many thousands of young people and even some adults (emphasis added).
between 2001 and 2005, 512 men, women, and youth graduated from the Minnesota Teen Challenge 12-month Life Care program. Nearly two-thirds of program participants (65%) were adult men, 20 percent were adult women, and 15 percent were teenagers at the time of treatment.
Among youth graduates, abstinence rates are lower with 37 percent of youth reporting no use in the prior six months and 29 percent reporting no relapses since graduating Teen Challenge.
If anything, the percentage of teens among those serves by Teen Challenge is declining since the beginning of the century, though the small cohort of young people who do finish the program seem to be doing better even if it's not the "thousands" Gazelka imagines finishing the program.
There's been additional substantive criticism of those "recovery and success rates." Wikipedia's entry notes several:
According to a 2001 New York Times item,[8]
it is the opinion of some social scientists that the 86 percent success
rate of Teen Challenge is misleading, as it does not count the people
who dropped out during the program, and that, like many voluntary NGO's,
Teen Challenge picks its clients. The item quotes the Rev. John D.
Castellani, then president of Teen Challenge International U.S.A., as
saying that most of the addicts have already been through detoxification
programs, before they are admitted. In the program's first four-month
phase, Mr. Castellani said, 25 to 30 percent drop out, and in the next
eight months, 10 percent more leave. In their testimony before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means, the Texas Freedom Network
Education Fund, have similarly testified that the much quoted success
rates "dramatically distort the truth", due to the lack of reference to
the high drop out rate.[9]
“Despite their claims,’’ Dibble said, “their approach is predicated
on a very specific point of view. That’s their right. It stands to
reason that to help someone in recovery, they need a strong set of
internal values. But they’re asking for public dollars to further their
religious beliefs. That’s not right.’’
During a floor debate over
an amendment that would have put the funds back in the bill, Sen. Ron
Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, raised similar concerns, saying Jews ordered
into treatment by the courts have been denigrated at Teen Challenge.
Public dollars do go into other Christian-based organizations, such as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities.
But
those organizations are different from Teen Challenge, Dibble says. In
his view, those groups aren’t aimed at conversion; they’re reaching out
to those in need but not wearing religion on their sleeves.
For all its successes, Teen Challenge’s cure can be totally destructive for gays and lesbians, Dibble said.
He noted, for example, that Janet Boynes,
a former lesbian who has announced homosexuality as sinful and like an
addiction, was invited to be a speaker at a Teen Challenge event.
“When
a gay person is immersed in an environment like that, they can’t help
but think there’s something deeply wrong with them,’’ said Dibble. “Some
of those [homophobic] values are inseparable from their approach. It
does not work for the GLBT person. . . .It’s fine for those at Teen
Challenge to believe what they want, but should taxpayers pay for those
beliefs?’’
Grow goes on to note that often teens are offered the choice to do time or do Teen Challenge. What are courts doing prescribing religion as treatment?
The Wikipedia entry for Teen Challenge notes that a national leader of Teen Challenge boasted during House committee testimony about converting Jews, so Latz's complaint isn't unfounded:
Conversely, such funding has come under attack through comments by John
Castellani, the former President of Teen Challenge USA, during a House
Government Reform subcommittee, examining the efficacy of religious
social service providers. During the hearing, Castellani said Teen
Challenge does not hire non-Christians as employees and, when asked if
the group takes non-Christians as clients, he said yes, and boasted that
some Jews who finish his Teen Challenge program become "completed
Jews." [12][13] Critics of faith-based funding cite this as an example of how religious intolerance could be publicly funded.[3]
(The "completed Jews" phrase is often used by Christians and Messianic
Jews to refer to Jewish people who become believers in Yeshua (Jesus).
The phrase is considered offensive to many Jewish groups because it
suggests Jews are "incomplete" unless they believe in the divinity of
Jesus.)
Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park,
said court-ordered participants were not free to leave if they
disagreed with the evangelical content of the program. And he said the
program's fervent Christian orientation has been known to denigrate
Jews.
Image: Gazelka's not alone with his love for Teen Challenge. Lots of Minnesota leaders like former Governor Pawlenty, Senator Klobuchar and world-reknown businessmen Tom Petters and Frank Vennes deeply appreciated Teen Challenge's work. Indeed, Michele Bachmann gave her Petters campaign contribution to Teen Challenge when things didn't work out so well as City Pages noted in Bachmann donates Petters-tainted cash to Halloween haters; as the late Karl Bremer and And Birkey reported, Teen Challenge gave the tainted cash back. Bremer also noted:
Listed among Vennes’ secured creditors
in his proposed work-out plan is Richard Scherber, executive director
of Minnesota Teen Challenge. Documents filed with Vennes’ proposal show
Scherber was owed $910,000 when the Petters scheme ended. Minus the
returns he had received on his investments with Vennes, Scherber had an
out-of-pocket loss of $423,759, according to court documents. Under
Vennes’ proposed work-out plan, Scherber would receive only $173,741.
We've taken a screenshot, which also includes a link to bare-bones Mike Benson for Congress website.
The ghost leads to an error message on the Post Bulletin site, but the existence of the website suggests that the two term Rochester-area Republican is exploring a bid.
This strikes Bluestem as odd, since the Minnesota House is up for re-election in 2014, and the swing Rochester area is fairly volatile in terms of the electorate. Benson has also proposed cigarette tax increases in the past; now that the tax was raised in the last session, the Republican caucuses are citing it as an example of DFL tax mania.
Apparently, it's another pass at a "Rochester Run" strategy, since the med city is the largest population center in the district. Walz defeated Rochester six-term representative Gil Gutknecht in 2006, trounced Rochester doctor Brian Davis in 2008, beat Hayfield Republican Randy Demmer in a close race in the 2010 Republican banner year, and handily defeated perennial candidate Allen Quist in 2012.
Benson's record is singularly undistinguished in the Minnesota house, favoring such things as the voter id and marriage amendments. He works as a professor at Crossroads College, a tiny former bible college in Rochester; there's a bio on his website but little else, not even a disclaimer with the campaign's committee name.
While Congresswoman Michele Bachmann may be leaving the House of Representatives at the end of her term, she's not leaving the headlines. Today's item shows up in Politico's Michele Bachmann: Far right ‘losing badly’.
That fight is immigration reform.
Bachmann's statement is mild compared to a March 18, 2013 on-air radio rant against a MInnesota state version of the DREAM Act, in which Emmer predicted that passage would lead to a slippery slope, at the bottom of which "Caucasian" children would be discriminated against in favor of the foriegn born and the brown:
You could move to the front of the line against a kid who has been
here--and by the way, make no mistake about it, what they will do is
they will evaluate, if you allow the DREAM Act, you think that a kid
who's here that suddenly will be the minority, the a-Caucasian whatever,
is going to be looked at at an equal par with somebody who's coming
from a different country and is a person of color? No! They've got to
met all kinds of quotas, Bob.
Bluestem thinks that in the race for Republican endorsement in Minnesota's Sixth, Emmer will likely take up Bachmann's crown on this issue, regardless of how those urging the Republican Party to grow up about CIR think. Emmer has a long record of proposed anti-immigrant legislation and statements.
While hardcore anti-immigrant sentiment may mark the GOP as the grumpy old guy party nationally, the sentiment may still play well in the Sixth. Bachmann was milking it for what it's worth on the Glenn Beck show, Politico reports:
Rep. Michele Bachmann urged the viewers of Glenn Beck’s show to “melt the phone lines” on immigration because currently, conservatives are “losing badly.”
The Minnesota Republican appeared on Beck’s show on TheBlaze TV on Thursday with Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) to talk about how Republicans “don’t even know” they’re in a fight over the bill yet.
“We’re losing badly. Why? Because members of Congress don’t even know this fight’s going on, so we need your viewers to melt the phone lines,” Bachmann said.. . .
Gohmert brushed off criticism of party infighting, saying the foundation of the Republican Party was being destroyed by working with Democrats, and polls show the public is paying attention.
“Some people say, ‘Well, you’re hurting your party politically,’” Gohmert said.
“[Members of the public] see how the termites are eating through the framework that’s holding this house up. … We need to shore up the framework before this thing comes down on our heads.”
The group plugged a public news conference next week that will feature a “Lincoln-Douglas-style debate” on the issue, Bachmann said.
Recent internal reports by the Republican Party suggest that anti-immigrant and anti-Latino sentiment is a liability.
Tom Emmer must not believe so, because he had this to say in an exchange with co-host Bob Davis on March 18, 2013 (full audio below):
Davis: Well, what are Robiespierre and the rest of the French legislators up to over there in St. Paul
Emmer: Oui! oui!--
Davis: Do you think Minnesotans should subsidize higher education for illegal aliens? They're called DREAMers. These are the non-citizen children of illegal aliens in this country who are not born in this country. So therefore they're citizens of another country.
After the spirit of the DREAM Act, which by the way was never passed, but it was implemented, parts of it through presidential executive order, the state senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, which is, you know, a classic French committee, held a hearing on sending illegals to college, and I'm incensed by this.
Quote: "Just because I'm undocumented, my grade point average means nothing." You can argument that these people should be made citizens, and you can argue about how to do that--
Emmer: --Right--
Davis: --and you can argue the need for that and I accept those arguments. But, if enacted, the bill would make illegal students eligible for state financial aid in the form of [in] state tuition [rate] and private scholarships. Is this okay? . . .
Emmer: Doesn't that get you all flamed up?
Davis: Well, it inflames me because there are a lot of people who do not get those benefits and their kids are citizens.
Emmer: I'm going to tell you, you're sitting across from one right now. You have a son who's wrapping up college, I have kids who are entering college.
It's worth remarking here that Tom Emmer's children would be eligible for in-state tuition rates at Minnesota's public universities, colleges and tech schools. Private scholarships would be awarded on the criteria set by the groups that administer them; usually this is a combination of achievement and need.
Bluestem is curious why Tom Emmer, a resident of Delano, believes his children aren't eligible for in-state tuition rates at public institutions or that they can't apply for private scholarships. He continues:
Emmer: It's not a matter of unfairness or--again, you're right, you can argue laws about citizenship and how you become a citizen. But when you say--talk about the arrogance and foolishness of some of these legislators--when you say that you're going to put, potentially put an illegal immigrant to the front of the line ahead of children that are actually legal citizens of this country, when it comes to--ah--in-state tuition, financial aid, and private scholarships? Really? That's what you were elected to do?
Davis: Well, that is a classic definition of buying votes, and you wonder why Dayton wants to increase the funding for higher education. I wonder if he'll go out and tell the people in outstate Minnesota, whether they want to hear it or not, I wonder if he'll tell people that he wants to raise money for education so that he can give the children of illegal aliens who are also illegal aliens free educations on the backs of everybody else in the state. I think it's an equal protection issue, if you want my honest opinion.
Note how Davis moved from in-state tuition and private scholarships to free education for undocumented residents. The details of the law are available here; the law requires students who meet certain criteria to pay in-state tuition, to apply for state financial aid and to receive privately-funded financial aid. It's no guarantee of "free college."
Davis continues, and like Emmer, sudden changes the intent of the legislation from allowing DREAMers from paying in-state tuition and competing for private education, to give those students "a free college education":
Davis: I think that the citizens of the state should sue the state if they even consider this, saying look you can't give them something that you don't give everyone else. So if you're not prepared to give everyone a free college education, which by the way, they want to do it so it's probably not a good idea, then you can't do this for people who aren't citizens of the United States. This is terrible--
Emmer: No, this is criminal--
Davis: And these idiots over there, these useful idiots at the state legislature, literally, because they're afriad to say no. This isn't the issue. I realize that you feel if you are an illegal alien who has grown up in the United States, you feel that it is your country, but that's not the legislative problem. The legislative problem is how to make these people citizens and until the federal government figures out where its ass is, they're not going to be able to do anything about it. So the solution is for me to pay for your education? No, the answer is no. And we will not do that.
Emmer: I don't even look at it that way. I look at it this way. I'm raising seven kids, I'm here legally, we're working our tails off to make ends meet and you're going to pass a law that says we don't care where you come from in this country, we don't care whether your family actually has been contributing to the economic growth or whatever the economic situation is here, we are going to give you not only in-state tuition as if you belong here but we're going to give you any aid that is available and even private grants.
You could move to the front of the line against a kid who has been here--and by the way, make no mistake about it, what they will do is they will evaluate, if you allow the DREAM Act, you think that a kid who's here that suddenly will be the minority, the a-Caucasian whatever, is going to be looked at at an equal par with somebody who's coming from a different country and is a person of color? No! They've got to met all kinds of quotas, Bob.
But even Davis grasped the harshness of what his co-host said:
Davis: Absolutely. Well I would look at it this way: you know you can't do that! ...Many of these people's parents do contribute to the economy. That's the problem, it's a federal problem that hasn't been addressed. . . .
There's more. At the point, Emmer addresses the need for Republicans to connect with America's rising tide of color:
Emmer: And you watch how many of these politicians will take a vote, not because it's right or wrong but because, oh goodness, we can't be--
Davis: We can't say no!
Emmer: --especially on the right side of the aisle now, you watch them, "Oh, we've got to be more sensitive to the immigrant population because you know that's--
Davis: --you're already hearing it--
Emmer: It's coming from the top.
Davis...[at CPAC] The chairman of the RNC, talking about being more compassionate, Michele Bachmann, was at CPAC, talking about being more compassionate....
Emmer reiterated his support of Arizona’s right to preempt federal powers over immigration in a July 28 statement opposing the court injunction blocking some sections of SB1070 on constitutional grounds.
Emmer was a co-author of English-only bills such as HF4087 and HF0336.
The first bill includes measures similar to Arizona’s SB1070 law.
He was chief author of a 2006 bill to eliminate prenatal care for immigrant mothers, HF2877.
Emmer also supported a 2006 bill, HF2576, that would have required local law enforcement agencies
to collect more information on the citizenship and immigration status of
those they arrested, overriding so-called "sanctuary city" local
ordinances designed to encourage all residents to be willing to come forward to police. The measure passed the Republican-controlled House on a bipartisan vote, but never got a hearing in the DFL-controlled Senate.
Beyond the bills
Beyond the bills, there's a record of statements that indicate an anti-reform mindset. Via Nexis, there's a January 24, 2006 letter to the editors of the Star Tribune:
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
The price we pay
Through a series of editorials, the Star Tribune started its caring, calm talk on immigration by alleging nastiness, scapegoating, political opportunism and divisiveness against those of us who think illegal immigration is an important issue that needs immediate attention.
Then it accused the governor of "intellectual incoherence" when he released his legislative package on immigration. Talk about getting off to a civil start.
On top of being uncivil, I believe the Star Tribune misled Minnesotans by implying that illegal immigrants do not benefit from public welfare programs.
Let's look at the facts from the Department of Human Services: The state of Minnesota paid approximately $17.3 million for illegal immigrants to receive public health care assistance in 2005. The federal government paid another $18 million for a total of $35 million in public health care funds for illegal immigrants in Minnesota alone.
Maybe the editorial writers and defenders of illegal immigration think this is chump change. To most of us, that is a lot of our money that could be spent on people living here legally.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano
Later that year, Emmer decided to crack down, while associating welfare reform with undocumented residents. In a report to constituents, he wrote:
I am also working on two other important bills that will meet stiff resistance, both relating to illegal immigration.
It is no secret that Minnesota has great welfare benefits, but too
many people come here to take advantage of our generosity. I have a bill
that has passed the House that would require any person - illegal
immigrant or just a person moving here from another state - to live her
for 90 days before they receive full welfare benefits. Prior to meeting
that requirement they could receive 60 percent of whatever benefit may
be available to them. Do we really want people coming here and
immediately receiving full public benefits or do we want them to
actually be Minnesotans? Hopefully in those three months they can find
gainful employment and won't need benefits.
The
other bill seeks to prevent pregnant illegal immigrants from living here
illegally long enough to be taken care of and have their baby before
they head back to wherever they came from. People who support illegal immigration
are predictably outraged, saying that the bill is anti-life and will
result in great harm. This is not true. Expecting illegal immigrants
would still get emergency care and would be able to receive care if they
are in labor and delivering their baby.
When the second bill was heard in the --- committee, representatives objected to the measure, since prenatal care for children who would be born as American citizens was deemed cost-effective as well as humane. Staunchly pro-life DFLer Mary Ellen Otremba called him out for being callous about the health of the unborn.
2010 Punker's Paradise: parades, pennies and parodies
Fast forward to Emmer's gubernatorial bid. Although he later walked it back, he praised Arizona's notoriously divisive SB1070 racial profiling bill as "a great start."
We suspected the other day
that Lino Lakes City Council Member Dave Roeser was opening another
front in the culture wars when he proposed declaring that English be the
official language in a suburb where hardly anyone speaks any language
other than English. . . .
Yesterday, the Strib caught up
with Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer and asked him what he
thought about the Lino Lakes proposal, especially since he introduced a
similar, state-wide measure two years ago in the Legislature (that went nowhere fast). . .
Emmer said he co-sponsored the 2008 measure because his home county said
the cost of producing signs in multiple languages "was killing them."
Emmer's positions caught the attention of Minneapolis immigrant rights prankster Robert Erickson, aka Nick Espinosa, who punked the candidate's parade unit in St. Paul's Cinco De Mayo parade, endorsed Emmer in a now private parody video, picketed a fundraiser in Columbia Heights and--most famously--dropped 2000 pennies in front of Emmer at a town hall with irate servers at Old Mexico Restaurant in Roseville.
...Another said Emmer's get-tough stance on immigration would wreck the restaurant industry.
And
that's when Nick Espinosa entered the room. Espinosa, who later gave
reporters the pseudonym of Robert Erickson, has confronted the Emmer
campaign before, ironically asking him to send home "European"
immigrants and posting a fake endorsement video on YouTube.
"This is not Arizona! That's my tip for you," Espinosa shouted, dumping out his bag full of change.
Espinosa was dragged out of the room. Emmer kept his cool, for the most part.
"I
played hockey for a number of years, and that actually got me to jump a
little bit," he said, adding that when he looked over at his wife, she
was laughing at him.
When Emmer opines on provisions Arizona immigration law being blocked
While immigration policy faded as an issue in the gubernatorial race when the Chamber of Commerce made its support for national comprehensive immigration reform know, while DFL-allied groups concluded that immigration tested more strongly for Republican candidates as a campaign issue and thus avoided it.
One exception? When Emmer volunteers attempted to organize a stealth meeting with Latino business people at a restaurant on Lake Street without telling the owner the purpose of the meeting, Alberto Monserrate interviewed the restauranteer about the incident on his radio show Cara a Cara. If Bluestem recalls correctly, IP candidate Tom Horner and DFLer Mark Dayton went on the show as well; Emmer did poorly in the election among immigrant communities and people of color.
Perhaps Bachmann's warning will come true, and conservatives will lose this fight by the time Tom and Rhonda have to duke this one out for the Republican endorsement in 2014.
Photos: The Famous Penny Drop by immigrant rights activist Nick Espinosa (above); Espinosa hands Emmer DREAMer doll Dora the Explorer (below).
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Bluestem's been hearing outlandish tales about Willmar's mayor and city council, as well as reading story after story about odd remarks and behavior reported in the West Central Tribune.
Willmar Mayor Frank Yanish continues to withhold the names of the eight advisers who helped him draft his alternate plan for reorganizing city government.
The West Central Tribune has filed a letter requesting information about the group with Willmar city government. The letter asks the city to cite specific Minnesota statutes that allow the names to be withheld if the city does not release them.
Under Minnesota's Data Practices Act, records of state and local government are presumed to be public unless a specific exception exists in the law.
Yanish released an "Option C" plan late last week, an alternative to ideas presented by consultants hired by the City Council to study the city's organization. They are looking for ways to serve the public without gaps in service or duplicated services. The cost of the study by Brimeyer-Fursman of Maplewood is $22,500.
Go check out the article at the West Central Tribune for the details on Yanish's contempt for the law and the Tribune's dogged search for transparency.
Some aspects are downright puzzling. Take this:
Yanish said Wednesday that the eight people are not members of an official city committee but a group with diverse backgrounds who "are more in tune with my line of thinking," Yanish said.
He characterized his thinking as "conservative, but not ultra-conservative," adding "I think we do have some ultra-conservative people on the (City) Council."
What's "conservative" about breaking the law? Transparency itself is neither left nor right, but sound government.
Conservatives like Anoka County Board Chair Rhonda Sivarajah, who announced her bid for the sixth congressional district race yesterday, tout transparency. Indeed, the Sunshine Review, founded by the conservative Sam Adams Alliance, awarded the Anoka County website a "Sunny" award.
Photo: Willmar mayor Frank Yanish doesn't want citizens to know who served on his non-public committee.
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The most recent example? In the Redwood Falls Gazette, editor Troy Krause reports in Legislators host town hall meeting in Morgan, Minnesota:
Everything from bullying to daycare unions was discussed this past Friday afternoon at the Lions Club community center in Morgan when District 16 Sen. Gary Dahms and District 16B Rep. Paul Torkelson held the first of several town hall meetings in the district. . . .
Dahms shared this dire thought about the union organizing:
. . . Another topic was the creation of a daycare union, and according to Dahms and Torkelson a vote is going to be taking place soon that would impact those daycare providers who utilize the childcare assistance program.
The issue, said Dahms, is the majority of daycare providers in the state do not want to join a union, especially those who are the only employee of their daycare business.
What is concerning, said Dahms, is it only takes a 30 percent approval vote of those eligible voters who cast a ballot to determine whether or not a union could be established for daycare providers.
What is the first step for Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME Council 5? Child
Care Providers Together (CCPT)/AFSCME Council 5 organizers will visit
with child care providers across Minnesota. Providers interested in
having a collective strong voice will be asked to sign a union
membership card. Once 500 cards are signed they will be sent to the
Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS) to be verified. Once verified, the
Commissioner of Human Services will provide CCPT/AFSCME Council 5 with
the most recent list of eligible voters. . . .
What is the next step for Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME Council 5? CCPT/AFSCME
Council 5 organizers will continue to visit with eligible providers
across Minnesota. When 30 percent of signed union authorization cards
are collected, they will file a petition for an election with the BMS.
The cards collected during this time period will be valid for six
months.
So the union will have six month to petition for an election after thirty percent of those eligible to form a union sign authorization cards. A majority must then vote for union representation--that's fifty percent + one--or there won't be a union. Thirty percent does not equal fifty-percent + one.
Step 1: AFSCME/CCPT will collect 500 cards and present them to the state.
Step 2:
The state will give AFSCME a list of all eligible voters. To be an
eligible voter you must have had a current CCAP registration in the last
12 months. YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE ACCEPTED A CCAP PAYMENT. They need
to get 30 % of the providers on the list to sign cards and that would
spur an election. The cards expire after 6 months and only valid cards
will be counted.
Step 3:
Ballots will be mailed out to all eligible voters and they usually need
to be returned within 2-3 weeks. Only ballots returned are counted so,
if only 100 providers send ballots back and 51 are for the union, the
union wins. It is imperative that you do not sign any card unless you wish to belong to the union. It is also imperative that you send back your ballot if you are an eligible voter.
It could--and Dahms' opponent in an election could defeat him. But 30 percent won't do anything other than triggering the contest. If Dahms truly believes that "the majority of daycare providers in the state do not want to join a union," we have to wonder what he's afraid of.
Photo: Anti-union Grumpy Cat Senator Gary Dahms at the Morgan Townhall. via Redwood Falls Gazette.
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. . . Brown also
sees potential problems with the new “fourth tier” of taxes imposed on
the wealthiest Minnesotans, who will always have the option of simply
leaving the state. Massive new taxes on beer and wine and cigarettes
will only encourage residents to go to other states to purchase these
items, or encourage a black market harkening back to the days of
prohibition when the government tried unsuccessfully to prevent
consumption of alcohol. They will also take more money away from
families, especially hitting the lower income residents, Brown said.
But at least Brown won't have to fear the next Al Capone, slouching toward Becker, waiting to be born.
Photo: Since the legislature didn't raise taxes on moonshine, Senator Brown won't have to fear new Prohibition-style gangsters supplying beer at local graduation parties.
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The rest is the usual anti-labor, anti-government Hann job, except for this:
A strong opponent of the same-sex marriage bill, Hann said he doesn’t
believe the majority of the people in the state of Minnesota wanted to
see the current marriage law changed.
“I do think it will have far-reaching effects on our culture,” Hann
said. He said the amount of discussion on the bill was very limited
considering potential effects it will have. Hann said “there was far
greater debate and discussion about the Vikings stadium over the past
two to three years.”
Issues were not fully vetted and efforts by the opposition were
shouted down on the same-sex marriage bill in the course of discussion,
Hann said. He said he hopes there is an effort to have more complete
consideration of what the effects of this law will be.
While Bluestem can recall wishing that someone would shout Senator Dan Hall down during the state senate debate on marriage equality, that never happened and much like the epic debate on the freedom to debate outside of the legislature, Hall droned on and on. (Joking: the debate in both chambers was civil, if at times a bit awkward. Fox News 9 on the House floor debate here.)
Since David Hann is uninformed about the history of the discussion about marriage equality in Minnesota, we recommend that he consult the resources available at the Minnesota Legislative Law Library. The Star Tribune and MinnPost both created timelines going back to 1972 and 2011, respectively, as well.
However, we think that we can help Hann understand the consequences of marriage equality with the pie chart reproduced at the top of this post.
Chart: Mmmm, a pie chart. We like rhubarb.
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Olmsted County expects to start accepting same-sex marriage licenses
tomorrow, according to Mark Krupski, the county's director of Property
Records and Licensing.
That is much faster than had originally been anticipated. Krupski had
said he expected the county to start accepting applications in July.
But last Friday he called a meeting of the county's Information
Technology staff and told them it was a high priority to get the changes
done that would allow same-sex couples to begin applying for marriage
licenses.
"As a show of support for that group of citizens, we really should move this along," Kruspki said.
The marriages won't be valid until August 1, when Minnesota's new law extending the freedom to marry to same-sex couples goes into effect. All marriage licenses aren't valid until five days after the application is made.
Olmsted joins a number of counties in Southern Minnesota where county officials have worked to allow gay and lesbian couple obtain licenses that would be valid August 1. While media has widely reported that couples can only apply for licenses in Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington Counties, Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Pipestone, Renville, and Sibley Counties will accept applications for marriage licenses by same-sex couples.
Indeed, Pipestone County issued its first license last Monday, beating metro counties by a day.
However, Olmsted is being pro-active with outreach to the queer community. Carlson reports:
To help spread the work, Kruspki said the department plans to reach out
to the local gay and lesbian community to explain the license
application process.
Photo: A wedding cake topper for a happy couple.
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In the past, Bluestem has chastized a conservative blogger for not knowing the boundaries of Minnesota's First Congressional District, so it's only fair that we point out that Eric Pusey's understanding of the geography of the Sixth Congressional District goes a bit far a field.
In Why we should fear Tom Emmer, Eric Pusey includes Big Stone County, part of the fabled "Bump" on the South Dakota border, in with Sixth CD precincts in Anoka, Hennepin, Sherburne, Washington and Wright County.
Missing? Benton County and Stearns County, both home to St. Cloud.
Someone had to keep passing those stale Big Stoned County jokes around.
Benton County, on the other hand, gave Emmer a clear majority of 50.92 percent to Dayton's 35.29 percent and Horner's 12.14 percent. The Grassroots Party candidates came in fourth, putting the bent in Benton County with 77 votes or 0.56 percent of the vote.
However, while Big Stone County voters--actually in the Minnesota's Seventh, with only the NRCC's traveling billboard of doom to fear--need not fret about voting for Emmer, whatever a metro progressive blogger tells them, replacing Benton's 2010 Emmer votes makes his bid all the more scary for the those dreading the notion of Tom Emmer in Congress.
Fewer than 3600 registered voters lived in Big Stone County in 2010, a lovely, rural prairie and riparian county on the state's western boundary waters, while 20,987 souls were registered in Benton County (part of St. Cloud is in Benton). Add in the Stearns County precincts in the Sixth, and the increased number--and percentage--of Emmer votes will change the percentage by which Emmer won the 2010 gubernatorial race in CD6.
Bluestem recommends that Minnesotans visit the Upper Minnesota River Valley, which not only is quite lovely, but unlike those folks downstream in Carver County, has little to fear from Tom Emmer. For now, Big Stone County can breathe easier.
Image: In an act of radical redistricting, Minnesota Progressive Project put Big Stone County in the middle of Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. In fact, it's part of The Bump on the state's western border with South Dakota, in CD7. Bluestem hopes that MPP replaces BSC with Benton. Just saying.
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While readers are left to wonder where the grown-ups were on the night of a graduation bonfire held on the property of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude, two friends of Bailey Hamilton emerge as common sense heroes.
Charles Skogman, Mike Iler and Bailey Hamilton weren’t planning
to attend Megan Kolb’s graduation party on May 26. Two days earlier they
had graduated with Megan, who is the 18-year-old daughter of Mille Lacs
County Attorney Jan Jude.
Charles heard another friend was having a bonfire with four or five people, and he asked if he could come.
At around 10 p.m., Mike Iler showed up after work.
When the host of the party told them about
Megan’s bonfire, they decided to head over. Mike and Charles drove
separate vehicles. Bailey Hamilton rode with Mike. . . .
Bailey brought along a bottle of vodka, Larson reports, and after awhile, started showing signs of intoxication:
At one point other kids were encouraging him to drink. “I don’t know
who it was, but somebody was like ‘Chug! Chug! Chug!’ Then Bailey took a
couple big swigs."
Before long, Bailey was drunk. “He was just
stumbling,” Charles said. “He can’t stand up straight. He goes to the
side, has to catch himself. He has to hold onto a truck. He couldn’t
really talk that good.”
Since neither Skogman nor Iler had been drinking, they decided to drive their friend home. Hamilton passed out and vomited on the ride back. After Skogman woke Hamilton's parents, they decided to call 911 because of their son's dire condition.
Skogman's own father is proud of his son, Larson reports:
Charles heard that some kids were still partying when the cop showed up. They ran into the woods.
“People always run at parties,” he said. “I don’t drink at the parties, so I don’t have to run.”
Dean Skogman is proud of his boy. “We raised them
all to do right,” he said. “He did the right thing. Me growing up, I’d
leave that kid behind. He goes above and beyond to help people out.
Today, that’s a good quality.”
Hamilton's father, a recovering alcoholic, is grateful:
“The doctor
said he had literally minutes. I’m just thankful that his two buddies
came in my house. If they would’ve left him on the lawn, we probably
would’ve walked out in the morning and found him dead.”
Editor Larson suggests on twitter that more news is coming out in tomorrow's edition of the weekly Mille Lacs Messenger. Major props again to a small town paper that has the fortitude to pursue a public safety issue involving a powerful county official--and to the parents and kids blowing the whistle on this one.
Photo: Charles Skogman, one of two thoughtful friends whose sober thinking may have saved Bailey Hamilton's life. Via the Mille Lacs Messenger.
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Seventeen-year-old Ally Mrozik is willing to swear on a bible that she heard Megan Kolb, daughter of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude, say that her parents were fine with alcohol at her graduation party, provided that no one drank and drove.
Using interviews with several in attendance and tracing the life of the party on twitter and Facebook, the paper reports that it has compiled a list of names of 40 teens who were at the event.
In a related blog post, editor Brett Larson wonders if the Mille Lacs County Sheriff's Office has begun to stonewall the press by not releasing documents covered under the state's data practices law.
Partying teens tell all
In Teens believe county attorney knew about party, Larson and Messenger staff write Rob Passons report multiple accounts from teens who were present at the Jude property that appear to contradict the county attorney's statement that she knew nothing about the events that allegedly took place on her property.
The first story Larson and Passons relay involves a statement from Jude's daughter:
Ally Mrozik, 17, of Milaca, who was in attendance at a May 26
party on the property of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude, said she
believes Jude and her husband Russ knew about the party, which is under
investigation by the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. Law enforcement was
informed of the party after Bailey Hamilton, 17, was treated for alcohol
poisoning.
Mrozik said several other kids were present when Jude's daughter
Megan [Kolb], 18, told them that the adults at the house — including the Judes
and off-duty officers — "were fine as long as no one drinks and drives."
This occurred toward the beginning of the party, before she became intoxicated, Mrozik said.
"I will put my hand on a Bible," she said. "I remember specifically hearing this."
Mrozik decided to go on the record when her peers figured out who she was and began harassed her for "causing the problems" that now trouble the Jude family:
Mrozik said she had already been identified because she told the
newspaper she had gotten drunk and had been picked up by her mom at 2
a.m. She was the only girl who had been picked up by her mom.
She has been harassed on social media for
speaking with the paper. In tweets and text messages she has been
accused of lying and of causing the problems that face Jude and her
husband Russ, a Mille Lacs Tribal Police investigator.
Good for her for standing up to cyberbullying.
Another student, Spencer Slade, who spoke to the paper didn't hear Kolb's statement, but believes that Jude knew about the drinking.
Perhaps the most compelling account come from the 18-year-old who woke Bailey Hamilton's mother and father when he and a friend brought their intoxicated son home. When he remained unresponsive, the Hamiltons called an ambulance. Bailey regained consciousness after six hours at the local hospital.
The friend told the newsmen:
The boy said, "Like I told the investigator, you would know if a
four-wheeler goes back and forth a lot. If she looked outside, there was
a lot of cars there."
According to the boy, trucks and ATVs were
driving back and forth from the bonfire down a trail through the woods,
and cars were coming and going from the property — some driven by kids
who had been drinking.
"I don't see how she could not know," the boy
said. This was the second party the boy had attended on the property,
and he had heard of other parties there as well.
On the morning of July 6, the Messenger requested information
from Mille Lacs County Sheriff Brent Lindgren regarding the call to
Bailey Hamilton's house and the followup visit to the property of Jan
and Russ Jude in the early morning of May 27.
Specifically, we asked for the names of anyone
the deputy talked to in his search for information that might help
doctors treat Bailey, who was hanging on by a thread in the Princeton
ER.
In his news release, Lindgren said, "Deputy
attempted calling the residence to make contact with a homeowner to
advise them of why the Deputy was on the property in an attempt to
gather information to assist medical personnel treating the 17 year old
male patient."
That news release was published verbatim to the Messenger website as soon as it was released at around noon on June 5. ...
The request was denied, Larson writes, after noting how the sheriff's department changed its story via email after the press statement was released.
Read why the request was denied at the Messenger. Larson responds:
First, the claim that they already provided all the public data is
not remotely true (see below for the list of data from Minnesota Statute
13.82 that I asked for).
Second, if they were denying the request to
protect the identity of a juvenile, but the deputy contacted the
homeowner ... does that mean the homeowner is a juvenile? Not possible.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but this whole thing is beginning to stink.
Here's another question: Two parents who came to
pick up their drunk kid saw a deputy's car parked at an intersection
near the property at about 2:05 a.m. with the headlights on.
It's worth reading the rest of the post.
What happened that night on the Jude property? Will the Anoka County Sheriff's Department conduct a thorough investigation?
Did the Mille Lacs County Attorney adopt a double standard for her own daughter's graduation party and turn a blind eye over Memorial Day Weekend? The Messenger reports:
The only adult anyone has mentioned being at the bonfire was Grant
Kolb, Jude's 21-year-old son, who showed up on a four-wheeler with his
girlfriend, according to two sources.
Photos: The Judes and their daughter, Megan Kolb, on graduation day (above) via Jan's Facebook page; Jan Jude, Mille Lacs County Attorney (below) via MPR's Law enforcement fighting 'epidemic' of heroin use.
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The Mankato Free Press reports that the owners of Bluestem's favorite Mankato coffeeshop were the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Blue Earth County.
Jenn Melby and Anna Kelley filed marriage papers Friday afternoon,
even though the couple could have applied a day earlier at the Blue
Earth County License Center.
Thursday had been very hectic at The
Coffee Hag, their Riverfront Drive shop, and the women wanted to go in
person — together — to sign the papers at the center. And they
definitely did not want to use the online option.
"This is way too important," Melby said. . . .
"When they were told they were the first ones
(same-sex couple to apply for a license), someone behind them in line
said 'I'm gonna call the media,' " Myers said. .. .
Staff at the center recognized the couple as being the owners of the coffee shop in Old Town.
"The people in the office were so excited for us," Kelley said. "It's a very empowering day — awesome."
The paper reports that the couple had exchanged vows about a month ago at a closed ceremony at the Coffee Hag, on the anniversary of Kelley's chemical addiction "recovery date.
Congratulations to the couple, who make a great cup of joe and serve tasty scones.
Couples are out, news is not
Meanwhile, the Northland News in Duluth and other media venues across the state continue to report that licenses for all loving couples are available only in the metro.
Why does this matter?
First, it's not accurate, pure and simple. Second, these news reports, uncorrected, will provide ammo to those who try to say marriage equality is only a metro thing. This is divisive, as well as simply factually wrong.
Moreover, Bluestem has to wonder why--if counties in Southern Minnesota from Pipestone to Minnesota can get this together, what's holding back the rest?
There are reports that some counties' software can't be set to allow for a delayed August 1 start for the marriages. Software vendors can be asked to fix that. As for the rest, the Free Press reported:
"It went very smoothly," Director Patty O'Connor said of the filing process. "All we had had to do was change a few words."
While some Minnesota counties have begun accepting marriage
license applications from same-sex couples, couples in southeastern
Minnesota will have to wait a little longer.
Olmsted County Property Records and Licensing Director Mark
Krupski said work still needs to be done to update the county's online
marriage forms to change the categories of "groom" and "bride" to
"applicant 1" and "applicant 2." He expects same-sex couples will be
able to apply for licenses before the law takes effect Aug. 1.
"I believe at some point
we certainly plan to do some early applications for the marriage
license, but I don't expect that to happen until some point in July,"
Krupski said.
The article notes that Pipestone and Nicollet County have figured it out but leaves out Blue Earth County and other counties that have made the transition. Others are struggling with their software, Carlson reports:
For some counties, technology issues pose the biggest challenge. Goodhue
County Deputy Recorder Brenda Gadient said her county's computer system
automatically makes wedding licenses official after five days. Since
same-sex weddings are not allowed under the law until Aug. 1, the county
needs to figure out how to override its software. The county's forms
also need to be updated.
At this point, Gadient said the county is not planning to allow same-sex
couples to apply for marriage licenses early, but there is a
possibility licenses might be made available at the end of July so
couples can get married on Aug. 1.
Same-sex couples in southeastern Minnesota do have the option of
applying for a marriage license in another county and then getting
married in their home county.
Rochester-area couples could risk a trip on Highway 14 (pretty dangerous along some of the two-lane stretches) and get a license in Blue Earth County, then stop by the Coffee Hag for coffee and a slice. Online applications are also an option, as is heading north on Highway 52.
Carlson also reports that Project 515 is encouraging counties to make the switch before August 1:
Project 515, a group that
fights for same-sex couples' rights, is urging other counties to allow
same-sex couples to apply for a license early so they can get married on
Aug. 1, said the group's communications director, Eric Jensen.
Minnesota has a five-day waiting period for all marriages. That means
same-sex coupes would have until July 26 to apply for a license or would
have to get the waiting period waived by a judge in order to get
married on Aug. 1.
"We definitely want to
work with them and encourage them to make the process as easy for
same-sex couples as it has been for other couples over the years,"
Jensen said.
Check out the entire article at the Post Bulletin.
In two recentposts, Bluestem has noted that some counties in Southern Minnesota have started issuing marriage licenses in anticipation of the advent of marriage equality on August.
Under Minnesota law, couples must wait five days after receiving the license to be married; to accommodate the August 1 milestone, when love is the law, some counties across the state are issuing licenses now.
Pipestone County, over in the extreme southwestern corner of the state, started accepting applications for same-sex marriage licenses on Monday. One couple applied, according to KARE-11.
That's three days before Hennepin and Ramsey Counties issued licenses. In Southern Minnesota, Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Renville and Sibley Counties were also prepared to accept applications on Thursday as well.
But same-sex couples wanting to have a marriage license from Martin County will just have to wait until August 1 for that document. The Fairmont Sentinel reports in Local recorders to use Aug. 1 date:
While some bigger counties in Minnesota have begun accepting
same-sex marriage license applications, gay couples planning to get
married in Martin or Faribault counties must wait until Aug. 1 to apply.
According
to Martin County Recorder Kay Wrucke and Faribault County Recorder
Sherry Asmus, a conference for recorders' offices throughout the state
will be held next week to address the specifics.
"We need
uniformity throughout the state," Wrucke said. "The law goes into effect
Aug. 1, and we will begin accepting applications at that time. Some of
the bigger cities, they have a bigger volume of applicants. Here, we
don't have that. There is a five-day waiting period, and I think it's
being done there just to handle the volume."
"I know in the metro counties they've started, but the smaller counties won't put anything into effect until Aug. 1," Asmus said.
That's sounding remarkably like the Minnesota for Marriage/NOM talking point about an urban/rural divide.
We're just surprised that Martin County can't get on the phone and ask their neighboring counties how they did it, rather than pretending there aren't loving same sex couples in rural Minnesota. It's all one state, after all.
Photo: If gay summer weddings make people in Martin County government anxious, Bluestem highly recommends Xanax for Gay Summer Weddings. We've ordered a tractor-trailer load to quell our social awkwardness, fretting over our crabby old hag rags and the adequacy of our gifts.
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Bluestem's been posting about the unfortunate tale of underage drinking at a graduation party held on the property of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude, which has since captured headlines across the state.
Now Mille Lacs Messenger editor Brett Larson writes candidly about the party in Brett's blog — Kids and parents behaving badly. As it turns out, his own daughter attended the event, with her parents' permission. Larson writes candidly:
Full disclosure: My daughter was at the party. After I found out that
there was drinking at the party, I talked to her as a parent, but not
in my role as a journalist. To do so would be unfair to her and unfair
to the story.
However, her name came up in a list of those in
attendance, and I told our reporter who is working on it now that he can
call anyone on the list. As an 18-year-old adult, it's her decision
whether or not to talk to him, and whether or not to let him use her
name.
Like the father quoted in the story, I too felt
confident that my daughter would be safe because the party was taking
place at the county attorney's residence. And I had no idea there was
alcohol at the party until I talked to him on Tuesday, June 4, and the
story was in process. [emphasis added]
There will likely be more on this issue in my column next week and in further coverage of the story.
As a community journalist, I have been switching
hats from columnist/blogger to hard news reporter for 16 years now and
will continue to do so as this story develops. And there is no
conceivable way for me to drop out of this story because my daughter is a
potential source.
In this day and age of minute-by-minute
journalism, I also have no problem commenting on my own stories as
they're developing. I've done it for years and will continue to do so.
I think it's a service to readers and results in more transparency about what we do as journalists, which is good for everyone.
Read the rest of the column, which details cyberbullying against the boy who was hospitalized, as well as the way the story unfolded for the paper. It's fascinating stuff, and Bluestem applauds the small town paper for pursuing the story. Greater Minnesota needs more of this, as well as citizens willing to speak as sources to the local press..
Because of the unsettling local cyberbullying, the Messenger may be taking up the issue in coming weeks. Larson writes that the paper will be looking at the issue of social host ordinances:
The story the Messenger broke Wednesday
regarding an underage drinking party on the property of Mille Lacs
County Attorney Jan Jude and Mille Lacs Tribal Police Investigator Russ
Jude will lead to a series of Messenger newspaper and website articles
over the next few weeks on underage drinking and the issue of "social
hosting."
Good work.
Photo: Mille Lac County Attorney Jan Jude. It's not the first time Jude has been at the center of a media storm. Before her marriage to Russ Jude, she served under the name Jan Kolb. During her tenure, "an 11-year-old boy from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe was handcuffed,
shackled and held overnight for failing to appear in court to testify as
a crime victim," the Star Tribune reported in 2007. In 2006, the paper reported that a Kolb memo about the status of the Mille Lac Band of Ojibwe's band's land, written around the time that Indian veterans were heckled during a local parade, helped raise tensions in the county.
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The National Republican Congressional Committee has rented a mobile
billboard on the side of a truck to schlep around Minnesota's vast
Seventh Congressional District, asking residents to contact their United
States Representative.
Incumbent congressman Collin Peterson welcomes the attention, telling
the Marshall Independent that he views the attention as encouragement
to run again.
This week, some GOP operatives have also been spreading rumors online
that Peterson plans to purchase a condo in Florida and retire from
Congress.
In an interview, Peterson, who turns 69 later this month, denied the
rumors about retirement and a Florida condo and said the recent
Republican efforts to push him out the door were having the opposite
effect.
"I went from neutral on running again to 90 percent just because of
this stupid stuff they're doing," said Peterson about the mobile signs
and retirement rumors. "You can't let these people be in charge of
anything, in my opinion."
In another sign that Peterson intends to run again, his campaign
raised $165,000 in the first quarter of this year, in line with his past
fundraising efforts.
Perhaps those people at NRCC will recruit a candidate sometime soon.
In a hilarious attempt at faux outrage, an pseudonym tries to spin Peterson's comment, "You can't let these people be in charge of
anything, in my opinion" into a statement about the people of the district, rather than the NRCC and its "stupid stuff" like rumors of a condo in Florida.
Bluestem suspects Peterson would be more at home in the Missouri Ozarks near Branson. We can imagine the Second Amendments Hall of Fame already.
Minnesota County Recorder's Offices began accepting applications for same sex marriages on Thursday, June 6.
"We
met with the Blue Earth County Recorder's Office (after the legislative
bill became law), and created an application very much like they have,"
said Nicollet County Recorder Kathy Conlon. As of Thursday noon, nobody
had applied for a same sex marriage license in Nicollet County,
according to Conlon.
Minnesota's same sex marriage law, signed
May 14, 2013 by Gov. Mark Dayton, is not effective until Aug. 1, 2013.
However, metropolitan area counties Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington,
plus Nicollet, Blue Earth, Brown, Renville and Sibley Counties began
accepting the applications Thursday.
By law, all marriage
licenses have a five-day waiting period. In addition, both parties must
appear and have valid identification photos to apply. Marriage licenses
obtained in one county are valid for marriages anywhere in Minnesota,
but they cannot be used in other states. . . .
KARE-11 reported that Pipestone County quietly started taking applications on Monday, and one couple applied that day. On Thursday, June 6, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington Counties took applications, to much media attention.
The Fergus Falls Daily Journal reports in Gay-friendly marriage licenses make debut that loving gay and lesbian couples in Otter Tail County will have to wait a bit to apply for licenses:
. . . In Otter Tail County, same-sex couples will most likely have to wait until July as well.
“I’m planning on going to summer conference next week and asking some
of the recorders there about the language they’re using,” said County
Recorder Wendy Metcalf.
A number of practical problems have held back changes to the
applications. The language used on applications is the biggest issue,
and substitutes for phrases like “bride” and “groom” need to be found,
according to Metcalf. She will work on those changes after next week’s
conference.
The county’s software also needs to be updated. Right now, the county
can’t enter licenses earlier because they become official in the system
after a mandatory five day waiting period. Same-sex licenses aren’t
legal, however, until August 1.
If the software company makes changes to their system and the
language is changed, Metcalf said they could start selling them early.
Right now, however, she expects it will still be in July. Otter Tail
County hasn’t seen the same demand for same-sex licenses like in
counties near the metro area.
“I don’t see the rush that we would be needing those applications …
We’ve had a few, but we haven’t had that many inquiries,” Metcalf said.
“I know we’ll have some, but I don’t see 100 people waiting at our door
on August 1.”
Oh, microaggression much?
Kudoes to Pipestone County for being able to figure this out by last Monday even before the Cities, and Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Renville and Sibley Counties to keep up with the metro by being able to accept applications on Thursday.
Photo: A wedding cake topper.
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The ability of loving Southern Minnesota same-sex couples to obtain marriage licences close to home hasn't received as much fanfare as that for couples in Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington Counties.
Update: KARE-11 reports that Pipestone County has accepted applications since Monday. One couple asked for a license immediately. [end update]
Same-sex couples planning August weddings in southern Minnesota can
fill out their license applications in Blue Earth and Nicollet counties
starting Thursday.
Both counties' form revisions have lines to be filled out by Applicant
1 and Applicant 2 instead of the bride and the groom, and there's no
reference to gender. . . .
Read the details at the Mankato Free Press. It does sound like licenses will be available at other Southern Minnesota counties sometime before August 1 (when the marriages will become legal). Near the end of the article, staff writer Edie Schmierbach reports:
County recorders offices in Brown, Faribault, Le Sueur, Sibley, Waseca
and Watonwan counties have not yet revised their forms. Most are waiting
until after an annual meeting next week in Brainerd, where recorders
will gather to discuss many vital-statistics topics, including changes
on the marriage license forms.
In Petersburg updates Owatonna City Council on legislative issues, the Owatonna Peoples Press reports that state representative John Petersburg (R-Waseca) had kind words for legislation that provide more Local Government Aid (LGA) for the Steele County city:
Some good things happened during the legislative session for the City of Owatonna, but there is still work to be done.
That was the message that Rep. John Petersburg had for the
Owatonna City Council at a brief update during Tuesday night’s meeting.
During his address to the Council, Petersburg,
R-Waseca, talked about some wins for the city, which included the
increase to Local Government Aid from the state. Last week, city
officials announced that Owatonna will see an increase of more than
$780,000 in aid funding in 2014. Aid had been frozen since 2010.
“There was approximately $80 million more put
into that line item,” Petersburg said. “It’s a benefit to cities that
really need the help with infrastructure to be able to stay in more
equitable footing with some of the larger cities.”
What the OPP doesn't mention to readers is that Petersburg voted against HF677--the omnibus tax bill containing the language triggering the LGA increase for Owatonna--or why LGA was frozen since 2010, and by whom.
Perhaps he didn't bring that up while talking to the council.
All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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