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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