There's a buzzlet happening over the straw poll at this weekend's Republican Party of Minnesota straw poll, with a Marty Seifert for governor write-in effort launched by Beltrami County Republican chair and Tea Party activist Ken Cobb.
When a declared candidate for the 2010 endorsement, Marty Seifert [Won] Straw Poll At Republican Party of Minnesota Precinct Caucuses, but lost the endorsement to Tom Emmer at the state convention.Seifert told the Star Tribune:
I’d be leery of wanting to be the winner because they never go on to be the nominee,” said Marty Seifert. Seifert, who won the 2009 gubernatorial straw poll and lost the 2010 endorsement for governor to Tom Emmer, is considering running for governor in 2014 and will be at the GOP’s gathering on Saturday.
With that blown-down straw house in his recent past,Bluestem doesn't blame him for keeping his distance from Cobb's organizing effort. Forum News Services reports in Republican Marty Seifert thinks about run for Minnesota governor:
Former state Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, said he is thinking about running for governor, but will not decide before Saturday’s straw poll at the Minnesota State Central Committee meeting.A group led by Beltrami County Republican Chairman Ken Cobb is promoting Seifert as a straw poll write-in candidate. Seifert told Forum News Service on Tuesday that he is not part of the effort.
“I appreciate people’s interest and passion trying to get me involved,” Seifert said, but he has devoted much of his time in the last year to his job that includes building a cancer center in Marshall. Groundbreaking on that project is Monday.
There's another theme rising among Republicans before Saturday's meeting that might cause Seifert to keep some distance between himself and Cobb, a Seifert supporter since 2009. The Strib's Morning Hot Dish email newsletter reported:
Chris Fields, secretary of the Minnesota Republican Party, said he plans to deliver some tough talk to his fellow Republicans on Saturday when he addresses the party’s State Central Committee. “I don’t think we can afford to let the Republican Party die on Obamacare,” he said, previewing his speech. “We cannot be the anti-Obamacare party. That’s not us. We cannot be the anti-gay party. That is not us,” said Fields, who ran against U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison in the heavily DFL Fifth Congressional District last year. “Fighting for the population so that everyone can enjoy all of their rights in this great land called America…that’s what we have to be again, and I think that somehow got lost along the way," he said.
Cobb represents all of that, and an inconvenient fact from 2009, although you'd think from a recent tweet that he so doesn't like the Tea Party:
I see both sides of the GOP defund Obamacare debate. But I'm tired of all the vitriol coming from Tea Party wing towards fellow Republicans.
— Ken Cobb (@bemidjipatriot) September 27, 2013
Whereas Tea Party chapters across Minnesota were structured to be organizationally independent from the Republican Party, Cobb's Beltrami County GOP BPOU and the Bemidji Tea Party were one and the same, according to newspaper reports and archived records of the BTP's website accessible via the WayBack Machine.
That's one Republican BPOU that probably should consider being a bit low key about objecting to the IRS looking into whether Tea Party organizations were Republican Party front groups.
Moreover, a glance at newspaper copy and Youtubes on the group's channel reveals thatthe Bemidji Tea Party (and thus the Beltrami County Republican Party) are both anti-Obamacare and anti-gay. Indeed, while current Tea Party Alliance organizers try to public brand the Tea Party as being so not into taking positions on social issues, the Bemidji Republican Tea Party chapter embodies all of these things from which Fields hopes the state party can flee.
2009: Birth of the Bemidji Tea Party, Paid for by the Beltrami County Republicans
When Cobb was elected to chair the Beltrami County GOP, he told the BPOU delegates:
Newly elected Beltrami County Republican Chairman Ken Cobb speaks optimism, but also wants to see America restored to the greatness it held under Ronald Reagan.
"There are many in our party, I'm afraid, who have given up hope," he said Saturday morning. "We're sliding into socialism -- we've lost -- the country's doomed -- we're sinking into moral and societal decay."
Not exactly talk of markets, liberties and limited government.
And Cobb's Tea Party and the BPOU were one and the same. It's not as if Cobb and the Beltrami County Republicans made a secret of the connection; the disclaimer "Paid for by the Beltrami County Republicans" appeared at the bottom of all pages on the Beltrami Tea Party's website, as archives in the Wayback Machine document.
The Bemidji Pioneer reported in Tax Day Tea Party will be held in Bemidji:
. . . The Beltrami County Republicans-organized event will have participants lining up along Paul Bunyan Drive between the Mississippi River Bridge and Fifth Street to waive protest signs and display the U.S. flag for commuters heading home. . . .
On April 16, 2009, the Morris Sun reported in Bemidji joins national Tax Day Tea Party that Cobb had selected Bemidji's iconic Paul Bunyan statue as a rallying point:
The statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe serving as a backdrop, more than 350 people rallied Wednesday for lower taxes and less government. . . .
On a platform in front of the famous Lake Bemidji statues, Ken Cobb said they were an icon for northern Minnesota -- a mythical icon.
"Paul Bunyan never existed, but at the same time, Paul Bunyan stands for everything that makes this country great," said Cobb, chairman of the Beltrami County Republican Party and a Tea Party organizer.
"Paul Bunyan stands for something called rugged individualism," Cobb said. "And that means it's not up to the government to pay our way. The pioneers didn't go down to their local welfare office to figure out how to forge a way out of the wilderness." . . .
We tremble at the contents of Mr. Cobb's thoughts about the Bunyan-themed MNSure PSA campaign. But that's another story.
On July 3, 2009, the Pioneer reported in July 4th Rally: Tax Tea Party returns:
. . Saturday's rally at 7 p.m. on the Beltrami County Courthouse lawn features former Minnesota House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, who next week will announce his 2010 bid as a Republican candidate for governor. . . .
. . . The Beltrami County Republicans are sponsoring the Bemidji event, which joins a similar event Saturday at the State Capitol, held by the Tea Party Patriots of the Twin Cities. . . .
There's a Youtube channel that includes the speeches from that event; we'll get back to them. The July 4 rally drew the attention of Talking Points Memo's Eric Kleefeld in GOP Pols Losing Control Of Tea Party Movement?:
. . . On the one hand are the hard-line activists who attend these things, versus the more mainstream politicians who want to win elections and are looking for their votes -- and are running into all manner of conflicts as a result, or finding themselves taking on some rather interesting policy stances along the way. . . .
In Bemidji, Minnesota, a headline speaker for their "Freedom Over Socialism" rally was state Rep. Mary Seifert, one of the leading Republican candidates for Governor, who warned of government taking away everyone's personal freedom: "Now suddenly we tell you that you have to wear your seat belts or someone is [going] to come racing down the road and fine you." Another speaker, former state legislative candidate John Carlson, spoke favorably of the Articles of Confederation. . . .
While Carlson loved the founding fathers for the Articles, he did have a sad that the Constitution established a stronger federal government, a move by the founders that sent us down the road to scary things. Carlson served one entertaining two-year short term in the Minnesota Senate.
As for Seifert's complaint about seat belt enforcement, it appears that once free and proud Minnesotans have bowed to tyranny,as the Strib's Paul Walsh reported on October 15, 2013 in Minnesota seat-belt use inching closer to 100% compliance:
Drivers and passengers in Minnesota are inching closer to never failing to buckle up, according to data released Tuesday by state safety officials.
Results from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety annual observational seat-belt use survey — conducted in June — show a record 94.8 percent rate of compliance. This marks a 15-plus percent increase since 2003 and is up from 93.6 percent in 2012.
State officials attribute the continued increase to awareness and enforcement of the state’s primary seat-belt law, which took effect in June 2009. . . .
In 1986, the year Minnesota first passed a seat-belt law, compliance was 20 percent. Deaths of people who didn’t buckle up that year totaled 280, compared to 116 from last year. . . .
Live free and die. Marty so tried to warn us.
On August 30, 2009, the paper reported in Beltrami Tea Party III: Republicans to hold rally:
The Beltrami County Republicans and Bemidji State University College Republicans will hold Freedom Fest: Bemidji Tea Party III from 4:30-6:30 p.m., with a Freedom Rally to begin at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday in the BSU John Glas Fieldhouse parking lot. . . .
. . ."With the threat of Obama Care before us, the stakes could not be higher for freedom in America," said Beltrami County Republicans Chairman Kenneth Cobb. "But we will not be silent and we will not back down! We love freedom and we are willing to raise our voice for liberty. Join us in standing up with the surge of millions across our land in support of our country and Constitution and against surging federal power, runaway spending, staggering national debt, the dismantling of our free enterprise system and the rising socialist state."
Oh noes!
2010 and 2011: The Beltrami County Republican Bemidji Tea Party gets social against a "socilist country"
In 2010, the Beltrami County Republican Bemidji Tea Party staged another Tax Day rally, according the April 14, 2010 report by Brad Swenson, Bemidji Tea Party planned for Tax Day:
While national tea party groups have engaged the traditional Republican Party as not being conservative enough, the Bemidji Tea Party is sponsored by the Beltrami County Republican Party.
“Recent federal takeovers have you concerned? Worried about losing the freedoms we cherish? Wondering what future we will leave to our children?” says the party-sponsored Bemidji Tea Party Web site, with a link found at www.beltramigop.com.
In Bemidji Tea Party protests government spending two days later,the Pioneer reported that the group was calling for Obama's impeachment.
As far as being the anti-gay party goes, Swenson reported on March 8, 2011 in Bemidji Tea Party talks Social Security, unions:
The Bemidji Tea Party, sponsored by the Beltrami County Republicans, held a 90-minute forum at Beltrami Electric in which 12 tea party questions were posed by Ken Cobb, the Beltrami GOP chairman. Each topic was allowed 12 minutes, and each speaker 90 seconds. . . .
Among other questions, the tea partiers were asked if the Tea Party Movement should be organized nationally -- no, keep it at a grass-roots level -- and should the tea party take on cultural and moral issues -- six speakers said yes and two said no.
"That's where we lose a lot of our morals, right there in colleges with the professors," said one man who didn't identify himself, referring to sex education lectures at the college level.
Most agreed that moral values need to be taught by parents, and reinforced by schools. One man suggested that the reason for the Tea Party Movement and a constitutional government be taught in the schools.
"If we don't start today teaching our children right from wrong, good, strong biblical principles, our country's going to hell in a handbag," Molitor said.
Judy Killian said she plans to learn the curriculum and read the textbooks of her grandchildren's elementary classes. "I'm going to know what these teachers are teaching my grandkids, and I will speak up."
"Somehow, we've got to reach the young people about how serious everything is," said one man. "They won't watch (Glenn) Beck; they won't listen to Rush (Limbaugh). And they won't listen to us ..."
Kids these days.
The group's 2011 Tax Day rally attracted only 70, but it was quite the tea party. The Pioneer reported in Bemidji Tea Party: Group rallies for the republic that Cobb claimed that newly-elected members of congress plot to break their oath of office:
Cobb concluded the speeches with a strong denunciation of the president, Congress and the Supreme Court.
He said as soon as a member of Congress takes the oath of office to uphold the Constitution, he returns to his office "to plot with his staff how quickly he can break the oath. They are the enemies they are supposed to be defending us against.
Bluestem has our doubts about that one, whether it's either of Minnesota's latest United States representatives, Chip Cravaack, elected in 2010 or Rick Nolan, who replaced Cravaack in 2012.
2012 Town Hall Forum and more
Cobb held another forum in 2012, the Pioneer reported in Bemidji Tea Party town hall forum set for Monday:
Kenneth N. Cobb, chairman of Beltrami County Republicans, will moderate the open discussion. Current political topics will be covered, including the upcoming election.
This forum is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Nor was Cobb a slouch about the marriage amendment. Cobb told the Bemidji State University Northern Student Online:
Ken Cobb, the Chairman of Beltrami County Republicans, believed that the Marriage Amendment had a good chance to pass and that passing it was, “common sense.”But Minnesotans cast enough votes to defeat this amendment to the constitution.
Both local Republicans serving in the legislature, state senator John Carlson and representative Dave Hancock, lost their elections.
2013 Event at the CD7 Republican Convention
The Pioneer only reported on Bemidji Tea Party/Beltrami County Republicans sponsored event in 2013: the appearance of conservative speaker Bill Whittle at the CD7 Republican Convention. The event was noted in Conservative political speakers featured at events and the paper covered Whittle's visit in Constitution key for local Tea Party members, Republicans:
His speech Saturday to about 100 at the 2013 convention of Republicans from the 7th Congressional District ended with Whittle playing commander-in-chief at a mock press conference; members of the audience played the press corps. The act of political theater, and the address that preceded it, were filled with a simple yet powerful mantra: less government means more freedom.
. . . An annual gathering of Republicans from the district, the event was newly minted with a tea party slant for 2013, according to Chervestad.
“This is the first year I can remember that it’s had a focus on the tea party,” she said.
Whittle played to a room of like-minded individuals, concerned with the purchase of a massive amount of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security, the effects of the Affordable Care Act on religious institutions, what was mentioned as a creeping influence of the United Nations and what was viewed as a media and pop culture skewed to favor liberalism.
The event was a fundraiser for the Northern Minnesota Tea Party Patriots.
Ken Cobb Video Rants
Ken Cobb may criticize Tea Party members ripping other Republicans now, but he's also guilty of that. Cobb ripped Republicans and "socialist" Democrats on July 4, 2009:
Part Two is our favorite, as it begins with the urban legend of how to boil a frog, in a warning against the "socialist horde" cooking him up into "slavery."
He then adds the inbox urban legend of the fate of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Now that we think of it, Bluestem believes that the Republican Party of Minnesota should totally take this dude's advice on everything. Pay absolutely no attention to the tough talk of the state party Secretary, review old Ken Cobb Youtubes and master the style, free yourself of your seatbelts as you drive to the SCC meeting on Saturday, and please, Draft Marty Seifert for Governor.
Images: Screenshot of Wayback Machine 302 redirect from www.bemidjiteaparty.com to www.beltramigop.com (above); 2009 colonial garbed Tea Party protesters, via Bemidji Pioneer (middle); 2010 Tax Day protesters(below).
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Those words he uses, "freedom" and "socialism". I do not think they mean what he thinks they mean.
I know, I know: Inconceivable!
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Oct 23, 2013 at 07:49 PM
That was a very intriguing read. And to think that it all came from my having a little fun organizing a write-in for a straw ballot. That was quite a bit of online research conducted regarding someone who has no intentions of running for anything. I have to say that in some senses I'm flattered to have drawn your attention in such a big way. Do you ever make it up the northwoods? We should sit and have coffee sometime. Could be an interesting discussion.
Posted by: Ken Cobb | Oct 26, 2013 at 09:09 PM