One of the big surprises at the 2014 Republican Convention was the performance of Phillip Parrish in the battle for endorsement to run against Al Franken for U.S. Senate.
Outperforming Rep. Jim Abeler (Anoka) and Monte Moreno, Parrish lasted three ballots before dropping out of contention. He received 16 percent of the delegate vote on the first ballot. While investment banker Mike McFadden eventually won the endorsement, Matt Hudson reports in the Owatonna People's Press that Parrish considers his own Senate campaign a success.
Mostly, it's about the relationships, says the systems administrator and Naval Reserves intelligence officer who has returned to his work overseas:
“I feel pretty good,” Parrish said. “I mean, we literally built connections and relationships and people connected with what I was saying.”
Parrish, who was born in Blue Earth and grew up in Medford, said he met many people in person and on social media who shared his views on the state of the federal government. He said his campaign connected with a lot of people even though a lot of the connecting was done from England, where he works.
With tea party affiliations and a constitutionalist outlook, Parrish engaged the campaign like a mission. He expressed that he was “gravely concerned” with the country and spoke of cover-ups and ill-intent at the hands of current officials. Democratic leadership, he said, is full of “globalists” and “elitists” who don’t look after the public welfare. . . .
That's all pretty spooky for sure.
Republicans are now urging him to run for the state senate in 2016, according to the most recent OOP story.
Back in March, Hudson reported in Medford man seeks Republican nomination for U.S. Senate:
To Phillip Parrish, Washington, D.C., is full of dark secrets, false narratives and manufactured cover-ups. And he’s upset about it. . . .
His interest in politics began in high school when he did grassroots campaigning for Steve Sviggum, former Minnesota state representative.
In 2006, he launched his first campaign and attempted to enter the Minnesota gubernatorial race. As a former teacher, he wanted to correct what he considered to be bad practices in special education reform.
It was another case of the government pulling the wool over people’s eyes, he said.
“Another agenda was spun up and kept in the forefront to stay away from a special education agenda that a few people had in the Department of Education,” Parrish said.
Parrish ran without the endorsement of a major political party and failed to collect enough signatures to make the ballot. The incumbent, Republican Tim Pawlenty, went on to win the election. . . .
This will be one to watch.
Photo: A random Naval Intelligence patch we found online. Phillip Parrish knows dark things you don't, or so he tells the Owatonna People's Press.
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