Letters: Southern Minnesota Republican calm still roiled by Hagedorn upset primary win

More than two weeks after Jim Hagedorn's primary upset of endorsed candidate Aaron Miller, some Republicans are still resisting the new order.

Eagle Scout and young Aaron Miller backer Spencer Robert Krier writes in his letter to the editors of the Albert Lea Tribune, Walz already has won his 5th term, published Thursday:

. . . Hagedorn had promised to abide by the party endorsement back in April but broke his promise in May by selfishly challenging Miller to a primary. Hagedorn has lived in southern Minnesota two out of the last 30-plus years, with both years being years he has run for this office.

Although I will now vote for Hagedorn in November for party unity, I doubt his ability to win over independents. Sadly, incumbent Rep. Tim Walz will now likely win his fifth term in office this fall.

The letter has also appeared in the Winona Daily News.

In the Rochester Post Bulletin on Friday, Fillmore County Republican BPOU chair Doug Baker--who had called out Hagedorn's blog posts several days before an article in Mother Jones brought natonal attention to the race--responds to equating different races in the Republican primary in Comparing Republican governor endorsement with congressional race is flawed:

Comparing the gubernatorial endorsement and subsequent primary to the First Congressional District race has a basic flaw — one of the candidates for governor had announced before the endorsement convention he would be going to a primary regardless of who was endorsed. In the district race, Hagedorn stepped aside and gave his support to Miller at the convention. It was only later that he went back on his word, which brings me to the second inference in this editorial.

Saying First District Republicans should set aside personality conflicts in no way addresses what I was trying to get across in my first email. My father who died in June raised his 10 children with the philosophy that "A man is only as good as his word." Hagedorn gave his word at the endorsing convention and went back on it. Even more telling about ideas and philosophy, which is what the editorial I refer to is asking us to focus on, are remarks made by Hagedorn regarding Native Americans and women. None of these concerns speaks of personality conflicts but rather of character, values and ultimately, of governing philosophy, if you will.

The future of the First Congressional District is too important to entrust to someone we cannot trust to keep his word and who makes bigoted remarks about certain segments of our population.

Meanwhile, Walz and Hagedorn are out compaigning. The Republican nominee--who has yet to be endorsed by the district Republicans after winning the primary--noted on Facebook that he had met with pork producers and that Walz had "hurt the farmers he represents."

The partners of Protein Systems, including Republican Party of Minnesota state treasurer Bron Scherer, were key players in Hagedorn's pre-primary base of support. Hagedorn announced his latest bid for office at a hog farm in 2013.

Since the primary, the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation PAC has endorsed Walz, a first for the organization. The Minnesota Farmers Union had endorsed Walz earlier. We suspect that farmers know their business better than Mr. Hagedorn and know what they're doing this fall.

Photo: Congressman Tim Walz, talking to producers at Farmfest. No farmers were harmed in the taking of the photograph, whatever Hagedorn claims.

Disclosure: Bluestem's editor is a member of the Minnesota Farmers Union, serving on the policy committee. She was not involved in the group's endorsement process.

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