Jim Knoblach liked endorsements from prior elections so much that he put them on this cycle's campaign lit. But the organizations that made the endorsements?
Not so much.
At least, that's the sense we get in reading an exchange of letters to the editors in the St. Cloud Times.
Now in an election battle with first-term DFL legislator Zach Dorholt, Knoblach served the St. Cloud area in the Minnesota House from 1995 through 2006, when he tried running for Congress.
In a letter published on August 17, 2014, Julia Stewart and Linda Hamilton wrote the Times editors in Nurses back Dorholt, not Knoblach:
It's recently come to our attention that printed campaign materials from former Rep. Jim Knoblach continue to name the Minnesota Nurses Association in the past endorsements section. This information is misleading to voters and misrepresents the campaign endorsement process.
The 20,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association select candidates for endorsement based on their positions on issues important to nurses, patients and working families. This process happens each election season. While some candidates might be endorsed in one election season, they may not be in the next.
During the 2014 endorsement process, Knoblach did not respond to MNA's request to participate. Rep. Zach Dorholt, however, did respond and his answers showed him to be an advocate for nurses and deserving of the endorsement of our 20,000 members.
MNA can report unequivocally that Knoblach has not been endorsed for the 2014 campaign season, and only Rep. Zach Dorholt has succeeded to finish the endorsement process.
Voters across Minnesota and every district should question the endorsements of all candidates and not be misled by implications of blanket endorsements. Candidates should list the date of an endorsement in their literature.
That might sound reasonable, but Knoblach fired back in the August 25, 2014 LTE, Endorsement note was reasonable:
I am writing to respond to a recent letter from the Minnesota Nurses Association. They questioned my listing their name under the heading "Past Endorsements" in my campaign brochure. They claimed this was "misleading" because, although they endorsed me in the past, I was not endorsed by them this year.
That brochure was printed in May. At that time, neither they nor other groups had made endorsements this year.
They have just issued this year's endorsements. Most groups like them wait until after the primary before issuing endorsements. Thus, I have not been misleading anyone by using this brochure these past few months.
It was always my plan to come out with a new brochure in late August, when the campaign heats up. That brochure is at the printer.
I did not choose to seek the nurses' union's endorsement this year.
Why?
First, they represent only a small minority of area nurses, namely government employees working for the state and Stearns County.
Second, the leadership of this union has become very partisan, this year only endorsing two Republicans (both incumbents) while endorsing 95 Democrats.
You read that right: he valued an old endorsement enough to list it in his literature piece, but now publicly scorns the group.
We're baffled. Is the endorsement worth something? Must it be aged? What's he telling voters here?
We're not the only ones perplexed by the gap between lit and letter. On September 7, Mike Lawson writes in Despite explanation, Knoblach brochure troubles:
Former Rep. Jim Knoblach wrote Aug. 25 ( "Endorsement note was reasonable") saying he felt he was reasonable in listing prior endorsements on a campaign mailing.
I feel he was being deceptive. Upon looking at this mailing, Knoblach also listed receiving the Minnesota Police & Peace Officers Association and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees endorsements. Those are both associations that have already endorsed our Rep. Zach Dorholt for this election.
While the brochure is correct in saying that they are "past endorsements," it comes off that these are endorsements he expects to receive again, not endorsements that he is not even going to try and attain this election.
If this is the type of deceptive campaigning Knoblach is going to run this fall, it is not one that I want to represent me in St. Paul. . . .
Perhaps Knoblach can write again and tell readers why he valued old endorsments, but not the groups that made them.
Image: The fox and the grapes; what once were lucious fruit are now simply sour.
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