We have to doubt whether the Jobs Now Coalition ever attacked former state representative and late state seantor/Lutheran pastor Gary Kubly, but instead, a similiarly named group intended to confuse voters.
The recently formed MN Jobs Coalition seems to invite that sort of thing, as we've reported earlier in The New Crank Yankers: What happens when MN Jobs Coalition doesn't share a phone number.
But the attacks by a new group, MN Jobs Coalition, has prompted Kubly's widow--who is respected and trusted in her on right in this area--to consider the mailers (we count four so far) in Minnesota House District 17A, in her letter in the Montevideo American News, Re-elect Falk:
I remember in 1998 during my husband Gary Kubly’s first re-election campaign how shocked and upset I was by negative campaigning done by a group calling itself the Jobs Now Coalition.* Their assertions were misleading and bordered on downright lies. Their intent seemed to be to make Gary look like a job killer. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
Sixteen years later, similar but nastier tactics are being used against our State Representative Andrew Falk. I am shocked again by the assertions made, but have come to realize after our six campaigns that the more outrageous the claims, the more likely they are to be false. Even more troublesome than the mailings was the “stalker” who shoved a video camera in Andrew’s face while he was knocking on doors in Montevideo.
I have followed Andrew Falk’s career during his three terms in the MN House. The interests of his district are his top priority and he has a great record to stand on. Whether it is jobs for his rural district, or any of a number of other issues affecting the rural parts of the state, Andrew is representing us well and deserves to be re-elected. – Pat Kubly
Let's hope that other voters disgruntled by the mail pieces call the right political action group at (612) 492-1341 if they share Pat Kubly's view--and ask to be removed from the mailings.
Kubly served in the legislature from 1997 until his death from ALS in 2012; at the time of his death, he represented Minnesota Senate District 20, in which Falk represented HD20A. With redistricting, Yellow Medicine County, along with most of the Kublys' hometown of Granite Falls, moved to another district. Former HD 20B representative Lyle Koenen (DFL-Clara City) won the special election to fill the senate seat, and both Koenen and Falk won re-election in their new district in 2012.
As for the tracker, that's simply part of politics these days, and we recommend offering the young man a warm cup of coffee and--depending upon the event--a plate of lutefisk. Seriously, people out here eat that stuff.
*As we note, the Jobs Now Coalition, a progressive organization, never attacked Kubly; his widow's mistaken memory instead illustrates the way that the names are easily confused. Thanks to Kris Jacobs of the Jobs Now Coalition, for contacting us and asking for a clarification. As Jacobs notes, the older group is a 501(c)3 organization and thus doesn't run attack ads or mailers on candidates.
Photo: Representative Andrew Falk's combine selfie, taken as he harvested soybeans for his family's seed farm. The guy eats lutefisk, so pushing back on the MN Jobs Coalition should be a piece of cake.
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