In 2014, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) contributed $325,000 to the Minnesota Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund, making the national GOP group the political action committee's largest single donor.
Not only did the MJC's flood of attack mail and radio ads help flip the House to Republican control, but its leader, Ben Golnik was hired as the Republican House Majority's executive director.
A national Republican fundraising group dedicated to GOP control of state legislatures has targeted the Minnesota Senate as a pickup opportunity in 2016.
The Senate Republican Caucus announced Thursday that it had landed on the priority list for the Republican State Leadership Committee. The group said its efforts in Minnesota would also be aimed at retaining the current Republican majority in the House.
"They know we can win back control of the Senate," Senate Minority Leader David Hann said.
Will Hann's caucus get that money directly? Unlikely: last year, the RSLC did not contribute directly to the the GOP House committee, the HRCC (view year-end report here) or to the Republican Party of Minnesota (report here). Nor did the other conservative ideological large independent expenditure group, the MN Action Network IE (report here), receive any of the RSLC's largesse.
Bluestem imagines that should the group continue its funding relationship with the MN Jobs Coalition, the dollars heading to Minnesota will be used to recycle attacks on the Senate Office Building and other perceived wasteful spending.
By giving money to RSLC, which then funnels cash to groups such as the MN Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund, corporations can gain influence in Minnesota elections on the sly. Corporations cannot give directly to state level candidates under Minnesota campaign finance law.
Worried about the influence of big money on Minnesota politics? The RSLC announcement demonstrates that it's not going to get any smaller: the group plans to spend $40 million nationwide, with the Minnesota Senate among its top six targets.
Today, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) and its legislative caucus, the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC), announced their metrics and targets for the 2015-2016 election cycle, which the RSLC plans a $40 million budget for legislative races – a record for the organization. The metrics and targets were unveiled on a press call from the RLCC’s National Meeting in Boston with RLCC Chair and Iowa Speaker Kraig Paulsen, RLCC Vice-Chair and Texas Speaker Joe Straus, and RSLC President Matt Walter.
“We are coming off of an historic election night for Republicans at the state level where we won majorities in a record 69 of 99 state legislative chambers,” said Paulsen. “Now with a $40 million budget, we are ready to defend those historic majorities around the country while expanding to pick up new chamber majorities.”
The RSLC and RLCC will focus heavily on six specific chambers with the most likely path to new Republican majorities in 2016: the Colorado House, Kentucky House, Washington House, Iowa Senate, Minnesota Senate, and New Mexico Senate. Each of these states currently have split chambers – one with a Democrat majority and one with a Republican majority.
Minnesota Public Radio reported in November that "Republicans won in nearly every district the [Mn Jobs Coalition] invested in . . . "
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Lost in the gnashing of teeth over the voluntary departure from the state legislature of younger legislators like Senator Branden Petersen (R-Andover)?
Petersen's committees have a history of late filing fees and civil penalties for late filings by his campaign committees as a state house and senate candidate. Branden (Petersen) for Senate has yet to file a year-end report for 2014, accruing a $1000 fine.
With the latest fines, Petersen's state house and senate committees have paid a combined in late filing fees (LFF) and civil penalties (CP) since 2010.
According to the director of the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board Gary Goldsmith, Petersen's committee could face referral to the Minnesota Attorney General's office for additional action if the report isn't filed.
In an email accompanying the document, Goldsmith noted late filing fees for pre-election reports accrue at the rate of $50 per day and year-end reports accrue late filing fees at the rate of $25 per day. The first item on the list--a $20 LFF--is an economic interest statement filed four days late; the last item ($2000) is a civil penalty for an excess contribution violation.
Here's the record of violations sent to us by the board:
Including fines for earlier tardy filings, the committee has been fined a total of $3870.
After receiving this file, Bluestem was curious whether Petersen's state representative committee had also been slow in filing. The board sent us this record of violations, totaling $2800:
Perhaps it speaks to the libertarian-inclined Petersen's personal charm that this history has been overlooked, while similar infractions on the part of his state senate colleagues Sean Nienow (state filing) and Julianne Ortman (U.S. Senate campaign) have received more public scorn.
Photo: Senator Branden Petersen, who is retiring from the state legislature.
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Organizers of an action to protest the Minuteman's talk were told by St. Cloud Police Department that the event was cancelled, only to find that the event was held anyway, with a substitute speaker. An attendee of Tuesday's event confirmed that the speaker was Willmar's Bob Enos.
In response to this incident, a coalition has organized The Freedom Rally on Saturday, August 1 at 12 noon at the St Cloud Courthouse 725 Courthouse Square.
The place has been changed from the VFW, according to organizer Jane Conrad, a staffer for the East Central Minnesota Labor Council.
The Facebook event notes:
A rally was planned to counter a racist speaker Ron Branstner who was speaking at the VFW Post 428 at 9 18th Ave N in St Cloud on July 28th. Two hours after we notified the Saint Cloud police of our event the VFW announced that they were unaware of the topic Ron Branstner was speaking and said they would cancel the event because they do not support this or want the controversy. So we canceled our rally. However, once our action was canceled the VFW went ahead with theirs. Although the VFW did not allow Ron Branstner to speak they allowed Willmar resident Bob Enos a prominent racist speaker and supporter of Branstner to spew his racist propaganda. It's a sad day when the VFW, whose members are people who fought and died for our Constitution, support a speaker who advocates taking away those liberties from minorities in our community. We are sending a message to the VFW that freedom is for everyone. So join us on Saturday August 1st at 12:00pm in front of the VFW. We are all in this together.
Photo: Ron Brantsner.
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UPDATE: We just received a call from East Central Minnesota Labor Council Jane Conrad, who said that despite assurances to the St. Cloud Police Department that the event was cancelled, the VFW allowed an anti-refugee speaker from Willmar to speak in Brantsner's place and the event continued.
Another union activist attended the event--which reportedly is still going on--and reported back to Conrad.
One of the curious conservations that the group had considered Conrad's organizing of a counterprotest; apparently, those attending are under the impression that the Minnesota AFL-CIO supports their agenda and they will be complaining to the state federation headquarters in St. Paul. Given that the area labor councils are part of the state AFL-CIO, we find this assumption laughable.
Needless to say, the statement that the event would be cancelled on the part of the post and the distribution of this promise by the St. Cloud Police isn't the sort of thing that builds trust. [End update]
After learning about California Minuteman Ron Brantsner's controversial views about refugees and immigrants, the VFW Granite post in St. Cloud, Minnesota, has cancelled hosting the event.
"The SCPD Community Crime Impact Team (CCIT) has met with members organizing the speaking event at VFW Post #428 and with the management of the VFW.
- CCIT specializes in community outreach and event planning for incidents in the City of St. Cloud and after conversing with management of the St. Cloud VFW Post #428 they determined that they were unaware of any controversy concerning the speaker and that their bylaws will not allow the event to be held at their venue.
- VFW management has advised that it will remain open for regular customers and will advise persons who arrive for the speaking event that it has been cancelled.
Being personally familiar with that overall area I can advise that minimal public parking and public area exists. Much of the area consists of private property. My suggestion would be that any gathering of the public that might still be under consideration related to this now cancelled event should be held at a location in St. Cloud that would be conducive to a public gathering and in compliance with any regulatory requirements."
According to sources, Jane Conrad, organizer for the East Central Minnesota Labor Council, worked with community members to put together a Unite Saint Cloud counter rally after hearing about Brantsner's presentation. When she contacted the St. Cloud Police Department to let them know about the lawful protest, the SPPD contacted the managers of the VFW Granite Post.
Conrad told Bluestem that the room where Branstner was to have spoken was reserved by a private individual and the VFW Granite Post had no idea about his views. As the email from the police department indicates, the event violated the veterans group's bylaws.
Affiliated with the California Minutemen, Brantsner has been speaking out for years against immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. His target has shifted from Latino immigrants to Somali refugees in recent years.
As we noted in Little Falls man discovers California Minuteman rabblerouser is simpleminded, colossal bore, Brantsner accuses refugee resettlement groups of moving Somali people into cities by "stealth," but the only stealthy behavior we see is Brantsner trying to give word-of-mouth only invitations to lectures at venues run by groups that don't know what his agenda is.
That's stealth, and he's got it.
Kudos to Conrad and the Labor Council for turning over the rock he was hiding under and sharing the light of transparency on this one--and to the VFW post for abiding by its own rules.
Photo: Ron Brantsner speaking at a word-of-mouth-only event in Little Falls, Minnesota, earlier this month.
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Many farmers are skeptical and upset by the state’s new buffer legislation, but one of the state’s largest farm groups and legislators involved in drafting the bill are urging them to comply with it.
That echoes what the Corn Growers were saying back in mid-May when the language was settled, as St. Paul Pioneer Press staffer Christopher Mangan reported in Compromise reached on waterway buffers:
Under a deal reached in the early hours of Sunday morning, existing laws should be better enforced and local soil and water conservation districts will work with farmers to protect public and private waterways.
By 2020, there will be 50 foot buffers between all public waterways and annual agricultural row crops. Many waterways already require buffer strips, but enforcement is inconsistent.
The deal requires 16.5 foot buffers around public ditches by 2022 and instructs soil and water conservation districts to work with farmers to find resources to protect private ditches.
Adam Czech, spokesman for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, said the deal was a good compromise between existing law and the governor’s vision.
Representative Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, said he too is concerned about “mission creep’’ and the possibility of future demands for larger buffers.
He was among those who warned that agriculture faces a public image challenge when it comes to water quality. “You cannot understand the misperception of what you’re doing out here,’’ said the legislator. Miller said there are those who think “we have a love canal out here’’ and “cesspools” and “refuse floating down your ditches right now.’’
While Governor Dayton used the term "cesspool" as part of the debate in March, Bluestem could find no example of anyone comparing Minnesota agriculture to Love Canal or discussing "refuse" floating in ditches. Miller appears to be committed to inventing inflammatory rhetoric, then attributing it to others.
Laying the blame for many of the state's polluted waters squarely at the feet of agriculture, Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday asked Minnesota farmers to "look into their souls" and support his proposal to buffer nearly every public water in the state from row crops and their associated runoff.
"You have a right to operate your land for lawful purposes, but you don't have the right to dump your runoff and create cesspools where the rest of Minnesotans wants to enjoy it and where wildlife wants to enjoy it," Dayton said, raising the rhetoric on a plan that was inspired by a summit of pheasant hunters and is now being touted as a significant way to protect water quality by reducing erosion and pollution runoff.
"Most farmers, I think, are good stewards, but there are some out there who I guess don't share that view, and what they're doing, unfortunately, is contaminating water that everybody uses, that everybody needs to use," Dayton, flanked by several members of his cabinet and Democratic lawmakers, said at a news conference designed to push back at farm groups opposing the measure.
That's hardily "Love Canal." Miller's reference to it is peculiar in the context of the buffers debate. According to The Love Canal Tragedy, a 1979 article posted on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website:
. . . In the 1920s the seeds of a genuine nightmare were planted. The canal was turned into a municipal and industrial chemical dumpsite.
Landfills can of course be an environmentally acceptable method of hazardous waste disposal, assuming they are properly sited, managed, and regulated. Love Canal will always remain a perfect historical example of how not to run such an operation.
In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company, then the owners and operators of the property, covered the canal with earth and sold it to the city for one dollar.
It was a bad buy.
In the late '50s, about 100 homes and a school were built at the site. Perhaps it wasn't William T. Love's model city, but it was a solid, working-class community. For a while. ...
The Wikipedia entry for Love Canal has more about the legacy of the housing development built on an industrial landfill:
Love Canal, along with Times Beach, Missouri, are important in United States environmental history as the two sites that in large part led to the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). CERCLA is commonly referred to as "Superfund" because of the fund established by the act to help the clean-up of toxic pollution in residential locations such as Love Canal. It has been stated that Love Canal has "become the symbol for what happens when hazardous industrial products are not confined to the workplace but 'hit people where they live' in inestimable amounts."[39]
We do remember discussion of metro landfill cleanup funds in the run-up to the special session, but it wasn't directly related to the Governor's buffers bill. Perhaps Miller simply doesn't remember the flurry of activity leading up to that point, and he has mixed up the two distinctly different issues that were crammed into one ginormous omnibus budget bill.
Let's hope that his good friends at the Corn Growers unsnarl this for him before he incites more of their membership against the compromise language the producers' group worked so hard to pass.
As for that "cesspool"? Wikipedia provides a literal discussion here, while Oxford Dictionaries includes denotative and connotative meaning. What conditions are Minnesotans facing that might prompt the use of the word? Orrick reported:
Dayton's decision to point the finger at agriculture is bolstered by growing concern over the state's failing waters voiced by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Last week, the agency released a study of 93 streams in agriculture-heavy southwest Minnesota in the Missouri River basin. Of those, only three streams could fully support aquatic life and only one had low enough levels of E. coli bacteria to be considered safe for swimming. None passed both tests.
"It's frightening, the lack of the ability of the waters to support aquatic life and the threat to human health and human safety to be in those waters," Dayton said, adding later: "And you look at that southwest part of the state, it's not heavily industrial or large manufacturing. It's agriculture. So let's face reality and say this is agriculture runoff that is causing this deterioration."
MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said it was impossible to predict the exact impacts of buffers along the banks of those waterways, but he said buffers would "dramatically improve" the water quality by reducing nitrogen and phosphorous runoff from farm fields.
Publicly, the farm groups aren't disputing that, but are arguing Dayton's plan is too rigid and takes rights away from farmers without compensation.
There's that.
Photo: Barrels of toxic chemicals in the Love Canal urban landfill. Via the IDR Environmental Services blog. None of Bluestem's sources recalls anyone bringing up Love Canal during the buffers debate.
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Creeping across Minnesota's conservative Facebook landscape, Bluestem discovered an infographic for the GOP Rural Caucus that attempts to sell the first session under Republican control of the Minnesota House as an unqualified success.
We'll let others unpack the claims as a whole--after all that's what the crack DFL and ABM messaging teams are paid to do--while we reflect on one corner of the item. The text reads:
The legislature took bipartisan action to help Minnesota poultry farmers.
So far, so good. Representative David Bly (DFL-Northfield) was a regular rooster defending the farmstead. But the text continues:
Rural members worked hard on legislation to mobilize rapid response to the avian flu crisis and to protect the safety of our food supply. A new, state-of-the-art poultry testing lab in Willmar will also help speed up testing time in case of future outbreaks.
*Extended unemployment benefits for poultry farm workers displaced by avian flu outbreak.
That first bullet point made us pause, for while the legislative history of the provision may be bipartisan, it's not something cooked up by Republican or rural legislators.
The legislative history of the provision is rather short. According to page 4340 of the Journal of the House for May 4, 2015, Representative Rick Hansen, a Democrat from South St. Paul--that bastion of rural Minnesota culture and values--moved "to amend the Baker amendment, as amended, to H. F. No. 1437, the second engrossment" by adding "poultry worker extra unemployment benefits" for those left idle by avian flu.
HF1437 was the agriculture omnibus bill--later merged in conference committee with the environment and natural research bill.
The measure passed on a 111-15 roll call vote. Those voting no were all Republicans, Tony Albright, Mark Anderson, Steve Drazkowski, Sondra Erickson, Pat Garofalo, Glenn Gruenhagen, Tom Hackbarth, Jerry Hertaus, Eric Lucero, Denny McNamara, Jim Nash, Jim Newberger, Cindy Pugh, Duane Quam and Linda Runbeck.
Are any of those Republicans members of the GOP Rural Caucus? Certainly Mark Anderson (Lake Shore), Steve Drazkowski (Mazeppa), Sondra Erickson (Princeton), Glenn Gruenhagen (Glencoe); Jim Newberger (Becker) and Duane Quam (Byron) are rural. Perhaps they're not part of the party's rural caucus. Maybe all those metro-centric Democrats were working harder than members of the Republican Rural Caucus when this bragging point came up.
Or maybe place-baiting isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Image: While the GOP Rural Caucus implies rural members working hard came up with solutions for the avian flu, the author of the first item on their list is a suburban Democrat. How does that happen?
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Citizens attending the meeting panned his performance as confusing and ill-informed, Lerhke reports:
John Salmon, a resident who heard about the meeting third or fourth hand, said he came to “see what a bunch of outraged people looked like.
“People upset with the Somalian invasion of our end of Little Falls is the problem a lot of the people that were there had,” Salmon said. He lives near the new development approved in the city near DeRosier Drive.
“It was just a lot of people — that guy was a colossal bore,” Salmon said. “I’m not outraged about what he said only because he was so simple-minded about it — I don’t think he knew what he was talking about.” . . .
Perhaps one of the more entertaining ironies is that Branstner claims that "that if refugees were resettled to the city of Little Falls, residents likely wouldn’t know, because it is all done 'in stealth," but his own talks are promoted by word-of-mouth and whose who invite him do so in the shadows.
He knows something about stealth, but we believe it has more to do with his own modus operandi, rather than his conspiracy theories about the Blandin Foundation, McKnight Foundation and Initiative Foundation in Little Falls.
The article does point out that Brantsner will be speaking at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, at the VFW, 9 18th Ave. N., St. Cloud. The post--one of two in St. Cloud--doesn't appear to have the event on its calendar, so we're assuming the space is being rented or used by the event's organizers rather than being sponsored by the veteran's organization.
Photo: Branstner in Little Falls, via the Morrison County Record.
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St. Cloud-area residents rallied on Saturday to bring awareness to the metro about the need for Northstar commuter rail extension.
The rally was organized by GRIP/ISAIAH — a faith-based group that pushes for racial and economic equality in Minnesota — that has been a longtime supporter of the Northstar commuter rail extension and is looking to start a grass-roots movement to bring the line to St. Cloud. Northstar commuter rail currently runs from Minneapolis to Big Lake.
Those pushing for better transportation walked from the Church of St. Augustine to the Metro Bus Transit Center, where community members voiced a need for the extension.
The economic benefit of the line was the largest issue supporters pushed throughout the rally.
“Look at all the places that the Northstar stops on and look at the economic vitality at those stops,” said Rev. James Alberts, chair of GRIP/ISAIAH and pastor of Higher Ground Church of God in Christ. “Right now, Anoka County has four stops in it and in every single one of those stops you can see something growing around it that was not there before.” . . .
Photo: The rally, via Dave Schwarz, St. Cloud Times.
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While Minnesota's poultry farmers are getting back on their feet as quarantines on moving birds are lifted and the USDA has developed a promising vaccine, United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Ag committee earlier this week that his agency is preparing for the worst in case the pandemic returns with the fall migratory of waterfowl.
. . . Lifting the quarantine means county farmers with flocks unaffected by the virus will be able to move poultry on and off their land without restrictions, officials said Thursday.
It's also another step in the region's recovery from the most significant bird flu outbreak the nation has ever seen.
Quarantines have now been lifted in 18 of the 23 Minnesota counties hit by bird flu. And of the 108 farms affected, a third are in some phase of restocking their barns with poultry. . .
Bluestem's editor was pleasantly surprised to see turkey feathers beside a county road she was biking down, a sure sign that birds were being transported.
Scientists have developed a vaccine strain that has tested 100 percent effective in protecting chickens from bird flu and testing is underway to see if it also protects turkeys, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Agriculture Committee at a hearing on Wednesday.
If it does, the agency plans to quickly license it for widespread production and is seeking funding from the Office of Management and Budget to stockpile it nationally.
"Hopefully we'll be able to get a lot of folks working collaboratively together and we stockpile enough so that if this does hit and hits us hard we're in a position to respond quickly," Vilsack said.
That's good news, though even the development of an effective vaccine could potentially pose economic challenges to the industry, the story notes:
Still not all poultry producers are on the same page when it comes to using vaccine to fight an outbreak.
Turkey producers tend to favor vaccination to protect flocks because turkey immune systems appear more vulnerable to viruses. Some egg producers and farmers who raise broilers—chickens produced for meat—often resist vaccination programs because of the possible impact on export markets.
U.S. producers export nearly $6 billion worth of poultry and egg products yearly with about $5 billion of that chicken meat. . . .
Finally, the vaccine will not yet be available for birds now growing in barns across the Midwest. Farm Futures' Janell Thomas reported on Thursday in USDA ready in case of fall avian flu outbreak:
USDA is preparing for a fall outbreak of avian influenza, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack told legislators in a hearing on the state of the Department Wednesday.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5, which broke out last December in the United States, has affected as many as 48 million birds.
Because the virus does not survive easily in hot weather, recent cases have waned, but fall temperatures and changes in air moisture may bring its return.
In response to questions from House Ag Committee members, Vilsack said USDA is preparing a more efficient response should avian flu cases spike in the fall, including plans for biosecurity, depopulation, disposal, indemnification and repopulation.
"We are planning for a circumstance where we're simultaneously having to deal with 500 outbreaks," Vilsack told the committee. "We think that’s sort of a worst case scenario situation." . . .
The government is gearing up to deal with as many as 500 incidents of avian flu this fall, far more than the number that devastated Midwest producers this spring, says Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. . . .
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has reported 223 detections of avian flu since Dec. 19, including 105 in Minnesota and 75 in Iowa. There have been no new detections reported since June 17, but the outbreak devastated turkey and egg production in the two states, and there are fears it could reach broiler operations in the South. . . .
Minnesotans applauded U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack after he advocated for an insurance program for farmers affected by avian influenza. . . .
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said in a news release that he was pleased to hear that Vilsack was calling for an insurance program and noted that he and the rest of the Minnesota congressional delegation have urged Vilsack to expedite a study of the feasibility of the insurance program. . . .
Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, said Minnesota farmers would likely take a long look at any insurance program introduced by Congress.
"I think what they envision is something similar to crop insurance," he said on Thursday. "We're definitely interested in it, but it all depends on the premium costs. If they're too expensive, it wouldn't make sense for farmers to use it. It would have been useful this year, though.". . . .
Bluestem hopes for the best, but is glad that the USDA is using old farmer prudence in planning for the worst.
Photo: Turkey poults. Hoping that young birds now in barns aren't afflicted with the fast-acting fatal bird flu. Photo via the Manitoba Turkey Producers
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While the devastation from avian flu has dominated headlines this year, it's only the latest disease affecting animal agriculture in the Upper Midwest. In the previous two years, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) killed 8 million hogs and piglets, KSTP reported in January.
The waves of disease have highlighted the importance of research and funding for agriculture, basic tools that have--like so many other areas--suffered as budget axes swung.
Fortunately, a suburban Minnesota Democrat (who is actively engaged in his farm near Harmony) has stepped up to the plate, drafting a resolution adopted by the Midwestern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Government's recent meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota. Hansen also presented an overview of "Minnesota's Buffer Program" to the assembled legislators; he serves on the group's Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee.
Photo: Sick and dying turkeys. The pandemic cost Minnesota's economic $650 million, and hit farmers, workers and communities with an emotional gut punch.
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We were not the only one to notices this. The Fargo Forum editorial, Dumb and dumber at NRCC, doesn't pull any punches:
The agenda must be dumb and dumber for the folks at the National Republican Congressional Committee if the best they can do is go after 7th District Congressman Collin Peterson, D-Minn. Peterson, who has been re-elected again and again since 1990, is in the committee’s sights, but the lenses must be fogged. Or maybe it’s the judgment of the committee that’s foggy.
In recent missives to media, the NRCC twists itself into knots trying to make the impossible case that because Peterson’s quarterly fundraising wasn’t a barn-burner, he’s weak among the 7th’s voters – or sillier yet, because the congressman has not decided (publicly at least) if he will seek re-election.
Oh my, how out of touch is the NRCC with the 7th? After decades of losing to Peterson, the NRCC still is woefully short of understanding why the congressman appeals across party lines in a district that trends conservative but leans Democratic. In other words, the 7th is Peterson. . . .
Read the whole thing at the Forum, then realize that the Forum owns the largest media chain in Minnesota's Seventh and the smaller newspapers in the chain frequently ends up running editorials from the mother ship.
That's how the NRCC agenda dumb and dumber headline ended up in the Park Rapids Enterprise. If the NRCC agenda is in fact "dumb and dumber" for the Seventh--and we find no evidence to think otherwise--this summer's messaging has been a whopping success.
Photo: Dumb and dumber; or, the NRCC's crack messaging team on Minnesota's Western prairies.
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Headlines like MInnesota Public Radio reporter Mark Steil's Estimated toll of bird flu approaching $650 million (via the West Central Tribune) tell the economic story of the pandemic that hit the state's poultry producers earlier this year.
But a presentation last week to the CSG Midwestern Legislative Conference annual meeting by Dr. William Hartmann, State Veterinarian and Executive Director of the Board of Animal Health takes a look inside the turkey barns.
The swiftness of the disease in bringing down a flock is shocking.
The photos of the workers spraying foam on the sick birds illustrate the euthanizing process, followed by pictures of the cleaning and disinfecting of the barns. Dr. Hartman's maps clearly illustrate the spread and scale of the pandemic.
Bird flu has mysteriously infected flocks at more than 100 Minnesota farms, from the Iowa border nearly to Canada. The state’s main poultry production zone in central Minnesota has been hit the hardest. In Kandiyohi County, the state’s leading turkey producer, the virus devastated about three dozen farms.
The university’s damage estimate includes about $250 million in direct losses to farmers.
“This has affected about a third of chickens that are laying eggs,” Tuck said, “and then (led to) about a 12 percent decrease in the number of turkeys.”
The disease also caused major losses in the poultry processing industry. The Jennie-O Turkey Store plant in Faribault laid off more than 200 workers. Tuck said about 2,500 jobs across the state have been affected by the flu outbreak and the total loss of labor income from avian flu is more than $170 million. . . .
Farms hit with avian flu sustain two economic blows. First, they lose much of their investment in the flock, although the federal government reimburses farmers for birds that are killed to prevent the virus from spreading. The second blow comes from the weeks that have to pass before farms can restart production with new birds.
Dead birds typically are composted, a process that takes about a month. Over a couple more months, the barns and buildings must be cleaned, disinfected and certified as virus-free.
So far, only about a third of the affected farms have been cleared to resume production. When all the losses are added up, the state’s poultry farms struck by bird flu are taking a major financial hit, said Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. . . .
As the article notes, the respite from new cases may be temporary, as the disease may return in the fall:
. . . State and federal health officials are predicting influenza could return in the fall when wild ducks and geese head south. Researchers think they carry the virus and deposit it in the environment in their droppings.
But epidemiologists still have yet to confirm how the virus spread in this year’s outbreaks. . . .
Tests of more than 3,000 samples of waterfowl droppings this spring in Minnesota found not a single instance of the virus.
Photo: Dead and dying turkeys in a barn, via Dr. Hartmann's presentation to Midwest legislators meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota.
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The West Central Tribune coverage of the meeting, Kandiyohi County Board meets with legislators, focused on a dialogue between state senator Lyle Koenen (DFL-Clara City) and state representative Dave Baker (R-Willmar).
Perhaps the lack of local attention to Enos' dire warning that the presence of Somali refugees will not only create a "pipeline to jihad" to Willmar, but also turn the West Central Minnesota regional center into the next Detroit, occurred because people in Kandiyohi County have heard it before from Enos.
In endorsing incumbent Rick Fagerlie in 2014, the editors of the West Central Tribune noted:
Enos moved to Willmar in 2008 following a city management career in Providence, R.I., and private business consulting work. He enjoys an agitator’s role and even said at a recent debate if elected he’d would drive them crazy. He demonstrated his lack of collaboration and teamwork during his recent tenure on the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission’s Joint Operations Board. After multiple months of adversarial posturing and random attendance, he resigned before completing his term. Despite advocating for city transparency, Enos willingly served on Mayor Frank Yanish’s anonymous advisory committee.
If the flurry of letters-to-the-editor about and from Enos in the Tribune, news reports, and his now-offline blog How Willmar Works, are any indication of his agitator's role, much of the stirring of the pot has concerned Somali residents of Willmar and Jennie-O, the Hormel-owned turkey industry giant that is headquartered in regional center.
Indeed, given Enos' record of scorn for Jennie-o and agriculture as economic drivers in rural Minnesota, Bluestem suspects that neither Drazkowski nor Bennett would want to promote the clip if they knew more of whom they were sharing with their Facebook friends.
Imagine, indeed, the outrage from Daudt's caucus if a metro Democrat were to condemn meat-packing in this manner. We'd see it on Minnesota jobs Coalition fliers in every Greater Minnesota swing district next year--including Willmar's own HD17B.
Thank you for your coverage of Ann Corcoran's recent visit to St. Cloud concerning Somali immigration. With regard to Islamic Sharia law, if your fact-checkers read the Provisional Constitution of Somalia, here is what they would know.
Article 2 - "Islam is the religion of the State. ... No other religion than Islam can be propagated in the country. ... No law can be enacted that is not compliant with the general principles and objectives of Shari'ah."
Article 8(3) states: "A person who is a Somali citizen cannot be deprived of Somali citizenship, even if they become a citizen of another country."
A country's constitution represents the hopes, dreams, aspirations and expectations of its citizens.
The question to our Somali-American citizens: You've sworn allegiance to an Islamic theocratic state and a U.S. secular, democratic state, each founded on diametrically opposed ideals. You can't believe that both are correct.
In a November 13, 2014, letter, Explaining my own quote, Enos shares sentiments close to his "warning" in the board's open comment period earlier this month:
Readers of my blog How Willmar Works have asked me to explain my newspaper quote regarding the “Perfect Storm” on Willmar’s financial horizon.
Five converging forces threaten to irreversibly transform Willmar’s financial footing.
By optioning 30 acres of land, Jennie-O signaled its intent to ramp up both manufacturing and a huge demand for unskilled workers.
The Nov. 2 Minneapolis Star Tribune reported a new wave of Somali refugee immigration. Along with secondary relocation to our state (which Somalis from other states call “little Mogadishu”), the reporter concludes the combined influx into Minnesota will be unprecedented. Cheap housing and unskilled meatpacking jobs make Willmar a top destination. Will government and church-based resettlement agencies again abandon Willmar’s taxpayers, or will they finally provide the financial follow-through to finish what they start?
Mayor-elect Calvin pledged to increase “affordable housing.” In government-speak, “affordable housing” means subsidized housing. The re-use of Regency East trailer park as “workforce housing” will be subsidized by tax breaks. Whose tax bills will pay for those subsidies? Ours.
The School Board wants taxpayers to approve nearly $50 million in new debt. Bilingual education is expensive; yes, property tax hikes.
While Willmar’s net population has remained steady, the in-migration of 7,500 foreign-born has been offset by an equal decline in middle-income residents. Historically, “white flight” reduces the tax base, which increases property taxes, which lowers house prices, increasing tax rates, which drives away more middle class — a familiar cycle. . . .
The case of the Somali influx to Willmar is an example of the best intentions gone awry.
I found my way recently to two field officers who had feet on the ground in Somalia during the vetting, organizing and airlifting of refugees from 1999-2001. They worked on behalf of the United Nations High Commission of Refugees. I also unearthed two US State Department monographs, commissioned from academics familiar with the socio-political background of the country. Finally, I've spoken with elected officials of a US city of 36,000 residents which was deluged by the relocation of 8,000 Somali refugees to their locale. The city became the subject of worldwide attention in 2010, and again in 2012, as the population struggled to cope with its new reality.
This entire episode coalesced into the perfect storm in the US, as well as other countries cooperating in the endeavor. In 1999, the United Nations received commitments from several nations, including the US, to relocate Somali political refugees during a civil breakdown that followed a military coup which removed the longstanding President Siyyad Barre from office. The military was unable to maintain order in the aftermath, and civil war among armed tribes organized by feudal warlords ensued. The decade of the 1990's was a humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia. During this period, over 50% of children under the age of five died of starvation. Virtually every social institution other than the family unit disintegrated in chaos and anarchy. The UN declared Somalia to be "the most failed nation-state on earth." The US Immigration and Naturalization Service dispatched teams to assess and screen candidates for relocation to the US. Its psychologists determined that a full 100% of screened candidates were suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The US State Department contracted with several Volunteer Agencies (VOLAG's) for the first phase of resettlement. These were primarily faith-based organizations. The Lutheran Refugee and Immigration Service, based in Pennsylvania and Maryland, was likely the first point of contact for refugees bound for Minnesota. Refugees were met at US airports for temporary settlement. For three months, the new entrants were debriefed, received continued medical support, and were oriented to expectations of living in America. At this time, government bureaucrats and representatives of local faith-based agencies met and, absent any local input, unilaterally decided which cities and towns would receive refugees, and how many. The criteria for logistical assignments were said to be (1) the availability of inexpensive housing, (2) government benefit packages at the local level, and (3) the availability of unskilled employment opportunities, especially in meatpacking. 90% of Somalis were nomadic herdsmen, thought to be skilled in meat processing. Hence, the density of resettlement in the northern Midwest.
No evidence was found that could suggest that local government officials and residents were consulted or prepared for what was to come.
In stage 2, local faith-based agencies began an eight-month program of assisting the physical relocation to individual communities, with plans for follow-up support. In Minnesota, the lead agency appears to have been Lutheran Social Services, with likely cooperation of Catholic Charities.
All of the service agencies appear to have received government funding for their efforts.
Representatives in Minnesota established contact with prospective employers, which, in Willmar, was Hormel Foods. Hormel was in the process of completing its acquisition of the Turkey Store of Barron, Wisconsin, and was merging the company with its Jennie-O subsidiary, which had been acquired in 1986. The merger necessitated a considerable increase in manufacturing capacity in its Willmar plant, so the influx of Somali entrants with potential meat processing experience was timely for the company. It would be interesting to investigate the possibility that Hormel may have received government funding for training and assimilation of the new employees.
Through all of this, it appears that Willmarites continued to receive no information or preparation for the big picture in play.
The fly in the ointment, however, was the final component contributing to the perfect storm:
The 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In the wake of 9/11, no agency, government official, or elected representative would be willing to commit the political suicide of owning responsibility for the en masse relocation of a Muslim population at this time. Instead, government agencies and faith-based service contractors seemed to have re-defined the mission as the physical relocation of refugees and nothing more, even though, as we now know, the real work was just about to begin. The new reality became clear very quickly, and it was a reality that both the new Somali entrants and the indigenous Willmar population shared in common:
We were on our own.
Understandably, there was culture shock all the way around. Willmarites soon felt exposed to behaviors which appeared antisocial, xenophobic, misogynistic, slovenly, and hostile, from people seen as uninvited guests. In this writer's experience, Willmarites take great pride in their version of "Minnesota Nice" and its accompanying civility: the "one-finger wave" from the steering wheel; the eye contact, a smile, a cordial hello to the passerby, whether friend or stranger; ceding a parking space or a late turn signal out of courtesy; showing compassion to a neighbor. These are cultural attractions to many outsiders who either discover or re-discover the Willmar community. Willmarites were, and continue to be baffled as to how a people could behave so inhospitably, having received a second chance to not only start over on the heels of abject misery, but to star new lives in what is arguably the wealthiest, most charitable, most democratic, most productive social experiment that mankind has ever produced: the United States of America. Rather, Willmarites would expect to see some humility, some respect, some gratitude, from refugees of violence and oppression who now were blessed with the opportunity to share in the fruits of a country they had no hand in creating. Willmarites dared hope that their new Somali neighbors might realize they had much more to learn from our social experiment that we had to learn from theirs.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
It is time to re-visit the government agencies, NGO's, faith-based service organizations, and church groups that have been patting themselves on the back for over a decade while Willmarites have footed the financial and social costs for their largesse. It is time they became our real partners, with experts and checkbooks in hand. Undoubtedly, that won't take place unless they receive some encouragement. Friends in the media: take heed. Elected officials of resettlement cities and towns across America need to begin communicating with one another, comparing experiences, and banding together in order to make a stronger case for getting the additional resources we deserve to work all of this out.
And it's time for Somalis and indigenous Willmarites to communicate directly, to work harder to find common ground and to re-negotiate the ground rules for more cooperative and acceptable social behavior. In short, the re-negotiation of our Social Contract.
Because the fact is, friends, both native Willmarites and Somali refugees were shortchanged by the handling of this episode, due to accidents of history and political expediency. It's time for the architects of this episode to own up to the damage they created by dropping the orphan on Willmar's doorstep and sneaking away in the middle of the night.
We need to find our way home again.
Enos was not a resident of Willmar until 2008, so it's curious to read his reflections on the influx of Somali people in the area.
These sentiments about the horrors of refugees are echoed in the July 7, 2015 open comment period statement to the board. The response in online letters wasn't favorable. Anis Iman wrote in Enos' comments were a disservice to Somalis and to Willmar:
This letter is in answer to Bob Enos’s letter, “Explaining my own quote.”
First, I want to thank Ward 3 residents for not voting Mr. Enos into any kind of office as your argument shows that you are biased against a specific ethnic group or immigrants as a whole, do not embrace diversity and are against a company that employs over 2,000 employees from the Willmar area. I see a dividing leadership trait in your argument, not what a real leader would put forward in a blog, let alone the city newspaper. Therefore, we are lucky you did not misinform more than 45 percent of the voters in Ward 3.
Your whole argument is based on stereotypes, generalist and vague comments. A politician can lean left or right but when you start stereotyping and generalizing a whole ethnic group, or immigrants, then you have lost credibility and respect. No wonder you lost in the election in Ward 3.
Somalis are not threatening to transform the financial footing of Willmar in any negative way. Most of the Somalis in Willmar have jobs. We pay taxes like any other residents in Willmar. We shop at local stores like any other residents. Most of the Somalis live in apartments or houses and pay on average $650 dollars for two or three bedrooms. Is that affordable housing? And remember, if somebody has a job, which most of the Somalis do, then the chances of receiving or asking for welfare are slim to none. . . .
Enos' remarks in a candidate forum for his unsuccessful bid were negative about the city's Somali residents, according to the Tribune's report, Candidates make their cases for City Council:
Forum moderator Bev Benson of the Plymouth-Wayzata League of Women Voters, asked if the crime perception was accurate.
Fagerlie said he does not believe the city has a high crime rate. Fagerlie said the city has a strong police force, which is almost at full strength and is getting a K-9 unit along with the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office. “I have always supported and will continue to support a strong police force,’’ he said. . . .
Enos said he suspects the perception resulted in people, especially white people, avoiding downtown at night. “So we can’t very well have crime if there’s nobody there,’’ he said.
Among the host of questions, Benson asked the candidates if they have spoken to Somali and Hispanic residents and business owners, and if not why not, and if so what conversations did they have. . . .
Enos said he has lived in cities nearly all his adult life and are always large and quite diverse. “It is nothing new to me,’’ he said. As he talked to people around his ward and especially downtown, he said it was clear to him there is much disinformation and urban legend. He said the Somali population in America is unique as one of the only political refugee populations to emigrate to this country in last 20 years.
“When governments and churches organized this emigration, no one spoke to us about this,’’ he said. . . .
In a letter-to-the-editor, Troubling forum responses, Betty Knutson of Willmar took issue with that notion:
. . .Bob Enos, who is running for Ward 3, stated that the government and churches who organized this immigration did not ask us. I didn’t realize people need to ask where to live. America is a free country.
. . . The most troubling response came from Bob Enos who evaded the question, merely asserting that he had lived in diverse cities before moving here. While the candidates’ responses were on the whole pretty sad, coming from those who claim to represent all of Willmar, Enos went out of his way to show contempt for those of Somali origin.
According to his mythology of white grievance, we whites should have been consulted before Somalis were allowed to settle here and work. Perhaps we could have had a referendum on that issue. Somalis have a legal right to be in this country and a constitutional right to move and settle where they see fit.
I do not recall being consulted before Enos moved here, a mere six years ago.
Before we grow weak at the knees, let’s put this into perspective. An employee who receives a $1,700 bonus is receiving the equivalent of a rise in her hourly wage of 85 cents. The typical employee earning $12 an hour — a mere $2.50 over the minimum wage Minnesotans will see in 2016 — actually made $12.85 an hour.
Jennie-O Turkey Store is a powerhouse business. Hormel calls the turkey company the most successful business combination in Hormel’s 135-year history. Jennie-O is Hormel’s most profitable division. While Hormel’s overall profit margin for 2014 is 16 percent, Jennie-O’s profit is 23 percent. Jennie-O is largely responsible for a 25 percent increase in dividends to Hormel stockholders this year.
Great stuff.
But here’s the rub, folks. With Jennie-O’s profit being 10 times larger than the city of Willmar’s annual operating budget, where does that company get off, demanding free land, free road relocations, and free tax breaks? How does our city government justify over $6 million in tax-funded giveaways to a subsidiary of Hormel, a company that, in 2013, awarded over $6 million in bonuses to its top five executives, including Jennie-O president Glenn Leitch? . . .
First, reduce the size and expense of government. Eliminate duplication, improve efficiency, control spending, and rein in taxes. “We cannot devote tax dollars to every new idea that comes along. Instead, we must pick our shots very carefully and choose for success.’’
Second, diversify Willmar’s economy. While agriculture and meatpacking are the backbone of the local economy, the city must attract new business opportunities. Otherwise, young people will continue to leave Willmar in search of greener pastures in this new economy, he said. “We must aggressively court manufacturing, service industries, and high technology: industries that employ higher-paying, knowledge-based workers.’’
Third, he said Willmar “should begin a long overdue community conversation among its races and ethnicities, to openly acknowledge the problems with our current ‘social contract.’ ’’
“Talking about race relations doesn’t make us racists any more than talking about terrorism makes us terrorists. There’s a great deal of pent-up frustration over this issue and it’s not healthy. It’s time to re-focus on our common interests, and re-negotiate the ground rules for living together peacefully and productively,’’ he said.
Misrepresentations, misstatements, and outright lies demand my response.
Farmers like Kim Larson, who characterize any questioning of government farm supports as attacks on farming’s heritage and way of life, may explain why the farm bill is stuck in Congress. Questioning EDC farm supports doesn’t make one “anti-farming” any more than discussing race relations makes one a racist.
So let’s get to the facts.
The public minutes of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission executive board’s vote on the 2014 budget is clear. Two of three Willmar representatives, Councilman Steve Ahmann and Councilman Ron Christianson, opposed the ag-heavy $455,000 budget and $700,00 reserve fund, and rightly so. The rush to approval was led by County Commissioners Harlan Madsen and Dean Shuck and Councilman Denis Anderson. What do these three have in common? Political muscle and income made from agriculture. As to Mr. Larson: The organization Environmental Working Group has tracked farm subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1995. It reports Kim P. Larson has received federal subsidies of nearly $500,000. He also worked as an agricultural specialist to — you guessed it — the EDC. As for Willmar’s economy, anyone with a 401(k) retirement plan knows it’s foolhardy to invest the entire nest egg in one or two stocks.
Kandiyohi County must expand beyond agriculture.
According to the Star Tribune, in just two years, the net income of Minnesota’s farm industry grew from $4.5 billion in 2010 to $8.2 billion in 2012. That’s an 82 percent growth in income. This is a blessing to the entire state, but it certainly does not justify additional EDC government aid.
New success stories in new industries should be our goal. . . .
Unfortunately, the paper doesn't post all letters online, so not all of the give-and-take exchanges are included on the Internet. But a February 2014 letter from Steve Gardner, Letter writer Bob Enos is misinformed, suggests that Enos had been ripping Jennie-O:
In his letter of Feb. 25, Bob Enos once again proves his to be a voice not to be taken seriously on matters of economic development, and he continues to demean the role of agriculture in our local economy.
It may interest him to know that agriculture in Kandiyohi County has a half-billion-dollar impact when measuring sales of agricultural products and livestock, and that ag processing provides nearly 2,000 jobs in Kandiyohi County. Or that Willmar is home to the largest turkey processor/marketer in the world, as well as the world’s largest turkey hatching company, and to one of the nation’s largest two-year agricultural schools.
Mr. Enos could learn these important facts by looking over the Kandiyohi County/City of Willmar Economic Development website. In fact, since he is a member of the EDC Operations Board, he should perhaps take time to learn some of these pesky things we call facts out here.
Factually, on Oct. 21, 2013, the Willmar City Council accepted the recommendation of its Community Development Committee in regards to a land write-down policy. The council minutes indicate that the “real value of the land lies in its ability to grow jobs and tax base.” The minutes also indicate that this policy is “a competitive necessity.”
This action by the council reasonably means that Mr. Enos’s accusations of incompetence or worse on the part of city staff in his letter is silly at best, and irresponsible on its face.
Further, at the May 6, 2013, council meeting, the council set a wage floor of $12 per hour “for jobs created by businesses receiving business subsidies.”
So, one could reasonably infer by his letter that Mr. Enos desires to halt economic development by a long-time corporate employer in the city, and in doing so, wishes to prevent the creation of good paying jobs, as well as a much-needed expansion of the tax base.
His is a fundamental misunderstanding of the tools used by cities and other local governments to enable economic growth in the 21st century. Pity the candidate this fall who follows Mr. Enos’s economic advice.
. . . As the city has become more urbanized, “its challenges have diverged from those of the smaller rural hamlets surrounding it,” he wrote. “Government supports for farming and tourism may help the townships, but the benefits to Willmar are limited. To those who would argue trickle-down economics, I say Willmar is entitled to better; a lot better.” . . .
Bluestem will keep an eye out for more rural legislators sharing clips that suggestag processing harms regional centers. Perhaps Drazkowski and Bennett believe that dire warnings about the workers employed in ag-processing--and the meat-packing industry itself--are a good follow-up to their supportive votes to help the turkey industry recover from the avian flu.
And there's nothing like an out-of-context clip from a county board meeting to prove it.
Here are the Drazkowski and Bennett Facebook postings (it's curious that the Center for Security Policy labels the clip a "Refugee resettlement hearing" when the board meeting was nothing of the sort):
And here's the stand-alone clip:
Photo: Bob Enos, rejected by voters in Willmar.
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The National Republican Congressional Committee is twitting 13-term Congressman Collin Peterson about his fundraising, but given his apparently lack of an opponent, the Blue Dog's confidence might not be misplaced.
Thirteen-term U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said Friday he doesn’t need to spend money to get elected to a 14th term in 2016.
“I don’t think I’d need to spend a nickel to get elected,” the 71-year-old told The Forum Editorial Board. “I’ve never been as popular as I am now.”
Peterson, who says he’s definitely running for another term as Minnesota’s 7th District congressman, was responding to recent National Republican Congressional Committee claims that his support is weakening because he only brought in $141,000 in campaign donations in the recent reporting period.
Zach Hunter, regional press secretary for the NRCC, called Peterson’s latest fundraising quarter “anemic” and said the longtime western Minnesota Democrat should retire before being defeated.
“After yet another bad fundraising quarter, Collin Peterson simply refuses to take himself off the retirement watch list,” said the NRCC’s Hunter. “Democrats are moving left, and Peterson knows full-well that he will find himself caught between a far-left liberal at the top of the ticket and Republican voters in the 7th District.”
In the 2014 election, Peterson beat Republican challenger state Sen. Torrey Westrom of Elbow Lake 54 percent to 46 percent.
We'll take Hunter at his word for understanding "anemic" fundraising, since Westrom, who was widely believed to be launched in 2014 as the strongest candidate to run against Peterson since Trix's grandmother was a pup, raised exactly $0 in the second quarter on 2015.
Photo: Minnesota Seventh District Congressman Collin Peterson.
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Bluestem Prairie has no problem with Terry Henshaw Ministries, Inc's "The 99" pitching its tent in the parking lot of the Kandi Mall in Willmar in order to evangelize the citizens of Willmar and Kandiyohi County. It's a free country.
Our great-great-grandmother's fourth (and final) husband was a circuit-riding preacher; it's an honorable profession.
West Central Tribune reporter Jacob Belguim reports:
. . .“I wanted to move from success to significance,” said The 99’s creator Terry Henshaw of his motivation for producing the show. Henshaw owned a sports complex in Tulsa, Okla., before developing The 99.
In fact, Henshaw's ministry predates "The 99," according to the Tulsa World (via ZoomInfo).
A cavernous 20,000-square-foot inflatable tent on the parking lot of the Victory Bible Institute campus soon will house a traveling production designed to save the lives of teenagers.
Terry Henshaw, director of missions for Victory Christian Center, said the realistic walk-through theater will begin a two-year tour of U.S. cities in April.
It is called "The 99" for the 99 young people who die each day of various causes, Henshaw said.
The production ushers visitors through a variety of sets with live actors illustrating the leading causes of deaths among teens.
Rooms at the end of the production will present the Christian response to the needs of teenagers, and offer visitors an opportunity to discuss what they have seen with counselors.
Impact Productions in Tulsa wrote the script and produced the soundtrack for the presentation. Nearly 30 years ago, Impact President Tom Newman produced "The Toymakers Dream," a multimedia dramatic presentation out of Victory Christian Center that traveled the world for years.
Henshaw developed "The 99" over the past two years at the direction of Victory pastor Billy Joe Daugherty.
"Victory is going after the teenagers of America," Henshaw said. . . .
Again: it's certainly Henshaw's right to conduct his ministry and the Kandi Mall to set up the tent (we're presuming it's private property).
But it's the West Central Tribune's responsibility to report the facts. Instead, there's this "moral tag" (a no-no in journalism) at the end:
The 99’s news release states that the production is “not based on fear and scare tactics, but rather is based solely on reality.”
It’s no haunted house, but it is a haunting tent.
Elsewhere in the country, the lack of disclosure has created news. In 2011, the Fairfield (CA) Daily Republic's Susan Winlow reported in ‘The 99′ raises questions at SCC:
The big white tent in the parking lot at Solano Community College generates a lot of attention.
Not all positive.
Some claim they were duped into believing it was a reality event designed to teach kids between the ages of 12 to 24 about the five leading causes of death of young people. They instead found out that the last portion of the live walk-through show is Christian-based — asking participants to pray, leading them out of the devil’s clutches toward the light of God and then offering “counselors” at the end of the presentation.
I think it really did push a lot of religion into it, especially when they asked us to pray,” said Mario Armendariz, a 17-year-old who is home-schooled locally. “I didn’t feel right praying with someone from a different religion or someone I didn’t know.”
Its religious connotation wasn’t translated to the public, said Peter Bostic, executive director of institutional advancement for the college. He called it a “good marketing job” and added that “you don’t see any sign externally about their objective from an evangelical point of view.”
A flier picked up at Crystal Middle School shows no religious affiliation and no mention that several of the rooms are religious re-enactments.
The outside of the white tent seems to list no religious affiliation. A Daily Republic reporter was refused entrance and a photographer was given minimal access — confined to the first two “rooms.” A call to its headquarters and a search of the website, http://whatisthe99.com, fail to reveal its parent entity — the founder’s name is Terry Henshaw, but that isn’t listed on the website. Its Facebook page doesn’t list its leaders and its MySpace page isn’t working.
“The website is not very revealing and I wonder if it’s deliberate,” said SCC instructor Annette Dambrosio. “It should be up front. If they want to recruit, they should be up-front about it.”
Transparent — or not?
Its overt Christian affiliation wasn’t discovered by Solano Community College until later in the game: at a Board of Trustees meeting in January. That’s when Joan West, a pastor at Liberty Christian Center — which represented “The 99″ locally — was asked if it was a faith-based event, said Jowel Laguerre, president/superintendent of the college. . ..
After West presented to the board in January and the religious affiliation was confirmed, SCC chose not to partner with the group, which would have given the group free use of the parking lot, Laguerre said. The group’s founder, Henshaw, instead signed a facilities contract with Bostic, like any other entity renting a piece of the school, at the end of April and paid $2,016 for use, according to the contract. . . .
Anyone trying to find out what is inside that big white tent in the Solano Community College parking lot will not find any answers on the event’s website.
A glance from the outside doesn’t reveal much either, only a sign saying it is the “Ultimate Near Death Experience.” . . .
Nowhere on the outside of the tent did it say anything about its blatant religious intent. How could something that started out as seemingly innocent pseudo-entertainment, turn into a lesson on eternal damnation and take itself seriously?
I wasn’t bothered by the religious message itself. It was the underhanded way in which it was presented that was so irksome. Apparently the people behind “The 99″ think that the only way to get their message across to the younger generation is to clothe it in sensationalized, B-movie gore and violence.
Do they really think that the younger generation, who is obviously target audience for “The 99,” needs to be shocked into believing?
And though organizers don't want to stress the faith element for fear that will keep some people away, there's no denying it's an integral part of the experience as well.
The last two viewing rooms feature a raw crucifixion scene with a bloodied Christ on the cross, and a shortened version of the Christian video, “The Train,” a story of a father who sacrificed his son to save a train full of passengers. The final stop is an area manned by trained “encouragers” who are standing by if spectators want to talk about issues in their lives or to hear about the Gospel and eternal salvation. . . .
He says word-of-mouth generally doubles the turnout every weekend, with some people waiting in line for as long as two hours. His main concern is that some youth might avoid the 99 if they get the impression it's “too churchy or preachy.” Promotional materials are deliberately “mysterious” instead of religious to create some buzz and intrigue.
It might be Henshaw's job to draw audiences through "mystery", but it ought not be the business of the West Central Tribune to truncate Henshaw's resume or conceal the ministry he leads. For a 2013 990 tax filing for Henshaw's ministries, read the PDF here.
We're also curious whether those figures from the CDC, upon the show drew its name in 2008, are still accurate.
Love the WC Tribune, but this article is an epic fail in reporting.
Photo: A cropped image of The 99's tent from the West Central Tribune, which accompanied the iamge with this cutline: "Workers set up Thursday in the Kandi Mall parking lot in Willmar outside the 20,000-square-foot tent that houses The 99, a live, walk-through reality theater production designed to shock. Beginning tonight, patrons can walk through and view graphic scenes of deadly consequences that young people could have been avoided if they had made smarter choices. (GARY MILLER | TRIBUNE)."
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Although McGonigle spent some time in 2007 working at the Argus, much of his career as newspaperman was spent in towns in West Central Minnesota. He returned to Caledonia in 2014.
He stepped in a county torn apart, and has taken some attacks himself since returning, he writes:
I have come to expect the lack of respect shown by our Houston County commissioners of the very people they were elected to serve.
In my opinion, they have let the narrative become personal. On many levels I understand this emotion.
I am attacked personally for my work here in Houston County more than at any other time in my 15 years of working at small town newspapers.
I have been called names that I cannot repeat in print more times than I care to count, and I have only been here 12 calendar months.
I, however, am simply doing my job, reporting. I often respond to my critics with “I am just the messenger.”
As the narrative at the county level has also become personal in nature, and attacks on the character of the elected officials continue, I believe their ability to govern void of emotion has become affected.
The issue at hand is the placement of a county highway department building, but as McGonigle mentions:
The county, burned by years of battering on issues like frac sand mining, seem to simply be saying “process be damned,” we are moving forward whether you like it or not.
Unfortunately, the Houston County board doesn't seem to be an isolated case of woe among elected bodies in Greater Minnesota, as recent news reports from Willmar and Lake Elmo reveal.
Photo: Dan McGonigle, photo by DeAnna McCabe via The Caledonia Argus.
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We don't mean to criticize David Montgomery's reporting in the latter, but rather a political culture that puts interpersonal squabbles, family businesses and the dating games of legislative staff and lobbyists at center stage over the legislature and Congress providing for the basic functions of government.
Like funding transportation so that bridges aren't closed. Moniz reports:
Southeastern Minnesota faces an uphill struggle in keeping its troubled bridges in proper shape, due to insufficient state funding and the high number of bridges in the region, according to regional county engineers.
"We have so many bridges because this is bluff country," said Fillmore County Engineer Ron Gregg. "We needed the bridges to be able to grow and get around."
The problem is becoming more acute in recent years as many Minnesota bridges built before 1940 reach the end of their roughly 75-year lifespan.
Deficient bridges, which are classified as being in "poor" condition, are not inherently unsafe. But they are at the final stage before requiring weight restrictions or closure. . . .
Mower County, which has the second most deficient bridges in the state, and Fillmore County, which has the fourth most deficient bridges, are representative of the regional challenges. They have nearly as many deficient bridges as Hennepin County despite having only one-third as many bridges. . . .
Minnesota's bridges need fixing. Pets and children are dying from swimming in our lakes. We could go on, but think most of our readers have their own must-do lists for the legislature. In the light of pressing real needs, it's annoying to watch the continuation of the petulant squabbling triggered by Representative McNamara's yelling.
It's also simply vexing to read the Tales of Todd Hill Lobbyist Sarah Walker's All-Powerful Vagina, apparently strong enough to reduce Tom Emmer to a quivering bowl of progressive jelly by proxy since Walker's dating Emmer's chief-of-staff. Who knew that conservative manhood was so fragile or that influence only went in one direction? Who knew that we were supposed to reduce everything to interpersonal relationships?
It's the TMZ version of Minnesota politics and it's not fixing any bridges, cleaning up any lakes, educating any children or anything really. Can we have fewer tears and more policy? Truly, Bluestem doesn't ordinarily care who lawmakers and lobbyists are dating, regardless of how many people try to tell us. Get some work done--and try keeping the weeping and yelling to yourselves.
Photo: A scene from Denny McNamara's ethics hearing. Left to right: McNamara's lawyer, Rep. Alice Hausman, McNamara and Rep Dennis Smith. Via Session Daily.
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Someone on the staff of the Fergus Falls Journal must not like grackles, science or research very much, since the paper chose to publish Grackles a blight on otherwise beautiful town, a letter to the editor that contains bogus information about the species, a bird indigenous to the Americas.
Bob Schultz, who bills himself as a visiting student from Canada, writes in the letter:
As a visiting student from Canada, I have to say that Fergus Falls is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever lived in. Kudos to the different administration that make this happen.
This year, I would like to bring attention to the increasing number of grackle populations. They have increased greatly over the last two years and populations have exploded on the south side of town where we live. These highly intelligent and invasive members of the starling family heavily compete against other bird populations for food and are also known as opportunistic feeders. Where we lived previously in Canada, the same thing happened and our songbird populations noticeably decreased and have never recovered due to the sustained populations allowed to live in our previous residence.
Years ago, when crow and magpie populations boomed where I previously, previously lived, the city sent out a licensed control officer to bring populations down to healthy levels for all species. If nothing is done, expect fewer desirable bird populations in Fergus Falls, and even higher populations of this pest. Thanks again for this wonderful place to live.
Grackles aren't related to starlings. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology page, Starlings and their allies, European Starlings have no American cousins that are native to this hemisphere; in Florida, the common myna--another non-native species--has established itself.
Put crudely, starlings are the eurotrash of the bird world. The Audubon Field Guide entry for the European Starling notes that the non-native species has "Undoubtedly has had a negative impact on some native hole-nesting birds, such as bluebirds and Red-headed Woodpeckers, competing with them for nesting sites."
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website defines invasive species as "Invasive species are species that are not native to Minnesota and cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health." The starlings' competitive advantage for nesting space with bluebirds, red-headed woodpeckers and purple martins is the source of much of the scorn for them, not merely their non-American origins. Ring-necked pheasants, for example, are an Asian bird, but not harmful to native birds while providing opportunities for hunting.
Populations are strong continent-wide, though at 73 million birds they are no where near their historic peak of 191 million. Unlike the European starling, which is a nonnative invasive species, the common grackle is native to our continent and is a component of our nation’s natural inheritance. . . .
It is believed that common grackle numbers jumped dramatically as American settlers converted the continent’s forests into cropland; our activities have expanded its habitat. Grackles eat corn in nearly all stages of the crop’s development, and farmers consider them pests.
Not an invasive species--nor even one that's at a historic peak on the continent.
Do grackles sometimes cause problems for farmers and others? U.S. Fish and Wildlife regulations (50 CFR 21.43) that implement the Federal Migratory Bird Act allow taking of some members of the "blackbirds and their allies," without a federal permit, but " any take conducted under a depredation or control order to be in compliance with the Order and so the Service can monitor potential population impacts," and nonlethal methods have to be tried first.
Was Schlutz was simply playing Taxonomy: The Game! that's featured on the Fake Science 101 website and successfully punked the Fergus Falls Journal (and perhaps a teacher?) If he weren't Canadian, Bluestem is willing to bet he'd fit in perfectly with a bipartisan, science-denying slice of the Minnesota legislature.
Photo: A common grackle.
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North Dakota's Lignite Research, Development and Marketing Program (Program) is a multi-million dollar state/industry partnership that concentrates on near term, practical research and development projects that provide the opportunity to preserve and enhance development of our state's abundant lignite resources.
Yesterday in the Bismarck Tribune,the Associated Press's James MacPherson reported in N.D. lignite projects languish as some question worth that few of the Lignite Research, Development and Marketing Program's projects have been worth the North Dakota Industrial Development Commission's time:
Fifteen years after North Dakota began funding research aimed at revitalizing growth in the state's lignite industry, all but one project has been abandoned or yielded little more than expensive studies that have failed to find a clean and cost-effective use for the state's plentiful but low-grade coal, data obtained by The Associated Press show.
Some say it may be time to reevaluate North Dakota's lignite research fund, which was established to boost the use of the coal as an energy source and economic engine for the state. Others blame the lack of progress on lignite projects on uncertain coal legislation.
. . . The only project to be built has been Great River Energy's plant in southeastern North Dakota, which began producing electric power last year. Construction of the power plant was finished in 2010, but its startup was delayed due to a drop in demand for electricity in Minnesota.
The contrast with that dismal record would make even an IRRRB commission blush with pride over solar energy panel factories and political call centers.
No wonder why printing out good conduct certificates for Minnesota's Senate Majority leader, buying ads with state hockey tournaments and a friendly communication consultant's sleepy website seem like such a deal. Mining Minnesota's political resources is much more effective than actually coming up with "clean" coal.
Photo: The grip and grin, photo submitted by the Coalition for a Secure Energy Future to the Tower Timberjay. If you see a photo of other legislators getting a certificate from the marketing campaign sponsored by $1.2 million of the North Dakota Industrial Commission Lignite Research, Development and Marketing Program's money, please send it to us!
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Smoke from wildfires in central Saskatchewan is being carried southeast in the mid-levels of the atmosphere, and eventually mixing down to ground level here in Minnesota where we see and feel the effects with poor air quality, limited visibility and a smoky smell to the air we breathe. . . .
Monday evening, the air quality index for the Twin Cities was at 187, with fine particle pollution reaching a level considered unhealthy for everyone. By comparison, Beijing had an AQI of 158 on Monday.
An air quality health alert covers the entire state of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities area. The smoke band should move out of the state during the next 12 hours, but smoke may return Tuesday afternoon.
While air quality briefly improved following rain showers on Sunday and Monday, heavy smoke returned to Minnesota behind the storm system. As of 9 a.m. Monday, air quality across the northern two-thirds of Minnesota had reached unhealthy levels. . . .
Bluestem snapped the picture at the top of this post at our editor's garden in Wang Township, named after a place in Norway, however Chinese it might have looked on Monday. The air smelled like a cross between wood smoke and a tire fire.
It's been more than twenty years since the Northwest Territories, one of Canada’s northernmost remote jurisdictions comprising parts of the North Pole, experienced extreme drought conditions of the magnitude it's currently enduring. That extreme drought has fueled wildfires now affecting much of the NWT, a territory almost twice the size of Texas. . . .
Officials told the CBC some of the fires—at least 13—started because of human causes, such as people tossing cigarette butts or campers setting campfires in places where there were fire bans. In addition, the continuous burning is no doubt due to lightning striking the hot and dry forests of the NWT, which has been desperate for rain since the spring melt.
There's another factor at play, as well: the climate. Record droughts in the NWT will become more common as the region warms. In a 2008 government report on climate change, researchers outlined the several observable changes to the vast forests of the territory. . . .
The Canadian government has been careful not to blame increasing forest fires solely on climate change. In an online report by Natural Resources Canada on climate change and fire, the department cites things likes "changes in land use, vegetation composition, firefighting (meaning suppression) efforts" and something they call "climate variability" as factors influencing wildfires. According to the report, in the last half of the 20th century forest fires have steadily increased in the northern regions of Canada, while those in southern regions have decreased.
Even so, the Canadian government predicts climate change in the twenty-first century will most certainly bring frequent fires in many boreal forests, bringing with it environmental and economic consequences to boot. . . .
While that doesn't sound like it will help make The Good Life in Minnesota very pleasant, KSMP Fox 9's report looked on the bright side, noting "The silver lining is magnificent sunsets!"
That's all very pretty, but Bluestem recalled a story from Asian media that suggests that the United States could gain an economic advantage from air pollution. In December 2013, Chris Luo at the South China Morning Post reported in Smog? It bolsters military defence, says Chinese nationalist newspaper:
A nationalist newspaper has tried to put a positive spin on China’s smog, claiming it is conducive to the country's military defence strategy. Smog, it argued, could thwart missile attacks and hamper hostile reconnaissance.
Smog may affect people’s health and daily lives … but on the battlefield, it can serve as a defensive advantage in military operations,” said an article on the website of Global Times, a nationalist newspaper affiliated to the Communist Party’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily.
Missile guidance that relies on human sight, infrared rays and lasers could be affected by smog in varing degrees, the article said. It explained that tiny particles in the air contributing to air pollution could hinder missile guidance systems.
The article said that during the Kosovo war, soldiers of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia used smoke from burning tyres to hamper Nato air strikes. The smoke reduced visibility, hindering reconnaissance efforts, the article said.
Photographic reconnaissance equipment employed by satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and reconnaissance vehicles would be rendered useless by smog it added.
The article also said that during the first Gulf war, sand storms reduced the identification distances of thermal imaging equipment on US tanks from 2,500 metres to 800 metres, while optical detection of Iraqi tanks was reduced to almost nil. . . .
Bluestem finds this story to be very heartening on two fronts. First, with Canada forest fire air quality, the United States could spend a lot less on the military-industrial complex and invest that money into emergency medical centers for low income people with asthma.
Second, the smog would not only protect Americans from foreign military spying, but from reconnaissance efforts by local enforcement agencies. Just imagine how much work the Minnesota legislature could get done on transportation and bonding bills if the endless hearings about license plate readers, fusion centers and other such malarky went the way of clean air, clean water and the horse and buggy.
Climate change is the new good life in Minnesota.
Photo: Air quality in rural Renville County on Monday.
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