CMB junkmail praises Bloomington rep who didn't serve until 2016 for 2015 ed financing vote

In Two photos on Coalition of MN Businesses 17A education postcard worth a thousand words, Bluestem Prairie looked at a piece of junkmail sent to competitive House districts that praised Republicans for education funding. 

It's an awkward moment for them, because the 2015 historic funding levels praised in the lit piece only came about after Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a bill that short-changed our schools.

But House DFLer have gotten hold of a piece that's even more egregious, using the same boilerplate language to praise the 2015 vote--on the part of a state representative who wasn't even elected to office until a February 2016 special election.

Here's the DFL House Caucus press release:

Earlier this week, a political mail piece paid for by the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses, a corporate special interest group that doesn't disclose it's expenditures or donors publicly, landed in mailboxes across the state. The piece credits Republicans in the Minnesota House with making "historic investments" in education.

Given the fact that it was actually Governor Dayton who demanded these increases as part of negotiations leading up to a special session in 2015 - after House Republicans originally proposed a mere 0.6% increase in funding for our schools, which would have led to program cuts and increased class sizes across the state - this claim is misleading at best.

An identical version of the mailer was sent to voters in District 50B, however, supporting Republican Representative Chad Anderson, who wasn't even in office until February of 2016 - well after the vote was taken, making the claim an outright lie in this case.

This is not the first time Anderson has relied on false and misleading communications to win votes in District 50B. During his special election, he distributed mailers stating that he was the "only candidate endorsed by Anne" - clearly implying that he had been endorsed by former DFL Rep. Ann Lenczewski, who supported Andrew Carlson.

"This pattern of reckless disregard for the truth from Representative Anderson and his special interest allies raises serious questions," said House DFL Leader Paul Thissen in response to the most recent misleading mailer. "Bloomington families deserve a representative who will be straight with them, not someone who relies on underhanded tricks and false claims from outside special interest groups in order to win their votes."

The front of the mail piece from the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses is at the top of this post; for comparison, here's the post sent to Minnesota House District 17A:

As we explained in our earlier post, Miller wasn't talking about education in the events where the side photos were taken, but rather issues related to animal agriculture. 

But at least he was in office in 2015 so that he could be dragged kicking and screaming to vote for education funding that wasn't tied to his anti-transgender agenda. That's more than anyone should say about Anderson.

Photos: Two of the CMB postcards.

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Comments

[D]

Rep. Brian Daniels also received praise from the Coalition of MN Business. http://marketplace.southernminn.com/places/view/6138/brian_daniels.html
The photos in this ad are from the Brian Daniels for State Rep Facebook page. (National Night Out - Sept. 9 2015 & another photo from Jan. 2015)
https://www.facebook.com/BDaniels24B/photos/
They chose those photos to not collude with the candidate in creating the ad. Collusion could lead to a big fine.

The Coalition of MN Business has the same address and fax number as the MN Business Partnership.
http://mnbp.com/contacts/
4816 IDS Center
80 South 8th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402
The MN Business Partnership has done this before.
MNForward, http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/campfin/PCFDetail/PCF41035.html
Northstar Leadership Fund, http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/campfin/PCFDetail/PCF41140.html