In late April, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported in Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County GOP activists elected to leadership in District 7:
Republican delegates from the 38 counties in the Seventh Congressional District of Minnesota met in convention in Thief River Falls over the weekend of April 21 and 22. The purpose for the convention was to elect leadership for District 7 Republican activities and administration to two-year terms.
Meeting in the Ralph Inglestad Arena, the delegates elected Craig Bishop of Hutchinson to another term as Chairman, and Barb Chevrestad of Oklee as Deputy Chair. David Adams of Fergus Falls was elected Secretary, and Richard Bosse of Ottertail City was re-elected Treasurer. Bosse was also elected to be the member from District 7 on the State Central Executive Committee, the eight member board which regulates and assists the State Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota and coordinates state wide political activities.
Those who visit the Seventh District Republicans' "About" page on the party unit's website will find only three executive officers listed: the chair, the deputy chair and treasurer:
Seventh District Executive Committee
Chairman Craig Bishop [email redacted]
Deputy Chair Barb Chervastad [email redacted]
Treasurer Richard Bosse [email redacted]
The secretary who was elected at the April 21 and April 22 party congressional district meeting is not listed on the website.
Is this omission significant?
In Hate speech has no place in Minnesota politics, the editorial board of the West Central Tribune:
. . . there is no place for hatred, racism or bigoted rhetoric by anyone, Republican or Democrat or any other political party, in any political dialogue.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened Monday night when an unidentified board member for the 7th District Republican Party posted a hateful social media post on the organization's official Facebook page.
The GOP post called Minnesota DFL Rep. Keith Ellison a "raving, Louis Farrakhan supporting, anti-Semitic, anti-white, racist and fascist America."
Ellison represents Minnesota's 5th District, which includes Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. Elected in 2007, he was the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress.
The image included with the Facebook post included text stating: "Collin Peterson has been sliding up to Minnesota's Head Muslim Goat Humper, Keith Ellison. Heck, they're now Hunting Buddies. Does that mean Muslim Refugees coming to Western Minnesota."
The hate speech post remained published on the district GOP's Facebook page for several hours. This is not the first time the 7th District GOP's Facebook page has posted snarky political comments in recent months. . . .
This latest post came just days after Minnesota's new Republican Party Chair Jennifer Carnahan proclaimed that people are "going to have a really hard time calling us the party of racists and sexists."
Carnahan should be commended for quickly denouncing the 7th District GOP post.
"The recent 7th Congressional District Republican Facebook post is repugnant hate speech and in no way reflects the Minnesota Republican Party, or the 7th Congressional District Republicans," Carnahan said.
Carnahan then called for the immediate resignation of the individual responsible for the action. Later Monday evening, she tweeted the 7th Congressional Republican Party had received the immediate resignation of the individual responsible.
Unfortunately, the 7th District chair Craig [Bishop] has declined to release the name of the person responsible for the post.
"I don't believe his name needs to be released," Bishop told Forum News Service columnist Mike McFeely. "His view do not represent the ideas of CD7 Republicans. I have asked and he has resigned from our board effective immediately."
Really.
A member of your board posts a hate speech social post on behalf of your political organization and you don't think his name needs to be released.
A question for Mr. Bishop: How does the public know that the individual really did resign? . . . .
Well, one board member who was elected last month isn't around on the party unit's website anymore. Is this man's absence related to the unacceptable behavior? We're not that close to the board to know.
However, the individual who was elected secretary made argument in a 2014 letter to the editor to the Fergus Falls paper that was very much like content of two recent anti-Peterson memes that were also deleted from the CD7 GOP Facebook page along with the unacceptable Ellison content, as we reported in A feature not a bug: what's up with MN Seventh Congressional District GOP social media?
Could just be a coincidence, one supposes.
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