In Pawlenty keeps corporate posts amid race for governor, Minnesota Public Radio's Brian Bakst reports:
March 30 was a banner day for Tim Pawlenty.
The Republican candidate for Minnesota governor hauled in $115,000 in contributions that day, helping solidify him as the clear money leader in the race.
It was also the day that nearly 5,000 shares of stock in a frac sand company where he's on the board of directors had vested, meaning he could turn the stock into cash at his discretion. A securities filing valued the restricted Smart Sand shares at $80,000. . . .
Federal records show Pawlenty earns $60,000 in fees annually from both Smart Sand and ConvergeOne, plus stock awards. He's accrued hundreds of thousands of shares in the two companies that all told are worth more than $2.5 million based on current stock prices.
Over the years, Pawlenty sold thousands of shares at a time, making $180,000 off a single transaction in 2017. . . .
His work for Smart Sand hasn't gone entirely unnoticed. The company has frac operations in western Wisconsin and moves some sand by rail through Minnesota to oil fields in North Dakota. Company materials note there are also deposits of the sought-after White Northern raw frac sand in the driftless area of southern Minnesota.
Johanna Rupprecht, who lives in Lewiston where the frac mining debate has been particularly intense, works with Land Stewardship Action, which has worked to oppose large-scale sand extraction.
Rupprecht said she's worried Pawlenty would seek to loosen Minnesota's tough frac mining restrictions and appoint regulators who would ease permitting.
"The fact that he's willing to serve on the board of one of those companies indicates that he supports what they're doing, so that's definitely a concern," she said. . . .
Rupprecht had more to say on Twitter after Bakst's excellent story appeared:
Erin Murphy is a nurse and Tim Walz is a teacher, both vocations of value to society. Tim Pawlenty is nothing but a corporate tool. And only corporate tools pretend corporate America = the entire “private sector.” Small business owners for office? Sure! Corporate tools? Nope. https://t.co/SlMQS32W7r
— Johanna Rupprecht (@jrupprecht_mn) June 29, 2018
Here’s a commentary I wrote in 2015 after seeing one of the mines being developed in rural WI by Smart Sand, the #fracsand corporation on whose board Tim Pawlenty sits. https://t.co/TkjmIhUaGw https://t.co/Q0zPXHGBes
— Johanna Rupprecht (@jrupprecht_mn) June 30, 2018
It’s amusing me that this is becoming one of my most-liked tweets. I guess the path to Twitter popularity in 2018 involves dunking on Tim Pawlenty. https://t.co/UdHsnsrIyn
— Johanna Rupprecht (@jrupprecht_mn) June 30, 2018
Nah. Lots of folks are sharing what the logical (and sassy) Rupprecht has to say. Note our recent post, Johanna Rupprecht: family farmers and rural people can fight back for their values & future.
Photo: People in Minnesota protesting frac sand mining.
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