Anti-Muslim activists Michele Even and Marni Hockenberg might not have known where Mountain Lake Republican Rod Hamilton's district is, but the women, who were deeply upset that Tuesday's Muslim Day was taking place at the state capitol spent a few heated moments in his office berating him about it and his support for refugee communities.
Hamilton mildly pointed out that all people could peaceably assemble at the state capitol, but the anti-Muslim visitors continued to insist that CAIR-MN is terrorist organization. Hockenberg had earlier presented Hamilton with a folder containing the usual conspiracy theories about the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) being a terrorist organization.
Michele Even then expressed the sentiment that people needed permission to move to the state and three "human trafficking organizations" brought refugees to Minnesota. She didn't name the groups but that's the name-calling used by anti-Muslims to call out Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and the evangelical Christian Arrive Ministries.
When Hamilton called their bluff and asked his aide to call Capitol Security to his office so that Hockenberg could report her security concerns, which he said he was obliged to do, the women left his office. At one point, Even represents the call to Capitol Security as an attempt to throw the women out of his office.
Leaving the office, Even spews a series of derogatory names for Hamilton, including "asshole."
It's a target rich environment. Watch below.
On her own Facebook page, Hockenberg, "An award winning, thirty-year veteran of the executive search industry, and a master networker with a sterling reputation," according to her business website, shared a video Monday (below) about the pair's efforts "to create an awareness that CAIR is Hamas and state our deep concern that a Muslim Brotherhood group is hosting Muslim Day at the Capital tomorrow."
Here's the video from Hockenberg's Facebook page, mentioned above:
The documents she shared with legislators appear to be a print out of material from an anti-Muslim website. After equating CAIR with white supremacist, white nationalist politician, white separatist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke (whom she calls a Nazi), she relates a chain of accusations that supposedly connects the state CAIR-MN chapter to the terrorist group HAMAS.
At Red Herring Alert, Dede Evavold praised the women's work in AMBUSHING MN LAWMAKERS on legislation supportive of East African communities:
Michelle Even and Marni Hockenberg spent the day at the MN Capitol on February 25th to put the heat on legislators to withdraw their names from East African spending bills that are costing MN taxpayers millions of dollars. . . .
Call these legislators and tighten the screws to get them to drop off these bills. This is our money that they’re wasting!
Kudos to Michelle and Marnie for their courage in standing up to the bullies and holding them accountable!
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it. ~ Mark Twain ~
Who are these folks?
Those who follow Michael Brodkorb and Allison Mann's site Missing in Minnesota or who have read The Girls are Gone will be familiar with the name Dede Evavold. She's tagged often on the site, including the post Evavold found guilty for her role in disappearance of Rucki sisters:
Deirdre (Dede) Evavold was convicted this afternoon on six counts of deprivation of parental rights for her role in the disappearance of Samantha and Gianna Rucki. . . .
Assistant Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena provided the jury with numerous examples of how Evavold withheld information from law enforcement and the girls’ father about the location of the missing sisters. . . .
Michele Even's anti-Muslim advocacy was discussed in our post, MN1: Anti-Somali Minnesotans turn Facebook attention toward Anoka's Senator Jim Abeler. Even is a Prior Lake Republican activist who ran for Lt. Gov. on the Lance Johnson ticket for Governor. The Uptake's Bill Sorem reported in Precinct Caucuses Boost And End Campaigns For MN Governor that the ticket came in last in the Republican precinct caucus straw poll with 53 votes.
The Lance Johnson 2018 Year End fundraising report on file at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board lists "Allison Heruth" as campaign manager on the first page of disbursements; Heruth is also known as Allison Waterbury and Alison Woodbury; she was the Actress Sentenced in TV Investment Scam whose career Bluestem explored in Pro-Trump activist concerned about MN precinct caucus training has inspirational backstory.
Michele Even's exchange on Facebook turns up in a screenshot in our January 30, 2018 post, In email to Star Tribune, Pugh distances self from anti-Muslim post; FB comments tell another story. Also in this post:
A friend sent news that Kathy Lohmer, R-Stillwater had also shared the message, as our screenshot below illustrates. It's on her Facebook page as we write. It's shared from Alley Waterbury, whose Facebook page speaks for itself.
Even is currently campaigning to eliminate the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) completely because of unsubstantiated accusations linking fraud in the program with funding terrorism. One example:
Dear friend,
I'm asking for your help. Tomorrow the DHS will be giving a presentation to the House of Representatives Early Childhood Finance and Policy Division. The presentation is about the Child Care Assistance Program. This is the program that was defrauded by the Somali day care centers last year.
Currently there is nothing in place to prevent anymore fraud.
The democrats have placed the CCAP in HF1 and HF30. Their intention is to expand the program which means they are asking for more money.
We must put a great deal of pressure on republicans to kill this bill. It is their job to protect our money at the state level. This is a topic republicans do not want to talk about. Please help with email and phone calls tonight.
Suggestions: Kill Bill 1
End CCAP, It's your job to protect our money. Stop funding CCAP.
Protect tax payers money first. No more money for CCAP
Tell the federal gov to investigate the fraud in our state.
I've included the republicans we are contacting and also a link to the CCAP presentation. Please note there is no mention of fraud and if you were not aware we also pay for child care to migrant families. You can view this meeting tomorrow live.
Thank you for helping. -Michele Even
Rep Mary Franson
651-296-3201
Rep Lisa Demuth
651-296-4373
Rep Josh Heintzeman
651-296-4333
Rep Nolan West
651-296-4226
On her own Facebook page, Even has posted an extreme response:
That extreme approach might leave many Minnesota families and daycare providers at a loss. According to the Department of Human Services' Child Care Assistance Program processes and tasks webpage:
The Child Care Assistance Program provides financial assistance to help families with low incomes pay for child care so that parents may pursue employment or education leading to employment, and that children are well cared for and prepared to enter school. Our partners and providers in this program provide child care for more than 30,000 children every month.
Sounds like anti-Muslim sentiment has Even trying to throw out the babies with the bathwater.
Marni Hockenberg: Google Marni Hockenberg's twitter account, and you'll see interesting material about visits to Minnesota by conservative provocateur Laura Loomer and other such anti-Muslim activity. But at this time, those visiting @HireLearning will learn the account has been suspended. The Minnetonka resident was included in a Minnesota Public Radio election night photo array (#9): "Ann Marie Cosgrove, 60, of Minneapolis, David Sanchez, 55, of Edina, and Marni Hockenberg of Minnetonka, left to right, hold signs carrying a sticker they made to address allegations of abuse against DFL candidate for attorney general Keith Ellison."
Outside of her anti-Muslim activism, Hockenberg appears in a handful of news articles in the Star Tribune and MinnPost answering questions about career development and network in 2015 and 2016.
Fellow travelers Pugh, Lohmer lost their seats
After assembling information about these organizers and the alternative news source (Red Herring Alert) promoting them, we're curious about the Republican legislators who withdrew their names from bills deemed too Muslim-friendly.
Being BFFs with this bunch did little for the careers of former state representatives Cindy Pugh and Kathy Lohmer, whose defeats in November helped the DFL return to power in the House. We can understand why Dave Baker and Rod Hamilton might feel they don't need to bow to the true bullies in this situation.
As for Muslim Day at the capitol (its 15th year), WCCO reports in Muslim Day 2019: Minnesota Muslims Talk With Lawmakers:
Tuesday was the Muslim Day at the Minnesota state capitol.
There was a rally in the capitol rotunda Tuesday morning before Muslim Minnesotans met with state lawmakers.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is a Muslim, spoke at the event.
“I don’t want you to come here and only talk to these legislators about Muslim stuff,” he said, “talk to them about just good old Minnesota stuff, because Muslims need to drink clean water. We need to have environmental laws enforced…We’re here to talk about everything.”
Ellison, who was the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress when he represented Minnesota’s 5th District, co-founded Muslim Day at the capitol. Now his former district is represented by another Muslim, Rep. Ilhan Omar, herself one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
Tuesday marked the fifteenth time Muslim Day has been celebrated at Minnesota’s capitol.
Well, that's certainly something to call Rod Hamilton potty names over (sarc).
Screenshot: From Red Herring Report.
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