Bluestem Prairie

EQB to review draft Pollinator Annual Report & Civic Engagement Process framework on 9/9

From the September 9, 2020 agenda now online at the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board:

Executive Order 19-28 directs the Environmental Quality Board to convene the Interagency Pollinator Protection Team (IPPT) to “provide operational support, ensure interagency coordination, develop cross-agency policies and programs, and report on progress toward statewide goals in a report to the EQB by December 1 of each year.” In addition, the Executive Order 19-28 directs the EQB to develop a civic engagement framework consistent with the vision for One Minnesota, to ensure public participation in pollinator policy and program development, and to build cross-sector relationships and partnerships. The pollinator annual report and the civic engagement framework will be presented for consideration and approval by the EQB in November 2020

Here's the draft of the 2020 Pollinator Annual Report and the Civic Engagement Process framework from the agenda packet:

 Draft MN 2020 Pollinator Annual Report & Civic Engagement Process framework uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd:

Interested in attending the remote meeting? the EQB will convene its September Board meeting virtually through the WebEx platform. Instructions for connecting to WebEx are included on page six of the Board packet.

Related posts:

• Read draft of State Agency Pollinator 2019 Annual Report; protecting pollinators in MN
• 2019 Minnesota State Agency Pollinator Report paints grim picture for bees & butterflies
• Surprise invite to SWO Dakota skipper prairie demonstrates MN Zoo's conservation work
• BWSR accepting applications from MN residents, local orgs for Lawns to Legumes Grants
• O! my! Minnesota's #Lawns2Legumes makes Live Your Best Life list in Oprah Magazine
• Lawns to Legumes program earned great media for MN; 5 GOP senators want to rob funding
• MN Corn Growers Association "watched" plan to list new state bee as endangered, part one

Photo: Minnesota's state bee, the endangered rusty-patched bumble bee.

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Dakota Free Press factchecks claims about South Dakota's economy and it ain't pretty

"[H]orsehockey in top hat and spats."

Amid heaps of praise on South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem from Republican members of the Minnesota Legislature and across Greater Minnesota conservative social media networks, it's a cold bucket of water on that adulation to read Cory Allen Heidelberger's Dakota Free Press.

On Sunday, he looks at recent reportage by Bob Mercer and Seth Tupper at SDPB in Noem Expands Lies About Coronavirus Job Recovery, Says Government Jobs Don’t Matter to South Dakota Economy.

And he has the receipts.

A taste:

Last week Bob Mercer had the guts to point out Governor Kristi Noem’s bald-faced lie about South Dakota’s job recovery during the coronavirus pandemic. In an August 14 press release, Governor Noem claimed, “South Dakota’s economy, having never been shut down, has recovered nearly 80% of our job losses.” Mercer pointed to public data summarized for and presented to the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors on August 18 showing that the job rebound since the onset of the pandemic is more like 48%, which by no mathematical or logical method may be characterized as “nearly 80%.”

In other words, Governor Noem lied.

Now Seth Tupper points to additional data indicting Noem’s economic exaggeration from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation analyst Richard Cofer, who told the South Dakota Banking Commission Thursday that by his count our coronavirus-recession job recovery stands at 43.5% . . .

Government jobs are irrelevant to economic calculations, says the Texas boy [Ian Fury]who left the Beltway to live in Pierre and spout Noem’s nonsense for $112,200 a year.

Fury’s claim that “Historically, government jobs don’t tie to recessionary activity” is horsehockey in top hat and spats. Government provides the largest percentage of jobs in South Dakota—18.1% statewide, according to another of Cofer’s slides, and 25% in non-metro South Dakota. That’s significantly more dependence on socialist employment that the nationwide 15.0% rate of government employment.* . . .

To review the main points Governor Noem gets risibly wrong:

1. South Dakota has not recovered 80% or even 50% of the jobs lost since the onset of the coronavirus recession.
2. Government jobs matter to during a recession.
3. Government jobs matter even more in South Dakota, where a larger percentage of people, like Ian Fury, depend on government for their paychecks than in the rest of the country.

Especially in this time of crisis, South Dakotans really need a Governor who doesn’t lie to them. But the more time Kristi spends with Donald, the more she brings back to sneeze on us the real Trump virus of shameless, self-serving falsehood.

We looked at false claims by a North Dakota conservative that the state of South Dakota did no contact tracing in Meanwhile in South Dakota, COVID-19 positive rate has exceeded 10 percent for eight days.

Meanwhile, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported Sunday in Coronavirus in South Dakota: Cases rise by 380 Sunday, state surpasses 13,000 cases total:

New positive cases of coronavirus continue to surge in South Dakota, as 380 new positive tests were reported Sunday by the state health department.

More than 2,000 cases have been reported in the last seven days, accounting for about 15% of South Dakota's total cases during the coronavirus pandemic.

No additional deaths were reported, keeping the statewide total of COVID-19-related fatalities to 167. . . .

Of the 380 new cases Sunday, over half of them were attributed to people between the ages of 10-29 -- 154 of them were people aged 20-29 and 60 were in those between the ages of 10-19. . . .

The number of active cases in the state is almost double what it was at the height of the peak in May (1,393) when an outbreak at Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls led to national attention. 

The positive test rate for Sunday was 33.2% out of 1,145 tests total.

Here in Summit, our partner's son learned via a phone call that a grade school student had tested positive for COVID-19 and that the school was being deep cleaned so it could open as scheduled on Monday, he said.

Image: Cofer, 2020.08.27, Slide 15, via Dakota Free Press.

Drop some coin in Dakota Free Press's tip jar here.

Jim Hagedorn news digest: Rochester Bulletin, Mankato Free Press, MN Reformer and more!

When we ran a Google news search on Jim Hagedorn for the past week, we found a handful of stories--aside from the supporter/non-supporter letters-to-the editor--that weren't related to his franking scandal. And that hand would belong to someone who lost a finger or two in the  workplace.

There's The Hill's article, Hispanic Caucus campaign arm endorses slate of non-Hispanic candidates, which mentions the Caucus's endorsement of Hagedorn's opponent, Dan Feehan. In the Albert Lea Tribune article, Local residents rally for Postal Service, we learn organizers hadn't heard back from Hagedorn's office about the issue.

But since any news is good news, according to the old cliche, one might say Hagedorn's got this scandal going for him.

The most recent article, Gabe Schneider's D.C. Memo: A big franking problem, at MinnPost, tells readers:

First District Rep. Jim Hagedorn is in the news for a few reasons. For one, Legistorm pointed out that he’s spent the most money of any House office in the first quarter of 2020. Most of it was spent on letters and postcards sent by franked mail, a congressional privilege that allows members to send their constituents mail for free (the cost is for the companies that printed the mail).

But more importantly, Daniel Newhauser, a freelancer at The Minnesota Reformer, pointed out that he’s been paying some of it to a part-time employee in his office: a violation of House ethics rules. Since then, Hagedorn has fired his chief of staff and hired a lawyer.

Want to get up to date on what happened? Read more at MinnPost.

The DFL hosted a panel with several campaign finance experts, who said Hagedorn’s office had clearly violated congressional rules. Craig Holman, one of the most prominent experts in government ethics in the country, said that if Hagedorn knew about the payments, the consequences will be severe.

“That is a clear violation of congressional rules and this is clearly on the agenda of the House Ethics Committee. At the very least, I would expect Hagedorn to reimburse the federal treasury for whatever spending was in violation of the rules,” Holman said. “However, if Hagedorn was more culpable and knew what was going on, the consequences would be even more severe, including a possible censure from the House of Representatives.”

Additionally, Patrick Condon and Briana Bierschbach at the Star Tribune obtained emails showing Hagedorn was involved in making constituent mail decisions.

In a recent statement, Hagedorn responded to both the DFL and the reporting from the Strib:

“The nuts and bolts duties of establishing franking service, hiring vendors, and sending out mail were fully delegated to my former chief of staff,” Hagedorn said. “For Democrats and the Star Tribune to conflate those duties with my work to review mass mail communications or help staff field media inquiring about our office budget is complete nonsense, careless journalism, and purposefully mixing apples and oranges to further this non-story.“

Over at Bring Me The News, we learn Pressure on Rep. Jim Hagedorn rises as DFL calls for ethics probe:

Minnesota Congressman Jim Hagedorn is under increasing pressure after it emerged his office used tax dollars to partner with a business owned by one of his staff members.

DFL party leaders denounced Hagedorn’s recent campaign spending Wednesday alongside a government ethics expert. The 1st District Congressman, who was among the highest spenders in the U.S. House in the first quarter of the year, spent $100,000 on a Texas-based company Invocq to do some of the printing for his campaign mailings. First reported by the Minnesota Reformer, the company is part-owned by Hagedorn staffer John Sample.

“What Hagedorn has done with his franking privilege is hired Invocq technologies, a company partially owned by a staff member in Hagedorn’s office,” said Craig Holman, an expert in government ethics with Public Citizen, in a DFL release. 

“That is a clear violation of congressional rules and this is clearly on the agenda of the House Ethics Committee. At the very least, I would expect Hagedorn to reimburse the federal treasury for whatever spending was in violation of the rules.”

...After the spending came to light, Hagedorn fired his chief of staff Peter Su. Hagedorn told the Daily Caller he took immediate actions after learning of the issue in June. He also said he will stay within his $1.4 million office budget for the year, and that the mailings were approved by the House Administration Committee.

Hagedorn claimed he had fully delegated responsibilities of the mailings to Su. But emails obtained by the Star Tribune show Hagedorn was involved with mailing decisions in 2019 and early 2020. . . .

There's more at BMTN.  At the Minnesota Reformer, Daniel Newhauser reported in Exclusive: Hagedorn says he does not own mysterious company, Abernathy West:

Rep. Jim Hagedorn said for the first time Thursday that he does not own a mysterious company his office has paid more than $300,000 for printing.

In an exclusive interview with the Minnesota Reformer, Hagedorn said that he has nothing to do with Abernathy West, which hides its ownership structure behind Delaware incorporation paperwork. The comments came one day after a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party official and campaign finance experts called on Hagedorn to explain his relationship with the company.

“I do not own Abernathy West,” Hagedorn told the Reformer in a telephone interview. “I don’t own it. I have no interest in it. I have nothing to do with it. However those relationships were put together to have our printing done — which was all done in Rochester, Minn., by the way — I was not aware of it.”

Hagedorn’s spending on printing — which recently outpaced what many congressional offices spend on their entire office staff and expenses — has drawn scrutiny after a Reformer investigation revealed the outlays made to Abernathy West and another company owned by a member of Hagedorn’s own staff.

In a previous statement issued on Wednesday, Hagedorn said he fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, in June over the questionable spending. On Thursday, he further explained to the em>Reformer that he was unhappy about what he was getting in return for the money his office was spending on printing and sending mail, which amounted to about 20% of his annual office budget in just the first three months of the year.

“I was concerned about the fact that we weren’t getting value for what we did,” he said.

Hagedorn, however, declined to answer who does own Abernathy West. He also declined to address questions about payments his office made to the other company, Invocq Technologies, which is owned by John Brevard Sample, who was at least until recently a part-time congressional aide to Hagedorn. Paying a company owned by a staff member is a violation of House ethics rules, according to several ethics experts.

Hagedorn said he would rather wait for the results of an internal review, which is being conducted by well-known D.C. ethics lawyer Elliot Berke.

“We’re going to have our internal review completed. Our lawyer’s working on all that. At that time we will tell you whatever we can tell you about that,” Hagedorn said. “We’ll wait for our independent review. We’ll get it out. We’ll talk about all these things. That should happen shortly.” . . .

Fox 9's Theo Keith reported Thursday in Hagedorn points finger at fired staffer for questionable spending, answers few questions:

U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn pointed the finger at his now-fired chief of staff Wednesday for questionable spending of taxpayer money that has raised ethical concerns, and declined to answer questions about how much he knew about the spending.

In the first three months of 2020, Hagedorn's office spent $570,000 of his annual $1.4 million congressional budget and doled out much of the money to pay for constituent mail services. At issue: two companies -- one led by a Hagedorn staffer and another with mysterious ownership -- received most of the payments.

With the spending coming to light in recent weeks, Hagedorn has fired his chief of staff and hired an outside lawyer -- a sign that he could be expecting a House ethics investigation. Minnesota Democrats said they were talking to members of the state's congressional delegation about the process to file an ethics complaint, but said they expected the House to take up the matter regardless of whether a formal complaint got filed.

"It’s very clear this is more than just smoke here," Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin told reporters Wednesday. "There's clearly a fire now. Is this a five-alarm fire or not?"

Hagedorn's office paid $101,000 over the past year to Invocq Technologies, LLC, a Houston-based company that lists Hagedorn staffer John Sample as its registered agent, director, chief financial officer and chief technology officer, according to Texas business filings.

The spending includes $60,000 for printing and reproduction in 2020, plus $41,000 last September, according to congressional office spending records. Spending during the second quarter of 2020 is not yet public.

Sample is a part-time staffer in Hagedorn's office, earning a roughly $45,000 a year salary, according to congressional salary records.

A second company, Abernathy West, LLC has received $340,000 over the same time period.

Delaware-based Abernathy West does not disclose its corporate leaders.

Emails to Hagedorn's congressional office spokesman went unanswered. Hagedorn declined to say whether Sample would remain on his public payroll or whether his office continues to pay Invocq Technologies. He also would not say who owns Abernathy West.

Instead, Hagedorn's campaign emailed a one-page statement from the congressman that addressed few of FOX 9's questions.

In the statement, Hagedorn said he first became aware of the spending issues in mid-June, fired his chief of staff, and hired the outside lawyer.

"The nuts and bolts duties of establishing franking services, hiring vendors, and sending out mail were fully delegated to my former chief of staff," Hagedorn said in the emailed statement.

Hagedorn declined to answer how much he was paying the outside lawyer. He did not say whether he thought the relationship between his office, Sample and Invocq Technologies was permissible. . . .

The Mankato Free Press editorial board opined Answers needed on mailings.

Who can argue with that?

Related posts:

• More MN Reformer: Expect an ethics complaint against Jim Hagedorn, DFL Chair Martin says
• But his emails! Strib reports Hagedorn personally involved in decisions about publicly funded mail
• Hagedorn aide at center of sketchy spending posts conspiratorial, homophobic social media
• The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal
• Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff
• MN01 data points: Does Hagedorn's internal polling conducted in March still matter?
• Hyperbole, much? Hagedorn's revelation about November 2020 is galloping nincompoopery
• Coals of criticism heaping on Jim Hagedorn; UnitedHealth Group says no more cash for you
• Rightwing values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative" (2009)
• Republican Party of MN reports self-employed James, Hagedorn lives in St. Louis Park
• RPM, Friends of Hagedorn confuse state & federal campaign finance reports in answering PB question about Hagedorn's residence
• MN01: Meet a Hagedorn Washington legislative assistant working on agriculture issues
• MN01: the hostile world of Hagedorn town halls, updated with videos of Mankato area meetings
• Nazi namecalling: two Southern MN Republicans lose their wits about Warren, insulin critics
• MN01: Hagedorn echoes colleague's remark about kids being free to leave detention centers
• Congressman Hagedorn's campaign emails share only the finest COVID-19 news sources

Photo: A pensive Hagedorn, via CNN.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Deadline today to Support America's Heroes: Where could it go in MN? MN hero statues?

Time is running out for Minnesota's state and local leaders to respond to Department of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's letter asking for locations for the patriotic and educational project called the National Garden of American Heroes.

The AP reported about back in early July when President Trump called for 'National Garden of American Heroes':

President Donald Trump says he will establish a “National Garden of American Heroes,” which he is describing as “a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived.”

Trump made the announcement as he opened the Fourth of July weekend with a speech and fireworks at the iconic Mount Rushmore.

He led into the announcement by paying tribute to a litany of American icons, from political figures like Ulysses S. Grant and Frederick Douglass to entertainers like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

The executive order released Friday by the White House says the garden will feature statues of several presidents as well as other historic notables, including Davy Crockett, Amelia Earhart, Billy Graham, Harriet Tubman and Orville and Wilbur Wright....

While we are saddened that Elvis and Frank didn't make the final cut, we are even more mortified that no state or local leader in Minnesota is among those responding to Secretary David Bernhardt's correspondence.

This is especially disappointing when all of Minnesota is above average in natural beauty.

Who can Minnesota add to the list of heroes? Does the Gopher State have statues lounging around that it might add to the educational effort?

We ask because an email from Jeff Small,Senior Advisor to the Secretary, was forwarded to us. Here's what the Secretary of Interior is looking for:

The Secretary’s letter, (an example of which can be found hereasks Governors and local elected officials in every state to provide recommendations that answer the following questions:

• Are there locations of natural beauty within your unit of local government that would serve as a reputable location for these monuments, statues, and the National Garden of American Heroes?

Please list and describe any such locations consistent with the White House’s Executive Order (EO).

• In addition to the 31 individuals listed in the EO, are there any other American heroes who should be recognized in the National Garden of American heroes? Please list and describe any such individuals consistent with the EO.
  

We have received great bipartisan responses from both Governors and local elected officials across the country. Examples of those responses can be found here. For more information on this project you can visit DOI's American Heroes website.

The Governor's input is important. Please support America's heroes by responding to the Secretary's letter and providing thoughtful recommendations as soon as possible and no later than this Friday, August 28th COB. Please email me an electronic copy of the written response. Let us know if you have questions. 

More details about the sort of heroes' statues they're looking for in the President's Executive Order:

Statues should depict historically significant Americans, as that term is defined in section 7 of this order, who have contributed positively to America throughout our history. Examples include: the Founding Fathers, those who fought for the abolition of slavery or participated in the underground railroad, heroes of the United States Armed Forces, recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor or Presidential Medal of Freedom, scientists and inventors, entrepreneurs, civil rights leaders, missionaries and religious leaders, pioneers and explorers, police officers and firefighters killed or injured in the line of duty, labor leaders, advocates for the poor and disadvantaged, opponents of national socialism or international socialism, former Presidents of the United States and other elected officials, judges and justices, astronauts, authors, intellectuals, artists, and teachers. None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying.

It's easy-peasy to settle on the ideal location in Minnesota for the National Garden of American Heroes.

The bluff country around Winona. This area is so beautiful that its citizens organized to protect the natural beauty from the relentless maw of the fracking industry, picking farmland over frac sand.

Moreover, it's home to the Winona Model Legislature each November, so the kids could use the  Garden of Heroes for a field trip, while taking in the scenic vistas of the Mississippi River valley bluffs.

State representative Gene Pelowski could be the trail guide. Steve Drazkowski, New Republican-Mazeppa, runs a shoe store there. President of the Minnesota Senate Jeremy Miller serves the area. Issue settled.

But who can Minnesota add to the list of heroes? Does the Gopher State have statues lounging around that it might add to the educational effort?

We considered Ignatius Donnelly and Joseph R Brown, both of whom should be more than garden-variety heroes in the Age of Fact Checks and Fake News, but couldn't find lovely statues of these historical gents. Disclosure: one of our romantic partner's great-great aunts married Brown. Heckova kinship network.

That leaves the most obvious choice: Depression-era Farmer-Labor Party Governor Floyd B. Olson. His statue is seen at the top of this post, participating in the 2017 Women's March at the Minnesota State Capitol.

Who was Floyd B. Olson? There's the bio at the Minnesota Historical Society:

Born to poor Scandinavian immigrants in north Minneapolis, Floyd Bjørnstjerne Olson had a checkered education, including one year at the University of Minnesota, a brief stint in the Industrial Workers of the World, and a degree from Northwest Law College. In 1919 he was named assistant attorney for Hennepin County; one year later, he became county attorney.

There, from 1920 to 1930, Olson took on the Ku Klux Klan and challenged the power of Minneapolis’s Citizen’s Alliance, earning strong support from racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and unions. A popular touch and oratorical gifts disguised a pragmatic streak that served him well.

Olson first eyed statewide office in 1924, when he left the Democratic Party for the new Farmer-Labor Party. He narrowly won the party’s nomination for governor but lost the race to incumbent Theodore Christianson. Olson did not run again until 1930, when he won by a landslide.

More rebel than radical, the savvy, popular governor spent his three terms pushing through legislation establishing the Department of Conservation, old age pensions, a graduated income tax, unemployment insurance, and public relief programs. He gradually shifted the Farmer Labor platform farther to the left as the Great Depression deepened. In 1934 he publicly declared: “I am not a liberal . . . I am what I want to be, a radical.” Yet when governing, he chose more moderate paths.

His response to Minneapolis’s 1934 Trucker’s Strike illustrated this moderation. In 1933 he successfully mediated a meatpackers’ strike in Austin but now, facing violent clashes between Minneapolis police and Teamsters, Olson failed to please both sides. He reluctantly declared martial law, alienating strikers and bosses. Torn between his allegiance to labor and his need to keep public order, Olson ultimately depended on federal pressure to force employers into accepting many of labor’s demands.

Facing gridlock in a legislature controlled by his opponents, Olson decided to run for higher office in 1935. Although ill, he began campaigning for U.S. senator but died from stomach cancer in 1936. Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans publicly mourned his passing.

We've always appreciated this picture of the Minnesota National Guard at state fairgrounds before leaving for duty at the truck drivers' strike, Minneapolis in the historical society's collection:

That image alone should get the President to support the case for Olson.

Olson was also something of a shapeshifter. In 1933, the Jewish Telegraph reported in His Glib Yiddish Once “passed” Nordic Governor of Minnesota As Avrom Yitzcock Greenburg:

A tall, light-haired boy and two dark-haired youths had gone to St. Paul, Minn. to visit the daughters of an Orthodox Jewish family.

“This is Mr. Greenburg,” the dark-haired ones said, introducing their companion to the girls’ father, with whom they were already acquainted.

The father, however, became suspicious. He took the light-haired youth into the kitchen and began to question him. Speaking in Yiddish, he asked the youth his name.

“Mr. Greenburg,” came the reply. Then he asked for the first name.

“Avrom Yitzcock Greenburg,” he was told.

But the old gentleman was still suspicious and asked many more questions in Yiddish, until finally the youth asked the reason for this cross-examination.

“I think you are a Gentile,” the old man said.

The youth replied that his father was Jewish and that his mother was a Gentile. After that everything was all right.

That light-haired youth is now the governor of Minnesota, Floyd B. Olson. He is of Swedish and Norwegian descent. 

As a prank, several of the Jewish chums with whom he grew up in North Minneapolis had taken him to this St. Paul home. The governor likes to recount the story in telling how most of his boyhood friends were Jews and that because of these early years spent in their company he learned to speak Yiddish fluently. . .  .

Paul Olson, his father, came from Norway to Minneapolis and in 1890 met and married Ida Nelson, who had come from Sweden. Their son, born in 1891, was named Floyd Bjornstjerne Olson—the Bjornstjerne for Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Norway’s greatest lyric poet and orator.

This boy, born on Friday the 13th, Nov. 13, 1891, was destined to become the first Farmer-Labor governor of Minnesota.

The childhood prank morphed into empathy with his fellow citizens:

As Hennepin county attorney he became widely known for his ability as a prosecutor. While in that office he prosecuted the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan on charges of criminal libel and secured the first such conviction in the United States.

Unassuming in manner, this governor who speaks Yiddish has come to be known both in his own state and throughout the nation as a standard bearer “of the masses of the people.”

During the recent economic crisis he used his executive powers to forbid foreclosures of mortgages on farms and homes. When this power was questioned he caused the Minnesota legislature to enact a law preventing foreclosures, except in special cases, for a two-year period.

As governor, he has also established minimum wage scales for highway labor and fixed a maximum eight-hour day, six-day week.

He is an admirer of the great Jewish leaders of the world. A convincing speaker, he has lifted his voice at public protest meetings held in Minnesota against Nazi treatment of German Jews. . . .

So there you go: Floyd B. Olson was an opponent of National Socialism of the worst sort, not just of piece of rock styling a pussy hat.

President Trump mentioned that American Heroes don't have to have lived perfect lives. In Remembering Floyd B. Olson, Southwest Journal's Kirsten Delegard reports:

. . . The populist politician was reviled by many who saw him as a ruthless demagogue who had served at the behest of the city’s crime bosses.

Olson’s sensitivity to those on the social margins was endearing to some and enraging to others. The County Attorney was no saint. And his coming of age in a quarter known for its gambling houses, brothels and after-hours tippling spots made him suspect. Critics were quick to link Olson’s personal history to the Prohibition-era growth of crime under his watch.

Nobody's perfect.

We hope some local leaders and perhaps Governor Walz himself can pick up this modest proposal and submit the location of and the statue for consideration in the National Garden of American Heroes.

I profess in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing Winona's tourist trade, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. We don't even live in Minnesota anymore, and some of our neighbors in the Oceti Sakowin aren't happy any use of the Mount Rushmore area, given the history of the Black Hills.  That's where our own governor proposes sticking it. 

Governor Walz's press staff did not reply to a text query about the National Garden of American Heroes deadline.

Photo: Banner: Floyd B. Olson's statue participating in the Women's March in 2017; Middle section: the Minnesota National Guard masks up in 1934.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

More MN Reformer: Expect an ethics complaint against Jim Hagedorn, DFL Chair Martin says

The latest installment in "As Jim Hagedorn Turns" from the Minnesota Reformer. Reprinted with permission.

DFL Chair Ken Martin: Expect an ethics complaint against Rep. Jim Hagedorn
Hagedorn hits back at DFL, Star Tribune

By Daniel Newhauser

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party may lean on members of the state’s congressional delegation to file a formal complaint against Rep. Jim Hagedorn, following a Minnesota Reformer investigation of his office’s spending.

DFL Chairman Ken Martin told reporters Wednesday that he’s speaking with Hagedorn’s Democratic colleagues about the issue, noting that “it’s not a question of whether we will file, or if we will file, it is a question of how to do it in the most effective way.”

“We are talking to members of Congress right now about our options,” Martin told reporters during a Zoom call. There are, he added, “moves that members of Congress can take internally, of course, to begin a House Ethics investigation, and I can tell you some of that is being discussed right now, given how egregious Jim Hagedorn’s actions are.”

Hagedorn fired back against Martin in a statement about the issue.

“The DFL is lying about the facts in this story to give life to a non-issue and prop up their ultra-liberal candidate, Dan Feehan, who’s (sic) radical left-wing views don’t fit the First District,” he said in a statement emailed by his campaign spokeswoman.

Feehan, who narrowly lost to Hagedorn in 2018, is a combat veteran with experience at the Pentagon and as a teacher before he began running for Congress.

Calling the allegations against Hagedorn “explosive,” “very disturbing” and “extremely suspicious,” Martin cited the Reformer investigation, as he held a press call with ethics and campaign reform experts. DFL Chairman Ken Martin.

Although only members of Congress can complain about their colleagues to the House Ethics Committee itself, Martin and the experts noted they might file a complaint themselves with the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent outside body that investigates allegations of wrongdoing and makes recommendations to the Ethics Committee.

The only reason they might hold off? The allegations are already so public that they are almost certain to become the subject of an investigation, Martin said.

Craig Holman, an ethics and campaign finance lobbyist with the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen, and Adam Bozzi, a spokesman for End Citizens United, agreed they’re certain the case is already probably on the Ethics Committee’s agenda.

“I typically do file ethics complaints,” Holman said, “But I have not filed one against Hagedorn in this case because it’s already public.”

Hagedorn’s office spent a large amount of money on printing and mailing in the past year, including more than $100,000 on a company owned by one of his staff members, John Sample. That is unequivocally a violation of ethics rules, Martin told reporters.

“Hagedorn clearly violated House ethics rules when he did this,” he said. “Congressmen are not allowed to use tax dollars to line their pockets or the pockets of their cronies or the pockets of their staff members.”

The office spent another roughly $340,000 since 2019 with Abernathy West, a company that was only created in August 2019 and does not disclose its owners.

“If it turns out that his other company also is owned in part, or wholly, by someone associated with Hagedorn or anyone in his office, we’re kicking this issue up in terms of scandal and seriousness,” Holman said.

Although the Star Tribune reported this week that Hagedorn had a hands-on role in approving mailings sent by his office, Hagedorn strongly disputed that the internal emails the newspaper published prove he was more involved than he has previously let on, and disputed Martin’s claim that Hagedorn has been lying or changing his story.

“For Democrats and the Star Tribune to conflate those duties with my work to review mass mail communications or help staff field media inquiries about our office budget is complete nonsense, careless journalism and purposefully mixing apples and oranges to further this non-story,” he said in the statement.

Hagedorn added that he delegated the “nuts and bolts duties” to his chief of staff, Peter Su, but fired him in mid-June after becoming concerned about the office’s process for sending mail to constituents.

Hagedorn promised that once Eliot Berke, a prominent ethics lawyer the office has hired, completes his review of the office’s spending, the results will be released to the public.

Still, Martin called on Hagedorn to explain his role in the decision-making and “come clean” about who owns Abernathy West.

“He needs to come clean about who owns Abernathy West and why he hired them,” Martin said. “It’s only fair Minnesotans should assume the worst here until he helps clear it up.”

Related posts:

• But his emails! Strib reports Hagedorn personally involved in decisions about publicly funded mail
• Hagedorn aide at center of sketchy spending posts conspiratorial, homophobic social media
• The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal
• Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff
• MN01 data points: Does Hagedorn's internal polling conducted in March still matter?
• Hyperbole, much? Hagedorn's revelation about November 2020 is galloping nincompoopery
• Coals of criticism heaping on Jim Hagedorn; UnitedHealth Group says no more cash for you
• Rightwing values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative" (2009)
• Republican Party of MN reports self-employed James, Hagedorn lives in St. Louis Park
• RPM, Friends of Hagedorn confuse state & federal campaign finance reports in answering PB question about Hagedorn's residence
• MN01: Meet a Hagedorn Washington legislative assistant working on agriculture issues
• MN01: the hostile world of Hagedorn town halls, updated with videos of Mankato area meetings
• Nazi namecalling: two Southern MN Republicans lose their wits about Warren, insulin critics
• MN01: Hagedorn echoes colleague's remark about kids being free to leave detention centers
• Congressman Hagedorn's campaign emails share only the finest COVID-19 news sources

Photo: A pensive Hagedorn, via CNN.

Support the Minnesota Reformer's reporting by making a donation here.

But his emails! Strib reports Hagedorn personally involved in decisions about publicly funded mail

Minnesota First District Congressman Jim Hagedorn's excuse that he delegated decisions about his franked mail, printed and sent at taxpayer expense, just fell apart.

The first term Republican has been under scrutiny since Daniel Newhauser reported on August 15in the Minnesota Reformer article Congressman spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff.

In the last episode, Star Tribune staff writers Patrick Condon and Briana Bierschbach report in Emails show U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn involved with constituent mail decisions:

E-mails between U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn and members of his congressional staff show the southern Minnesota Republican was personally involved in decisions about a high volume of publicly funded constituent mail that led to the dismissal of his chief of staff.

Hagedorn’s heavy spending on constituent mail in the first three months of the year, some of it contracted out to a company owned by a part-time staffer, added up to more than one-fifth of his entire $1.4 million annual office budget, according to Legistorm, a service that tracks congressional spending.

Hagedorn, first elected to the House in 2018 from southern Minnesota’s First District, spent more of his total office budget than any other member of Congress by the end of March.

Hagedorn’s office announced earlier this month that he had fired Peter Su, his chief of staff. Su declined a request to comment.

Hagedorn also drew scrutiny for directing printing jobs to a Texas-based company owned or partly owned by John Sample, who is also listed as a part-time paid staffer in Hagedorn’s congressional office. Sample remains on his public payroll.

Much of the rest of the work was sent to a Delaware-based company whose ownership has not been disclosed.

In a public statement after Su’s dismissal, Hagedorn said that decisions about mailings had been “fully delegated” to his chief of staff. He said he “became aware of this matter approximately two months ago,” after which he retained outside counsel to perform an independent review.

“While these relatively routine duties were delegated to my former Chief of Staff and our finance officer, I acknowledge responsibility for the oversight of my office and will continue to make any necessary management improvements,” Hagedorn said.

Hagedorn said he also advised two House committees, Administration and Ethics, of this review.

The e-mails obtained by the Star Tribune show Hagedorn, in both 2019 and early 2020, managing aspects of the constituent mail, which is known in Capitol Hill parlance as taxpayer-funded “Franked mail,” much of it in the form of postcards and letters to residents in his district.

“We should send an updated mail piece on Cambria,” he wrote on Sept. 5, 2019, to several senior office staffers. “Our successful bipartisan efforts to punish China for illegal dumping of quartz products and stealing intellectual property has helped to defend Le Sueur-based Cambria and 1,000 good-paying jobs in southern Minnesota.”

Hagedorn’s office, presented with the internal e-mails Monday, did not dispute their authenticity and declined to comment.

The texts and e-mails were shared with the Star Tribune by a former staffer in Hagedorn’s congressional office who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. Several people have left Hagedorn’s office recently, according to the staffer. Most of the e-mails and texts include Hagedorn and multiple recipients. . . .

Bryson Morgan, a lawyer who spent several years as an investigative counsel with the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, said a handbook given to every member guides how they can use their office funds. It includes language that prohibits a member from using funds in any way to financially benefit themselves or anyone with a personal relationship with them.

“I think it’s pretty clear that a member’s office should not be spending [member’s representational allowance] hiring a business that is owned by a person on the congressional staff,” Morgan said. “I think that’s a pretty clear violation of the handbook.”

Read the rest at the Star Tribune.

Hagedorn faces a rematch with veteran and teacher Dan Feehan, whom the Republican defeated in 2018 by a tiny margin. As we wrote in MN01 data points: Does Hagedorn's internal polling conducted in March still matter?, the race seems to be very tight.

Related posts:

• Hagedorn aide at center of sketchy spending posts conspiratorial, homophobic social media
• The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal
• Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff
• MN01 data points: Does Hagedorn's internal polling conducted in March still matter?
• Hyperbole, much? Hagedorn's revelation about November 2020 is galloping nincompoopery
• Coals of criticism heaping on Jim Hagedorn; UnitedHealth Group says no more cash for you
• Rightwing values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative" (2009)
• Republican Party of MN reports self-employed James, Hagedorn lives in St. Louis Park
• RPM, Friends of Hagedorn confuse state & federal campaign finance reports in answering PB question about Hagedorn's residence
• MN01: Meet a Hagedorn Washington legislative assistant working on agriculture issues
• MN01: the hostile world of Hagedorn town halls, updated with videos of Mankato area meetings
• Nazi namecalling: two Southern MN Republicans lose their wits about Warren, insulin critics
• MN01: Hagedorn echoes colleague's remark about kids being free to leave detention centers
• Congressman Hagedorn's campaign emails share only the finest COVID-19 news sources

Photo: One of Representative Jim Hagedorn's pricy constituent mail pieces. Via the Minnesota Reformer.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Hagedorn aide at center of sketchy spending posts conspiratorial, homophobic social media

More reporting at the Minnesota Reformer about the hot mess that's Minnesota First Congressman Jim Hagedorn office staff. Reprinted with permission; link on headline goes to the original place of publication.

“War is coming”: Hagedorn aide associated with conspiratorial, homophobic social media posts

John Sample is also at the center of questionable office spending

By Daniel Newhauser

A member of Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s staff already under scrutiny over the office’s questionable spending has a history of controversial and conspiratorial posts online — including predicting a civil war.

John Brevard Sample, a part-time aide to Hagedorn, is the owner of Invocq Technologies, a company the office paid more than $100,000 during the past year. Social media accounts attached to an alias used by Sample have tweeted repeatedly, as recently as last month, that communists have infiltrated the highest levels of American government and society and that a war is coming. The tweets come from the online alias, “Quibbler.”

“They’re destroying America by controlling *every* functional piece of messaging: education, universities, media, Hollywood, journalism, judges, government agencies,” Quibbler tweeted in response to a TownHall.com article by trial attorney and columnist Marina Medvin. “War is coming.”

The tweet was accompanied by an image of the word “communism” slashed across a girdled, bleeding Tree of Liberty. That image appears to reference a 1787 letter from Thomas Jefferson, in which he wrote the now-famous line, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”

In June, in response to a tweet critical of the media by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, the Quibbler Twitter account posted the same Tree of Liberty photo along with another screed alleging a communist conspiracy.

“It’s almost like the media is merely a communist propaganda network…” the post read. “Like it’s the same communists that control Hollywood, federal bureaucrats, our education system, DOJ, Social Media, and the judiciary. The tree of liberty is being girdled.”

A Google image search for the graphic doesn’t reveal any uses of it online other than on the Quibbler account, a sign the person behind that account likely created the image.

Sample did not respond to a request for comment, including questions about the Quibbler accounts.  

Sample’s LinkedIn profile advertises his website Quibbler.com, which features Sample’s photo. The website links to a PDF of Sample’s resume, featuring another photo of Sample and his employment history, and describing him as a “digital media master” and “technology sage.” The resume lists his website, Quibbler.com. 

Among his job skills, the resume lists, “political sensitivity: the hard-won, yet irreplaceable soft skill of recognizing public relations landmines before stepping on them.”

The Quibbler website also links to the Twitter profile, @Quibbler. The Twitter account for Invocq Technologies, meanwhile, only follows two accounts: Quibbler, and the account of the now-deceased former co-owner of the company. That Quibbler Twitter account, in turn, links to a Quibbler account on that has been described as a haven for alt-right and far-right racist, anti-Semitic users who’ve been banned from other social networks.

Shortly after the Minnesota Reformerbegan asking Sample and Hagedorn’s office for comment about questionable spending, the Quibbler Twitter and Gab accounts were made private. The Reformerpreserved screenshots of the posts. 

After the Reformer asked last week about the social media posts, a link to the resume was removed from Quibbler.com. Versions of the site preserved by the Internet Archive, however, still link to Sample’s resume.

Hagedorn’s spokesman, interim chief of staff and a lawyer Hagedorn hired to perform an inquiry into the office’s spending also did not respond to requests for comment.

<p">Among Quibbler’s more than 3,000 posts on Gab.com, the account made fun of former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential caucus or primary. The same day during a Democratic debate to make the case for raising the minimum wage, Quibbler wrote:

“HAHAHAHA! BUTT-JIG is now quoting scripture?”

Misspelling or mispronouncing Buttigieg’s last name to make fun of his sexuality became a favorite pastime of and homophobic social mediausers and commentators during this year’s presidential primary. 

The Quibbler Gab account also made light of an article posted by another user about eight men who were arrested for patronizing a prostitutein Salt Lake City.

“Diversity is our strength!” Sample responded to the Gab post about the article, which prominently featured the mugshots of the men, who were mostly non-white.

Quibbler’s social media comments would not be out of place in Hagedorn’s orbit. On his now-defunct blog, “Mr. Conservative,” Hagedorn used slurs against gays and Native Americans, and referred to female Democratic senators as “undeserving bimbos in tennis shoes,” as first reported more than a decade ago by the blog Bluestem Prairie. The comments resurfaced during Hagedorn’s several runs for office over the past decade. In 2014, he apologized.

More recently, Hagedorn’s wife, Jennifer Carnahan, who is also the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, also alleged a communist plot, writing on Twitter that by closing beaches for the summer, “The Democrats have turned Coronavirus into an excuse for extreme communist control. Wake up people!”

As the Reformer first reported earlier this month, Hagedorn’s unusual arrangement with Sample and his company, Invocq Technologies, has drawn scrutiny from ethics experts, who say the spending likely violates Congressional ethics rules barring conflicts of interest.

Hagedorn also paid a company called Abernathy West some $340,000 for printing costs. The ownership of that company is concealed behind Delaware incorporation papers. 

Hagedorn, whose office has been the highest spending so far this year, has hired a high-profile Washington lawyer

Sample remains employed by the office as of last week, according to a source familiar with the office’s personnel.

A Reformer public records request last week to review Invocq Technologies’ filings over the last decade was denied by the IRS.

Sample lists previous political experience on his resume, including working for the GOP campaigns of former Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Scott Brown of Massachusetts and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Related posts:

• Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff
• The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal

Banner screengrab: A favorite image of "The Quibbler," which is an alias frequently used by an aide to Rep. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn.

Support the Minnesota Reformer's reporting by making a donation here.

Meanwhile in South Dakota, COVID-19 positive rate has exceeded 10 percent for eight days

Our partner's grandchildren here in Summit, South Dakota, returned to school last week, so we're paying somewhat more attention to COVID-19. While the classes in the local public school are very small, making social distancing much easier than in larger districts, we're still concerned that the kids may be exposed.

Governor Kristi Noem first closed the state's schools on-site temporarily in March, then on April 6 announced she was keeping learning online and remote for the remainder of the school year.

Schools are opening in the old normal fashion this fall, though the public health data for the state isn't "normal."

In the Sunday Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Jonathan Ellis reports in Active COVID-19 infections continue to outpace recoveries:

The 141 new cases were detected out of 1,230 individuals tested for the disease, for a daily positive rate of 11.5 percent, the eighth consecutive day in which the positive rate has exceeded 10 percent.

There's nothing in the article with which to interpret that rate, so we turned to Johns Hopkins COVID-19 School of Public Health Expert Insights COVID-19 Testing: Understanding the “Percent Positive," by David Dowdy and Gypsyamber D’Souza to understand what this means:

As COVID-19 outbreaks continue to flare up across the U.S., the need for coronavirus testing remains urgent.

Individuals rely on test results to guide their medical treatment and decisions on whether to self-isolate. Public health officials rely on the results to track the state of the pandemic, and policymakers use this information to guide decisions on reopening schools and businesses.

One number—the “percent positive”—is often cited in these decisions. In this Q&A, Epidemiology faculty David Dowdy, MD, PhD ’08, ScM ’02, and Gypsyamber D’Souza, PhD ’07, MPH, MS, explain what this term means and why it matters.

What is the “percent positive” and why does it matter?

The percent positive is exactly what it sounds like: the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that are actually positive, or: (positive tests)/(total tests) x 100%. The percent positive (sometimes called the “percent positive rate” or “positivity rate”) helps public health officials answer questions such as:

• What is the current level of SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) transmission in the community?
• Are we doing enough testing for the amount of people who are getting infected?

The percent positive will be high if the number of positive tests is too high, or if the number of total tests is too low. A higher percent positive suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet. . . .

How high is too high?

The higher the percent positive is, the more concerning it is. As a rule of thumb, however, one threshold for the percent positive being “too high” is 5%. For example, the World Health Organization recommended in May that the percent positive remain below 5% for at least two weeks before governments consider reopening. If we are successful in bringing coronavirus transmission under control, this threshold might be lowered over time. To further relax social restrictions and allow very large gatherings or meetings of people traveling from many different areas, for example, we would want a lower threshold.

As of July 2020, some countries (for example, Australia, South Korea, and Uruguay) and U.S. states (for example, New York, Maine, and Connecticut) were well below the 5% threshold, with 1% of tests or fewer being positive—while other countries (for example, Mexico and Nigeria) and states (for example, Mississippi, Nevada, and Florida) had percent positive levels higher than 15%, far above this cutoff. (See Becker’s Hospital Review and the Johns Hopkins Testing Tracker.)

The percent positive is a critical measure because it gives us an indication how widespread infection is in the area where the testing is occurring—and whether levels of testing are keeping up with levels of disease transmission.

We're not yet Mississippi, but since Governor Noem's brand is wide-open, we're not likely to see assertive public health measures in response to the relatively high positivity rate.

This was not the case last spring, Cory Allen Heidelberger reminded readers at Dakota Free State in Noem’s Old Back-to-Normal Plan Says SD Schools Should Close Again:

. . . Back in spring, Governor Kristi Noem said we could get “back to normal”—i.e., reopen the schools—if our coronavirus numbers showed a “downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period in areas with sustained community spread.”

Every South Dakota county with a state university or vo-tech currently has moderate to substantial community spread of coronavirus. We are one of eleven U.S. states/territories showing an increase in our 14-day average of newly reported cases. Our weekly average for newly reported cases per day as of yesterday was 143, a 54% increase from two weeks ago and higher than the worst surges in April and May. . . .

Science said back in March that our coronavirus quarantine would not be one and done. Science told us back in March that if we wanted to save two million lives in the U.S., we had to plan for “adaptive triggering,” a rolling series of social distancing and school closures. Noem’s own “Back-to-Normal” plan tells us it’s time for the next installment of distancing and home-learning.

A note on contact tracing in South Dakota

One of the claims made by fans of Noem is that there's no contact tracing in South Dakota. This simply isn't true.

South Dakota News Watch's Nick Lowrey reported last week in As COVID-19 cases rise, experts question effectiveness of contact tracing in S.D. and across the U.S.:

South Dakota Department of Health leaders say their contact-tracing efforts are keeping up with the increasing caseload. The state’s goal is to make contact with everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 in South Dakota within 24 hours of the department being notified of the new case.

The 131 contact tracers now working for the health department are making initial contacts with known COVID-19 patients within about 15 hours on average, said Cassie Deffenbaugh, who leads the contact-tracing team. The state contact-tracing workforce has grown to five times its pre-pandemic size since March, and has been able to identify 35,000 close contacts of coronavirus patients during the pandemic so far. Deffenbaugh said she is confident that the state’s contact tracers would be able to keep up with the virus.

“We are adequately staffed to be able to support our current workload,” Deffenbaugh said. “We are constantly assessing to make sure we are adequately staffed at this time and that we will be moving forward.”

But some disease researchers say the contact-tracing workforce is not widespread enough in South Dakota to handle the rising number of cases. . . .

Back in April, Jonathan Ellis reported in State expanding contact tracing capabilities in key move against coronavirus at the Argus Leader:

South Dakota health officials this week have beefed up the number of workers conducting contact tracing on people who contract COVID-19.

It’s not an army, exactly. More like a company in military terms, but the 131 people now doing that work increased from fewer than 90 at the beginning of the week in what Department of Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon described as a “labor intensive” process.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory this week that states should begin building a trained contact tracing team now. . . .

“If you’re getting a call from the Department of Health, please pick up,” Malsam Rysdon said Friday. “We want to share information with you so that you can be safe, so that you can keep other people safe.”

State officials have been promoting the use of a voluntary cell phone app, Care19, that would enable them to access location data for people who test positive. Some countries are aggressively using cell phone data to underlie their contact tracing programs.

The Governor also urged residents to download that Care19 app, which didn't work out so well, the Washington Post reported in One of the first contact-tracing apps violates its own privacy policy.

Screengrab: From Dakota Free Press, New reported cases (bars) by day and (red line) seven-day average of daily reported coronavirus cases in South Dakota, March 1–August 23, New York Times, retrieved 2020.08.24.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Conservative Facebook group members think MNGOP absentee ballot mail is DFL Party scam

Every so once in a while, we visit the Rocks & Cows of the North & National Guard Cooks public Facebook group in order to have our faith in the acumen of the members reaffirmed.

Today's visit did not disappoint. We've posted a screengrab of a discussion of a post by member Melissa Norgren, self-described Mama of 4*Weightloss and Lifestyle Coach*Jesus Lover*Happiest Girl in the Whole USA, resident of Erhard, a very small town in Otter Tail County.

Earlier in the week, Star Tribune digital projects editor Matt Delong tweeted a more clear image of the mail piece:

I assume I got this because I requested tickets for the Trump rally in Minneapolis last year (also I have already requested an absentee ballot for the general election)

— Matt DeLong (@mattdelong) August 20, 2020

While DeLong didn't question the identity of the mail piece's sender, some members of the conservative Rocks and Cows and National Guard Cooks thought the mail piece was a Democratic Party scam, whatever the return address might say.

We're not sure how much the Republican Party of Minnesota spent on this lush color-printed item, but the return on investment might not be outstanding. Many members vowed to vote in person on election day, some talked of throwing away the mail piece but others thought the mail piece was a "Democrat" scam.

As one encounter went down:

Alan Ott What a stupid waste of $ by the MN GOP!!!

Chad H Burkman Alan Ott not the GOP, sent by the democrats. Every person they get to fill it out their republican vote won't count.

Some other sample comments:

Ann Kleindl You are supposed to ask fir an absentee ballet fir yourself, they dont mail out willy nilly. It must be a trick vite by mail ballet sent by the Dems. 2 totally different things.

 

Mary Stewart Looks like a scam you need to request an absentee ballot and have ID at least in most states

 

Donna Weiland Sure seems like it might be a dem scam to make people think they are voting for Trump by using these, when they are fake ballots,and will end up in a shedder when after they reach their destination. The person will think they voted for Trump, when in reality,they didn't vote at all. Sounds like a smart and pretty devious scheme by Dems.

 

Kelly Lucca-Barg Keep it and throw it after the election. That way trash divers don’t get their hands on them and mail them in. Trump said go to the poles theses are from some scammer!

 

Chad H Burkman If it was an absentee ballot, they wouldn't have an advertisement for a candidate. Scam mail.

 

Bob Harris FAKE BALLOT. Its a distraction, not a real ballot

 

Kimberly Thomas Nope. Dont do it. The house speaker good end up running the country

 

Mary Markasich I’d be sure it came from the party it says. You never know these days. If you didn’t request an absentee ballot it is probably not valid. Go to the polls to vote.

Deb Foss Peterson Any absentee ballot that you did not request should be considered junk mail and destroyed. I will vote in person. The only time I did vote absentee ballot, I went to the courthouse in my county and voted there and left my sealed ballot in a ballot box there. Remember the Democrats motto is to remove President Trump "by any means necessary!"

It wasn't all Rock Ridge in the comment section. Some members were more informed:

Kathy Johnson Arvidson President Trump approves of them. You have to request an absentee ballot in order to get one. That is why you fill out the form, or request them in any other way you like. They are trackable, unlike plain mail-in ballots. So if you cannot vote in person, this would be the best way to do it

Many others simply objected to the notion of absentee voting by mail and insisted they would vote in person. That's certainly an option for Norgren. Though a very small town whose council could resolve to go to a mail-in system, the town still conducts elections at its town hall, according to the polling place finder at the Minnesota Secretary of State's office.

Minnesotans can also vote early absentee ballot in person at their courthouse; we did that when we registered to vote in Prior Township, Big Stone County in 2016 on the first day absentee ballots were available. We weren't afraid of the mail-in voting system in the non-metro township with fewer than 400 registered voters that had chosen to go to a mail-in system as Minnesota law has allowed since 1987. It was simply convenient to vote while we had the courthouse staff's time and attention.

We encourage all eligible voters to follow the legal procedure that's most comfortable for them. We're voting by mail-in absentee ballot here in South Dakota, as we did in the primary.

Related Post:

• Rocks & Cows Facebook group members decry Ilhan Omar's son John--er Bruno Mars

Screengrab: Fear and loathing of a Republican Party of Minnesota mail piece in a very conservative Greater Minnesota Facebook group.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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EWG's smoking spud: documents prove potato giant behind irrigation scheme in pineland sands

They have the receipts. We reprint this article from the Environmental Working Group's Ag Mag page with permission.

The Smoking Spud: Documents Prove Potato Giant Is Behind Irrigation Scheme in Pineland Sands
by Donald Carr, Senior Advisor

For decades, R.D. Offutt – one of the largest agriculture conglomerates in the U.S. – has proudly evaded meaningful environmental review in Minnesota. Offutt has played a shell game using land swaps with family farmers to hide the true scale of its industrial-scale potato growing and processing operations in the vulnerable Pineland Sands area.

In June, the state Department of Natural Resources denied Pinelands Sands community members’ petition for environmental review of an irrigation permit for a small farm believed to be a front for Offutt’s expansion plans. Now EWG has unearthed documents that irrefutably confirm the direct and continuing connection between Offutt and the farm.

The Pineland Sands region is particularly vulnerable to pollution because of its shallow depth and the nature of the area’s soil. Offutt’s operations in the Pineland Sands have resulted in years of harm to the environment – toxic water pollution, pesticide overspray, forest clearing and aquifer depletion.

In a longtime pattern, the company has small landholders whose farms are struggling apply to the Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, for irrigation permits, so proposed irrigation operations are less clearly attached to the company’s massive operation and therefore less likely to require environmental review.

In an interview with EWG, Willis Mattison, a retired Minnesota Pollution Control Agency official, scientist and community activist, had this to say about Offutt’s decades-long strategy of leveraging desperate small farmers to expand their potato empire: 

RDO has driven the Pineland Sands expansion for 30 or 40 years. Many dryland farmers realize they have to do something different or stop farming all together on these sandy soils. RDO has an ear to the ground and finds these farmers and makes them offers. It’s either outright leasing offers, offers to help finance irrigation rigs, or guaranteed contracts to buy a farmer’s potatoes.

Farmers understand that RDO is their only market for potatoes.

They can make or break you.

In 2017 Offutt sold 303 acres to local farmer Tim Nolte in exchange for Nolte’s leasing the land back to the company for potato production and applying for irrigation permits the company had given up on when threatened with state environmental review. The permits list Minnesota Valley Irrigation – a division of RDO Equipment Company – as the project representative on the irrigation permit application.

Faced with yet another attempt at environmental subterfuge, community members filed a citizens’ petition with the DNR, asking for an initial environmental assessment analyzing the potential environmental, human health and economic threats posed by the proposed irrigation operation. Community members hoped the DNR would call for a more thorough Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, to evaluate Offutt’s ever-growing fertilizer and chemical-intensive potato operation.

The DNR response was yet another disappointment: Despite overwhelming evidence, it decided there was no potential for significant environmental effects from the proposed irrigation project. The agency also declined to order an EIS.

Laying out its flawed and arbitrary justification – a supposed lack of connection to Offutt – the agency explained that the Noltes said:

… they have no agreement to grow potatoes for RDO and … no agreement to lease the land to RDO to grow potatoes on this land. If such an agreement existed the proposed project would have to be analyzed as a phased or connected action. As it stands, without such a connection to RDO or other proposed projects, the DNR has no legal basis to view the project as a phased or connected action. (Emphasis added.)

Given the quid pro quo between Offutt and Nolte in the original contract for the deed and the listing of an Offutt division on the application, the DNR’s justification is baseless. When the deluge of written pleas the DNR received from Nolte’s neighbors are factored in, the agency’s decision defies logic.

The Nolte contract for deed is below.

And here are Nolte’s applications for irrigation permits.

Now EWG has unearthed what might called the smoking spud – irrefutable proof of a direct and continuing connection between Offutt and Nolte’s newly proposed irrigated potato operation. The documents linked below show that the mortgage holder on Nolte’s farm is a little-known financing firm called ACL Company.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents show that ACL is part of the Offutt empire. In fact, ACL is controlled by Offutt, and the RDO board approves all transactions with ACL. What’s more, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office names R.D. Offutt’s son-in-law and current RDO Farms President Keith McGovern as the registered agent for the ACL Company, as shown on the document below. It is clear based on these new documents that Offutt has a strong continuing property and financial interest in the proposed project.

The DNR could have – and should have – discovered and considered this evidence in its decision-making. It proves what neighbors, experts, retired agency officials and others have said all along: Offutt is the major force behind the Nolte irrigated potato project.

The DNR already faced an uphill court battle to defend its decision. Now it looks more like a climb up Mount Everest. To avoid having to conduct a thorough EIS for Offutt’s operations in all 770 square miles of the Pineland Sands region, the agency will need to defend its position that Offutt is not a part of Nolte’s irrigated potato project, contrary to the abundant evidence showing otherwise.

After 30 years, it’s far past time for the one of the largest industrial agriculture operations in America to face responsibility for putting $2.5 billion in annual profits before the health of struggling local communities.

Photo: Spud horticulture.

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The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal

Last Saturday, we shared the Minnesota Reformer story: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff.

Since then, Hagedorn has struggled to control the narrative--and has hired help that might make the story appear to spin even more out of control. At the Minnesota Reformer, Daniel Newhauser reports in Hagedorn hires lawyer-to-the-GOP-stars, previewing possible ethics case:

Rep. Jim Hagedorn has retained a prominent ethics lawyer to represent him, following revelations his office mismanaged taxpayer money, including paying a company owned by a member of his own staff.

Hagedorn has enlisted Elliot Berke, who has represented everyone from then-House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers to disgraced Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Aaron Schock of Illinois in their respective ethics, legal and campaign finance cases arising from allegations they violated spending rules.

On July 30, Berke delivered a letter signed by Hagedorn to the House Administration Committee, which oversees taxpayer money allotted to congressional offices. The letter noted that the congressman had hired Berke to perform an independent review of spending in his office, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Hagedorn acknowledged the review in a statement last week after a story came out reporting that he had fired his chief of staff.

The personnel move is the clearest sign yet that Hagedorn is prepared for an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee — or worse, said ex-Rep. Donna Edwards, a former Democratic member of the ethics panel.

“By making that hire, to me that suggests that there is an ongoing ethics investigation or that he anticipates one is going to be opened up,” the former Maryland legislator said.

Elliot Berke is a well known Washington ethics lawyer.

An ethics inquiry would hardly come as a surprise, according to half a dozen ethics experts contacted for this report. House ethics rules prohibit a congressman from doing business with a member of his staff. In a recent case, the Ethics Committee found that it may actually be illegal for staff to own companies that do business with the federal government.. . .

Read the whole hot mess at the Reformer.

The tale has legs in Southern Minnesota. At the Rochester Post Bulletin, John Molseed reported in Watchdog: Hagedorn spending should be investigated:

A nonpartisan watchdog group says first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn should face ethics investigations following revelations of his office’s spending of its representational allowance funds.

Over the weekend, Hagedorn’s office confirmed that Chief of Staff Peter Su had departed.

A statement from Hagedorn's office doesn't elaborate on Su's departure, but says the campaign is "making senior-level personnel changes" as part of its investigation into office spending.

That followed an article published Friday revealing that Hagedorn’s office spent 40% of its annual budget in the first quarter of 2020. Part of that spending is $60,240 in printing costs with a Texas-based company, INVOCQ Technologies LLC.

Overall, Hagedorn’s office has spent $101,328 on services from INVOCQ dating back to September 2019, House spending records show.

A Hagedorn staffer, John Sample, is also listed as INVOCQ’s director, chief financial officer and chief technology officer. The link between Hagedorn's office and INVOCQ was first reported Saturday by the Minnesota Reformer.

In a statement issued over the weekend, Hagedorn said he “became aware of the matter approximately two months ago.”

“I took immediate action by hiring outside counsel to perform an independent review, making senior-level personnel changes, and reestablishing best practices for staff and the acquisition of services,” the statement reads.

The statement

The statement says Hagedorn advised the House Administration Committee, House Ethics Committee and House Jurisdiction Committee of his office’s review and will continue providing the committees with their findings.

Sample’s current status with Hagedorn’s staff is unclear.

“I imagine the (House) Ethics Committee will look into it, and it certainly sounds like they should,” said Donald Sherman, deputy director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. “There’s clear violations here, and they certainly deserve to be examined.”

The House Ethics Manual outlines how Members’ Reimbursement Allowance may be used. The manual includes an example of using MRA funds to pay for rent or services from a business or property owned by a staff member as not being allowed.

The $60,240 was part of more than $270,000 that Hagedorn’s office reported spending the first quarter of 2020 on printing and mailers. Most of that was spent on services to Abernathy West LLC.

DFL Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the overall spending on mailers raises alarms, pointing to a lack of transparency about the ownership of Abernathy.

“For all we know, Hagedorn himself could own Abernathy West and could be pocketing hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars,” he said.

Hagedorn’s office spending on mailers to constituents was far more than other members of Congress and accounts for about 19% of Hagedorn’s entire MRA budget. On average, mailers and printing accounts for about 1% of other congressional members' MRA spending, according to Legistorm, a firm that tracks allowance spending.

Spending the allowance on mailers is commonly referred to as “franking.” Members of Congress are allowed to send direct mailers to constituents until 90 days before an election. The 90-day window is a clear line in the practice, Sherman said.

“As long as members steer clear of that clear, bright line, it’s par for the course,” he said.

In his statement, Hagedorn referred to the practice, saying, “I will continue providing the Committees with findings and offer recommendations to improve House franking operations.”

Two days later, the PB's Matt Stolle reported in Feehan calls Hagedorn mailing scandal 'disqualifying:

DFL challenger Dan Feehan accused GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn of being "asleep at the wheel," describing news reports that the first-term congressman's office directed at least $100,000 of taxpayer money to a printing company owned by one of his staff members as "shocking" and "disgraceful."

Hagedorn fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, over concerns about "spending irregularities." A nonpartisan watchdog group has called for an investigation into Hagedorn's spending of his allowance fund.

"Rep. Hagedorn has failed his most basic responsibility to be a steward of taxpayer resources, and he has yet again attempted to pass the buck," Feehan said in his first statement since the mailing scandal broke.

News about the improper spending was first reported by the Minnesota Reformer, a nonprofit, independent news operation.

Feehan, who is making his second bid for the seat held by Hagedorn, said the revelations about Hagedorn's spending are at best "disqualifying" and at worst raise concerns of "criminal activity."

"It is clear that Congressman Hagedorn is asleep at the wheel, allowing over one hundred thousand dollars of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to be funneled into his own employee's pockets," he said. "There is far more to learn about the abuse of taxpayer dollars in Rep. Hagedorn's office and who it benefited." . . .

The paper picked up on the latest turn in Stolle's Hagedorn hires ethics lawyer amid allegations:

Rep. Jim Hagedorn has hired an ethics lawyer with a reputation for representing lawmakers ensnared in ethical and legal troubles arising from allegations of spending rules violations.

The move comes amid allegations that the first-term Republican congressman paid $100,000 to a company owned by a member of his own staff and mismanaged taxpayer money.

The attorney hired by Hagedorn is Elliot Berke, a well-known ethics lawyer who previously represented GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and GOP Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois. Both faced legal and campaign finance cases arising from allegations they violated spending rules.

Hunter is currently serving an 11-month prison term for misusing campaign funds. Schock resigned from Congress in 2015 amid a scandal involving misuse of public and campaign funds. Berke also represented GOP Rep. Cathy Rodgers, who was sanctioned by the House Ethics Committee last year for an improper use of campaign funds.

The hiring of Berke was first reported by the Minnesota Reformer, a nonprofit, independent news organization that first broke the story about the irregular spending coming from Hagedorn's office.

Berke's hiring is a strong sign that Hagedorn is gearing up for an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, experts say. Hagedorn has said he was unaware of the spending and fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, two months ago over the "irregular spending." But experts say that members of Congress are ultimately responsible for spending decisions by their staff members. . . .

The tale is gaining national attention in the political press.

Politico's The Huddle reported on Monday:

STRANGE SPENDING -- A GOP congressman is under fire for his questionable use of taxpayer money. The story from Dan Newhauser in the Minnesota Reformer: “U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn likes to boast on mail he sends to his constituents that his postcards are, ‘Proudly printed in Minnesota!’ What the Minnesota Republican fails to mention, though, is he paid a Texas-based company owned by one of his staff members more than $100,000 of taxpayer money to do some of that printing — a business relationship Congressional ethics experts say is a clear violation of government ethics rules.

“Hagedorn also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for printing to a separate, mysterious company that has existed for less than a year and seems to have gone to great lengths to conceal its ownership, according to publicly available Congressional spending records and business registration filings. ... On Friday — just more than a week after the Minnesota Reformer asked the office about the transactions — Hagedorn fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, over concerns about 'irregular spending,' according to the Daily Caller.” More: https://bit.ly/3h5zuS2.

And on Thursday:

BETTER CALL BERKE -- An update to the spending controversy surrounding GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn, from Dan Newhauser for the Minnesota Reformer: “Rep. Jim Hagedorn has retained a prominent ethics lawyer to represent him, following revelations his office mismanaged taxpayer money, including paying a company owned by a member of his own staff.

“Hagedorn has enlisted Elliot Berke, who has represented everyone from then-House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers to disgraced Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Aaron Schock of Illinois in their respective ethics, legal and campaign finance cases arising from allegations they violated spending rules.

"On July 30, Berke delivered a letter signed by Hagedorn to the House Administration Committee, which oversees taxpayer money allotted to congressional offices. The letter noted that the congressman had hired Berke to perform an independent review of spending in his office, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Hagedorn acknowledged the review in a statement last week after a story came out reporting that he had fired his chief of staff.” More: https://bit.ly/324xmUu.

My, my.

Photo: A pensive Hagedorn, via CNN.

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Sign of the times in Big Stone County, Minnesota

A friend posted the photo above on Facebook with the note:

Reporting from Western Rural Minnesota. A friend alerted me to this yard art on the outskirts of my community. She found it to be the most racist sign she had ever seen. I believe the intent was racist but for me, just largely confusing.

We wondered if it were a call back to the days of Emmett Till? A call to racist bigamy? Failed humor?

The sign was thirty feet from a 4 X 8 Trump Pence sign.

Photo: From Facebook.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Civility & its discontents: monster truck to crush Walz at Grossell's pro-constitution protest

What are the boundaries for political action? For candidates' speech? Your mileage may vary, as recent posts on state representative Matt Grossell's campaign Facebook page illustrate.

A little backstory for context.

In DFL House candidate faces backlash for his a gry outburst at a Black Lives Matter protest, Deanna Weninger reports:

A Minnesota House candidate from St. Paul who on Saturday spoke at a Black Lives Matter Racial Justice Network protest in front of Minneapolis Police Federation president Bob Kroll’s home in Hugo, is facing backlash for his fiery rhetoric.

In videos circulating on social media, John Thompson, a DFL-endorsed candidate for House District 67A, threatened to burn Hugo and said “Blue Lives ain’t sh–.” He also appears to yell at young white girls watching from an open garage, calling them “racist mother-f—–s.”

On Monday, Thompson said he was getting death threats and declined an interview out of concern for his family’s safety.

“When people are calling my family and telling my family they are going to put a bullet in my son’s head, I’m not in a space right now to talk to the press,” he said.

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party condemned his speech as “inflammatory” and “hurtful” in a statement Sunday.

“We expect our candidates and elected officials to live up to our highest values when they represent our DFL Party,” said DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin. “The Minnesota DFL does not condone any rhetoric which is violent, hateful, or inflammatory.” . . .

And there's this:

They marched up the street where Kroll and his wife Liz Collin, a WCCO reporter, live. They stopped at Kroll’s house and posed, taking a knee with a fist in the air, for photos around Kroll’s flag pole.

As a finale, the crowd walked on Kroll’s front lawn tossing signs on his driveway and took turns beating Kroll and Collin in effigy, cheering when the two piñatas broke open and spilled candy on the ground.

Update: For a good wrap-up about the reaction, check out Bring Me the News' Protesters condemned after they destroy piñata of WCCO's Liz Collin. [end update]

Having studied the threats to journalists in an international mass communications class, we don't condone that behavior. We agree with state senator Karla Bigham's tweet:

No member of the media should be physically threatened or intimidated. Period. End of story. Doesn’t matter the reason. Not appropriate.

— Sen. Karla Bigham (@karlabigham) August 18, 2020

We weren't happy when we saw reporter friends covering unrest in Minneapolis hit rubber bullets or tear gas, either. 

On the other hand, the Clearbrook Republican state representative, a former law enforcement officer, focused on the journalist's husband in his Facebook post comments:

This happened in a residential neighborhood in suburban Hugo in front of kids and culminated in the beating of a pinata made to look like a police officer and his wife. Totally unacceptable.

UPDATE: Looks as if someone changed the settings on the post so that the video no longer was available. Fortunately, we saved a screengrab:

But getting threaty seems to be a thing this campaign season, and it's not just Thompson creating a sketchy work environment. Witness the pro-constitution rally protest the Clearbrook Republican is sharing on his campaign Facebook page.

Is Grossell offering a chance to see a pinata of Walz destroyed? Jeepers no.

Here's the post for the event where Grossell wll be joined by Fosston Republican state representative Steve Green, Park Rapids State Senator Paul Utke and possibly even more Republican candidates. Here's a screengrab (an earlier embed of the post was no longer available):

Perhaps crushing a vehicle labelled "Dictator Walz" is Minnesota Nicer than smashing a pinata of a television journalist. Or it's a self-owning nod to Joe's death sentence in Idiocracy. YMMV, as the kids say. Let's just hope Grossell sticks to Brawndo on the 29th.

Down memory lane with exterior contractors

UPDATE: One thing  that was removed from the earlier image (below) was the sponsor and its logo. Here's the earlier image:

[end update]

It's curious that the contact phone numbers are metro area codes, but we shouldn't judge.

The rally protest sponsor, Budget Exteriors, advertises in the Park Rapids Enterprise; the ad tells us it's headquartered in Bloomington. Yelp reviews here.

Perhaps we're growing nostalgic, but the heady combination of home exterior work and political campaigns can only bring to mind a Bluestem post from 2013: Tom Emmer shills for Integrity Exteriors and Remodelers as a candidate running for congress.

Related posts:

• In early morning Facebook post, Matt Grossell frets about alter agenda coordinated attack
• State DFL responds to Matt Grossell Facebook post
• Was Minnesota state representative Matt Grossell out with vigilantes during Bemidji curfew?
• Beltrami Co. Sheriff addresses rumors and misinformation; Grossell presence confirmed
• In more sober moments than Saturday morning, lawmaker has more respect for hospital staff
• Minnesota state representative Matt Grossell may not want any more Muslim colleagues elected
• MN2A GOP candidate shares views of Pope, LGBT & black people & Muslims on Facebook
• Republican tells Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey 'Don't touch me' [VIDEO]  [City Pages]

Photo: Matt Grossell in a more sober moment. Photo by Maureen McMullen / Forum News Service.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Reuters: Before being mothballed, problems plagued Petra Nova carbon capture project

We've been looking at carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, including Petra Nova in Texas, as this strategy is often hailed as the savior for coal. We noted in 2019's Project Tundra's clean coal; or, does Petra Nova project's tech really reduce carbon emissions? that some industry analysts had doubts.

The Petra Nova project was mothballed in May, E & E News reported in Low oil prices force Petra Nova into 'mothball status' on July 28.

But there's more to the story than just low oil prices.

Recent reading suggests that it's not as robust and economically sound as North Dakota's lignite coal industry raves. CCS is thought to be the key to securing a buyer for Great River Energy Co-op's Coal Creek coal power plant. We reported on the plant's closing in May's Cost of coal: Great River Energy to close Coal Creek power plant, wind power's gain.

How's that going for the coal industry?

Reuters' Nicola Groom reports in Problems plagued U.S. CO2 capture project before shutdown: document:

A $1 billion project to harness carbon dioxide emissions from a Texas coal plant suffered chronic mechanical problems and routinely missed its targets before it was shut down this year, according to a report submitted by the project’s owners to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Petra Nova plant’s performance was seen as a major test of emerging efforts to capture planet-warming gases and store them below ground, a technology considered crucial to companies and governments hoping to fight climate change.

The joint venture project between NRG Energy Inc and Japan’s JX Nippon had received a $190 million grant from the U.S. government. Before being mothballed, it was the only U.S. project capturing carbon from a coal-fired power plant.

Since Petra Nova started up in 2017, it suffered outages on 367 days, according to a technical report it sent to the DOE in March. Issues with the carbon-capture facility accounted for more than a quarter of the outage days, followed by problems with the plant’s dedicated natural gas power unit, according to the report.

The facility also missed its carbon capture targets by about 17%: It captured 3.8 million short tons of carbon dioxide during its first three years, shy of the 4.6 million short tons developers had expected.

The plant was designed to capture 33% of the carbon emissions from one of four units at the W.A. Parish coal plant, and pipe it 81 miles to the West Ranch oil field, where it would push more oil to the surface.

Department of Energy spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said the department believes that, despite the outages outlined in the report, the project had been generally successful, and that NRG had idled the project “due to the pandemic and the low price of oil, not failed technology.”

“DOE remains committed to CCUS technology as it is critical to meeting our nation’s emission reduction goals,” she said, referring to carbon capture, utilization and storage.

NRG idled the facility on May 1, saying a collapse in the price of oil prompted by the coronavirus pandemic made it uneconomical.

NRG would not comment on the plant’s technical performance, but said it could be brought back online when economic conditions improve.  . . .

Petra Nova’s shutdown “highlights the deep financial risks” facing other CCS projects in the works, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Here's the document:

Petra Nova DOE NETL Report uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

In IEEFA U.S.: Mothballing of Petra Nova carbon capture project shows likely fate of other coal-fired CCS initiatives, a press release from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, we read:

A research brief published today by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) concludes that the abrupt recent shutdown of the Petra Nova coal-fired carbon capture plant in Texas should be seen as a strong signal for investors to avoid such projects.

The report—Petra Nova Mothballing Post-Mortem: Closure of Texas Carbon Capture Plant Is a Warning Sign—describes how the project failed to perform as predicted after going online in January 2017 and how its recent mothballing by NRG Energy should warn investors off other coal-fired carbon capture projects.  

The 240-megawatt Petra Nova project, located at Unit 8 of the W.A. Parish Generating Station near Houston, was the only commercially operational coal-fired CCS project in the U.S. It has been cited frequently by carbon capture promoters as a shining model of success that could be replicated widely to keep coal-fired plants online and was advertised as a means to use carbon dioxide emissions to improve production in nearby oil wells. 

The IEEFA report concludes that Petra Nova failed to perform as advertised and that other planned coal-fired carbon capture projects face a similar fate. Such projects include one promoted heavily in New Mexico by Enchant Energy and another backed by Minnkota Power Cooperative in North Dakota.

“Proponents of these projects are selling an unproven dream that in all likelihood will become a nightmare for unsuspecting investors,” said Dennis Wamsted, an IEEFA analyst and lead author of the report. “Investors would do well to conduct their due diligence before investing in any coal-fired carbon capture project anywhere.”

The report notes that Petra Nova’s core investors and owners—NRG and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)—had never publicly addressed essential performance issues at Petra Nova. It highlights several persistent questions:

• Whether the plant really consistently captured 90% of the carbon dioxide in the slipstream it was processing, as advertised.
• What it cost to capture carbon dioxide.
• How much the captured CO2 helped in boosting production at NRG’s affiliated oil field. 
• Whether the Petra Nova project’s track record ever suggested it was economically viable.

The IEEFA report notes also that Petra Nova benefitted from significant DOE funding and concessionary lending from the Japanese government, benefits that may not be available for other proposed projects, further limiting their economic viability.

“Clearly, Petra Nova was never the money-maker the company had hoped it would be,” the report states. “What should be even more alarming to potential CCS investors elsewhere is that Petra Nova benefitted from a $190 million investment from the U.S. Department of Energy and received $250 million in concessionary lending from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Mizuho Bank, Ltd.”

The report describes also how Petra Nova’s failure is not the sole indicator of the difficulties facing carbon capture initiatives at coal-fired power plants.

“Additional risk comes from broader market dynamics that can be difficult to forecast. Here, the performance at Parish Unit 8 is a perfect example. The plant was a steady performer through the end of 2019, but 2020 has been a different story. For the first four months of the year (according to the most recent data available from the Energy Information Administration), the unit’s capacity factor was just 45.9%. An investor expecting a certain level of CO2 emissions and the receipt of 45Q tax credits based on unrealistically high and/or long-term levels of generation (and CO2 capture) was clearly out of the question at Petra Nova this year. This phenomenon could very well be repeated at other carbon capture projects, a very real possibility that should give investors pause.”

Here's that research brief from (IEEFA) that "concludes that the abrupt recent shutdown of the Petra Nova coal-fired carbon capture plant in Texas should be seen as a strong signal for investors to avoid such projects."

Petra Nova Mothballing Post... uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd:

Quartz's Tim McDonnell reports in The business model for carbon capture is broken:

In the months since the pandemic cratered the price of oil, the financial fallout has spread from drilling companies to refineries and oilfield maintenance companies. Now the crash has claimed another, more unlikely victim: The only system built to capture carbon emissions from a coal plant in the US, one of only two worldwide.

The $1 billion system, known as Petra Nova, was built in 2017 to catch CO2 from one unit of a coal plant near Houston. That plant is one of the dirtiest in Texas, both in terms of climate and air quality impacts, according to a Rice University study. Petra Nova was meant to cut the unit’s carbon footprint by about a third—roughly the equivalent of taking 300,000 cars off the road each year.

But on July 28, E&E News broke the story that the facility has been shuttered since May. And while the plant’s owners have said they plan to get it running again once the economy improves, Petra Nova’s shutdown exposes the weird market dynamics that could threaten the sustainability of carbon capture facilities in progress around the world. . . .

Large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems, many of which rely on EOR, have been rolled out at nearly two dozen facilities worldwide, from chemical and fertilizer factories to natural gas processing plants. But they’ve remained elusive for power plants.

In large part, that’s because the CO2 in power plant emissions is relatively diffuse. And that means it’s more expensive to capture.

One groundbreaking coal plant CCS project in Mississippi turned into an infamous $8 billion boondoggle before it was scrapped in 2018. The world’s only other power plant CCS project, in Canada, has fared better: It claims to have captured 3 million tons of CO2 since 2014, and has managed to stay open despite the low oil price because the country’s strict limits on coal pollution make the economics more favorable.

The $1 billion Petra Nova project was supposed to top them all. But according to a report the plant’s owners filed to the Department of Energy in March, the results have been mixed. . . .

There's more at Oil Price's Why Is Carbon Capture Struggling In Texas?, Energy and Policy Institute's Petra Nova page, and alternative investing publication Karma Impact's Failed Carbon Capture Storage Project Spells Trouble for Future Ventures, Say Experts. In the final piece, Neanda Salvaterra reports:

The IEEFA report says investors should scrutinize CCS projects tied to the fossil fuel industry as they may experience similar challenges as Petra Nova: “The mothballing of Petra Nova highlights the deep financial risks facing other proposed U.S. coal-fired carbon capture projects, including Enchant Energy’s plan for the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico and Minnkota Power Cooperative’s Tundra Project at the Milton R. Young Station in North Dakota.”

Houston Chronicle energy business columnist Chris Tomlinson shares an interesting take in Oil industry could lose by gambling on carbon capture.

You get the picture.

Carbon efforts at capturing hearts and minds of Minnesota legislature

On April 1, we noted in our North Dakota energy digest: coal, oil, ethanol tanking amid Saudi-Russian feud, COVID19 woes,"the cheery marketing (and expensive greenwashing) of carbon capture by the Great Plains Institute to Minnesota legislators, and its friends in other non-profits."

In February, we also noted that the Lignite Energy Council set up MN political fund.

With the pre-primary reports from political action committees in, we can learn about the getting and spending of the Lignite Energy Council Political Fund. By July 20. 2020, the fund received $4,900.00 and gave $3,750.00 to candidates and $250 to a party unit.

Only one DFL candidate, Ranger senator David Tomassoni received a check ($250). The Republicans getting $250 checks were incumbents Willmar state rep Dave Baker; Ham Lake state senator Michelle Benson; Farmington state rep Pat Garofalo; Red Wing state senator Michael Groggin; Burnsville state senator Dan Hall; Princeton state senator Andrew Mathews; Buffalo state rep. Marion O'Neill; Prior Lake state senator Eric Pratt; Brook Park state senator Jason Rarick; Marshall-area state rep Chris Swedinski; and Hanska state rep Paul Torkelson.

The PAC gave $250 to candidates Woodbury Republican Mary Giuliani Stephens, who is challenging DFL Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent--and to Republican House contenders Jordan Rasmussion (Fergus Falls) and Spencer Igo (Grand Rapids), who will likely fill the seats now occupied by retiring members Bob Nornes and Sandra Layman respectively.

The party unit? The 33rd Senate District RPM, once upon a time the hotbed for the climate denial group, Minnesotans for Global Warming. We can't make this up.

As for the donors, here's the entire report; most of those giving to the political fund work in the lignite industry--or in the case of some, promote it.

Lignite Energy Council Political Fund 2020 Pre-Primary Report uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

Of course, the contributors are also able to give to individual candidates, within the legally set limits. Only one has done so. US Siteworks CEO Bart Anderson, Monticello, who gave the political fund $300.00, also gave Shakopee Republican Erik Mortensen for House $1000.

Photo: Great River Energy's Coal Creek power plant, which the electric generating co-operative is closing in 2022.

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Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff

Editor's note: Almost exactly a month ago, City Page's Hannah Jones reported Jim Hagedorn, fiscal conservative, spent $570,000 of taxpayer money in three months:

. . .A hearty chunk of Hagedorn’s expenses are itemized as printing (roughly $215,000) and so-called (and controverisal, for obvious reasons) "franked mail" (roughly $58,000) to his constituents. As LegiStorm points out, that’s about 19 percent of his entire annual budget… which, again, is somewhat above average. As in: “the highest of any representative.”

How much more? Almost 25 times more: “The average member has spent 0.8 percent of their budgets on mass mailings,” LegiStorm says.

The Minnesota Reformer just published a superlative investigative story about that spending, Congressman spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff, by Daniel Newhauser, a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C.  Editor J. Patrick Coolican prefaced the copy in Daily Reformer email framing the scoop:

Reformer exclusive: Dan Newhauser scoops the strange and significant office expenses of Rep. Jim Hagedorn. Others have reported that the 1st District Republican has been spending big money on mailers, but Dan shows that Hagedorn spent $100K on a printing company owned by a member of his staff. The office spent another $340K of taxpayer money on a company called Abernathy West, incorporated in Delaware. It’s impossible to know who owns it, and Hagedorn’s office wouldn’t tell us anything about it, or even who their contact is there.

Adding to the drama: Not long after we asked questions about it, Hagedorn fired his chief of staff, which was leaked (on a Friday night, go figure) to conservative Washington outlet Daily Caller.

Hagedorn then gave a statement Saturday to the Daily Caller saying he hired counsel to perform an independent review while making “senior level personnel changes.”

Did he fire John Sample, the guy who owns the printing company? And who owns Abernathy West? Among the many questions that deserve answers.

We'd wondered when the next shoe was going to drop on that Daily Caller piece, EXCLUSIVE: This Republican Fired His Chief Of Staff. Here’s Why, and we're happy to see it dropped by our friends at the Minnesota Reformer. [end note}

Here's the entire article, Congressman spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff reprinted with the Minnesota Reformer's permission (we've retained only one photo from the original article).

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn likes to boast on mail he sends to his constituents that his postcards are, “Proudly printed in Minnesota!”

What the Minnesota Republican fails to mention, though, is he paid a Texas-based company  owned by one of his staff members more than $100,000 of taxpayer money to do some of that printing — a business relationship Congressional ethics experts say is a clear violation of government ethics rules.

Hagedorn also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for printing to a separate, mysterious company that has existed for less than a year and seems to have gone to great lengths to conceal its ownership, according to publicly available Congressional spending records and business registration filings. 

Both Hagedorn’s office and that company, Abernathy West LLC, did not respond to multiple requests asking who owns the business.

On Friday —  just more than a week after the Minnesota Reformer asked the office about the transactions — Hagedorn fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, over concerns about “irregular spending,” according to the Daily Caller. Hagedorn’s spokesman and interim chief of staff did not respond to requests asking to confirm the report. Su did not respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment.

Hagedorn: Highest-spending Congressman

Hagedorn, a self-described fiscal conservative who represents the state’s 1st District, has the distinction of being the highest-spending Congressman so far this year, blowing through more than half a million dollars in the first three months of 2020 — nearly 40% of his yearly taxpayer-funded office budget. He’s spent almost twice as much as the average House of Representatives office, according to Legistorm, a company that tracks congressional budgets.

Hagedorn spent roughly $280,000, or about 19% of his entire annual budget, just on printing and sending mail to constituents between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to Congressional spending records. That’s close to what the average Congressional office spent on payroll and expenses combined during that time frame, Legistorm found.

Of that amount, Hagedorn spent $60,240 on printing with a company called Invocq Technologies LLC. He also previously spent $41,088 with that company in September 2019, according to congressional spending records. Those records only reflect spending through the end of March, as records for the second quarter of the year are not yet publicly available.

Texas business registration documents show that Invocq Technologies was formed in 2011 and is owned by John Brevard Sample, of Houston. Sample is listed as the chief financial officer, chief technology officer and director of the company as well as its registered agent.

Sample used to work with Su in the Virginia state government, and since January 2019, Sample has drawn a $45,000 annual salary from Hagedorn’s office as a part-time employee handling digital media, according to public listings of congressional staff.

“Well that’s a problem,” said Meredith McGehee, executive director of Issue One, a bipartisan democracy reform nonprofit. “Anyone who is in your employ in any shape or form, you shouldn’t be doing business with.”

Although Congressional conflict of interest rules are notoriously opaque, McGehee pointed to the House Ethics Manual, produced by the House Ethics Committee, which lays out specific rules about how congressmen can or can’t spend their office budgets. The manual includes an example that McGehee said applies cleanly to this case.

“Member B‘s district manager is part owner of a building in the district. B may not rent space in the employee‘s building for the congressional district office,” according to the manual.

A similar rule is printed in the Members’ Congressional Handbook, a rulebook produced by the House Administration Committee, which oversees all money Congress spends on its own staff, facilities and other internal matters.

“Unless specifically authorized by an applicable provision of federal law, House Rules, or Committee Regulations, no Member, relative of the Member, or anyone with whom the Member has a professional or legal relationship may directly benefit from the expenditure of the [members’ official budget],” according to a clause in the handbook.

The House Ethics Manual, referring back to that clause in the Members’ Congressional Handbook, states that, “it appears that these rules preclude a Member or committee from contracting with a staff member for the acquisition of goods, or of any services outside of the employment context.”

‘Consistent with all regulations’ until not

When contacted by the Reformer last week, Hagedorn’s office, maintained this spending was not against the rules.

“John Sample is a part-time staffer and also has an ownership interest in Invocq Technologies LLC, which acted as a vendor for Congressman Hagedorn’s office,” a Hagedorn spokesman said in an emailed statement. “We confirmed that relationship was consistent with all regulations promulgated by the House Committee on Administration.”

At the time, Hagedorn’s spokesman did not respond when asked several follow-up questions, including why the office believes spending taxpayer money on a staff member’s business is permissible, what specific services the company provided and whether the office pre-cleared the transactions with the House Ethics or House Administration committees.

“This is like neon signs flashing red signals all over the place. This is a real test of the Ethics process.”  – Norm Ornstein, a government ethics expert, American Enterprise Institute.

Sample did not return an email, phone call, text message, Facebook message, LinkedIn message and Twitter direct message requesting comment and Hagedorn’s office did not reply to a request to make Sample available for an interview. 

On Saturday, both Hagedorn’s spokesman and his new interim chief of staff, Carol Stevenson, who previously ran his district office, did not respond to emails asking whether Hagedorn still believes this spending was permissible. Another request to reach Sample was not returned.

However, Hagedorn’s office released this statement to the Daily Caller:

“When I became aware of this matter approximately two months ago, I took immediate action by hiring outside counsel to perform an independent review, making senior-level personnel changes, and reestablishing best practices for staff and the acquisition of services.

“I also advised the House Committees of jurisdiction, House Administration and Ethics, of our independent review, which remains ongoing. Moving forward, I will continue to provide the Committees with findings from our review and offer recommendations to improve House franking operations.

“While these relatively routine duties were fully delegated to my former Chief of Staff and our finance officer, I acknowledge responsibility for the oversight of my office and will continue to make any necessary management improvements.” 

An aide for the Committee on House Administration declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but acknowledged Hagedorn informed the committee in a letter about an internal review of the franked mail process in his office. The letter was shared with the committee by an outside ethics lawyer working on Hagedorn’s behalf, the aide confirmed.

A spokesman for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment. 

Invocq emerges

In the nearly 10 years since Invocq Technologies was founded, it seems to have done no significant business. The company’s simple website states the “small firm prides itself in building connections between worlds, fostering cultural appreciation and new markets.” It lists no past work and makes no mention of the owners. 

Records kept by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts show the company was founded in 2011 by Sample and Catherine Keszei, a New York City-based creative designer. Sample and Keszei filed tax forms for a few years, but by 2016, Invocq Technologies’ business charter had been forfeited for failure to pay a franchise tax, according to filings held by the Texas Secretary of State’s office. 

A Twitter account associated with the company mostly tweeted about emerging technology, but the account hasn’t uttered a peep since 2012 and the company’s Facebook page has been deleted.

Then, on Nov. 5, 2018, one day before the elections that brought Hagedorn into office, Sample reinstated the company without his former business partner, after paying all the fees and taxes. He also filed to allow Invocq to do business under an assumed name, Love Natural Gas Coalition. Little to no information exists about business conducted under that company name.

Keszei, who has no known connection to politics or political work, died in December at the age of 32. Her brother, Michael, said in an interview that the family was never really clear what the company did and could rarely find any information about it.

Sample, meanwhile, lists on his resume digital and broadcast video production for Arizona Sen. John McCain’s failed 2008 presidential run, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2009 gubernatorial victory and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown’s upset victory in 2010.

Since then, other than co-founding Invocq Technologies, he worked in former GOP Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration as a marketing and information security employee for the now defunct Virginia Department of Business Assistance. 

The department was headed by Su, who became Hagedorn’s chief of staff in January. Sample joined the payroll a week later.

Abernathy connection

Hagedorn’s office also did not respond when asked who owns Abernathy West, a company that was formed in August 2019.

Hagedorn paid Abernathy West nearly $340,000 for printing services between October and March, according to his office’s spending records, with more than a dozen payments ranging from about $7,000 to more than $62,000.

Public records don’t reveal who owns the company because the owner set it up to keep that information private. 

The business was incorporated as a limited liability company in Delaware on Aug. 20, 2019, using LegalZoom, an online platform that allows people to create businesses, according to records kept by the Delaware Division of Corporations. As an LLC, Abernathy West doesn’t have to file annual reports, and since the company was created through a third-party registered agent, the records don’t reflect who owns or manages the company. A spokesman for the Delaware Division of Corporations said the state doesn’t even have that information.

The company’s website, abernathywest.com, was bought on Aug. 19, 2019, in a private transaction using Domains by Proxy on GoDaddy.com, which allows the domain owner to keep personal information secret. A Twitter account associated with the company, also created in August 2019, has never tweeted.

The website presents the company as a business specializing in digital, print and social marketing, but does not list any owners or employees or any past clients. Requests sent via a contact form on the website were left unanswered and voicemail messages left at a contact number on the website were not returned. 

“This is like neon signs flashing red signals all over the place,” said Norm Ornstein, a government ethics expert and resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “This is a real test of the Ethics process. If you don’t crack down on something like this, you’ve really lost your way as an Ethics Committee.”

Bryson Morgan, a former investigator with the Office of Congressional Ethics who now works for a private law firm, cautioned that while the rules seem clear-cut in print, they’re often enforced loosely because “member offices are treated like these little fiefdoms that they control” by the overseeing committees.

“The reasonable conclusion to draw from that is that public funds should not be used to pay a printing company that is owned in whole or in part by a member of the congressional staff,” Morgan said. “But I don’t think it has quite the bite that the language of it might suggest.”

Morgan said that, if nothing else, these revelations raise questions about whether the congressman is overseeing his pool of government money wisely and getting services at a fair market rate, especially given Invocq Technologies and Abernathy West have no known history of doing the work Hagedorn contracted them to do.

Printed in Minnesota? 

In Congress, large printing costs usually mean the office hired a direct mail firm. These businesses help congressmen produce and send mailers advertising their services and accomplishments to people in their districts.

The system is called franked mail. While congressmen can’t spend their office budgets on political ads, they can blitz their districts with official mail using taxpayer money. It’s been a longtime, well-known loophole for members of Congress in battleground districts to juice up their name ID without having to spend a cent of political donor money. 

Hagedorn, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump on Aug. 10, won his district in 2018 by the smallest of margins, and polling this year shows another tight race in his rematch with the Democratic candidate, former Army officer and Pentagon official Dan Feehan.

There are regulations about what you can say and when you can send franked mail. Members are forbidden from sending it starting 90 days before a primary or general election, for instance, so it’s not unusual to see a lot of spending on printing at the beginning of an election year before the restrictions kick in.

Still, Hagedorn took the use of franked mail to new heights, spending far more than other members and sending more mail. In all, Hagedorn dispatched 22 of these communications during the first three months of 2020, ranging from letters announcing town halls to a robocall phone poll to a postcard advertising Hagedorn’s role passing a bill to combat African swine fever. 

The mailers can be sent without postage, but the shipping isn’t free; members reimburse the Postal Service out of their official budgets and have to pay the printing costs. Hagedorn outpaced all other members with more than $58,000 in franked mail reimbursements in the first quarter of the year, and that might go some of the way toward explaining why his printing costs were so high, too.

Contrast that with Rep. Pete Stauber, another first-term Minnesota Republican in a less perilous, but still competitive, district on the other side of the state. He sent five communiques during the same time frame. When Gov. Tim Walz occupied what is now Hagedorn’s seat, he hardly spent more than $2,000 on franked mail and printing combined in a quarter. Hagedorn sent even more franked mail than members in other states who are considered by pollsters more likely to lose their seats than him.

Also in stark contrast to Hagedorn, most offices who do spend big money on franking use established direct mail firms that have long histories of working with congressmen and are transparent, sometimes even self-promotional, about who owns them.

Neither Abernathy West nor Invocq Technologies appear to have done business with any congressional offices in at least the last 10 years, since congressional spending records have been available online. 

Sometimes, members of Congress avoid the big firms entirely and spend money with smaller printing businesses in their own districts. In fact, that’s what Hagedorn used to do. Records early last year show he spent a few thousand dollars at Blue Earth Graphics, based in Blue Earth, Minn., which Hagedorn counts as his home town.

Jamie Lemon, who co-owns and runs Blue Earth Graphics, said in an interview that she hadn’t given it much thought until a reporter called, but Hagedorn’s office hadn’t sent any work their way since last summer.

That was when the office began spending money on printing with Invocq Technologies and Abernathy West.

Around that same time, the postcards Hagedorn’s office sent to constituents that used to declare, “Proudly printed in Blue Earth, Minnesota!” got a small tweak. Now they simply read, “Proudly printed in Minnesota!”

Where exactly in Minnesota are they printed? When asked, Hagedorn’s office refused to say.

Correction: The story has been updated to correct Bryson Morgan’s previous employer. He is a former investigator with the Office of Congressional Ethics. 

Daniel Newhauser

Daniel Newhauser is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in the Atlantic, Roll Call, VICE, National Journal and several other publications.

Illustration: U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn sent more mail to constituents — and spent more on it — than all other members of Congress. The mailers can be sent without postage, but the shipping isn’t free; members reimburse the Postal Service out of their official budgets. (Postcard via Minnesota Reformer).

 

Support the Minnesota Reformer's reporting by making a donation here.

US Postal Service helped saved our cuke crop

We've been off the page for the last couple of days, frantically searching for canning jar lids. Like many rural Americans, we grow and can our own vegetables--a lingering heritage of those Victory Gardens that helped the home front win WWII seventy-five years ago.

As a caution against food insecurity--and something useful to be done at home--many other Americans joined in growing their own gardens, and the interest and possibly supply chain problems have made canning jar lids scarce. Unlike the jars and bands, most types of lids can't be re-used.

An appeal to the webs brought us news of lids at area hardware and grocery stores, and these two packages from friends. We were reminded of how much rural America depends on the postal service and a neighborly spirit.

We'll have more about the news about Trump and the United State Postal Service; for the moment, we're grateful to friends who helped us score those lids, as well as tired from picking all that wonderful homegrown food.

Screengrab: Our tweet of gratitude.

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Redwood County GOP & anti-refugee activist believes Kamala Harris birther conspiracy

Roger Baumann, a Redwood County GOP and anti-refugee activist, thinks Joe Biden's choice of a running mate is a plot to make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi president.

Oh yeah. But he's not the first person to imagine Harris, a California senator, isn't eligible to be president.

Just over a year ago, CNN reported in How Kamala Harris conspiracies festered online before making it to Trump Jr.:

Attempts to undermine Sen. Kamala Harris' racial identity had been festering on conspiratorial corners of the internet for months before being elevated to the mainstream by Donald Trump Jr. during last week's debate, an expert that tracks online misinformation tells CNN.

In addition to efforts to undermine Harris' identity as a black woman, a false claim that Harris is not eligible to run for president because both of her parents are foreign-born has also been circulating. The claim has echoes of the false birther conspiracy that was spread about President Barack Obama -- and some of the same people involved in spreading that conspiracy are involved in circulating the false claims about Harris. . . .

Birther conspiracy theorists have also circulated material challenging Harris' eligibility to run for president. Harris, who was born in Oakland, California, is eligible to run for president.

"The adversarial attack on Harris' eligibility highlights how political disinformation operators recycle narratives that have had success in the past with hyper-partisan communities," Decker explained, adding that some of the main architects of the birther conspiracy against Obama are utilizing social media to spread similar falsehoods about Harris.

Republican state convention delegate and Redwood County anti-refugee activist Roger Bauman is still a true believer in that debunked conspiracy theory. On his Facebook page yesterday, Baumann shared an Alpha News post asking what readers thought about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's vice-presidential pick:

One of Baumann's Facebook friends raised conspiracy and the exchange in the screengrab at the top of this post ensued:

Ned Uhm And because she wasn't born in America, if biden really does go absentia, the pesidency goes to speaker of the house.

Roger Baumann It's been part of the plan from the beginning.

 

Ned Uhm Roger Baumann yep

 

Shirley Appel Heaven help us.

Mary Gayle Bratsch Why she got that face lift huh?

The Mary Gayle Bratsch "facelift" comment is about Pelosi. See Nancy Pelosi's Eyebrows Get More Criticism Than Her Politics for more on that. (Bratsch served as treasurer for Tammy Houle's wildly unsuccessful House 16B primary bid to defeat Hanska Republican Paul Torkelson).

Earlier this year, Bratsch joined Baumann in objecting to refugee resettlement, the Redwood Falls Gazette reported in Redwood County board hears from public about refugee resettlement opt-in vote.

As our late father would likely have said, a pair to draw to.

For more on anti-Harris conspiracies from 2019, check out Business Insider's Donald Trump Jr. shared a racist tweet about Kamala Harris and then deleted it after it went viral, fanning the flames of a new 'birther' conspiracy.

Related posts:

• Minnesota’s right wing keyboard warriors lapping up COVID-19 conspiracy theories (Minnesota Reformer)
• After tense Cloquet event, Ron Branstner bringing anti-refugee spiel to Redwood Falls 2/13

Screengrab: Conspiracy commentary in Redwood County.

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Another face on Mount Rushmore? Keep calm and consider history, engineering studies

Since the New York Times article How Kristi Noem, Mt. Rushmore and Trump Fueled Speculation About Pence’s Job was published on Saturday, we've seen a lot of trepidation about this notion:

Since the first days after she was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018, Kristi Noem had been working to ensure that President Trump would come to Mount Rushmore for a fireworks-filled July 4 extravaganza.

After all, the president had told her in the Oval Office that he aspired to have his image etched on the monument. And last year, a White House aide reached out to the governor’s office with a question, according to a Republican official familiar with the conversation: What’s the process to add additional presidents to Mount Rushmore? . . .

In private, the efforts to charm Mr. Trump were more pointed, according to a person familiar with the episode: Ms. Noem greeted him with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore that included a fifth presidential likeness: his.

But we recalled a recent article in the Argus Leader that lets us sleep at night: Adding fifth face to Mount Rushmore National Memorial has been political football for decades.

Apparently, adding another face could actually achieve what some indigenous South Dakotans (including our romantic partner, a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) have dreamed of as long as the sculptures have been on the rock in the sacred Black Hills.

Tom Lawrence reports:

Is there room for a fifth face on Mount Rushmore?

The National Park Service says no, there is no secure surface on the mountain. While a large expanse to the right of George Washington seems a likely spot for at least one more president, NPS officials point out that sculptor Gutzon Borglum intended to place Thomas Jefferson there.

But it turned out the area was not stable, so Jefferson was relocated and crunched between Washington and Theodore Roosevelt. The rock next to Washington is simply not available.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial Chief of Interpretation and Education Maureen McGee-Ballinger said it is a frequent question.

“From time to time individuals, groups or organizations make proposals to add the busts of other individuals to Mount Rushmore National Memorial,” McGee-Ballinger said. “Additions are not possible for two reasons.

Since 1989 the National Park Service has worked with RESPEC, a rock mechanics engineering firm, to study the structural stability of the sculpture and to install rock block monitoring devices that assure long-term preservation of the sculpture, she said.

“RESPEC supports our long-held belief that no other rock near the sculpted faces is suitable for additional carving,” McGee-Ballinger said. “RESPEC also believes that if additional work were undertaken it is possible that exposing new surfaces could result in creation of potential instabilities in the existing carving.

We trust the rocks to know what they're doing. For more on the origins of the notion of putting Trump's face on Rushmore, that April 2018 Argus Leader story, Mount Trumpmore? It's the president's 'dream,' Rep. Kristi Noem says, has this juicy tidbit:

"He said, 'Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand,'" Noem said. "I shook his hand, and I said, 'Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.' And he goes, 'Do you know it's my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?' "

Noem thought he was joking.

"I started laughing," she said. "He wasn't laughing, so he was totally serious." . . .

The problem is, as most South Dakotans already know, adding Trump, let alone any president, is not possible.

"There is no more carvable space up on the sculpture," McGee-Ballinger said. "When you are looking on the sculpture, it appears there might be some space on the left next to Washington or right next to Lincoln. You are either looking at the rock that is beyond the sculpture (on the right), which is an optical illusion, or on the left, that is not carvable."

A brief history lesson: Gutzon Borglum originally intended to put Thomas Jefferson first in the lineup. Washington had already been started in his current spot, but when work commenced on Jefferson, it was determined the rock wasn't usable. Washington remained, but Jefferson had to move. . .  .

We'll have more Bluestem Prairie in the morning.

Photo: From Twitter, via New York Post article Trump staffer tweets photo of ‘improved’ Mount Rushmore, July 3, 2020.

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Guest post: Should Minnesota taxpayers fund a jail expansion in Kandiyohi County?

We received this provocative short paper from Will Cooley, a native of Villard in Pope County, who is a community faculty member at Metropolitan State University and currently resides in Robbinsdale. The views expressed are his own.

We've retained the academic footnote style for the matter cited in the document, rather than linking throughout the article in the usual blog style.

Will Cooley
Guest writer

Experts agree that the “correctional free lunch” is one of the main drivers of American mass incarceration. Criminal justice decisions are made at the county level while states pick up the cost of imprisonment. This provides a perverse incentive for prosecutors and judges to be “tough on crime” without any fiscal consequences.¹

Kandiyohi County provides an example. Commissioners are planning an expansion of the county jail and claiming that local taxpayers will not have to fund the project because it will be paid for with revenue from boarding prisoners. Kandiyohi County contracts with the DOC, ICE, and surrounding smaller counties to lodge and transport offenders.²

The Judicial 8th district (which includes Kandiyohi County) has helped drive up Minnesota’s prison population. In 1994, the district convicted 181 offenders of a felony. By 2017, that number reached 492.³ Judges sent 179 people to prison in 2001 and 323 in 2014. In addition, approximately 22 percent of probationers are revoked and imprisoned yearly.⁴ As with many areas of Minnesota, the confinement rise coincided with a period of increasing racial diversity.⁵

When counties overfilled prisons, Kandiyohi County benefited with a contract with the DOC worth at least $3 million to warehouse inmates.

Kandiyohi County has long touted its jail as a revenue producer. In 2006, the county administrator boasted that boarding prisoners would mean “a lot of good jobs.” If the jail was a private business, the economic development office “would be chasing us down the street to get us to locate in Kandiyohi County.” The Democratic state senator said boarding provided a “nice cash flow” for the county^.6 The county also extracts funds from inmates through a contract with TurnKey Corrections that guarantees 27 percent of revenues from commissary and communication fees.

While the contracts provide a “nice cash flow,” the conditions for boarders do not facilitate rehabilitation and public safety. As the DOC’s own research shows, “warehousing” inmates has criminogenic effects.⁷ A typical jail has few mental health services, no full-time medical personnel, no access to jobs, and scant programming. Most jails do not have drug treatment programs. Ironically, only well-behaved and low-risk inmates are boarded, which doubly punishes low-level offenders.⁸

The Kandiyohi County jail is also one of the five Minnesota facilities that has a contract with ICE to hold people on immigration violations. These detainees are often caged on minor charges for indeterminate periods away from their families and communities^.9

The Judicial 8th District has social needs that must be addressed outside of the punishment bureaucracy. As the Kandiyohi County board chair noted, the state must act to comprehensively address mental illness. “People who are mentally ill should not be in the jail in the first place.”¹⁰ Concerned residents and rural organizations have insisted that imprisoning people, whether citizens or immigrants, will not solve problems – serious investment in community-driven solutions will. Area leaders endeavor to create economic growth through inclusion, but overuse of carceral measures undermines these efforts.¹¹

Governor Walz has pledged that Minnesotans “can expect our administration to use every tool at our disposal to deconstruct generations of systemic racism in our state.”¹² The criminogenic warehousing of people in a racially disparate criminal justice system is an example of the perverse incentives fueling mass incarceration and systemic racism. Why should Minnesota taxpayers subsidize the construction of more revenue-generating cells in Kandiyohi County?

Photo: The Kandiyohi County Jail, Erica Dischino /West Central Tribune.

^1  W. David Ball, “Defunding State Prisons,” Criminal Law Bulletin 50:5 (2014), 1060-1090; John F. Pfaff, Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration – and How to Achieve Real Reform (New York: Basic Books, 2017).

^2 https://www.willmarradio.com/news/kandiyohi-county-board-approves-moving-forward-on-jail-expansion-remodel-project/article_67d8576c-a0dd-11ea-8da3-275128273589.html; https://www.fox9.com/news/ice-detainees-fear-covid-19-in-minnesota-county-jails; https://cms3.revize.com/revize/kandiyohimn/docs/SHERIFF/2016%20Annual%20Report.pdf

^3 Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, “2018 Sentencing Practices,” https://mn.gov/msgc-stat/documents/reports/2018/MSGC2018AnnualSummaryStatistics.pdf

^4 Information supplied by Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission

^5 https://www.ruralmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/State-of-rural-2020-final.pdf

⁶ https://www.wctrib.com/news/288010-legislation-could-mean-expansion-beds-kandiyohi-county-jail

^{ 7}https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23774657.2016.1240596

^{ 8}https://www.startribune.com/state-s-prisoners-decry-aimless-limbo-in-county-jails/371865301/

^{ 9}https://sahanjournal.com/immigration/its-very-scary-ice-detainees-in-kandiyohi-county-jail-express-fear-and-anxiety-as-covid-19-spreads-in-minnesota/

^10 https://www.wctrib.com/news/government-and-politics/4621830-kandiyohi-county-jail-renovation-eyed-meet-mental-health-needs

^11 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/opinion/trump-willmar-minnesota.html

^12 https://mn.gov/governor/news/?id=1055-434501#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSilence%20is%20complicity.,do%2C%20not%20what%20we%20say.

Will Cooley is the author of Moving Up, Moving Out: The Rise of the Black Middle Class in Chicago

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Trump 2020 flags totally raise level of diction in West Central Minnesota's political discourse

Mark Twain famously said that it wasn't the noise that fighting cats made that caused their spats to be so ugly; it was their grammar.

Personally, we think it's their diction.

Certainly, one can't in any way fault the diction of Trump supporters who've chosen the Trump 2020 campaign flags that are now flapping in the breeze of Greater Minnesota.

The flag in the screenshot at the top of this post was displayed on the Facebook page of the Kandiyohi County Republicans. It appears to be official campaign swag.

The word "Bullshit" isn't a stranger to Minnesota politics, as the famous use by now Speaker Melissa Hortman in the "white male card game" comment back in 2017 illustrates. Back then, before the world turned nasty, Republicans objected to the word, City Pages reported.

We're also reminded of the Harry Truman story related in the 1982 Washington Post story, Remembering Bess:

Bess' deeply rooted sense of what was fitting and proper set her on a not-too-successful campaign to curb her husband's salty language. It seemed to the household staff at the White House that her most commonly used expression was, "You didn't need to say that." Truman himself liked to tell the story (probably apocryphal) of speaking at a Grange meeting and repeatedly using the word "manure." A friend sitting in the audience with Bess leaned over to her and said, "I wish you could get Harry to use a more genteel word." Bess replied, "Good Lord, Helen, it's taken me years to get him to say 'manure.' "

We're not so sure about the f-bomb. The one in the picture below was on display at a private residence in Clarkfield, Minnesota, a small town of 787 (2019 estimate) in Yellow Medicine County.

The flag does not appear to be an official piece of campaign swag, as far as we can tell from a Google search.

A reader sent it in. We believe the child's bike is an especially heartwarming reminder of family.

Images: Screenshot from Kandiyohi County Republicans (above); submitted photo, below.

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