The Republican Party of Winona County may not have been able to endorse a candidate in Minnesota House District 28A, but as the screengrab of its Facebook page above illustrates, it's distributing yard signs for write-in candidate Carl Mastenbrook out of its office in downtown Winona.
The Winona County Republicans' website doesn't include the write-in contender on its "Our Candidates" page.
Mastenbrook, a naval veteran and welder, is running to "Stop Mpls Crazy"--whatever that means. It's an odd charge to lob at Pelowski. David Montgomery reported in the 2017 Pioneer Press article, We calculated how liberal or conservative each MN representative voted this year:
As partisan as the Minnesota House is — and a Pioneer Press analysis found it is very partisan — a number of Republicans and Democrats broke through the voting ranks and landed in the middle this year.
Moderate Republican Reps. Dario Anselmo of Edina and Keith Franke of St. Paul Park crossed party lines enough that they had more in common with moderate DFLers like Winona’s Rep. Gene Pelowski and Dilworth’s Rep. Paul Marquart than with conservative stalwarts like Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa. . . .
The ideology scores produced by W-NOMINATE are estimates and will usually vary a little from year to year depending on the particular bills that come up for vote. Most incumbent representatives had very similar ideology estimates in 2017 as they did in 2015-16 . . .
Mastenbrook's campaign seems to have launched its Facebook page around October 7. The ICANN Domain Name Registration Data Lookup for the campaign website name carlmastenbrookformn.com reveals that the domain name was created on October 6, 2020. The registrant is "Wireless270 LLC."
The write-in candidate is misrepresenting Gene Pelowski's Special Sessions voting record to align him more closely with the Majority Caucus. Heck, he's just plain wrong on a series of special session roll call votes..
On October 10, his campaign Facebook page shared a September 11, 2020 article from Session Daily, House again backs governor's emergency powers in special session, along with the headnote:
Governor Tim Waltz (Uncle Timmy) Emergency Powers. In the last 2 special sessions the house DFL (Gene Pelowski included) voted unanimously to not even bring it to the floor for a vote. That means there were no votes to end it. We are now 7 months into 15 days to flatten the curve. What has that gotten us, small business closing some forever, peoples lively hoods being taken away from them through no fault of there own. Winona is losing money and losing jobs still. If you write me in and I have the privilege of representing you I will work to stop Uncle Timmy's dictator powers.
The Session Daily article notes that the Fourth Special Session vote was 67-64. As many of our readers know, and the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library confirms, the partisan split in the Minnesota House is 75 DFLers and 55 Republicans. Nope, DFL members didn't vote "unanimously" against the Neu Motion to Suspend HCR1.
A visit to the Roll Call on Neu Motion to Suspend HCR1, reveals that Pelowski was among the DFLers who voted yes.
Moreover, Pelowski voted yeah on similar motions in other special sessions. According to the 64-69 roll call vote on the Neu Motion on October 12, there's a Pelowski yes vote in the Fifth Special Session. Not was he the only DFLer voting yes.
In the Third Special Session's August 12 Roll Call vote, Pelowski voted yes in a 61-71 split.
In the Second Special Session's list of Roll Call votes on July 20, there does not appear to have been a recorded vote on suspending the rules.
In the First Special Session's list of Roll Call vote on June 12, Pelowski voted yes on a Daudt motion to adopt a resolution to end the Governor's emergency powers. Pelowski was joined by Dilworth DFLer Paul Marquart in voting with the minority caucus.
The write-in candidate is either ignorant of the existence of roll call votes or lying. We're not close enough to know which one it is, though the usage errors in the text suggest the first option.
Mastenbrook's campaign page offers "A unique walking tour of the City with time to enjoy lunch and shopping too! Maximize your sightseeing with this exceptional tour" next to its PayPal contribution button. A screenshot:
In the first paragraph of his Who is Carl Mastenbrook website bio, we read:
I was born and raised in Winona Minnesota. My family has been a hard working family in the county since the 1800's. From farming to business and the business of farming each generation has worked to increase the opportunities of the next generation. I believe the Metro calls this white privelage, out here, we don't call it anything, it is just our way of life.
As we noted earlier, usage isn't the man's strong point, though he seems to be making a case that he can read the minds of "Metro" Minnesotans.
A wild stab at getting in office on the assumption Winona DFLers have voted early and left Pelowski's circle blank? We're not sure, but think it's sad that the young naval veteran is burning the ethos earned by serving his country by just plain lying about Pelowski's special session votes.
Screengrabs: From Facebook and Mastenbrook's campaign page.
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