At the Pioneer Press, Dave Orrick reports in Republican lawmaker files police complaint against ‘patriot’ activist who physically yanked him out of event:
A Republican state lawmaker is pursuing police charges against a right-wing activist who physically yanked him out of a political event Friday.
Rep. Nolan West, a third-term lawmaker from Blaine, was uninjured in the incident, which was partially recorded on video. But he said he wants the man prosecuted on principle because the increasingly hostile — physically hostile — tenor of politics has gotten out of hand.
“I’m sure this is going to be a big pain, but with the way politics is now, this is completely insane,” West said in an interview Monday. “You can’t lay hands on people. Come on.”
. . .On Friday, he planned to attend an event put on by a group called Action 4 Liberty, which rallies against coronavirus restrictions and promotes false and discredited claims about the virus.
The meeting, held inside a local VFW hall, was promoted as a “patriot meetup and caucus training” that was open to “the general public,” according to web flyers. West said he had heard of the group before and described them as “a confrontational activist group, which is now in style in both parties.”
West said that since the event was being held in his district and appeared to involve training people to attend upcoming precinct caucuses — the first step toward party endorsements for candidates — he would attend to see what happening. “I didn’t want to hijack their event,” he said. “I went there thinking they wouldn’t recognize me.”
But a man who identified himself as Tony stopped West before he took his seat. “He said, ‘We don’t allow politicians here.’ I was taken aback.” . . .
As the screenshot at the top of this post--from Representative Mary Franson's "Team Franson" Facebook page video--suggests, West wasn't the only elected Republican lawmaker tossed from an open to "the general public" caucus training in the district he represents.
Readers will have to visit this link to Representative Mary Franson's "Team Franson" Facebook page video, as the settings on the page do not allow us to embed the post, nor have our clever volunteers been able to download and save it for us to upload on another platform. Should this change, we'll embed the video in this post.
A kind reader downloaded and sent us the video, which we've uploaded to YouTube:
While there's no evidence that the six-term Delano Republican was assaulted, there's some background chatter by an unidentified, offscreen voice that maybe the two of them should take it outside to settle the dispute.
Franson identifies the Action 4 Liberty "henchman" as Tony LaLonde; we do not know if this is the same "Tony" involved in the alleged assault on West. She writes:
This is video from last week when Action 4 Liberty held a caucus training in Delano. Action for Liberty’s henchman, Tony LaLonde, kicked my good friend Rep Joe McDonald out of the Delano American Legion. Why? Because he’s an elected official and supposedly they don’t support elected officials unless it’s Erik Mortensen. (I’m confident Action 4 Liberty handles all of Mortensen’s fundraising letters and emails) Many of Joe’s friends were also kicked out of the event simply for being Joe’s friends. Those friends that Joe had with him at the Delano American Legion were 3 veterans, including two in their 80’s, the president of the Delano gun club, Chamber of Commerce members and Delano Lions club members. Those individuals were referred to as “minions” in a video Erik Mortensen did on the event.
If you haven’t caught on to the grift yet, you should. Action 4 Liberty and Erik Mortensen are toxic.
Mortensen interviews an organizer named Joe Crawford, who does not appear to be the same person in the video. According to Mortensen, McDonald called the Wright County Sheriff when he was asked to leave.
According to its website Events page, Action 4 Liberty is conducting Meetups and Caucus trainings this week at its Roseville headquarters; Dodge Center and Little Falls on Tuesday; Prior Lake on Wednesday; and South East Metro and St. Hilaire on Thursday.
We'll continue to watch the peace in the conservative valley.
Screengrab: from Representative Mary Franson's "Team Franson" Facebook page video.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments