When reading letters-to-the-editor of the Mankato Free Press from Le Sueur County Republican Chair Jerry Lucas, we suspect Lucas's version of media coverage can't be trusted.
Texts tumble together in Lucas's world. What do we mean?
In Free Press editorials can't be trusted, posted online on October 15, Lucas writes:
My wife and I attended the public forums sponsored by Greater Mankato Growth on Oct. 5 and 6 concerning Senate District 18 races where each candidate was asked to respond to the same questions.
There was no rebuttal or follow-up questioning. Only two audience questions were allowed and the candidates weren't allowed to question their opponents. The audience was asked to remain silent during the recorded session. These interviews, which were not debates by any stretch of the imagination, focused on three issues: inflation, education and public safety.
No question was raised about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Not one! Neither I nor anyone else heard any discussion or answers by Rep. Susan Akland nor by candidate Mark Wright concerning our last elections.
Apparently The Free Press reporter confronted these candidates after the recorder was turned off, and after the audience left with a "gotcha question" like this: "So what did you think about our last election?"
The reporter says that Akland answered that she didn't know what to think about it, that there were a lot of questions being asked on both sides, and that she has not personally researched it. All of that is true.
Mr. Wright apparently responded, although we were not allowed to hear the exchange, that he had no concerns about our local election but the federal election was "a different story."
That statement was also correct.
The candidates had no idea that this impromptu off the record Q & A session would form the basis of a lengthy editorial in the Oct. 12 Free Press entitled, "Too many election deniers on the ballot."
What does that editorial, posted online on October 11, Too many election deniers on ballot, say about local candidates Akland and Wright? Here's the copy online:
A troubling aspect of the upcoming general election, not only in Minnesota but nationally, is the pervasiveness among Republican candidates of the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen from then President Donald Trump. . . .
On a lower level, the Republican nominee for the state Senate seat that includes Mankato, North Mankato and St. Peter is also an election denier. Mark Wright, in a Free Press story published Sunday, said: “I would reference the ‘2000 Mules’ movie about what took place on a national level.”
That movie, created by right-wing troll and conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza, claims that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud. It has been thoroughly discredited on the facts — its claims failed in more than 50 lawsuits filed by Trump or his allies.
And considering the source, that’s no surprise. D’Souza is a felon who benefited from Trump’s misuse of his pardon powers to reward allies convicted of federal crimes (see also Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Joe Arpaio and others.) Nothing D’Souza says should ever be taken at face value. . . .
This is no small matter, not after the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021. These candidates are deliberately, and without a shred of credible evidence, undermining public confidence in our elections and in democracy itself.
Jensen, Crockett, Fischbach and Wright either know it’s a phony and don’t care, or they are far too gullible to be entrusted with public office.
Akland isn't mentioned in the editorial online.
Did the Free Press's coverage about the Frentz-Wright forum bring up election denial? In Moore's coverage of the forum online, October 5's Frentz, Wright debate budget, economic growth and more in Wednesday forum, there's no mention of the issue.
In a separate article about the house seat debate, which took place on the next evening, Moore reports on October 6 in Budget and health care surround Akland, Brand forum discussions
. . .While moderators didn’t ask about it during the debate, both candidates spoke to the Free Press afterwards about whether they believed the 2020 election results.
Brand said he did while Akland said she wasn’t sure.
“Absolutely I do. Unfortunately I lost,” Brand said. “There was no fraud during the recount.”
Brand said the process reaffirmed his support for democracy in Minnesota.
Akland said she believes “there were two sides” to the election.
“Some people strongly think it was stolen. Some people strongly think it was fair,” she said. “What I think going forward is that we have to make sure we have election integrity.”
When asked simply if she believes the results or not, she said she “doesn’t know.”
“I really don’t know,’ she said. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve heard both sides, but I haven’t tried to vet it out myself, so I just stayed away from that discussion, because one thing it is a done deal. The president is who he is. We need to respect that position.”
Lucas brings up this exchange in his letter but as we noted, Akland isn't mentioned in the online version of the editorial, Too many election deniers on ballot.
Wright's views on the 2020 election appear later, in the October 9 article, Frentz, Wright face off in Senate race by a second reporter, Renee Berg. Here's the material on Wright:
As for the legitimacy of last year’s election results, Wright said he has no concerns about the local process but nationally it’s a different story. “I would reference the ‘2000 Mules’ movie about what took place on a national level,” he said.
“2000 Mules” is a debunked movie by right-wing activist Dinesh D’Souza that falsely claims widespread voter fraud. The film’s claims are directly contradicted by rulings in at least 50 lawsuits brought by former President Donald Trump and his allies challenging the outcome of the election.
Again, while the Free Press reporter covering the forums asked Akland and Brand about the integrity of the 2020 election, she didn't report about the issue in her coverage of the state senate race.
Rather, a second reporter covered the state senate race itself in a separate article published on another day. We suppose that the Free Press could have linked to the Wikipedia article on "2000 Mules," which is heavily documented.
But perhaps what's more telling is Lucas dragging Akland's name into a condemnation of an editorial in which her name doesn't appear, at least not in the online version of the newspaper.
Why would Lucas be such a bad reader? As someone who grew up in Le Sueur County's Kasota Township, we don't want literacy to have sunk since our long ago graduation from the area schools.
Why would he bring this up? What possible agenda might he have?
Looking into our own coverage of Akland, we find a summary of Akland's election doubts contemporary with January 2020 events in Unmasked, part 3: Minneapolis Star Tribune fills in Storm the Capitol context for Susan Akland, there's this embedded tweet:
GOP state Reps. Susan Akland, Steve Drazkowski, Mary Franson, Glenn Gruenhagen, Eric Lucero, and Jeremy Munson were the "Storm the Capitol" participants. Story from 1/6 here (and with accompanying @MDVancleave video): https://t.co/vC9jlODynb
— Stephen Montemayor (@smontemayor) January 11, 2021
We can see why Lucas might want to discredit the Mankato Free Press. Of course, Akland's a victim, poor thing.
Related posts
- Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
- Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
- Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
- Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
- From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter
Screengrabs: On September 15, the Le Sueur County Republicans Facebook page showed that voters at the county fair cared about "election integrity" most of all. But heaven forbid anyone might trust journalists to check out what area Republican candidates believe about this issue--or their presence at a MN state capitol "Stop the Steal" protest on January 6.
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