2/2 Here's more text from #MNGOP and #HRCC independent expenditure postcard. #mnleg #mnhouse pic.twitter.com/KE5gEmOKGq
— Sally Jo Sorensen (@sallyjos) October 29, 2022
It's a fact universally acknowledged that St. Peter's Jeff Brand served in the Minnesota House from 2019-2020 (District 19A). Or so the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's Legislators Past & Present database says.
Brand is running again, challenging St. Peter Republican Susan Akland.for the newly redistricted 18A, which incldues much of the same territory as the earlier turf. Bluestem looked at this race recently in How does Susan Akland tell her story of the January 6 "Storm the Capitol" rally in St. Paul? and Can Le Sueur County GOP chair's reading of newspaper coverage of candidates be trusted?.
Apparently, it's not just Akland's actions that confuse the Republican Party.
Reading the Mankato Free Press Saturday, my attention was drawn to a letter to the editor by North Mankato resident Herb Kroon, Republicans can't get facts straight on Brand record:
I am receiving mailings from the Minnesota Republican Party that spread nonsensical mis-truths about Jeff Brand’s voting record. It alleges that he cast a vote in favor of a $300 million state office building and voted against supporting tax relief for Social Security recipients.
Problem is that these votes were taken in 2021 and Brand was not even in the Legislature in 2021. Is it that the Republicans can’t get their facts straight, or is it that they are downright dishonest?
Regardless, I wouldn’t trust them to serve in any elective office.
Herb Kroon
North Mankato
The postcards were sent out by the Republican Party of Minnesota and the HRCC as independent expenditures that weren't coordinated with the Akland campaign. Since these postcards have arrived in October, the deadline for dollar amounts spent has yet to fall, though the 10-day pre-general-election report, looms on October 31, 2022. Monday.
I've gotten copies of the postcards from a source in the district (in the tweets at the top of this posts. Some of the votes mentioned do seem to have been taken during Brand's tenure, but it does seem awkward to blame Brand for things--like inflation--that heated up after he left office.
It's an effort to brand Brand with perceptions Democratic policies cause inflation. Paul Krugman opined in the New York Time on Thursday that Republicans Have No Inflation Plan, while NPR reported on How Biden changed his tune on inflation as prices soared and the midterms loomed.
I'm told the pieces have been used across the state as cut-and-paste-in-DFLers'-names in IE postcards in competitive districts across the state.
For local coverage, check out Mankato Free Press's Brian Arola reporting in Akland, Brand face rematch in House District 18A, via Yahoo News.
Related posts
- How does Susan Akland tell her story of the January 6 "Storm the Capitol" rally in St. Paul?
- Can Le Sueur County GOP chair's reading of newspaper coverage of candidates be trusted?
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