In Friday's Star Tribune, Briana Bierschbach reports in Battle to control the House could end DFL control in Minnesota. Here are 5 things you need to know.:
. . . Ultimately only a handful of the House seats will be competitive, attracting millions of dollars in spending from candidates, parties and outside political groups trying to tip the balance of power. . . .
. . .[Republicans] see an opening in a a swing district seat in St. Cloud held by DFL Rep. Dan Wolgamott, who pleaded guilty to a DWI charge last fall. . . .
Yep, it's on the radar.
So who's running against Wolgamott? On Friday (today), Sue Ek filed as a Republican in MN House 14B. The name rang a bell, though I'm so old I had to goggle why.
Oh right, there was this paragraph in Brian Bakst and David H. Montgomery's 2021 Minnesota Public Radio report Key facts about state Rep. John Thompson’s residency issues:
. . . Are there similar residency disputes in the past?
Thompson isn’t the first lawmaker or candidate for office to face scrutiny over his residency.
In 2005, Republican legislative candidate Sue Ek was removed from the ballot after she couldn’t prove she lived in a St. Cloud, Minn., district long enough ahead of a special election. The state Supreme Court upheld a referee’s finding that Ek was more tied to a St. Paul district than one in St. Cloud within the six-month lead-up to the election. . .
How is Ek framing that? In February, Jennifer Lewerenz reported in Republican Sue Ek Challenges Democratic Rep. Dan Wolgamott for House 14B Seat for KNSI Radio:
. . . The 61-year-old Ek ran for office in 2005 but had to drop out due to a technicality. ...
Ek was endorsed by the district GOP in March.
That's nice. Ek didn't take the question very seriously in 2005, when MPR asked Where does Sue Ek live?, just before the court's booted her off the ballot.
After Ek's name was taken from the ballot, MPR reported Mother of disqualified candidate must run as a write-in:
The Minnesota Supreme Court this week removed Republican House candidate Sue Ek from the ballot, ruling that Ek wasn't a resident of the district for the required six months before the election. With the election just a week away, Ek's mother Kay says she'll run in her daughter's place.
But the Attorney General's office says Ek's only option is to run as a write-in candidate. Chief Deputy Attorney General Kris Eiden says state election laws are clear about replacing candidates right before the election.
"They indicate that a person can be substituted on the ballot if there's a death, catastrophic illness, or if the original candidate withdraws. And any withdrawal under the statute would have had to have occurred within two days after the filing deadline, which didn't happen here," says Eiden.
A similar question arose after the death of Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone just 11 days before the 2002 election. Wellstone's name was replaced by Democratic candidate Walter Mondale on the ballot. . . .
Ek's late mother received 26.19 percent of the vote in the 2005 special election.
As far as Bluestem can tell-- checking out a couple of minor tickets in the Minnesota case records online--Sue Ek lives in St. Cloud these days.
This is merely a footnote in the current election, and Bluestem believes voters are unlikely base their choices on the 2005 mistake, since nearly 20 years have passed.
Photo: Ek in 2021, from the Central Minnesota Catholic Magazine of the Diocese of St. Cloud article, St. Cloud woman to receive ‘Humanae Vitae’ award July 29.
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