n a July article in the Minnesota Reformer, Madison McVan reports in With no DFL endorsement, race to replace longtime DFL rep from Winona is wide open:
The two candidates have similar policy platforms, both promising to continue Pelowski’s advocacy for education funding, and to vote in favor of abortion access, unlike their predecessor Pelowski, who is among the last anti-abortion DFL elected officials.
How has that issue played out in the public discourse between the candidates?
Online letters section at the Winona Daily News and the Winona Post have produced a flurry of letters from each candidate's supporters.
But perhaps the most intriguing example of the discussion is preserved in a March 17, 2024 complaint to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board from district DFLer Sigurd Schuerle. While Schuerle makes clear that Sarah Kruger has disclaimed affiliation with the mailer, he named as the subject of the complaint.
The Board dismissed the complaint (Prima Facie Determination (PDF) since Kruger didn't seem affiliated with the disclaimer--such as it was--on the postcard that "Winona Area Democrats For Reproductive Rights" sent the card. Nor is " Winona Area Democrats For Reproductive Rights" registered with the Board, which noted in the dismissal that it thus had no authority to chastise " Winona Area Democrats For Reproductive Rights."
The card included no return mailing address, though the union bug on the piece --see below in the embedded file; proves that it was printed at Seven Corners Printing in St. Paul. Seven Corners is used by pro-union candidates and causes across the state of Minnesota and is well known to Bluestem from years of reading campaign finance reports.
A call to Seven Corners sent staff checking orders from the time before the DFL district endorsing convention didn't yield any orders from "Winona Area Democrats For Reproductive Rights" or anyone officially on the Kruger campaign committee. The helpful staff member thought that the postcard might have been ordered by a consulting firm, though establishing the identity and location of that firm would be impossible given the volume of printing the shop does in an election year.
Here's the complaint. As I noted above, there's an image of the card in the PDF.
Complaint to CFB: Winona Area Democrats For Reproductive Rights uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
A couple of observations.
1. According to Kruger's year-end report for her 2020 Minnesota Senate race, Schuerle contributed $300 to her campaign that year. In 2024, he's donated to the Dwayne Voegeli campaign.
2. The text on the front of the postcard reads:
Winona Area DFLers need a candidate who refuses to waffle on women's reproductive healthcare rights.
This election si too important to support Dwayne Voegeli who agrees with Donald Trump on abortion access.
Sarah Kruger is the only candidate who fully support a woman's right to choose.
Reading this, Bluestem can understand why some delegates to the convention might want to avoid endorsing a candidate whose supporters obtain the delegate mailing list, only to compare the other candidate to Donald Trump.
3. Both candidates support reproductive rights.
Kruger is endorsed by Women Winning, a Minnesota group dedicated to electing pro-choice women to office, and Planned Parenthood Action, the health care group's political acti9on committee.
Voegeli is endorsed by Pro-Choice Minnesota, "founded in 1966, before abortion was legalized in the United States."
4. Some Kruger supporters use the "waffling" rhetoric published in the postcard. Witness student leader Jess Weis's July LTE in the Winona Daily News, Voegeli can't be trusted on reproductive rights:
There is one thing young women like myself will emphatically tell you when it comes to our reproductive rights: A middle-aged man is not "best equipped" to make decisions about our bodies and our health care. We have enough of those in office already.
It's pretty obvious from past letters to the editor that people are rightfully upset about Dwayne Voegeli's waffling on choice. But instead of coughing up to his past recent public statements, he's decided to double down. Well, Voegeli, young women aren't buying it. Period.
Voegeli — this is for you, while you snake your way around to get endorsements, real Winonans are not fooled.
I’m unsure of how you managed to get endorsed by Pro-Choice Minnesota when you have blatantly said: “Publicly I am 110% in support of returning to Roe v. Wade and voting for pro-choice legislation. Some people have been saying that I’m pro-life; I am conflicted personally.” There is nothing to be conflicted about when it comes to health care. Women don’t just wake up one day in the last few months of their pregnancy and decide to get an abortion — that is a false narrative. . . .
A Kruger supporter offered to send Bluestem a recording of the Voegeli statement quoted above, I'm not sure whether video or audio, as I never received it. Thus, I can't assess the statement or its context.
In the Winona Post article, DFL House candidates debate, Chris Rogers reported Kruger using the "waffling" rhetoric herself:
. . .She also said, “One of the things we need to be doing is electing a representative who has always been a very strong advocate for choice, who has not waffled or wavered on this issue or put qualifiers on it.”
- Land Stewardship Project releases Minnesota House 26A Candidate Survey on Agriculture
- MN House 26A DFL primary: a look at both candidates' environmental action claims
- Watch the July 30 Winona League of Women Voters MN House of Representatives District 26A Primary Forum
- Who's funding Minnesota House District 26A's pricey DFL primary? Looks like an expensive general ahead too given GOP cash reserves
- Fact checking: Was MN House District 26A candidate Sarah Kruger charged with a felony?
- Winona district write-in candidate seems confused about Pelowski voting record
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