It is a melancholy object to those who drive on the Evil Metro's interstate system or travel on public transit, when they see the streets, the roads, and bus and light-rail doors, crowded with African-American protesters and their allies objecting to the deaths of their fellow citizens at the hands of law enforcement, followed by three, four, or six members of Unicorn Riot, all in video gear and importuning every passenger for an interview.
These protesters, instead of being able to work and cut a check to the Citizens League & The Current for a Policy and Pints evening of oh-so-civil chatter, or securing a place at the table with the Itasca Project, are forced to employ all their time in strolling the freeways to beg for attention for justice for their dead community members. As the protests grow, they become either excuses for shootings by random racists, or attract the attention of state representative Nick Zerwas, a simple fellow who believes the recourse for such behavior is a year's jail time. As ace reporter Andy Mannix tweeted during yesterday's consideration of Zerwas' vision:
Zerwas:"If youre on the freeway, if youre blocking an airport, if youre blocking a train, you deserve to go to jail. It’s just that simple.”
We think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of road, transit and mall shutdowns is in the present deplorable state of the State of Minnesota a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making protesters sound, useful and visible members of the Gopher State, would deserve so well of the public as to have her statue set up for a preserver of the North.
As a resident bucolic Greater Minnesota, we have often observed farmers mowing and haying publicly-owned right-of-ways along trunk highways in broad daylight, despite laws that prohibit mowing before late summer. And just last week, Chris Swedzinski’s ditch-mowing legislation passed in the Minnesota House, forbidding any rules to govern the gathering and selling of fodder taken off these roadside public(if narrow) lands.
A showdown over roadside mowing in rural Minnesota has unleashed a surprisingly passionate debate at the Legislature about the culture of farming, property rights and the desperate plight of bees and monarch butterflies.
It’s put wildlife in a fierce — but so far losing — competition with Minnesota farmers for the right to the increasingly valuable grass, flowers and other vegetation that grow along 175,000 acres of state-owned roads across the state.
A bill headed for a vote on the House floor would prevent the Minnesota Department of Transportation from asking landowners to get a permit before they mow roadside ditches and grassy shoulders . . .
In fact, a law on Minnesota’s books since 1985 prohibits roadside mowing before Aug. 1 and after Aug. 31 — a long-ago effort to protect nesting pheasants.
But it’s been widely ignored, transportation officials said; only about 40 permits a year have been issued for 12,000 miles of state-owned roadway. Officials said the agency has no power or penalties to enforce it.
In rural Minnesota, landowners adjacent to the roads largely believe they own the land to the centerline and the government has rights to use it, he said. While that’s largely true for county and township roads, it’s not so for the state.
That conflict--and the law-breaking behavior of the farmers--has earned both a lot of sympathy from Minnesota lawmakers and attention from the press.
Should Governor Dayton sign the omnibus public safety bill, Bluestem thinks that there's one easy way for BLM protestors to avoid arrest while gathering attention (and perhaps a little revenue). Don't break a Minnesota law by blocking traffic. Instead, pick up a few vintage tractors, mowers, and haying implements and head out to rural Minnesota's state highways before or after August. Make hay while the sun shines--and sell your hay bales to buy more farm equipment and a place at the table of policy making.
Since such law-breaking is deemed acceptable by the state legislature, the act of civil disobedience (and selling state property) won't be followed by the sort of draconian punishment Zerwas demands for blocking highways and transit without the chance of turning a dollar. It's an all-Minnesota win.
Bluestem professes, in the sincerity of our heart, that we have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of our state, by advancing agriculture trade, providing for justice, relieving the equity gap, and giving some pleasure to the legislators eating, talking, sleeping, playing cards and lounging around looking pale in the Minnesota House retiring room while the body is in session.
Bluestem has no property beside a state highway from which we can propose to get a single bail, nor do we keep even a pygmy goat for which we need fodder. Indeed, we find fodder enough for our purposes simply by paying attention to the Minnesota House.
Photo: In July 2016, the shooting death of Philando Castile by police prompted community members to block part of I94 in St. Paul. Should increased penalties for this behavior become law, Bluestem recommends that future civil disobedience consist of mow-ins along state highways. Image by Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune.
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Both the Swift County Monitor and the West Central Tribune are reporting that the sponsors of legislation to lease or purchase the shuttered private prison owned by CoreCivic, the human traffickers formerly known as Correctional Corporation of America, are hopeful the language will go forward, neither HF1510 nor SF1322, its state senate companion bill, received committee hearings by Friday's deadline.
So how does that work? Spoiler alert: there's a way for the measure to go forward, although they missed the first deadline. This path may also help minimize messy citizen testimony and demonstrations in the state capitol.
A bill that could put the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton in a better position to house prisoners at some point in the future has been introduced in the Minnesota House by District 17A Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg. In the Senate, District 17 Sen. Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, is carrying the bill.
However, the bill has yet to have a hearing and with the deadlines rapidly approaching in the Minnesota Legislature for bills to be heard, time is running out for it to move forward this year. [emphasis BSP]
The bill deadlines are: By March 10 committees must act favorably on bills in the house of origin; By March 17 committees must act favorably on bills, or companion bills, that met the first deadline in the other house; and, By March 31 committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.
Miller’s bill was introduced in the House Feb. 20 and referred to the Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee. It has yet to be heard in the committee. Though no hearing was scheduled for this week, Miller says that one “is in the works.”
So far, it's not scheduled to be heard next week in the committee where it was first sent. As of Saturday, March 11, 2017, the calendar for the Minnesota House Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee is hearing the following bills next week:
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
10:15 AM
Room: 10 State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Tony Cornish
Bills:
HF1773 - (Anderson): Tax Court appeal notice date clarified, alternative proof of timely mailing allowed, and small claims jurisdiction increased,
HF1838 - (Sauke): Tax related notice provisions modified.
HF630 - (Rarick): Child out-of-home placement cost aid under the Indian Child Welfare Act provided, and money appropriated.
HF1670 - (Zerwas): Driver diversion program made permanent, proof of insurance provided by courts authorized, uniform traffic ticket amended, waiver of criminal surcharge authorized, court appearance for driving offenses mandated, and money appropriated.
HF1702 - (Kresha): Children under 14 informed of the right to counsel, waivers of counsel required in writing by the child, and notice to counsel required.
HF1443 - (Loonan): Insurance fraud regulated, penalties and notices modified, term defined, Commerce Fraud Bureau authority to apply for or execute search warrants clarified.
HF1932 - (Theis): Central Minnesota Sex Trafficking Task Force funding provided, and money appropriated.
HF2017 - (Clark): Voice of East African Women grant for programs to reduce recruitment of East African youth by violent organizations established, grant to local governments with populations at risk for recruitment by violent organizations established, and money appropriated.
HF2068 - (Daniels): Antiterrorism grant funding provided, and money appropriated.
HF1833 - (Johnson): Emergency vehicles exempted from motor vehicle size, weight, and load restricts; and technical changes made.
. . . State Sen. Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, and Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, expect the legislation they authored to be receiving committee hearings in the next week or two. Miller told the Tribune he is confident the legislation will win approval in the House. Lang said he is optimistic for the legislation in the Senate as well. . . .
We'll see if the bills are added next week, before the second deadline, even though they weren't heard in committee in either body by the first deadline.
DOC Spokester: Challenge Incarceration Programs more effective option
Meanwhile, Cherveny reports that "neither legislator has heard how Gov. Mark Dayton feels about the legislation this session." However, the veteran reporter did ask the Governor's agency about the plan:
The Department of Corrections is not interested in utilizing the space in the Appleton facility, according to [Department of Corrections communications director Sarah] Fitzgerald. The department wants to address the needs by investing in the Challenge Incarceration Programs at the correctional facilities in Moose Lake and Togo. The chemical dependency program reduces recidivism and encourages offenders to change their criminal behaviors, according to Fitzgerald.
"CIP has a recidivism rate of only 32 percent and the additional beds would have an impact of over a half million dollars in cost avoided per year,'' she told the Tribune in an email.
Fitzgerald mentions the CIP facilities that house male offenders; CIP for women moved to Shakopee in 2014. The prison in Appleton has housed male offenders only; reopening the facility would not address overcrowding at Shakopee nor address needs of female offenders now boarded at county jails, although Miller used their plight (reported in the Star Tribune) when he spoke in 2016 to his earlier bill (HF3223) for reopening the prison.
Cost of Appleton facility?
In the West Central Tribune article Miller brings up prison expansion plan that the Dayton administration has abandoned, without getting into specifics about how much re-opening and running the Appleton prison might cost.
Fortunately, there's a document from Miller's last prison rodeo (on behalf of his political contributors): the fiscal note created by House nonpartisan staff for 2016's HF3223. Here's that document:
Bluestem Prairie reached out to Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, the minority lead on the Minnesota House Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee, in order to discover how policy bills that missed deadlines might still go forward. Hilstrom speculated that while the House bill itself wouldn't reach the floor without suspension of the rules, committee chair Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, could insert funding for leasing/purchasing, then operating the facility, in in his budget bill, which has yet to be unveiled.
According to Hilstrom, HF986 is the "governor's bill" for the courts, public safety and corrections. If Bluestem isn't mistaken (we may be), Cornish can hear testimony on the policy bills, but not move them forward; instead, the measure would be funded in the Public Safety omnibus budget bill.
One supposes that the language might also be slipped into another bill via the amendment process in committee or on the House floor--though that isn't exactly the "hearing" for the bills that Miller and Lang say they've been promised.
Should funding for leasing/purchasing and operating the prison reach the Governor's desk via an omnibus budget bill, Mark Dayton has the option of a line item veto. In Minnesota, a governor can use the line item for a budget line (example here), but not a policy line, Hilstrom explained to Bluestem.
Hilstrom is the author of HF1692, which would require all state and local prisoners to be housed in public facilities, while prohibiting the state and counties from contracting with private prisons. Like its senate companion bill, SF1675 (Ron Latz), the bill did not receive a committee hearing by the March 10 deadline. There's a lot of that going around.
We'll keep watching this issue.
Note: Process isn't Bluestem's forte, so if we've stumbled in this explanation, please let us know.
Photo: The prison fence, with Appleton's water tower behind it.
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The Swift County Monitor reports that Minnesota House Public Safety Chair Tony Cornish would like to lease the closed private prison in Appleton--and that Corrections Corporation of America has rebranded itself as CoreCivic.
Swift County is already gearing up to make another effort to get the State of Minnesota to lease or buy the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton.
At the county board’s meeting Dec. 19, Commissioner Gary Hendrickx, District 1-Appleton, reported that he and Commission Chair Pete Peterson, District 3-south Benson, had attended a meeting of representatives of lobbying firm Goff Public and CoreCivic, the owner of the prison.
CoreCivic is the new name of Corrections Corporation of America, the country’s largest owner of private prison facilities. It changed its name this past fall. . . .
Also at the meeting was District 17A state Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, and state Senator-elect Andrew Lang, R-Olivia. The meeting was called to formulate a strategy for lobbying the Legislature during the 2017 session. . . .
It has been estimated that reopening the prison would create 350 jobs for western Minnesota, have a $13 to $15 million payroll, and provide a significant boost to the local economies of the many small towns from which the employees come.
Hendrickx told fellow commissioners that it seems that the appetite to purchase isn’t as strong as it was last year; there is more of an appetite to lease, he said.
Whose appetite is favoring leasing over buying? Commissioner Ed Pederson, District 2-north Benson, asked Hendrickx.
Republican Tony Cornish, chair of the state House’s Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, seems to have more of an appetite for a lease, Hendrickx said. The lease doesn’t require the big upfront dollar amount a purchase would, he said.
Minnesota Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton, who has not looked at any use of the Appleton prison favorably, still has indicated he leans toward a purchase if it is done.
For the Appleton area, whether it is a lease or a purchase, it is the jobs that are important, Hendrickx said. But it is also important that the agreement that is reached whether a purchase or a lease shows a commitment to use the facility for the long term to ensure job stability, Hendrickx said. [emphasis added]
Unintentional humor? The story is filed under Death Notices. It's also clear from Commissioner Hendrickx that for Swift County, this thrust isn't about overcrowding or concern for the inmates, as was claimed during the session, but jobs.
[Miller] did manage to snag some campaign cash from Corrections Corporation of America's executives and their spouses, as well as from a couple of CCA corporate lobbyists. From his pre-general election report to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (available here):
Finally, there's the $500 each of CCA's corporate lobbyists (Kelly Durham and Brad Regens, page 7 of Miller's 2016 pre-general report) handed over.
All that money must be smooth as Tennessee whiskey for blunting the blow of rejection by Swift County's finest news source (We're not being snarly about the Monitor, whose editor is highly respected among country newspaper people).
Remember, Minnesota Republicans are talking about draining the swamp, but not how they'll replace the cash that waters their own campaigns if they were to not reward CoreCivics for the cash.
Screenshot: We're not sure if the Swift County Monitor wanted to file this story under the obits.
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But the commissioners instructed Soil and Water Conservation District Director Holly Hatlewick and Drainage Authority Director Larry Zupke not to go ahead with plans to send letters notifying landowners impacted by the requirement to add a one-rod buffer along public drainage systems.
Landowners must be in compliance with that requirement by Nov. 1, 2018.
Commissioner Randy Kramer said the county should wait until after the upcoming legislative session to send the 2018 letters, calling it “premature’’ to send the notifications at this point. [emphasis added]
If the legislature revisits statutes related to buffers in 2017, that'll be the third time in as many years that the House Republicans in control of the body try to get it right--all the while blaming the legislation on metro Democrats.
Nice work if you can get it.
If it weren't for the chance to make this political hay while the sun shines on their whining about the onerous burden of the language folks like Jeff Backer and others fought (and voted for) in 2015 and 2016, we'd have to wonder why the stalwart yeoman liberty defending Republicans would swim up this bull ditch again.
The commissioners noted that some landowners may choose not to comply with the buffer requirements.
Kramer reported that he has had a lot of questions from landowners regarding the $500 penalty for not complying with the law. Some may pencil out the costs of compliance against the penalty, he added.
In short, they'll make more money by sending water quality problem downstream than by being law-abiding. Now that's oppression!
Renville County is represented in the Minnesota House by anti-buffer whiner Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, who--wait for it--voted for the buffer bills in 2015 and 2016.
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A former oil company executive from Minnesota has been ordered to repay $6.5 million in "ill-gotten gains," plus a fine and accrued interest, in the wake of a stock manipulation scheme involving a North Dakota oil loading facility for which he and business associates reaped an estimated $32 million.
An Oct. 31 order from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission puts Michael L. Reger on the hook for nearly $8 million for his involvement with Dakota Plains Holdings, a Minnesota company that owns the oil terminal in New Town in northwest North Dakota.
Reger must repay investors a $6.5 million "disgorgement," a term for funds that were received through illegal or unethical business transactions. He was also ordered to pay $669,365 in interest, plus a $750,000 fine.
In a separate action, the SEC charged Reger's former business partner, Ryan Gilbertson, in the stock manipulation scheme, for allegedly orchestrating an elaborate scheme to siphon millions of dollars from Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. Two others have also been charged in the stock manipulation case.
For Reger, 40, the SEC's action represents a staggering blow to a once promising career. His family has been involved in the oil and gas business since the 1930s. In 2012 and 2013, Forbes named Reger one of "America's Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under." He received widespread recognition for the company's success as Bakken oil production soared.
Last August Reger was terminated as chief executive from Northern Oil and Gas Inc., a Wayzata, Minn., company which he co-founded in 2006. His firing came soon after Reger told company officials that he had received notice from the SEC that he was the target of an investigation for securities violations. . . .
SEC investigators concluded that Reger acted negligently in failing to disclose his ownership and control of Dakota Plains. Federal securities law prohibits a person to offer securities while attempting to mislead or commit fraud on the purchaser.
Meanwhile, investors of Northern Oil and Gas Inc. have filed a class-action lawsuit, naming the company, Reger and interim CEO Thomas Stoelk as defendants. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, accuses Reger and other company officials of unethical and illegal activities while managing the energy company. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, in addition to costs and attorney's fees.
We'd wondered where Reger, who contributed $71,250.00 to Minnesota Republican candidates and friendly commitees between 2006-2014 (MN CFB searchable database here), had washed up, as he disappeared from Republican campaign finance reports this cycle.
The company also gave $25,000 directly to the Minnesotan Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund PAC on August 15, 2014 (p. 6, year end report). That's at least $25,000 and perhaps as much $50,000 of good Bakken crude flowing into Minnesota politics for independent expenditures.
It's hard not to envision at least some of that oozing into the hands of the venders MJC chair (now House Majority executive director) Ben Golnik hired to craft $58,640 worth of attacks against DFL state representative Melissa Hortman in House District 36B (page 18, year end report).
After all, in the 2013-2014 session when the DFL held the majority in the Minnesota House, the Brooklyn Park Democrat chaired the Energy Policy Committee, helping to shepherd through clean energy policy.
Northern Oil and Gas Inc Chair and CEO Micheal Reger also gave big to the HRCC, the campaign committee for Minnesota House Republicans. Reger dropped $10,000 into the HRCC kitty on October 14, 2014, (p. 48 year end report) after giving the committee $25,000.00 on December 31, 2013 (p. 26 year-end report), or $35,000 for the cycle.
He was also generous in 2014 to individual Republican state representatives and challengers campaigns, as well as Republican Attorney General candidate Scott Newman (all information via the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's searchable database):
02-05-2014 Gunderson, Heidi Ann House Dist. 42B Committee $1,000.00 02-05-2014 Uglem, Mark W House Dist. 36A Committee $1,000.00 02-07-2014 Johnson, Brian L House Dist. 32A Committee $1,000.00 02-08-2014 Kresha, Ronald House Dist. 9B Committee $1,000.00 02-11-2014 Nelson, Gary House Dist. 17A Committee $1,000.00 02-17-2014 Barrett, Robert (Bob) C House Dist. 32B Committee $1,000.00 02-19-2014 Todd-Harlin, Andrea House Dist. 51A Committee $1,000.00 06-17-2014 Fenton, Kelly A House Dist. 53B Committee $1,000.00 06-20-2014 Daudt, Kurt House Dist. 31A Committee $1,000.00 07-10-2014 Anselmo, Dario Arthur House Dist. 49A Committee $1,000.00 08-13-2014 Newman, Scott Atty. Gen. Committee $2,500.00 10-22-2014 Rutzick, Ryan L House Dist. 44B Committee $1,000.00 02-05-2014 Stensrud, Kirk D House Dist. 48A Committee $1,000.00 02-05-2014 Quam, Duane R House Dist. 25A Committee $1,000.00 02-07-2014 Peterson, Roz House Dist. 56B Committee $1,000.00 02-15-2014 Kiel, Debra (Deb) L House Dist. 1B Committee $1,000.00 02-18-2014 Bowles, Polly Peterson House Dist. 49A Committee $1,000.00 03-15-2014 Petersburg, John House Dist. 24A Committee $1,000.00 02-08-2014 Green, Steve House Dist. 2B Committee $1,000.00
That's $18,000 more total to Minnesota House Republican candidates. Add that to the $35,000 to the HRCC and the $25,000 to the MJC, Reger & Company gave $78,000 to help flip the chamber, and possibly $25,000 more via the RSLC.
Those checks that helped flip the Minnesota House in 2014 were drawn from some hard-working North Dakota oil money, if we're to believe those scallywags at the federal Security and Exchange Commission.
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November 8th marked a big day for cannabis advocates. Ballot questions were passed in four states legalizing adult use, and four more states legalized medical cannabis. Sensible Minnesota congratulates the tireless efforts of advocates in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada for legalizing adult use and in Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota for medical use. We also applaud the hard fight put up by advocates of adult us in Arizona who were ultimately overcome by a reefer madness ad campaign funded by Chandler pharmaceutical, a company which manufactures fentanyl, and Discount Tire. The Drug Policy Alliance has provided a breakdown of the different ballot questions, as well as commentary on the presidential election, available here.
November 8th also elected a new president who will take office on January 20, 2017. With the changing administration, we may also see a changing policy for how the federal government enforces cannabis laws. Under the current Obama Administration, federal cannabis prohibition laws are enforced based on a series of executive orders of the Attorney General’s office. These executive orders were issued under former Attorney General Eric Holder’s watch and outline eight priorities for cannabis prohibition enforcement:
Preventing the distribution of cannabis to minors;
Preventing revenue from the sale of cannabis from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels;
Preventing the diversion of cannabis from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;
Preventing state-authorized cannabis activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity;
Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of cannabis;
Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with cannabis use;
Preventing the growing of cannabis on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by cannabis production on public lands; and
Preventing cannabis possession or use on federal property.
The new presidential administration will likely set new policies in regards to enforcement priorities of federal cannabis prohibition. The president-elect has indicated his support for both medical cannabis and the states’ right to regulate cannabis for adult use, but many of his closest advisors, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, have expressed adamant opposition to cannabis legalization.
On Thursday, November 18th we learned that the president-elect plans to appoint Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Senator Sessions, along with his partner in crime Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have been adamantly opposed to cannabis legalization efforts, for both medical and adult use. Just in April, at a Senate drug hearing, Sessions said “we need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that’s in fact a very real danger.” Sessions, a big fan of Nancy Regan’s ‘Just Say No’ campaign in the early 1980’s went so far to say that the Obama Administration’s policies reverses “20 years almost of hostility to drugs that begin really when Nancy Regan started ‘Just Say No.’”
Senator Sessions is a “worse than worst case scenario” for the movement, but we’re hopeful the president-elect influences his policy choices by continuing the policies set forth by the Obama Administration. This is also an opportunity for the U.S. Senate to fail confirmation of Sessions, and stand firm against prohibition. Those in the industry, advocates, patients, and consumers should follow this closely, contact their Senators, and be on high alert for federal enforcement on January 21, 2017.
An additional level of protection, at least for patients in medical states, is the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment that prohibits the Department of Justice, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, from using funds to arrest or prosecute patients, caregivers, and businesses operating in compliance with state medical cannabis laws. This amendment was passed as part of a larger appropriations bill that deals with federal government spending.
The appropriations bill is passed annually and addresses the government’s discretionary spending. In 2015, amendments, including the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, protecting states with medical cannabis and hemp programs were passed by wide margins, we expect these amendments to remain in place. However, another amendment that would prohibit the use of federal funds for enforcement in states that permit adult use failed 202-222 in the Republican controlled House.
We do not know if a Republican-controlled Senate will provide funds for enforcement of federal law. If they don’t renew the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment and other defunding measures, expect full enforcement by the federal government under an Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Minnesota
Many Minnesotans are also wondering what the outcome of our state elections mean for cannabis policy right here at home. As you may know, Republicans won control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and a Democratic Governor remains in office through 2018. We understand there is a great need to not only expand allowable conditions under Minnesota’s current medical cannabis program, we need to also see expansions such as allowing plant materials which is cheaper to get to retail, additional providers of medical cannabis, and allowing patients who do not live near a patient care center to grow at home.
Although we are optimistic the Republican-controlled Legislature will work hard to expand patient access, historically, Republican controlled legislatures in Minnesota have been difficult for advocates to work with. In 2014, the current medical cannabis legislation was passed by the DFL controlled Senate with a 48-18 vote. Republican Senators Benson, Chamberlin, Housley, Newman, Pratt, and Senjem voted in the affirmative and were reelected in 2016, so it is our hope that one or more of these Senators will step forward to help gain better access for more patients.
In the House of Representatives, Republicans will retain control, and we expect to find the biggest roadblock to be in the Public Safety Committee, previously chaired by Rep. Tony Cornish who has been a staunch opponent of pro-cannabis legislation and criminal justice reform in the past. We are hopeful that the House Republicans will appoint a Public Safety Chair who will not obstruct progress for political gain, but rather will hold hearings on any proposed pro-cannabis legislation. Whether this is Rep. Cornish or another Republican leader, we believe this will be the biggest roadblock in the reform movement.
In analyzing the results of Minnesota’s legislative election, we look to the party platforms for guidance in how we expect the controlling majority may act. The Minnesota GOP passed two platform resolutions regarding cannabis policy, one in favor of medical use and one opposed to adult/recreational use. As an aside, the DFL passed an action agenda item in 2016 supporting the legalization of both medical and adult-use cannabis.
We don’t expect to see any major changes to the current legislation, nor do we expect the Minnesota GOP controlled legislature to pick up the topic of adult use. It will be up to Minnesota in 2018 to elect pro-cannabis candidates to engage in real reforms.
This post first appeared on the Sensible Minnesota blog on November 21, 2016.
Vice President/Treasurer of Sensible Minnesota, Maren Joyce Schroeder is a paralegal and Qualified Rule 114 Neutral for Borgos Law, PLLC, has nearly ten years of experience working in various areas of law including financial, corporate, intellectual property, nonprofit, tax, and criminal defense.
She has a B.S. in Paralegal Studies and an M.B.A. in Legal Administration. Maren is a PACE Registered Paralegal and a Minnesota Certified Paralegal. She serves as the Regulation Review Coordinator for the NFPA and the Director of Professional Development for the Minnesota Paralegal Association. As the chair of MPA’s Regulation Committee, she worked in 2014 to develop the Minnesota Certified Paralegal program. A member of the Minnesota State Bar Association, she was recently appointed to the MSBA’s Task Force on Alternative Legal Services Models. Also active in the community, Maren serves on her city’s Planning & Zoning Commission, is a volunteer crisis advocate for victims of sexual assault, and is a volunteer family and school mediator.
Correction: Bluestem Prairie had incorrectly attributed authorship of this post to another officer of Sensible Minnesota. We regret the error.
Photo: This is what legal medical cannabis looks like in Minnesota: an extract or oil from one of two companies that grow and process the plant. Whole plants (leaves) for smoking? Not allowed.
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Tuesday, police received two reports of protesters outside Vinje Lutheran Church on the 1100 block of Willmar Avenue Southwest. Vinje was a polling place in Tuesday's election.
The first was reported around 5 p.m. A man was standing outside the polling place with an anti-abortion sign. The man had reportedly been asked to leave, but was refusing to.
At 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, police received another report of a protester in the parking lot of the same church. The man was advised of Minnesota statute barring protesters within 100 feet of a polling place
Minnesota election judges take our statutes very seriously, though it's likely many of those voting at the location agreed with the protester. The right of voters to cast their ballots without encountering persuasion or intimidation at their polling location is part of the process.
The man was persistant--and likely there to shame Clinton supporters.
According to the interactive poll finder at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website, Vinje Lutheran Church is the polling place for Willmar Ward 2, Precinct 2. The vote in the precinct heavily favored Republican candidates who opposed reproductive rights (and in the U.S. House, Minnesota Senate and Minnesota House, all DFL and GOP candidates were anti-choice; that left the Presidential race).
With the exception of conservative Blue Dog Republican Collin Peterson, the precinct voted heavily Republican. This was not the case in 2014, when citizens favored DFL candidates with the exception of Dan Severson for Minnesota Secretary of State; in 2012, the voters split their tickets, picking Romney--but Klobuchar for U.S. Senator, Republican candidate Joe Gimse over eventual winner Lyle Koenen for state senate (both were sitting senators at the time) and Sawatzky over sitting state representative Bruce Vogel.
It's a swing district, but both Republican and DFL candidates for the state legislature from Willmar are pro-life.
Photo: File photo of the church, via West Central Tribune.
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Bluestem is no friend of private prisons, so this fact check relates only to a claim made about legislation related to the Appleton prison in a lit piece Representative Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, has been distributing in doorknocks and lit drops in Minnesota House District 17A.
As the photo above shows, the lit piece states that Andrew Falk "Never proposed or offered a bill addressing the Appleton prison closure." The prison closed in February 2010, according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio.
Falk maintains otherwise, stating that he worked with the late State Senator Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, on language that would require the Department of Correction to house prisoners in the Appleton prison.
Miller's claim that Falk "never" proposed or offered a bill addressing the Appleton prison is false.
On March 4, 2010, Falk introduced HF3375, which would have shifted control of a portion of the Moose Lake Correctional facility from the commissioner of corrections to the commissioner of human services, and transferring offenders who had been incarcerated to private prisons.
In Minnesota, that would be the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton.
Relevant text: "requiring the commissioner of corrections to incarcerate offenders from the transferred portion [of Moose Lake] in private prisons" and "appropriating money for costs incurred by the Department of Corrections to incarcerate the offenders transferred to private prisons."
This is unlike Miller's proposed bill (HF3223), which did not appropriate funds for operating the Appleton facility. Read the Fiscal Note on HF3223 for an idea of what the nonpartisan staff at the Minnesota House Fiscal Analysis Department estimated running the prison would cost.
And there's this in the Falk bill:
No later than December 31, 2010, the commissioner of corrections shall transfer 50 percent of the offenders incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Moose Lake to a privately owned and operated medium security correctional facility within the state if the commissioner is able to negotiate an agreement to do so with the facility. If the commissioner is unable to successfully negotiate an agreement with the facility, the commissioner shall transfer the offenders to other state or locally operated correctional facilities or to privately owned correctional facilities in other states.
We're guessing CCA would have wanted the facility to be generating revenue, rather than sitting idle.
Kubly was the chief author of the state senate companion bill, SF2876. While Falk's bill had no co-authors, Kubly was joined by four colleagues from both sides of the aisle:
While not being accurate about Falk's record, Miller has been successful in making the closed prison more of an issue for the district. Koenen had served in the House until the special election in 2012, but didn't sign on to the 2010 Falk-Kubly bill, and still beat Gimse in the 2012 special election.
In 2016, however, Koenen is the chief author of the senate companion bill, SF3192. Falk, on the other hand, now proposes buying the prison for its assessed tax value and re-purposing it as a mental health and substance abuse treatment center.
Photo: The Miller lit piece with the claim about Falk's inaction on the Appleton prison.
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An invitation will be on its way to Gov. Mark Dayton to tour the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton.
Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, is asking the governor to tour the shuttered prison after hearing recent news reports that the governor is opposed to purchasing the facility.
Miller said he is particularly concerned about a statement attributed to the governor in news reports in March. Dayton expressed concerns at the time that the privately owned prison needed rehabilitation.
Bluestem thinks it's encouraging that Representative Miller has noticed that Dayton isn't interested in purchasing the prison and hasn't been since his chief of staff met with CCA lobbyist(s) at their request sometime before the March 23 press conference.
Miller had nearly the whole session to bring up his objections to the governor's office, but waits until now to run to the West Central Tribune with his concerns. You'd think he'd get this work done during the session, but we suppose that's too old school for Miller and the rest of his caucus.
But Miller still told the public that some deal was in the works throughout the summer. After all, back at the beginning of July, the first-term Prinsburg Republican lawmaker was telling Appleton residents that a $99 million offer to sell was on the table.
Miller said the opposition continued to ignore the fact that the corporation had offered the state an option to purchase or lease to own, and that the state would have operated the prison with union employees.
Corrections Corporation of America had offered to lease the facility for $6 million to $8 million a year, and to sell it for $99 million. The lease payments could be used toward the purchase price, according to Miller.
Appleton attorney Brian Wojtalewicz questioned the $99 million purchase price when Corrections Corporation of America is paying property taxes based on a $15 million value. Miller said that's the offer the corporation put on the table. Negotiations between the state and the company are not in the Legislature's hands.
Miller said he is hoping Gov. Dayton will take advantage of either of two upcoming visits to the area to tour the facility. The governor be in the Watson and Montevideo area for the Governor's Pheasant Opener on Oct. 15. The governor is also visiting all 87 counties in coming months.
What other needs that the legislature didn't get around to resolving during the session does the King of Minnesota want to introduce into the governor's calendar?
Dayton's press secretary, Sam Fettig, said Friday that the governor's focus, along with Department of Corrections Commissioner Tom Roy, has been "to resolve our prison overcrowding with existing facilities, but it is a strategy which can be reviewed by the next Legislature."
Dawdling over approving untested blaze pink for deer hunters, fretting about where transgender people pee and other such time-suckers during session has its consequences.
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The crash marked the latest in a long line of driving-related maladies for Daudt, the highest-ranking Republican in the state. In recent years, Daudt has been cited with four moving violations and two license suspensions for failure to pay fines in Minnesota.
Daudt has received two tickets driving at least 15 miles per hour over the limit, a third for speeding and a fourth for texting while driving, all since joining the Legislature in 2010.
The speaker declined to comment on the story, but sent a statement through his spokeswoman. House GOP spokeswoman Susan Closmore said the crash was unremarkable, but that political rivals are using the incident to try to damage Daudt politically.
While only a poor country blogger rather than a political rival, Bluestem pauses to join the dog pile.
On April 28, 2015, Daudt voted against an amendment to SF 878, offered by Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, which would have increased fines for texting while driving that occur within one year of the first violation. Under the amendment, a second violation within one year would incur a fine of $350, and a third or subsequent violation within one year would incur a fine of $500.
Did Daudt's dubious driving record influence the Speaker to vote against the Atkins amendment? Or was it just one of those partisan-line votes?
"I paid my speeding ticket and I fully intended to pay the right amount," he said. "People shouldn't speed, people should pay their speeding tickets, and I shouldn't have sped. There's no excuse."
. . ."I'm in the public eye and rightfully have to be held to a very high standard," he said. "I will get it fixed."
Perhaps Speaker Daudt, who reportedly has gubernatorial ambitions, might think about that concept.
Photo: Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt in a pout.
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Are negotiations underway between the owner, Corrections Corporation of America and the State of Minnesota? How much is the closed Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton worth?
The answer to the first question appears to be no, while finding the answer to the second is more complex--and CCA's current price tag may butt against a little-known state law passed in 2014.
UPDATE August 19: About 20 minutes after this post was published, the West Central Tribune published Forum Communications political reporter Don Davis' article, Dayton not interested in Appleton prison purchase. [end update]
Rumors of negotiations
Earlier this summer, Representative Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, told a town hall meeting in Appleton that CCA lobbyists met with the governor's office and made an offer to lease the Prairie Correctional Facility "for $6 million to $8 million a year, and to sell it for $99 million. The lease payments could be used toward the purchase price, according to Miller," Tom Cherveny reported in the West Central Tribune.
Miller said the opposition continued to ignore the fact that the corporation had offered the state an option to purchase or lease to own, and that the state would have operated the prison with union employees.
Corrections Corporation of America had offered to lease the facility for $6 million to $8 million a year, and to sell it for $99 million. The lease payments could be used toward the purchase price, according to Miller.
Appleton attorney Brian Wojtalewicz questioned the $99 million purchase price when Corrections Corporation of America is paying property taxes based on a $15 million value. Miller said that's the offer the corporation put on the table. Negotiations between the state and the company are not in the Legislature's hands.
While there was opposition to the prison legislation, Miller said there was also some progress. There was sentiment in the Senate in favor of purchasing the facility. And, the governor's office had met with lobbyists for Corrections Corporation of America to discuss the offer, he said.
The article--verified as accurate by two acquaintances who attended the town hall--raised a series of basic questions about the offer. With yesterday's announcement by the federal government that it will be phasing out private prisons, the notion of purchasing the prison was back in the West Central Tribune. Veteran reporter Carolyn Lange writes in Lawmakers speculate price of Appleton prison could drop with federal phase-out of private facilities:
News Thursday that the federal government intends to phase out use of privately owned prisons has renewed questions about the future of the privately owned prison in Appleton.
During the last year Corrections Corporation of America and officials from Appleton and Swift County launched a campaign to persuade the state to lease—or buy—the prison to ease overcrowded state prisons.
That proposal was opposed by Gov. Mark Dayton and a variety of political, religious and community groups who oppose for-profit prisons.
But there's speculation now that the Appleton prison may be available at a bargain price after CCA's stock prices plunged about 35 percent a few hours after the announcement by the Department of Justice.
The action by the federal government will likely put "downward pressure" on the price of the Appleton prison, said Sen. Lyle Koenen, DFL-Clara City.
"That puts us in a good negotiating position," said Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg.
Oh? In the earlier article, Miller asserted that the legislature had no role in negotiations, so it looks like Miller is indulging his proclivity for wanting to have things any number of ways depending on the audience and situation (more on that with regard to the prison in a bit).
Some basic questions (and answers) about "the offer"
Earlier, Bluestem had attempted to contact the governor's office, two state agencies, the Chief Fiscal Analyst of the Minnesota House Fiscal Analysis Department, a CCA staff lobbyist and contract lobbyists while consulting other sources in an attempt to learn more about the offer mentioned in the first article (and reported again in Thursday's article).
Our questions were basic in reporting terms, looking for the when of the meeting with the governor's office, the who of those attending the meeting, the how this offer was calculated and how it was conveyed (written or oral) and the like.
While the CCA lobbyists did not answer emails or voice messages, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Administration (which manages government property) both were unaware that an offer was on the table.
The office of senator Ron Latz, who convened the prison population task force, was not aware of the offer.
According to administration Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor Matt Swenson, Dayton's chief of staff Jamie Tincher met with a CCA lobbyist (or lobbyists) at their request. While Swenson offered few details about the meeting, it concurs with Minnesota Public Radio's Brian Bakst reporting in Dayton sounds off on prison, PolyMet, MNsure and more:
Reopening a western Minnesota prison. In no uncertain terms, the governor said he would veto a bill with traction in the House to reopen a private prison in western Minnesota under some level of state control.
“I’m told they want $100 million to buy it. Then we have to rehab it and operate it. Hugely expensive. And I certainly don’t support this private corporation being authorized or leasing the facility to them or paying to have them to come back and do it with all the problems they brought before,” Dayton said.
According to Swenson, Dayton's knowledge of the $100 million price tag comes from this single meeting with Tincher.
While advocates for reopening the prison took this press conference statement as a hopeful sign, a review of the press conference footage (unavailable online, as it was removed with other press conference footage that was found to be non-compliant with the state's Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] policy) reveals that Bakst's account is accurate--and Dayton doesn't seem particularly happy with the added expenses that would follow a hypothetical purchase.
We also contacted nonpartisan House staffer Bill Marx,the Chief Fiscal Analyst of the Minnesota House Fiscal Analysis Department , who responded in two emails. Bluestem received the first on July 15:
The bill that had a hearing in the House and was moved to the Ways and Means Committee (HF 3223) directed the state to rent the Appleton facility. So the fiscal note on that bill did not address the value of the facility. The fiscal note is attached - there may be items of interest.
Here's the fiscal note for HF 3223, which only addressed the cost of leasing and operating the Prairie Correctional Facility:
Then the House Public Safety portion of the Supplemental Appropriations bill that went to the Supplemental Budget bill conference committee. contained language (copied below) that directed the commissioner of corrections to negotiate a contract to purchase or lease to own the facility. That language did not become law. I am not aware of any estimate that we had for the cost of purchasing the facility. Our fiscal analyst who works with Public Safety issues is not in the office today. . . .
The second email from was received on July 21:
I have talked with several more legislative staff about the value of the Appleton prison.
The taxable market value is $14 million, as you stated.
Our fiscal analyst who works with Public Safety issues says he heard a $90 million number at one time but has seen no documentation of that and only heard the number once. He says he is aware of no discussion of what the state might pay if the state purchased the facility.
If the prison were operating the taxable value might be considerable higher than $14 million. Do you have any way of getting county tax information from a time when the prison was operating?
When reviewed in tandem with the Department of Corrections and the Administrative Services being unaware of any offer, it appears that no active negotiations are underway, however pro-prison folks might spin it.
How much is that prison in the window?
A review of available sources about the value of the prison while it was operating suggests that $99 million or $100 million may be a steep price for the facility. According to bipartisan legislation passed in 2014 and signed by the governor, no state agency (with the exceptions of the DNR, MNDOT and BWSR), the University of Minnesota and MnSCU may pay not over ten percent of the appraised value of real property. Assessed, appraised and "carrying value" are not equivalent terms.
The highest assessed value that we were able to find in news reports is based on Swift County tax information that was challenged by CCA. In 2009, the Morris Sun Tribune reported in Appeal likely on valuation of Appleton prison:
A $20 million difference of opinion in the market value of a privately owned prison in Appleton could end up in court.
The Swift County assessor set the 2009 value of the property at $42.9 million.
A representative of the Corrections Corporation of America told the Swift County Board of Appeal and Equalization on Tuesday the property should be valued at $23.7 million.
The board, which is comprised of the members of the regular Board of Commissioners, denied a request to lower the property values. . . .
Unlike residential property values that are set each year, Swift County and the prison have agreed to go through the complicated process every three years to establish a three-year schedule for the valuations.
During the last round in 2006, the prison filed an appeal in court and then the two sides negotiated an agreement, said Giese. The county spent about $5,000 in legal fees.
The commissioners are hoping a similar smooth scenario takes place this time.
In 2003, a different approach was used. At that time, each entity hired appraisers and attorneys and negotiated an agreement without court intervention.
Ironically, that method cost the county about $125,000 in legal fees.
Giese said it's actually easier to negotiate an agreement once an appeal has been filed in court, than doing it outside the boundaries of the court. Also, he said, when an agreement is negotiated during a court appeal, the settlement is binding.
In 2006 the property value of the prison was set at $24 million. In 2007 it was $28 million and in 2008 it was set at $32 million.
Although prison populations are decreasing and the prison is currently at 55 percent capacity, during the last three years it's been at about 98 percent capacity, said Giese. That historical data was used to determine the 2009 rate.
In short, when the prison was operating at near-capacity, it was assessed at $42.9 million, though CCA thought it was worth quite a bit less. An anti-privatization website created by the Private Corrections Working Group, includes subsequent news coverage in its Minnesota Hall of Shame page (we have broken the copy into block paragraphs to make it more readable, but have not changed the content)
June 21, 2012 West Central Tribune
The market value of the privately owned Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton — its prison beds empty for nearly 2½ years — has been reduced by $7.5 million to a new value of $14 million.The reduction was approved Tuesday night by the Swift County Board of Equalization.
But even that large reduction may not be enough to prevent the prison’s owner, Corrections Corporation of America, from seeking even greater tax relief by means of an appeal to the state. “They left, we hope, content enough not to appeal to the state board of equalization,” said Swift County Auditor Byron Giese. Assistant County Assessor Wayne Knutson had said the prison property should be valued at $22.5 million.
The Corrections Corporation of America said it should be valued at $10 million.[bold added] The Swift County Board of Equalization members agreed that the value of the empty prison should be reduced and members compromised with a market value of $14 million. It’s not known if Corrections Corporation of America will accept that $14 million valuation or if it will stage another appeal.
The $14 million valuation is a far cry from the $42.9 million the county assessor valued the property at in 2010. That rate was also later reduced during a court appeal and binding negotiation — a process in which the county and Corrections Corporation of America has engaged ever since the 1,600-bed prison opened in 2001. “They have appealed every single time,” said Giese.
March 17, 2010 West Central Tribune
A tentative three-year tax agreement reached with the Corrections Corporation of America will mean lost revenues for Swift County, especially in 2011. Property taxes will likely increase to make up for a decrease in revenue that the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton had generated in the past, said Swift County Auditor Byron Giese.
The prison, which closed in February, had appealed its $42.9 million valuation last fall, triggering a series of negotiation sessions. Following a closed meeting Tuesday, the Swift County Board of Commissioners approved a three-year deal that assumes the prison will remain empty in 2011 and hopeful that it will reopen in 2012, said Giese.
The first part of the agreement includes a reduction in the 2009 valuation from $42.9 million to $32 million for the 2010 payable taxes. That translates into a loss of $50,000 in tax revenue to the county this year, which Giese said will have to come out of the county budget. “It’s something we have to deal with. It’s not insurmountable,” he said.
Harder hit is the city of Appleton that will see $250,000 less in revenue. The Lac qui Parle Valley School District will have a decrease of $40,000 because of the lowered valuation of the prison, and the state will get $60,000 less Giese, said. The 2010 valuation, for taxes payable in 2011, will be lowered to $17.5 million.
The financial impact on tax revenues for the local entities hadn’t been calculated with that low valuation. “Everyone will have to live with it and move forward,” Giese said. He said property taxes may have to increase 3 to 4 percent on each parcel to make up for the lost prison revenue: “Local taxpayers will pay more.”
In the final phase of the three-year plan, the 2011 valuation for taxes payable in 2012 would increase to $21.5 million. “We’re anticipating that, hopefully, it’ll be open again,” said Giese, explaining why the valuation is scheduled to increase at that time. Corrections Corporation of America, which has other empty prisons in the system, has assured the county that reopening the Appleton prison is their number one priority.
“It’s not good for any of us to have this thing closed,” Giese said. The board did express concern, however, that if the prison opens its doors again in a few months with the lower valuation that the county “could look like we have egg on our face,” said Giese. “But it would be a good thing to have it back open.”
The tax plan was approved on a 4-1 vote, with Chairman Richard Hanson casting the lone no vote. Commissioners Gary Hendrickx, Joe Fox, Doug Anderson and Pete Peterson voted for the plan, which still must get final approval from Corrections Corporation of America and the courts.
Another concern with the closed prison is the effect it will have on the 2010 Census. Ten years ago the facility had 1,400 prisoners that counted toward the county’s population. The population of a community is a factor in obtaining such things as federal aid. Giese said if the prison opens and the population increases in the future, the county could appeal the census count.
The one bright spot financially for the county is that a $200,000 annual tax abatement that was part of the prison’s economic development incentive has expired after 10 years, said Giese.
The carrying cost of the prison in CCA's most recent annual report (2015) is $17,961,000 (F-20). Carrying value reflects the purchase price of property.
Why buy or lease?
Those who oppose re-opening the prison by and large look to sentencing and probation reform, as well as expansion of alternative programs like the Challenge Incarceration Program (CIP) to reduce Minnesota's prison population.
Those who seek to re-open the prison see incarceration as an economic development tool (jobs, jobs, jobs) as well as serving a need. Sometimes the narrative of Swift County as the bottom of the pack for unemployment got a bit counterfactual, as in Tom Cherveny's article, Economic tipping point triggers campaign for Appleton state prison:
With assistance from the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission, the city of Appleton assembled these numbers a few years ago looking at the economic impact of the prison and its closing:
365 the number of jobs the prison once provided the regional economy
86 the number of lost jobs experienced directly in Appleton.
$13,760,000 The dollar value multiplier of what the loss of jobs meant annually in economic activity for the community.
$500,000 The amount of property taxes the facility pays to the city of Appleton. The taxes would be lost were the state to purchase the facility.
$800,000 The approximate total property taxes paid by the facility including the city, county and school district.
$50,000 The monthly utility bill the facility paid the city of Appleton when it was operating at full capacity.
$300,000 The amount of local government aid the city of Appleton lost annually when the prison closed. Inmates had been counted as part of the city's population in calculating LGA.
90 The number of students the local schools lost when the prison closed.
$586,620 The estimated loss in pupil aid that resulted with the loss of students.
"The Governor's Office is not leading on this issue, especially considering a commissioner has said that we have an overcrowded prison crisis. Months ago he proposed spending $140 million for new prison beds and that proposal was taken off the table after the Appleton prison was found to be a viable option. It's time for Governor Dayton to finally address this crisis by supporting the re-opening of the Prairie Correctional Facility and providing hundreds of good-paying union jobs to unemployed Swift County residents."
However, faced with other audiences, Miller changed his tune, championing criminal justice reform over jobs in his district, while seeming quite sincere about it. At a forum about sentencing reforms and the Appleton prison that was held by Miller's colleague Rep. Raymond Dehn, DFL-Minneapolis, the Prinsburg Republican said:
I totally hear what you’re saying about prison population reform, basically people who don’t belong in prison, and I agree. If someone doesn’t belong in prison, and not by my definition, but if people don’t belong in prison, I don’t want that to happen. If that means reducing the number and that means Appleton doesn’t open, then I’m 100% for it.
Here's the video clip of the moment, courtesy of The Uptake:
Funny how we don't hear that sort of talk out here in the district from Miller, but perhaps truth is a Foursquare app for the freshman legislator.
He does seem to stretched it a bit about those negotiations when talking to his constituents, so maybe his work with the Barn theater came in handy in North Minneapolis.
Photo: Tim Miller (left) tells participants in a North Minneapolis town hall that if the prison population can be reduced, he's 100 percent against reopening the private prison in Appleton, while Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley, looks on. Screenshot via The Uptake (above); the private prison in Appleton (below).
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Miller said the opposition continued to ignore the fact that the corporation had offered the state an option to purchase or lease to own, and that the state would have operated the prison with union employees.
Corrections Corporation of America had offered to lease the facility for $6 million to $8 million a year, and to sell it for $99 million. The lease payments could be used toward the purchase price, according to Miller.
Appleton attorney Brian Wojtalewicz questioned the $99 million purchase price when Corrections Corporation of America is paying property taxes based on a $15 million value. Miller said that's the offer the corporation put on the table. Negotiations between the state and the company are not in the Legislature's hands.
It's at this point we're scratching our head at Miller's understanding of bargaining. While the negotiations might not be directly in the legislature's hands, if the lawmakers pass ever actually pass a bill requiring the facility to be leased and/or purchased, that policy decision pretty much takes all leverage off the table on the part of the administration.
And it sure would be like Tim Miller to blame the Governor if the state buys the $15 million facility (which was expanded by CCA when modules were shipped in) for 6.6 times its assessed value. After all, he played a hand in crafting the 2015 buffer bill's final form and voted for it and the 2016 clarifications, but still whined about the laws.
As part of a negotiated settlement after the prison closed, the valuation of the facility was decreased by $17 million. CCA will be paying $500,000 less in property taxes next year that will be shifted to other taxpayers, County Auditor Byron Giese said.
So earlier in the decade, presumably when the facility was operating, the prison was valued at $32 million--and few years later it's gained three times that value, according to the Corrections Corporation of America?
So yup, Miller wants to force the administration to purchase or lease-to-own the facility, which even before it sued was never worth $99 million, but claim innocence in this bad deal. Rep. Miller's official state webpage lists his occupation as "business owner." (Something else is on his EIS.) Uffda.
Photo: A room in Trump's penthouse, which is worth only $1 million more than what CCA is asking for the prison in Appleton. Via the Daily Mail. We gotta ask what $99 million could buy for free people in Appleton. Minnesota (or even $66 million if CCA uninflated the pricetag). Decent senior housing? Public-private partnerships for non-gulag jobs?
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By now, the spectrum of Minnesota political reporters and pundits have weighed in on state representative Tony Cornish's provocative June 7 letter to the editors of the Star Tribune, "Really, this isn't complicated."
Some of statements by the lawman turned lawmaker to the media since the flap, on the other hand, hasn't gotten much scrutiny. Take a remark Cornish made to Nancy Madsen in Rep. Cornish won't back down from letter in Star Tribune, an article published last week in the Waseca County News.
Waiting two years for someone in the metro to support the police
Cornish tells Madsen that constant criticism of the police prompted the piece. She reports:
But Cornish, a retired conservation officer who also had stints as a police officer and sheriff’s deputy, said he’s simply defending law enforcement officers, who are wrongly blamed for the consequences of other people’s actions.
“I’ve waited for two years for somebody from the metro area, from those areas, to say something in support of police,” he said. “I haven’t seen any administrator stand up for them and these advocacy groups keep beating down police, so I said something in defense of them.”
Did no one in a position of authority in the metro area come to law enforcement's defense--or is Cornish simply up to the grandstanding for which he's sometimes known? (One of the most famous recent episodes is that 2016 bid for congress that never quite came together).
We're not quite sure what he means by "administrators," but we'll take it as folks like mayors and the governor. It's not hard to find examples of "somebody from the metro area, from those areas, to [saying] something in support of police."
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman defended his police department and its use of deadly force during an interview with MPR News today.
Leaders of the city's African-American community have raised concerns about the St. Paul Police Department's tactics and the city's protocol for investigating complaints against police. St. Paul officers shot and killed at least 11 suspects since 2008. That's more than any other city in the state. . .
In an interview on MPR News today, Coleman spoke publicly about that shooting for the first time. The mayor said it appears to have been justified.
"At this point I've seen no evidence to suggest those aren't exactly the facts — this is an officer-involved shooting that was absolutely a part of procedure and protocol."
Coleman said the other 10 shootings were justified as well. He argues the data are misleading, because the numbers are so small; they don't mean St. Paul's officers are trigger-happy. . . .
In response to the indictment today by U.S. Attorney’s office of 11 alleged gang members for federal gun violations, following a multi-jurisdictional investigation that included the Minneapolis Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Mayor Betsy Hodges released the following statement:
“Getting illegal guns off our streets, and holding responsible those who use them to victimize the people who live and work in our city, are important strategies for making every neighborhood of Minneapolis a safe place to call home. Today’s indictments are another strong step forward toward that goal.
“I thank U.S. Attorney Andy Luger and our law enforcement partners at the ATF and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office for their coordination in this investigation. My special thanks go to the Minneapolis Police Department, led by Chief Janeé Harteau, and the officers who played a role in this multi-agency collaboration to get these individuals off the streets.”
Locking away those who use guns to commit crimes is probably a priority about which Cornish and Hodges agree--and prosecuting criminals with guns is a standard talking point of gun rights advocates, who point to their own law-abiding status.
But there's more. Hodges uses metrics to praise officers' positive impact in Minneapolis.
The mayor began her speech with a discussion of the uptick in gun violence in the city, particularly in north Minneapolis. She said more officers are joining the police force and that officials are aiming to cut into violent crime by encouraging police to do more community outreach. Officers will also be outfitted with body cameras this year.
She acknowledged the city has gone through “several tough, emotional months” following the police shooting of Jamar Clark, which prompted an 18-day occupation of the Fourth Precinct police headquarters and other demonstrations.
“Positive police contacts in the neighborhood are up 63 percent over last year and 231 percent over two years ago,” she said. “This work of building community trust has a long-term deterrent effect on violence. The fact that we measure it at all is a sign of change in how we approach policing in Minneapolis.”
Community activists critical of the police have staged actions at events where Hodges has spoken, as well as calling for her to become a one-term wonder. Apparently, they see a much different Mayor Hodges than the one in Cornish's vision of metro leaders.
Gov. Mark Dayton thinks a chant of “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” during a Black Lives Matter St. Paul march to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds “was a terrible thing to say,” his press secretary said Tuesday.
His comment came in response to Rep. Tony Cornish calling on Dayton on Tuesday not to meet with the group unless it apologizes for the chant that law enforcement groups have called threatening. . .
Police and police in St. Paul
But beyond rhetoric, Dayton's appreciation for law enforcement is most clearly seen in policy--in what public safety changes become law. The Star Tribune's Maya Rao reported in Law enforcement flexes muscle at Minnesota Capitol:
The fervent campaign to restrict the body camera measure is a sign of the rising clout that law enforcement officials have at the State Capitol, but which is also drawing critics who say the influence is excessive.
Law enforcement lobbyists say their political potency is overstated, noting a string of high-profile losses, like their failed push for broader background checks on firearm purchases. . .
(Cough)
Law enforcement groups have advocated on a variety of measures at the Capitol in recent years, ranging from allowing cops to retain license plate reader scans to blocking an expansion of fireworks sales. They also helped shape one of the most restrictive medical marijuana laws in the country.
But on Planet Cornish, no one stands up for law enforcement.
Policy and the use of force
The power of law enforcement at the state capitol loops back to the opening sentence in Cornish's letter to the Strib:
Lately some advocacy groups have been asking what we can do to “reduce the use of force by police.”
The letter then shifts to suggest that only those stopped by police can stop the use of force--offering supposedly helpful rules. One rule is:
5) Don’t flap your jaws when the police arrive. Don’t disobey the requests of the police at the time. If you think you are wrongfully treated, make the complaint later.
And yet, it is the financial consequences of those complaints for taxpayers that suggest that if Tony can't see cops' obligations to their fellow citizens' civil rights and dignity, perhaps as a fiscal conservative he might appreciate the cost savings that could come to cities if officers learn tactics to prevent the use of force.
Police misconduct has cost Minnesota taxpayers millions of dollars in payouts from lawsuits in cities throughout the state. Between 2011 and 2014, the city of Minneapolis paid out more than $9.3 million from police misconduct lawsuits, according to an analysis by Minnesota Public Radio. The city agreed to a $3 million payout in 2013 following a lawsuit filed by the family of David Smith. The 28-year-old man, described as mentally ill, died after being restrained by two officers at a YMCA in 2010, according to the Star Tribune. City officials defended the actions of the officers. Police guidelines require officers to quickly turn a suspect on his side to prevent asphyxiation.
A federal court jury ordered the city to pay $2.1 million in damages and attorneys’ fees in 2011 after it found two officers liable for the wrongful death of Dominic Felder, 27, who was shot dead by police in 2006. In another case, the city paid $1 million to Rickia Russell, who was severely burned in 2010 from a police flash grenade.
The Star Tribune reported that the city paid nearly $14 million because of police misconduct from 2006 to 2012. The settlements were as high as $4.5 million. Along with excessive force leading to death or injury, cases involved property damage during raids and using racial slurs. . . .
In 2012 alone, the city of St. Paul had payouts of about $1 million for police misconduct, according to the Pioneer Press at TwinCities.com. A woman received a $400,000 settlement after police executing a search warrant injured her with a flash distraction device. The city settled a lawsuit for $249,000 after a man suffered burns on the face from chemical spray and received a skull fracture and gashes on the head.
St. Paul officials also reached a $385,000 settlement from a police misconduct lawsuit by a woman who charged police employees used her private driver’s license for personal information. . . .
Perhaps Cornish believes those awarded monetary settlements brought all this on themselves, just as Jamar Clark's standing with his hands in his pockets was warrant for a death sentence.
But given the lives lost and the awards shelled out, perhaps Representative Cornish might think about serious policy review and training, rather than the cheap, attention-getting thrill of a dogwhistle--that's in the end not so inexpensive.
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Photo: Representative Tony Cornish, a retired cop who wants those advocating for the reduction of police violence to get off his law. Via Cornish's Facebook page.
A western Wisconsin woman said at least three members of a motorcycle club beat her and she believes prosecutors went easy on the men because they are intimidated by the bikers.
The attack happened in Buffalo County, just off the highway across the river from Winona, Minn.
In April 2015, Samantha had gone out drinking with Lucas Anderson, a member of the Road Dogs motorcycle club.
The party ended up at the Road Dogs remote clubhouse on an isolated hill top, a former strip club called the Gin Mill.
Samantha said she wanted to leave and went to the parking lot to search for her cell phone and house keys.
According to confidential witnesses, there was drama involved. Samantha got upset when Anderson started flirting with another woman. She then refused to leave and knocked over a motorcycle.
That's when at least three Road Dogs, maybe more, started punching Samantha. . . .
Where have we heard about the Road Dogs and the Gin Mill before?
A push to remove Ron Drazkowski as chairman of the Buffalo County Board was shot down by a tie vote Tuesday night.
A motion calling for a new county board chairman election lost on an 8-8 vote after Drazkowski apologized to county residents and board supervisors for a rave party on his land in Bluff Siding over the Labor Day weekend.
Drazkowski and the Road Dogs Motorcycle Club, which operates the Gin Mill Tavern in the town of Buffalo, said they were misled about the party and didn't know in advance that thousands of people would be there.
"No rave party will happen again on top of the hill there," Drazkowski said, referring to hay fields adjacent to the Gin Mill that he allowed the bar to use for a music festival run by Drop Bass Network of Milwaukee. . .
Several people, including three of Drazkowski's sons who are members of the Road Dogs, defended their father at Tuesday's meeting. . . .
But his brothers aren't just members of the motorcycle club. They were managing the Gin Mill, according to the 2001 story:
Chris Drazkowski said no one knew that promoters were planning a "big rave party" and there was no way his father would have allowed it had he known in advance what was going to happen.
Pat McKeeth and Lee Drazkowski, who manages the Gin Mill, said they signed a contract with DBN for what they thought was going to be an outdoor dance and music festival drawing up to 800 people.
Gin Mill co-owner Tom Drazkowski saw the smoke first.
Drazkowski, who lives a mile from the rural Buffalo City strip club and bar, stepped outside around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw a column of black smoke rising into the morning sky. He ran to the bar, dialing 911 on the way.
Gin Mill co-owner Tom Drazkowski saw the smoke first.
Drazkowski, who lives a mile from the rural Buffalo City strip club and bar, stepped outside around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw a column of black smoke rising into the morning sky. He ran to the bar, dialing 911 on the way.
Gin Mill Not A "Former Club"
A 2008 report in the Winona Daily News, "The Gin Mill tavern, owned by Gin Mill, Inc., was termed a total loss and torn down soon after the fire."
However the June 2015 minutes for Buffalo Township note that Gin Mill Inc./Tom Drazkowski holds a Class “B” Beer & Class “B” Liquor license.
The Gin Mill will remain open for the remainder of the winter! Just a reminder we still have 2 dollar been and 3 dollar drinks! Open 6 pm to close Friday and Saturday year round. New dancers are always in demand call 608 687 4466 for bookings.
Update: A source tells Bluestem that the property has changed hands, but we're unable to find a record of the address in the Buffalo County WI land records online. This does not mean that the transaction didn't happen--only that it is more searchable under a parcel number.
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One of the rural Republicans who is part of the town hall is former Browns Valley Mayor and current Minnesota House District 12A state representative Jeff Backer. Minnesota's western boundary waters, from whence both the Minnesota River and the Red River of the North spring, forms his district's western edge. The District Demographics contrast with those in Minneapolis.
Why do we believe it's a good thing for the country mouse to visit the big city and listen to Dehn's constituents?
The answer is rooted in statements Backer made while Mayor of Browns Valley in 2007, when the city was struck by a flood in those headwaters in the spring and heavy rain in early June. Shane Mercer of the Grand Forks Herald reported in Browns Valley recovering:
BROWNS VALLEY, Minn. - Residents of this western Minnesota town were reminded over the weekend of the brutal flooding that buried a large chunk of the community in March.
Heavy rains forced water over a road on the west side of Browns Valley on Saturday. The waters receded, but were back across the road on Monday.
Mayor Jeff Backer said Monday afternoon he was not aware of any damage to homes, and the areas hardest hit by flooding in March were not affected.
It's not as if residents needed the reminder. Some things are hard to forget. When ice jams forced the Little Minnesota River from its banks and into neighborhoods in March, more than 60 homes in the town of about 650 sustained severe or moderate damage. Backer estimated flood damage to the city at $4 million to $5 million. . . .
Mayor Backer compared his town's misery to that of New Orleans, which had been hit by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005. Mercer reports:
"In my opinion New Orleans would not be in the position that they are in if they had the same people that we have here in Browns Valley," he said, alluding to post-Katrina issues in the Crescent City. "The mentality of the people (in Browns Valley) is, 'What can we do to help?' " ...
While more than 50 homes were damaged by the floodwater, most everyone has remained in Browns Valley, but still, four families are living in FEMA trailers, Seven homes have been destroyed and as many as eight more could be condemned. And some homes are being rebuilt on higher ground. All of the progress being made before any disaster relief money trickled into town.
Mayor Jeff Backer says, "But when you're the person who is living in a travel home or still living with friends, families and relatives, it seems slow. Cause that's seven months since the flood did happen."
Just last week, the first state aid dollars made their way to Browns Valley, $500-thousand of the $2-million state lawmakers approved in July. Now the mayor of the town is ready to move forward, but knows there are still months and years of rebuilding ahead for the community.
Backer says, "If New Orleans had the people we have here, some of the challenges they're facing they wouldn't be facing because the people here have rolled up their sleeves, took the resources they had and did what they could."
As an example of how property values can affect flood relief, Browns Valley Mayor Jeff Backer Jr. said 62 homes were touched by the flood, and 17 were severely damaged. The value of the those homes in this small town in far western Minnesota ranged from $20,000 to $35,000. The city is buying out seven of them. . . .
Backer, whose basement was flooded, said the percentage of houses in his town affected by flooding was equal to those damaged in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina.
"Bill and Donna Spotts lost a home. Don Miller lost a home," Backer said, pointing to two of his neighbors. "What makes them different from someone losing a home in New Orleans? Nothing."
The financial thresholds for federal assistance vary by county, and in Browns Valley the damage to public infrastructure alone had to be $6 million, [ spokeswoman for the Minnesota division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Kris] Eide said. The formula changes every year based on population and the consumer price index, she said.
While Backer rightly felt great pain for Browns Valley, his math was a bit off. While 60 homes out of 650 in Browns Valley (just under 10%) were damaged, CNN notes in its 2015 Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts:
80% of the city flooded after levees failed. . . .
70% of New Orleans' occupied housing, 134,000 units, was damaged in the storm.
That's a far, far greater percentage of the housing in New Orleans than the housing in Browns Valley that was destroyed by the cities' respective natural disasters. It's likely more explanatory of why the City of New Orleans lost so much of its population shortly after what FEMA called "the single most catastrophic natural disaster in U.S. history" than not having "thesame people that we have here in Browns Valley."
We're hoping that the Justice4All and TakeAction organizers, along with the good citizens of North Minneapolis, can open Representative Backer's eyes and heart about the structural underpinnings of success and failure in America--and the special place that criminal justice and incarceration have in this story.
Images: A Minneapolis Town Hall Poster (banner); Where Browns Valley is at (map).
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The letter came on the heels of massive public mourning for the death, as well as support for the Dermyer family. If you're a Minnesotan whose only knowledge of the murder is a post on Minnesota State Representative Tony Cornish's Facebook page, this mourning and support for Dermyer may come as a surprise. The Vernon Center lawmaker and former lawman shared a short essay his son Gabe had written, which asked the questions:
I ask you all. Where’s the protests for Chad? Who’s going to block the highway for Chad? Where is the entourage of politicians for Chad? Time to ask yourselves folks, why is it that we are rallying for career criminals and violent felons, while selling out our law enforcement officers? I ask all Police leaders and administrations, as well as all responsible Politicians, where are the press conferences to defend your people?
So here's a look at Virginia's reaction to the murder.
"Dorothy and I are heartbroken by the senseless death of Virginia State Trooper Chad Dermyer, who died serving in the line of duty today in Richmond. Like so many brave Virginia men and women, Trooper Dermyer put on a uniform and risked his life every day to keep us safe, first as a U.S. Marine and then as a police officer. He was a husband, a father and a hero who was taken from us too soon.
"This is a loss that impacts us all. It should inspire prayers for the family, friends and fellow troopers who are mourning tonight, and gratitude for those who protect and serve. And as we grieve, we should also reflect, yet again, on how we can come together as a Commonwealth to end the senseless violence that costs the lives of too many mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters."
Gov. Terry McAuliffe met privately with Dermyer’s family before the funeral, presenting the trooper’s wife with the Virginia flag and his father the U.S. flag that flew over the state Capitol the day Dermyer died.
McAuliffe wasn't alone in Virginia leadership making public declarations honoring Dermyer. The Gloucester Daffodil Festival on Wednesday prompted a former senator and governor to pause, the local paper reports:
Among those packing the courthouse for the opening ceremonies were a dozen Daffodil Queens from years past, as well as several local, state and federal legislators—U.S. Senator and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. . . .
Warner, during his brief comments, addressed the killing in Richmond on March 31 of Virginia State Trooper Chad P. Dermyer. Dermyer, who lived in Gloucester, was laid to rest on Tuesday.
“As a former governor, there’s always a special place in your heart for the state troopers,” Warner said, adding that his thoughts and prayers are with Trooper Dermyer’s family. “Law enforcement … we’ve got your back,” Warner said.
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Mourners from across the country and this region gathered at the Liberty Baptist Church to say their final goodbye to Trooper Chad Dermyer.
Dermyer, a former Marine and Gloucester resident, died in the line of duty last week after James Brown III shot him at a Greyhound bus stationlast Thursday. More than 4,000 were said to have been in Hampton for the service. Outside the church sat the patrol car of Dermyer, covered in flowers. . . .
There was an out-pour of support from local communities and across the nation for Trooper Dermyer in the wake of last Thursday’s shooting.
Today’s funeral service was followed by a procession to Gloucester County for a private burial. The 30-mile procession feature hundred of police motorcycles, and a long line of friends and family.
Many local residents from Hampton to Gloucester came out and stood along the route to pay their respects for Dermyer and to honor all law enforcement.
The Gloucester community remembered slain Virginia State Trooper Chad Dermyer during a vigil Sunday afternoon.
“To put on the badge and put on that uniform,” police chaplain Sam Frye of James City County said. “Officers are making a conscious decision and commitment to lay down their life for their family and loved ones.”
The Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office organized the event that took place at Gloucester High School. Dermyer was a resident of Gloucester with his wife and two kids. The vigil was on a soccer field; a symbol of the Dermyer family’s involvement in the Gloucester soccer community.
Were roads blocked in Virginia? No, but they were lined for the funeral motorcade. Police leaders and administrators took the lead at public vigils and the funeral--and politicians spoke up for the fallen trooper.
Finally, there was no public support for the man who shot Trooper Dermyer.
Frankly, Bluestem is a bit embarrassed for the Cornishes in this one, since the document sweeps the mass response supporting Dermyer under the rug. Erasing the grief of thousands of people in order to shame police administrations and elected leaders? Seriously?
Closer to home: Minnesotans respond to officers down
Do Minnesotans, law enforcement brass and elected officials denigrate slain officers? We see much evidence to the contrary.
. . . A memorial sign honoring Moszer stands in front of the Sabin Fire Department, and the flag outside is at half-staff. A poster shows a photo of Moszer. Friends, family and officers have written notes of remembrance on the white border surrounding Moszer’s picture.
Before the University of North Dakota hockey game Friday night in Grand Forks, the rink inside was bathed in blue lighting in tribute as the Fighting Hawks and University of Minnesota Duluth, Bulldogs took the ice.
KVLY-TV in Fargo reports that at least five people are being helped thanks to organs donated from Moszer. . .
Steven M. Sandberg
In mid-October, the state was shocked by the death of Steven M. Sandberg, an Aitkin County deputy sheriff who was monitoring an unhandcuffed suspect at St. Cloud Hospital; the suspect gained control of Sandberg’s gun and squeezed off several rounds.
This small city's biggest room couldn't fit them all.
Family members, neighbors and about 2,000 law enforcement officers from across North America gathered here Friday to honor one of their own, Deputy Steven M. Sandberg.
They began arriving at 6 a.m., standing in the cold rain, directing long lines of cars and emergency vehicles streaming into town. They were still standing vigil eight hours later, as raw winds swept the cemetery where Sandberg was laid to rest on a hilltop overlooking one of Aitkin County's many lakes.
The 60-year-old deputy was killed Sunday by a suspect he was guarding at St. Cloud Hospital. Sandberg left behind his wife Kristi, daughter Cassie, and a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone — particularly the 24-year veteran sheriff's investigator who took the time to listen. . . .
The town, home to about 2,300 people north of Lake Mille Lacs, dressed itself in flags and blue and black ribbons. A pair of ladder trucks hoisted a flag outside the auditorium, recognizing the almost two decades Sandberg also served as an Aitkin firefighter. Signs posted in stores around town said, "A hero remembered … never dies."
A death in the line of duty is always tragic, but it hits especially hard in a small community and a small force like Aitkin County's 18-officer sheriff's department.
"Minneapolis loses an officer, everybody probably knows them, but they didn't build a house with them, they didn't raise children together, probably didn't vacation together," said Jeff Beahen, president of the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association and chief of the Rogers Police Department. "It's a family."
"It's a tough day for Aitkin," said Aitkin Mayor Gary Tibbitts. "We've never lost an officer like this before … Now the community will wrap themselves around Kristi and Cassie."
Scott Patrick
Just as shocking, Mendota Heights officer Scott Patrick was murdered by Brian Fitch Sr. during a routine traffic stop on July 30, 2014. Thousands of Minnesotans mourned.
. . . “I will miss my brother,” fellow Mendota Heights officer Robert Lambert said in an emotional eulogy. “Scott, I love you. We love you. Rest now. We’ll take your watch from here.”
Lambert was one of about 5,000 people, including about 4,000 law enforcement officers from every corner of Minnesota and beyond, who gathered at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church for Patrick’s 11 a.m. funeral. . . .
Inside the church, Mendota Heights officers joined Patrick’s widow, Michelle, and daughters, 17-year-old Erin and 13-year-old Amy, along with Gov. Mark Dayton, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and other dignitaries.
The crowd spilled into overflow tents and beyond. A Department of Public Safety spokesman said organizers got phone calls asking for information and directions from law enforcement officers as far away as Canada.
Mendota Heights Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener said Patrick, a 19-year department veteran, chose a path he loved and never strayed from it.
“He was true to himself. He was true to his family. He was true to his profession,” Aschenbrener said. ...
After the service, police vehicles left in two groups on an eight-mile procession through West St. Paul and Mendota Heights to Acacia Park Cemetery. The cars lined the road as far as the eye could see — lights flashing, sirens silent.
Crowds of onlookers — from babies in strollers to a 92-year-old man pushing a walker — lined the route with American flags and homemade signs.
One sign read: “May God bless our neighbor, our friend, our hero.” Others bore Patrick’s 2231 badge number along with a simple “thanks.”
Rose Singer of West St. Paul held her small flag high throughout the roughly 40 minutes it took for the parade of peace officers to clear the spot she’d camped out along Butler Avenue and Smith Street. That’s just a block south of the scene of Patrick’s shooting at Smith and Dodd Road.
Like the other officers, Patrick deserved all of the respect he had earned through service to a community, state and nation.
Was traffic blocked? We imagine that an eight-mile funeral procession disrupted people's daily routine. Too bad. We suspect the motorcades for Dermyer, Moszer and Sandberg might have as well in their respective community.
Discounting officers down
Perhaps the most generous thing to be said of Gabe Cornish's comments is that he fails to see the response to the death of officers in the line of duty as public demonstrations. The vigils, rally and funerals are performed within a ritualized code of behavior. It is the vocabulary of grieving, not the discourse of discontent.
That the Cornishes should imply that citizens, law enforcement brass and political leaders haven't stood up for slain officers serves to cheapen efforts to honor downed law enforcement personnel. The reaction is real, and it's possible both honor fallen officers while reviewing procedures that will make situations less lethal for both officers and the general public.
But to ask citizens to never question police procedure and never protest as well, while disparaging public figures? Seems like another country, and some fragile notions about their own power.
Photo: People lining the street for the funeral motorcade for Fargo Police Officer Jason Moszer, via Forum News Service.
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A bill that would further restrict where the state’s most serious sex offenders could live — and give cities and counties the ability to restrict them even more — is progressing in the Legislature.
But the measure, which would allow local municipalities to take a not-in-my back yard approach to sex offender housing, could largely prohibit such offenders from living in either St. Paul or Minneapolis — the two biggest back yards in the state.
Currently, “Level 3” sex offenders — the most likely to re-offend — cannot live “near” schools, according to state law. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker, and put before the House’s public safety committee on Tuesday, would expand that restrictions to parks, as well as “other locations frequented by children.”
The bill would also allow local government agencies, like cities and counties, to enact even more restrictive ordinances on where Level 3 offenders can live.
The bill’s proponents argued that local communities know what’s best for them — but repeatedly stressed that the bill would not allow any municipality to bar sex offenders completely.
But in places like St. Paul — with a dense concentration of parks — that’s largely what the language would do.
In St. Paul, roughly 97 percent of all properties are within a half-mile of a park. In Minneapolis, the total is 95 percent, city officials said.
Of the 459 Level 3 sex offenders registered statewide, 122 live in Minneapolis and 43 in St. Paul.
There are other problems with the bill, the article points out, like courts in other states overturning similar laws. But surely it's the thought that counts when it comes to Representative Newberger.
Photo: Representative Jim Newberger
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Although Briana Bierschbach's recent profile in MinnPost provided a soft focus of Vernon Center Republican lawmaker Tony Cornish, those who watch him in action often see a much less pleasant side to his public persona.
Take Tuesday's meeting of the Minnesota House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, which Cornish chairs. During the discussion of HF3260, a bill to allow local governmental units to draft some restrictions related to the residences of Level III sex offenders.
Cornish also criticized Roy over the placement of two sex offenders in his largely rural district.
“You folks aren’t doing a bang-up job right now of placing these folks,” he said. As an example, Cornish cited the case of “a black guy, a level III sex offender” who was placed in Minnesota Lake, which he described as a “totally white Anglo town.”
“How that could have happened I don’t know,” Cornish said.
The racially tinged soliloquy elicited an exasperated “Wow” from Rep. Raymond Dehn, DFL-Minneapolis.
Here's a Youtube of the moment:
We're surprised that Cornish doesn't know more about the case, since news of the hearing was in Blue Earth county's biggest paper last July.
About 150 people from the Faribault County town of 600 residents came to the school to hear Sarah Hustad of the state Department of Corrections explain that a predatory offender is set to move to the town when he's released from prison next week.
After a presentation by Hustad, an increasingly frustrated crowd asked questions and didn't get the answers they wanted to hear as they were told about 38-year-old Jela Deshaun Jones, his history of crime and his intent to live with a family member in Minnesota Lake. . . .
She said the law permits those released from prison to live in communities, work and live free of harassment. Jones will be under intense supervision when he is released, including wearing an GPS monitor and being forbidden from having any contact with minors.
But that supervision won't last long. In about six weeks Jones will have served all of his sentence and will be completely free of any requirements other than having to register with law enforcement as a sex offender if and when he changes addresses.
We understand Cornish's concern about sexual predators, but the "racially tinged soliloquy" makes us join Representative Dehn in saying "Wow" as well.
Jones was living in Le Sueur, Minnesota, when he was arrested at age 23 and convicted of sexually assaulting two sisters with whom he was acquainted. The younger girl was fifteen and Jones used alcohol to get her to "agree" to have sex with him; the older sister was seventeen when he crawled into her bed while she was sleeping and molested her.
He was convicted and served his time, but didn't do so well with earlier releases, Krohn reported:
He got out in 2010 but was sent back to prison four times since for violating terms of his release, including for drinking alcohol and for having porn. He was not re-arrested for any sex crimes.
Not a sympathetic character, but a man who lived in southern Minnesota at the time of his arrest--and one who is now living with a relative. While Cornish thought that living in Minnesota Lake would put pressure on Jones by causing his race to stand out, census figures for Le Sueur in 2000 reveal that only .03 percent (10 people) of the town was African-American. In 2010, tiny Minnesota Lake was .04 percent African-American (3 people). It's not an unusual situation for Jones.
Jones is from the area (his late mother lived in Mankato, LeSueur and St. Peter, according to court records), and another family member was living in Minnesota Lake at the time of his release. What dog was Cornish whistling when he made race the first consideration here?
Screengrab: Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, via The Uptake.
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A Fargo man was arrested after police say he broke into car wash and church early Sunday morning and burned pages from a Bible to stay warm.
Chance Zahn, 21, faces two counts of burglary and one count of arson after the incidents.
Fargo Police Sgt. Mike Bernier said police were called to Don's Car Wash at 2500 52nd Ave. S. around 4:20 a.m. for an alarm.
When they got to the business, they found a window had been broken and, after investigation inside, police found a pile of wet clothing and evidence that led them to the roof of the building.
Video surveillance at Don's Car Wash suggests that the roof door closed and locked behind Zahn, forcing him to slide to the ground without his wet clothes.
Police say Zahn ran across the street to Sts. Anne & Joachim Church at 5202 25th St. S.
Officers found broken glass from a window at the church and called for a police dog and perimeter to be set up. A short time later, Zahn came around the corner and was arrested, police said.
A police report suggests Zahn was intoxicated and possibly trying to get shelter from the cold.
Inside the church, police say Zahn had ripped pages out of a Bible and started them on fire.
We suspect that Jesus would have something kind to say about clothing the naked and from the looks of the mug shot, Chance received an orange jumpsuit at the Cass County Jail.
Photo: Chance Zain's mugshot, via the Fargo Forum.
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Once again, a Minnesota Tea Party chapter is hosting a program of John Birch Society content. The Central Minnesota Tea Party, based in St. Cloud, invites readers of its events page to the following:
You're invited to attend "Support Your Local Police and keep them independent" as presented by former police officer James Fitzgerald. We support our peace officers who answer the call to serve local communities, but forces are working to turn them into a national police force. March 31, 2016 – 7:00 PM The Falls Ballroom 15879 Highway 27 Little Falls, MN 56345. Advance purchase: $10.00/At the Door: $15.00 For information, contact: 612-990-5600Email: mgriffin@jbs.org
The phone number and email are those of Mark Griffin, an Andover, MN, realtor who serves as the Minnesota and Wisconsin field coordinator for the John Birch Society.
While a decades-old program of the JBS, "Support Your Local Police and keep them independent" has rammed up by the right-wing conspiracist group since the election of President Barack Obama--and while some of the criticisms of law enforcement offered by the Birchers are shared by the American left and the Black Lives Matters movement, Bluestem doesn't think they'll find common ground in the Little Falls Ballroom at the end of March.
While both sides share fears of militarized police forces and command enclaves called "fusion centers," the two sides part company on those "local" and "independent" adjectives. In the meantime, the headline and some of the copy in the 2014 JBS New American magazine article, When Local Police Become a “Standing Army” would feel comfortable for those on the left struggling against lethal policing in communities of color:
As civil unrest engulfs Ferguson, Missouri, and police patrol the streets in armored personnel vehicles and confront unarmed citizens while wearing riot gear like something out of Robocop, headlines from around the country relate similar stories of cops training like, dressing like, and acting like soldiers. . . .
As the number of U.S. troop-heavy foreign interventions decreases, the warcraft and weaponry used in battle are now being deployed in American neighborhoods as the members, machines, and methods of law enforcement become increasingly indistinguishable from those of the military . . .
But the John Birch Society has never supported review of local policing. Buried in the article, there's this historical nugget:
To this end, for more than 50 years The John Birch Society has been committed to stopping and reversing the dangerous trend toward nationalizing our police forces. In 1963, the society launched its “Support Your Local Police and Keep Them Independent!” campaign and formed local Support Your Local Police committees. The effort was successful in stopping Police Civilian Review Boards in the 1960s and ’70s and in getting the federal government’s Law Enforcement Assistance Administration abolished in 1982. Today, as the federal government subtly subordinates local police and sheriffs through grants of money and materiel, Americans need to participate in this sort of grassroots activism to work to keep local law enforcement under the supervision of local elected officials and free from state and federal control or influence.
Oh What A Lovely War: JBS and the War on Police That Wasn't
None of that for the Birchers. While they fear a nationalized police force, the group appears to have completely bought into the 2015 rhetoric that Black Lives Matter and other grassroots movements questioning law enforcement were simply fueling a "War on Police."
In this week's Analysis Behind the News video, JBS Director of Communications Bill Hahn discusses how the recent execution of a Texas sheriff’s deputy has focused national attention on an ongoing war on police; how the John Birch Society produced a 1966 documentary, “Anarchy, USA,” which exposed a 5-step plan by far-left and communist groups to create a semblance of revolution in our streets; how the 4th step was “precipitate mob violence,” which involved creating violent confrontations between demonstrators and local police forces; how this deliberate war on police is now being used as part of a pressure from above/pressure from below strategy to nationalize our local police forces; how a national police force is the hallmark of tyranny; how sheriffs and local police help protect citizens from a tyrannical federal government; how the John Birch Society has sponsored “Support Your Local Police & Keep Them Independent! committees for 50 years now; how we encourage you to start a local Support Your Local Police committee in your area (more information at https://www.jbs.org/issues-pages/suppo... ); and how the entire next issue of The New American magazine will consist of articles on the war on police and what you can do about it (watch for the articles on https://www.TheNewAmerican.com).
But that "War on Police"? Never happened, as reviews of the year later demonstrated. We turn again to a conservative naysayer to the likes of the JBS and other conspiracy floggers. In Reason magazine's blog, Scott Shackford observes in That ‘War on Police’ in 2015 Sure Was a Miserable Failure, Wasn’t It? that "As 2015 nears end, the numbers simply don't match the panic:"
Like every other "War on X" America embarks on, this year's War on Police was a complete disaster. Can't we do anything right? This alleged war resulted in the second-safest year for police officers in U.S. history. Former Reason Editor Radley Balko takes note over at The Washington Post that as 2015 comes to an end, there's been no real War on Police and there's been no real nationwide crime wave either. Balko explains the difference between comparing just this year's stats to last year's and the overall trend:
It's true that some cities like Baltimore, St. Louis and Detroit saw a significant and troubling rise in homicides this year. But those are isolated cases. In other cities, homicide were up, but only after long and historic drops.
Here in Nashville, for example, we saw 67 murders in 2015, up from 41 last year. (The figures are for all of Davidson County). At first blush, that seems like an alarming increase. And it has caused much consternation among politicians, the media and community leaders, with lots of calls for "action," whatever that means.
But last year was a historic low for the city and represented the floor of an overall 10-year decline. This year's total of 67 murders only takes the city back where it was in 2009, and is right at about the 10-year average of 66. For comparison, between 1971 and 1989, annual murders in Davidson County usually numbered in the 80 and 90s, and never dipped below 67 — and that was with 20 to 25 percent less population than the county has today.
And these are just raw numbers. The ten-year drop since there were more than 90 murders in 2005 has taken place in one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. Raw crime figures can drop only so low, particularly in a city that's growing by the day. And once they are at historic lows, even small increases look large when expressed as percentages.
Now as for deaths caused by police officers, The Washington Post (and The Guardian as well) launched a database this year tracking fatal police shootings, because federal statistics are extremely incomplete. As of today, the Post records 959 people killed in police shootings. They note that more than 700 of them were in connection with a range of violent crimes like hostage situations and carjackings. Independent site KilledByPolice.net has a higher number, 1,168. If their numbers are accurate (note that this site documents killing by police, not just fatal shootings), this would be an increase over last year's estimate of 1,108.
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Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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