What Does The Al Franken Campaign Have Against KSTP's Tom Hauser? / Is The Franken Campaign Unduly Influencing Debate Minnesota?

Last Friday at precisely 3:06 p.m., we published our PIM Weekly Report. In our lead story about the Minnesota U.S. Senate debates I wrote, "The first of three debates sponsored by Debate Minnesota, the Rochester debate will be moderated by KSTP TV's Tom Hauser and WCCO AM's Jack Rice.  The 90-minute format will include time for two-minute answers, and about half an hour of questions from the audience."

As anyone who listened to the debate knows, Hauser and Rice didn't moderate that debate. The St. Paul Pioneer Press' Bill Salisbury and the West Central Tribune's Kelly Bolden did. They did a fine job, but that's not the point.

The information PIM published was given to me earlier that afternoon by Mary Underwood Heller, Debate Minnesota's "Debate Minnesota Director."  About three hours after we published, I got a call from Hauser who had read PIM and thought I might want to know that Heller had just called him and that we was no longer moderating the debate. Hauser asked Heller why, and Heller told him that "the person the board wanted was going to be out of town but suddenly became available," and that "this was the person the board wanted."

I, in turn, called GOP U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign manager, Cullen Sheehan. This was news to Sheehan and he, in turn, called Heller and got the same story, that there was some "board intervention." 

Monday I spoke with Rice, Bolden and Salisbury. Rice was notified early Friday evening that his services were no longer needed. And Bolden and Salisbury both told me the first time they were asked to moderate was also Friday evening.

What, exactly, happened between the time I talked to Heller for my story and five hours later when the debate moderators changed?

Hmmm. Was there "board intervention" and if so, why?

Here's who's on the Debate Minnesota board: Will Haddeland, founder and president, Debate Minnesota; former GOP Gov. Al Quie; former DFL Sen. Maj. Leader Roger Moe; former DFL Secretary of State Joan Growe, former GOP Sen. Roy Terwilliger, former GOP U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger; former DFL Attorney General Skip Humphrey; former DFL Sen. Sheila Kiscaden; retired Waseca banker Neil Frueschte; Arlington retired banker Larry Sorenson; Mike Martin, director, Minnesota Cable Communications Association; and Ed Schiappa, professor of communications studies, U of M.

Certainly an all-star board and exactly what you'd expect from Debate Minnesota, an organization that touts itself as promoting "civility in politics and engaging voters with fair and open forums" and enjoys nonprofit, tax-exempt and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) status. [Emphasis mine.]

I talked to two of these board members and neither had any communications from anyone involved with Debate Minnesota on Friday. So much for "board intervention." [In the interest of not putting these two board members in the position of calling Heller a liar, I'm not naming them. However, I do encourage any interested readers to contact board members.]

I repeat. What, exactly, happened to cause the change in moderators? The only rational explanation is that the Al Franken campaign lobbied for the change. 

Why would the Franken campaign do that? For the very same reason the Franken campaign rejected having the Minnesota League of Women Voters as one of the debate's sponsors. "The League of Women Voters was rejected largely because it planned to air its debate on KSTP-TV.  "The League has a 30-year history of sponsoring televised debates in Minnesota, including gubernatorial and Senate debates on KSTP-TV in 2006.  Sources with knowledge of the debate negotiations said Al Franken's campaign objected to appearing in a debate on KSTP-TV, primarily because the station is owned by the Hubbard family, which has donated money to Republicans."

True, Stanley S. Hubbard and other Hubbards have a long and rich tradition of donating to political candidates (and nonpartisan civic and charitable causes) in Minnesota, but worth noting is that over the years, the Hubbards have also contributed to Democrats. [Unfortunately, there are no live links to the Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board, so you'll have to enter the Hubbard names to get the lists.] 

But never before has any Democrat questioned the Hubbards, let alone the Minnesota League of Voters. More important, both Democrats and Republicans think KSTP's Tom Hauser is smart, hard-working, fair and balanced. Never before has either a Democrat (or a Republican) refused to participate in something Hauser has moderated.

I left detailed voice mails at the Franken campaign for campaign manager Stephanie Shriock, spokesman Andy Barr and consultant Danny Cramer, asking for edification on what transpired to knock out Hauser and Rice. Not surprisingly, no calls were returned.

Perhaps most disturbing is that the Debate Minnesota's Mary Underwood Heller -- whose job it is to take media calls -- didn't return my two calls Friday night or my three calls yesterday.

So much for "civility," and "fair and open forums." Debate Minnesota needs to clarify what happened, particularly because what I was told and then published was wrong. Here at PIM we may write with partisan attitude, but when we get facts wrong, we always correct them. Tough to run a correction when the purveyor of bad information won't return phone calls. 

And while we're at it, Al Franken might want to articulate what's wrong with having the League of Minnesota Voters moderate a debate? That worked well for our state for 30 years, pre-Franken. 

As an unrelated aside, am I the only one who finds it hilarious that Al Franken is buying air time on KTLK FM during Rush Limbaugh's program?!