Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 1, Issue 8 - 6/17/2005

In this issue The Shutdown Saga--Hatch Motion Suggests Court Could Raise Taxes?, Exchanging Rons, If Rowley Runs, Arming the Davids Against the Goliaths, Al Franken Watch, Bits & Pieces..., Lobbyist Watch, 20 Years Ago, Setting The Record Straight

The Shutdown Saga--Hatch Motion Suggests Court Could Raise Taxes?

Nada. Zilch. Nothing. That's what happened this week in the state budget stalemate. However, GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty did make public the studious work done by his staff on what, exactly, will happen if the government has to shut down July 1 for lack of a budget. What's striking is how differently this administration is approaching a shutdown compared to the last administration. In 2001, then-Independence party Gov. Jesse Ventura wanted to shut down as many governmental functions as possible. Pawlenty, on the other hand, hopes to define as many government services as "critical" as possible, to minimize the impact on the lives of regular Minnesotans. The specifics of what gets shut will be decided by Ramsey County District Judge Gregg Johnson.

Hours before Pawlenty held a news conference this past Wednesday to outline the complexities of shutting down the government, DFL Attorney General Mike Hatch filed the papers to ask the court to provide directions for a shutdown. Interestingly, Hatch filed the Ventura administration generated agency-by-agency analysis, not Pawlenty's. And, on the list of options Hatch suggested to the court was that the court could rule to raise taxes. Other courts across the country have done so in budget stalemates, but almost all of the cases related to school funding and desegregation. It's extremely unlikely that Judge Johnson would make such a bold move. Another interesting twist is timing. The Pawlenty Administration filed a motion to ask the court to make shutdown decisions earlier. Yesterday, the court acceded to the administration's wishes. We'll know what gets shut next week, on June 23.

Exchanging Rons

Democrats, not surprisingly, have been doing high-fives since GOP State Party Chair Ron Eibensteiner lost his reelection to one of two challengers, Intuit sale s executive and State Party Treasurer Ron Carey. In their view, Carey represents the old guard, the party of conservatives like former gubernatorial candidate Alan Quist. Most Republicans, outside the state central party delegates who voted against him, were shocked: Carey is a nice guy, but under Eibensteiner's tenure, Republicans have won more seats than they have in 30 years. What happened?

The other candidate, Washington County Commissioner Bill Pulkrabek, started early this spring and his criticism of Eibensteiner began to resonate. Some people wanted a new face; others didn't care for the top-down approach in party big shots endorsing 6^th Dist. GOP U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy to run for U.S. Sen. next year. Ironically, one of the major factors that did in Eibensteiner was the Bush-Cheney campaign, which would have nothing to do with the state party and ran its own operation in Minnesota. Ironic, because no one pushed Bush harder than Eibensteiner. And things Bush-Cheney did wrong, they blamed on the state party. Perhaps the best example of this was Bush's visit last summer on a hot July day to a farm in Mankato. The road to the farm was jammed, and there weren't enough busses to get people there. Tons of GOP activists spent long steamy hours in lines or traffic jams, but were ultimately turned away.

Finally, as it became clear in the last stages of the campaign, some of the more prominent names in GOP circles--who had various buried bones to pick with Eibensteiner--started looking for a more viable candidate than Pulkrabek. We have confirmed reports of several big names being asked to run who said no. Carey was the only one willing to get in the ring. Key letters with key names began making the rounds in support of Carey. One was signed by former GOP chairs Bill Cooper, Chris Georgacas and Bob Weinholzer (who lost a third term race in the 1990s to Georgacas). Another was signed by GOP National Committeewoman Evie Axdahl and Deputy Part Chair Michelle Rifenberg. Other notables working against Eibensteiner were former National Committeeman Jack Meeks (who left because of his opposition to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's support of expanding gambling) and his spouse, Met Council member and the Center of the American Experiment's Annette Meeks. Those supporting Eibensteiner, including Pawlenty, didn't understand the depth to which he was in trouble until it was too late, and too many delegates had been swayed. Contrary to many reports, the least important factor for those against Eibensteiner was taking a shot at Pawlenty by voting out Eibensteiner.

Also noteworthy was the lack of outright support on the part of the other GOP constitutional officers. Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau let someone else take her place at the election, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer was out of town, and State Auditor Patty Anderson, who had committed to Eibensteiner earlier, went to the convention "formally neutral." Kind of amazing, given all the work the party--under Eibensteiner's direction--did to bring them to the dance. [Both Pawlenty and GOP U.S. Senator Norm Coleman gave rousing speeches in support of Eibensteiner.]

Finally, your publishers have always thought that the true measure of a politician is how he or she handles a concession speech. Eibensteiner's was classy and genuine--in fact, he may just have increased his stature, long-term.

If Rowley Runs

Word on the street is that Democrat Colleen Rowley is looking to hire a fund-raiser for her campaign against GOP Rep. John Kline in the 6th District. Rowley of course rose to national prominence when she wrote a memo criticizing her superiors and the FBI as a whole for their lack of systems for dealing with terrorism post Sept. 11.

While Kline has won decisively the last two elections, we must admit a race with Rowley could be different. It will be different for Kline, but most of all it could be very different for Minnesota. With two statewide races ahead of the congressional race, the campaigns will be battling for television time unlike ever before.

We also believe that Rowley's uncertain and non-political personality will be something to watch. When Rowley was going to run in 2004, people were very excited to think that she and child advocate Patty Wetterling would bring unprecedented national attention and funds to their respective races. Wetterling succeeded in doing that, she just didn't get elected.

But Rowley has the potential to bring support to her campaign from a broader national base. She is better known in the country than Wetterling ever was. She will attract Democratic funders and raising cash shouldn't be an issue, unless Rowley turns out to be a less-conventional candidate.

On paper Rowley is an amazing candidate. The problem is that her unconventional or dated style won't play well in the suburbs among the women whose votes she'd need to triumph. And, while she certainly deserved the national attention she received; her handling of the media, and the display of public communication skills matched her brainy appearance more than it matched the chance to develop a political following.

Meanwhile, Kline has proven that if there is one thing he doesn't do, it is make mistakes. Kline handled Theresa Daly extremely well as she challenged issues of war and the economy, and his previous campaigns against Luther were virtually flawless.

All in all, if Rowley runs, it will be a race to watch. But, early handicapping says unless Rowley updates her style, and develops the discipline a Congressional candidate needs to raise funds, Kline will be re-elected.

Arming the Davids Against the Goliaths

This week the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued an opinion that should make the little guys cheer and the big guys shake and quake. The "Davids" are self-described "citizen lobbyist" David Hoch (pronounced "hoke") and highly respected First Amendment lawyer Mark Anfinson. The Goliaths are the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, their counsel (the major law firm of Winthrop & Weinstine) and potentially, another lawyer, renowned defense attorney Joe Friedburg.

Some background before the court cases. Hoch, a mortgage banker by day, has been making waves forming citizen-oriented groups like Minnesotans for Responsible Government, Citizens for Major League Baseball in Minnesota and Minnesotans for Responsible Gaming. Critics have tried to write off Hoch and his sometime citizen lobbyist partner, Joe Marble, as part of the black helicopter, conspiracy crowd. Admirers tout them as citizens just trying to keep democracy honest. In the course of their work, the two have spent countless hours in the office of the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board (the Board) pouring over campaign finance reports.

In 2003, Hoch was examining reports submitted to the Board and on behalf of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians and he concluded that Woodlands National Bank, a banking corporation owned by the Mille Lacs Band, was making contributions to the Band's PAC. That's a conclusion with serious ramifications, given that under Minnesota law, corporate contributions are prohibited--and constitute felonies, invoke penalties up to $40,000 and the potential loss of corporate charters. Hoch raised the issue to the Board and was told the Board had no authority to investigate and that his remedy as a citizen was to file complaints to county attorneys. So, Hoch sent letters to both the Mille Lacs and Hennepin county attorneys requesting criminal investigations into the activities of Woodlands National Bank and its contributions to the Mille Lacs Band's PAC. Both offices eventually dismissed the complaints. Meanwhile, Hoch had also contacted the local paper, the Mille Lacs Messenger (circulation of a couple of thousand), which published a brief article about the campaign finance issue.

Enter the Goliaths. Woodlands Bank sued Hoch--but not the Mille Lacs Messenger--for defamation. Given the intimidating complaint and summons to court drafted by Winthrop & Weinstine, Hoch started looking around for a lawyer. He was referred to Joe Friedburg. The two met, and Friedburg agreed to represent Hoch. Said Friedburg to Hoch, "This is known as a SLAPP suit, meant to make you go away. There is no basis for this suit...but you have to understand I have a lot of friends at Winthrop & Weinstine. I have known Bobby Weinstine for years...so all I'm going to do for you is get this case dismissed, if you want to do anything else with it, find someone else." This information is in the documents on file with the Minnesota Court of Appeals. When asked about it, Friedburg responded, "Bullshit."

What's a SLAPP suit? SLAPP stands for "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation," and they are a common tool employed by major developers and big corporations to make people like Hoch shut up. The suit filed by Woodland is a very common practice: sue the citizen, who is merely exercising his First Amendment right to freedom of speech and a redress of grievances, for defamation, to obfuscate the merits of what the citizen was trying to say. But in the mid-1990s, Minnesota, like 20-some other states, forbid the practice as chilling to public participation--and, not inconsequentially to the citizen (or his lawyers), the Minnesota law provides for reimbursement of attorneys' fees and costs.

Back to Friedburg. As time progressed, he petitioned the court for several extensions and then went silent--both to the court and to his client. Hoch was served with all those unseemly and meant-to-be cumbersome requests for interrogatories, document requests, etc. Despite repeated calls and even an in-office visit, Friedburg didn't get back to Hoch, who was eventually served with a default judgment. At the time, Hoch didn't have the cash for a new lawyer, and he represented himself on the default judgment motion and lost. To this day, Hoch hasn't heard from Friedburg. If these facts are true, it's amazing Hoch hasn't filed a malpractice suit against Friedburg.

Hoch eventually retained Mark Anfinson, who won a reversal of the default this week in the Court of Appeals. The big question will be whether the lower court will allow Hoch, via Anfinson, to add the SLAPP suit defense. We're guessing that's what the Court of Appeals had in mind. In April, in another case, the Court affirmed the decision of a Hennepin County court to dismiss a case in which developer Marchant Invest ment & Management Company sued the St. Anthony West Neighborhood Organization for defamation on basically the same facts--citizens voicing their opinions.

Finally, on the merits of the Woodlands' defamation case, the only publication of the so-called defamation was that little story in the Mille Lacs Messenger. The Mille Lacs Band used their PR firm, Goff & Howard, which then issued press releases around the state about the case against Hoch. So, the sidebar becomes, who did the wider dissemination of the so-called defamation, Hoch or Woodlands through its PR firm?

Should be one fun case for public affairs junkies to watch.

Al Franken Watch
--Tracking the other New Yorker who wants to be a Minnesota Senator--

Unlike the other legislative caucuses, the House Democrats didn't cancel their big fund-raiser last weekend, even though the legislature is in special session. In large part, that's because Air America radio host Al Franken was the star attraction. The best write-up of the event was by the New York Times' David Carr, a native Minnesotan and former editor of the defunct Twin Cities Reader. We've been remiss in not congratulating our good friend Carr on landing a column, which runs on Mondays, in the Times,. And, bully for Carr for mentioning Assistant House Minority Leader Margaret Anderson Kelliher's (DFL-Minneapolis) gift to Franken: a Crock-Pot, along with some advice, "Nothing says 'I care' quite like wild rice hot dish for the neighbors."

Also last weekend, Franken had a "meltdown" while accepting the Freedom of Speech Award at a Talkers magazine's new media seminar. While accepting his awards, Franken launched into a 20-minute tirade against Republicans while accepting his award.

Politics In Minnesota: Bits & Pieces...
--Tracking people and events--

[Publishers' note: Please e-mail us at staff@politicsinminnesota.com with anything we've missed or something that's coming up, or fax same to 651-293-9056.]

Congratulations to Almanac government reporter and host of Almanac at the Capitol Mary Lahammer. She and husband Chad Flynn are the proud parents of Bayliss Jean Lahammer Flynn, who weighed in at eight pounds, three ounces. Middle name "Jean" is a salute to Lahammer's father, Gene Lahammer, the long-time and highly respected former government reporter for the Associated Press.

Congratulations to Lester Bagley for being named vice president of the Minnesota Vikings. It appears that Bagley has found owners a little more consistent than the previous in looking at a solid solution to the Vikings stadium campaign.

Darin Broton has joined the Peter McLaughlin for mayor campaign as campaign manager; he takes over day-to-day operations from Tony Scallon who will be focusing on other issues for the campaign. Broton ran Theresa Daly's challenger race last summer and cut his teeth almost ten years ago interning for one of your publishers.

Erin Broton, Darin's sister will be the new finance director for Chris Coleman's mayoral campaign.

Jeremy Hanson will leave Tunheim Partners to be Mayor R.T. Rybak's press secretary. Hanson has been a fast rising operative: first for the AIDS Project, and later for the Smoke-Free Coalition.

Former Congressman Tim Penny and his band Led Penny will appear at Taste of Minnesota on the WCCO radio stage, Sunday, July 3 at 1 p.m.. The band includes two of Penny's sons, Dan and Shawn. On another Penny note, we hear that his spouse Barb is doing well in her battle with cancer. We wish them the very best.

The launch of Andy Luger's campaign for Hennepin County Attorney had an impressive array of support that we hear threw former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman a little off guard. Freeman, and former Speaker of the House Phil Carruthers, are also considering a run for the seat that will be vacated by Amy Klobuchar.

Big kudos to Law & Politics for playing host to a bipartisan affair to celebrate fifteen years of one-of-a-kind covers and different perspectives and insights for Minnesota's leg al and political players. The affair was a great event for multiple generations of politicos and journalists to gather and exchange thoughts about today's political issues.

Amy Klobuchar's Sen. campaign will gain impressive momentum from a concert that will reunite the famed Austin band, the Gear Daddies, at the home of Dean Phillips.

John, or better known as Jack Tomczak, has announced his campaign for State Sen. in SD 47, against Senator Leo Foley. He's kicking it off this coming Saturday with a BBQ. Tomczak could be considered a carpetbagger and an opportunist, since he ran as an Independence Party member against Mee Moua in the SD67 special election in 2002. Most recently he ran the Initiative and Referendum effort Let Minnesota Vote.

One of you publishers wants to give the Taxpayers League credit for running ads against Pawlenty's "Health Impact Fee." It makes the mostly partisan organization very intellectually honest, something we have come to admire David Strom for, and his honesty deserves notice.

After thinking about it, and having some meetings with key people, radio talk show host Ruth Koscielak will not run for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District.

Mark June 28 as an incredibly intriguing public affairs event to which everyone is invited. Anonymous Source author Dan Cohen will be featured along with a program including remarks to be made by Elliot Rothenberg and perhaps defense attorney Joe Friedburg and AM 1500 talk show host, Ron Rosenbaum (both not yet confirmed). This will be a rare public appearance for Rothenberg, the quirky former state senator who practiced law out of his St. Louis Park basement, and who represented Cohen all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. For those not familiar with the book, Anonymous Source is a must-read about how both the St. Paul and Minneapolis newspapers broke their promises of confidentiality to Cohen (who leaked then-Lt. Gov. Marlene Johnson's shoplifting offense), how this destroyed Cohen's life as he knew it, and how he found both judicial and personal redemption. The program, which starts at 7:00 p.m. at Magers and Quinn bookstore at Lake and Hennepin, will be moderated by PIM publisher Sarah Janecek--who, as a U of M law student, sat through part of the original Hennepin County trial. But don't tell Gov. Tim Pawlenty: Rather than observing the trial, she was supposed to be doing law research for Pawlenty, who was then an associate at the defunct law firm of LeFevre, Leffler, Kennedy, O'Brien & Draws.

Several PIM readers have complained about having to read our Weekly Reports online. We envision some readers doing that, but other readers may just want to hit "print" and take PIM to go.

The latest issue of the Rothenberg Political Report has a fascinating article on the politics of Wal-Mart, the nation's number one Fortune 500 company. Author Nathan Gonzales notes that in the 31 states won by George W. Bush in 2004, there are 2,455 Wal-Mart entities (Supercenters, Discount stores and Sam's Clubs) and in the 19 states won by John Kerry there are 1,131 permutations of Wal-Mart stores. The top five states with the most Wal-Marts are red states Texas (364), Florida (206) and Ohio (141), and blue states California (183) and Illinois (150). The states with the least amount of stores are blue states: Rhode Island (9), Hawaii (9), Delaware (8) and Vermont (4). And, the number of stores in battleground blue states: Pennsylvania (130), Michigan (95), Wisconsin (85) and Minnesota (61). The battleground red states: Colorado (69) and Iowa (60). This got your publishers thinking . . . of the 61 Wal-Marts in Minnesota, how many are in areas currently represented by a DFL state senator or representative or both? Anecdotally, from our travels, it seems most Wal-Marts in our state are located on Republican turf. However, it's not as if we can call 1-800-Wal-Mart to find out. So, readers, please e-mail us at staff@politicsiniminnesota.com and tell us where there are blue-turf Wal-Marts.

Seeing red in Scott County: one of the speakers at the GOP State Central meeting last weekend said that there are no Democrats elected to anything in Scott County.

Last weekend in Wisconsin, state Democrats held their convention, at which a presidential straw poll was taken. Not surprisingly, WI's Dem. U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold came in first, at 30 percent; NY's Dem. U.S. Sen. Hilary Clinton, second at 20 percent; and, 2004 Dem. V.P. candidate, John Edwards, 11 percent.

Politics In Minnesota: Lobbyist Watch
--Who is working what issues--

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board

• Newly registered lobbyists
  • Pam Lofquist, AFSCME Council 5
  • Jan B Anderson, Education Minnesota
  • James Erickson, Minnesota Chec k Cashers Association
• Recently terminated lobbyists
  • Matthew Haapoja, Support Our Troops Inc
  • Robert Leighton, SEGA Corp
  • John Welker, Family and Youth Institute

Politics In Minnesota: 20 Years Ago
--How political time flies--

Quotes from the 1985 special session of the Legislature:

Then-Republican House Majority Leader Connie Levi from Maplewood, "Being majority leader kind of reminds me of being a den mother, except the scouts don't drink the Kool-Aid."

Then-Republican House Speaker Dave Jennings on why there was a special session, "The inexperience and arrogance in the House of Representatives and the experience and arrogance in the Sen ate."

Politics In Minnesota: The Coming Week In Other Media

[Publisher's note: Another new section we're adding: Most Minnesota public affairs junkies know about Almanac and At Issue, but there are lots of other regular venues out there (not the least of which are suburban and greater Minnesota cable television and radio political shows). Please e-mail staff@politicsinminnesota.com to tell us about them.]

Access to Democracy: Hosted by Alan Miller and produced by BECT.TV (Burnsville/Eagan Community Television; Channel 15 in those areas).

Almanac. Hosted by Erik Eskola and Cathy Wurzer. Find out what's on this week's show. Airs live at 7:00 p.m. Fridays on TPT Channel 2. Rebroadcasts are Saturday mornings at 1:00 a.m. and Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. on Channel 2. You can also watch the current and past shows. Coming this week:

• Monolog - Jim Ragsdale performs the honors this week.
• President Bush comes to town - President Bush is in Maple Grove today talking with seniors about the new Medicare prescription drug plan.
• Harvey To Denver? - St. Paul schools superintendent Pat Harvey is one of three finalists for the top job in Denver. She joins us to talk about her future.
• TV Dinner Conversation with J. G. Preston - Award winning children's author Kate DiCamillo is our guest this week.
• Jobs Jobs Jobs - The Blandin Foundation surveyed community leaders in outstate Minnesota to find out what is on their minds. Tune in to find out why jobs tops the list.
• Duluth Lynching - This week, in 1920, three youthful African American men were murdered in Duluth. A look at the gruesome lynchings, and a modern day tribute to the victims. From tpt's documentary "North Star: Minnesota's Black Pioneers."
• Congress - Rep. John Kline, R-2nd District and Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District stop by for a summertime visit on the Almanac couch.
• Index File Time - Tune in to find out last week's answer...this week's question...and stick around to meet the newest member of the Almanac family.

At Issue with Tom Hauser. Broadcast on Sundays at 7:00 a.m. on KSTP Channel 45 and at 9:00 a.m. on KSTP Channel 5. Coming this week:

• A recap of the week's political news.
• Political analysis with former DFL Governor Wendy Anderson and GOPer Annette Meeks from the Center of the American Experiment.
• Face-Off with DFLer Ember Reichgott Junge and GOPer and AM 1500's Dave Thompson.

WCCO Radio: The Pat Miles Show. 830 AM. Every Thursday morning about 9:30 a.m., politicsinminnesota.com publishers Blois Olson and Sarah Janecek visit with Pat to discuss the week's hottest political news.

Politics In Minnesota: Setting The Record Straight

No corrections from last issue. But, meanwhile, we look forward to hearing what you like as well as what you don't about our new publication. Please, do send your thoughts to staff@politicsinminnesota.com or to the publishers, at blois@politicsinminnesota.com and/or sarah@politicsinminnesota.com