Home » Politics in Minnesota: Weekly Report: 2005 » Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 1, Issue 9 - 6/24/2005

Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 1, Issue 9 - 6/24/2005


In this issue: The Budget Stalemate, The Blue And Red Of Wal-Marts In Minnesota, Northstar Commuter Rail Could Be The Issue..., Traction For Progressive Talk, Thoughts On One Of Minnesota's Great Rock Stars And How The Historical Society Got Hip, Bits & Pieces..., Lobbyist Watch, 20 Years Ago, The Coming Week In Other Media, Setting The Record Straight

The Budget Stalemate

Confession: This week, at first blush, we're tempted to write we have nothing new to say about the looming government shutdown. Republicans think Democrats will take the blame and vice versa. The public is outraged, but not enough to galvanize the pols to make a deal. A quote that says it all: A top gubernatorial staffer's asked a lobbyist, "Did you come over [to the Capitol] to watch the shut down?" The lobbyist could easily have answered, "Yes, it was on my list of things to do, right after watching paint dry and grass grow."

Every week, your publishers do a segment on WCCO AM with Pat Miles, and each of the last four weeks the public has called in with a fair amount of outrage. The problem is that no one at the Capitol hears or feels the outrage on a daily basis. Surprisingly, and as best we can tell, "public outrage" as an issue can't even pick up traction on conservative talk radio around the dial.

There was a moment at the beginning of the week, on another radio show, where a radio host wanted to try to get a veteran capitol reporter to criticize the legislature and express an opinion about the lack of progress. After being baited at least three times, the reporter refused to engage in such bashing or criticizing of the process. The reporter decided that he wanted to talk about music, or something else, anything but lowering himself to the trashing of the process and the legislative session.

It was a moment, in 2005, when partisanship and negative messages about all government dominate the headlines that we we're happy we still live in Minnesota.

There are plenty of reasons to settle the impasse, but insiders are not outraged. We have come to believe this it is because there is a fundamental respect for the process, and there is an acknowledgement that the differences in issues are very real and fundamental to the two political parties.

By the way, we trust no one will be surprised that the reporter mentioned above was WCCO's Eric Eskola, and the host was the mostly non-political morning host Dave Lee.

And, if you still want more information about the budget stalemate, visit out the House Republicans' "Get the Job Done" blog.

The Blue And Red Of Wal-Marts In Minnesota

What is it about Wal-Mart that gets the political juices flowing? No need to state the obvious. Last issue, we noted there are significantly more Wal-Marts in the red parts of America as opposed to the blue. We also observed, anecdotally, that most of Minnesota's 61 Wal-Marts seem to be in red parts of the state. However, we asked our readers: Of the 61 Wal-Marts in Minnesota, how many are in areas currently represented by a DFL state senator or representative or both?

Wow, reader response was outstanding! Top award (and a Politics In Minnesota: The Directory 2005-06, gratis) goes to a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. That reader found himself with an open evening and put together an Excel spreadsheet mapping Minnesota's Wal-Marts (which includes all Wal-Mart entities, Supercenters, Discount stores and Sam's Clubs) by zip codes and legislators. This reader found:

35 Wal-Marts are represented by Republican House members; 26 are represented by DFL House members;

33 are represented by Republican Senators; 27 by DFL Senators; one by an Independent; and,

"The Senator from Wal-Mart" is Sen. Minority LeaderDay (R-Owatonna) who has three Wal-Marts in his district.

Specific Wal-Mart locations in legislative districts represented by at least one Democrat (compiled from a number of emails from readers):

  • District - Senator - Representative
  • 3B / Grand Rapids - Sen. Tom Saxhaug (DFL) - Rep. Loren Solberg (DFL)
  • 4A / Bemidji - Sen. Carrie Ruud (R) - Rep. Frank Moe (DFL)
  • 5B / Hibbing - Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL) - Rep. Tony Sertich (DFL)
  • 6B / Duluth (2 stores) - Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL) - Rep. Mary Murphy (DFL)
  • 8A / Cloquet - Sen. Becky Lourey (DFL) - Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL)
  • 8B / Pine City - Sen. Becky Lourey (DFL) - Rep. Judy Soderstrom (R)
  • 9B / Moorhead (2 stores) - Sen. Keith Langseth (DFL) - Rep. Paul Marquardt (DFL)
  • 13B / Willmar - Sen. Dean Johnson (DFL) - Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL)
  • 20B / Montevideo - Sen. Gary Kubly (DFL) - Rep. Lyle Koenen (DFL)
  • 22B / Worthington - Sen. Jim Vickerman (DFL) - Rep. Rod Hamilton (R)
  • 23B / Mankato - Sen. John Hottinger (DFL) - Rep. John Dorn (DFL)
  • 26B / Faribault - Sen. Day (R) - Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL)
  • 27A / Albert Lea - Sen. Dan Sparks (DFL) - Rep. Dan Dorman (R)
  • 30A / Rochester - Sen. Sheila Kiscaden (IP) - Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL)
  • 30B / Rochester - Sen. Sheila Kiscaden (IP) - Rep. Andy Welti (DFL)
  • 31A / Winona - Sen. Bob Kierlin (R) - Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL)
  • 39A / West St. Paul - Sen. Jim Metzen (DFL) - Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL)
  • 39B / Inver Grove Heights - Sen. Jim Metzen (DFL) - Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL)
  • 44B / St. Louis Park - Sen. Steve Kelley (DFL) - Rep. Ron Latz (DFL)
  • 46A / Brooklyn Park - Sen. Linda Scheid (DFL) - Rep. Mike Nelson (DFL)
  • 50A / NE Burbs (3 stores) - Sen. Satveer Chaudhary (DFL) - Rep. Barb Goodwin (DFL)
  • 51A / Blaine - Sen. Don Betzold (DFL) - Rep. Andy Westerberg (R)
  • 54B / Vadnais Heights - Sen. John Marty (DFL) - Rep. Bev Scalze (DFL)
  • 57B / Hastings - Sen. Sharon Marko (DFL) - Rep. Denny McNamara (R)
  • 63B / Bloomington (2 stores) - Sen. Jane Ranum (DFL) - Rep. Dan Larson (DFL)
  • 64A / St. Paul - Sen. Matt Entenza (DFL) - Rep. Cohen (DFL)

We trust our readers will have as much fun comparing this list to what they know about the areas, politically, as we did. And, again, thanks to everyone who wrote.

Northstar Commuter Rail Could Be The Issue....

Last week, DFLer Elwyn Tinklenberg announced his campaign for Congress in the 6th Congressional District. The Sixth has Democrats demoralized since Patty Wetterling was soundly beaten by Republican U.S. Representative Mark Kennedy. Kennedy's campaign for the Sen. didn't reignite optimism among insiders, but the war for the nomination on the Republican side should give Democrats a nugget of hope. Tinklenberg will be a strong candidate, but the DFL should really be optimistic about the Northstar Commuter Rail line as an issue.

The Northstar Rail Commuter Rail line, with the state Republican party's traditional opposition to the project, is likely to become a litmus test among the Republican delegates. Therefore, the DFL may be handed the non-social issue they can succeed on in the Sixth. Besides Northstar as a economic development issue, the 6th is home to lots of pro life Catholic Democrats. The combination of the two could give new life to Democratic hopes.

The district has become wealthier with the great exurban development of the past few years, and therefore taxes and the core Republican messages have won the day, but the challenge is what if those messages potentially stop economic development and slow the rising property values?

Governor Tim Pawlenty's support of the line angered some Republicans, including Congressional candidate State Representative Phil Krinkie, and the very powerful Minnesota Taxpayers League. The current stance of other Republicans on this issue is mixed.

One of your publishers does a lot of work for developers who are hedging on the Northstar Corridor. Lots of developers of all stripes might open their checkbooks if there is a clear difference on the Northstar issue.

It is fundamentally clear that a candidate who would campaign against bringing pork back to the district could give the DFL a major opportunity--we'll wait and see.

Traction For Progressive Talk

Many predicted that "liberal" or "progressive" talk radio would fail. And it almost did. Early financial issues were well documented, but since then, the audience, has grown and so have the number of stations throughout the country.

Most telling is a new station in the battleground of all battlegrounds, Ohio, where Clear Channel launched a new progressive station. Yes, that evil massive conglomerate Clear Channel, the one that people believe is the Wal-Mart of all media companies. Major shareholders include former Vikings owner Red McCombs, and friends of the Bushes, the Mays family of San Antonio, Texas.

Clear Channel, of course, was the first major conglomerate to do the FCC's bidding on decency last year, in a move many thought was to show Bush loyalty. And, over the years, Clear Channel has been a major Bush contributor.

Clear Channel also has an impressive business record in radio and other media, and therefore one can only deduce they have a belief that a progressive station in Ohio will be profitable.

Locally, former Democratic Congressional candidate Janet Robert and former Democratic Congressman Bill Luther launched the local progressive station in late 2003 by leasing time on local stations. They launched their own station last November at AM 950.

Here's a look at the ratings. When we look at the size of the audience from age 12 up (the only ratings we can publish by Arbitron's rules since we're not a subscriber), the ratings put the local station on par with other notable local stations, The Patriot at AM 1280 and FM 107, Hubbard Broadcasting's women-focused talk station.

In the first quarter of this year, locally AM 950 hit a 1.1 percent share of total Twin Cities audience, tying FM 107 and trailing the Patriot by only .1 percent. This made AM 950's total audience about 29,000 on an hourly average.

It should be noted that those numbers are before the most recent billboard campaign was launched by AM 950 - we'll report on Q2 when the numbers are in.

Thoughts On One Of Minnesota's Great Rock Stars And How The Historical Society Got Hip

Many politicos who frequent the St. Paul Grill have no idea that one of the managers, the always effervescent Mary Beth Mueller, was married to the late Soul Asylum bassist, Karl Mueller. A beautiful service for Mueller was held this week, after he lost his year-long horrific battle with throat cancer at the age of 41. During the service, many of the glitterati in the local music scene were surprised to learn that the Minnesota Historical Society has a "Minneapolis Music Collection" with lots of interesting collectables from the major 1980s-90s rock bands in the Twin Cities. Our favorite item? The Converse "Chuck Taylor" tennis shoes worn by Mueller in the late 1990s.

Our very best to Mary Beth and all those who loved Karl Mueller.

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.]

Kudos to Ramsey County District Chief Judge Gregg Johnson for appointing retired MN Supreme Court Justice and former chief of staff to then-Republican Gov. Arne Carlson-- Ed Stringer -- to be the "Special Master" who will decide what gets shut if the government has to shut down. Stringer rightfully enjoys a stellar reputation among both Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans who want to inject a little partisanship in their pest prevention and other needed professional services may want to consult the new list of GOP vendors and professionals developed by the Minnesota Young Republicans.

In a recent Taxpayers League of Minnesota "event alert," the group writes, "Light rail has already infected the Twin Cities, but find out how you can help other areas fight this disease." Believe in the disease? Contact info@taxpayersleague.org for more information.

CNN This Morning had a segment this week on Texas gubernatorial candidate and eclectic poet Pinky Friedman. He espoused the virtues of his campaign team (the Minnesota Jesse Ventura team)--former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley and ad whiz Bill Hillsman--and seemed to imply that will give him the winning edge.

Attorney General Mike Hatch unfortunately used the Jesse Ventura / Tim Pawlenty word "stupid" this week when describing the Governor's choice to use other counsel in the shutdown case and file a separate brief. Hopefully, three "stupids" and the word is out.

Newspapers across the country are running articles like the one in the Star Tribune speculating on whether it's appropriate for county commissioners and officials to attend the annual meeting of the National Association of County Officers (NACO) to be held in Hawaii next month. Several metro-area county commissioners we talked to this week point out that the Hawaii trip is only several hundred dollars apiece more than ones held in other cities around the country. They also note that Hawaiian county officials have been griping for years about having to fly all over the country / no one ever comes to their state. Typical of the mostly conservative criticism of the Aloha meeting is the following from this week's Center of the American Experiment e-newsletter: So this summer when you are spending your family vacation in your backyard swatting away mosquitoes and grilling hot dogs, take a moment and think about the county government officials who are enjoying roasted pig at a luau on a Hawaiian beach, as a warm ocean breeze blows through their hair. And remember their waste of your taxpayer dollars the next time you hear liberals demand that your taxes be raised to pay for more government spending.

Roll Call reporter Lou Jacobson [note it's a paid subscription] reports that progressive liberals are forming a new groups, the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN), to push liberal measures in state legislatures. Just as the staunchly conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been doing for 30 years, PLAN hopes to provide legislators with model legislation that can be passed in as many states as possible.

The National Journal's The Hotline [note it's a paid subscription] reports that lobbyist and former U.S. Republican Rep. Vin Weber "might jump into the race," meaning the U.S. Sen. race in which 6th District Republican U.S. Congressman Mark Kennedy appears to the be Republican endorsement frontrunner. Hotline also reports the domain name, "weberforsenate" was renewed on June 11, 2005.

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

In case you missed it, the Star Tribune's David Phelps wrote a great story on the Maple Grove hospital lobbying saga.

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:

  • Newly registered lobbyists
    • Former DFL Sen. Doug Johnson, Mesabi Nuggett LLC.
    • John Kaul, for the Asian-Pacific Cultural Center and the Greater Metropolitan Foreign Trade Zone.
    • Matt Lemke, of Winthrop & Weinstine, for Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.
    • Jeff Nachbar, for the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota.
  • Recently terminated lobbyists. [Lots of changes this week, with quarterly reports due at the Campaign Finance Board & Public Disclosure Board.]
    • John Apitz, of Messli & Kramer, for the Dakota, Minn & Eastern Railroad Corporation.
    • Mike Ahern, of Dorsey & Whitney, for Heartland Energy & Recycling LLC.
    • Kristen Amundson and Chris Georgacas, of Goff & Howard, for Regent Aviation.
    • John Choi, of Kennedy & Graven, for the city of Independence.
    • Loren DeJonge, for the Graduate and Professional Student Association.
    • Jim Erickson, for Time Warner.
    • Peter Frank, Derek Hudyma, Sean Koebele, Kory Kozloski, Brad Krasaway and Tom Kelly, for the Minnesota State Univers ity Student Association.
    • Doug Franzen, of Rider, Bennett, for SAP America and McGraw Hill.
    • Chris Georgacas, of Goff & Howard, for State Farm Insurance.
    • Cindy Jepsen, for Bixby Energy Systems.
    • Tom Kelly, for the Center for Environmental Advocacy.
    • Teresa Lynch, for Heartland Energy & Recycling LLC and the Truck Renting and Leasing Association.
    • Michael Mahoney, for the Minnesota Council on Compulsive Gaming.
    • Dan Miller, for the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.
    • Shannon Robins, for the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota.
    • Lynnette Slater, of Dorsey & Whitney, for Nobles County.
    • Joe Weber, for Fleet Government Advisory Services.

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

Then-State Auditor and 1986 Republican gubernatorial endorsement hopeful Arne Carlson announced that he had become pro life at the 7th District Republican convention in 1985. Somewhere in ensuing years, Carlson reverted back to being pro choice, and was the Republican nominee in the 1990 race in which more conservative and Republican-endorsed Jon Grunseth withdrew three weeks before the election. Carlson, of course, went on to defeat incumbent Democrat Rudy Perpich.

Politics In Minnesota: The Coming Week In Other Media

[Publisher's note: 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 - J. G. Preston prepares all of us for a partial Almanac shutdown.
  • Stadium Debate Round 20 - More proposals...more opponents...much of the same old debate... Should there be public financing for a new Twins stadium? Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat and DFL State Senator John Marty join us.
  • TV Dinner Conversation with J. G. Preston - Joe Day, head of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, is our guest this week.. tune in to see what he and JG have for dinner and listen in to their chat.
  • Mexican Consulate - The new Mexican Consulate office opened in St. Paul this week. We'll talk with the Consul General.
  • Century Marks - A centennial rose garden was unveiled yesterday at the Capitol.
  • Sports with Fitzy - New Vikes owner...Twins in the tank....no NBA lockout. Larry Fitzterald stops by for his monthly chat.
  • Da Panel - This week's version talks about the inactivity at the Capitol and the looming partial government shutdown.
  • Wrap Up - Who was that mystery person? We give you last week's answer...this week's question and of course your comments. Don't touch that dial just yet!

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.
  • Jim Monroe from the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) on the potential looming government shutdown, and perhaps other guests on the same topic.
  • Political analysis with former Democratic Governor Wendy Anderson and Republican Annette Meeks from the Center of the American Experiment.
  • Urban Initiatives' Art Erickson and reformed gang member John Turnipseed about the possibility of a "Colin Powell Youth Center" to be located in South Minneapolis. [Those supporting the proposed youth center will be asking for state bonding funds next year.]
  • Face-Off with Democrat Ember Reichgott Junge and Republican and the Taxpayers League's David Strom.

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

Civility on the rise: Last issue we wrote that "Democrats were doing high-fives over incumbent Republican Party Chair Ron Eibensteiner losing to new chair Ron Carey. Several Democrats told us we were wrong, and that some DFLers thought Eibensteiner did a good job, and that they particularly enjoyed the (mostly) good-natured sparrings between him and outgoing DFL Chair Mike Erlandson.

Last issue we misspelled Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) first name.

Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline represents the 2nd Congressional District, not the Sixth.