Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 2, Issue 47 - 6/07/2007
RaffelMeyerGate?
Maybe. Maybe not. The remaining salient question in the Minnesota angle to the fired U.S. Attorney scandal is why former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger was put on the list of attorneys to be fired? The theory put forth by Heffelfinger in semi-confidential legal circles (broadcast to the public at large via Minnesota Public Radio) is that maybe he was focusing too much on a local agenda as opposed to the national agenda of the Bush Administration. Translated, that means that Heffelfinger worked on state issues, particularly Indian ones--like the Red Lake tragedy--because they mattered locally at the time, not some national crack-down on illegal immigrants agenda. As we wrote last issue, the theory expounded by the left, articulated by U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN5), is that Heffelfinger was punished because "he didn't support then-GOP Sec. of State Mary Kiffmeyer's policy that would have made it harder for some Indians to vote. Indians have tended to vote Democratic in Minnesota."
Ellison was giving voice to the thinking and writing of Star Tribune editorialists and others on the left who are constantly looking for the "GOP wants to suppress the vote" angle. In several editorials, the Star Tribune opined that Kiffmeyer and maybe some "Republican partisans" tried to have former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger fired because he would not collaborate in suppressing the Native American (and mostly Democratic) vote. At issue in this theory was whether Indian tribal ID cards were adequate for Indians to vote after the federal Help Americans Vote Act was passed. Eventually the courts sorted out various conflicting state rulings on this specific issue and decided the tribal cards were valid.
The new theory to surface is the left-wing black helicopter thinking version of "Republicans will always work to suppress the vote." GOP black helicopter thinking is that "Democrats will always illegally bribe their people to get them to vote." The evidence for this theory was supplied to both Fox 9 News and PIM. On November 1, 2004, Dorsey & Whitney lawyer Roger Magnuson, on behalf of the state MN GOP Party, wrote to Kiffmeyer about violations of election law on the White Earth Reservation. Attached to Magnuson's letter was a White Earth Band of Ojibwe Tribal Office internal memo dated October 26, 2004, titled "GET OUT THE VOTE Campaign." Executive Director Ron Valiant wrote, "In our efforts to get as many people as we can out to vote on election day, we would like to ask for volunteer employees who can spend time on any of the following:" listing phone banks, rides to polling places, and "RAFFLE TICKETS: Staff members who will be making one-on-one contacts on election day will be able to hand out raffle tickets for drawings. The drawings will be held at the tribal office building on Wednesday, November 3rd at 12:00 noon. Laura will be distributing the tickets to volunteers on Tuesday morning."
On the same day, Kiffmeyer's office made a smart decision to pass the federal voting issue on to the proper federal authorities. Then-Chief Deputy Secretary of State Alberto Quintela, Jr. faxed Heffelfinger's office at the downtown Minneapolis U.S. Courthouse: "Mr. Magnuson alleges federal law violations that appear to be within the jurisdiction of your office, and in any case, even under Minnesota law it appears that jurisdiction would lie within the Office of Administrative Hearings under chapter 211B. We are forwarding the material to you for possible immediate action." (View the documents online).
The election, of course, was the next day, November 2, and the matter seemed to have ended there, without an investigation. Or did it? Theory number three is that Heffelfinger may have been put on the get-rid-of list because he didn't immediately investigate, or at least make public, well-documented illegal bribery to vote. Given the cast of inept characters to have surfaced so far in the Congressional inquiry, we highly doubt this theory has merit (these people couldn't organize a file, let alone find anything they put in one). But it sure does raise some interesting issues. First, why didn't Heffelfinger take any action before the election? That one's easy. Given the toxic environment prior to both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, making public a voter bribery scandal the day before the election (when print media would have been forced to run the stories election day) would have only added to the chaos on both sides. As it turned out, any voter bribery on the White Earth Reservation wouldn't have mattered. John Kerry easily won Minnesota.
Two. Why didn't Heffelfinger pursue anything after the election? We don't know (we didn't talk to Heffelfinger), but we're guessing given the election's outcome, any investigation would have been irrelevant. Except to GOP partisans, to whom it matted hugely. Holy mackerel, the black helicopters landed. It doesn't get any better than an internal memo clearly offering a bribe (the raffle tickets) to vote. Finally, back to Dorsey & Whitney lawyer Roger Magnuson. He served as legal counsel to the Florida GOP-controlled Senate in the 2000 election. Magnuson's legal research and writing persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court that it had federal jurisdiction to rule that the Florida legislature, not the Florida courts, had the authority to appoint presidential electors (who voted for Bush not Al Gore). The state GOP's selection of Magnuson as the lawyer to represent the party on the White Earth matter suggests that Republicans hoped to make the tribal memo a national scandal.
And, while Magnuson is highly respected in legal circles, he's somewhat of a lightning rod to lawyers on the left. He's an unabashed Christian conservative. In the aftermath of the 2000 election, Newsweek dismissed him as a dean of Christian "correspondence law school." Granted, he is a graduate of the Oak Brook College of Law, a "distance education school" that Magnuson openly acknowledges as "unashamedly Christian in philosophy." Locally, Magnuson, in addition to being a high-powered lawyer with a national reputation, is the pastor of the Straitgate Church in Minneapolis. [One of your publishers has watched and heard him preach on several occasions. He's one hell of a preacher.]
Other facts and circumstances seem relevant but they just may be that...circumstances. Earlier in 2004, the White Earth Band elected Erma Vizenor as tribal chair, defeating troubled 20-year chairman Chip Wadena, who found himself in federal court about a year later after getting caught selling junked cars in Florida. After Wadena's tenure, perhaps Heffelfinger didn't want to spark a new mess there. Also, shortly after the election, GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty travelled to White Earth, seeking a deal on new casino arrangements. (While White Earth has a casino, its remote location has to compete with several others within a hundred miles, severely limiting its profitability.) Then there's the well-documented huge flow of cash from statewide tribal coffers to DFL candidates and party units.
And, finally...current U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose, who was selected to replace Heffelfinger, worked as an attorney at Dorsey & Whitney -- and with Magnuson on GOP election cases.
Carey To Carry On
This Saturday the state GOP's State Central Party Committee will decide whether to give incumbent chair Ron Carey another term or replace him with challenger and prominent GOP Iraq War defender and veteran Joe Repya. We first wrote about the race here. All our GOP party moles tell us that Carey should win, but it sure has been an expensive battle for him, personally. First, there was the front page news this spring about his involvement with the Minnesota Autism Center. The Star Tribune story is now buried in the paid archives (and thus not linkable), but worth noting is that no one and no unit of government started a legal proceeding against Carey, meaning there was "no there, there." Then last weekend there was another front page Star Tribune story, "Internal Complaints Roil State GOP Office." The gist of the story was that the state party wasn't depositing retirement plan funds in a timely fashion. Carey's story is that as soon as the matter was brought to his attention, he started an investigation and plan to solve the problem.
This story left us scratching our heads. Let's see...a disgruntled former party finance director speaks ill of his former employer and it's front page news? The facts are that the former employee, Dwight Tostenson, had a major axe to grind. Carey dramatically reduced his salary (a decision that was openly discussed and ratified by several GOP party committees) and Tostenson left the party. The people we talked to say that Tostenson did a great job with mail fundraising but that the party wanted to take it to a different level and raise money nationally. The party hired Angela Nielsen, who, when in South Dakota, took that party to great national fundraising success given the high profile U.S. Senate race between former Dem. U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle and GOP challenger and victor U.S. Sen. John Thune. [Little does Al Franken realize his campaign for U.S. Senate to challenge GOP U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman causes GOP activists around the country to send checks to the MN GOP.]
So have these two high-profile stories damaged Carey? Not exactly. National Committee members Evie Axdahl and Brian Sullivan sent an email to State Party Central members, writing, "the ultra-liberal Star Tribune has launched yet another baseless, politically motivated attack on Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey. Working hand in hand with Ron's Republican political opponents, the Star Tribune has thrown a Hail Mary pass to try and smear our chairman once again. We are certain Ron and the Party will provide a point by point response to these baseless charges in the near future. In the meantime, we wanted to express our disgust with the Star Tribune for spreading such baseless allegations."
The Star Tribune stories probably actually help Carey win. However, to the public at large, still left is the impression that the GOP is in trouble, and that's not good. Carey will have some cleaning up to do. Finally, the last section of the second Star Tribune story, written by veteran and respected reporters Pat Doyle and Dan Browning, was just plain bizarre. They wrote about one Larissa Presho's ramblings about a supposed offer from a party deputy treasurer to Presho to marry a Colombian for $5 grand so that he could remain in the U.S.
When did unsubstantiated gossip from a fired data entry clerk (Presho) become news?
Maybe the better question--given our last issue's story about unsubstantiated gossip about former Sec. of State Mary Kiffmeyer and purported voter suppression--is where are the Star Tribune's editors?
The Other GOP State Party Race
Cynthia Dufour will be the likely winner in the the GOP Deputy Party Chair contest. Dufour is a long-time GOP activist and current aide to Hennepin County Commissioner Penny Steele. Dufour organized and chartered the Washington County Republican Women four years ago and also worked on U.S. Rep. John Kline's (R-MN2) 1998 campaign as the political director. The 1998 Kline campaign was Kline's first attempt to beat then-DFL U.S. Rep. Bill Luther (the two faced off again in 2000 and again in 2002, when Kline defeated Luther). In the 1998 campaign, it was Dufour who organized the impressive grassroots volunteers and put them in red shirts (which live on in Kline circles, today). She's the daughter of GOP party activist stalwarts Evie and Doc Stokes. There are four other candidates in this weekend's deputy chair contest: Dorothy Fleming, Rae Hart-Anderson, Ray Narvason and Bill Pulkrabek.
Besides being a great candidate, a good part of the reason Dufour will win is that she's getting help from two GOP powerhouse women, Susan DeLeo and Marsie Leier. DeLeo managed Kline's 1998 campaign, and worked on the 2002 winning Kline campign. She's a past state prez of the MN GOP Women and worked for legendary Independent Sen. Bob Lessard. Leier was perhaps the reason John Kline appeared to come out of nowhere and win the GOP endorsement in 1998. The percieved shoe-in candidate that year was former GOP Sen. Linda Runbeck. Besides engineering Kline's endorsement, Leier has spent decades toiling in GOP party trenches but perhaps her greatest claim to fame was being the one of the first prominent GOPers in 1976 to support the GOP presidential candidacy of one has-been actor and California Governor....Ronald Reagan.
Waiting For Some Fire In The DFL Senate Race
The DFL field for US Senate isn't setting the world on fire. Sure, Al Franken has gotten some national attention and Mike Ciresi has lined up some significant support but there is still a feeling that someone else or something more should emerge in the field.
Ciresi recently announced the support of Rep. Betty McCollum (MN4-DFL) and a handful of state DFL legislators: State Representative Tom Huntley (Duluth), Rep. Steve Simon (St. Louis Park), Rep. Ken Tschumper (LaCrescent), Rep. Ryan Winkler (Golden Valley) and Rep. Erin Murphy (St. Paul). Ciresi also added former Mike Hatch media maven Leslie Sandberg to his staff and is reportedly looking for a campaign manager, as well.
Franken countered with the announcement of State Auditor Rebecca Otto and nineteen state legislators: Sen. Sandy Pappas (St. Paul), Sen. Don Betzold (Fridley), Sen. Steve Murphy (Red Wing), Sen. Jim Carlson (Eagan), Sen. John Doll (Burnsville), Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes (Winona), Sen. Tony Lourey (Kerrick), Sen. Rick Olseen (Harris), Sen. Dan Skogen (Hewitt), Rep. Mike Jaros (Duluth), Rep. Bernie Lieder (Crookston), Rep. John Lesch (St. Paul), Rep. Cy Thao (St. Paul), Rep. Larry Haws (St. Cloud), Rep. John Benson (Minnetonka), Rep. Robin Brown (Austin), Rep. Tim Faust (Mora), Rep. Scott Kranz (Blaine), and Rep. Kim Norton (Rochester). A new staffer for Franken is Field Director James Haggar who managed Secretary of State campaign Mark Ritchie.
News over the weekend that state Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) would not run wasn't surprising and the question of "who" could possible excite DFLers and beat Franken or Ciresi remains.
It is clear that Nobel prize winning scientist Peter Agre and well-known tax attorney and banker Bob Olson will neither excite the base nor seriously challenge Franken and Ciresi.
It's still early but in the coming months, these indicators will shed light on how the race will take shape:
- Whether or not the DSCC floats bigger names
- July fundraising totals
- Bigger name endorsements like Mike Hatch or Senator Amy Klobuchar
One name that will continue to float is First District Congressman Tim Walz. The odds of Walz running are not very good; frankly, next to impossible. Walz is hugely popular in the conservative First District and the DCCC will work tirelessly to ensure that he stays there. Plus, Kerry Greeley, Waltz' campaign manager from 2006, has already picked a candidate: she's working for Ciresi.
There is still plenty of time for DFLers to run an effective race, it's just that the base is getting impatient and remains largely uninspired.
The GOP Race To Challenge Walz
In any other year, against any other candidate, the GOP would be sitting pretty to make Rep. Tim Walz a one-termer. But the battle between state Senator Dick Day (R-Owatonna) and Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield) is another race that probably won't spark a fire either.
Having two qualified candidates is notable for the GOP and we have heard that former Speaker Rep. Steve Sviggum has given significant thought to moving into the district to run but the battle for the GOP endorsement is already shaping up.
Day will likely raise more money than Demmer and Day will no doubt be a flashier, more media savvy and hungry candidate. But Demmer has scored a coup by hiring former Rep. Gil Gutknecht's district director Wanda Mitchell. Mitchell knows all the delegates from the First and they adore her.
In the meantime, Day's campaign is being run on a voluntary basis by Sara Amaden, his top aide in the State Senate.
Insiders give the edge to Demmer, as he is more ideologically in line with activists and Day is, as many have learned over the years, unreliable on conservative issues and unpredictable on the message and of a campaign.
The State Of The Star Tribune
The changes Avista Capital is making to the Star Tribune are so profound and so discouraging, we haven't been able to get our heads around them. Here's what we know about political coverage. A solid team in Mark Brunswick, Pat Doyle and Pat Lopez remain, along with political editor Doug Tice [previous story complaints about Star Tribune editing notwithstanding.] The really great news is that former McClatchy Washington correspondent Kevin Diaz has been hired to cover the Washington delegation. Worth noting is that a decade ago, the paper had 13 full-time people covering politics. That number is now five.
For our readers interested in the paper, the best resource is Brian Lambert's blog, Lambert to the Slaughter. For readers who want to save time surfing around, we asked PIM staffer Dan Feidt (who has done lots of fine research and writing for us the last few years) to surf and suggest links. Go ahead, Dan:
Growing up interested in politics, I usually enjoyed reading the Star Tribune. Back in those heady days, the Strib seemed like the substantial, long-term source of regional wisdom. John F. Kennedy put it best: "And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.
That ain't how it looks these days. While CNN sets the meter with wall-to-wall celebrity "coverage" and Fox keeps beating everyone with the fear stick, many hoped the Star Tribune could withstand these lame trends under their mysterious new owner. Instead, we've been treated to the spectacle of a bunch of faceless petroleum investors liquidating as much human capital as possible, while probably plotting to sell the downtown headquarters to developers and dump everyone in some Golden Valley cubicles. The Onion's latest riff on the breathless "24-second news cycle" frames the short-term rationality that infests Wall Street. If Avista Capital really planned to stick around longer than five years, why would they fire the veteran switchboard ladies? That only makes sense if you're not planning beyond next quarter. Why dump the experienced columnists?
A newspaper really has three axes of information: News, analysis, and opinion. They've slashed the reporting staff. They've dumped columnists that analyze their fields. The opinion page's non-institutional content has been a fetid, syndicated mess for years. Stripped of its McClatchy bureaus, national coverage has been mostly thrown under the bus, though we're fortunate Kevin Diaz will return to run the DC bureau.
This situation, reflected across the river at the scorched-earth Pioneer Press, has brought about a gigantic credibility void, into which serious blogs and blog-like community collectives such as Twin Cities Daily Planet and MNSpeak have thrown their hats. The Minnesota Monitor's media criticism writers have done a good job getting interviews and offbeat takes. (Even Strib veteran Eric Black is going to work with the Monitor.) As Leigh Pomeroy points out, liberal blogs sprinkled around the state like A Bluestem Prairie, which covers southern Minnesota, MN Publius and the Minnesota Campaign Report have often raised important, sunlight-starved stories into public scrutiny lately. Of course, the ever-vocal MOB of conservative bloggers has plenty to say about stories they think the Strib has missed or spun. But it's a sign of the times that even the iconic Kennedy v. The Machine, which once luxuriated in tilting at the Star Tribune windmill, now barely grouses about them at all.
As Avista executes its pink-slip-oriented rightsizing strategy, how can the news division possibly observe and analyze all relevant public affairs? Chucking Doug Grow? The Star Tribune used to convey a broad awareness of civic life and keep an editorial conscience right out in front. The smoking ruins of ugly wire stories, syndicated filler and suburban city council bulletin lists await us. Without columnists to analyze policy and public life, now we need the Internet to shed light on these things. No wonder everyone likes those wily, trendy web dwellers nowadays. It's not just for nitpicks and conspiracy theories any more.
Better Times For Burger
Super good news for our dear friend Kevyn Burger, formerly of WCCO TV and now a talk show host on fm107. Diagnosed with breast cancer a mere three weeks ago, she's had the mastectomy and reconstruction surgery and was diagnosed with a highly treatable Stage II cancer. You can follow Kevyn's progress and cancer journey on the blog she and her son, Robbie (aka Ross) Yates are running.
And ladies, pay attention. Burger's doctors figure that cancer had been with her for years. Burger not only religiously had annual mammograms, she also conducted self exams on the air and encouraged her listeners to do the same. Burger was set to go to New York later this month to pick up a prestigious Gracie award for broadcasting the exams (a listener found her own tumor because of Burger's on-air efforts).
Mark Olson Ally Alters Wikipedia Entry, Defends Himself On Blogs
In a reprise of previous operatives-editing-Wikipedia-to-burnish-damaged-politicians episodes, beleaguered Rep. Mark Olson's (R-Big Lake) campaign director Mark Swanson was caught editing Olson's Wikipedia page under the username Swanny123, according to the blog Dump Bachmann. Swanson defended his edits in a lengthy thread at the leftie blog MN Publius.
Swanson's edits toned down copy related to Rep. Olson's legal troubles over allegations of domestic assault and workplace abuse. For example, Swanson changed headline reading "Domestic Assault Arrest" to "Personal Legal Notes." While not inaccurate Swanson's headline is certainly less accurate than the one he changed. Olson was arrested, after all.
The episode illustrates yet again a fundamental flaw in Wikipedia's quality control.
Cybersquatting & More Wikipedia Intrigue
A Google search for the words "mike ciresi" revealed an interesting Internet marketing tactic. But by whom remains a mystery. At the very top of the search results you'll see a highlighted link that is labeled a "Sponsored Link." That's an ad purchased by the Ciresi campaign that points to the ciresiforsenate.com site.
It's the first link in the "natural" or non-advertising search results that's interesting. That link reads Mike Ciresi and points to mikeciresi.org. Clicking on that link takes you to what appears to be, and is--and isn't--Ciresi's Wikipedia entry.
It is the Wikipedia entry in your browser but that entry is "surrounded" by the mikeciresi.org domain. If you click on any link on the Wikipedia page, you'll notice in your browser's address bar that the address of the page never changes; it always remains at mikeciresi.org. Mike Ciresi's Wikipedia page is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Ciresi yet that address never shows up in your address bar.
The technique is called domain masking. It entails some simple HTML code called "framesets" that essentially encloses all browser activity within the domain that is used for masking purposes. You can see how it works by using your browsers' "view source" function when you're at mikeciresi.org.
In effect, you never leave mikeciresi.org but can surf the Web within it. The only way to escape the domain is by hitting your back button until you reach your original Google search or by typing a different domain in your browser's address bar.
There is nothing sinister at all to this practice per se though it's a bit of a mystery as to why it is being done in this case.
The domain mikeciresi.org ranks 1st when you search for "mike ciresi" because it contains the words "Mike Ciresi" in the Title area of the site that shows up on your browser's title bar and the words are contained within the domain itself, an important consideration for Google rankings.
The campaign's domain, ciresiforsenate.com, has not been optimized for the phrase "mike ciresi." That basically means that those words have not been placed prominently or strategically enough on the pages of the site for Google to recognize that that is the topic of the site. It explains both why that domain does not rank well for Ciresi-related searches and that in turn explains why the campaign is buying ads on Google.
Though Google knows about ciresiforsenate.com (it has 21 pages from the site in its index), the search engine obviously doesn't consider the site relevant enough for the search "mike ciresi." Further searching revealed:
-
mike ciresi us senate campaign website -
no links on the first page of
Google
- mike ciresi senate campaign web site - no links on the first page of Google
- mike ciresi us senate - no links on the first page of Google
- mike ciresi for senate - no links on the first page of Google
- ciresi for senate 1 link to mikeciresi.org and no links to ciresiforsenate.com on the first page of Google
The ciresiforsenate.com domain name was purchased on February 11, 2005 by Ciresi's State Director Kerry Greeley (Tim Walz' former campaign manager). Six months later the mikeciresi.org domain was purchased anonymously from a domain registrar in Germany on July 14, 2005.
Greeley does not know who registered mikeciresi.org and no one has contacted the campaign about it.
But why mask Ciresi's Wikipedia entry?
There are only two reasonable explanations: 1) Since mikeciresi.org points to the relatively innocuous Wikipedia page, the domain is controlled by someone outside, but friendly to, the campaign, or 2) the domain is controlled by someone who may or may not be a friend but, if hostile, may be pointing it at Wikipedia to keep their powder dry, so to speak. Considering that the domain was purchased on foreign soil, if you will, the safe bet is on the latter. Also, since Google tends to rank Wikipedia pages near the top, masking that page may be an attempt to fool Google into thinking the domain is a Wikipedia entry so it will rank well.
View the screenshots (click on the magnifying glass icon for more detail):
- Google search for "mike ciresi"
- mikeciresi.org masking Ciresi's Wikipedia entry
- HTML source of mikeciresi.org pointing to Wikipedia entry
First Thing We Do Is...Elect All The Lawyers
The spring issue of the University of Minnesota Law School's magazine, Perspectives, includes a cover story about past and previous grads who went on to serve in the Legislature. The previous-grad roster is too huge for here but U of M Law School grads currently serving in the Legislature are Sens. Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-Fridley), Geoff Michel (R-Edina), Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul), Mee Moua (DFL-St. Paul), Reps. Dave Olin (DFL-Thief River Falls), Joe Mullery (DFL-Minneapolis), Paul Kohls (R-Victoria), Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park), Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley), Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover).
That got us to thinking. The common complaint among the non-lawyer crowd is that at any point in time, the Legislature has too many lawyers. Currently there are 32 lawyers. But the lawyers have nothing on the educators. Three new senators and seventeen new House members who are teachers or school board members joined the Legislature after the last election.
Other Minnesota law school grads include those from Hamline University Law School: Sens. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) [attending], Don Betzold (DFL-Fridley), Charles Wiger (DFL-North St. Paul) and Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul). From William Mitchell College of Law: Sens. Dick Day (R-Owatonna), Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud), Thomas Neuville (R-Northfield), Linda Scheid (DFL-Brooklyn Park), Leo Foley (DFL-Coon Rapids), Richard Cohen (DFL-St. Paul) and Reps. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake), Tom Emmer (R-Delano), Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) and Jean Wagenius (DFL-Minneapolis). From other law schools: Sens. Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen) [University of Pennsylvania Law School], Mary Olson (DFL-Bemidji) [University of North Dakota Law School] and Reps. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) [Harvard Law School], Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) [University of Chicago], John Berns (R-Wayzata) [Drake Law School], Steve Smith (R-Mound) [Oklahoma City University], Terry Morrow (DFL-St. Peter) [University of California-Davis] and Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) [Boston University].
Politics In Minnesota: Bits & Pieces...
Matt Entenza's soon-to-be-launched think tank dedicated to rural Minnesota issues has added former Pioneer Press writer Lee Egerstrom.
The Senate DFL and GOP caucuses have lined-up an aggressive fundraising month now that session is over. The Senate GOP will be having a fundraiser on June 19 at the Southview Country Club in West St. Paul from 5-7 p.m. Not to be outdone, the Senate DFL is hosting its fundraiser on June 20 at the Four Points Sheraton in Minneapolis from 5- 6:30 p.m.
GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty earned a huge national boost with yesterday's Wall Street Journal editorial board writing favorably about "Governor Veto."
St. Thomas associate professor of Justice and Peace Studies and former Fifth Congressional District candidate Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer announced today that he is again exploring a run for the U.S. Senate in 2008. Check out mostimportantdecade.com for more. Tax attorney, bank owner and "alternative energy advocate" Bob Olson also kicked off his U.S. Senate campaign this week.
In case there was any doubt about how the Taxpayers League of Minnesota characterized the 2007 legislative session, "This session was a total victory for the taxpayers. Spending actually will increase less quickly than even was proposed originally by Governor Pawlenty. No tax-increases passed the legislature. A transportation bill that included no less than 6 tax increases was vetoed by the Governor, and that veto was sustained with every Republican standing firmly with the Governor. Even the ridiculous liberal bonding bill was stopped in its tracks. Simply put, conservatives won just about every major battle this session, and the liberals lost. What a difference 5 months makes!" On the other hand, since the DFL's proposals to shift more of the spending burden from local property taxes to income taxes failed, anti-tax conservatives will happily claim that still-spiraling property taxes are someone else's fault. This didn't quite work for them last November, but who cares?
Jeff Johnson, the former three-term GOP Rep. from Plymouth and the 2006 Republican candidate for Minnesota Attorney General, is running for the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners in 2008. He'll run for the District 7 seat being vacated by retiring GOPer Penny Steele. District 7 of Hennepin County includes Champlin, Corcoran, Dayton, Greenfield, Hassan Township, Independence, Loretto, Maple Grove, Maple Plain, Medina, Minnetrista, Mound, Rogers, Spring Park, St. Bonifacius and portions of Plymouth, Orono, Hanover and Rockford. With Johnson getting in early, it will be interesting to see if other Republicans jump into the race.
Star Tribune "Dollars and Sense" columnist John Ewoldt debuts a new regular feature on KARE's 11's "KARE OnLIVE" today.
University of Minnesota School of Law Professor Judith Younger is included in the newly published Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, edited by Barbara Love. The book calls her "a pioneer for justice in family law" and cites her work in reforming divorce law in New York.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6) has opened a new office in the St. Cloud area in Waite Park.
Last issue we complimented the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council for its newsletter profiling prominent ag lobbyists. The group's executive director, Daryn McBeth, wrote to tell us that Agri-Growth's newsletter editor, Joan Olson, deserves all the credit. Now she's got it.
Nominations are still open for PIM Freshman Legislator and Legislator of the Year. Please send your confidential nominations to staff@politicsinminnesota.com
Politics In
Minnesota: Lobbyist Watch
--Who is working
what issues--
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
As always, 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. We'll keep your e-mails confidential, although we'd appreciate knowing what part of the state or the country you're from.
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