Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 6/22/2007
Politics In Minnesota: Version 3.0
Our top story this week is our story.
Former Politics In Minnesota Publishers David Erickson and Blois Olson have left PIM to pursue other endeavors. Publisher Sarah Janecek remains, and wishes Erickson and Olson the very best.
Janecek is joined by Dan Feidt. Sarah provides the age and the GOP angle; Dan, youth, Internet savvy and a leftie point of view. Dan's been with PIM for some time -- he worked on the last two Politics In Minnesota legislative directories and has been researching and writing good stories for our Weekly Reports (without proper credit). The most important person in any operation is the person who runs things. That person in our operation is and remains Ricé Davis.
Others will be joining us as we see fit. Some will be names those in Minnesota public affairs will recognize. Others will be heretofore unheard-of people. One new face is Tracey Howell. Tracey, like Dan, is a Macalester College grad and she's in charge of our Daily Reports.
So, for those keeping track...the first version of Politics in Minnesota was the paper newsletter founded by DFLers D.J. Leary and Wy Spano editors in July 1982. Janecek joined the two in 1993. Leary and Spano retired from the publication in 2005. From 2005 to present, the first two volumes of the Weekly Report (PIM: Version 2.0) were produced by Janecek, Erickson and Olson.
What can readers expect from PIM: Version 3.0? What you have come to expect from every permutation of PIM. Political stories and analysis you won't find elsewhere. Hopefully written with attitude and humor where appropriate. What makes this a particularly exciting time for us is, unfortunately, the tragedies unfolding at both the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Both papers have dramatically reduced the number of reporters and editorial writers covering Minnesota public affairs, and both papers have dramatically reduced the amount of ink they devote to politics.
We aim to fill that void. Accordingly, in our Weekly Reports, over time our plan is to decrease the amount of analysis and increase the amount of hard news. Our thinking here is that there are a gazillion choices in theblogosphere to get analysis. Some are terrific, some less so. However, the biggest changes will occur on our web site...
PoliticsInMinnesota.com
We blew up the old, stagnant web site and started over. Web site "conventional wisdom" is that you build a web site, perfect it and then launch it. We think conventional wisdom is sooooo Smith Corona. Check back often and watch us build our site. We think you'll get hooked.
One new key feature is a political calendar, on which anyone can post political events. Please take the minute to register on the site, which will allow you to post. You'll find the Event Calendar on the upper right part of the screen. We want to post it all: Every DFL bean feed in a backyard, every GOP wine tasting at a swank downtown club, every legislator or legislative candidate fundraiser, every parade where there will be pols, etc. We also want to offer the many press releases we get every day on a special section of the site. Send your press releases to pressrelease@politicsinminnesota.com.
In several days, we'll have our Morning Report daily news links up, with places for readers to post comments on the news of the day. PIM staff will post, as well. There's a ton more in store, and we'll keep our Weekly Report subscribers abreast of the changes.
Stay tuned online. We aim to truly become "Minnesota's Public Affairs News Service."
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Gripes?
sarah@politicsinminnesota.com
rice@politicsinminnesota.com
dan@politicsinminnesota.com
tracey@politicsinminnesota.com
Let Dean Date...And Drive
For our readers who don't comb the blogosphere, here's the most salacious event that happened online this week: GOP activist Michael Brodkorb, who runs minnesotademocratsexposed.com, posted a link and story about former Independent U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley's Match.com personal ad. First things first. Good for Barkley. It's a great ad and reflects Barkley's personality as a funny straightshooter. Our favorite part was this line, "As far as a career goes, I have done most everything including practicing law, driving a school bus, running a car wash, owning a housing company, being a U.S. Senator and running several Independent political campaigns." You gotta admire how he sort of buried the U.S. Senator part behind the car wash and the school bus.
Others have wondered whether the "outing" of the ad would have an impact on Barkley's political future (if he wants one). It's clear from bothBrodkorb's post and from Joe Bodell's post at minnesotamonitor.com that neither guy has much experience with Match.com. Both thought it was significant that Barkley listed "erotica and skinnydipping" as some of his "turn-ons." Here's a newsflash for you non-Match.com conversant people. Those are official Match.com menu items, and almost everyone checks those (and thunderstorms) as turn-ons.
But we don't think the potential political impact of the ad is the story here. Rather, was it appropriate to "out" the ad in a political blog. We think not. Skipping the long dissertation on the importance of the web, as all aspects of our lives move online, personal lives should stay out of professional ones. That's probably impossible, given any piece of information online is only one click away. [And, certainly Barkley knew when he posted the ad back in January that it would eventually be made available in political circles. Using his official U.S. Senate photo was a nice touch.]
Does Barkley want a political future? We caught up with Barkley while he was on the job driving a Metro Mobility bus (he's also started a law practice). Both jobs "keep him off the golf course." Several Democrats have approached him to run against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6) and the DFL has even offered to keep an official DFL candidate out of the race if Barkley decides to run. However, we agree with Barkley's assessment: There's no way the DFL can keep one of their own from running against Bachmann. So, does Barkley think about running for Congress? "Not a whole lot," he says.
Besides, Barkley has much better political prospects in hooking up with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who just left the GOP to officially become an Independent and may run for the White House. Most recently Barkley managed Texas Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman's unsuccessful campaign.
Finally, inquiring minds want to know...how's that Match.com ad working out? Barkley laughed and notes he's being inundated. For the record, he's gone on dates with about 10 women so far and has yet to find anyone special. Good luck out there, Dean, and may you date in peaceful privacy.
A Modern Record For Roll Call Votes
In most years, the Minnesota House casts between 350-400 roll call votes. This year, there were 638 calls for the ayes and nays. The official record of the House is the House Journal. This year, the Journal was a record 7,576 pages. That's up 20 percent from the last long session year in 2005 when there were 5,038. What gives?
A carefully orchestrated effort on the part of the House GOP Minority to force tough votes on carefully crafted amendments. In the dismal GOP aftermath of the 2006 election when the DFL took the House, the defeated House Republicans had to reduce their staff ranks by 50 percent. As a result, the Republicans found themselves with an embarrassment of riches in choosing which people to keep. Long-time key GOP House staffer Gregg Peppin became House Minority Legislative Services Director and he built a strong team of researchers culled from the ranks of the former GOP committee administrators. The House GOP research team understood the policy and politics of each amendment they drafted and kept the House GOP members well-supplied with good amendment ammo. In so doing, the House GOP researchers became known as the "lumberjacks" because they generated a lot of paper and must have killed a lot of trees.
Peppin's lumberjacks are Carmen Carter, Suzanne Geroux, Ian Marsh, Mark Nisley, Bob Shipman, Craig Stone, Mike Valleau, Dennis Virden and Ed Werner.
WCCO-TV Loses To Conservative Talk Radio Aficionado
The Minnesota News Council upheld several complaints from a group of seven citizens about coverage of the tax cut rally held this spring at the Capitol. The citizen charge was led by Forrest Chad Wilkinson, who lives in Sartell and writes a newsletter to counter environmentalists at riverwarren.com. Wilkinson is known to almost every conservative-leaning talk radio host as an avid listener and attendee of talk radio events.
The News Council voted 14-0 to uphold a complaint that video posted at WCCO's web site misrepresented the tax cut rally attendees when it featured footage of them along with footage from a global warming protest held the same day. The video was originally accompanied by a caption that described only the global warming protest. When Wilkinson and others brought the matter to CCO's attention, the station did not immediately correct the problem. Thus the News Council also voted 10-3 with one abstention to uphold a complaint that CCO acted unfairly by not immediately making the correction.
The Minnesota News Council has no force of law; it is an organization comprised of voluntary members of most major Minnesota media -- but not WCCO-TV. The rulings are significant for several reasons. First, for the most part, conservatives haven't bothered to seek a redress of their media grievances. With a taste of victory under their belts, look for more conservatives to submit complaints. Second, the issues involve flag a major challenge on the web: Once it's out there, it's out there and lives in infamy. Even thoughWCCO made the correction before the hearing, the material with the wrong text still exists out there, somewhere. [The best source of otherwise 'dead' Internet material is Archive.org's Internet Wayback Machine.]
Camp Wellstone: The Answer To Conservative Cadre Training
It's been awhile since we've checked out what's happening with Wellstone Action, the "national center for training and leadership development of the progressive movement...to honor the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone." Looks like the group is thriving, with five "Camp Wellstones" scheduled for the coming months around the country. The nearest is in Milwaukee on October 5-7.
The Camp Wellstone operations have formed an increasingly effective counterpart to the foundation-financed conservative training grounds like the American Enterprise Institute and the Leadership Institute. [Worth recalling is that the success of the conservative think tanks and training grounds was due to the long period of time in the 1960s, 70s and 80s when the Democrats dominated both houses of Congress and conservatives had no place else to go.]
The excitement and energy in Wellstone Action flag a central problem for liberal politics in this country: it's really difficult for young liberals to make a living in professional politics except through lobbying or public relations. Today, a young man or woman considering an entrance to the political realm sees that conservative students have scholarships and internships a-plenty available through the myriad of conservative institutions. After graduation, they have lots of help networking into conservative-activist jobs. After getting graduate degrees, conservative think tanks help keep them going with plum jobs and salaries.
Since the post-Goldwater era, when wealthy conservative players like John Olinand Richard Mellon Scaife set up their think tanks and other institutions, they've gradually been able to shift the entire frame of American politics to the right. These groups nurture and network a new generation of conservatives right up the food chain. There's simply no equivalent on the left. In the Beltway, it's basically the center-left Brookings Institution and the John Podesta's recently created Center for American Progress. That's it.
Wellstone Action has quickly become an important pillar in the electoral (rather than wonk) side of the equation. The camps teach would-be candidates how to convey a charismatic, attractive progressive message to an electorate. It also helps train the critical layer of organizers and top-level foot soldiers who have to get things running and motivate volunteers. Much likeScaife's thinktanks , it will take years for the cumulative effect of Camp Wellstone training to really emerge clearly. But it's a critical piece of the puzzle, and on the left side, an area that's been sorely lacking. A number of Camp Wellstone graduates have won elections, and surely there are more to come. At least half a dozen DFL legislative freshmen went to a Camp Wellstone. You can get regular updates by joining the Wellstone Action Network, and check out a video on the camps. It's a bit shocking they won't run a camp in Minnesota this summer!
Summer Politickin'
With legislators out of St. Paul and the summer parade season gearing up, it's worth thinking about what exactly constitutes Minnesota politics in the summer. What kinds of events staged by activists and local party units motivate their members to stick with it for the long haul? How do locals across the state generate that sense of community? What kinds of political events really represent "politics in Minnesota"?
A blog entry on Derek Brigham's conservative FreedomDogs caught our attention. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) hung out at a Senate District 45 potluck event, which in turn was presented to the Internet faithful by the camera-wielding author. Brigham added really useful tips about how to promote these events and make them live on forever by getting a few video clips for the Net. Gov. Tim Pawlenty also spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition and took a bike ride one evening. These seemed like the exact type of events - and the blogging to follow it up - that helps create a stronger perception of unity among casually political GOP members.FreedomDogs' site art was also a cut above average, and a good move for branding.
We also took note of a myriad of MeetUp events (here and here) for the politically engaged. Volunteer Corey Stern organizing the Ron Paul GOP MeetUps seems to be winning the Net race with 142 members. Oddly many DFL events are at 7 PM Tuesday. Must be an election day psychology thing.
Let us know what really constitutes your idea of summer politics at staff@politicsinminnesota.com.
DFL Summer Messaging Shakeup
The DFL State Party has a new summer program gearing up. The party tossed its klutzy old website and built a nice, uncluttered new portal that really helps present Democratic politicians, upcoming events, as well as the many activist clusters that make up the DFL constituency. Online videos and more tools to help activists organize online are in the pipeline. Top DFL officials plan to traverse the state and listen to locals, as they embark on a summer training program in each Congressional District. During June and through September, weekend retreats will be held for DFLers training them in finance, communications, organizing and election work. One party official said that it's not really downtime; instead it's time to recharge the party, listen to the rank-and-file, and keep building the party for next year.
Under DFL State Party Chair Brian Melendez' leadership the DFL also shook up its communications department. Kelly Schwinghammer became the new communications director and John Stiles, the assistant communications director. Kelly previously worked on labor organizing at Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and during the 2004 campaign was a deputy communications director at the late 527 organization America Coming Together. She was also press secretary at Families USA in Washington, D.C. Stiles was a principal aide to Ramsey County Commissioner Toni Carter and has worked on messaging and volunteer organization for DFL campaigns.
Oberstar At Large On Land, Sea & Air
U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar's (D-MN8) current work on Capitol Hill has been overshadowed by the daily war hoopla, but with his potent Transportation Committee Chairmanship, the 34-year Congressional veteran has dived right into water policy, aviation, and the ongoing Deepwater upgrade mess in the Coast Guard. Even though it's quiet and wonky work by nature, Oberstar's political initiatives will likely have a dramatic effect on most Americans well into the future.
He's caught flak from the Minnesota Farm Bureau, and praise from the New York Times and International Falls Daily Journal, for sponsoring a proposal to regulate water pollution more widely. A recent Supreme Court ruling indicated that federal regulations don't apply to wetlands disconnected from navigable water; Oberstar's proposal would "make sure that federal jurisdiction applied to all waters," as the Times put it.
Transportation and national security have clearly become more linked since 9/11. The Coast Guard, a critical element, would benefit from Oberstar's Integrated Deepwater Reform Act, which attempts to remedy the "disturbing pattern of abuses and failures by the Coast Guard and its contractors," Oberstar said, stressing how the Deepwater project ruined eight 110-foot Coast Guard cutters (they're now so unsafe they can't even be given away to Panama). Malfeasance in the Deepwater case gained major notice last August when a worker on the project, Michael De Kort, blew the whistle via posting on YouTube (a clever move future national-security whistleblowers would be wise to emulate). Many Deepwater problems stemmed from poor oversight; the "private sector lead systems integrator" that ran the project was a corporation formed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, who failed to maintain high standards while subcontracting to, and overseeing, themselves. Oberstar's bill would ban the use of a private lead systems integrator on the project within two years (an increasingly popular notion), and it's a big swipe at the cozy, weird private military-industrial structures that have flourished under the Bush Administration. Taking on that opaque complex in D.C. would be daunting for anyone but Oberstar's the kind of guy who could pull it off with integrity.
Oberstar's committee also put together and passed a major climate change transportation bill this week. He's looking at how domestic aircraft are maintained overseas, another important security risk. Al Qaeda has been known to target aircraft maintenance facilities in Southeast Asia for infiltration. If he pulls off these initiatives and manages to score federal financing for the Rush Line to Duluth, it will really be worth the three decades he waited to win that committee gavel.
Bits & Pieces
GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty got great play this week in a New York Times story, "Long Reviled, Merit Pay Gains Among Teachers," which stayed on the top 10 list of most-emailed NYT stories for most of the week. The story highlighted Pawlenty's $86 million teacher merit pay program. The NYT reporter perfectly captured one of the reason's why Pawlenty is a rising star in national GOP circles. Noting that teachers' union leaders are helping develop and sell the program, Pawlenty was quoted, "As a Republican governor I could say, 'Though shalt do this, and the unions would say, 'Though shalt go jump in the lake.'"
Now for an important digression from politics into the arts. Many of our readers are familiar with Ricé Davis, who pretty much runs the free world when she's not running Politics In Minnesota. Her daughter, Maggie Chestovich, is a brilliant actress and she's starring in the Jungle Theater's Two for the Seesaw, a two-character, romantic play written by William Gibson (The Miracle Worker), which won the Best Play Tony in 1958. Chestovich will be sharing the stage with Stephen Cartmell -- who just happens to be her significant other in real life, as the Strib noted. The play runs June 22 - July 29 and you can order your tickets here. Chestovich was simply terrific as Lilly in Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse several years ago at the Children's Theater. Next up for Chestovich is The Home Place at the Guthrie in September. That play will be directed by no less than Guthrie Director Joe Dowling. Way to go and break a leg, Maggie (and Stephen, too).
Hey Republicans, no more eating spaghetti with "Newman's Own Sockaroonie" sauce while watching reruns of Star Trek, Dallas or That Girl. Brian Ward, who blogs under "Saint Paul" on fraterslibertas.com combed through DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken's latest FEC report and details all the celebrity contribution connections.
The MN GOP sent us a press release introducing actress Lucy Lawless, who played the popular warrior princess Xena, as a Franken contributor. Minnesota native Kevin Sorbo's political contributions (he played Hercules on a parallel series), on the other hand, went the opposite way: $1000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign in April 2004, and $500 to theRNC in December 2005. Try Tray.com's donor lookup and find out who's throwing cash into the mix. [Lucy's listed as 'LAWLESS, LUCILLE F']
Stacy Fujii is leaving Minnesota Energy Resources to join the government affairs team at Great River Energy where she'll work with the company's long-time and well-respected government affairs manager, Bob Ambrose.
Best of luck in the recuperation department to Taxpayers League Foundation president David Strom, who fell off a ladder and broke his ankle while working on his home in Minneapolis...a city, by the way, where Strom is rumored to be interested in running for mayor (more on that next week!).
There's another GOP candidate against U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN1). He is businessman and Lake Crystal School Board member Mark Meyer. Meyer joins Sen. Dick Day (R-Owatonna) and Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield) in the contest for the GOP nomination.
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R) has a new campaign web site.
The Boston Herald has a searchable state employee salary database. Minnesota should have one of those.
Ellison favors tagging over commercial hip-hop? Sweet. Those old white guys over at Powerline take shots at a decidedly offbeat U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN5) interview on BallerStatus.com. (Confused boomer? The user-generated Urban Dictionary has 50 definitions for 'baller' ). Ellison on connecting politics with hip-hop in part 2:
I think hip-hop has got a lot of potential. I remember when hip-hop was much more political. That was back in the day of Public Enemy. Chuck D, he's the man. But I remember... I even like the kid from Detroit. His stuff is political too. Eminem, he speaks to the pain of a generation, whether black or white. He's a white rapper, but the black kids like him because he's for real. They understand that he's really speaking to their reality. We need more rappers in hip-hop who will do that again. We need to get back more to the spray painters and the DJs... and turn away from the people who are trying to turn everything into craft commercialism.On the Minnesota Monitor, MNSpeak.com founder Rex Sorgaz sends word from Seattle about Web2.0, how to find a consistent voice in online community-oriented journalism, and James Lileks' one-man show over at the Star Tribune's Buzz.mn. A useful note:
From what I've seen of Buzz.mn, [Lileks] has had difficulty getting people to talk around events. There are tell-tale signs of this kind of awkwardness -- like when the author writes several long paragraphs and then ends it with "What do you think?" or "Discuss." To my ear, that immediately sounds like someone trained in talking to people rather that with people...The University Avenue Community Coalition is working on a summer campaign dubbed "Stops-4-Us," promoting the addition of more Frogtown Central Corridor light rail stops along University at the Western, Victoria and Hamline intersections. Organizers are concerned that, like many other urban communities nationwide, they will be effectively bypassed by sparsely spaced stops, then damaged by construction and the loss of parking. On the other hand, more stops increase total transit time, which jeopardizes already-wobbly federal matching funds. Look for the UACC at Rondo Days on July 21, trying to block another I-94-like damaging transportation plan in the area formerly known as Rondo. Rep. Oberstar should try to fix this one! On June 28 at 5:30 PM, the Community Stabilization Project will meet at 801 Selby Ave. Contact Georgia@communitystabilization.org to RSVP.
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