Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 3, Issue 18 - 11/2/2007
Coleman On The Ballot Next Tuesday
Not really, but DFL St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman might as well be. His political future resides in the outcome of the three hotly contested St. Paul City Council races. The three races are in Ward 1 where incumbent Debbie Montgomery was denied the DFL endorsement which went to challenger Melvin Carter (former policy aide to Coleman); in Ward 5 where DFL incumbent Lee Helgen is being challenged by David Hass (a financial planner and husband of Messerli & Kramer lobbyist Nancy Hass); and in Ward 6 where DFL incumbent Dan Bostrom was denied the DFL endorsement and is being challenged by Pakou Hang (who managed Sen. Mee Moua's (DFL-St. Paul) campaign.) For a map of St. Paul city ward lines and an analysis of all the races from lefty blogger Joe Bodell, go here.
The conventional wisdom about these three races is that they represent a "generational change." Maybe, but the crucial current in these races is ideology. Carter, Helgen and Hang are much more liberal than their opponents. Carter was a community organizer for Wellstone Action and Got Voice? Got Power!; Hang is on Wellstone Action's board. Coleman supports all three. Should one of them win, the balance of power tips on the City Council and progressive liberalism will have the votes to run wild.
A City Council dominated by progressives will likely pass ordinances relating to issues like living wages and carbon footprints. Mayor Coleman will have to give these issue the yea or nay. The "new guard" or next generation liberals think their ideology trumps in St. Paul. Not in your publisher's view. Coleman signing off on classic left agenda items opens the door for a challenge by a more moderate DFLer in the next mayor's race. But perhaps more significantly, a progressive liberal pedigree won't play statewide if Coleman wants to run for governor, as rumored.
These competing ideological views also help explain why, as St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Tim Dolan wrote this week, "St. Paul's City Council races have been literally gushing money in the past six weeks, as tens and tens and tens of thousands of dollars have been pouring into the city's closest election races." Dolan, by the way, has done a great job covering the city council races.
The SOS Snafu
The major "scandal" to break this week and dominate the conversation in the blogosphere was two conservatives getting campaign email from DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The Star Tribune's Mark Brunswick provides the facts as we know them, here. Not surprisingly, GOPer Sarah Janecek and DFLer Betty Folliard have irreconcilable views on what transpired, so the two write separately:
The SOS Snafu: Folliard
Halloween was truly in the air this week, when gotcha politics reared its ugly head. This time two right-leaning Republican activists, Mark Giga of the Taxpayers League and John Tomczak of Citizens in Charge (who lost last year in the SD47A race against DFL Rep. Denise Dittrich) unveiled the stunning truth that public information had been used publicly. Armed with truthiness, they filed a complaint with Minnesota State Auditor Jim Nobles against Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. This spectacle was at once deemed newsworthy in the mainstream press by Star Tribune reporter Mark Brunswick. SOS Ritchie says he'll comment after receiving information about the issue. As of this writing all he received was a press call to his cellphone while driving down the highway.
Within hours GOP Reps. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) and Tom Emmer (R-Delano) banged the pans, calling for a legislative investigation by the House Government Operations Committee to investigate this alleged public use of public information, declaring such actions caused a "breach of public confidence." (Sources say this isn't Rep Emmer's first complaint against a DFLer.) Brod and Emmer both serve on the Gov Ops Committee, chaired by Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona). The information in question? Email addresses that are part of the public record. Then on Wednesday, Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey threw in his 2-cents-worth with a data practices request seeking information concerning news reports about Mark Ritchie.
Legislative Auditor Nobles commented that he gets about 100 of these types of complaints per year. So Mark Ritchie is accused of allegedly increasing civic engagement by allegedly increasing public awareness. Isn't that what he promised to do in the first place? Put that way, it doesn't sound so scary. Will this monster have legs? Highly doubtful. Fortunately like Halloween, gotcha politics rears its ugly head, then it's back to normal the next morning.
Note to Giga and Tomczak: If you get unwanted emails, delete them, or send a message back with REMOVE in the header.
The SOS Snafu: Janecek
The issue that drives this potential scandal is hypocrisy. Ritchie defeated GOP incumbent Mary Kiffmeyer by accusing her of using the SOS office for political purposes. Using email addresses harvested on official state time for political purpose is definitely using the SOS office for political purposes.
The question becomes how did that happen? On the street, the Star Tribune's Mark Brunswick enjoys the reputation of being a tough yet fair reporter. Brunswick asked the right question, "Asked how Giga and Tomczak's names were included in the campaign newsletter if they did not sign up for it, other than through the civic engagement list, Ritchie said: 'Well, I don't know about that.'"
There are two ways to interpret that answer. One, Ritchie truly didn't know about that. If that's the case, then shame on Ritchie for not finding out right away how that happened. Michael Brodkorb at MinnesotaDemocratsExposed broke the story online before it ran in the Star Tribune, and Ritchie had time to look into it. If, for example, he had found that an overly zealous campaign staffer was data mining email addresses from official state lists, and explained that, this matter would have blown over. Overzealous staffing happens all the time, and the best recourse is simply to own up to it.
The other way to interpret the answer is that Ritchie did know about it, but obviously can't 'fess up because that's using the SOS office for political purposes. Feeding this particular line of thought is a simple Google search which found that (1) Ritchie attended the rally for AFSCME strikers at the University of Minnesota while on state time; (2) Ritchie was quoted in a DFL partisan mailing about open appointments in the SOS office; and, (3) Ritchie is on record opining on all kinds of issues unrelated to his SOS work, which Ritchie is certainly entitled to do at a DFL fundraiser, but doing so does feed on the perception of politicization of the SOS Office.
Granted, these three examples were all written by bloggers, but in our view, the blogosphere is pretty self-correcting. Meaning, if these bloggers got it wrong, another blogger would have blogged a correction.
In your GOP publisher's view, the email address snafu is a high stakes game and cuts to the heart of what Ritchie says he is all about. "I don't know" doesn't cut.
For the record, here's what PIM wrote about Ritchie last May: We've been remiss in not complimenting Ritchie on how he staffed his office after defeating former GOP Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer. From the reports we've heard, he took all the politics out of it. Your GOP publisher, in particular, found this surprising since Ritchie--among other leftie endeavors on his resume--was the brain behind the 2004 national anti-GOP Get Out the Vote effort called "November 2." He even kept Kiffmeyer's communications director, Kent Kaiser, on staff. Granted, staunch Republican Kaiser was a classified employee, and thus not fireable. However, the usual move would have been to shuffle Kaiser to an inconsequential job and hope he would leave of his own volition. Not Ritchie, who kept Kaiser on in the highly visible public affairs contact as "communications director and voter outreach." Not only was this a classy move, it was also smart: Kaiser continues to do the same super timely, super responsive and super friendly work that he did under Kiffmeyer." Kaiser has since left the SOS office.
When Right Meets Left
Could talk radio conservative shock jock Jason Lewis be in bed with the liberals?! It seemed so this week. Breaching the GOP's 11th Amendment, "Thou shalt not criticize one of our own", Mr. Right upcoming trip to the North Pole with renowned Arctic explorer Will Steger, christening the voyage a 'Photo Op'. Also this week on the Left, DFL Chair Brian Melendez released a statement saying, "We applaud Will Steger's relentless focus on getting government to get serious about global warming. He is a true Minnesota hero. And while it’s great that the governor is finally showing an interest in the stark realities of global warming, his announcement is just another example of his pulling publicity stunts on critical issues where he has provided no real leadership." Melendez goes on to state that "Pawlenty cares more about hogging the spotlight than about actually leading Minnesota."
Publicity stunts and photo ops sound a lot like they're humming the same tune.
But this is not a match made in heaven: Lewis went on to proclaimed that the upside of the Arctic melting is "we can now mine and log it." Referring to Pawlenty as "Mr. Vice President", Lewis ranted that he is betraying the rights of property owners, and called him a Benedict Arnold who wants to "poke every Conservative Minnesotan in the eye and tell them to go to hell." Lewis concludes that perhaps the governor should visit the South Pole, which he claims is expanding.
Although this rift in the GOP is music to Democrats' ears, they would find little agreement with Lewis' conclusions of what is serious science and what is junk science. And while the two sides--the hard core critical conservatives like Lewis and the left--may concur that Pawlenty in a snowsuit is a ploy to advance his image on the national stage, don't expect Jason to cozy up to Al Gore soon.
Brit Paper: Ellison, Franken More Influential Than Nader, Dean Or Kennedy!
The hard-right British Daily Telegraph released their interesting rankings of the most influential American liberals and conservatives. They slotted Al Franken at 49, between Michelle Obama and Steny Hoyer (D MD5). Freshman U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN 5) made a splash at 53, just behind Paul Krugman and ahead of Ralph Nader. They each ranked way above such liberal luminaries as Noam Chomsky, Keith Olbermann, James Carville, Jimmy Carter, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Stewart. Not bad! We couldn't find any Minnesota-linked conservatives on the list; the likes of Tim Pawlenty and Vin Weber need to get out there more. [Perhaps Weber, chairman of the mysterious National Endowment for Democracy, prefers to work in the shadows: a DFL House member recently discovered a old yellow pin saying "Proud Member of the Vin Weber Conspiracy" hidden in his desk.]
Growing Growth & Justice
The progressive economic think tank Growth & Justice has been busy organizing the biggest event in the group's five-year history, "Smart Investments in Minnesota's Students." The day long forum will be held November 12 at the Minnesota History Center. It is part of a very ambitious, very scholarly and distinctively comprehensive project aimed at identifying the most effective interventions in public schools, aimed specifically at trying to achieve a dramatic increase in higher education attainment -- and not necessarily four-year college degrees. The goal is to increase by 50% the number of Minnesotans aged 18-25 who have completed one-year, two-year or four-year degrees.
Smartly, Growth & Justice (G&J) has been seeking the input of all the stakeholders including the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Education Minnesota and other education groups. The group's president, Dane Smith, has rounded up a cast of nation-leading education experts including Dr. Art Rolnick (senior V.P. of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis), Dr. Arthur Reynolds (University of Minnesota and co-director of the Early Childhood Research Collaborative), Dr. Henry Levin (co-director of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at Columbia University), Dr. Megan Beckett (RAND Corporation) and Dr. Laura Perna (University of Pennsylvania).
Besides giving presentations, these people will then engage in break-out sessions with legislators. And, not inconsequentially, by any means....Smith also managed to round up Sen. Maj. Leader Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), House Speaker Margaret Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) and Sen. Min. Leader Dave Senjem (R-Rochester). Commissioner of Education Alice Seagren will wrap up the day.
The grander scheme for G&J is to apply its "Smart Investments" process to other policy areas where public sector investment makes the most sense for shared prosperity, like transportation, other infrastructure, health care, energy and the environment.
Besides growing policy involvement, G&J is growing in people. One big new hire, and a signal that G&J is ramping up on expertise in more policy areas, is Matt Kane, who will serve as the group's transportation and infrastructure expert. Previously Kane worked as a Minnesota-based senior policy analyst for the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a bipartisan D.C.-based policy group that advised Northeast and Midwest Members of Congress. Kane's specialties are transportation and transit, but he also has strong experience in in water infrastructure, brownfields, and economic development.
G&J also hired Ellen Perrault to be communications and outreach coordinator. Most recently Perrault was communications director for the Minnesota Association for Justice, and before that, at the Legislature. Additionally, Andy Fuller is the new G&J development director. Fuller has worked with a number of local policy, organizing and advocacy groups including the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Center for Civic Participation and Children's Law Center of Minnesota.
Bits & Pieces
Gary Carlson, the intergovernmental relations director for the League of Minnesota Cities, recently returned from Japan. Carlson was selected by the National League of Cities to represent that group in a program sponsored by the Japanese government group, the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations. Japan's local units of government place a premium on fostering international relations--and economic development--much like states do in the U.S. The conference Carlson attended was in the Miyagi Prefecture, about 200 miles north of Tokyo. Carlson reports getting more than his share of sushi and singing in Karaoke bars. In Japan, many Karaoke bars are set up like "Gentlemen's clubs" in the U.S. -- people rent private rooms to have private Karaoke parties. [Publisher's Note: The Japanese, not the League of Cities, paid for Carlson's trip; and, neither Carlson nor anyone at PIM has firsthand knowledge about how "Gentlemen's clubs" work in the U.S.]
Congratulations are in order for veteran Star Tribune editorial writer Dave Hage who is leaving the paper to take up his new job as Senator Amy Klobuchar's Communications Director. Amy snagged a winner. He replaces Semonti Mustaphi, who has moved over to Sen. Tom Harkin's office (D-IA). No word, yet, on what Hage's departure means to the Star Tribune's editorial pages.
A few notes on the third quarter FEC reports we missed. GOP U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman raised more money than any other incumbent U.S. Senator, except U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) who always does the best because he uses that big ole presidential candidate list. And, since DFL-endorsement contender Al Franken beat Coleman in the third quarter, that means Franken did better than every other incumbent Senator except Kerry.
Local blogger Aaron Landry of S4xton.com caught Minneapolis City Council member Gary Schiff dressed up as a '70s leisure suit dude adorned with massive Afro and moustache at the Ways & Means Budget Hearing on Halloween. Disco Gary doesn't advertise.
One of the wittiest, snarkiest online newsletters we read is the one Mark Giga writes for the Taxpayers League. For example, "For many moons, the Taxpayers League website has been, uh, lacking. But no more. A little duct tape, a few squirts of WD-40 and a fresh coat of paint and voila! Click over, take it for a test drive and let us know what you think."
Also on the new website scene, check out The Rake's.
Minnesota Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) will formally announce her intention to seek the DFL endorsement for the 3rd Congressional District on Monday, November 5th at Hopkins Senior High School before a crowd of friends and supporters.
Temple Israel will host famed New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Tuesday, November 6 at 7 p.m. He will be discussing his latest book, "Conscience of a Liberal."
Keeping good political balance in the Jewish community, the Jewish Community Relations Council, along with the Sabes Jewish Community Center (formerly the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center) are cosponsoring an event where the speaker is national conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager. In a program billed "Academic Attack on Israel: Fair or Fowl?" Prager will challenge the perception running in some academic circles that there is undue Jewish influence on U.S. foreign policy. The event is the evening of November 13th. For more information, go here.
For those of you who haven't a clue as to the significance of the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, it produced the 'National Plan of Action' (PDF), marking a high point in the influence of second-wave feminist ideas on public policy. Here at home on November 15-16th the Minnesota Women's Consortium, made up of 170 women's organizations across the state, will hold its "Women's Dreams Conference," celebrating the 30th Anniversary of The 1977 Women's Conference. It takes place at the Continuing Education Center, St. Paul Campus of the U of MN. Consortium organizers have gathered a stellar group of speakers like DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL Rep. Betty McCollum (MN 4), League of Women Voters co-chair Vivian Jenkins-Nelson, Adjunct Professor of Urban Studies at Barnard College/Columbia University Liz Abzug, U.S. Fifth Ambassador to the U.N. Koryne Horbal, Star Tribune Editorial Page Writer Lori Sturdevant, Women Winning Executive Director Sarah Taylor-Nanista, and many others. Check it out at mnwomen.org.
A panel of experts and an online poll awarded the Drupal Content Management System the Overall 2007 Open Source CMS Award from Packt Publishing. PoliticsInMinnesota.com runs Drupal, and there's a growing Twin Cities Drupal group located at Groups.Drupal.org/twin-cities, with monthly meetups hosted by Advantage Labs. The next big release, Drupal 6, is coming right along, as well.
On Wednesday, November 7th, Michelle Obama, wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama, will visit the Hope Community campus in south Minneapolis at 611 E. Franklin Ave. at 2 p.m. There will be presentations about Hope's programs, including 'Sustainable Progress Engaging Active Citizens,' and 'Youth in the City.' Contact Jessica Anderson at (651) 356-4043 for credentials and info.
Sen. Hillary Clinton snagged a whopper with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees endorsement. AFSCME is the nation’s largest public sector union, representing over 1.4 million workers. Here at home, AFSCME is one of the largest affiliates of the AFL-CIO in Minnesota.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak got good press with his plug-in hybrid car, which shot to the front page of the hugely popular social bookmarking site Digg.com recently, after more than 400 people 'dugg' the story at GreenOptions.com (the link is broken, but worked yesterday). The liberal guys at MnPublius pointed out this is just the kind of message about Minnesota that DFLers like to see out there: tech-savvy and and cutting-edge.
As we noted last week, the big media event this weekend will be "Life After Newspapers? Challenges and Opportunities for New Media and the Public" at the Minneapolis Central Library, starting Saturday, November 3rd at 9 a.m. Veteran media warrior Robert McChesney will be the keynote speaker. Online registration now available. After the panels, there are three workshops in the afternoon: Intro to Citizen Journalism, Creating a Community Blog, and McChesney himself will host Media Reform & Practical Suggestions for Citizen Action. Newly minted New Media guys Joel Kramer and Steve Perry will appear alongside Brian Lambert, Matt Thompson and Eric Black on the first panel at 10 a.m. Will EricBlackInk.com, MinnPost, Daily Mole or the Slaughter emerge victorious? How many blog posts will this event generate?
The Center of the American Experiment and the Institute for Justice - Minnesota Chapter host Chip Mellor for a CAE Dinner Forum dubbed "Protecting the Constitutional Right to Earn an Honest Living," about how economic liberty is curtailed by regulations that deny people occupations like florists, hair-braiders, casket-resellers, equine dentists and of course Minneapolis taxi drivers. The Institute for Justice, which Mellor co-founded, dubs itself "the most effective libertarian litigation firm in the nation," and they beat the local taxicab cartel. But can they kill the income tax? It's just $27.50 for members, $5 more for non-members. It's on Tuesday, November 13th at the Depot Minneapolis. Register online or email Peter Zeller.
On Saturday, November 3rd, Communities United Against Police Brutality and Industrial Workers of the World-Twin Cities will be sponsoring a benefit concert in support of Alexandra Svoboda at 3 p.m. in the Hamline University Student Center Ballroom. Svoboda, of Providence, RI, was severely injured on August 11th while being arrested by the North Providence Police Department during a peaceful protest against a New York food distributor. A "Know Your Rights" workshop will be held by CUAPB at 3 p.m. and live music will follow at 4 p.m. Contact Nick Svoboda at (402) 639-6460 or via nsvoboda01@hamline.edu for info. "This is not an isolated incident. Especially with the upcoming RNC, the Twin Cities community needs to be thinking about the victimization of peaceful protesters," Nick said in a press release.
The Fourth Congressional District Republicans are throwing a 27th Annual Anniversary Celebration dinner and auction on Friday, November 16th at Guilden's 61 Restaurant in Maplewood. It's $30/person or $55/couple. The bar opens at 6 p.m., and there will be both silent and live auctions. Call Kathie Roberts at (612) 242-4321 for RSVP. Denny Newinski, long time 4th District activist and former candidate, will be honored. Chris Jacobson is looking for any Newinski memorabilia (knick-knacks, quotes or items related to Denny's past). Contact Chris via email or by phone at (651) 779-0839.
Three years ago a new group popped up on the radar screen - The Business Democrats, whose motto is "Good Business, Better Communities, Stronger America." They deserve a shout out because of the great speakers they feature at monthly luncheons 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Santorini's Restaurant, 9920 Wayzata Boulevard in St. Louis Park. Their next Keynote Speaker Luncheon on November 6th has Attorney General Lori Swanson giving an update along with Q&A time. If you'd like to save a spot, email RSVP@businessdemocrats.org.
The Department of Employment and Economic Development is holding a job fair for veterans on Tuesday, November 6th at 11 a.m. at the Earle Brown Heritage Center at 6155 Earl Brown Drive in Brooklyn Center, where up to 100 employers will talk with vets about job openings. See PositivelyMinnesota.com/events for more, or contact Kirsten Morell at (651) 259-7161 or via email.
Twin Cities Open Circuit sounds trendy: a "knowledge-sharing network working to demystify computers and information technology" fostering "the free circulation of technical knowledge to help community organizations increase their organizing capacity and improve the common good." The next meeting of Twin Cities Open Circuit is on November 4th at 3 p.m. at Common Roots Cafe, 26th Street and Lyndale Avenue South in Minneapolis. They'll have "Short Circuit," a presentation of nifty new technology, at the Acadia Cafe the afternoon of December 1st, at the intersection of Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in Minneapolis.
Lobbyist Watch
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
Morning Reports
