Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 4, Issue 1 - 6/20/2008
PIM House Race Campaign Central
We're excited to announce our latest information resource: The Politics in Minnesota 2008 Minnesota House District Campaign Pages.
We know you will find it to be the most comprehensive House race guide available because we built it to be that way. For each House District page, we've incorporated the maps and district descriptions from the 2007-2008 Politics in Minnesota Directory. We added links to candidate web sites.
Most important, we added a place for everyone to post new news or comments about the race to each page. We're hoping candidates, other media and bloggers who write about races will add new information in this section. If anyone wants to add something without attribution, please send it to staff@politicsinminnesota.com and we'll post it for you.
Of course, to get a much better picture of each candidate's prospects, your best bet is to order the 2007-2008 Politics in Minnesota Directory, which includes election histories for each incumbent, the vote percentages for major candidates in each district and much more in addition to the maps and district descriptions below. Buy the Directory here.
Please note that the district maps and written descriptions are copyrighted. We encourage you to link to the pages, but printing them for dissemination requires the permission of the publisher. To get permission, write to staff@politicsinminnesota.com.
Also, please note that some incumbents do not yet have opponents. Candidate filings close July 15, 2008.
McCain And Pawlenty's Shared State Woes
As the Tim Pawlenty as John McCain's Veep pick speculation continues, much has been written about how the two differ (age) and how they agree (most policy). But there's another thing they have in common that hasn't been talked about. Both Pawlenty and McCain represent states where the state GOP parties are in deep weeds.
PIM has written a number of stories detailing the troubles in the Minnesota GOP, not the least of which are trouble raising money and poor precinct caucus turnout, compared to the DFL's. Turns out the AZ GOP party has some of the same woes. PIM 's sister publication, the Yellow Sheet Report, published by the Arizona Capitol Times, ran a story last week about the current state of the AZ GOP. Heavily quoted is AZ GOP operative Stan Barns, who has serious AZ GOP street cred, having served as a legislator, run for Congress and is now a delegate to the GOP National Convention in St. Paul. Says Barns:
"The Republican Party is in the worst shape I have seen in my 20 years of active Arizona politics...I hate speaking the truth, but indeed, it is the truth." Barns cites the following factors as contributing to the deplorable state of AZ GOP party affairs: "a popular and politically astute Democratic governor [Gov. Janet Napolitano]; "key issues like immigration where Republicans differ greatly on policy; accentuated personality conflicts [too inside AZ baseball for PIM readers]; and a high degree of infighting among the grassroots activists.
As we've noted many times, state party organizations just aren't that helpful in electing statewide candidates. Both Pawlenty and McCain built their own campaigns and didn't rely on the state parties to get elected. Still, status as Governor or U.S. Senator provides great opportunity to help build the state parties. Pawlenty and McCain appear to both have passed on that opportunity.
That Democrat Can Shoot
That Democrat is former DFL state party chair and now SuperValu veep of government affairs Mike Erlandson.
And, he wasn't shooting guns, but rather, video.
Erlandson (smartly) got SuperValu to be a major sponsor of Will Steger's latest expedition and tied the expedition to the launch of SuperValu's new organic and natural food line, Wild Harvest. He was then invited to greet the expedition team (a group of 20-somethings from four countries) at the end of their 60-day trek across Ellesmere Island to highlight global warming. Before he left for the Arctic Circle, Erlandson called friend and colleague Rick Kupchella at KARE 11 and pitched borrowing a video camera to bring on the trip. The result was a lengthy piece that ran on KARE 11 last week.
Kupchella may have narrated the piece, but Erlandson wrote the questions, interviewed the team and shot all the footage. One of the people Erlandson met on the trip was Richard Branson, the swashbuckling British CEO of Virgin Group. Branson's son, Sam, was on the trip. Erlandson reports that he had a blast meeting everyone and seeing wolves, huge hares and other wildlife. One great quote from the online Kare 11 story from a young Canadian explorer, "[After 60 days in the Artic wilderness,] it's nice to be back to flush toilets and showers and salad." Salad?!
Campaign Managers In The 5th District
Continuing our series of who's who in the 2008 Congressional campaigns, we head to the Fifth, which includes Minneapolis, Fridley, St. Louis Park and New Hope, and is traditionally a DFL stronghold. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN5) holds one of the safest Democratic Minnesota House seats. He is only the third person elected to the position since 1963 (U.S. Rep. Donald M. Fraser (D-MN5) served for 16 years, followed by U.S. Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN5), who held the seat for 28 years). While there are rumors of third party candidates, to date the only challenger with an active campaign is GOP Pastor Barb Davis White.
White's campaign manager is Barbara Malzacher, and she's been on the job for a little over a month. Malzacher grew up in Queens, New York, the daughter of Swiss and German immigrants. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan college in 1976 with a major in international studies, and her first political experiences were interning in the office of Republican New York Attorney General Louie Lefkowitz and volunteering for the 1984 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign.
Malzacher spent five years on Wall Street in international banking with Irving Trust, before opening her own showroom on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan as a representative for new designers. Eventually, she and her husband moved to Connecticut, where she raised two children and volunteered on school committees. In 2000, the family relocated to Minneapolis (a great place to raise kids, said Malzacher in light of her now-teenagers), and this year Malzacher went to the GOP caucus for the first time.
"Basically, I was looking to find something, and I found Barbara," Malzacher said. She is passionate about being a good fit with a candidate, and what they stand for, and White fit the bill. The White campaign is about reaching across the aisle and working together, she said, mentioning "Barbacrats," or Democrat or independent voters who support White's campaign.
She acknowledged the Fifth is very DFL in nature, and believes the right campaign strategy is to build relationships and break barriers in an effort to appeal to a broad range of voters. Malzacher predicts the race will probably be close, depending on how third-party candidates affect the ticket.
Larry Weiss was hired at the beginning of this year to run Ellison's re-election campaign. Before that, he was working as Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer's political strategist since October. Weiss worked with Ellison's campaign in 2006 as well, and is strongly supportive of Ellison's progressive political vision.
His introduction to politics began with Sen. Paul Wellstone's campaigns, especially the late senator's 2002 campaign, and he worked with America Coming Together in 2004. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Detroit for several years, is married to Pam Costain and has two children, Mattie and Rosa. The family lives in the Bancroft neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Weiss said the general campaign strategy this year was to bring out 20,000 new DFL voters in November, and based on the upsurge of attendance at caucuses earlier this year, he said it should be a realistic goal.
Regarding opponents, Weiss emphasized the campaign's issue-focused attitude.
"Keith is running for office, not against anyone," Weiss said. "Keith has consistently campaigned and legislated according to what he calls the politics of generosity and inclusion. This means a progressive agenda of peace, prosperity for working families, environmental sustainability and civil and human rights."
Weiss said third party candidates would unlikely have a significant impact on the race, and added it is unclear whether either parties will field a candidate.
When asked how he feels Al Franken's endorsement and campaign will affect Ellison, Weiss responded, "Rep. Ellison welcomes the opportunity to campaign with Al Franken, and looks forward to working with him on a progressive agenda in Washington beginning next year."
Turning The Wheels Of Legislative Reform
Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona) has a vested interest in getting a handle on the workings of the Minnesota Legislature: He's the chair of Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee and also a veteran teacher; for years he's regularly set up high school model legislatures with the help of Winona State University.
Pelowski's start-from-scratch cycle must give a certain clarity to things. Alongside GOP House members, his committee is meeting over the summer to draft bipartisan reform recommendations for the House. The process has been underway for a year now, and four major areas are under consideration.
Reform proposals cover every level of legislative activity, though the critique is House-focused -- committee structures, floor procedures, session deadlines, and setting time limits for legislators. Minnesota has the ninth-largest lower chamber in the U.S., and this likely leads to the much higher-than-average number of bills introduced.
The Revisor's Office and House Research have detailed how their workflow has surged: Besides drafting record numbers of bills and amendments, year-after-year, the Revisor's website has been serving up millions of hits with aplomb: 67 million hits in 2007, over 58 million the year before (and still providing quite good website performance in the heat of the session, we should add).
Pelowski points out that the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) advises that three committees are the optimal number to serve on: lawmakers get the luxury of honing in on certain areas, and can hopefully develop informed expertise in the field, while also thoroughly educating themselves on every bill. Pelowski himself serves on seven, and he doesn't like it.
In April, Brena Erickson from the NCSL testified that Minnesota depends much more on conference committees than other states. Often, no one knows what's in the bills until they're done in conference, Pelowski adds.
Respected lobbyist Phil Griffin, secretary of the Minnesota Governmental Relations Council, flagged that "for the first time in my 31 years of working at this state capitol," this was the first session he'd seen bills pass finance committees without taking the fiscal impacts into account. He added that it was a "dangerous precedent" for the entire body to pass finance legislation "without fiscal notes in order." The director of House Research, Patrick McCormack, noted that with so many amendments, they don't have the time to double-check if they "actually work," as Pelowski put it. Pelowski criticized about how half the amendments get no hearings, and therefore little public input.
Pelowski cited a huge glitch in the tax bill that lets counties opt out of their payment mandates as a key example of where errors crop up in the end-of-session rush. His committee had 425 bills to dispense with, an "insurmountable" task only made achievable by working closely with Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope) to get things moving. Saying "leave no bill behind," at his office, Pelowski makes lobbyists plot out the routes their favored bills must take to the floor on a legal-sized chart; he won't vote for their bill unless they can show him the route to the floor. He's "not kidding... plot the route, I can't figure it out!" he says.
PIM talked with a number of retiring House legislators this week, and on both sides of the aisle there was a sense that there are too many committees, and the staff are pushed too hard to work overnight. One legislator said it was "embarrassing" when people came to advocate detailed policy points on a bill, and he hadn't even had the time to read the executive summaries.
Retiring Rep. Aaron Peterson (DFL-Appleton) told PIM that allocating time more like the U.S. House does should be considered, and lengthy floor sessions diminish the quality of debate. The plethora of committees means members' efforts are "spread too thin," he said. He adds that people, especially staff, need to be paid "enough to be there," and also that rural Minnesotans appreciate roving interim hearings in their locales. Technology has eased the burden on outstate legislators somewhat, as advances in video and the "culture of email takes the edge off."
The bifurcated nature of policy and finance committees seems undesirable, according to retiring Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover), who said that there's "no perfect system." It's really set up to maximize stability, even though this can lead to frustration and inertia, but he didn't depart because of those issues. He thinks that combining finance and policy committees would be helpful, because the split creates a "greater disconnect between members," citing how he served on State Government Finance Division, but never on the policy side. He suggests combining the committees, or mandating members serve on both sides.
DeLaForest was chair of the GOP caucus' committee on committee assignments, and handling scheduling conflicts and personal requests was a "difficult" task. He strongly objected to limiting legislators' floor speech time on First Amendment grounds: the alternatives "don't do justice" to freedom of speech, even if the current setup can be "tedious" or "ponderous" at times.
Pelowski pointed out the drift towards big omnibus bills produced a "meltdown." The session's critical final decisions are "migrating" to a small circle of leaders. Over the last decade or so, this has replaced the pattern of having smaller bills digested through a more diffuse power structure; now it's "down to three people making decisions" in the Governor's office.
Rep. Frank Moe (DFL-Bemidji), looked at the bigger view over an email. His first concern "is our propensity to author so many bills and pass so many laws. I must admit to being as guilty as anyone. But how many laws do we really need and what is the role of State Government? Our tendency seems to now try and micromanage every aspect of peoples' lives with the goal of making them marginally safer. Where does it end? Graduated drivers licenses, child safety seats for 8 year olds, primary seat belt law, mandatory motorcycle helmets, bubble wrap suits, government handlers to leave the house? Oh, and who will keep them safe?" His second concern is the "concentration of power" in the Legislature, "probably more in the Senate than the House," wherein committee chairs have "almost dictatorial control over their budget and policy area and will go to any bulling or bribing ends in order to get their way."
Rep. Bud Heidgerken (R-Freeport) liked the idea proposed by DFLers Kent Eken (DFL-Twin Valley) and Larry Hosch (DFL-St. Joseph) to allow all members to get three bills heard in committee and at least one heard on the House floor, which would ensure that district priorities get aired. "Different interests... need to be heard," he says. He adds that "most didn't like" how the monstrous HF 1812 omnibus bill included so many unrelated items.
Years ago, Heidgerken was at a show in Branson, Missouri, and noticed a sign directing legislators into a room. He followed the arrow and found himself among many Missouri representatives, and learned that they were touring the whole state together in order to better understand it. Spending a week on the road, discovering the different parts of Missouri, would be a great example for Minnesota to follow. Metro legislators would benefit from a good "starting point" of seeing the mines, lakes, forests, corn, soy, ethanol, livestock and dairy industries, while outstate reps could better understand metro issues like transit and research centers. Locals would be interested in seeing their lawmakers, too. He said that Speaker Margaret Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) had called him and wanted to go ahead with the touring idea, but it never quite happened. He adds that serving on seven or eight committees is "far too many" and there's "no time for all of them."
With another hearing next Monday, PIM will be looking in more detail at where legislators see problems in the process, and what the recommended reforms might be.
[Publisher's Note. Reforming how business gets done in the House is a surprisingly big topic in public affairs' conversations all over town this summer. The consensus is that no legislator is better qualified in terms of experience, smarts and temperament (a good one!) to spearhead the effort than Pelowski. We learned lots more interesting things from retiring legislators, so readers can look forward to those stories in the coming weeks.]
A Time To Reflect: House Retirees Settle For Summer
House members retiring this session talked to PIM about their plans. We'll start with a couple three-termers.
Rep. Aaron Peterson (DFL-Appleton) is focusing on his family, but also thinking strategically about how to ensure that the area around District 20A remains in DFL hands. There's concern that redistricting will radically change the area's level of power, because the population has relatively decreased compared to other districts. (2005 census data indicated 20A is the least populated House district, with about 4,000 fewer residents than average.) Peterson wants to give someone else an opportunity to gain a foothold before redistricting, and also wants to work full-time in order to help his wife attend law school in the fall. (She hasn't decided where to attend yet.)
Peterson says that it was a "natural time to break," and in particular he helped secure Minnesota's breakthrough renewable energy standard while also working out the details of energy project ownership regulations. Now, he's getting full-bore into wind energy development as a vice president of project development at JW Prairie Wind Power LLC, a subsidiary of Juwi International, a German company based in Frankfurt which develops renewable projects around the world. He'll roam the great plains region, setting up wind farms under various ownership structures. He got into the business after meeting Ralf Krüger, Juwi's lobbyist, who himself had once served in the lower legislative house in Bavaria by capturing a swing seat.
Peterson's DFL successor may be a fifth-generation farmer in his 20s, Andrew Falk, who has attended the Carlson School of Business and runs Knight Energy, which is also developing wind farms in the region. No GOP contender has announced.
Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover) has trimmed a few hours at his manufacturing job to catch up with his family this summer, spending a lot of time at baseball practice and hanging out on the lawn. He's planning to renew his wedding vows in August, and take a trip duck hunting to Manitoba in September. He looked at his time in the House as a short-term volunteer opportunity, and always thought that three or four terms would be "enough for me." It was the "right time" to leave, because the kids are growing up, and it became a bit "too hard" to balance everything. It was an "incredible privilege," DeLaForest says, and he'll always remember his colleagues and his "three chances" to serve the public.
Contenders for DeLaForest's seat are Peggy Scott on the GOP side and Ted Butler for the DFL.
1964: A Presidential Year for Lyndon Baines Johnson And Al Franken
Thanks to the faithful PIM subscriber who happened to have a copy of the January 1964, edition of Westwinds, a publication of Westwood Junior High School in St. Louis Park.
Featured on the cover was this story, "Franken Is Class Head":
"The seventh grade elections were still going on when our first issue came out, so for the record, Allen Franken [sic] was elected president, winning over Elliot Feller, Debbie Herman, Connie Kampsula and Tom Reuben.
Bob Isenberg got the vice-president's job, winning from Jim Goldberg, Jackie Levin, Randine Miller and Jean Wolfe. Marilyn Rochet is the new secretary, outvoting Vicki Belzer, Collette Cavaleri and Marcia Wilson.
Gail Dorfman won over Sandy Holtzman and Christine Schall for the job of treasurer."
Who knew Al Franken and Gail Dorfman were in the same class?! Dorfman, of course, is a current Hennepin County Commissioner and former mayor of St. Louis Park. By the way, the 1964 issue of Westwinds also notes that the school's 9th grade class held a dance officially dubbed, "Amite'd Automne," French for Autumn Love. Winners of the dance contest received "Sugar Shack" and "Surfin' Bird" records.
Bits And Pieces
Happy Birthday, Barbara! Of course, we're talking about former Minneapolis City Councilwoman and former radio talk show host extraordinaire Barbara Carlson (one of the few Minnesota media and political personalities we know who never needs a last name to identify her). Hard to believe, but Barbara is 70. We trust there are decades more in store for This Broad's Life.
Planned Parenthood (PP) of Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota has ratified its national organization's endorsement of Barack Obama. The group hired Hart Research to do some polling and found that 65% of women in battleground states like Minnesota view PP positively, and that 51% of women voters in battleground states have no idea what John McCain's positions are on women's reproductive issues.
Bully for Minnesota Democrats Exposed's Michael Brodkorb. He continues to maintain full disclosure of his professional work as it relates to to his blog. The blogosphere works best when biases and conflicts (or perceived conflicts) are front and center.
Former Director of the Minneapolis Empowerment Zone Jonathan Palmer has taken the job as Executive Director of the Hallie Q. Brown/Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, which in 2009 will celebrate 80 years of service in St. Paul's Summit-University neighborhood. Palmer looks forward to rebuilding and renewing the organization to continue its tradition of service to the community.
Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 has a new president, Lynn Nordgren. Nordgren successfully challenged one-term incumbent Rob Panning-Miller. Labor website Workday Minnesota has the details.
Bob McFarlin, Assistant Commissioner, has announced his departure from MnDOT effective June 27th. McFarlin noted in a release the honor he felt at serving as acting Commissioner and contributing to successes in transportation that served Minnesotans. We'll say it again, Bully for Bob!
Congratulations to Jeff Blodgett, Executive Director of Wellstone Action, who will be taking a formal leave of absence to serve as State Director in Minnesota for the Presidential Campaign of Barack Obama. David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said that Jeff understands that "community organizing is the backbone of this grassroots movement, and that real change comes from empowering others to become part of the political process." Blodgett ran all three of Paul Wellstone's Senate races.
U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN3) has received the first-ever Career Achievement Award from Mental Health America. Ramstad was honored for his 12 years of work on the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act.
The League of Minnesota Cities has named a new president for 2008-2009. Mary Hamann-Roland, the Mayor of Apple Valley, was elected at the League's Rochester conference. Hamann-Roland had served as Vice President of the League and has been Apple Valley's mayor since 1998.
The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners has recognized Lee Greenfield, who is retiring after three decades of public service. Greenfield served in the Legislature for 22 years and then lobbied on behalf of the county in health policy. In the Minnesota House of Representatives, he authored legislation that created MinnesotaCare, improved mental health coverage, and served other health and human services interests. Greenfield is retiring from county service this month; a retirement ceremony will be held on June 25th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the 23rd floor bridge of the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis.
The Minnesota DFL Party has announced a new communications team. John Stiles, has taken over the position of communications director following the departure of Kelly Schwinghammer. Stiles previously had served as associate director. Eric Fought has joined the team as associate communications director. Fought, a native Wisconsinite, previously served as communications director for the Nebraska Democratic Party as well as holding positions in campaign management, public relations, and communications in non-profit and government sectors. Frank Benenati is also joining the DFL's communications team.
Last week we noted the Republican National Convention's "Wave the Stars and Stripes" essay contest. That contest now has a winner! Victoria Blackstone, age 15, of Roseville, Minnesota was the winning author. Her 434-word essay—titled "Pledging Myself to the Flag of the United States of America"—won out over other contenders. Victoria will receive a laptop computer, an Xbox 360, and of course will lead the pledge during an official convention event this September.
The Minnesota Agri-Growth Council is seeking board candidates. Individuals interested in serving should contact the Council by June 30. Qualified candidates will be members in good standing, be willing to attend four board meetings, the annual meeting, and other various activities. The board term is three years. Contact Nikki with any questions at nikki.deyle@agrigrowth.org.
Governor Tim Pawlenty announced the appointment of Michelle Dietrich to the Fifth Judicial District Judgeship. The opening comes with the retirement of George Harrelson on June 2nd. Dietrich brings nearly 15 years legal experience to the bench, most recently serving as the Redwood Falls County Attorney, a position she has held since 1997. The Governor also announced the appointment of Gregory Anderson to the Fifth Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in Watonwan County. Anderson, the Assistant Fifth Judicial District Public Defender since 1997, brings over 20 years experience to the vacancy, which was created with the retirement of David Christensen on March 4th.
The League of Minnesota Cities has honored four communities with the City of Excellence Award. Breezy Point, Luverne, Sartell, and Woodbury each were recognized for a specific initiative, civic program, or project that improved service or solved a problem for residents. Each city will receive a check for $1,000, a plaque, and special recognition at the League's Awards Banquet in Rochester.
There's increasing concern that the Internet infrastructure in Minnesota is lagging as demand increases, the Star Tribune recently observed. Big monopoly provider corporations like Comcast have their own interests that don't necessarily align with providing cheap, serious bandwidth to homes and high-tech businesses. (Comcast has also gotten pressure from many quarters over their jamming policy against the BitTorrent protocol, a key technology which could easily displace Comcast's profitable plans for HD video distribution.) Iron Range blogger Aaron Brown of Minnesota Brown suggested that the Iron Range Resources could work with private companies to shore up Internet quality in the northland. Christopher Mitchell, director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative at Minneapolis' Institute for Local Self-Reliance, has been banging the drums for municipal broadband programs. (Check out Mitchell's January report on municipal broadband and wireless programs.) It's actually quite cheap to lay incredibly fast fiber optic Internet cables if you're already ripping up roads, and some Minnesota communities are trying to roll out these systems to attract businesses, especially in the high-tech sector. For the latest developments, particularly in fiber, check out the 20-minute interview between Mitchell and Geoff Daily, a D.C.-based tech journalist at app-rising.com. Municipally-owned fiber could certainly offer the cheap torrents of bits we're looking for.
Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality will welcome Dr. Ashok Gangadean, Ph.D. on Friday, June 27th as the lecturer for their Summer program "Creating a Compassionate Democracy." Dr. Gangadean will speak on his framework for dialogue in family, work, and civic life at the College of St. Catherine's Jeanne d'Arc Auditorium. To register see wisdomwayscenter.org.
Setting The Record Straight
The version PIM released of the DFL's platform modifications and Action Agenda, which were approved at the Rochester convention, as provided to us by the DFL Party, had some inaccuracies. We now have the complete post-convention "preliminary results" report of the Platform Committee available for download as a PDF through our website.
Lobbyist Watch
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
Morning Reports
