There was a lot of craziness going on on the House floor yesterday due to the debate over the smoking ban bill but, as usual, Rep. Mark Olson (R-Big Lake) managed to up the crazy to a whole new level.
Archive for April, 2007
I’d say I was shocked by the recent revelations in the unfolding U.S. Attorneys scandal, but the truth is that I agree with former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Tom Heffelfinger when he says:
“I don’t know,
Mr. Heffelfinger was reacting to the shocking news senior Justice Department officials had “concerns” about his tenure as U.S. Attorney. From the Star Tribune:
Senior Justice Department officials had raised concerns about Tom Heffelfinger, the former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ one-time chief of staff told congressional investigators.
The ex-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, made the remarks in an interview with the investigators last week, according to a senior congressional judiciary aide who was familiar with the interview. The aide spoke Thursday on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
Sampson did not elaborate on what those concerns were, the aide said.
The revelation could add to speculation that Heffelfinger, who resigned his post in February of last year, was on a preliminary list of U.S. attorneys to be fired. Heffelfinger has said he left on his own accord.
Well, now we really need to know what those concerns were. Tom Heffelfinger is an extraordinarily well-respected attorney. It is difficult to understand what possibly could have been troubling top Republicans.
One thing is for certain: drip by drip, the truth is coming out.
Despite having said (in a rather grandiose fashion, I must add)
The bill not only has the goal of redeploying almost all the troops by this time next year, the $124 billion package would also provide billions in funding for equipment and health care for the troops. But,
As you’ll see, there’s some disagreement about whether this is the 2nd or 3rd WebCast (Al thinks the announcement video doesn’t count), but here it is!:
So, this radio ad landed in my inbox earlier this week and I’ve been trying to figure out a few things about it. Namely, who’s funding it, where it’s running, when it’s running, who “Progress in Motion” is and, yeah, basically everything and anything about it. I admit defeat at this point, as I have failed to find answers to any of these questions. So, I leave it to you, dear readers, to answer the plethora of unanswered questions I have.
Either way, I back the ad.
We’ve all known it for months now, but it’s fun to watch the rest of the country wake up to how awesome Rep. Tim Walz is. Today the New York Times has added yet another article to the mounting pile of evidence showing that Walz is pretty much exactly what you hope every Congressman is like.
The whole article is a wonderful piece well worth the little time it takes to read, but the ending was particularly endearing:
As he guest-taught two history classes here during his recent visit, Mr. Walz took questions that bespoke expansive curiosity. How do you deal with an aggressive Iran? What is America’s responsibility for helping Iraqi refugees? And why, as one girl asked, did the French family she stayed with as a exchange student know so much more about her country than she knew about theirs?
Mr. Walz answered as a Democrat who had run on an antiwar platform, but also as a veteran with no taste for isolationism. And he pointed out with chagrin that in Washington little value was placed on the supple, complicated reasoning he had tried to engender in his students. On one political talk show, he said, a producer had instructed him, “We don’t do nuance.â€
Soon the buzzer sounded. The visit was just about over.
“I can tell you for a fact,†Mr. Walz told the lingering students, “there have been far better debates held in rooms like this than on the floor of Congress.â€
So, Senator Norm Coleman is sending out fundraising e-mails begging for money–not a big surprise:
In a fundraising e-mail sent out this week, Coleman asked for contributions to help counter the support that Franken is receiving from “Hollywood’s liberal elite.” [AP]
The Senator’s latest angle is portraying Franken as a Hollywood insider with an infinite tap of all that pinko LA money. Funny thing is, the people Al Franken got his money from last quarter were pretty much all people; only around $20K came from PACs. Norm Coleman, on the other hand, doesn’t have as much success with people and tends to stick pretty loyally to the big corporate PAC money to the tune of over $400,000 last quarter alone. Al Franken’s Spokesman, Andy Barr, said all of this much more succinctly and in a more entertaining fashion:
“We raised money from over 10,000 contributors in the first quarter, none of whom were Rosie O’Donnell.
Senator Coleman raised money from less than half that many people, and got nearly a third of his money from [political action committees], including RJ Reynolds’s PAC … . Obviously, Senator Coleman’s a little sensitive about that. Frankly, I don’t blame him.” [AP]
I was out in DC for the weekend trying to figure out what law school I’m going to be a captive of for the next 3 years but I thought Zack would, I don’t know, post something. As usual putting my faith in Zack has left me in a bad spot (with no posts). Don’t worry though, I’m back in town and hopefully I’ll have some new content up shortly.
The e-mail’s starts: “Mike Hatch. Star Tribune. Smear Campaign. What a surprise!” Yes, I’m not quite sure how, but Carey actually attempts to blame this thing on none other than Mike Hatch! Talk about holding a grudge…
At any rate,
Continue reading ‘BREAKING: Ron Carey E-Mails State GOP List in Response to Autism Center Scandal’
Senate Majority Harry Reid is sounding better every day. We usually stay away from national stuff, but this is just too great of a clip to not post it:
KSTP did a story on Rep. Mark Olson’s (R-Big Lake) crazy rant on the floor of the house:
Rep. Mark Olson, R-Big Lake, got a lot of attention last year when he was accused of assaulting his wife, now he’s gaining notoriety for his rant on mental health.
Rep. Olson’s diatribe came out of a debate on the house floor over K-12 funding when lawmakers discussed a provision regarding behavioral issues and the use of medication.
“Death, death, death, completed suicide, completed suicide, completed suicide, suicide, suicide, suicide death death, death,” Rep. Olson said.
You can find the full video of their report here and you can find the Mark Olson’s complete speech here.
MN GOP Chair Ron Carey is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Per the Star Tribune:
Minnesota’s largest autism center may have overbilled the state more than
$3 million for medical assistance, according to a report by the Minnesota attorney general’s office. The center was chaired at the time by Ron Carey, who is now chairman of the state Republican Party.The Star Tribune has learned that the matter was turned over last summer to the U.S. attorney’s office for investigation.
Bad timing for Carey. Wonder if it breathes new life into “GOP Joe’s” candidacy (yes please!).
But seriously, this is bad business.
The allegedly improper payments included the time board member Kathryn Marshall — who had a child in the program — brought a therapist along on a
one-week family vacation to Disney World and billed medical assistance for $2,896 .The most serious problems were more systemic, the report said. The program billed 1.25 hours for each hour of direct training in individual and family skills — overbillings that amounted to more than $600,000.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Getting paid for 10 hours on an 8 hour work day? I’m a government employee and WE don’t even do that!
And let there be no mistake, this scandal is right in Carey’s lap.
The report doesn’t single out anyone for blame over the allegedly improper billings. But in describing what led to the investigation, it recalls that some staff members at the Minnesota Autism Center had accused Carey and Marshall of manipulating the program in violation of state law to benefit their children, who were among those being treated. Two other board members sued Carey and Marshall, who denied any improprieties.
I’m no expert, but I couldn’t agree more with this gentleman. Please, read this article and demand that the media stop playing and promoting Cho’s promotional materials.
I reported on this last night but I finally have the full YouTube video of Representative Mark Olson’s (R-Big Lake) speech on the floor of the State House lest night. Here it is:
People are Shouting