Mike Ciresi has earned the endorsement of five DFL House members: Rep. Tom Huntley (DFL-Duluth), Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park), Rep. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul), Rep. Ken Tschumpher (DFL-La Crescent) and Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley).
Since many of you probably don’t recognize those names, here is some information on each:
Huntley is chair of the Health and Human Services Finance Division (and the House author of the Smoking Ban), Simon is an Assistant Majority Leader, Murphy was formerly the Executive Director of the Minnesota Nurses Association, Tschumper is a dairy farmer, and Winkler went to Harvard (take that Dartmouth).
Huntley’s endorsement is a minor coup. Overall, this list is not overwhelming in its size (in fact, if this is the extent of Ciresi’s committed House support, this is disappointing to say the least) but all the members on it are well respected in the caucus. Three of the members are freshmen (Murphy, Tschumper and Winkler) and normally I would not put a lot of weight on a freshman endorsement, but about a third of the House DFL Caucus are freshmen and they have more influence than the typical class.
Loading ...
Wow, Ciresi locked up Steve Simon’s endorsement? http://www.rkmc.com/Stephen_Simon.htm
Steve Simon’s endorsement may not be a surprise, but it is one that carries some weight. His dostrict is very well organized and St. Louis Park is an important DFL stronghold.
Tom Huntley’s endorsement is interesting; that’s a nice win up north for Ciresi. He needs to diversify support and broaden his base outside of the Cities, and this is a good start.
Cerisi receiving these endorsements -
are sort of a default, aren’t they? Certainly Simon’s.
What I find interesting -
is that the original cites Winkler’s Harvard connection. Even more interesting that it carries weight, as though this college connection is itself an endorsement.
Cerisi is fine by me, I’d like to see him in some office - though shaking things up in the form of Al Franken could be quite an interesting dynamic in this state.
We are no longer a national backwater.
You see the RW influx in the form of people moving here for jobs - and then want to change the place into what they find familiar about the area they left.
Take Kline in district 2: An odd sort of carpet bagging, moving here from Texas to run for office - with no prior history.
Simon endorsing Cirisi is no surprise. He’s been with him from the beginning. He works at the law firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Cirisi — get it? “Cirisi.” As he said on Almanac, Cirisi signs his paychecks. He probably got Winkler on board, since Winkler represents the other half of St. Louis Park, and Simon endorsed him in 2006 and helped him get elected. Winkler would be expected to return the favor. Too bad they can’t support Al, who grew up in St. Louis Park and attended St. Louis Park public schools (who knows who they really support in their hearts). That’s polictics. Nothing against Cirisi.
Ciresi. C-I-R-E-S-I. I don’t think I have seen a ever guy’s name spelled wrong more often and in more different ways.