Location: Eden Prairie City Hall, 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55345
Time: Debate begins at 7pm
Monthly Archive for February, 2008
Page 2 of 6
The first Senate District Convention is March 1st in Eden Prairie, so this very well could be the last debate before we have an endorsed Democrat in the 3rd District.
Over at the Minnesota Monitor Andy Birkey has a great post up detailing the 6 new members of the Republican leadership who took the place of the 6 deposed moderates.
It’s good to know that sensibility and experience are not requirements for the Republican House caucus.
Harsh words from the St. Cloud Times:
We expected a lot of things in the wake of this transportation bill passing — safer bridges, higher taxes and, yes, some Election Day changes. We didn’t expect our governor and his political party to take such a low road in response to six votes cast for Team Minnesota, for once, instead of Team GOP.
We just got off of the phone with the Dodge County Courthouse. Randy Demmer was the defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit that we were told was brought by two former employees of his a little more than ten years ago.
It appears the former employees brought suit in federal and state court. The federal suit was dismissed and the state claim was settled out of court.
From what we understand, the suit contained some very troubling allegations about Demmer’s business. This story is developing and we’ll have (much) more on it.
UPDATE: I’m told the Rochester Post Bulletin is working on a story about this suit.
UPDATE x2 (Matt adds): Randy Demmer’s campaign sent us a letter that they released yesterday addressing this lawsuit. I am in no position to pass any judgment on this matter and my personal thoughts on the merits of this suit are neither clarified by this letter nor my preliminary reading of the court records. This is going to take a bit longer to fully digest…
I’ve uploaded the letter here (warning, it’s a pdf).
Yesterday, House Republican Leader Marty Seifert declared war on the moderate wing of the Republican party, removing the six Republican Members who voted for the transportation bill from their committee leadership positions. Some of them didn’t go quietly…
“I am not going along with this foolishness. If you have to get rid of me, fire me,” said Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, who was removed as the lead Republican as the Property Tax Relief & Local Sales Taxes Committee. “This is the way we get treated if we vote our districts and vote our consciences and vote our feeling that we are doing the right thing for the state.”
Ron Erhardt of Edina
“The message they are sending to me is that ‘We don’t want any independent minded people,’” Heidgerken said. “I’ll always stand up for what’s right. If that means my election than I don’t deserve to be here.”
Bud Heidgerken of Freeport
Its really no surprise that moderates like Jim Hovland and Arnie Carlson are leaving the Republican Party.
Ron Erhardt told MPR today that if he, as he expects, is denied the Republican endorsement, he may run as an Independent.
Erhardt said he expected to lose his party’s endorsement, but intends to run either in a primary or as an independent.
Republican Kathy Tingelstad of Andover said she would continue to seek re-election, whether or not she has the GOP endorsement.
The Republican party left Ron Erhardt a long time ago, perhaps its time for Ron Erhardt to join fellow moderates Jim Hovland and Arnie Carlson in leaving the Republican party.
UPDATE: Just to be clear, this is not one of the big posts promised by Matt below.
We have two potentially huge stories lined up for tomorrow (Wednesday). I usually don’t do these lame MDE style teaser posts, but it’s too late right now to actually write the posts and I really don’t want anyone missing them.
Seriously, stay tuned.
Andy Apilkowski, a Republican Senate District Chair and blogger, took the Republican war on moderates to a new level today:
A source told me this is the first move and there is more to come if need be.The need be was yesterday. The time for punishment is now. We either rehabilitate them or vote them out of the Caucus just like Mark Olson. Chriminies, Olson was a rockstar on the Transit tax bill. And what does he get, (IR) he paid his debt and can legally serve. And he does a hell of a lot better than any one of those 6 with his arms teid behind his back. But nope, these 6 get their slap on the wrist with no real reprimands.
Apparently in Andy’s mind voting against your party is worse than domestic abuse. Its really no wonder that moderates don’t feel welcome in the Republican party anymore.
I think that Mike Ciresi is an amazing advocate, an excellent business man, and a truly admirable Minnesotan, which is why I was more than interested to see him drop his name in a race for Senate he actually had a shot at. But I’ve also been incredibly consistent in advocating for candidates to abide by the endorsement. The reason is simple: in a state that doesn’t have its primary until September we simply can’t allow DFL on DFL blood to be shed while the Republican candidate sits by and raises money. Which is why I was more than a little nervous to see that Mike Ciresi funneled $2 million into his campaign from his own pocket this past week, bringing his total contributions to $2.5M.
Initial reaction: HOLY MOLEY HE’S RUNNING THROUGH THE PRIMARY! And, indeed, it seems that certain academics had the same thought:
David Schultz, a Hamline University professor who specializes in government ethics and politics, said the loan suggests “a long-haul strategy” laying the groundwork for a possible primary race. [Strib]
If this is the case, however, the Ciresi campaign is refusing to acknowledge it:
Sandberg said Friday that nothing has changed. “He will abide by the endorsement,” she said. [Ibid]
After taking a few deep breathes I’ve decided I’m willing to give the Ciresi campaign the shadow of the doubt. Yes, the most convincing analysis is that Ciresi is building up for the long haul, but this money could be a sign of other things. First of all, Ciresi’s fundraising when compared to Franken’s has been anemic which has likely forced him to spend into debt — this could be compensating for that debt. Also, if Ciresi wants to continue to challenge Franken for the endorsement on a functional level he’ll have to spend at a high rate; after all, most signs point to Franken leading in the delegate numbers and it’ll take a fair amount of direct mail and ads to make a credible challenge. And, although it seems naive, we can’t ignore that Ciresi’s campaign has said unequivocally that he will abide and hasn’t left him a Clintonesque gap in wording that would allow him a semantic way out of his statements to this effect.
Like I said at the start of this post, Mike Ciresi has many qualities that make him a compelling candidate. And while so far his campaign has been unimpressive, he deserves his fair shake. That being said, no DFL candidate should be allowed any slack for breaking his or her endorsement pledge, especially not this year. It is damaging for the party and for that candidate’s future career in Minnesotan politics. It’s a stance that I and many other DFLers across this state have been crystal clear about for quite some time and with good reason: Norm Coleman should not be allowed another term in the Senate.
At a press conference at the Capitol today, House Republican Leader Marty Seifert declared war on the moderate wing of his party and announced that the “Override 6” have been stripped of their committee leadership posts. In addition, Seifert announced that Neil Peterson has been removed as Assistant Minority Whip.
In a performance that one Capitol source characterized as a “ripfest,” Seifert also said that if the “Override 6” were to be denied endorsement by their local party organizations, he would “be inclined” to support their opponents.
Wow. Much has been written in recent years about the decline of the suburban Republican moderate, but never before has their been such a stark example of moderate Republicans being driven from their party. Four of these Republicans represent suburban districts including cities like Edina, Bloomington and Coon Rapids that have been trending Democratic in recent years. All six represent districts that Amy Klobuchar won in 2006. Despite this, Seifert excommunicated them from the church of conservatism.
Anyone who thinks that this is a party that Arne Carlson could have been an elected member of is kidding themselves. Anyone who thinks that this is a party that might nominate Jim Ramstad for Governor in 2010 is not paying attention. Anyone who thinks that this is a party that stands a chance of recapturing the Minnesota House or Senate in the next few years is just plain wrong.
Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post asked Governor Pawlenty yesterday what his biggest accomplishment as Governor has been. Here is his response:
“I think many people appreciate the work that I’ve done on holding the line on taxes. I’ve vetoed every single tax increase my Democratic friends have proposed to put on my desk. I think I’ve done a good job of being a fiscal conservative.”
Well, there goes that line on the resume.
This must have been before the override.
This could backfire…
There have also been repercussions within the House Republican caucus for those GOP members who voted to override. Rep. Rod Hamilton, R- Mountain Lake, voluntarily gave up his lead role on the agriculture committee. Rep. Bud Heidgerken, R-Freeport, lost his GOP lead spot on the K-12 finance committee. But Heidgerken said he didn’t get a choice.
“I was told that if I don’t fall in line, this is what is going to happen,” he said.
Minority Leader Marty Seifert of Marshall said the House GOP caucus will review leadership positions as well as the staff resources available to its members later this week.
Seifert insists the six lawmakers are still his friends, but he said they’ll all likely face tough challenges to their party endorsements for re-election.
I can also confirm that Rep. Tingelstad has given up her position as ranking Republican on the Capitol Investment Finance Division.
Yesterday Terri Bonoff’s campaign announced the endorsement of Teamsters Joint Council 32 .
Her office released this statement from Senator Bonoff,
“I am honored by the endorsement of the Minnesota Teamsters,” Bonoff said. “I will be an advocate for Minnesota’s working families in Washington, standing up for their right to fair wages, good benefits and their right to organize.
“I am running for Congress to make things happen for Minnesotans. When our leaders in Washington are fighting and playing political games, we all lose. I’m ready to go to Congress to get things done and it starts by ending the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home. As we bring an end to this war we must turn our focus to our economic recovery, investing in a world-class education for all children and providing quality, affordable health care for everyone.”
The Teamster’s announcement says that they have 6,500 members in the 3rd Congressional district. This is a nice pickup for Bonoff and it compliments her superdelegate lead well. We’re a month and a half from the 3rd CD endorsing convention and the first SD level conventions (which will decide the delegates that go to the state and CD conventions) are this weekend.
A dedicated reader of MNPublius passed along this little nugget…
Morillo also announced the union’s endorsement of Franken during the rally.
So obviously this is SEIU Local 26, and I would venture to guess that since Javier Morillo is the president of the local he would have the inside track on who they were endorsing. I don’t know if it’s just local 26 or if it’s the state council.
I spoke with Andy Barr communications director for Al Franken’s campaign and he wouldn’t confirm or deny any endorsements but said,
“Al is a member of four unions, and he believes that unions are one of the last defenses of the middle class. He’s proud to stand with them every day.”
As one of the fastest growing unions in the state and country, this is a big pickup for Franken. If it’s the state council it’s 28K members strong, and if it’s just local 26 it’s 6K workers wide (not a shabby deal considering Morillo’s political acumen and organizational ability).
I’d expect to see a press release tomorrow.
Sean Adds: I didn’t include it in my original post, but the picture up there, was taken by my great friend Aaron Landry and you can see the original on Flikr.
After the jump the SEIU Press Release
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