Author Archive for Zack Stephenson

You Stay Classy Tim Pawlenty

by Zack Stephenson | 8 Comments

What is the logic behind this?

When politicians give big speeches, like today’s State of the State speech, reporters tend to get early and embargoed copies so they can follow along.

House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, said since he became a leader he’s asked the Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s office for the same courtesy.

The answer? “A polite no,” said Sertich.

“It’s petty that we can’t get it,” said Sertich, who also added that it’s also petty for him to talk about the pettiness.

I really have nothing to add to this, except to say that its a shockingly petulant move on Pawlenty’s part. If the President can give advance copies of the State of the Union to the opposition party, you’d think Pawlenty could do the same. This is not a promising start to the 2010 session.

February 11, 2010, 10:35 am | Category: General |

Breaking: Steve Kelley Ends Run For Governor

by Zack Stephenson | 21 Comments

Fresh from my inbox:

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (February 4, 2010)—Steve Kelley, who formally announced his run for Governor in October, 2009, has decided to end his campaign.

The full text of his email to supporters is as follows:

Thank you for being part of my campaign to transform Minnesota. I have been continually grateful for your words of encouragement, your advice, volunteer work and financial support over the last year. I am one of the fortunate Minnesotans who has had the opportunity to see firsthand the spirit of involvement that thrives in our state.

Even with your support, and the amazingly hard work of a dedicated and talented campaign team, I have not been as successful as we had hoped when the campaign began. As a result, I have decided to withdraw from the race for governor.

My wife Sophie has been a perfect partner in this campaign and in my public service. Our children Paul and Eleanor and our son-in-law Corey Orehek have worked hard and inspired me to work hard for them and for the future. And my parents and brothers and sisters have given me their support in ways beyond measure.

You have been generous in your support. One of the sad outcomes of this decision is that I will have fewer opportunities to work with you to make Minnesota the kind of place we see in our best dreams. I intend to return to my work at the Humphrey Institute where I have been privileged to be able to serve Minnesota.

I also intend to support the DFL-endorsed candidate for governor. To repair the damage done to our state, we must endorse a candidate in April, unite behind that candidate and win in November. Our fellow citizens deserve a DFL Governor in January 2011.

During the campaign I had the pleasure of getting to know better the other dedicated public servants who are seeking the DFL nomination. Through innumerable candidate forums and other visits with Minnesotans, I learned new insights from them about the challenges we face together and the solutions we must pursue.

I am immensely proud of my campaign team. Over many months they applied energy, intelligence and dedication to a challenging goal. It is has been a privilege to work with them.

I am confident that with the right leadership that engages the amazing Minnesotans that I met on the campaign trail, we can build a better home for our children.”

###

Kelley served in the Minnesota Legislature from 1992 to 2006. He is currently a teacher and senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute and the director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy.

February 4, 2010, 4:21 pm | Category: General |

Supreme Court Accepts Emmer Brief

by Zack Stephenson | 5 Comments

On Monday I reported that the Minnesota Supreme Court had declined to accept a amicus brief from Tom Emmer.  That report was based on an order issued by the Court last week which accepted amicus briefs from several organizations, but did not accept a brief from Tom Emmer.  Yesterday, the Court issued a new order and accepted the Emmer brief.

Luke Hellier of Minnesota Democrats Exposed thinks I should apologize to Rep. Emmer for my “lie.”  Of course, Hellier’s own post shows that the Court order accepting the Emmer brief is dated February 3rd (two days after my post) proving that my post wasn’t a “lie,” it’s just no longer accurate.  I am not going to apologize for a post that was true at the time it was written.

February 4, 2010, 11:17 am | Category: General |

Caucus Night Predictions (UPDATED)

by Zack Stephenson | 34 Comments

A few other Twin Cities bloggers have made predictions about the DFL Caucus preference ballot and I didn’t want MN Publius to be left out.  Our predictions are after the jump, but please bear in mind that the process of making these predictions was more similar to playing a game of “guess how many jellybeans are in the jar” than any kind of real political prognostication.  I hope you’ll leave your own predictions in the comments.

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February 1, 2010, 11:08 pm | Category: General |

Pawlenty Fundraises For Candidate Who Retweeted Racial Slur

by Zack Stephenson | 30 Comments

Last week, we reported that David Carlson, a candidate for the State Senate in Eagan, had retweeted a tweet containing a racial slur directed at President Obama.  It turns out that just two weeks later Governor Tim Pawlenty hosted a fundraiser for Carlson. According to Carlson’s website, Pawlenty appeared at a $100/person event for Carlson on January 11.  I wonder what Tim Pawlenty thinks of David Carlson’s twitter habits?

February 1, 2010, 10:11 am | Category: MN State Senate | Tags: .

Supreme Court Rejects Emmer’s Amicus Brief

by Zack Stephenson | 6 Comments

Tom Emmer’s gubernatorial campaign has been gaining momentum in recent days.  Emmer, who has been challenging front-runner Marty Seifert from the right, secured the endorsement of former Senator Rod Grams and State Representative Laura Brod.  Not everything, however, is going so well for Team Emmer.

Emmer made news early last week by announcing that he would file an amicus brief in the unallotment case with the Minnesota Supreme Court.   Sadly, at least for Emmer, the Minnesota Supreme Court doesn’t accept briefs from just anyone and when the Court released the list of parties whose briefs they wanted to read on Thursday, Emmer hadn’t made the cut.  I can’t say I blame them - I’ve been refusing to listen to Emmer for years. The court accepted briefs from the City of St. Paul, the City of Minneapolis, The Minnesota House, The League of Women Voters, Common Cause, The League of Minnesota Cities and a couple of law professors and gave no explanation for why they rejected Emmer’s brief.

Still, the slight is especially unfortunate considering that Emmer (who is an attorney by profession) has long been rumored to be interested in running for Attorney General. In fact, rumors that Emmer might switch to the AG race have been intensifying in recent weeks.  But you have to ask yourself just how effective an Attorney General he would be considering he couldn’t even write a brief interesting enough to compete with the League of Women Voters.

February 1, 2010, 8:30 am | Category: MN 2010: Governor and Misc. Local Politics | Tags: .

GOP State Senate Candidate Retweets Inappropriate Tweet

by Zack Stephenson | 50 Comments

David Carlson is a Republican running for the Minnesota State Senate in Eagan.  Carlson is pretty active on twitter, particularly during Vikings games, but he might want to be a little more careful before hitting “update.”  Last month Carlson retweeted a tweet that included a racial slur directed at President Obama. A screen shot of the tweet is available after the jump (but please be warned that the tweet does contain a racial slur and may be NSFW).  Carlson has removed the tweet from his twitter feed.

If that weren’t bad enough, Carlson decided to throw some rocks in his glass house, using twitter to publically criticize fellow Republican State Senate candidate Mike Parry for his (nearly identical) twitter troubles.  Parry, while a candidate for the State Senate seat vacated by Dick Day, got in some hot water for writing that President Obama was a “Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man” and subsequently scrubbing the tweet (and forty others) from twitter.  Carlson responded by tweeting: “Good thing Team Carlson does not condone such behavior on twitter.” Carlson appears to have had second thoughts about this tweet as well, as it also has been removed.  Fortunatley, a loyal reader has preserved the tweet for posterity and it is also available after the jump.

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January 29, 2010, 12:06 pm | Category: MN State Senate | Tags: .

Rasmussen Poll Is Worthless, But Let’s Pretend Its Not

by Zack Stephenson | 4 Comments

Let me give you a few reasons to disregard the Rasmussen poll that is grabbing attention around the Minnesota political universe today:

  1. They only interviewed 300 people for each horse-race, so the margin of error is very high.
  2. They only conducted interviews on one night, which is considered bad methodology.
  3. I am skeptical of their likely voter model.  As Joe Bodell points out, we haven’t had a competitive statewide primary in Minnesota for a while, so modeling is going to be very difficult.
  4. They misspelled R.T. Rybak’s name in the release (R.T. Ryback?)
  5. And the most important reason: a poll this early in the campaign probably only measures name recognition.

The counter-argument to all of this is:

  1. Polls are fun!

Very persuasive.  So, assuming for the sake of this post that Rasmussen’s numbers are more predictive than those you might pull out of a hat, what do they mean? Find out after the jump.

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January 13, 2010, 10:31 am | Category: General | Tags: , , , , , .

Kelliher Raises 254k in Four Months

by Zack Stephenson | 20 Comments

Margaret Anderson Kelliher announced her 2009 fundraising total today.  So far, the Speaker has raised $254,000 for her gubernatorial campaign. I don’t have time to do any real analysis, but my very quick take is that this is an impressive, but not earth shattering total.

While its true that Kelliher raised less in 2009 than both Paul Thissen and Matt Entenza, she’s also been in the race for a much shorter period of time than either Thissen or Entenza.  Kelliher has been raising money for about four months now, while Entenza has been in the race since April and Thissen since 2008.

In addition to announcing her total take, the Kelliher campaign noted that they raised some $80,000 in the month of December alone.  That is a great month for a gubernatorial campaign, especially considering how tough this December was for political giving across the country.

On the other hand, Kelliher’s haul is certainly not enough to frighten the other candidates in the race.  The bottom line is that Speaker had a productive fall on the money front, but she’ll need to keep it up considering the deep pockets in this race.

January 8, 2010, 2:32 pm | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: .

Former Moderate GOP Chair SLAMS Coleman

by Zack Stephenson | 8 Comments

Former MN GOP Chair Ron Eibensteiner took to the pages of the Star Tribune today, writing an op-ed that brutalizes former Sen. Norm Coleman and his flirtations with a gubernatorial run.  Eibensteiner, in case you have forgotten, was the Chair of the MN GOP who was ousted a few years back for being too “moderate.”  He is/was a key ally of Gov. Pawlenty.  The op-ed is just cruel:

Despite Coleman’s successful record as mayor of St. Paul, Minnesotans’ strongest lasting impression is of a candidate who’s helped install into office not just one but two of the most unqualified and inexperienced individuals in state history. Minnesotans can’t afford a rerun of those episodes. In the 1998 governor’s race, Norm lost to Jesse Ventura, a candidate who was best known as a former pro wrestler and who is now the host of a conspiracy theory show on television.

Fool me once — maybe it’s a fluke. But twice? Political insiders on both sides of the aisle widely viewed Franken as the weakest DFL candidate and agreed that the 2008 race was Coleman’s to lose. This time, a comedian who’s known for his rude behavior and blue language clearly outstrategized Norm on the campaign trail and in the recount.

Ouch! But that ain’t all…

As a businessman, I know something about management and strategy. The 2008 campaign revealed Coleman’s shortcomings in both areas. His management team lacked a clear leader, and to this day many of Norm’s supporters still don’t know who was calling the shots and taking responsibility for his overall strategy. Additionally, Norm’s communications strategy probably cost him a decisive margin of victory in the closing week of the race when he was ambushed by reporters in front of television cameras. The footage resulted in a devastating campaign commercial.

The same can be said for the Senate recount, which was bungled by Coleman and his team from day one.

Eibensteiner even said Coleman is too moderate for this race (remember, Eibensteiner was booted from his job as MN GOP Chair for being too moderate!)

Coleman was a cosponsor of “cap and trade” legislation that even moderate Democrats are now distancing themselves from because of its tax-raising implications. Perhaps most distasteful to Republicans was Coleman’s support for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in the final months of the 2008 campaign.

I love the smell of Republican infighting in the morning! A Norm Coleman candidacy would probably result in an all out GOP civil war lasting through the primary in August. It would be a beautiful sight. Alas, each day that passes probably makes a Coleman candidacy less likely (though Marty Seifert is an excellent consolation prize).

January 8, 2010, 8:56 am | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: .

Quist Rings In The New Year With A Pile Of Insanity

by Zack Stephenson | 24 Comments

I can already tell that I am going to really enjoy Allen Quist’s challenge to Congressman Tim Walz down in the 1st District.  Check out what Quist said:

“Our country is being destroyed. Every generation has had to fight the fight for freedom… Terrorism? Yes. That’s not the big battle,” he said. “The big battle is in D.C. with the radicals. They aren’t liberals. They are radicals. Obama, Pelosi, Walz: They’re not liberals, they’re radicals. They are destroying our country.”

Let me get this straight, in Quist’s mind, suicide bombers aren’t as bad as the public option?  I knew Quist was a Bachmannista, but I think the student has become the master.  If Bachmann want’s to hold onto her title of craziest Republican in Minnesota, she’s going to have to up her game.

January 4, 2010, 2:43 pm | Category: CD1 | Tags: .

Dick Day Lobbies From His Taxpayer Funded Office

by Zack Stephenson | 21 Comments

Former Senate Minority Leader Dick Day announced this week that he’ll be resigning from the Legislature to accept a lobbyist position with Racino Now, a group advocating for slot machines at Minnesota racetracks.  Day’s resignation is not effective until January.  That hasn’t stopped Senator Day from starting his new career.

At www.racinonow.com, the official website of the group Day will lead, the State Senator figures prominently in a video introduction.  Three things about this video struck me as interesting.

First, Senator Day is still a member of the Minnesota Legislature, but he’s already lobbying and extolling the virtues of a racino.

Second, notice what Senator Day is wearing in the opening scene.  He’s outside the Capitol, wearing a sport coat (not an overcoat), with no hat, no gloves, and an open collar.  I am pretty sure this scene was not filmed this week, given the not insignificant blizzard that graced our great state.  That means Senator Day was working for a lobbying group before he even announced that he was going to resign from the Legislature!

Lastly, if you skip to the end of the video, you’ll see Senator Day sitting behind a desk and speaking to the camera.  For readers unfamiliar with the Minnesota Capitol complex, that office is very clearly Senator Day’s official office in the State Office Building.  Dick Day was literally lobbying from his State Senator’s office.

I don’t know if Senator Day broke the law by lobbying while still a member of the Minnesota Legislature (and using his taxpayer funded office to boot) but even if it isn’t illegal, it sure is unethical.

In case Racino Now pulls the ad off their website, we’ve captured it and put it after the jump.

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December 11, 2009, 4:57 pm | Category: MN State Senate |

Republican Members of Congress Wish Bachmann Would Shut Up

by Zack Stephenson | 12 Comments

The Hotline surveyed Republican members of Congress and asked “Which voice in your party would you most like to mute?”

Our very own Michele Bachmann tied for first place with Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin (amongst others), proving that Bachmann is too crazy even for congressional Republicans. Now that is impressive.

To be fair, only 11% of the Republicans surveyed picked Bachmann, but to be tied with Beck and Palin is still and achievement.

December 10, 2009, 2:33 pm | Category: CD6 |

All I Want For Christmas

by Zack Stephenson | 31 Comments

Is one of these shirts.

And all I want for Christmas in 2012 is for Palin/Bachmann to be a reality.

December 7, 2009, 12:19 pm | Category: General |

Norm Coleman Would Be A Game Changer

by Zack Stephenson | 29 Comments

Multiple outlets are reporting today that former Sen. Norm Coleman is a possible gubernatorial candidate. Norm announced over the summer that he if he were to run, he wouldn’t jump into the race until early in 2010. At the time, most observers interpreted that statement as a sign that Norm wouldn’t run at all, as an early 2010 campaign start date would make it nearly impossible to win a MN GOP endorsement at a convention in April. Now it looks like we may have been wrong and Norm may actually run after all.

So what are the implications of a potential Coleman candidacy? Its all good for the DFL.   Find out why after the jump.

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December 3, 2009, 2:11 pm | Category: MN 2010: Governor |