Secret (Special Interest) Squirrel – John Kline

Note:  I inadvertently published this post when it was merely intended to be saved as a draft.  Several people read the post before it had been finalized.  If you read it previously, it may have changed a little, but the basic message and content is the same.  In fact I only added to it, I did not delete anything.

 

I started my last post with a quote from a great Democratic president.  Here is another one:

“The Democratic Party is the people’s party and the Republican Party is the party of special interest and it always has been, and always will be!”

That was from Harry Truman’s 1948 presidential nomination acceptance speech.

I love that quote.  Nearly 62 years later it still rings true.  That quote does a fine job of characterizing my congressman.

Congressman John Kline claims he is against “pork,” which to me means special interests, but he isn’t.  He is perfectly happy supporting military special interests, insurance industry special interests, big oil special interests, banking special interests and any other corporate special interest that supports the GOP.  The only special interest he seems to be against are the special interests of the people in the Second Congressional District.

The unfortunate part of his love of special interests is that we seldom get a chance to confront him on the issue.  He is generally unwilling to meet constituents unless they are already proven loyal.  He likes to keep his appearances secretive until after the event.  Think about how often you have had a chance as a citizen he represents to meet him?  If you are on the special list of Republican supporters who meet in secret, I’m sure you get plenty of opportunities.  I don’t get that opportunity.

I could have met him Saturday if I wanted to.  On my way home from the Farmington Library, I passed a tan Suburban pulling into my church parking lot.  As I passed I looked to see if I knew the people in the truck.  Lo and behold, the passenger in the Suburban was John Kline.  I even pulled into the next entrance to make sure I wasn’t wrong.

Clad in a grey wool trench coat, John Kline was walking into the church with the young driver.  I should have stayed to see why he was there, but I didn’t want to assume it was a political event.  I went home to do a web search to see what kind of meeting it was.  There is nothing on the web.

He is in town, why isn’t he making an effort to meet with his constituents.  Funny, when I mentioned he was in Farmington, the comment I heard wasn’t why is he in Farmington, it was why is he in Minnesota?  I’m guessing he is making a point to visit the returning Red Bulls.  After all, he needs to project that military support image despite his record in the House.  But why does John Kline seem so secretive about where he plans to go or even when he visits Minnesota?  Other congressmen like Tim Walz have a list of events on their web pages.  John Kline has nothing.

Not only is he a member of the party of “NO”, he says “NO” to constituent contact on a regular basis.  We need to say “NO” to him.

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John Kline Protecting What?!?

“The Republican’s sinful selfishness has given our country a period of loose thinking, descending morals, an era of selfishness…Republican leaders not only failed in material things, they have failed in national vision, because in disaster, they have held out no hope, they have pointed no path for the people below to climb back to places of security and of safety in our American life.”

Doesn’t that sounds like something President Barack Obama might have said in the last year. The quote is actually almost eight decades old. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt made that statement accusing the Republicans of creating an economy that helped a favored few to the detriment of the individual.

I’m not sure anything has changed in the last 80 years. Republicans have fought to protect corporate rights over the rights of individuals on a regular basis. I’m talking environmental issues, health issues, tax issues, labor issues, energy issues, and I could go on.

And who has “failed in material things” and “failed in national vision” over the last decade more in this state than Congressman John Kline? I know it is a toss up between Governor Pawlenty and John Kline, but Michelle Bachmann hasn’t even reached the level of failure John Kline has.

John Kline recently sent out a mailing that states in bold, large letters “Congressman John Kline Protecting Minnesota’s Economy and Jobs.” I’d love to hear from him so he could tell me exactly what he has done to protect Minnesota’s economy and jobs.

Wasn’t he in congress supporting the economic and foreign policies that despite the recent upturn, still threaten to send us into a second Great Republican Depression? What has he done? He has joined the “NO” chorus on the Right opposing anything that might improve the economy or create jobs.

Apparently John Kline prefers to protect Minnesota’s Economy and Jobs the same way Republicans did in 1929, by sitting on his hands and seeing what happens. I’ll tell you what John Kline, I am no economic genius or any sort of policy wonk, but I know in the real world if you sit on your hands and refuse to do anything when change needs to occur, things are just going to get worse. Thanks for protecting us John Kline.

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DFL Caucus vs. Primary

A fellow DFLer was complaining to me about the caucues. Complaining that it is an outdated process and that only the most active and liberal people go to the caucuses. That it forces people uncomfortable in meeting situations from being able to participate, and keeps people with children and busy lives from having a say. Those factors end up creating in his words, a “skewed” platform and candidate endorsement process based on a small number of people who can participate. I agreed with him. In fact the whole reason I started getting involved was because I wanted to inject a voice of reason and common-sense to a body I feel often ends up tripped up on an aggressive ideology set in the past.

But I continued thinking about it and realized that the exact same people that go to the caucuses now, and eventually go to the convention to determine the platform and endorsements, will be the same ones going to a convention if we have a primary system determining the candidate delegate balance.

I don’t know exactly how delegates are elected in a primary process, but I’m guessing it is a meeting. And I am guessing that meeting would consist of the usual suspects and the same basic process.

So rather than complain about the process, here are a couple benefits I see over a primary. The people that commit to go to a caucus, as opposed to staying home and watching “Lost” are generally dedicated enough to continue through the process, and are far more likely to stay involved in the party outside of the election season. It is during the off years that fundraising and organization needs to be running on all cylinders to ensure adequate resources are available during the election year.

In the caucus system, the candidates are far more likely to interact with potential delegates personally. I’ve seen all of the candidates multiple times, and they usually come to me, I don’t have to go far to see them. In a primary system, I suspect much more time is spent on image making and commercials. Name recognition alone doesn’t get a candidate enough among a knowledgeable base. Mark Dayton’s decision not to be on the straw poll ballot proved that Tuesday. He was afraid a poor showing would hurt his campaign. If it were a primary, he would likely have won based on name recognition alone.

The caucus system allows anybody who wants to be involved the access to be involved. I admitted above I don’t know how delegates are chosen in states that have primary systems, but if you showed up at my caucus, you could be a delegate. Additionally, you get to meet fellow DFLers. In my really “red” district, knowing somebody else who has the same ideals you have is important to keeping your sanity.

I like the caucuses.

The Farmington Caucus

I convened the Farmington, Castle Rock, Empire and Eureka caucuses last night. Between the nine precincts, only 29 people attended. The voting results were:

Rybak – 7 – 24.1%
Kelliher – 6 – 20.7%
Marty – 5 – 17.2%
Thissen – 5 – 17.2%
Uncommitted – 3 – 10.3%
Bakk – 1 – 3.4%
Entenza – 1 – 3.4%
Gaertner – 1 – 3.4%
Kelley – 0
Montez – 0
Rukavina – 0
Savior – 0

I was surprised how low the turnout was, but I am not surprised by the results for the most part. Statewide, I expected the race to be between Rybak and Kelliher, and that proved true.

Statewide numbers with almost 80% reporting:

Rybak – 21.9%
Kelliher – 20.1%
Uncommitted – 14.6%
Marty – 9.6%
Rukavina – 7.2%
Thissen – 7.2%
Entenza – 6.7%
Bakk – 6.2%
Kelley – 4..2%
Gaertner – 2.1%

A couple of negative observations:

Entenza’s number seemed surprisingly low. I expected him to finish third or forth. That looks bad. Now I see why Dayton didn’t include his name in the straw poll.

Rukavina put out a statement saying he was humbled by the support. I assume he felt humbled in a positive way. Finishing in the middle of the pack with 7% does not seem like it should be humbling to me.

Gaertner has decided to run in the primary. Why?

Thissen’s results were disappointing. I expected Paul to compete with Entenza for third or forth.

As much as I like Steve Kelley, the endorsement will not fall into his lap with this group of candidates like it almost did a few years ago. Kelley should consider dropping out too.

Caucus 101 – A how to guide to participate in the DFL caucus

Tomorrow is caucus night.  To get you prepared, here is a repost of a December post.  I’ll be at Farmington High School I hope to see you there.   (By the way if you can volunteer to help set up, show up a little early.)

I wrote the following guide to what happens at the caucuses after writing the previous post about people being scared away from the caucuses. I’m one of those people that like to know what is going to happen. It makes me more comfortable. I think there are a lot of people who stay away from the caucuses because they don’t know what is going to happen. Here is a little how to caucus guide. If you ar like me and need a little reinforcement, maybe you will show up this year…

Caucus 101 – A how to guide to participate in the DFL caucus

The 2010 DFL precinct caucuses are meetings organized by the DFL to begin the process of selecting candidates for the 2010 elections. Elections will be held for Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Senator, State House of Representative and other local officials, as well as for U.S. Congressional seats. The caucuses are also the first step in shaping the DFL platform and policy positions.

Step 1: Find out what house district and precinct you are in.
Caucuses are usually organized by precinct within senate or county districts. The Minnesota Secretary of State website has a polling place finder, which should provide you with information about the political districts you reside in. Follow the steps by entering your zip code, followed by your address, to find out your district information. Besides telling you where you vote, it also tells you your congressional district, Minnesota senate district, house district and precinct, along with a few other districts. Your precinct is often a combination of your town with the letter “P” and a number or your for smaller towns, the name of the town. Example: Farmington P-4 is precinct 4 in Farmington.

Step 2: Find your caucus location.
After you know your house district and precinct, you can find out where your precinct caucus is. Since caucuses are organized by local DFL parties, the Secretary of State is dependent on receiving the location information from local party officials. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office is working to launch an online caucus finder, but it will not be available until late January 2010. In the meantime, you can find your caucus location by contacting your local DFL Senate District official. For instance Senate District 36 (SD36) is planning the caucuses in the SD36 area. The local leaders or the website in SD36 will provide you the information for your meeting location.

Step 3: Show up.
Once you know where to go, it is as simple as showing up. Arrive a little early to sign in. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m., and the caucus is convened at 7:00. At many caucuses, multiple precincts meet in one location. Generally, you go directly to your precinct to sign in, but people or signs should direct you. There is generally a fair amount of literature to review. There is always DFL party literature, and often candidate literature. It is not uncommon for local officials or candidates to make an appearance too.

Step 4: Engage with others in your precinct as you wait to begin.
The caucus is a great place to meet neighbors who share your political view. But caucuses also are the first step in developing resolutions to be included in the DFL platform. Talk about ideas and engage others. The caucus is the first step to offer a resolution on an issue important to you. Before the close of the caucus, attendees in your precinct will vote on the issue, and if passed , will forward the resolution on to the next level of discussion. Click here to open the resolution form.

Step 5: The caucus begins.
The caucus begins with a few introductions and a couple required announcements. To begin the process, the caucus attendees elect a caucus chair, a secretary to record notes and tellers to count ballots. These positions are occasionally opened up to volunteers, then consented to by the body with a vote. Caucuses are run using parliamentary procedures to nominate and elect officials. Do not be embarrassed to ask questions if you are unfamiliar with how to phrase something — others, including the conveners and even the chair are often in the same boat.

Step 6: Elect precinct officers.
Caucus attendees elect officers who will be responsible for organizing political activities within the precinct. Each precinct elects a precinct chair and two precinct associate chairs. Within the DFL, at least one male and one female must be elected. For example, if a woman is elected chair, at least one associate chair should be a man, and vice versa. Precinct chair responsibilities can be very different from district to district. A key responsibility is to attend local DFL committee meetings and to help organize and increase the presence of the party through voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts. Additionally, in some districts, the precinct chair is expected to raise a certain amount of money in a district. In others, it might be as simple as calling people in the precinct to remind them of a meeting or an election. Literature describing the duties will be at your precinct location.

Step 7: Elect senate district delegates.
Each precinct has a predetermined number of delegates to elect to the county or senate district convention. The caucus attendees will elect representatives to be delegates. In many districts, there are often more delegate and alternate openings than there are people willing or able to attend the convention. You don’t need to launch a massive campaign to be elected to the next level. It is important to make sure your precinct chair checks the “delegate” box on the attendance forms to ensure you are included in the rolls for the convention. Keep something in mind. After the caucuses a list of the convention attendees is often acquired by candidates. Expect calls from candidates.

Step 8: Vote in the gubernatorial straw poll.
Attendees of the caucus will be given a straw poll ballot to indicate their preference among the candidates for governor. Cast your vote before 8:00.

Step 9: Finish up.
If there are pending resolutions, finish considering the resolutions. The chair will announce the results of the straw poll and finish up with any announcements.

Step 10: Adjourn.
Finally, the caucus chair will ask for a motion to adjourn the caucus.
After the caucus there are tasks that need to be completed. Cleaning up the area is the simplest duty to help with. Reporting results and entering attendance data into the DFL database is also an important task.

Note: While many of these steps fit caucuses statewide, I did write this specifically with experience in the south metro. Feel free to forward this or repost it. Please credit MNDem.com if you do.

Tuesday Special Election in SD26 – GOTV for Jason Engbrecht

I took my son down to Faribault for hockey this past weekend.  As we approached the Shattuck-St Mary’s campus I noticed a big green and white Jason Engbrecht sign.  Then I noticed a lot of little ones.  I’m hoping the abundance of signs is a good sign for Tuesday night. 

Tuesday, Jan 26.,  is the special election to replace the contentious lawmaker Dick Day.  Call, text or email people you know in Blooming Prairie, Ellendale Faribault, Medford, Morristown, Owatonna, Waseca and the surrounding townships and tell them to get out and vote for Jason Engbrecht, and against more of the same old GOP divisiveness, and extreme political partisanship fully represented in his opponent Parry.

It is going to be cold and windy tomorrow.  People are going to need encouragement to get out and vote.  If you are interested in helping call SD26 residents or door knock in Faribault, Owatonna or Waseca on election day, I’m sure the DFL can let you know where you can help.  Contact the DFL.

Integrity in a blog

There is this new “conservative” blog called Midwest Spin.  Unlike me, it is somebody who probably knows what they are doing with this whole blog and social media thing.  They started following me on Twitter, so I checked who they were.  At that point they were following 200+ and had 15 followers.  A couple days later they are following 1,156 and had 156 followers.  I guess that is how you drive people to your site, feign interest in them.  I know I am behind the times, but I tend not to follow people unless there is specific information I am waiting or looking for.  Don’t be offended if you follow me and I don’t return the favor. 

Anyway, I visited the Midwest Spin blog to see who it was.  I think they had five posts at the time, they have seven now, all pretty innocuous.   But the thing that bothered me is that it is completely anonymous.   They have already changed the “About Me” page.  Originally the About Me page stated they were a “group of guys” in the Midwest, I believe they used “fly-over country” working to stop the liberal influx on society.  That’s all they said about themselves.

It has changed.  They are not a “group of guys” anymore, but they still don’t identify themselves.  I posted a comment on their introductory post asking them to identify themselves.  They use integrity in their title and common-sense in their introduction, but without accountability, there is no integrity no matter how much common-sense you claim to have.

I noticed that somebody named Minnesota Grizzly Bear commented on their site and my “Fill me with soma” post this morning.  I’m guessing he or she is associated with their blog but that is just speculation.  I’ll be interested to see what happens to them.  I’m not going to spend time trying to find out who they are, but I’ll add them to my reader for a while to see how the blog develops.  I’d tell you to check them out and let me know what you think, but it is pretty dull right now.

Fill me with soma and let the corporations decide what to do with me.

Where are all the cries coming from right-wingers about activist judges?  Our politicians are already overly influenced by corporations, now they are going to be selected by corporations too.  Great!  And it isn’t just GE, Exxon, Citibank, Wal-Mart or UnitedHealth we need to worry about.  There is nothing to stop a Saudi or Chinese corporation from buying ads to influence our elections now.  Thanks Supreme Court. 

Thanks for setting the course for all those sci-fi movies and futuristic books with mega-corporations running the world.   When do they start determining who costs too much to live – oh wait, insurance companies already do!  Pfizer can start feeding us soma to keep us happy, Wal-Mart can instruct us in what is OK to buy, and UnitedHealth can start eliminating the surplus population that costs us a little too much as a society.

Do you think I am overreacting?  Think about a local election.  The total campaign expenditures in 2008 for both candidates in my house district 36B was under $50,000.  What is stopping a company from spending $50,000 or $100,000 on one candidate to send their own henchman to the State House?  How much do they spend on lobbyists?  Who needs a lobbyist when a company can have their own Joe Leiberman.

And what about the cost of ads now?  With the influx of spending, the cost will go up.  It’s called supply and demand.  That will make it harder for a local candidate to afford to advertise.  It will make running a campaign even more expensive, thus more beholden to big money.

Let’s be honest.  Republicans have got to be most happy about this decision.  Not because they will likely benefit from more corporate spending than Democrats, but because the onslaught of commercials will just turn more people off to politics.  The fewer people engaged the better Republicans do.  Suppressing the number of voters is good news for the GOP.

Republican leadership is spewing first amendment talking point trash, but the only ‘persons” who will soon have first amendment rights will be “persons” with money.  John McCain has every right to be “disappointed” Mitch McConnell.

When is the election for governor lost?

Not that long ago I heard what I think is a particularly sagacious comment. 

Often, the election is not lost in November.  It is lost at the primary.

Simple, but so true. 
 
We’ve seen it again and again.  It happened two days ago in Massachusetts.  I didn’t follow the race closely, but all reports seem to indicate Coakley ran a bad race.  Would Rep. Capuano have run a better race?  Seems like he wouldn’t have done worse.
 
What about the 1998 governor’s race.  Skip Humphrey beat the DFL endorsed candidate Mike Freeman by 16% in the primary.  I know “what ifs” are worthless, but I am a firm believer that Mike Freeman would not have lost to Jesse Ventura.  Heck, I don’t think any of the other three candidates Humphrey beat, Doug Johnson, Mark Dayton, or Ted Mondale would have lost to Ventura. 
 
And we keep doing it.  People close to me and who knew Mike Hatch told me not to support him.  He couldn’t win.  Too many people don’t like him.  They were right.   Every DFLer won, except Mike Hatch in 2006.  Becky Lourey?  We’ll never know.
 
So who is the likely primary winner this year?  Conventional wisdom says Dayton or Entenza.  Conventional wisdom hasn’t been wrong recently.  It was Hatch’s, Moe’s and Humphrey’s primaries to lose, they didn’t.
 
Is Matt Entenza or Mark Dayton the best candidate to win in November?  Does name recognition or money make you the best candidate?  Hatch had both.  Humphrey had both and finished third!
 
Dayton’s negatives are high.  It doesn’t help that last night’s WCCO News story about his official announcement also mentioned that Time once rated Mark Dayton among the nation’s “worst” senators.
 
Earlier today Matt Entenza posted a note on facebook that said:

We must remember who we are as a party and as a state. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of wimpy Democrats. It’s time we get tough.

I’ve seen him a few times, and tough is not a description I would use.  Maybe he said it is time we get tall?  I believe he might be a tough politician, but voters are looking for a physical toughness that demonstrates a toughness of conviction.   I hope he gets physically tough because I think he will be the candidate.  I will support him if he is the candidate, but I don’t want to see another third place finish for the DFL because we blew our chance when another candidate could have won.
 
I think we have candidates who can steamroll the GOP this year, candidates with authenticity, trustworthiness, charisma, great ideas and toughness.  But it might end up being a “what if” year if a candidate is chosen in the primary because of money and name recognition, rather than at the endorsing convention by people who want a winner.

Shelley Madore officially enters the CD2 race

Since I was off work today, I decided to stop by Shelley Madore’s announcement that she is officially entering the race to challenge John Kline.  The announcement was held at the Eagan Community Center. 

I recognized a few faces in the crowd, among them, Representatives Sandy Masin (38A) and David Bly (25B), Roberta Gibbons (Candidate in 37) and former congressional candidate Teresa Daly.

Shelley’s campaign manager Nick Conti-Masanz started the meeting, followed by Sandy Masin, David Bly and Teresa Daly, who all said a few nice words. 

Shelley then made a short statement:

“Today I am announcing that I will run for Congress in Minnesota’s Second Congressional District.

As a former state representative, longtime community activist, businesswoman and parent, I understand the issues in our district.  I’m ready to fight to bring jobs and economic security back to the hardworking people and families here in Minnesota and I need your support.

We need a strong leader who will work with other members of congress to bring jobs back to our community.

We need a strong leader who will create opportunities for workers to gain the skills they need to compete in this new economy.

And we need a strong leader who realizes that education is an ongoing commitment because the world does not stop changing once we graduate.

I am that leader.  My name is Shelley Madore and I am running for congress.”

A couple of notes:

• For all of you that end Modore with a long e, it ends like “door.”
• I like the green signs.  Both simple and economical.
• Finally, I like Shelley.  I think she has the skills and the presence to give John Kline a fight that he probably has not had in recent elections.  Rowley and Sarvi were fine candidates, and would have been great in congress, but Shelley has run in tough campaigns, has run through the type of crud Kline and his supporters will likely throw at her, and she seems ready for it.