A tale of two emails part 2: Kline has no record to run on against Obermueller

Last week I wrote a piece about the difference between Mike Obermueller’s email and John Kline’s email to supporters, A tale of two emails: Kline vs. Obermueller.  I wrote about how John Kline is running against and raising money based on fear of an imaginary liberal boogeyman, while Mike Obermueller is running against John Kline and John Kline’s lack of leadership.

I got to thinking, why isn’t John Kline running on his record?

John Kline has been in Congress for a decade.  Apparently the only accomplishment he can run on is his opposition to Barack Obama, ObamaCare and The Stimulus?  What about the 6 years his President was in charge?  What about the years his party controlled the House, Senate and the Presidency?

Why is it that when the Democrats controlled all three chambers for a fraction of the time the Republicans did, they were able to pass a major social reform bill in the healthcare bill that had been a goal since Harry Truman was president, but nothing was done on the supposedly most important social issues to Republicans when they controlled all three.  Today they continue to take symbolic votes to oppose Democrats, but Kline couldn’t provide the leadership to take an actual vote.

It’s no wonder John Kline is terrified of Mike Obermueller.  Mike is raising money that nobody in recent elections has been able to raise, and that money will be used to attack John Kline’s record, or the lack-there-of.

A tale of two emails: Kline vs. Obermueller

I am going to compare two actual emails here.  The first is from Congressman John Kline emailed on Thursday to his supporters.  The second is from Mike Obermueller emailed to his supporters on Tuesday.  These are the most recent emails I know of.

The first is about fear.  The second is about leadership.

Here is John Kline’s email:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, The Democratic House Majority Fund and the Service Employees International Union are joining force to defeat me in their quest to retake majority control of Congress.

The radical special interests’ war chest of cash combined with the quarter-of-a-million dollars DFL Mike Obermueller raised last quarter will make this a tough race.

Very soon, we’re going to be hit hard by our opponents’ media, mailers and mud and their message is that my staunch opposition to ObamaCare, the Stimulus Plan and Tax Hikes mean that I’m out of touch with our Second District.  I disagree!   I’ve stayed in close touch with Minnesotans and the government takeover of health care, the failed stimulus package and tax increases are three things we don’t want.

I’m a target of the DCCC, George Soros, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Service Employees International Union and the Liberal Super PACs who have threatened to spend millions to defeat me.  But when you help me, I know I’ll win!

PLEASE MAKE YOUR SAFE AND SECURE ONLINE CONTRIBUTION TO KLINE FOR CONGRESS FOR $15, $35, $20 OR $45  for our signs, ads, letters, parade pieces and everything we need to win.

I need you now and thank you for your continued support,

John Kline

Paid for by Kline for Congress

Here is Mike Obermuller’s email:

Dear Stephen,

Just a few days ago Congresswoman Michele Bachmann made an unfounded and personal attack when she questioned the loyalty of a dedicated public servant, Huma Abedin. These sorts of McCarthy-like attacks should have no place in our political discourse and are the reason why a record number of Americans disapprove of the current Congress. I was heartened in this instance to see the condemnation of Bachmann’s comments came from both sides of the aisle. Speaker John Boehner, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Erik Paulsen, and even Bachmann’s former campaign manager Ed Rollins all said that she was out of line.

There was an exception, however: my opponent, Congressman John Kline.

Read: “John Kline Mum on Bachmann Remarks.” – Star Tribune

The 2nd Congressional District deserves better. Minnesota deserves better. But we won’t be able to retire Congressman Kline without your support.

Our pre-primary reporting deadline is midnight, July 25th. Help us show our grassroots strength by making a contribution today.

Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will defeat John Kline and return responsible leadership to Washington.

Sincerely, Mike Obermueller

Paid for by Mike Obermueller for Congress, P.O. Box 211682, Eagan MN, 55121

Did you see the difference?  John Kline is running against that evil George Soros, the more evil Nancy Pelosi, Liberal Super PACs and the SEIU.  He is running against Mike Obermueller’s “radical special interests’ war chest of cash.”  Kline is scaring his supporters.  He isn’t running against Mike, he is running against an evil boogeyman.

Mike Obermueller on the other hand is running against John Kline.  Mike is running against a person who lacks the ability to be an honest leader.  He’s running against a “Representative” who can’t even stand up to his own colleague who is lying and putting an innocent person in danger.  What sort of leadership is that?  Yes, Mike mentions Bachmann, but he isn’t running against Michele Bachmann, he running against John Kline’s lack of response to her irresponsible lies.

It is no surprise though.  John Kline’s voting record is nearly identical to Michele Bachmann.  He probably agrees with her, he just doesn’t have the nerve to say it out loud.  It would be no surprise at all to me if John Kline agreed wholeheartedly with her.  I can still see his smirking face when a woman called Barack Obama “an Arab” at John McCain’s local town hall meeting.  Kline obviously enjoyed that, he likes that stuff.  That must be the best way for him to raise money, lies.

John Kline flip flops on student loan rates, but we know what he really thinks

Some Republicans can be so wimpy when it comes to their beliefs!  A couple weeks ago, Pat Garofalo and the Republicans in the Minnesota house tried to cover up their hatred for schools and education with a payback of the school funds they took to balance the last state budget.  In reality, the payback was a re-election scam to reduce the impact of negative ads this fall.  They don’t care about stealing money or paying back schools, they care about protecting their fragile majority.  The same thing happened yesterday with John Kline.

Yesterday John Kline flip flopped on his adamant belief that federal college loans should not be affordable.  He will now support a bill to extend the low loan rate that Democrats passed in 2006.  But we know the truth, we’ve always known the truth about John Kline.  Political success is more important than what he believes.  He has expressed the belief that the government has no right to keep loans low preventing banks from making the most money they can on the backs of students trying to better their lives.

If John Kline believes that, why isn’t he sticking to that belief?  He is supposed to have the courage of his convictions. He is supposed to be tough — he carried the nuclear football!  What’s wrong with John Kline, where is his political courage?

I don’t think John Kline really has any political courage.  He said you would be a budget hawk, but he went along with all of the deficit spending when the House and presidency were controlled by Republicans.  It wasn’t until the Democrats took over that he became that “hawk,” four years later and multiple votes to increase the deficit and pay for two wars that were not even being tracked in the budget.  John Kline doesn’t care about the budget or the deficit.  He doesn’t care about the district or the people in the district.  He doesn’t care about college students or k-12 students even though he heads the education committee in Congress.  He cares about himself, and he cares about re-election.

John Kline has shown us that a little sabre rattling about saving money is a bigger priority for him than building for the future, a bigger priority than allowing young men and women to go to college without a debt payment after graduation that exceeds a house payment.  This flip flop on loan rates is purely so that his opponent in 2012 can’t run a commercial expressing how little he cares about the future of our state and this country.

The 2012 Race Is On! Three Candidates for DFL CD2 – Ganey, Obermueller and Gaylord

The race is on in the Second Congressional District.  With new boundaries that are rumored to give DFLers in the new district a little more hope, three viable candidates have emerged to challenge John Kline in 2012.

At one point a few months ago, it seemed all the Democrat’s hopes in the Second Congressional District (CD2) were pinned on the redistricting map being redrawn to include at least one of a couple of state Legislators who were ready to challenge John Kline if the lines were drawn to include them.  That didn’t happen. And when that didn’t happen, anxiety quickly grew in my mind about another inexperienced political novice challenging John Kline and his million dollar campaign cash balance.

But what ended up happening instead, was that a few people noticed the positive change in the District borders regarding favorability, and real known politician’s names were being mentioned.  Initially, Joe Atkins was in the news as a potential candidate.  I’m not sure how that rumor started, but about the time he announced he was not running I was contacted by a former legislator who asked if I would talk to a Northfield City Councilor about a potential run against Kline.

PATRICK GANEY

With Atkins decision, and with that conversation with a former legislator, it seemed my fears were being realized, John Kline’s political money-machine versus a first-term Northfield City Councilman, hopeless.  Then, I talked to Patrick Ganey on the phone and quickly realized he was leaps and bounds ahead of where 2010 DFL endorsed candidate Dan Powers was in his early days, and he wasn’t even sure he was running.  His communications skills were exceptional, and the fact that he raised money for a living didn’t hurt in my mind.  I invited him down to speak at our local DFL58 meeting a couple days later.

Patrick came to the meeting, had a message already, was able to respond to questions, and impressed the meeting attendees.  There was hope.  We invited him to our DFL58 convention, a couple days later, and did well there too.  He may be a political novice, but that certainly didn’t mean he didn’t have talent.  Since Patrick became a candidate, two others have announced. But, Patrick was the first to call me as a delegate to the CD2 convention and ask for my support.  He was the first to have a detailed website, and the first to have a Twitter feed @Ganey4Congress.  Being the first is a huge advantage.

So I am paying attention to Patrick.  The next Saturday after the DFL58 convention, I was sitting at Concordia University waiting for my son at a lacrosse goalie clinic.  While I waited I started scanning Twitter for a few updates on the Eagan endorsement races when I saw a tweet from The UpTake of a video of Patrick Ganey at that Eagan DFL convention.  I watched the video, and when the video was done, a video popped up from The UpTake titled “Obermueller considering a run for congress.”  I was shocked, and at the same time I made kind of a single chuckle as I smiled about the video.

See, I am a Mike Obermueller fan.  I have been impressed by Mike over the last few years, and was very disappointed when he lost his 2010 legislative race.  When I watched that UpTake video, I was really excited.  Just to be clear, I liked Dan Powers, and I thought Shelley Madore could have challenged John Kline with some money.  I volunteered for Theresa Daly, figured Colleen Rowley was a good choice, and thought maybe Steve Sarvi could pry away John Kline’s iron grip on military issues, but I was never excited about any of them.  That Saturday afternoon, I sat outside the Sea Foam Dome at Concordia College excited about a congressional candidate.

MIKE OBERMUELLER

One of my favorite parade signs is Mike’s sign with the word puzzle images for his name.  Obviously it isn’t a great sign for getting his name out there, but it is fun and different.  There is little doubt that John Kline will have more money, so being fun and different is important.  Rudy Boschwitz had more money, but a hard working politician who had fun and had clever marketing beat him.

I’m not saying that sign is on par with Paul Wellstone’s green bus or his great ads, but at least it is outside the normal political box.  Mike is young and can win a tough race.  If he works hard and things go his way, he can do the same thing Paul Wellstone did and surprise a seemingly safe incumbent.

As we approached our April meeting for DFL58, I realized I should invite the new candidates to address our group too.  On very short notice, I invited Mike, and he quickly accepted.  Mike came to the meeting, showed up early, ate some pizza with us, talked with members and then spoke, answered some really great questions, and I think won over some delegates.

Mike talked about his family and about growing up. He cracked a few jokes. Mike talked about the stark contrast between his pro-labor and pro-education stances, and John Kline’s anti-labor and anti-education stances.  Mike presented himself as a very friendly candidate.  He smiled a lot, was quick with responses and funny.  He will be a very formidable candidate.  He still does not have a Twitter feed, and his old 2010 website is still up.

I like Mike a lot — I might have to steal some of Mike Huckabee’s “I like Mike” buttons for Mike Obermueller’s campaign if he becomes the endorsed candidate and doesn’t do his own “I Like Mike” buttons.  As I was saying, I like Mike a lot, but I am maintaining an open mind until the convention.  Patrick has really impressed me, and even though he doesn’t have the political record Mike has, I think he would be a great candidate.

KATHLEEN GAYLORD

There is a third candidate too, Kathleen Gaylord.  I don’t know Kathleen.  I’ve never met her or talked to her.  In fact the first interaction I had with her was my email invite to our DFL meeting last Thursday.  I invited her three hours before the meeting, but I never received a response.

I knew it was short notice, so I didn’t expect her to come, but I thought it was a little odd that I didn’t receive a response at all to my invitation, even after the fact, saying something to the effect that she wished she could have come, and maybe we could set up another meeting to get to know some of the delegates.  For the record, 8 of DFL58’s 13 convention delegates and 9 of the 13 alternates were at that meeting.

Of course, if it were me, I wouldn’t waste my time with a hit and miss meeting as much as I would be contacting the delegates one-by-one personally, so I’m not offended she didn’t come at all, I just thought it was weird not to respond.

Today I sent her another email.  Partially out of curiosity if she would respond, partially because I have no idea who she is.  I sent her an email with four questions about her campaign.  She responded in about an hour, so things are looking up.

Kathleen was the first candidate with a website.  It has very little content on it, but she has an extensive and impressive resume, and most importantly a donation page. She does not have a Twitter account that I could find.  Mike and Kathleen need to get Twitter accounts going!

I am a huge proponent of women running, and will count the fact that a candidate is a woman as an advantage over a male candidate.  I think it is a clear advantage.  I think it is doubly advantageous in the anti-women political climate the Right-wing has been forging this past year.  I think a female candidate might draw women who might usually consider themselves independent Republicans.

I’m sure I will get the chance to meet Kathleen in the next couple weeks.  With her impressive political resume, and the other two candidates, how can it not be a good year to be a Democrat in the 2nd Congressional District?

I have asked each of the candidates if they plan to abide by the CD2 convention endorsement providing there is an endorsement.  All three plan to abide by the endorsement.

I also asked each candidate if they plan to run in 2014, should they lose in 2012.  Obviously a candidate thinks they are going to win, they have to, but the only candidate to run against John Kline more than once is Representative Bill Luther, whom Kline beat on his 3rd attempt in 2002.  John Kline proved that you might need to run a few times to win, I just want somebody to try twice.  Patrick Ganey and Mike Obermueller both said they will run a second time, Mike said he would, but plans that it will be as an incumbent.  Kathleen Gaylord did not answer other than to respond that she “is in the race to win this year.”

I’m hoping for a win this year, and to support an incumbent in 2014 whoever he or she may be.

CD2 Central Committee Meeting – June 8, 2010

What a DFL meeting in CD2 tonight!  About sixty people showed up for the DFL CD2 Central Committee Meeting at Burnhaven Library.  And the best part was that there were eight people from Senate District 36!!  Including two new members elected tonight to the CD2 Executive Committee, Jerry Klebs who was elected a CD2 Director, and Kevin Roberson who was elected to be the male Affirmative Action Delegate from CD2 to the state DFL commission.

Jerry has been involved in the party for a long time, and Kevin is a young man, not long out of college with a lot of great ideas just getting active.  Also at the meeting were all four male State Central Committee delegates and alternates, Charlie, Jerry, Rodd and myself.  As well as female State Central Committee delegate and great blogger, actually, multi-blog blogger  Holly Cairnes.  Candidate for House District 36A Colin Lee and CD2 Chair Jeanne Thomas rounded out the delegation from SD36.  It was very energizing to have so many SD36 people in attendance.

There were several candidates at the meeting.  Dan Powers, the DFL candidate for congress challenging John Kline.  Travis Burton and I were the only two candidates for Minnesota Senate, but Will Morgan (40A) gave a great campaign speech, Mick McGuire (25A), Colin Lee (36A) and Dave Page (57B) all spoke.  The best speech award goes to Travis Burton tonight.

Highlighting a couple of events discussed at the meeting:

The big CD2 golf fundraiser is August 1, only 233 people get in, and only 60 golfers, so make your reservations now.  It is a very affordable day of golf, great food and great discussions.  I’m going to talk to Charlie Thomas about putting together a memorabilia swap.

CD2 is now on Twitter @DFLCD2.

A couple of local events that we brought up:

Door knocking this Saturday in Lakeville.  This is a coordinated campaign door knocking event.  Meet Colin, myself and DFL staff and volunteers at the Dunn Bros. in Apple Valley on Galaxie by 11:00 am.  The more people the better.

The SD36 candidates will be hosting an outdoor event at Rambling River Park in Farmington on June 16^th from 6:30-8:30 pm.  We are meeting at the picnic shelter.  Rain or shine come out and meet all three SD36 candidates.

The Dew Days Parade is June 19^th at 1:00 in Farmington.  We need a big contingent of walkers for visibility.  If you are able to walk, carry signs, give out stickers or do something entertaining, we need you.  Contact Quist4Sen@hotmail.com.

Finally, Dan Powers in CD2, Colin Lee in 36A, Sigrid Iversen in 36B and myself, Steve Quist in SD36, need financial support to be viable candidates.  Even $5 makes all the difference.  Click on the name of the person you would like to make a donation to, better yet, make a $5 donation to all four candidates.

• Dan Powers for Congress
• Steve Quist for Senate Dist. 36
• Colin Lee for House 36A
• Sigrid Iversen for House 36B

The next CD2 Central Committee Meeting is August 3, 2010 at the Burnhaven Library.  Join us.

I support Dan Powers! (and a note about my future)

I will not be blogging a whole lot over the next several months, (see the end of this post for the reason,) but I wanted to make sure to leave a post on my opinion of the blow-up in the DFL CD2 race for Congress. 

Dan Powers easily won the DFL endorsement at the CD2 convention.  I thought Shelley Madore might make a more formidable opponent for John Kline, but a large majority of the delegates did not agree with me, and there was good reason for them to disagree with me.  Dan’s team outhustled Shelley’s and he prepared himself excellently for the endorsement process and for a campaign.  I like Dan and have no qualms about supporting his candidacy. 

Come Primary Day, provided there is not a John Grunseth style melt-down before that on his part, I will vote for Dan and assume he will be the candidate on the ballot in November.  While I long for that unified front, in any election, Shelley Madore has every right to continue her campaign, right or wrong.  It will definitely hurt the chances of either DFLer in November, but it is what it is.  Good luck to Dan, and best wishes to Shelley.

I look forward to working with Dan over the summer, provided he and his staff hold no grudges against me for changing my support away from him during the endorsement campaign.  I hope to work with him because I threw my hat into the ring to run for State Senate in the 36^th District.  I hope you will support me, click the “Like” button on my Facebook Fan Page Steve Quist for MN State Senate – 36th District, follow me on
http://twitter.com/Steve_Quist
and consider sending a few dollars my way to defeat my opponent, the former KSTP conservative talk-show host Dave Thompson.

I will be at the DFL convention this weekend, but a website will be up in the next week, www.SteveQuist.org.  Check that out, and let me know what you think.

Dan Powers is nice, but Shelley Madore can win CD2

At the DFL Senate District 36 convention Dan Powers said something that bothered me.  It wasn’t an issue related statement or a statement I disagreed with, it was the opening statement he made saying (paraphrased because I didn’t write down the quote):

Some people say I don’t have the experience to run against John Kline.

The implication was that Shelley Madore’s supporters or campaign was saying that about Dan Powers.  The problem I had was he started out his speech with a negative about himself.  He didn’t start with a positive about how great a candidate he is, or how much of a grasp he has on the issues that are important to CD2 voters.  He started out by telling everybody that others don’t think he is a good candidate.  

At the lunch break, I immediately went to a member of his staff and told her my opinion that Dan cannot start out with a negative.  It is perfectly fine to mention it during the speech if you want to counter it, but great marketing doesn’t start by telling everybody the rap against the product.

I don’t know if they listened to me and changed the message, but I’m guessing they did because Dan’s campaign is continually improving.  I sent him an email more than a year ago pointing out a wording problem I saw on a flyer I received.  His website and literature is now very good.  Last summer I suggested to a family member that a donation might be better served going to Mark Ritchie or Tim Walz than to a candidate I didn’t think had a chance.  Now I do think he has a chance. 

Dan’s campaign has come a long way.  In fact he had risen in my mind to the point that I decided to support him for the endorsement over Shelley Madore.  I felt like he was working hard and doing the right thing.  But I still had a nagging feeling that he was not a strong enough candidate to beat John Kline.

I’m not sure trying hard and getting better makes you the best candidate.  He has never won an election that I know of.  In fact I think he lost a couple races in the city of Burnsville.  A Powers supporter told me that “there was a reason” Shelley Madore lost two of her three races in Apple Valley.  Well that must mean there was a reason Dan Powers lost his races too.

Keep in mind, Shelley Madore ran as a DFLer in a Republican district and won.  Dan Powers ran as a candidate in a nonpartisan city election and lost.  When Shelley Madore lost her house seat to Tara Mack, the Apple Valley Republicans had spent the previous two years attacking her with everything they had from semantic arguments to dirty tricks.

Negative implications like the election loss talking points that are meant to hurt the other candidate are flying from each campaign’s supporters.

I don’t think Dan used union labor when he was a contractor…

I’m hearing Shelley won’t abide by the endorsement…

Dan has no political experience…

Shelley isn’t liked by people who used to support her…

Dan is just getting better because he is copying Shelley’s campaign…

The fact is that neither campaign is doing a great job here to win the endorsement.  Dan is working hard to get better, and Shelley hired a new campaign manager to get better. 

I’ve been struggling with the idea of do I choose the safe candidate that I know and like, or do I choose the candidate I don’t know, but who I know has the experience and toughness to win. 

I think a campaign staff change is exactly what the Madore campaign needed.  I feel like I need to choose the candidate I think is going to win.  I feel like I need to support Shelley Madore so the 2nd Congressional District finally has the representation it has been missing out on since January of 2003.

Reasons why I am supporting Shelley Madore:

• Her involvement in the community of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Her commitment to doing “the right thing” for people even if it hurts her politically
• Her knowledge of healthcare issues and her ability to challenge others on it
• Her willingness to go toe-to-toe with John Kline and other Republicans to prove they are full of it
• I think she can win, even though she is not the safe choice.  Read a blog post about that at mnpACT!

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Powers and Madore going down to the wire

This official press release (below) from Shelley Madore’s campaign was issued four days after The Big E at MPP announced it and wrote:

 “campaign changes this close to a convention is not a good thing and not a sign of campaign strength.”

 We’ll see if he is right. 

 The endorsement, provided there is one, is only 11 days away.  I’m thinking both candidates will be active.  I know Dan Powers will be.  He has a meet and greet scheduled tonight for 5:30 at the Dunn Bros in Apple Valley, and at 7:00 at Perkins in Burnsville.  Then tomorrow the 31^st, he has a meet and greet scheduled for 7:00 at the Perkins in Lakeville.  Shelley Madore does not seem to have anything scheduled, at least that I know of.   

 This is going to be an interesting endorsing convention.

For Immediate Release

Veteran Campaign Staffer Dave Griggs joins Madore for Congress Campaign

Mar. 30, 2010 (Apple Valley, Minn.) – Shelley Madore is proud to announce that veteran campaign staffer Dave Griggs has joined Team Madore as Campaign Manager.

“Dave brings vision and experience that will benefit the campaign through the endorsement on April tenth and to victory on November second against John Kline,” Madore said.

Griggs, a native of St Louis Park and 2007 graduate of the University of St. Thomas Law School, recently finished working with the Bakk for Governor campaign. He has worked three election cycles for DFL campaigns with extensive experience in field organizing. His first job after graduating from New York University was as a Second Congressional District field organizer with U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone’s 2002 re-election campaign.

With just a few days until the first quarter fundraising deadline and less than two weeks until the Congressional District endorsing convention, Dave spent his first few days on the job reaching out to staff, delegates and donors.

“I am looking forward to working with a dynamic candidate who has the experience, passion and commitment to beat John Kline in November. Shelley will be a tireless advocate for the people of the Second Congressional District, something that has been sorely lacking the past eight years,” Dave Griggs said.

For more information about Minnesota Congressional District 2 candidate Shelley Madore, please visit www.madoreforcongress.com or call 952-232-0649.

Does John Kline engage people who disagree with him?

How well do you think Congressman Kline knows what people of his district want? He sure seems to know a lot of people in his district that agree with him. The problem I fear is that I get the impression that he only listen to what he wants to listen to.

It seems his staff filters out things he doesn’t like. At his last Town Hall in Faribault, he wouldn’t take a question from one of his constituents who happened to also be a member of the media. Kline’s representative Troy Young stated the media was not allowed to ask questions.

Obviously, the Congressman couldn’t take all the questions at that meeting, but the comment on the video by Mr. Young about the media member asking a partisan question leads me to believe they are insulating the Congressman too much. I get the feeling he and his staff think they know all they need to know about what people in the Second Congressional District want.

Since Congressman Kline and his staff are as knowledgeable about what people in his district want, I’m wondering how often he checks that and interacts with people who disagree with him? I get the impression he wouldn’t even take the time to talk to me, Dave or Holly. And if there was a conversation, my assumption is that it would probably be with Mike Osskopp or another staff member doing the talking for him.

Despite the importance of the current healthcare debate, there are many constituents who won’t call him because his staff has been rude in the past, or they feel his staff dismisses their comments. That is a problem. That feeling by a large group of his constituents that they are not being represented or cared about, should be a far greater concern to Congressman Kline than the Democratic Party’s ideas or President Obama’s healthcare plan. The problem he should worry about is unwillingness by him and his staff to work for everybody in his district, and everybody in America to continually make The United States of America the best country in the world. Ignoring that large group of people because of their political opinion makes the most recent bipartisan urging by the Congressman seem quite hypocritical.

It is time for Congressman Kline to be the leader he pretends to be when he is back in Lakeville. It is time for him to step up, or step aside so that somebody willing to take on tough issues can. Earmark reform and health care reform are ideas that can’t just be ignored in protest. People desperate for help can’t wait to start over. Somebody needs to step to the front to be the leader CD2, Minnesota and the nation needs.

The DFL has two great candidates in Shelley Madore and Dan Powers willing to take over for him.

Congressman Kline, represent all of us, or step aside.

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Congressman John Kline, there is no freedom, no pursuit of happiness, no American Dream, if we are slaves to health coverage.

A Note to Congressman Kline:

It is a common theme from the folks on the right to say that Americans have the best health care in the world.  I can’t dispute that we have the best healthcare in the world.  But, what’s the point of having the best care in the world if a large number of people can’t or don’t take advantage of it because of the cost?  What’s the point of having the best healthcare in the world if people pass on seeing one of the best doctors in the world and let what might be a simple diagnosis and simple cure turn into a major illness and maybe even an incurable disease?

What’s the point of having the “best in the world” if access is based on an ability to pay?  We can have the best anything if we have the ability to pay.  The problem we have is that tens of millions of Americans don’t have affordable access to basic health care, let alone access to the best. 

So Congressman Kline, how do you tell the millions of Americans without health insurance, responsible Americans who work and don’t want to go into debt to the point that they bypass treatment at risk of death, that they have the best healthcare in the world?  How do you explain that poor children in America are suffering from diseases of neglect, many of which we might consider third world diseases like worms that could be eradicated with basic healthcare, that they have the best healthcare in the world?  How do tell the person with a serious illness, or even a “preexisting condition” who has to sacrifice their freedoms and property just to qualify for government aid to pay for health insurance, that they have the best healthcare in the world?  How do you tell the mother of three boys under the age of nine who is not only fighting breast cancer, but fighting with an insurance company dictating what treatment she should have first that she has the best healthcare in the world?  Why is it that adult children are buying aging parents needed medication as Christmas presants if they have the best healthcare in the world?

Anybody can have the best healthcare in the world if they can afford it.  That’s why people who can afford it come to this country for treatment.  It isn’t because we have the best coverage.  It is because we have the best doctors and the best technology. 

Congressman Kline, you cited the number of Canadians coming to American for treatment as part of your dog and pony show to dismiss the need for reform last year.  Doesn’t it make sense that people who can afford it would come to American doctors?  Aren’t they the best in the world?  But why are thousands of Americans going to Costa Rica, Turkey and Thailand for medical treatment?  It can’t be because they are the best in the world too!  It is because they can’t afford the best in the world!  Does that make sense to you?

Congressman Kline, what are you going to do to allow for thousands of your constituents to have access to the best healthcare in the world?  What are you going to do for the majority of Americans that make a fraction of the $174,000 a year salary you make, and who don’t have access to the same “public option” health insurance you have?  How do you justify scrapping everything when people die everyday because of a lack of basic healthcare?

There is no freedom, no pursuit of happiness, no American Dream, if we are forced to be slaves to health coverage, if we are indentured to a job because we are dependent on the company’s health insurance, if we are forced to work two or three jobs to pay for our child’s asthma medicine, or if we are a prisoner to a creditor’s garnishment because we borrowed more than we could afford to keep a loved one alive.

Congressman Kline what is your justification to allow a hell of a lot more Americans to be affected each year by an unnecessary death due to an uninsured preexisting condition, or an inability to pay for the world’s best healthcare, than are affected by that so-called “death tax” you support undyingly?  

An inability to pay for the world’s best healthcare in the country that provides the world’s best healthcare is the “death tax” Congressman Kline.  It is the ultimate tax. 

It is time for you to be a leader to make this country stronger, or step aside so that Shelley Madore or Dan Powers can be the leader so many of your constituents want.

Sincerely,
Steve Quist
Farmington, Minnesota

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