Sen. Gazelka to Bradlee Dean: Gay marriage ban supporters aren’t bigots

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Republican Sen. Paul Gazelka was a guest on Bradlee Dean‘s Saturday evening radio program to talk about the amendment to put a ban on same-sex marriage into the Minnesota Constitution. Over the course of the program, which is part of Dean’s controversial ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, Gazelka spoke about activist judges and concerns that Republicans might be labeled “homophobes” or “bigots.” Dean and sidekick Jake McMillian said that homosexuals are criminals and America will be destroyed if homosexuality isn’t criminalized. “We want you to cover this topic of the marriage amendment,” McMillian said to Gazelka. “The immoral crowd, a lot of folks don’t want to see this happen.” “I would not call it the gay-marriage bill; it’s a defense of traditional marriage bill,” Gazelka responded, adding that it simply defines marriage as between one man and one woman, and it protects marriage from the judiciary branch. “It’s been just known that that’s the definition, but over the last series of years activist judges around the country have just arbitrarily thrown out those marriage laws and said they were unconstitutional,” said Gazelka, pointing to the decision in Iowa several years ago. Continue Reading

Minnesota Majority, tea party lose case on voter ID buttons

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Minnesota Majority, Minnesota Voters Alliance and the North Star Tea Party Patriots lost a case in court on Friday when U.S. District Court Judge Joan Erickson dismissed the trio’s challenge to a state law that bans political apparel in the polling place. The groups had attempted a campaign to have their supporters bring “Please ID Me” buttons and tea party t-shirts into polling places, but elections officials said the items would not be allowed. The groups requested a restraining order just days before the 2010 election to force elections officials to throw out the rules regarding political attire in polling places, but Erickson rejected that request. The groups refiled the complaints following the election on the grounds that the rules that keep political buttons and t-shirts out of the polling place are unconstitutional. The plaintiffs argued that elections officials violated their free speech rights by prohibiting the voter ID buttons and Tea Party t-shirts in the polling place. Continue Reading

Vaccine researcher brings anti-abortion advocacy to House hearing

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On Thursday, the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee will hear a presentation on vaccine safety by a researcher who asserts that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine may not be safe for children — and part of the basis for the concern appears to stem from her religious opposition to the use of human cells in the vaccine. The testimony of Dr. Theresa Deisher is part of an official informational hearing, but Deisher’s assertions regarding autism and vaccines have been debunked by many researchers. Deisher — who is the hearing’s only testifier — has earned praise for her work from both the anti-vaccine and anti–abortion rights movements. Deisher will present her findings at a hearing called, “Presentation on Vaccine Safety: New Considerations, Concerns and Insights.” According to her press release, she will present “a continuation of her public efforts to shed light on key elements regarding vaccine safety, specifically as regards the likely adverse affects of human DNA residuals in many widely utilized vaccines.” No one else is scheduled to testify. Deisher contends that the MMR vaccine may cause autism in young children. Continue Reading

Opponents say GOP gay marriage amendment distracts from economy

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Business leaders, Democrats and LGBT groups are unified in one aspect of their opposition to a Republican Senate bill that would but a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot in 2012: Gay marriage is a distraction from Minnesota’s economic needs.House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, in a statement released in response to the bill introduced Tuesday, blasted the GOP for not spending more time fixing Minnesota’s budget.”With only four weeks to go to balance the budget, this is not the time to launch an effort to amend the state constitution to further divide Minnesotans from one another,” he said. “Instead of focusing on gay marriage, Senator [Warren] Limmer should get to work on the Public Safety budget that he’s responsible for. Engaging in delays and distractions is unacceptable.””The clock is ticking,” he added. “Minnesotans are waiting for an honest, responsible GOP budget.”Charlie Zelle, CEO of Jefferson Bus Lines and chair of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, criticized the push for the amendment.”In so many ways, this constitutional amendment is bad for Minnesota employers and a distraction from the real priority for the state: growing the economy,” he said in a statement. “Instead, we need to move Minnesota forward by pursuing policies that are good for business, good for all Minnesota families and will make our state stronger and more competitive.”He added, “Minnesota’s CEOs and small business owners alike need state lawmakers to stay focused on placing Minnesota’s economy and business environment back on track. Continue Reading

Dayton pressures GOP on redistricting plan

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Gov. Mark Dayton sent a letter Monday to Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, head of the House redistricting committee, wondering why the bill outlining the guiding principles for the process of redrawing political district lines hasn’t hit his desk yet. Dayton noted that the current bills being offered by the GOP are lacking in terms of ensuring minority representation and other principles that have traditionally been a part of the process. In 2001, he reminded, those bills had already been passed by May 1. “By this time ten years ago, the Senate had already passed a resolution adopting principles for legislative and congressional plans,” Dayton wrote to Anderson. “The House passed its version on May 1, 2001. Continue Reading

Tea party problems: Low attendance, credibility problems plague Bachmann, T-Paw

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Last weekend’s Tax Day Tea Party rallies in Iowa and South Carolina featured Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann, respectively, and by all accounts, attendance at the events was off. Bachmann carries the tea party mantle, although some activists resent her de facto leadership title, while Pawlenty is having trouble garnering the support of tea partiers even at his own events. In Iowa, Pawlenty and fellow presidential contender Herman Cain greeted about 200 tea party supporters in Des Moines at a  Saturday, Apr. 16 Tax Day gathering of tea partiers, according to the Associated Press. Last year, the rally drew an estimated 2,000. Continue Reading

Double suicide in western Minnesota puts bullying back in spotlight

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Two 14-year old girls committed suicide last week in Marshall, Minn., and the evidence suggests they’d been bullied. Relatives of  Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz told Meredith Viera of the TODAY Show that the girls may have been more than just friends. Fentress had hyphenated her last name on Facebook to include Moravetz’s last name, and Fentress had been expelled from school recently for defending Paige in a fight. The pair’s deaths add to a growing list of suicides in Minnesota and around the country where bullying is suspected to have played a factor. In Thursday’s TODAY Show interview, both girls’ families said they suspected that bullying may have been a factor, including bullying about weight issues. Continue Reading

Complaint: Nat’l Organization for Marriage, Family Council violated lobbying laws

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When the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Family Council spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads promoting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions last fall, the groups should have reported those expenditures, according to a complaint filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board earlier this month. The complaint, which focuses on ads launched throughout the 2010 campaign cycle in support of gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, asks for financial penalties as well as an audit of NOM’s spending in Minnesota. The filing by Common Cause Minnesota alleges that the Minnesota Family Council – and in particular its lobbyist, Tom Prichard – failed to report lobbying expenses related to several ads. Since the ad urged the public and legislators to act on legislation, in this case a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, it constitutes lobbying, the group argues in the complaint. The ads in question include references to an actual bill, SF120, and were created and distributed in partnership with NOM. Continue Reading

Researchers challenge MCCL’s claims about fetal pain ‘consensus’

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Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion rights group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life are pushing a ban on abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy and after conception, citing a medical and scientific “consensus” that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks. But according to statements and research from leaders in the medical and scientific communities, no such consensus exists. In fact, researchers continue to debate whether fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks or at much later stages. “This legislation would prohibit abortions on unborn children at the point the unborn child feels pain. The unborn feel pain specifically at 20 weeks after conception,” Andrea Rau of MCCL testified last week. Continue Reading

School district: Alliance Defense Fund confused about anti-abortion student group

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The superintendent of a central Minnesota school district says a lawsuit against it by an anti-abortion legal group is a misunderstanding and that the litigation came out of the blue last Thursday. A representative of the Alliance Defense Fund, a national group that has sued numerous school districts, says the school should not be surprised by the lawsuit and claims it continues to violate students’ rights by not listing the All Life Is Valuable Club as “curricular.” “The bottom line is, we have not denied access,” Dr. Jim Behle, St. Michael-Albertville School District Superintendent-elect, told St. Michael Patch. Continue Reading