Every week, the Rochester Post Bulletin takes a look at a news item, commentary or letter that’s generated a lot of comments at the paper. Cheryl Winters’ Sutton disgraces the Republican Party was chosen for the past week. Winters wrote in part:
I cannot believe the Republican Party of Minnesota would allow the likes of Tony Sutton to even approach a microphone. . . .
He will throw everything including the kitchen sink into the election machine just to screw it up, cause a recount and litigation to make sure his candidate wins. . .
He does not reflect the attitude of my Republican friends and neighbors. The Minnesota Republican Party would do well to show Sutton the door.
In Readers Respond: Is GOP chair making recount too political?, the PB presents a sampling of the reaction to the letter. My favorites:
“Great letter from Ms. Winters. I’ve yet to hear denunciations of Sutton’s tantrum from prominent Republicans – statewide or local – which are in order when such persons question the integrity of our entire electoral system. … When I listened to him, I was struck by the thought that either this guy wasn’t paying attention to the governor’s race, or he just doesn’t understand the concept of split-ticket voting.”
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“It’s amazing how close the vote was, if Tony would have been on TV more, 9,000 votes could have easily turned into 90,000 votes. This from the same man who used the Nazi-era term ‘quislings.'”
Olmsted County favored Tom Emmer in the election, and so it’s fascinating to see the negative responses to failed burrito baron Sutton. The paper also reports in Republicans inundate area counties with data requests:
As Olmsted County elections administrator Pam Fuller prepares for the gubernatorial recount, her office faces another huge challenge – a deluge of data requests related to the election that she estimates will require at least 60 hours of work.
“They are asking for almost every record we have for Election Day,” she said.
The Republican Party of Minnesota and the Emmer for Governor campaign filed a slew of requests within a few days of the Nov. 2 election. . . .
. . .Mower County Auditor-Treasurer Doug Groh said he is concerned about the level of data being requested. He said the county attorney has sent a letter responding to threatened legal action against the county for not getting the information together fast enough.
“I find their requests, actually, at this point in time, very burdensome and very troublesome, and it impedes the process of the election,” Groh said.
Goodhue County finance director Carolyn Holmsten said the county is struggling to meet the data requests. She said some of the easier requests have been completed but that there’s still a lot of photocopying to do. She said smaller counties like Goodhue County do not have full-time election staff to handle the requests. The six employees in the auditor-treasurer’s office will have to do what they can.
She said,”We can’t devote 100 percent of our time. So everybody chips in as best they can, juggling it amongst the other jobs they have to do, too.”
Sounds like Winters may be on to something when she wrote “everything including the kitchen sink.”
For myself, I’m thinking that “The Walking Dead” might be a good metaphor for both Emmer’s chances and the ravenous data requests his party are filing in Minnesota’s counties.
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