Dems to choose champions against Kline, Paulsen

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Suburban Twin Cities DFLers will gather Saturday and plot a way to win two of the three Minnesota congressional seats currently held by Republicans.In the 2nd Congressional District, DFLers will gather at 9:30 a.m. at Chanhassen High School to endorse either former state Rep. Shelly Madore, DFL-Apple Valley, or Dan Powers to take on U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn.In the 3rd Congressional District, delegates will begin their convention at 10 a.m. at Wayzata Middle School to choose between Maureen Hackett and Jim Meffert in a bid to defeat U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn.Kline, a three-term Republican from Lakeville, is a 25-year Marine Corps veteran who used to be known as the most conservative member of Congress from Minnesota until he was joined in 2006 by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.Paulsen, a first-term Republican from Eden Prairie who served as Majority Leader in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2002-2006 under then-House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon. Prior to his time as majority leader, Gov. Tim Pawlenty served in the role.Madore, of Apple Valley, is a one-term state legislator who works in education and has a marketing and business background.Powers, of Burnsville, is a small business owner and contractor who briefly ran for the DFL 2nd CD endorsement in 2008 before supporting Steve Sarvi.Hackett, of Minnetonka, is a first-time candidate who works as a physician and forensic psychiatrist and is an Air Force veteran.Meffert, of Edina, is a first-time candidate, former president of the Minnesota PTA, and lobbyist for the Minnesota Optometric Association.All the candidates have agreed to abide by the party endorsement process at the conventions. Continue Reading

State primary moving up to August

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Minnesota voters will head to the polls a month earlier to vote in the state’s primary elections, after Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Wednesday signed SF 2251, a bill moving the primary election date to the second Tuesday in August, into law. The bill, from Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, and Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, brings Minnesota into compliance with federal elections laws that require that overseas and military voters have adequate time to fill out and return absentee ballots for the general elections in November. Local elections officials often couldn’t guarantee that took place under previous state law, which set primary elections for the middle of September. They couldn’t print up the general election ballots until the results of the primary elections were known, and then often sent out those ballots to overseas and military voters knowing there was little if any chance they would be returned on time. Continue Reading

Convention season begins, with some metro legislative endorsing battles

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Minnesota legislators retiring from their seats or facing endorsement battles should make for some interesting local party conventions in the Twin Cities area in coming weeks. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, is stepping down from her House District 60A seat to run for governor, and the DFL endorsing convention for her seat is coming up at 9 a.m. Saturday at Washburn High School in Minneapolis. So far three DFLers, Marion Greene, Katie Hatt and Tom Nordyke have announced their candidacies. Rep. Cy Thao, DFL-St. Paul, is giving up his House District 65A seat, and a candidate forum featuring the four DFL hopefuls who want to replace him is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Washington Middle School Auditorium in St. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Massachusetts voters have no idea who REALLY won the Senate election

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Well, it is over. Scott Brown is a new Senator, so the assumption is that Brown is the big “winner” in this election. Yes, but he is not at the top of the heap. Maybe it is the Republicans? Good guess, but wrong again.  We do know who the losers are: it would be anyone in America who has the misfortune to fall ill without any (or adequate) health insurance.  But as to the winners, there you have to dig a bit deeper than the choices mentioned above. Continue Reading

Ward Five challengers target Samuels at lively debate

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Minneapolis City Council debates are generally polite, drowsy affairs. But Ward Five has a reputation for boisterous, even unruly, political discourse. That might explain why more than 100 people showed up at the Capri Theater on Tuesday night to watch the five city council candidates debate the issues. Among those in the audience: state Rep. Bobby Joe Champion, Ward Four city council candidate Marcus Harcus and mayoral challenger Al Flowers. Despite Ward Five’s reputation for fiery political rhetoric, the debate was generally civil and issues oriented. Continue Reading

City elections November 3

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You wouldn’t know it by the stillness in the air, but there’s going to be a City Election on Nov. 3 to elect a mayor, City Council members, Park Board commissioners and two members of the Board of Estimate and Taxation (B. E. T.).  There’s also a proposal on the ballot to eliminate the B. E. T. There was no Primary Election in September because there will be instant runoff voting in the general election next month.  That, combined with the decision of the Star Tribune to only screen and endorse candidates in races where there is no incumbent, will probably mean we should have the lowest voter turnout for a municipal election in the city’s history.  Nobody knows and nobody cares.  It is as though a large blanket has settled over the city smothering any voices of dissent.  It would be amazing if any incumbent were defeated.  With the exception of Dave Bicking offering a spirited challenge to Gary Schiff in the 9th Ward, the election isn’t a race at all-it’s a slow walk. There is a proposed change to the City Charter on the ballot that would eliminate the Board of Estimate and Taxation and replace it with the City Council subject to the powers and duties of the mayor.  It’s a proposal dreamed up by Rybak and the City Council to virtually eliminate the Park Board. 
They tried to eliminate the Park Board with a Charter amendment earlier this year, but the Charter Commission (which is mostly appointed bythe mayor and the City Council) wouldn’t go for it.  This amendment is a little sneakier.  It doesn’t really eliminate the Park Board, it just lets the City Council and the mayor veto their budget, and the power of the purse is the power behind the throne. The mayor has been quite outspoken in trying to eliminate independent boards.  His and the City Council’s representatives on the B. E. T. voted to deny the Minneapolis Library Board the power to raise additional money through a mill levy and the result was that the library system got taken over by the county.  Carol Becker, the incumbent at-large member of the B. E. T., was one of the few to resist Rybak’s move and support additional funding for the libraries.  There are two at-large seats and Phil Willkie, well-known local progressive, is running for one of them.  He says, “Vote for Carol first, but I would appreciate it if you’d vote for me next. Continue Reading

Campaign for the Capitol: Margaret Anderson Kelliher

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As a young girl growing up in Mankato, Minn., Margaret Anderson Kelliher was taught a lesson that shaped her future: hard work and perseverance are essential to good politics. MN Daily Editor’s note: The following is the first in an ongoing series profiling candidates for the Minnesota governor in 2010. Members of the state’s Republican, Democrat and Independence parties with significant public policy experience will be featured. On Sept. 16, Kelliher, the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, announced she would seek the DFL endorsement for governor in 2010. Continue Reading

Bachmann: ‘I’m not going to fear Keith Olbermann’

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At a briefing for conservative bloggers at the Heritage Foundation today, Rep. Michelle Bachmann dismissed MSNBC as a network neither she nor “most of the American people” paid attention to.”Quite honestly I don’t even know anything about MSNBC,” said Bachmann. “It’s not a network that I watch, and most of the American people agree with that assessment. They aren’t watching it either. And that’s why Fox’s ratings – I mean, it’s like, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC combined. I think Fox even exceeded one of the major networks last week. Continue Reading

Timorous tenther Tim Pawlenty ‘thinks outside the box,’ says Karl Rove

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Karl Rove gave Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty high praise at a speech at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., last week: “Tim’s smart, thoughtful, thinks outside the box. He has a lot of new ideas.” But in an interview with the Washington Times over the weekend, Pawlenty tried to put one new idea – invoking states’ rights to fight federal health-care reform – back in the box. Here’s what Pawlenty told the Washington Times about the role he sees for Tenth Amendment objections in the health-care debate: It is important to raise the issue – not through lawsuits or threats to secede – but because doing so makes a philosophical statement and political statement for policymakers to take seriously. Continue Reading

Gubernatorial candidates focus on worker issues at AFL-CIO forum

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Union members who attended a gubernatorial forum sponsored by the AFL-CIO are of two minds. On the positive side, they have many good choices. And on the negative side, they have many good choices. “They’re all good candidates,” noted Minnesota AFL-CIO Chief of Staff Brad Lehto, who set up the forum. “Any of these candidates are going to be a major improvement over the current governor.”Eleven announced or potential candidates, all members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, participated in the two-hour forum Thursday at the state AFL-CIO’s political conference. Continue Reading