Category Archives: Political messaging

Bachmann Accuser: Congresswoman “Hijacked by Mercenaries”

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The following was submitted to Wry Wing Politics via an April 6, 2013 email written by Peter E. Waldron, the former National Faith Outreach Director for the 2012 Michele Bachmann for President campaign organization.  Dr. Waldron’s post-election allegations that Bachmann violated election finance laws are currently being investigated by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) in Washington, DC.  He also says that Bachmann has asked him to sign a confidentiality agreement that he says would bar him from discussing the Bachmann campaign’s “unethical, illegal, or immoral activity.”

Dr. Waldron, who has an interesting personal history, was responding to a January 16, 2013 Wry Wing Politics post. Continue reading →

The Real Problem With Vikings Stadium Financing

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Albert Einstein said “anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”  In the wake of reports that new e-gambling revenue is proving to be insufficient to fund the new Vikings stadium, Governor Mark Dayton and other stadium proponents recently have been heard mumbling similar sentiments.

With any mistake, and this one was a doozy, the important thing is to learn the correct lesson to carry into the future.  This is how that debate currently is playing out in Minnesota: Continue reading →

Why Wealthy Minnesotans Can Pay More

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Taxing millionaires.  Surcharging millionaires.  Raising the minimum wage.

For the casual observer who hasn’t done their homework, I can see how this might be confused with “class warfare” waged by mean DFLers intent on punishing rich people.

But here’s the thing about warfare.  You can’t take a quick glance at a battlefield and identify the aggressors.  For instance, an observer flying over Normandy Beach on June 6, 1944 couldn’t reasonably conclude “those mean Americans storming that beach down there are obviously wreckless war mongers.”

After all, what about the blitzkreig and Pearl Harbor, right?  You have to know at least a bit about the prelude to an event to be able to make informed conclusions about the event. Continue reading →

“Democrat Party:” The GOP’s Childish Name Game

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We all remember those times on the playground when kids’ names would be twisted into teasing word play.  Private parts and mental health were common themes, as I recall.  Woe be unto the unfortunate child born with a name like “Seymour Butz.”

During childhood, the motives behind the name-oriented word play varied from benign to bullying.  But whatever the motive, it was rarely welcomed by the recipient, and was, above all else, childish.

So surely adults have left all that infantile behavior behind, right?

Well, take a look at recent blog posts on leading Minnesota conservative blog aggregator “True North:” Continue reading →

Norm Coleman To Return To His DFL Roots?

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Former St. Paul Mayor and U.S. Senator Norm Coleman is nothing if not flexible.

  • When  leftist radicals were de rigueur in the 1960s, Norm 1.0 was a leftist radical.
  • When Skip Humphrey and Bill Clinton were on top of the political world, Norm 2.0 clung to them and the rest of the Democratic establishment.
  • When the easier path to higher office appeared to be through the GOP, Coleman retrofitted into GOP Norm 3.0.
  • When the Tea Partiers became power brokers, Norm 3.0 dutifully donned a tri-corner hat, formed a Super PAC to fund Tea Party-backed candidates, and endorsed Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann for, I kid you not, Vice President.

Then in 2012,  the going got tough for Senator Coleman and Tea Partiers, so the tough got a poll. In a St. Paul Pioneer Press commentary this week, Coleman advises Minnesotans  that he is in possession of scientific evidence indicating that “Minnesotans are not anti-government.” Continue reading →

Norm Who?

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Not so long ago, one Norman Bertram Coleman was, well, kind of a big deal.  You may remember him:

  • From 1994-2002, he was a GOP mayor of Minnesota’s second largest city, a DFL stronghold.
  • He was the GOP nominee for Minnesota Governor in 1998.
  • He was MInnesota’s United States Senator from 2003-2009.
  • He came up in national veepstakes conversations.
  • He had perhaps the best name recognition of any Minnesota Republican.
  • He was one of the most talented Minnesota pols of his generation.
  • He was arguably the best political fundraiser in the state.
  • He was the only reasonably prominent Republican who was thinking about running against current DFL Governor Mark Dayton.

But yesterday, when Senator Coleman announced to his followers via Twitter that he has decided not to run for Governor in 2014, his political obituary got the political equivalent of crickets in the Star Tribune —  three column inches on the very back page of the Local section, imbedded in the weather coverage. Continue reading →

Dayton Lets His Droll Out For The Dude

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Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s approval rating is fairly high right now, though his backing of an unpopular sales tax on a wide range of services may be eating into that a bit.

Still, the awkwardly earnest introvert has always been a difficult guy for Minnesotans to get to know, and he hasn’t been known for his sense of humor.  That’s why it was such a treat to see this 7-minute video of the Governor playing along with a gag video for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

Dayton gave as good as he got with a comedic host called The Dude, an amalgam of The Dude charcter in the movie The Big Lebowsky and the Wayne character in the SNL-based  Wayne’s World movies.  The Dude tried very hard to upstage the Banterer-in-Chief, and, quiet amazingly, failed. Continue reading →

Star Tribune Survey Delivers Mixed News for Dayton Tax Package

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For Governor Dayton’s bold package of tax increases, there was more good news than bad in the Star Tribune’s Minnesota Poll, released yesterday.

Bad News for Dayton

  • Bye Bye Professional Services Tax.  Only 28% of Minnesotans support a sales tax on business services.  With only 36% of DFLers supporting this idea, and an army of special interests mobilized against it, this part of the Governor’s budget is in deep political trouble. Continue reading →

Snow Birds, Not Snowed Birds

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In his 2013 budget proposal, Governor Mark Dayton proposed a “snow bird tax” as a matter of fairness:

“It’s one of the unfairnesses that somebody can spend six months and one day out of the state and pay no state personal income taxes and come back here and take advantage of all the state has to offer for five months and 29 days. So, yes, there’s a snowbird tax.”

As Fox News dutifully reported, Florida GOP Congressman Trey Radel wrote a snarky rebuttal letter a few weeks back to Governor Dayton: Continue reading →

MN Government Workers’ Pay Falls Further Behind

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The basis of much conservative commentary in Minnesota is that overpaid government employees are causing Minnesota taxpayers to be gouged.  With this week’s news that Governor Dayton is giving 35,000 state workers a raise, we can expect to hear a lot more of that type of commentary.

I have a lot of conservative friends, and I get very concerned for their health when such news causes them to hyperventilate en masse.  Because I care for them, I want to put their minds at ease.  Here goes: Continue reading →

Is Legalizing Gay Marriage a Minnesota Jobs Program?

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Governor Mark Dayton used his State of the State Address last night to endorse legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota.   And right on cue, Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) took the Republicans’ most predictable jab:

 “He’d rather talk about gays getting married instead of getting Minnesotans jobs that could provide for their families.”

We’re going to be hearing a lot more of that claim from Republicans in the weeks to come, so the argument merits dissection. Continue reading →

Will There Be Payback for the Bakk Brodkorb Broadside?

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WCCO-TV’s Pat Kessler tweets that Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Virginia) wants to reduce Republican payrolls because of the over $200,000 in legal expenses associated with the contested firing of  Senate staffer Michael Brodkorb after Brodkorb had an affair with Bakk’s predecessor, then Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.

 This raises Golden Ruley questions, such as: Continue reading →

Can Norm Coleman Recover From His Recent Tea Party Cheerleading Role?

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So, Norm Coleman won’t rule out a run for Minnesota Governor.  Well, let’s see, what has Norm been doing to ingratiate himself with Minnesota voters since he lost to Al Franken in 2008?  He:

1)   Moved out of Minnesota at the first opportunity.

2)   Became a Super PAC (Congressional Leadership Fund) political hit man doing the dirty work for a group of Tea Party-controlled House members sporting a 9% approval rating, an all-time historic low.

Continue reading →

A Kinda Sorta Retraction on Constitutional Amendments

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A while back, a communications strategist for the Minnesota House Republicans took umbrage with my assertion that the 2012 GOP-controlled Legislature had a historically low approval rating of 17% in part because Republican legislators were:

“Wasting all their time on constitutional amendments to limit Minnesotans’ freedoms to marry and vote.”

He took exception with my use of the word “all.”  To his credit, the Umbrage Taker was wielding supportive data, which earned him extra credit in my book.  I have no reason to dispute the data, and found them interesting, so I am happy to share them to hereby clear the record:

Continue reading →

Dayton’s Backbone To Get Even Stronger

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Then presidential candidate Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) famously flapped her titanium jaw bone about having a “titanium spine” that would never bend under pressure from those she labels “anti-America.”

Well, Governor Mark Dayton proved he had a strong spine when he stood up to Republicans pushing draconian spending cuts on the most vulnerable Minnesotans in their all-cuts budget.

He proved he had a bipartisan backbone when he built a bipartisan coalition to get the Vikings stadium deal done where other Governors had failed for a decade. Continue reading →

How The DFL Can Avoid The “Overstep” Label on Gay Marriage

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A popular post mortem for Minnesota Republicans being drummed out of office in 2012 is that “they overstepped on social issues, especially spending all their time trying to ban gay marriage, instead of focusing on the bread-and-butter issues.”

 Is the DFL Now Overstepping Too?

So, are DFLers now doing the exact same thing by pursuing legislation legalizing gay marriage?

The situations are not entirely analogous.  There are important differences between what the Republicans did on gay marriage, and what the DFL is doing: Continue reading →

Former MN Senate Minority Leader On The Role of the Minority Party

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By Duane Benson (Guest Commentary)

I have a confession to make.  I am actually glad that elected representatives do not always “do what the people want.” If they did, we would have government from floor to ceiling, and no taxes. Yummy, but ultimately bankrupting.

The idea of representative democracy really is to give the public what is collectively realistic, not everything that we want.  What is collectively realistic is best delivered if there are a lot of bipartisan fingerprints on the final product.  No one lawmaker, or one party, is suppose to “sweep the table.”

Whether we’re talking about the congessional “fiscal cliff” negotiations or the new Legislature’s budget, we need people coming at problems from more political angles to shape the final rascal. We should care little if the parties to the negotiation get along.  But we should care that the product gets legitimately checked and balanced by both the House and the Senate, and all political perspectives. Pucker your lips and say it with me now:  “Bipartisan.” Continue reading →

Can Minnesota Leaders Stop The Death of the American Dream?

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If the new DFL-controlled Legislature dares to raise the minimum wage, strengthen the social safety net or make the state tax system more progressive, reporters will surely characterize the moves as political payoffs to DFL constituencies.  Mainstream news reporters have fallen into a habit of covering policymaking like it is nothing more than a politically motivated auction of gifts for special interest.

To be sure, those policies help traditional DFL constituencies, and political motives are very much in the mix.  But beyond crass vote-buying, there is also a pretty darn good reason  to help low- and middle-income Minnesotans.

Minnesota is increasingly becoming a land of haves and have nots.  From the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that poorest Minnesotans have seen their incomes decrease by 3%, the middle quintile has experienced a 2% decline, and the wealthiest have enjoyed an increase of about 6%.  Therefore, Minnesota’s income inequality gap has been growing. Continue reading →

The Truth Behind the Minnesota GOP’s Opposition to Early Voting

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Newly minted Minnesota House Elections Committee Chairman Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park)  may be trying to bring early voting to Minnesota.

Hallelujah.  After all, a goal of any democracy should always be to foster democratic participation.  Early voting improves democratic participation by 1) expanding the participation time window to fit more voters’ busy schedules and 2) mitigating Election Day barriers, such as chaotic environments and long waiting times.

Still, you can bet that Minnesota GOPers will cry “fraud” and “savings” as reasons to oppose early voting.  But if you want to know what GOPers are really saying to each other behind closed doors when they talk about why to oppose early voting, listen to the remarkably candid remarks from a top Republican leader in a state that has recently dramatically cut back on early voting: Continue reading →

Minnesota Republicans And That Old Egyptian River

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“It’s not that Republicans have the wrong message…” – Amy Koch, GOP Former Senate Majority Leader

“As I read you some state spending cuts being considered to fix the budget deficit, please tell me which one would be most acceptable to you.

8%:  Reducing health care assistance for lower income people, the elderly and disabled
13%: Reducing aid to cities and counties
15%: Reducing aid to colleges and universities”

Star Tribune Minnesota Poll

“…it is how we are delivering the message…” – Koch

“By a whopping 2-1 margin, Minnesotans blame the Republicans who control both houses of the Legislature for Continue reading →