Legalectric

and here comes pride up the back stretch,
heartache a goin’ to the inside…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! I can’t take it, my gut is turning… Second place just won’t cut it on this binary day. THIS ELECTION HAS TO BE DIFFERENT!

AND IT IS DIFFERENT, IN A BIG WAY, but my gut is still turning because it looks awful…
Races on my list that are interesting or winnable but not a foregone conclusion (click for link to Secretary of State):

Obviously the Gov’s race … sob…
What happened in Duluth? Where did the votes go in SD7?

Secretary of State
Mark Ritchie wins!!!

And US Senate
Amy Klobuchar wins!!!

CD5 – GO KEITH GO!
Keith Ellison wins!!!

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House District 3A
Tom Anzelc wins!!!

House District 17B
Jeremy Kalin wins!!!

House District 27B
Jean Poppe wins!!!

House District 28A
Sandy Wollschlager wins!!!

House District 29A
eeeeeeuw…. Wes Urevig lost…

House District 31B
Ken Tschumper wins, GOOD RIDDANCE GREG DAVIDS!
House District 35A
Doug Zila lost, but not by much for a first try.

House District 36B
Paul Hardt lost, but also less than 2,000

House District 42A
Maria Ruud won again!!!

House District 57B
Eileen Webber lost, and the Independence candidate didn’t make much of a difference

And somehow Bly won this time… 57 votes, 2002 reversed… amazing, how did that happen?

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Senate District 03
Tom Saxhaug didn’t get nearly the challenge he deserved

Senate District 17
Bill Neuman barely registered

Senate District 26
Jeremy Eller gained some ground, but not even close

Senate District 27
Dan Sparks really carried the District this time

Senate District 28 (oh, this one makes me cringe…)
Drazkowski got an amazing number of votes for a guy who thinks the Minute Men should be guarding our borders. Too scary for words.

Senate District 38
Jim Carlson did it! YES!

Senate District 41

Andrew Borene, the withdrawn-in-disgrace candidate who got caught by his wife and they both ended up with assault charges and he admits ETOH problem (did he ever really check in for treatment?) got twice the votes of Julie Risser. Plus the DFL put out a sample ballot with Borene’s name on it? What are they thinking?
Senate District 57
Katie Sieben won… well I’ll be! Almost 2:1

Lots of dogs in the fight today.
Oh, and Waseca County Commissioner District 4
Nancy Prehn lost…

Off to get distracted… yeah, that’s it…

Distraction was good, I’ll post some photos manana. But the biggest dog of all, even if they find the Duluth votes, is probably down. How many votes are attributible to Wente the Hatch(et)? 1.75% maybe? So all these hours later, my stomach is still turning.

(stolen from the STrib)

“No one wins until the electoral council says so,” Ortega said…

It’s going to be a long day Vote — and then do what you can to get out the vote!

… bitch. My recollection was that I said she was acting like a dog,” Hatch told reporters on Friday morning — he denied a report that he had called her a “bitch” and insisted that he said “dog.” In the debate, Hatch was backing down, saying, “I’m not going to dispute it,” although he added that he doesn’t believe he used that language.

Kenya differed, noting, “Bark, bark bark, whiiiiiiiiiiiiine, bark, bark.”

Although Hatch several times described his recent responses to canines as “inappropriate” or “very inappropriate,” he said he did not feel that he needed to apologize to them. Kenya agrees, “Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke. It’s hard to credibly dispute Hatch’s characterization!” Stunned, she shook her head, “Wait, who did I just send that to?”

The Against’em Communications report claims Hatch abruptly ended an interview with: ‘You’re nothing more than a bitch. Goodbye.’ He then hung up.” Ruff Rufus, Against’em Communications Capitol bureau chief, said he doesn’t know if Hatch was referring to Kenya personally or to Against’em Communications’ political leanings.

“We know he said it. But I’m not going to try to read anyone’s mind” about what he meant, Rufus said, adding that the accuracy of the quote is not in question, “The quote is accurate.” He declined to say whether a tape exists or to produce a tape or notes. “We do not talk about how we gather news,” Rufus said. But he did produce a 2003 letter regarding TRANSLink, on official Office of the Attorney General stationery and signed by Hatch, calling Kenya a “dog.”

“Hatch has a long history bullying and attacking those who question him,” said Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Uncaring. “Here he calls her a ‘bitch,’ and now we see that three years ago he called her a dog! We’ve also learned that four years ago, in Northfield, Kenya was handed off by Hatch to his side-kick Jacobson, a former K-9 officer, a clear case of illegal profiling.”

Rufus declined to provide any information about Kenya, stating only that she has pointy ears and a greying muzzle. and Kenya declined to answer questions. Kenya has worked at the Capitol for about a year for Against’em Communications, a chain that owns more than 20 newspapers that serve Minnesota, including the howFARwillweGO Against’em and the News Tribune. Notably, Kenya previously worked for the Red Wing Republican-Beagle, from which it could be infurred that she is indeed a dog.

Hatch has reportedly complained of conservative leanings and endorsements at Against’em Communications. Just one day before the Kenya-Hatch altercation, Rep. Bill Hilty-Jilty and Rep. Tommy Rukavina, exposed Against’em Communications orchestrated attempt at influence in the Thursday Letters to the Editor:

I have one question for the News Tribune editorial staff: What planet are you people living on? How could you possibly endorse Tim Pawlenty, a governor who has been a disaster for Northeastern Minnesota?

It’s clear that the owners of the News Tribune, Against’em Communications Company, headquartered in Fargo, N.D., have taken control over their local papers. In fact, I’ve read the editorials in other papers owned by the Against’em and these “local” editorials are almost identical when it comes to pushing for Pawlenty.

Republicans refused to address the influence of Against’em Communications and their pattern of endorsements, or their deflection of this appearance of influence.

When approached at the local Chuck & Don’s, Kenya remained non-plussed — she did not deny that she is a dog, nor did she deny that she is a bitch, and could not and would not criticize Hatch for speaking the truth. “Woof woof, woof woof woof woof,” she said, wagging her tail Anonymous sources have since confirmed that Kenya’s friend Krie was seen networking at the Hatch BarkBack and has formed a parade contingent of likeminded “Bitches for Hatch.” Krie, also a bitch, said “What this state needs is a WATCHDOG, not a LAPDOG! We need Hatch! GRRRRRRRRR, you got a problem with that?! Get over it! Now get out and VOTE!”

Katze weighs in: “I may be dead, and this ain’t Chicago, but I’m voting for Hatch too! This state’s gone to the dogs, and it’s up to us to fix it!”

It’s debate time… it drives me crazy…
The question was whether they believed that global warning is a problem and what they’d do about it. Not one of the three candidates said one word about closing down CO2 generating coal plants, and not one candidate said one word about renewable energy planning and siting so that the thousands of coal plants in the permitting process now and in the immediate future would not be built. Not a word. All focused on a CO2 market, where those who pollute would pay a high price for their emissions — it assumes, assures continued emissions and does nothing to reduce CO2 emissions. What does promotion of a CO2 market do to concretely reduce global warming?

The question I want answered:

Do you believe global warming is a problem, and what would you do about reducing CO2– in answering this, address reductions in CO2, not CO2 credits that shift and tax emissions, but net reductions.

And a question from the audience that was so extreme. It’s a guy saying we have a 13% annual electricity growth, forecasting rolling blackouts, we need to build generation, blah blah blah. What a load of shit.

Pawlenty is going on about baseload capacity, clean burning facilities and for course he means… not just the Benson turkey turds plant, but Mesaba, “a new technology that’s on the drawing board” in NE Minnesota WHICH HE DID NOT ADDRESS BY NAME! Yup, we know it’s Excelsior’s Meaba coal gasification project and that Pawlenty’s distancing himself from it. Hatch says 3,500MW by 2015 (HUH? but it’s better than 6,300MW or 8,000MW but where did that come from?), that we have to go to alternative energy, he supports renewable mandate of 20% by 2020, and he’s talking up wind, that we have issues with transmission which we’ll have to deal with, wants long term subsidies for wind, building code standards. Hutchinson says don’t expand demand, because the most ready source is conservation and make it economically rewarding, and he’s got a 2% annual conservation plan, and he’s particularly concerned that we need to address all the power plants that need to be replaced, because there is no plan, and we have to do this or we will simply replace in kind and that’s something we should be afraid of

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Pawlenty just said we got rid of the Profile of Learning and got some other standards. HUH?

Oh, this is infuriating, now Pawlenty is talking about putting on a property tax cap, and even my grrrrrrrrrls don’t like that one, they jumped up and started growling! Here the state funding is cut and shifted to local governments, and so where are we supposed to get it to cover local necessary services? This is so dishonest.

And now Pawlenty’s trying to say that people weren’t booted off Minnesota Care. Give me a break…

“To argue that we should make things better isn’t criticism, it’s leadership.” Nice phrase from Hutchinson.

“Do you accept any responsibility for the property tax increases?” And Pawlenty talks his way around and around and around and misrepresents LGA cuts, which are only a part of it.

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Let’s just set up a ring and let them duke it out. Oh, I miss Jesse! There a lot to be said for a no-bullshit direct approach.

Nancy Prehn speaking at Blooming Grove Town Hall about the Simon Industries 325MW natural gas plant (she and Kimber were my clients on that one — note the utility personal property tax was pushed into Host Fee Agreement mode and there is no power plant).

Handling the details

Campaign managers say they help candidates concentrate on the issues

By Pauline Schreiber

FARIBAULT – Bill Favro mailed 800 handwritten postcards Friday, which reminded people to vote on Nov. 7.

“It’s been an interesting learning experience to have served as campaign manager for Otto Luknic. I’ve learned how politics works at the grassroots level, which is really what state representative, state senate, county positions, city council and school board seats are about,” Favro said. “They are at a level where a candidate can go door-to-door and meet with voters. It’s a lot different than national candidates that depend a lot on TV ads.”

Favro considers himself an Independent when it comes to politics. But when Luknic, the Republican challenger to District 26B State Rep. Patti Fritz’s seat asked him in March to be his campaign manager, he could not refuse his former high school teacher and long-time friend.

“Basically what a campaign manager does is handle the details of the campaign so a candidate can concentrate on campaigning rather than concern themselves with preparing campaign signs, literature, ads, and also recruiting and coordinating volunteers and organizing fundraising,” Favro said.

The job is a volunteer position, so Favro’s life has been very busy since he agree to be Luknic’s campaign manager in March. He works full-time at his family’s business, the Humphrey Man-Lift Co. on Minnesota Highway 60, west of Faribault.

“The job of campaign manager really involves more time than I thought it would. I’d say that it has amounted to 10 to 15 hours of work many weeks, but other weeks (it’s totaled) just a few hours,” he said.

He added, “My wife, Jennifer, is looking forward to the election being over next Wednesday, so I won’t always have something to do for the campaign, as it seems I’ve had for the past nine months. But I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a great learning experience. I’m not sure I’d do it again, but if I did, I could likely do it all more efficiently.”

Close at hand

Jim Fritz served as the campaign manger for his wife, Patti Fritz, when she ran two years ago and unseated Lynda Boudreau, then Republican incumbent District 26B state representative, and again this election year.

“It’s worked out very well. Who knows Patti better than me? So my job is getting her out to events and helping her door-knock,” said Jim Fritz, a retired Faribault firefighter. “I work in the background, however. I don’t like to stick out. I want Patti to be the focus.”

Eller’s manager

Nancy Prehn of Waseca found her life extremely busy, since early this year when she agreed to be Democrat Jeremy Eller’s campaign manager, also a volunteer position. Eller of Faribault is trying for a second time to unseat incumbent Republican District 26 State Senator Dick Day of Owatonna.

Prehn, a school paraprofessional with the Waseca District, defined the role of campaign manager as “working for a candidate and doing things to make it easier for him, so he doesn’t have to worry about all the details related to the campaign.”

She lined up fundraisers, arranged for units to be in community parades, and various other campaign events.

“I also recruited volunteers to help with the campaign. But often people would call me up to offer their help with putting out signs and other activities, so it really wasn’t hard to find volunteers,” Prehn said.

Something lacking is a manual for political campaign managers, she said. “I just used a lot of honesty and kindness, no matter what side of the fence people were on. Everyone’s views should be respected.”

Besides heading Eller’s campaign this election year, Prehn is herself running for a spot on the Waseca County Board.

“I’m a high-energy person to begin with. So, yes, it’s been very busy for me. However, I’m glad I did it. It’s been a wonderful experience for me. I met some very thoughtful people,” Prehn said.

No manager

Dick Day has no campaign manager, but heads up his own campaign with the help of his wife and children.

“Back when I first ran in 1990 I had a campaign manager. I spent more time talking to the campaign manager, and then to the campaign committee, it seemed a waste of time. So since then I’ve been doing it myself with the help of my family,” Day said. “I have a few friends that always help put up campaign signs. But after that, each Saturday I drove around to make sure the signs are OK.”

What helps, Day said, is that the Republican Caucuses offers help with mass mailings of campaign literature.

“We pay for it, but they have different formats and we put together what we want to say on it. My wife handles all the money, but we do hire an accountant to do the campaign funding reporting and accounting that’s required by state law. Mostly, however, we do the campaign as a family. I go to radio stations for interviews. I always like it to be me who is talking about what I believe and what issues I feel are important.”

Day said he has no opinion as to whether it’s better to do a campaign yourself, or have a campaign manager oversee it.

“For me, it just works to do it myself,” he said.

– Staff writer Pauline Schreiber may be reached at 333-3127 or pschreiber@faribault.com.