Legalectric

UPDATE: At the P.O. today, heard from the horse’s snout that an Amended Recall City Hall report has been filed, accounting for the missing ~$5,600. Will post when it’s posted on the City site. Also advised that amended reports be sent to Judge Lipman for the OAH file.

On November 11, 2022, I mailed a Fair Campaign Practices Complaint to the Office of Administrative Hearings, which was received and filed November 14, 2022 (below). Just now, I’ve received Notice and Order that the “Administrative Law Judge has determined that the Complaint establishes prima facie violations of Minn. Stat. 211A.02, 211A.06, 211B.04 and 211B.15 (but not Minn. Stat. 211B.06). On to the Prehearing Conference, 1:30 on December 14, 2022.

I expect to see some amended Campaign Finance Reports in the near future… and maybe then we’ll have something to discuss in terms of settlement… resolution… but let’s see those amended filings!

Turns out that “Red Wing CRG” filed a Campaign Finance Report with the City of Red Wing, received on November 14, 2022. Because of this, I filed an update with OAH, so that they’d know of this filing:

Under the statues, a Complaint is assigned to an ALJ, who has 3 days to make a determination of whether “Complainant” has made a prima facie case and if a determination is made, notice is provided and a prehearing conference is scheduled.

And here it is, just in, Notice of Determination of Prima Facie Violation and Order for Prehearing Conference – December 14, 2022 at 1:30 p.m.

ONWARD!

Ask and you shall receive? Here is the Red Wing budget info in reasonable form, line items so we can see what’s really at issue here:

RED WING 2023 PRELIMINARY BUDGET INFO

When you go to the link, click on the “Fund Summaries” for the various funds, take your pick, and you’ll get charts and graphs and spreadsheets to keep you busy for a long while:

CLICK HERE for the indictment!

Such a night… I’d been quite confident that we’d have good results in this election, and was not disappointed with statewide contests, some disappointments nationally, particularly Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, right next door, and Abrams’ and Flowers’ losses in Georgia. Lots of good wins in gubernatorial races (gubernatorial… why do I always think of Gov. Jimmy Carter and “Eatin’ Goober Peas“?). I’m hoping Warnock can get over the 50% +1 threshold to avoid rematch, but he is maintaining his lead:

Thankfully the likes of Boebert looks to be GONE.

“A Boebert loss in a solidly red district would be a significant rebuke of Trump’s brand of Republicanism in a state where conservatives have long been independent and rejected extreme candidates and the type of groupthink that tends to propel them to Congress.”

Long overdue… Boebert should never have been in office in the first place.

Two main points. The bottom line to me is that we’ve had not a “blue wave” but a wave of national rejection of authoritarian “religious” and white nationalism. It’s very important to think of this not in terms of “red” or “blue” but of the underlying policies that have been flying around, and the ugly hate-fest that’s been brewing and boiling over. Authoritarianism is what’s at issue. Nationalism is what’s at issue, and particularly WHITE NATIONALISM. That nationalism has been rejected in this election is a start, but it is only a start, and we need to focus on eradication. It’s also very bizarre logical conflatulence where those promoting authoritarian policies are claiming to be all about “freedoms” and work so hard to take away rights — voting rights, abortion rights, marriage rights, civil rights. A factor in this is education, and, well, there’s also the age factor.

The second crucial point to me, in my community, is that although my city Precinct , W2-P1, was one of the four Red Wing Precincts to reject the nationalist state House and Senate candidates in our district, they won the election. However, the Minnesota Senate will no longer be Republican controlled, the House remains DFL controlled, and Walz is again Governor.

District 20A elected Pam Altendorf for State House, but our Red Wing W2-P1 was one of the 4 precincts in Red Wing to reject Altendorf (the race was not helped by spoiler Kittleson, former DFL officer, who resigned and filed)(in chart below, Altendorf is left column, Stinson center, and Kittleson right):

Altendorf touted that she was endorsed by Mike “My Pillow” Lindell as a “Minnesota First and America First” candidate (even after his phone was confiscated by FBI in Mankato and court refused to order it off limits to FBI! Let’s see whether/when he’s indicted for fraud.):

I’m presuming that people do not know what America First means, although I also presume a number of the voters, and the candidates, do fully understand and advocate the philosophy behind the code words. From the Wiki:

In the 1920s, the policy was used by the Ku Klux Klan and informed many of their members who ran for political office.^[4] In 2016, while running for a Louisiana Senate seat, David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, publicly claimed that he was “the first major candidate in modern times to promote the term and policy of America first.”^[5]

In Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential campaigns and presidency (2017–2021), Trump used the phrase as a slogan, emphasizing the United States’ withdrawal from international treaties and organizations.^[6][7][8] “America First” was the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration.^[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_(policy)

Rep. Drazkowski was elected to be State Senator for District 20, though also rejected by 4 precincts in Red Wing, including our W2-P1:

Drazkowski is notorious. An example — he was one of the first signers of a letter to Texas A.G. Paxton to add Minnesota to the baseless lawsuit targeting “illegal practices which occurred in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.”

SHAME on MN Legislators wanting MN added to TX suit

… and now elected to be a state Senator?!?! Cringe…

The Minnesota Senate will no longer be Republican controlled, so that is the only saving grace for us in this Senate District 20. In 2018, at an organized Red Wing Republican state and federal office candidates campaign stop, where maybe 40 showed up, and most were with the campaigns, I personally greeted each of the candidates with a loud “RENOUNCE NATIONALISM” holler, waving my sign. Message chosen because, really, who can defend nationalism?

October 2018, as I walked up to join the meager group:

Drazkowski in his speech, pointed at me, spoke of Democrats out there, and pointed at me again and repeated his statement he’d made directly to me earlier as we both arrived at the picnic shelter, “If you want to hunt, you have to get into the woods.” What does that mean? A threat? I loudly told him, “I’m not hunting, but you’re in the weeds.” I’m not afraid to show up and confront them all with a “RENOUNCE NATIONALISM” sign, and I’ll stand up to their spittle-fraught verbal assault. Drazkowski, however, has NOT renounced nationalism.

Bottom line, though a mixed bag, there were some good results and some dreadful results. We need to take serious look at the machinations of the press and “polls” pushing the “Red Wave” notion, which is voter suppression technique.

Let’s get the media coverage focused in candidates and issues, so that people can consider what it means if specific candidates are elected and they push their agenda. Pushing the notion of a “Red Wave” is normalizing and promoting nationalism, authoritarianism, racism, and all that hate that’s being spread. The press/media did us a great disservice by focusing on the horse race, and we know that many of the polls predicting “red wave” were bought, and with these results now, we know that focus on polls is misplaced. Issues, folks, let’s get FOCUSED!

There is good news… I do believe we’ve entered the post-Trump era and are struggling, staggering, toward strengthening our democratic republic. It will be a long slog, but I’m so grateful to the youngest generation who showed up for this election. Methinks we owe them thanks for survival of our democracy, and rejection of authoritarian nationalism.

Check out their financial reports. Are these the people you want responsible for City finances?

Some of those who were leading the Red Wing “Recall City Hall” campaign are now running for City Council. Ron Goggin (Wards 1 & 2), Jason Snyder (Ward 3), Ted Seifert (Ward 4), and Janie Farrar (At Large) are running as a bloc in this election cycle — Don Kliewer (Ward 2) won the open seat earlier this year — and as above, you can see they all have been working together:

Candidates for City Council… Recall City Hall… candidates in parade with trailer labeled “Citizens for Responsible Government” and the truck pulling it belongs to ??? Jason Snyder??? Flyer sent around to many in Red Wing by “Citizens for Responsible Government” — as we say in transmission, “it’s all connected.”

How many of the same people are involved in all of these efforts? How many are wearing many hats, and just who is wearing whose hat? How closely were they working together? Look who was funding the Recall efforts! (Campaign Reports – Recall City Hall) Look at the 5 signers sponsoring the Petitions, and look who walked the petitions around and signed Affidavits! (Recall Petitions here! and “Dean Hove 2” Recall Petitions). Look at the candidates, their treasurers, and monetary and in-kind donors for both candidates and Recall.

What about “Citizens for Responsible Government,” the name on the trailer in the parade leading the candidates, festooned with all the candidate signs, and “producer” of that cheesy-but-expensive-to-mail flyer that just landed across the city? The flyer makes wild presumptions, misstatements, and demonstrably false claims, and does not cite to sources for claims made. At the bottom, it states it was written and produced “without any candidate involvement or endorsement” — though the evidence strongly suggests otherwise. Look at the photos above! Look at how the language of the flyer below parrots the points and language of the Recall City Hall page (scrubbed but available via Wayback):

Neither the Red Wing “Citizens for Responsible Govt” nor “Citizens for Responsible Government” are registered as a Committee or fund nor are registered with the Secretary of State. They are for sure not related to the legit “Citizens for Responsible Government” reporting to the Campaign Finance Board, registered as a 302A business corporation, and run by known DFLers in north metro!

Here are the bloc Red Wing City Council candidates Campaign Financial Reports and the Recall City Hall Reports (including documentation of missing $5,569.96 as of November 2021, grown to $5,593.63 as of August 10, 2022), plus photos of candidates and the “Citizens for Responsible Government” trailer, plastered with all of their campaign signs, parading through Red Wing (parade spot paid for by Recall City Hall on July 19, 2022, long after recall over). SEE FOR YOURSELF! (The blue ink comments, circles and arrows, and the orange and yellow highlighting are mine):

If you see any math errors let me know, as I’m at the 46 percentile in math, and though I’ve checked and rechecked, errors can happen — and I’ll correct pronto.

Note: In the Candidate Campaign Financial Report, they’re spending money, more than they’re taking in, with no explanation. What money are they spending? Where did that money they’ve reported spending come from??

Note: The Recall campaign report of November 2021 shows that $5,569.96 disappeared in November, 2021, and it’s up just a bit to $5,593.62 in the August, 2022 report. Where did that money go?

Note: The Recall campaign filed “Amended” reports after I’d pointed out irregularities in its first two reports. The Recall City Hall campaign reports are beyond irregular, and the missing $5,593.62 as of the committee’s August 2022 report is a major issue yet to be corrected.

Note: The Recall City Hall campaign paid for a $300 River City Days parade spot on July 19, 2022 despite the recall effort ending in August nearly a year before! Note also that none of the candidates marching with “Citizens for Responsible Government” paid to be in the parade line-up, and there was no identified “Recall City Hall” contingent. Sure looks, parades, and quacks like a coordinated duck!

Given the connections between the Recall City Hall and the candidates, the ties of candidates to “Citizens for Responsible Government”/”Citizens for Responsible Govt” and a review of their financial filings, what do you think? Is this an example of fiscal responsibility?

• The reports filed are missing much information.
• The numbers on the reports don’t add up.
• Where, when, and how did Recall City Hall’s $5,593.63 disappear?
• Where did the candidates’ get the money state they are spending when it’s a lot more than they report taking in?
• Is there a connection between Recall City Hall money disappearing and candidate money “not received” being spent by campaigns?
• Did Recall City Hall pay for the parade line-up spot used by the candidates AND “Citizens for Responsible Government” at River City Days?
• Where they’re all connected, is it plausible that they’re not coordinating their efforts?

WITH THESE CAMPAIGN FINANCIAL REPORTS, DO THE CANDIDATES DISPLAY THE LEVEL OF FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY NECESSARY TO MAKE FINANCIAL DECISIONS FOR THE CITY OF RED WING?

THROUGH THEIR ACTIONS, DO THE CANDIDATES DISPLAY THE INDEPENDENCE OF MIND AND CRITICAL THOUGHT NECESSARY TO CONSIDER A RANGE OF VIEWPOINTS AND EQUITABLY REPRESENT CONSTITUENTS?

You can find all their campaign reports as filed here on the City page:

2022 Campaign Reports – Red Wing City Council

Here are the Recall City Hall campaign finance reports, also on the City page:

Campaign Reports – Recall City Hall

Ask the candidates about their reporting! Let them know what you think!