August 11, 2014
Aug 11 03:13 I'm voting for Mike McFadden Aug 11 11:21 I'm voting for Tom Emmer Aug 11 12:02 I'm voting for Jeff Johnson Aug 11 14:36 Land of Lincoln's startling news Aug 11 15:27 Jennifer Parrish endorses Jeff Johnson Aug 11 16:22 Westrom fights for farmers
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
I'm voting for Mike McFadden
This year is the first time in seemingly forever that I'll be voting in a GOP primary. That's why this i the first time I've written a post announcing who I'm voting for in the primary.
The biggest reason why I'm voting for Mike McFadden is because he's an unapologetic capitalist. While Al Franken was a mediocre comedian, a mean-spirited talk show host and a rubberstamp US senator, Mike McFadden was creating jobs. Mike knows the importance of regulation reform and tax reform.
Mike's also been steadfast in calling for starting over on health care reform, this time implementing a patient-centric system rather to replace the government-centric plan that's an outright failure. Mike wants a system that gives the federal government the authority to tell people the coverages their health insurance policies must have.
That's because Mike knows that families, working in consultation with their physicians, know what's best for them. Mike understands that distant bureaucrats can't possibly know what's bet for your family or your co-workers' families.
Mike's worked with enough small businesses to know that compliance costs, whether they're tax or regulation compliance costs, hurt small businesses more than they hurt big corporations. The vast majority of manufacturing companies started as small businesses. Regulatory reform is essential to growing the economy.
While Mike McFadden has advocated for regulatory reform, his opponent this November has voted for the biggest federal regulatory overreach in 50 years.
Finally, I'd like to take time to say a little something about Jim Abeler. Most bloggers know him as part of the Override 6, a small group of GOP legislators who voted to override Gov. Pawlenty's veto of a massive transportation tax bill. While it's fair to remember that about Jim, it isn't the only thing we should remember about Jim.
Jim worked with Steve Gottwalt to produce real health care reform before the Affordable Care Act wiped out their reforms. We'd be far better off if their reforms hadn't been toppled by the ACA's top-down, government-centric plan.
I've had the opportunity to meet Jim a couple of times. He's a man of faith who's had to endure what no parent should be forced to deal with -- the tragic death of a child. Through that tragic event, Jim leaned on his faith, which helped his family persevere.
Jim, I personally wish you nothing but the best. I hope God blesses you in the days ahead.
Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 3:13 AM
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I'm voting for Tom Emmer
I'm voting for Tom Emmer tomorrow. A little part of me will be voting against Rhonda Sivarajah, too. I'll have lots of reasons for votin Tom Emmer.
Chief among those reasons is something Tom said early in the campaign. At the first Townhall Tuesday meeting he attended, Tom said that he loved Tom Coborn's Sequester This video series. He said that the Sixth District didn't need a congressman who said we need to cut federal spending. He said the Sixth District needed a congressman who had a plan to cut federal spending.
Tom has instant credibility on spending restraint. In 2007, Tom was one of 4 legislators who got a perfect score from the Taxpayers League, joining Laura Brod, Mark Buesgens and Mark Olson. Tom was joined by Reps. Brod and Buesgens in 2009, too.
I'm voting for Tom because he's got a reform agenda, too. He's also willing to cast a no vote even if it isn't popular. Tom was one of the few people people who voted against the Next Generation Energy Act, aka the NGEA. That horrific legislation got more than 115 votes in the House.
That leads me to why I'm voting against Rhonda Sivarajah. Last week, I heard one of her radio spots on KNSI. Saying that it repulsed me is understatement. In it, the narrator said that Rhonda was the only candidate with a proven track record of cutting spending. The clear implication was that Tom Emmer wasn't a fiscal conservative.
I expect that type of BS from Democrats, whose fidelity to the truth is minimal at best. I won't tolerate it from Republican candidates. That immediately eliminates Ms. Sivarajah from consideration.
I'm also voting be voting against Ms. Sivarajah because she's proven she can't raise money. In the summer of 2013, Ms. Sivarajah attended a BPOU fundraiser at Dan and Cathy Jo Severson's home. While there, she openly said that we needed a candidate who wouldn't let this be a tight race. Again, the implication was that Tom was a fatally flawed candidate that the DFL candidate could stay competitive with.
First, that's BS. I've given Joe Perske a nickname. It's 'Sacrificial Lamb.' Second, Ms. Sivarajah can't raise money. In the last quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, she raised well short of $50,000. Combined. By comparison, Jim Knoblach, who is running for the legislature, has raised almost $60,000.
In the Sixth, it probably isn't fatal if a Republican doesn't raise tons of cash. The Sixth is conservative enough to let a qualified candidate win. That being said, why pick a candidate who would let the DFL candidate remain competitive when we have a candidate who will run away with the race?
Finally, Ms. Sivarajah hasn't shown an ability to get her voters to turn out at the important meetings. They didn't show up for the precinct caucuses. That's when she lost the Straw Poll by 50 points . They certainly didn't show up at the CD-6 Convention, where she got trounced again, this time by 52 points . If she loses tomorrow night by 40 points, it will represent her best showing of the cycle. Losing by 40 points shouldn't be the high point of a campaign.
Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 11:21 AM
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I'm voting for Jeff Johnson
Tomorrow morning, I'll enthusiastically cast my primary vote for Jeff Johnson. The reasons I'll cast my vote for Jeff are similar to why I'll vote for Tom Emmer.
Though he hasn't published a post to the Hennepin County Taxpayers Watchdog blog in over a year, it's clear that Jeff Johnson isn't afraid to highlight wasteful government spending. The fact that he's willing to do that in the Twin Cities shows that, if he's elected governor this November, he won't hesitate in calling out Tom Bakk's pork. He certainly won't hesitate in line-item vetoing things that, had they happened while he was commissioner, would've earned the Golden Hydrant award.
Things like spending $500,000 on 10 artistic drinking fountains would've won the Golden Hydrant Award.
Simply put, Jeff's a proven watchdog of the taxpayers' money. The DFL legislature and Gov. Dayton trampled taxpayers the last 2 years. They spent money on things drunken sailors would've been ashamed of.
On that note, Jeff Johnson held a special event last week at the site of Gov. Dayton's and the DFL legislature's biggest pork project. Last week, Jeff held a mock groundbreaking ceremony for Sen. Bakk's Senate Legislative Office Building, aka the SLOB.
That's a $90,000,000 monument to the DFL's disdain for the taxpayers. After the event, the Dayton administration and the DFL legislators who voted for that 'monument' issued a statement saying that they didn't hold a groundbreaking ceremony because there's a tight schedule to get the thing built. That's BS.
Gov. Dayton didn't hold a ground-breaking ceremony because he didn't want that to be turned into an ad against him this election cycle. (You know something's terrible when even Gov. Dayton thinks it's excessive.)
I'm voting for Jeff Johnson because Jeff will be a reform-minded governor. That's what's required of Minnesota's government at this critical point in our history.
I'll also be voting against Marty Seifert. I'm voting against him because of the stunt he tried pulling at the GOP State Convention in Rochester.
Dave Thompson spoke at the podium and withdrew from the race, telling his delegates to support Jeff Johnson. When Mr. Seifert asked to address the delegates, it was understood that it would be to withdraw his name from the endorsement fight. Instead, he instructed his delegates that they could leave.
With that decision, Seifert alienated 2,000 delegates and alternates in a single action. Now he's saying that he's the right candidate to unite the party. What a joke. I suppose he'd unite people in opposing him. I'm fairly certain that isn't the type of unification he's talking about, though.
The bottom line is this: I have lots of reasons to enthusiastically pull the trigger for Jeff Johnson. He'll be a great governor.
Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 12:02 PM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 11-Aug-14 03:06 PM
I will be voting against Seifert because he is incapable of simple math. If he had done the math, he would have realized that, between Johnson and Thompson, they had more than enough votes to endorse Johnson on the next ballot, regardless of whether the Seifert people left or not. And furthermore, even had a few of those Thompson people switched to Seifert (unlikely but possible), according to the rules, Johnson would have been endorsed by acclamation, by the last 3 people in the hall, if it came to that, after the next ballot. In short, Seifert could not change the outcome but would have been much better off simply keeping quiet and letting events take their course. That he couldn't strikes me as hotheaded and egotistical-- not desirable qualities in a candidate.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 11-Aug-14 03:18 PM
Thanks for that observation, Jerry. You're 100% right. That was instituted after the 2002 state convention when tons of delegates left the convention to prevent the convention from reaching an endorsement. That's why it's frequently called the Pawlenty rule. The Party's constitution says that once a quorum is established, it's established the rest of that day.
UPDATE: Chris Tiedeman corrected me on the Pawlenty Rule. The change happened in the 1990s. It's actually the 'Boschwitz Rule.'
Comment 2 by walter hanson at 11-Aug-14 05:42 PM
Gary:
As one of the hopeful delegates (I was an alternate and never got a chance to vote) I think people were leaving because they were tired. Remember it went from about noon when the voting first began to about six in the morning. And since nobody was going to come back after getting some sleep that was when the convention ended.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 11-Aug-14 05:58 PM
Actually, from what I heard, lots of McFadden in the Twin Cities filled in Saturday morning.
Comment 4 by walter hanson at 11-Aug-14 10:11 PM
Gary:
Sorry I didn't make myself clearer. I was referring to the 2002 convention. That started the governor nomination at about noon on Friday. Tim P finally won the endorsement at about six in the morning. By the way the Republicans during the counting of the ballots went and endorsed their other state officer candidates because they were afraid people might not come back after the governor's race was finally decided. That was one reason why they were able to end the convention after Tim P got his endorsement.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 5 by Steve Schafer at 12-Aug-14 12:32 PM
I voted for Seifert. He was the only candidate who responded to my inquiry as to whether he'd have signed the Vikings Stadium bill (had he been Governor) in 2012.
He emphatically said No.
But more importantly, Seifert has a specific-heavy plan to cut spending in this state.
Yeah, a lot of delegates got their noses out of joint because of what Seifert did at the convention. Let's not forget - these are some of the same delgates who've given us Allan Quist, Kurt Bills and Jon Grunseth as our nominess for Governor and Senator.
Should Seifet have done what he did? No, it wasn't right. But that hardly disqualifies him from consideration. One other point to consider. It has been said that the deleagtes are the bedrock of an candidates' general election push and that Seifert permanently alienated them. Did he? because I've been around for a long enougn time to have seen just as many of these delegates up and disappear when the hard work needs to be done.
Nonethrless, I will 100% back whoever wins tonight's primary. This state cannot afford 4 more years of Governor Deer In The Headlights.
Comment 6 by Gary Gross at 12-Aug-14 02:48 PM
Steve, that's certainly your right. Thanks for exercising it. Marty Seifert would definitely be a big improvement over Gov.-to-the-Special-Interests.
That being said, Jeff's shown that he's got a plan to get spending under control. Also, Jeff's got the type of personality you'd want your neighbor to have. That's a great trait for a gubernatorial candidate to have.
Land of Lincoln's startling news
If this article isn't giving President Obama, the DGA and the DNC heartburn, then they'll never get heartburn. Look at the story behind the headlines:
SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Pat Quinn has spent a political lifetime fine-tuning his image as a government reformer, but a new Early & Often Poll shows Republican Bruce Rauner may have wrested that mantle away from the governor.
The incumbent Chicago Democrat also has spent months trying to portray the multimillionaire private equity investor from Winnetka as an out-of-touch 'billionaire,' yet voters in Illinois appear evenly split about which gubernatorial candidate best understands their everyday concerns.
And while Quinn again finds himself down by double digits in this latest poll by We Ask America, Illinoisans gave a decisive nod to Quinn running mate Paul Vallas over Republican Evelyn Sanguinetti as the best qualified lieutenant governor candidate to take over in the event of an emergency.
I threw that last paragraph in there to show how little running mates matter in voting for governors or presidents. This paragraph should frighten Democrats:
The poll had Rauner ahead of Quinn by a nearly-51-percent-to-38-percent spread with 11 percent undecided. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
This race wasn't on anyone's radar other than in the Rauner household a year ago. Back then, most people would've thought that the biggest threat to Gov. Quinn would've come in a primary, not against a Republican.
Apparently, thousands of uppity peasants from the Land of Lincoln are demanding to be heard above the political machine. If Quinn loses, it'll be the biggest shocker this election cycle by orders of magnitude. This race will undoubtedly tighten. Still, it's likely that Gov. Quinn is facing a difficult fight:
'I think Rauner's claim to 'shake up Springfield' may be resonating with voters,' Durham said. 'It's been in his TV ads and a big part of his speeches. Plus, it's hard for a public official who has been around as long as Gov. Quinn to wear the reform hat when he's been part of the system so long.'
It's possible, too, that people just don't trust Democrats. It isn't like Gov. Blagojevich is a picture of virtue. Gov. Quinn's served in government for quite awhile so that hurts his image as a reformer.
It's especially worth noting that this was a large sample of likely voters. Further, only 11% of likely voters haven't decided who to vote for. The further you read into the poll, the more daunting the task is for Quinn.
Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 2:36 PM
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Jennifer Parrish endorses Jeff Johnson
This afternoon, I received an email from the Johnson for Governor campaign saying that Jennifer Parrish endorsed Jeff. Here's the highlight of the email:
"Mark Dayton has thrown me and hundreds of my fellow childcare providers under the bus to pay back his campaign contributors,' Parrish said. 'And when we fought back, he belittled us and said we were just 'throwing little fits.' Minnesota small businesswomen need a champion in the governor's office, not someone who views us and our livelihoods as nothing more than collateral to be used to pay back the union bosses who own his administration.
"Jeff Johnson is the champion small businesswomen need as the governor of our state. Like my fellow child care providers, Jeff is a fighter; he can take a punch, and then hit back twice as hard. That's what it's going to take to defeat Mark Dayton and his union boss friends. I wholeheartedly endorse Jeff for governor.'
"As governor, I will never, ever treat any Minnesotans the way Mark Dayton treated Jennifer and her fellow small businesswomen. It's appalling how he has used these women's livelihoods to pay back his campaign contributors, and then had the gall to belittle them for fighting back. As governor, I will listen to ALL Minnesotans. I am honored to be endorsed by Jennifer, and I am looking forward to undoing the damage Mark Dayton has inflicted on Minnesota child care providers," said Johnson.
Jennifer Parrish is right. Gov. Dayton threw an entire group of independent businesswomen under the bus to appease Gov. Dayton's special interest allies. Gov. Dayton and the legislature didn't care about these independent businesswomen. They cared only that this was the highest priority on the public employee unions' wish list. Gov. Dayton couldn't afford to say no to their GOTV machine, aka the public employees union.
That would've been political suicide.
The fact that Gov. Dayton accused these independent businesswomen of "throwing little fits" is exceptionally sexist and demeaning. That's something Jeff Johnson would never think, much less say.
Jeff Johnson has fought hard against entitled government. He's been the taxpayers' staunchest watchdog. The best thing about Jeff is that, wherever you're talking to him, it's like you're talking to your favorite neighbor. Jeff isn't into politicspeak. He's into neighborspeak. That's why he connects with people.
It's time to close the final chapter of Gov. Dayton's political career. He was a terrible senator. He's been worse as governor. He's thrown Main Street Minnesota under the bus while shoveling the taxpayers' money to his special interest allies. That' just plain un-Minnesotan.
Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 3:27 PM
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Westrom fights for farmers
This article highlights the intelligent fight Torrey Westrom will fight in Congress if he defeats Collin Peterson:
'The Keystone pipeline needs to be built, I am here to tell you, and it should have been built last year, not delayed another several months as we are seeing under this current Administration,' Westrom said. Without the pipeline, oil producers are using an increasing number of railcars to transport their supply, which is squeezing out farmers and propane suppliers.
'[Grain] elevators from the south end of the 7th District to the north tell me they are still going to have last year's crop when this year's crop comes in, and they can't get enough extra cars to ship it out,' Westrom continued. 'That's unacceptable. We need to build energy and infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline. That's something I will advocate for.'
When it comes to getting things done in DC, Collin Peterson is about as worthless as a potted plant. He didn't stand up to President Obama and the environmental activists that run the EPA or the spineless diplomats in the State Department.
Thanks to Congressman Peterson's spinelessness, grain elevators in Minnesota's 7th District are hurting. Minnesota's 7th District doesn't need a DC insider with 'influence'. Minnesota's 7th District needs someone who gets things done.
Collin Peterson is rich with DC insider influence. Unfortunatly, he isn't the type of congressman who gets important things done that help his district.
If voters in Minnesota's 7th District dump Peterson, they'll immediately see the difference in the number of important things that get done compared with Peterson's potted plant routine.
The panel also asked the 7th District candidate what can be done to reduce government regulatory delays. 'Indecision is very paralyzing for industry and for farmers,' Westrom said about the overregulation that effects Minnesota's farmers. 'Some sort of cap on decisions, so people can count on a yes or a no, or at least know what needs to be changed in a timely period, is something we should aim for.' Westrom emphasized that we should 'not have unelected bureaucrats continue to delay processes.'
Peterson loves DC's ineffective status quo. He doesn't really have to do anything. All he has to do is talk about how much institutional influence he has. What Peterson can't talk about is how his presence in DC is helping reduce regulations or improve life in Minnesota's 7th District.
Throughout the forum, panelists expressed concern about government overreach, asking other candidates about the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule on navigable waters and delay on the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The EPA is a farmer's worst nightmare. Daily, they micromanage what a farmer can and can't do. Their new rule will get struck down by the Supreme Court because it goes far beyond the legislative language of the Clean Water Act, aka the CWA.
Not that Collin Peterson cares but the EPA can't implement a rule that goes beyond the legislative language. That language currently says the EPA can regulate navigable waters. The EPA's rule would allow them to regulate waters not considered navigable.
At one point, Collin Peterson was a tolerable congressman. Those days have passed. In 2009, Nancy Pelosi corrupted him. He hasn't been a Blue Dog Democrat since. That says one thing: it's time for a change.
Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 4:22 PM
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