October 31, 2014
Oct 31 01:26 Factchecking the fact checkers Oct 31 09:54 Alida Messinger's post-election agenda: kill PolyMet? Oct 31 10:31 MNsure: Gov. Dayton's disaster Oct 31 23:17 Severson: Who do you trust?
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Factchecking the fact checkers
This fall, I've made a point of checking the fact-checkers' analysis. This time, I'm factchecking John Croman's fact-check of Jeff Johnson's campaign ad titled Unaware. Here's one thing that Croman talked about:
The ad begins with video of Gov. Dayton with President Obama, and a pseudo headline "140,000 lose insurance coverage."
Here's Croman's opinion:
In Minnesota policies are renewed every year, so those consumers were being notified they would have to buy more comprehensive, and possibly more expensive, plans for 2014. Within a month President Obama announced people in that predicament could keep their old plans if they wanted to. There's no way to know how many of those 140,000 became uninsured in 2014, kept their old plans, or bought better ones.
And the truth, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota, is that the share of Minnesotans with health insurance went from 92 percent to 95 percent in the past year.
This is a perfect example of the reporter either not understanding the statement or pretending that he didn't understand the statement. Republicans started using that fact after the Pioneer Press ran this article :
About 140,000 Minnesotans are receiving letters that describe changes to their current health care insurance policies for 2014 due to the federal health law.
And while the national controversy over individuals finding their coverage canceled because of the Affordable Care Act doesn't technically apply in Minnesota, state law prevents insurers from issuing cancellation notices unless their entire product line is discontinued, potentially higher prices offer little consolation. Because the changes will drive up costs by mandating richer benefits, Minnesota consumers might well be experiencing the same frustrations as those subject to cancellations elsewhere.
The point of this statement is to highlight Politifact's lie of the year :
Politifact's Lie of the Year in 2013 was President Obama's repeated promises that people could keep their health plan if they liked their health plan. I'll stipulate that the headline should've said that "140,000 lose insurance that they liked." There's no question that 140,000 Minnesota families lost the insurance that they liked, though.
This statement is DFL spin:
The share of Minnesotans with health insurance went from 92 percent to 95 percent in the past year.
In 2012, before MNsure's rollout, 93% of people had health insurance. Of those people that didn't have health insurance, 60% of them were eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health care. Had the Dayton administration run a $5,000,000 multimedia advertising campaign telling people how they could've enrolled in those programs, more than 97% of Minnesotans would've been insured...in 2012.
Here's another verified fact that Croman missed in his 'fact-check': a higher percentage of Minnesotans could've been insured without spending $160,000,000 on a website that doesn't work.
Posted Friday, October 31, 2014 1:26 AM
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Alida Messinger's post-election agenda: kill PolyMet?
There's all sorts of buzz around St. Paul of post-election plans by radical environmentalists to launch an offensive to kill copper-nickel mining in Minnesota. That's been the stated goal of environmental organizations like the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Friends of the Boundary Waters, Conservation Minnesota and MCEA. It's verified fact that Alida Rockefeller, one of the DFL's biggest contributors and Gov. Dayton's ex-wife, is responsible for much of the money that goes into these anti-mining organizations while supporting Gov. Dayton's political activities.
Sources close to organized labor active in northeastern Minnesota say that Ms. Messinger and her allies are now prepared to fund a PR campaign to kill PolyMet. That's certain to get these miners' attention. Alida Messinger's post-election agenda won't sit well with union workers who would work on the construction of the mine or the union workers who would fill the mining positions once the plant opens. As a result, at least some of the rank-and-file might stop supporting the DFL.
Rumor has it that a prominent, talented DFL strategist is already lined up for this aggressive campaign. This strategist allegedly has been approached by Big Labor. This strategist has allegedly been quite coy about what's coming.
The biggest question remaining is simple. What, if anything, does Gov. Dayton know about this anti-PolyMet PR offensive? Given his unwillingness to support mining projects like PolyMet even if they meet environmental standards, I think it's a more than fair question to ask.
I still think that Jeff Johnson will win this race. If Gov. Dayton is re-elected, though, will Iron Rangers trust Gov. Dayton to not be swayed by a massive anti-mining ad campaign? Will blue collar voters in northeastern Minnesota demand answers from Dayton before Tuesday?
Posted Friday, October 31, 2014 9:54 AM
Comment 1 by Jimmy J Hill at 01-Nov-14 12:21 AM
I don't get it. Republicans argue that unlimited and unfettered political donations are "free speech" but then whine when others use the same loophole to promote their own agendas. And unless PolyMet is telling you things that they aren't telling the public, there is no indication that the mining jobs will be union jobs. Unions will construct the site, but the workers in the mines (the long term jobs) almost certainly won't be union. That is why labor (outside the building trades) isn't putting any real muscle into the fight. PolyMet won't split the party. When Governor Dayton is re-elected, I imagine republicans will once again lose interest in the mines until the next election.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 01-Nov-14 12:30 AM
That's nice spin but that isn't what I'm talking about. If she wants to spend her money for that cause, I'll defend Ms. Messinger's right to spend her money that way.
The minute after I finish defending that right, though, I'll start criticizing Ms. Messinger's attempt to crush PolyMet's ability to create hundreds of long-lasting middle class jobs. FYI- Whether they're union jobs or non-union jobs, there's no doubt that they'll be better paying jobs than what people up there have now.
What's interesting is that the DFL pretends to care about blue collar workers...until they hear that the woman that writes the checks to sustain their party tells them to back off. That isn't about the First Amendment. It's about the DFL not fighting for the little guy.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 01-Nov-14 09:12 PM
Why would the mine jobs not be union? Think the 49er union would stand for that? I don't think so but regardless, the jobs will pay a lot more than the current unemployment or welfare benefits pay but of course the DFL doesn't care about that because it's all about getting people dependent on the government so they continue to vote for those promising more government benefits. If Dayton wins, he'll forget about the Iron Range like every other DFL politician does until they need their votes again.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 02-Nov-14 05:30 PM
Jim:
Just curious are you aware of what the State Auditor Otto did? She was one of the people on the state government board who was to vote to decide to help move forward Polymet. After she voted no she immediately sent campaign fundraisers to friendly environment caring people in the Twin Cities touting her no vote, but didn't send the emails to people who want Polymet. I mean if it was the right thing to do she would proudly tell those people about her "No" vote and ask for their money.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
MNsure: Gov. Dayton's disaster
This article highlights another set of problems for MNsure. It doesn't take a great prognosticator to predict that MNsure will be a disaster when open enrollment starts.
Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters Board Chair Alycia Riedl says health insurance brokers who work with MNsure are nervous. Riedl says there is no computerized renewal system in place, and if it is not functional by the next MNsure open enrollment, Nov. 15, it could affect tens of thousands of people who are already enrolled through MNsure.
Riedl says it will severely limit their access to information if they want to change their policies in any way and could create lengthy delays for MNsure consumers. "The renewals would literally have to be done by hand, and that will take a long time, creating a backlog that hurts consumers who want to make better choices, and it will hurt MNsure's bottom line if it isn't taken care of soon," Riedl said.
Considering the incompetence and corruption of the MNsure Board of Directors, Gov. Dayton's head-in-the-sand routine during debates and the DFL's insistence that everything's fine, it isn't surprising that MNsure isn't working.
Gov. Dayton should be booted from office for his intransigence. Voters should turn on him for being dishonest about MNsure getting better. MNsure is getting better at a snail's pace. According to DeLoitte's study, 47 of 73 sub-functions either won't work properly or won't exist at all when open enrollment starts in 2 weeks:
During the assessment, 47 of the 73 sub-functions addressed were found either to be absent or not functioning as expected. Six of the 73 sub-functions could be considered for implementation post-open enrollment. The remaining 41 sub-functions need to be provided for the 2015 Open Enrollment either through changes/enhancements to the systems or through contingent means.
That's just part of the lengthy list of failures I've written about. I don't want to gloss over it, though, as just another item on a checklist. It's much more than that.
Not having a "computerized renewal system in place" means everything renewal-related is done manually. If open enrollment started at the beginning of October, Minnesotans would be irate with Gov. Dayton to the point that they'd throw him out of office next Tuesday.
Whether it's called incompetence or whether it's called something else, the inescapable truth is that Gov. Dayton a) created MNsure, b) improperly implemented MNsure, c) ignored MNsure's mismanagement then d) lied about MNsure to get re-elected.
Personally, I'd call it an unmitigated disaster. I'm not alone with that opinion.
Posted Friday, October 31, 2014 10:31 AM
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Severson: Who do you trust?
Dan Severson's campaign to be Minnesota's next Secretary of State is finishing strong. Severson's last ad is especially powerful because it's silent except for the imagery:
Here's the question it poses to Minnesotans:
Not sure who to vote for? Ask yourself this...Who do you trust more? A lawyer who seems to think that elections are a child's game? Or a man who gave 22 years defending your right to vote?
During last week's debate on Almanac, Dan Severson introduced an initiative called Express Lane Voting. Earlier this week, Steve Simon, the man who hasn't offered anything in terms of an agenda, intentionally played the over-the-top race card . Here's what he said during a debate:
STEVE SIMON: I really don't support this idea of a sort of Lexus lane for voting or the so-called 'Express Lane Voting. First of all, it seems intended to be a separate but equal system. All I have to go on are Dan's own words when he characterized on a TEA Party TV show in the spring when he said 'If you don't want to show an ID, be my guest. You can go over to the side and wait 2 hours in the cold. That's fine.'
Let's be blunt. Steve Simon doesn't have an agenda of his own. He's a lackluster candidate at best. Now that he's in trouble, isn't it interesting that Steve Simon has resorted to race-baiting?
By comparison, Dan Severson has run a positive, substantive campaign. He's offered new ideas. He's highlighted his years of service to our nation. Having known Dan for almost a decade, I know that he's a natural-born hero. Dan's 22 years of service verify that.
When Dan proposed a system to make voting easier for Minnesotans serving overseas in the military, the closest thing to substantive criticism DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin's could come was that Severson had sponsored lots of veterans legislation while in the legislature .
Minnesota's Secretary of State needs to be a man with integrity. Anyone that's willing to intentionally play the race-baiting card to attract votes isn't a man of integrity. That's the definition of a politician who didn't hesitate in frighten voters with the worst political imagery imaginable.
Dan Severson is a leader and a man of integrity. That's what I'm looking for.
Posted Friday, October 31, 2014 11:17 PM
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