Political Notebook

Parry's victory — a sign of "great things to come" for GOP?

Republicans are crowing this morning about news that GOPer Mike Parry won a southern Minnesota Senate seat in a special election yesterday.

Parry beat out a DFL and Independence Party candidate garnering 43 percent of the vote. He will take the place of longtime Republican Sen. Dick Day, who recently stepped down to become a racino lobbyist. Democrat Jason Engbrecht got 36.5 percent of the vote and Independent Roy Srp got 20 percent.

In a news release, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, boldly predicted this victory signals a resurgence for the state GOP.

"Tonight's victory by Mike Parry is a sign of great things to come for the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus. The election results from SD 26 demonstrate that Republicans, Independents and disaffected Democrats are fed up with the big spending, big taxing Democrat majorities in St. Paul," Senjem said.

But Democrats downplayed the idea that this marked the beginning of a voting trend. In a statement, state DFL Chair Brian Melendez said the district is historically conservative.

“In a district with so many Republican voters, Jason Engbrecht certainly had the deck stacked against him. Steele County hasn’t elected a Democratic representative practically in the history of partisan elections, so it was an uphill climb from the start. But with hard work, good ideas and by talking directly to the voters in Senate District 26, Jason Engbrecht ran a campaign to be proud of and has a bright future in politics."

Bachmann to join Quist in Rochester Town Hall

Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann heads to Rochester on Monday in a big show of support for 1st Congressional District Candidate Allen Quist. 

Bachmann will join Quist at a health care town hall from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Ramada Inn in Rochester. Also joining in the forum is GOP Congressman Michael Burgess of Texas, a doctor originally from Rochester. Quist is among four Republicans vying for the chance to take on Democratic Congressman Tim Walz.

This could prove to be a big boost for Quist among the Conservative wing of the party given Bachmann's support among the Tea Party Movement and her ability to draw media attention. The visit comes at a critical time — one day before the state caucuses, a key step in determining the delegates for the state GOP convention.

Quist does have a personal connection with Bachmann. His wife, Julie, heads Bachmann's Minnesota office.

Other candidates hoping to get the GOP endorsement include House Assistant Minority Leader Randy Demmer, of Hayfield; former Congressional staffer Jim Hagedorn of Blue Earth and former Army Sgt. Frank McKinzie of Rochester.

Prior to the town hall forum, there will be a fundraising luncheon in Quist's honor. Burgess will be the keynote speaker for that event.

At the town hall, Bachmann is expected to discuss a "Declaration of Health Care Freedom." Those principles include her call that the process of health care reform be transparent and that it not add to costs. For more on that proposal, here is a link to a Star Tribune article. 

Busy political day in Roch tomorrow

Tomorrow is promising to be a busy day on the political front in Rochester.

It all kicks off tomorrow morning with the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's 2010 Legislative Session Preview Breakfast. Scheduled guests include area lawmakers and legislative leaders. Here is the list: Assistant House Minority Leader Randy Demmer, Rep. Tina Liebling, Sen. Ann Lynch, Sen. Steve Murphy, Rep. Kim Norton, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, Assistant House Majority Leader Andy Welti and House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers.

For more information, go here.

At noon, liberal political action committee MoveOn.org has organized an "Emergency Rally" in Rochester with the message that "Democrats need to show backbone." The rally will be in front of Sen. Amy Klobuchar and 1st District Rep. Tim Walz's office at 1134 7th St. N.W. An email from MoveOn.org urges supporters to show up to tell lawmakers they need to pass real health care reform. This is part of a nationwide day of events.

Forum on GAMC cuts in Rochester on Monday

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition is sponsoring a forum in Rochester Monday night to discuss how the elimination of a program that provide health care for low-income Minnesotans could end up impacting the community.

The event focuses on Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's decision to eliminate $400 million in funding for the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) starting March 1 in order to balance the state budget. As a result, the program for adults that make less than $8,000 a year will expire.

The Pawlenty administration has proposed shifting these patients to another state health care program called MinnesotaCare. But health advocates warn that many GAMC patients will end up falling between the cracks because MinnesotaCare requires patients to pay premiums and stay on top of paperwork.

State Democrats have been trying to come up with a way to save the GAMC program — at least until federal health care reform would take effect. But some of the proposals have generated concern from Mayo Clinic and Olmsted County that it could end up shifting increased costs to them to pay for it.

Monday's community discussion will feature health care providers and local lawmakers. The event runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Heintz Center HB 117 Auditorium at Rochester Community and Technical College.

Kelliher campaign, state DFL fined $24,000

The state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board handed out a total of $24,000 in fines to DFL gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher and the state DFL Party.

The board determined that Kelliher's campaign and the state DFL Party violated two campaign finance laws when they allowed Kelliher supporters to pay for access to a state voter database. The Kelliher campaign was fined $9,000 and the state DFL Party was fined $15,000. Here is a link to the decision.

A spokeswoman for fellow DFL gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza said in a statement that the DFL party action amounted to "an inside job" and a "sweetheart treatment."

“What we have seen in the DFL’s behavior amounts to an ‘inside job,’ that’s unfair to all the other campaigns that played by the rules. DFLers are supposed to stand up against special interests – certainly Matt Entenza has been doing that his entire career in public service. In this case, the DFL clearly favored one candidate over nine others – all of whom have given years of service to the Party. The Party leadership still has a lot of explaining to do to those candidates who have not been privy to their sweetheart treatment," said campaign spokeswoman Bridget Cusick.

DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez said in a statement that the DFL recognizes that mistakes were made.

"The DFL Party receives the Campaign Finance Board's ruling today in the same spirit in which we have approached this entire matter: with acknowledgment of the mistake, a desire to rectify that mistake, and willingness to accept the consequences. We appreciate the Board's acknowledgment that the Party cooperated fully in the Board's investigation, and that 'a violation ... may occur even if the participants believed that their course of conduct as permitted' under the law, as was the case here. We also appreciate the expeditious manner in which the Board investigated and ruled on this matter, so that this inadvertent error will not distract voters from the important task of choosing a governor who will address the enormous challenges that Minnesota and its citizens are facing."

French to officially announce run for Senjem's seat

Byron business owner Greg French plans to officially announce he is running for the Senate District 29 seat currently held by Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem.

French will make the announcement at 10:30 a.m.in the Rocket Center at John Marshall High School in Rochester. He will then lead a discussion with several government classes about the political process.

The Democrat is a graduate of John Marshall High School and said he wanted to kick-off his campaign at the high school to highlight his commitment to improving education, according to a news release.

"Every politician pays lip service to education. I want to effect real change in our educational system, beginning with requiring physical education every year through 12th grade," he said.

French's other proposals include requiring students to take nutrition and life-skill classes. He would also like to make sports elective classes that could count for physical education credits and would reduce the need to pay coaches for after-school coaching.  French, who owns Advantage Driving School, said he supports the idea of having a "new driver" identification for cars to make roadways safer.

French is a U.S. Army veteran and worked for many years for the U.S. Postal Service.

Senjem, a Republican from Rochester, first won election to the Senate in 2002.

Anderson to drop out of gov race, run for auditor

Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat Anderson has called a press conference for 10 a.m. this morning at the state Capitol to make a "significant announcement" regarding her campaign. Several media outlets are reporting that she plans to announce she is dropping out of the 2010 governor's race and instead will run for her old job as state auditor.

Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reported the news last night and notes that she has already changed her Facebook page and Twitter profile to reflect she is running for state auditor. Here is a link to his blog post.

Anderson had struggled to gain traction in the race and ranked a distant third in a GOP straw poll from October. State Rep. Marty Seifert won that poll with state Rep. Tom Emmer coming in second.

Three other Republicans are running for state auditor -- St. Paul school board member Tom Conlon, Long Lake Mayor Randy Gilbert and Auditor's office employee Jeffrey Wit. Current Democratic State Auditor Rebecca Otto has announced she is running for re-election.

And just as Anderson is dropping out of the governor's race, another Republican has entered. Republican Bob Carney, Jr. announced yesterday he is running for governor. Carney made the announcement after placing 10th in the election for Minneapolis mayor in November. Here is a link to Pioneer Press Reporter Bill Salisbury's story about Carney. The means there are seven Republicans still in the running for governor.

Seifert raises more than $262,000

Republican gubernatorial candidate Marty Seifert announced today that his campaign raised more than $262,000 in 2009. Here is the press release:

Marty Seifert’s campaign for governor announced today that it took in over $262,000 in the 2009 reporting period.  In just over six months, more than 1,800 individuals contributed to Seifert’s campaign.  The campaign enters 2010 with approximately $133,000 cash on hand.

“I am very encouraged with the outpouring of support from across Minnesota,” Seifert said.  “Not only do we have an extremely strong grassroots organization, our finance network extends to every corner of Minnesota.  I am confident that ours is the only Republican campaign with the necessary resources to win the GOP endorsement and win in November.”

Additional information about Seifert’s totals:

Seifert “maxed out” the large donor (over $250 up to the $500 maximum) category of $95,800
Almost $75,000 in contributions was received in the month of December
Seifert did not accept any contributions from registered lobbyists
Seifert transferred approximately $20,000 from his now-closed State House account (included in the $262,000 number)
Seifert loaned the campaign $20,000 (included in the  $262,000 number)
“In the early days of the Seifert for Governor campaign, we set a number of aggressive goals,” said Jim Knoblach, Seifert for Governor Campaign Chairman.  “Not only did we aim to lead the Republican field by a significant margin, it was our hope to finish the year with similar numbers to Governor Pawlenty in 2001.  Even though we competed with eight other campaigns in a tough economy, we enter 2010 with more cash-on-hand than the Pawlenty campaign in 2002 and raised a comparable amount.  This is a true testament to the strength of the candidate and the organization, which continues to gain momentum.”

Seifert ranks second for having raised the most money so far in 2009 among gubernatorial candidates who have released their totals. You can check out the other totals here. Candidates have until the end of the month to report campaign donation totals to the state.

Klobuchar in Rochester tomorrow

 
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is making Rochester one of the first stops on her week-long tour of the state aimed at promoting renewable energy and its potential to create new jobs.

Klobuchar will be in Rochester at 1 p.m. for a panel discussion at IBM with area businesses about innovation. She is also scheduled later that afternoon to meet with the Post-Bulletin editorial board.

The Minnesota Democrat is co-author of the American Renewable Energy Act, which would establish a national renewable energy standard. That standard is based off of Minnesota's standard, which requires 25 percent of energy  provided by Minnesota utilities come from renewable energy by 2025.

The statewide tour will end with an Energy Efficiency and Innovation Summit at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis. The featured speaker is Cathy Zoi, assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy for the U.S. Department of Energy.

In a news release, Klobuchar is quoted as saying, “In the current economic downturn, clean energy industries have been one of the few sectors that’s actually creating rather than cutting jobs. Small businesses are the source of much of this innovation and job creation, and we need to encourage more of it.”

A fundraising recap

The campaign fundraising totals for gubernatorial candidates are slowly starting to trickle in. Here is a recap of how much candidates have raised so far.

Among Democrats, former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza is leading the pack so far. He reported raising $300,000 last year. In addition to that money, he donated $10,000 of his own money and loaned his campaign $70,000.

Close behind Entenza are two other DFL candidates — state Rep. Paul Thissen and Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher. Thissen raised $253,000 including $20,000 of his own money. He reported having $85,000 left in the bank. Kelliher raised $245,000 and she donated $250 to her campaign. She has $81,000 left in the bank.

Coming in fourth among Democrats who have disclosed their campaign funds is state Rep. Tom Rukavina. He raised $135,000 and has more than $60,000 in cash on hand.

That leave seven DFLers who have yet to reveal their campaign donation information. They have to file it with the state by the end of the month.

So far, state Rep. Tom Emmer is the lone Republican to release campaign information. He raised $115,000. he is one of seven Republicans vying for the party's endorsement.