Political Notebook

The Walz/Quist lightning round

During yesterday's debate between DFL Rep. Tim Walz and Republican Allen Quist in Byron, the two were asked to give one or two word answers to questions as part of a lightening round (they didn't always follow those rules). As is so often the case in reporting, there simply is not enough space in print for everything that happened in the 90-minute debate. So I wanted to post their answers to these questions because I think they highlight some interesting differences between the two.

Do you think any changes in immigration law are needed to bring skilled workers in math and science fields to work for U.S. businesses?

Walz: "Yes."

Quist: "Yes to legal immigration, no to illegal immigration."

What one department or agency would you downsize or eliminate if you could?

Walz: "I think I would downsize the Department of Transportation."

Quist: "The EPA."

Do you support a voucher system for Medicare?

Walz: "Absolutely not."

Quist: "Not likely."

Should the Social Security eligible age be raised for younger workers?

Quist: "In the future."

Walz: "No."

The candidates were also asked to sum up their economic philosophy in the length of a tweet — 140 characters.

Quist: "Free enterprise works, socialism does not."

Walz: "Providing opportunities for middle class Americans to grow the economy and achieve the dream as we always have."

New converative group targets Norton/Valeriano race

Rochester Republican Melissa Valeriano is one of five candidates expected to receive support from a new political committee aimed at electing conservatives to the Legislature.

The committee's founder, Andy Parish, said the group is zeroing in on the House District 25 race because it believes that newcommer Valeriano can defeat four-term DFL incumbent Kim Norton.

"I believe it is a winnable race. After redistricting it became a lot more competitive," he said.

Parrish cites some analysis that shows the district, which covers northwest Rochester, leaning slightly Republican.

This is the only race being targeted in southeast Minnesota by the group for this election. But they are already looking ahead to 2014 and want to play a significant role in the gubernatorial and senate races, Parrish said. The group's creation is in response to Alliance for a Better Minnesota, which works to elect DFL candidates to office.

Parrish declined to say how the campaign plans to support Valeriano, citing Minnesota campaign laws that prevent them from cooperating with the candidate. But he added she will receive "significant resources."

Walz taps football coach roots for first TV ad

 

 

DFL Congressman Tim Walz's first TV ad is on the local airwaves and it has him sporting a coaches whistle and clipboard once again.

Before winning election to congress in 2006, Walz coached football at Mankato West Senior High School. This 30-second spot has Walz back in the coaching role as a team of football players work out on the field. It opens with Walz saying, " Coaching high school football means working together toward a common goal. That's something you don't see enough of in Washington."

He touts the passage of his bill that outlaws insider trading known as the "STOCK Act." He also promises to "tackle the debt while protecting social security and Medicare."

His opponent, Republican Allen Quist, ran a TV ad featuring his granddaughter crawling up a set of stairs that becomes a red line showing the soaring national debt. He has not put on an ad yet for the general election.

Walz and Quist will face-off in their first one-on-one debate tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Somerby Golf Club in Byron.

Dems, GOP agree: Stop the sign vandalism

It's rare for the chairs of the Olmsted County Republicans and the Olmsted County DFL to team up. But the two have issued a joint statement after a rash of sign thefts and vandalism that has plagued candidates on both sides of the aisle.

Last week, I got a call from House District 25B Republican candidate Melissa Valeriano frustrated that one of her large signs along West Circle Drive had been stolen. This happened after it had previously been cut down and tossed on the ground. Also stolen was a sign for the Citizens Organized to Stop the Tax or (COST), which opposed extended the Rochester city sales tax. After the incident, Valeriano reached out to her DFL opponent, Rep. Kim Norton, who told her that some of her signs have been vandalized. 

Here's the joint statement sent out by Republican Bruce Kaskubar and Democrat Lynn Wilson sent out the following statement:

"Democrat, Republican, independent, or other, we all want a better America. We have different ideas about how that should be accomplished. In the midst of campaign season it is common to have campaign signs defaced, put down, or removed. As leaders of our respective political parties, we ask one and all to consider some undeniable truths:

—  our political futures should be decided by ideas

—  freedom of expression is guaranteed us in our Constitution

— diversity of experience and opinion forms a rich community

— mutual respect is the essence of good citizenship

 We encourage all the people of Olmsted county to give voice to their ideas and, equally, to respect others' rights to voice theirs."

 Bruce Kaskubar, Chair, Republican Party of Olmsted County

Lynn Wilson, Chair, Democratic Party of Olmsted County

 

Walz to help launch 'Veterans United' to defeat marriage amendment

1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz is helping launch a new group tomorrow called "Veterans United" aimed at helping defeat the marriage amendment.

The group is a coalition of veterans of the armed services that oppose the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, according to a news release. Walz will be joined by Lori and Jeff Wilfahrt, whose openly-gay soldier son Andrew was killed while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2011. The group is connected to Minnesotans United for All Families, the main organization fighting against the marriage amendment. The kick-off will be at 10 a.m. at the state Capitol.

Walz has already spoken out against this amendment and has supported efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act at the federal level. The Mankato Democrat served 24 years in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired after achieving the rank of command sergeant major. He is the highest ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.

Veterans United plans to tour the state in the weeks before the Nov. 6 election to urge defeat of the amendment. Walz's opponent, Republican Allen Quist, has said he supports the constitutional amendment, which would define marriage as being between one woman and one man.

It's interesting to note that Richard Carlbom is heading up the Minnesotans United's campaign efforts. He previously worked as Walz's campaign manager.

 

 

 

 

Dayton says DEED grant biggest mistake so far

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton considers his decision to agree to a $47.5 million economic development grant in this year's bonding bill as one of the biggest mistakes he has made so far while in office.

"As soon as this thing started to unfold after the session, I said, "This is the worst mistake I've made in my year and a half.' Not in the sense of overall effect on the state, but in terms of blundering into it," Dayton told members of the Rochester Post-Bulletin Editorial Board on Monday.

Dayton said he agreed to the competitive grant because he wanted to see other projects he supported get built. He had been pushing for a $776 million bonding bill. Legislative Republicans opposed borrowing that much money for construction projects and instead favored a $500 million bonding package.

Traditionally, lawmakers determine which construction projects should be funded. This time around, lawmakers backed the idea of a competitive grant with a set list of criteria administered by the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Supporters of this approach said it marked a shift away from earmarking to a merit-based system. Opponents argued that lawmakers were ceding their authority to the executive branch. DEED ending up receiving 90 applications totaling $288 million. Dayton announced he would be the one making the final call on who got the DEED money.

The city of Rochester wanted $25 million to help expand the Mayo Civic Center to add conference space. The project failed to score well in the rankings, coming in 11th overall and 6th in southern Minnesota. The biggest winner was St. Paul, which got $25 million for the St. Paul Saints Stadium.

Dayton also took a shot a Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester. He said he was surprised to read in the Post-Bulletin endorsement of Senjem's opponent, DFLer Judy Ohly, that Senjem told the newspaper that "everybody knew that the DEED block grant was directed toward the civic center. That's no secret."

The governor's reaction?

"I have a lot of respect for Dave Senjem. I think he is a very, very decent man, but I was just absolutely appalled for him to say that it was understood that Rochester's project was going to be part of that $47.5 million," he said.

He vowed he will never support this type of competitive grant process again.

Plenty of DFL politicos in Rochester today

A number of leaders in the Democratic Party will be stopping in Rochester today to speak to members of the AFL-CIO at their 51st Constitutional Convention at the Mayo Civic Center.

Expected to address the estimated 500 delegates this morning are State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, House Minority Leader Paul Thissen and state Sen. Ken Kelash, DFL-Minneapolis. Also trying to fire up delegates will be the leaders of groups aimed at defeating proposed constitutional amendment. Scheduled to speak is Luchelle Stevens, campaign manager for Our Vote, Our Future, a group against the voter ID amendment. Also addressing the crowd will be Richard Carlbom, campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families, the group opposing the marriage amendment. No Republicans are slated to speak at the conference.

This afternoon, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton will address the crowd and tomorrow morning 1st District Rep. Tim Walz is slated to speak. DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke to the group yesterday evening. It's worth noting that the governor's address comes less than a week after he decided against awarding the civic center any of a more than $47 million in economic development grant money. Local union groups pushed hard for that expansion project, which would create an estimated 400 construction jobs. Dayton does support the project and included it in both of his bonding bill proposal. He said ultimately the civic center project got too low of a score by the Department of Employment and Economic Development to be considered for the grant.

The governor will also be meeting with the Post-Bulletin's editorial board this afternoon.

Lobbyist who donated to Davids fined

A Minnesota lobbyist has been fined $250 by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board for failing to identify himself as a lobbyist when he donated to Republican Rep. Greg Davids' campaign.

 Catholic United Financial lobbyist Michael McGovern donated $250 to the People for (Gregory) Davids Committee on Jan. 23, according to findings issued by the board on Thursday. But McGovern failed to include his lobbyist registration number on the check. As a result, the Davids campaign classified it as a donation from an individual instead of a lobbyist. That led the campaign to exceed the amount of donations allowed for House candidates from lobbyists, which is limited to $6,900.

McGovern said he registered as a lobbyist in 1998 because as president of the organization he may need to do activities that would fall under lobbying. This year, he was told that the definition of a lobbyist had changed and he no longer believed he fell under that classification. But McGovern did not terminate his lobbyist registration until Aug. 22.

The board cleared Davids' committee of wrong doing because McGovern did not provide his lobbyist identification number when he donated to the committee. Here is a link to the findings and order. Meanwhile, Davids' opponent, former DFL Rep. Ken Tschumper, and  Fillmore County DFL Chairman Dennis DeKeyrel are the subjects of a complaint filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings. Read more about that here.

Mayo Civic Center fails to make top of DEED grant list

Rochester's Mayo Civic Center project failed to crack the top ten ranked projects for a $47.5 million business development grant.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development post its rankings for the 90 projects that applied for the grant. The civic center ranked 11th with an overall score of 72. It is still up to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to decide which projects get funded. The city of Rochester wants $25 million to expand the Mayo Civic Center to add convention space.

Claiming the number one spot in the rankings is a $2.5 million wastewater infrastructure project in Litchfield with a score of 99. The Mayo Civic Center project ranked sixth among southern Minnesota projects. The St. Paul Saints stadium ranked number one among metro proposals with a score of 77. The top project in northern Minnesota is a $10 million downtown development and parking ramp project in Duluth.

Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Brad Jones said he is holding out hope that the governor will recognize the value of the civic center project despite its low ranking.

"It is kind of a slap in the face to think that a parking garage in Duluth would create what our project would create," Jones said.

He said the civic center expansion is expected to generate an additional $12 million per year in revenue to the state.

"I'm telling you there is not a project that can come close to us," he said. " And if it goes sideways, it's all politics."

Several other regional projects were determined to be ineligible for the grant dollars based on the criteria. That included a nearly $7.1 million request to renovate the Chatfield Center for the Arts, a $2.3 million incubator building/business park in Kasson, $2.6 million to build a new fire station in Red Wing, $7.5 million for a new school in Rushford and $550,000 for a new fire hall in Stewartville. To see the DEED rankings, go here.

Republican Liberty Caucus supporters endorse Quam, Valeriano

Note: I have updated this post to correct a mistake. Apparently, I got my liberty caucuses confused. While Ron Paul supporters headed to the Republican National Convention have identified themselves as the Liberty Caucus, they are a different group than the Republican Liberty Caucus of Minnesota. That group was founded in 1991. I apologize for the error.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Minnesota gave its seal of approval to two local Republican legislative candidates — Rep. Duane Quam of Byron and Melissa Valeriano of Rochester.

The group announced today they have endorsed 15 additional legislative candidates "who will be advocates for fiscal responsibility, individual liberty and reduced size in government."

Valeriano is running against DFL Rep. Kim Norton, of Rochester, for the House District 25B seat. Quam is finishing up his first-term in the House. Running against him is Kasson DFLer John Vossen.

Only one other legislative candidate in southeast Minnesota has been endorsed by the group — Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa.