Archive for category news
Walz Town Hall joke
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in news on June 28, 2011
Last week, Congressman Walz announced town hall meetings to be held in Rochester and Winona to discuss the nation’s deficit. They were held Monday. A press release from the Congressman’s office regarding the proceedings was essentially the same as the piece used to announce them…
WALZ HOLDS DEFICIT TOWN HALLS IN ROCHESTER AND WINONA
Involves constituents in budget decision-making process
(Rochester and Winona, MN) – Today, southern Minnesotans joined Rep. Tim Walz at two town halls on the federal deficit in Rochester and Winona. The town halls were fully interactive and offered attendees the ability to decide how to balance the budget and reduce the deficit.
“Serious conversations about how to reduce spending and create a secure fiscal future for all Americans are happening across the country,” said Rep. Tim Walz. “It was important to me to get feedback from southern Minnesotans on how we can work together to balance the budget and ensure more people can achieve the American dream in years to come. I am grateful to everyone who participated today, I will take their thoughts, concerns and ideas back with me to Washington.”
Walz organized a conversation and workshop on the federal budget to get valuable insight from southern Minnesotans. The Concord Coalition, a non-partisan organization dedicated to organizing and educating Americans about the budget challenges we face, was on hand to participate in the conversation as well.
Walz said any plan to reduce the deficit must do so in a smart, responsible way that doesn’t harm our economy. Walz has said he believes we need a balanced approach to reducing the deficit that includes targeted smart cuts; proposals to make the way government operates more efficient; and tax reform that closes loopholes and brings more fairness to the system.
Like so much of what Walz does, the event was a joke. Claimed to be involving consituents and “fully interactive” they were neither. A friend attended in Rochester. No questions were allowed. Surveys were distributed and completed by attendees but not collected! Or, perhaps, collected from a select few.
Walz is either a pathetic fake or inept. His constituents appear to be only those who support him, not all of us in the First District.
Winter should refund money
Posted by Site Administrator in news on November 2, 2010
Winter takes big Trial Lawyer Money from past State outside lawyers
1st Congressional District Chair Steve Perkins demanded that Ted Winter return at least $3,550 that he received from the Minneapolis Cireci trial lawyers. Perkins said, “I call on Ted Winter to immediately return this money. These lawyers netted a $558,000,000 State contract when Ted Winter was the House DFL Majority Leader to handle the Minnesota tobacco law suit. It was of record proportions, over half a billion dollars, and now they turn up as the biggest donors to Winter’s campaign.”
Perkins continued, “ It also appears Winter was trying to cover this up because critical information on these contributions was deleted from his original filing with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board last Monday. Finally, today, Friday, just a few days before the election Ted coughed up the information after the Board demanded it. “
“It is obvious what Winter was trying to hide. Of the thousands and thousands he is spending only eight percent of his disclosed donors are residents of the district. Forty-two percent comes from trial lawyers and 24% from Twin City unions. Just who will Ted Winter represent when he gets to St. Paul? His political cronies get near billion dollar state contracts and then pay him off with fat campaign donations.”
Perkins concluded, “It simply is not right to take such huge sums from non-local people who get huge government contracts. Ted Winter must return the money and apologize to the people of House District 22A. This is an outrageous last minute trick which only deceives those he wants to represent.”
House District 22A is all of Murray, Pipestone, Rock and Nobles counties, except the immediate Worthington area. Winter’s campaign report can be viewed at the Board’s website http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/pdfStorage/2010/CampFin/B/11954.pdf
Lars, Steve, Tim
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in analysis, news on October 19, 2010
Lars Johnson is running for Congress as the Party-free candidate. In an email to supporters, he stated, “I only need 26% to win this race… This can happen!”
Mathematically, a candidate in a 4-way race can win with 26%. But in this race, Democrats and Republicans have bases that exceed 25%. So, 26% will not win this contest. It’s probably going to take at least 47%. In the recent KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, Johnson carried 1%.
How much is anyone willing to bet that Johnson can grow his support by a factor of 47 (4,600%) in two weeks? Similarly, how many think that Steve Wilson’s support will increase by a factor of 12 (1,100%)?
In a race as close as this seems to be, it appears that Johnson and Wilson supporters can only help Tim Walz win. And it looks like Walz thinks so, too. He was wooing Wilson at Rochester’s Wednesday debate. It looked like an attempt to get Demmer voters to consider Wilson. That’s a winning tactic for Walz.
VFW moves to dissolve PAC’s board
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in news on October 18, 2010
Politico tells the story of the VFW’s PAC and its tendency to endorse Democratic candidates based on very fine (and biased?) criteria. A commenter points out that some of the PAC’s endorsed candidates went on to vote for funding of groups that actively fought against our troops. Locally, the PAC has endorsed Tim Walz.