Emmer and the GOP's frivolous lawsuit

My friends over at MNpublius hit this hard yesterday.  Apparently the whiners over on Park St don't have anything better to do.  Per the Startribune...

In St. Louis County, the request seeks: tape results, tally sheets, any result revisions, polling rosters, same day registration sign-ins, the number of accepted and rejected absentee ballots, copies of all absentee ballot envelopes, copies of all voter registration applications and absentee ballot applications, any communication with the Dayton campaign, names of election judges, Election Day incident reports and names of all people who applied for absentee ballots.

But county election officials are also required by law to update the rolls for voting history and same-day registered voters, which is priority No. 1 in most offices right now. 

Patricia Stolee, St. Louis County's Director of Elections, was unaware of the suit but said some requested items cannot be made public until the rolls are updated. She has a three-person staff working on that.

Minnesota law states: "No polling place roster may be inspected until the voting history for that precinct has been posted. No voter registration application may be inspected until the information on it has been entered into the statewide registration system."

Now I find this to be pretty interesting really.  Small government conservatives want to shrink government so that it can conveniently fit into our bedrooms.  With all of the cuts that counties and small local governments have been hit with the past 8 years, I wonder how this process has been slowed by these cuts.

So while Tony and his mob hurl frivolous lawsuits and rant incessantly about election integrity, our hard working public employee's work diligently to ensure we got it right.  I can't wait for another Brodkorb/Sutton/Emmer press conference!

Fortunately, we obtained footage of Tony Sutton preparing for his next press conference.




And it gets better.  Last night I saw the following tweet from Mitch Berg.

Say Dayton wins recount. What do we get? A mentally ill alcholic who's never fnished a job in his life. Thanks, DFL.#stribpol #mn2010

Hmm...interesting.


Two can play this game...


Say Emmer steals recount.  What do we get?  DUI's, doesn't pay his bills, 7 mortgages.  Fiscal conservative my ass...#stribpol #mn2010

Veterans Day 2010

It's been an interesting week.

Call of Duty:  Black Ops came out 2 days ago.  This installment is a Cold War first person shooter game.  In the first 24 hours it earned more than $120 million.

It made me wonder what $120 million could do to help prevent soldier and Veteran suicide.

It made me wonder about my friends and former soldiers who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan without some of the essential gear to keep them safe.

It made me wonder about a friends dad who just saw his VA benefits reduced, even though he served our nation honorably in Vietnam and was exposed to Agent Orange.

I'm grateful that we celebrate Veterans Day.  It wasn't too long ago that I viewed this as a forgotten holiday.  Iraq and Afghanistan changed all that.

There probably isn't a day that goes by that I don't replay an event in my head or think about some of our finest moments on active duty.  It's honestly tough to specify a singular event as my favorite/most memorable event while on Active Duty.

Here are a couple:

C33:  Our Bradley Fighting Vehicle Crew while in the 3rd Battalion 5th Cavalry.  Matt Maley from Arizona was our driver (and my roommate), I was the gunner, and we had John Shaw and Dave Kuusela as our Bradley Commander.  Lots of fun times with the crew, Matt, Dave and I finished our final gunnery by posting a perfect score on our qualification table, earning Army Commendation Medals.  These were some really fun guys!

Tomahawks, 1st Battalion 23rd Infantry:  Within weeks of my arrival at Fort Lewis I was provided the honor of going to the Bradley Master Gunner Course.  It was a great course, academically one of the toughest in the Army, and defined my 11 year career on Active Duty.  At Lewis, I got to work with other great Master Gunners like Darrin Dreger and "Outback" Bob Prater.  I worked my way from a Platoon "Mike Golf" up to the Battalion level, working with Colonel Bartran and a couple of great S-3's in Major Millet and Major Schenk.

Fort Lewis also introduced me to great folks like John Casebere, a 24th ID GW Vet who worked Long Range Surveillance in Iraq during the first GW.  On our Battalion Staff I got to work with great guys like Shadd Williams and Jason Route.  Major Millet took Williams, Route, myself and our Operations Sergeant SFC Webb to "Right Arm Night" at the Officer Club one Friday.  It was the first and last time I ever made it into an "Officer Club".

Not only did they have free beer and food, they had karaoke too.  After a rousing rendition of Sublime's hit "The Wrong Way", we were never asked back.

Camp Casey South Korea and the 9th Infantry Manchu's:  We a First Sergeant from Puerto Rico that I couldn't understand and a Commander that resembled Mr. Bean.  It was a great unit and a great time!  One year goes fast when you're having fun.  I had a great platoon full of young and energetic warriors.  A month of our tour was spent up near the DMZ between North and South Korea as a Quick Reactionary Force.  Hearing the North Korean propaganda every night while trying to sleep or seeing the world's largest flag flying in the North Korean "propaganda village" was a sight to see.  Even more interesting though was trying to squeeze a 28 ton machine down some of the narrow South Korean roads and the crazy traffic.

Over 11 years I served with some really amazing people and I'm grateful for how they helped shape who I am today.

Thank you!

When a Tea Party guy wins in 25A

Those of us here in SD 18 know State Representative-elect Glenn Gruenhagen well, after all, he served on the Glencoe Silver Lake school board for 4 terms/15 years.


His win over Mick McGuire was disappointing.  Mick is a long time public servant and would have provided a balanced and well rounded approach to government.


Gruenhagen is an extremist who will likely fill the rhetoric void left with Tom Emmer's departure.


Typically, legislators serve in areas of expertise.  Veterans often serve on a Veterans committee, you get the picture.


It's not a stretch that Representative-elect Gruenhagen will serve on an education committee.  With his extremist past as a school board member, education professionals across Minnesota should shudder.


How extreme is Gruenhagen?


At a statewide school board association meeting Gruenhagen pushed his extremist agenda.

Resolutions:
Stop labeling and drugging students - 2 for; 103 against.
Emphasize rote learning - 2 for; 130 against.
Implement phonics reading - 8 for; 94 against.
Teach principles of patriotism - 13 for; 88 against.
Implement abstinence - 7 for; 95 against.
Separate classes by gender - 16 for; 86 against.
Teach fallacies of macro evolution - 7 for; 100 against.
All children are gifted - 12 for; 89 against.


At his best, 14% of school board association members supported his proposals.  And this guy is going to get things done for Greater Minnesota?


Elections have consequences...I sense a recurring theme here.

The stakes are high

Elections have consequences.

We fought a spirited campaign here in SD 18, as did my friends in other districts across Minnesota.  While I'm disappointed in the outcome, we don't have time to wallow in self pity.

With the Republicans in firm control of both the House and the Senate, a very conservative agenda is going to take hold and the impact in Greater Minnesota could be severe.

We all know we're facing a $6 billion budget hole.  During the campaign Republicans across the state and here in SD 18 questioned whether or not we really have a deficit.

Last year the State of Minnesota spent over $30 billion but got about $35 billion worth of government.  We offset that by "kicking the can down the road" for about $2 billion and by taking Federal Stimulus money for public safety, education, transportation and health care, saving many great programs and creating jobs across the state.

It's clear to me that a GOP majority will work to get closer to that $30 billion figure than the $35 billion figure.

Now, in 9 debates and forums across my Senate District, Senator-elect Newman (first time I've typed that) couldn't name a single budget area in which he would cut.  Not one.

He'll combine the Boxing Commission with the Combative Arts Commission and save the state $50,000 at most, but has not named a single area in which he would cut.

And he won't raise any revenue either.

After Tuesday, the party with no answers or solutions cannot be the "party of no" any longer.

They must lead, and based on what I've witnessed firsthand the past 11 months, we have reason to be concerned.

Last February during Precinct Caucuses, the Tea Party pushed groups out here in Wright County and they've named themselves "Camp America Grassroots" and the "Meeker County Revolution".  They're pushing a great amount of rhetoric and sheer craziness.

One of the talking points that emerged out of the craziness dealt with the size of government.  Now I don't dispute that the growth of government is sustainable, but we don't need to overstate claims to try and prove a point.

Case in point, Senator-elect Newman has stated on countless occasions that "in 1960, the State of Minnesota had a budget of $500 million and 3.5 million people.  In 2010, it has a budget of more than $30 billion and 5.5 million people."

Check out a simple inflation calculator, you'll find that $500 million indexed for inflation in 2009 is actually $35.81 billion.

Look at the demagoguery of Health and Human Services.  Senator-elect Newman and other tea party "elite".  Anyone who claims that we spend more on welfare than we do educating our kids is out of touch with reality.

In fact, out of the $10 billion spent in Human Services, more than $4.4 billion is spent on long term care and nursing homes.  Is that "welfare"?

In the coming weeks, we'll continue to cite the extreme examples of what the tea party movement in Greater Minnesota really stands for.

This much is clear.  We have to organize our communities to fight what's on the horizon.  We have to have Governor-elect Dayton's back.  He's going to play the role of goaltender, deflecting the strong conservative power play.

I'm ready to fight for places like Cokato, Annandale, and Silver Lake.

I'm ready to fight to make sure our kids have the same opportunities I did when I was a kid.

I'm ready to fight, are you?

We're back...

After an 11 month hiatus, the BMIARD is back.

The past 11 months have been a wonderful experience, working my way across SD 18 meeting more wonderful people and gaining a greater understanding for what the big issues in our area really are.

Armed with that knowledge, we'll be back in the blogosphere stronger than ever.

We have a lot of work to do.  A lot of good Democrats fell victim to the wave that swept through our nation this past week.  SD 18 has been "red" for a long time.  But many of the surrounding areas have elected Democrats in the past, specifically SD 13, 25, 14, 15, 16 and 20.  Many of these great folks lost.

The time to organize in Greater Minnesota is now.  The stakes are high but working together, we'll be able to move our communities in a progressive manner.