On Making Sausage...
Michelle Bachman was a speaker earlier and actually had nothing but praise for the other congressional candidates who were there. She was in her best, smiling "June Cleaver on steroids" form. Michelle was quite gracious and pledged to abide by the 6th CD endorsement.
Jay Esmay was also on hand, and the more he's on the trail, the more polished a candidate he's beginning to be. He spoke regarding his experience in national defense (being an Air Force Pilot for special ops, having had extensive training in anti-terrorism) as well as having to compete in the world market (in his business at Cold Spring Granite) with the likes of China and India..
Jay has stated that he's not afraid of going toe-to-toe with anybody, and that he will not compromise on his principles.
Jay expressed concern about career politicians making decisions based on maintaining power vs. doing the right thing.
Jay's overall message is that we need to send people to Washington DC with real life experience.
He described Patty Wetterling as a nice person, but one who is weak on the issues... Jay stated that if another candidate were to face Wetterling, the debate will center on the personalities.. Jay presented himself as the only candidate that can drive the campaign on the issues.
Jay also expressed that he would abide by the endorsement.
King Banaian is also here and appears to be chomping at the bit in order to post, so I'll have more later on.
Right now we're going through the platform amendment resolutions, and at the rate we're going, we just may be here til midnight.
****UPDATE****
Okay, back to blogging...
Jim Knoblach also spoke at the convention. Knoblach stated that the greatest honor and privelege he had ever had was to serve as the SD 15 State Representative.
Jim talked about how things have changed since he was elected 12 years ago. In 1998 he ran the House Republican campaign committee, at which time the Republicans took and kept the majority in the Minnesota House for the first time in 30 years.
Knoblach also noted how three years ago he chaired the Minnesota House Ways & Means committee, and took credit (rightly so, to his credit) for engineering a 4.5 billion dollar deficit he inherited into a present-day surplus.
Jim repeated his campaign slogan: an electable conservative who gets things done. He stated that he cut porkbarrel spending, co-authored the marriage bill,and authored legislation that led to increased adoptions.
Knoblach noted that this is going to be a very difficult election... and noted that it was one of the top-20 elections in the United States.
He ended his speech with the notion that whomever receives the nod for CD 6 may prove the deciding factor of which party controls Congress after the upcoming November elections.
Knoblach noted that he has won in this area in the past by 60% margins. He believes that he can keep this area Republican, and said that Wetterling will win if any other candidate is chosen to run against her.
Knoblach parted with an admonishment to vote for "Knoblach delegates.." although he reaffirmed his pledge to abide by the CD 6 endorsement.
(as an aside, it is interesting that some candidates had a "slate" of delegates they knew would support their nomination. Jay Esmay, in a toungue-in-cheek gesture, handed out brochures containing his "slate" (which was empty, save for a message to vote for delegates who would send a consistent conservative to Congress).
Phil Krinkie gave the most blistering speech of all. His words, paraphrased:
"When you first get elected to office, it's a very exciting thing...
When you first walk into the chamber, it's an awesome experience.
But then you get a little complacent. Maybe you don't show up as early. Maybe you tend to forget who got there.
Maybe you left work a little early; maybe you didn't get a report done on time.
That's what happens to people who you and other republicans elect. They start listening to lobbyists. The Mayor says "we really need this project." The Speaker says, "We really need your vote" They forget who got them there, and what they were to achieve. They wander off the path.
The last Republican House caucus meeting took 3 hours, with only 62 people in the room. Because they forgot who sent them. They forgot what they were there to do.
Speaker Sviggum said,"you need to look in the mirror." But what the speaker forgot to say is that you need to look at the Party Platform. you need to look at the guiding principles of our Republican values. That's what he forgot to say.
I chaired the tax committee that recently voted on the Twins stadium. Minnesota taxpayers are going to pay $800 million dollars for a guy whose net worth was over 2 billion dollars. 7 Republicans out of 15 voted yes, even though the Platform states we do not support taxpayer funded stadiums!
They voted against the people who sent them there.
I've been a member of the Republican Party for 26 years, and in the state legislature for 16 years. I've never forgotten who sent me there. I've never forgotten or failed to uphold the principles of our Party."
Krinkie, during the speech, did not state that he would abide by the endorsement. However, when I later talked with him privately, he appeared to suggest (in so many words) that he would abide by the endorsement.
And now for the sausage making part:
The slate of delegates were approved with minimal difficulty (yours truly is now officially a CD 6 delegate and a state delegate). There was a challenge that I was a bit uncomfortable with; that being a local party big shot (Tom Mathews) who managed (barely) to upstage a recently returned Iraqi vet (Ken Eisenhart). Eisenhart was also challenged at the same time by another relative party unknown, who by his own admission, was asked to run for delegate by Jim Knoblach. I just thought it was poor form for him to challenge a guy who paid his dues by putting blood and guts on the line for his country (But then again, the challenger was a Knoblach delegate, and the vet was an Esmay delegate. BTW, It should be noted that although Esmay has been speaking to delegates, Esmay has not asked anyone to "run for delegate" on his behalf to pad his votes).
Some highlights of the amendments to the platform passed by the SD 15 convention include:
- We should eliminate all advertising promoting state-sponsored gambling by radio,television or free promotional items...
- We should increase the legal age of gambling from 18 to 21.
- We should not recognize homosexuals as a protected class...
- That Minnesota communities should be free to describe their own standards of decency. This should include the right for local government to restrict and/or ban the operation of adult boookstores, strip clubs, and other such venues that run contrary to community standards...
- That a fair share of state monies allocated for family planningbe given to faith-based organizations providing natural family planning.
- That legislation should be passed protecting property rights of families and individuals from land grabs by private parties vs. public use.
- That Congress needs to resolve and pass the budget prior to dealing with policy issues.
- That we support a line item Presidential Veto
- That taxpayer monies not be used in a public campaign for either party..
- That we support a unicameral legislature for the State of Minnesota
- That we support banning the earmarking of location-specific spending and that appropriations bills in Congress should require all expenditures to be subject to a merit-based review and vote process..
- That we should promote passage of U.S. Representative Ron Paul's HR-1146 to get the U.S. out of the U.N. and to move the U.N. headquarters out of the U.S. (I really liked this one)
- That Minnesota adopt the same language as South Dakota in an effort to return the decision of abortion to the states.
- That we oppose all gun registration and any other bills that work against private ownership of firearms..
- That we should add an exception for when the mother's life is in jeopardy with regard to bans on abortion.
- That we oppose universal mental health screening for all children without parental consent.
- That the Minnesota legislature should pass legislation that would grant prental access to and control over their minor children's medical treatment, without requiring the child's consent, for cases of sexually-transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol abuse, and pregnancy.
- That we oppose defining the providing of food and water as "medical treatment".
As for the proposals that were shot down:
- To strike opposition in the platform to funding the Northstar Corridor and light rail (King Banaian gave a rousing speech against this--and the measure was defeated).
- That a special tax be imposed on soft drinks with the proceeds going for health care (this one went down in flames, 88-1).
- That we delete language in the platform calling for the re-institution of capital punishment
- That we provide for the safety of women undergoing abortions by requiring that the physician peforming same has admitting priveleges at local hospitals.
- Be it resolved that we support Jim Knoblach for the 6th Congressional District. (!!!!)
I don't know who generated this, but at face value, it appeared to be a dirty trick by a Knoblach campaign operative. Interestingly enough, a motion was made early on to put this item in front of the list so as to ensure a vote before too many delegates left. I quickly stepped up and addressed the convention that this entire motion was way out of order, as the purpose of the convention was not to endorse a congressional candidate. The motion was, appropriately, shot down.
An exceedingly ugly part of sausage making, to be sure.
****UPDATE****
King presents some interesting scenarios regarding the prospects of what could happen at the larger CD 6 convention in Monticello next month.
****UPDATE*****
King states:
Yes, I was at the meeting at which the slate was decided (I represented Esmay). This practice has been going on at this BPOU since I've been involved with it in the mid 1990s. I thought it odd myself, but generally the proposed slate is crafted in deference to those who have donated much time and/or treasure to the local BPOU. At the meeting, representatives of the delegates were invited to look over the proposed list and were allowed input as to whether the choices were appropriate. The larger body of delegates was allowed to challenge anyone on the list at the convention. I believe this is as much a time saving measure as anything, since electing a slate of 27 delegates and 27 alternates from scratch would be a monumental task, at best. Additionally, there is a rule that the BPOU leadership (i.e., chair, vice chair, secretary, etc.) are allowed delegate spots de facto, and can not be challenged.
First, the BPOU leadership decided to create its own slate of delegates and alternates the previous Wednesday. Psyc will have to comment on that, since he was apparently at the meeting the slate was decided
BTW, we did come up with an endorsed candidate for the SD 15 Minnesota Senate Seat--SCSU aviation professor Jeff Johnson. King Banaian has his reservations regarding this candidate, although he agrees with me that he would make a good state senator. However, King doesn't think that he has what it takes to be elected. My take on it is, like Esmay used to be, Jeff Johnson is still a little green behind the ears. There is a long way to go between now and the November elections, and I think that Jeff will buckle up and will gain some much-needed self-confidence as the season progresses.
***YET ANOTHER UPDATE*****
Doug has a good rundown of the goings on at the SD 50 convention, also held today).
(Filed under elections)
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