In an attempt to prop up the failing campaign of Shelley Madore, the incorrectly named \”Minnesota Independent\” recently published a boilerplate \”Oh a poor Democrat is being picked on by mean Republicans!\”. Unfortunately the author has sanded off quite a bit of the truth.
Let\’s start with the most egregious…
Campaign Funding
The liberal hacks at MN Independent start out by pointing out that Madore\’s Republican candidate Tara Mack has raised more than $27000, a rather impressive sum for an unknown challenger. They then criticize Mack for having contributors such as \”big-time GOP givers from outside the district such as local TV/radio mogul Stanley Hubbard, Minnesota Timberwolves owners Glen Taylor and former Target chief executive officer Robert Ulrich.\” This is obviously meant to leave the impression that Mack\’s campaign is mostly funding by big-wig rich fat-cats.
However, the truth is much much different…here are the contributions from those \”big-time GOPers\”
- Stanley Hubbard – $500
- Glen Taylor – $250
- Robert Ulrich – $500
For those of you that went to public school that\’s a grand total of $1250…out of $27000, roughly 4.5%. In fact, most of Mack\’s contributions are small donations from individuals. Wow, that\’s not the impression you get from the article.
If you look at Madore\’s records on the other hand, you see an entirely different story. She\’s raised a rather anemic $14397, especially for an incumbent. The big issue there is that $6700 of that is from lobbyists and PACs. And many of those PACs directly benefit from the big transportation tax increase that Madore voted for.
So the implication that Tara Mack is being supported by special interests just is not reflected by reality. Instead it\’s Shelley Madore who appears to be acting in the best interest of those PACs and lobbyists supporting her campaign. Not that she has much of a choice since few of her constituents appear willing to support her.
Media Access
The article also accuses Tara Mack of hiding from reporters…LOL, for those of you confused, lefty bloggers like to call themselves journalists and reporters….it\’s a vanity thing I guess. Anyway, they claim that Tara Mack is hiding herself from reporters because…
- She skipped one of twelve debates because she was out knocking on doors talking to residents of her district instead. She has committed to attending four of the twelve.
- She won\’t return a phone call from a lefty hack
So basically because she won\’t follow the schedule and be at the beck-and-call of reporters lefty hacks she\’s hiding from the media. Instead she deems it more important to go out to the actual neighborhoods of those she means to represent and talk with the people that could vote for her. Wow…that\’s damning \”evidence\”.
UPDATE : The article makes the accusation that she won\’t return a phone call from a lefty hack. I just talked to Tara Mack and she stated that she actually DID call him back several times but he has no voicemail. A \”reporter\” without a voicemail….huh. She then tried to email him. He responded with an email acknowledging her attempts to call and stated he\’d talk to her before he went forward with the article…
Now he publishes an article stating she refused to call him back. Just who is avoiding who here?
SCANDAL!
The article tries to manufacture a scandal out of….well, nothing. Here\’s the scandal…seriously. The Apple Valley City Council (headed by a Democrat) having learned that the usual polling place for Precinct 14 wasn\’t going to be available in 2008 had to pick a new polling place. Best they could manage was the River Valley Church which unfortunately isn\’t in Precinct 14.
Now here\’s the scandal part….Tara Mack\’s husband Justin is an assistant pastor at that church. However, even the Secretary of State (a Democrat) says there is nothing wrong with the arrangement. And the change was made before Tara Mack even filed for office.
Yeah….that\’s it…that\’s the scandal. Apparently we can\’t even trust a man of the cloth anymore. The Minnesota \”Independent\” mentions it in a \”oh well this may or may not be a scandal, but since I mention it it must be newsworthy!\” sort of way. Clearly the intent is to leave the impression that election fraud is taking place despite all evidence to the contrary….and lack of evidence to support it.
Big Bad Mean Republicans
And then there is the obligatory \”Republicans are mean!\” angle. In this case a local GOP activist (that would be me) has been publishing a site that has been pointing out the less flattering parts of Madore\’s record, especially those areas where she isn\’t exactly in line with the beliefs of her district. Every item is documented with a link to the legislation and voting record so that anyone that needs to can verify it themselves.
Reality
Fact of the matter is that Madore has been a horrible legislator with a record of voting that does not match the value of her constituents. The fact that she has received very few donations from residents of her district and has generated very little traction for her campaign says quite a bit about her as a candidate. I wouldn\’t be surprised in the least if the DFL chooses to cut the umbilical cord and cut her loose. They wouldn\’t be losing much.
[Crossposted at True North]