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Currently my Minnesota House District is represented by the disaster known as Rep. Madore.  Fortunately, this election I have a much better option in the form of one Tara Mack.  And thanks to her wide support her campaign has generated she has put together a television commercial, which is airing on Charter.

I wish her the best in the next election.  It would be nice to have a representative that doesn\’t see me as a human ATM.

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]

It\’s amazing how consistent the MN DFL can be. In a good economy, the people can afford to pay more in taxes. In a slow economy, the people can afford to pay more in taxes. Where they think all this money comes from is beyond me.

What is clear though, is that the DFL has never seen a tax they don\’t like.

Tuesday afternoon, Dakota joined several other metro counties in approving the sales tax. That in addition to the previously passed gas taxes. That\’s in addition to an endless list of other taxes that either have already been approved or are in the works. My own legislator, Shelley Madore, who clearly doesn\’t represent her constituents, has been at the forefront of much of this taxapalooza effort.

It\’s bad enough that in an environment of high gas prices, they felt the need to artificially raise the price even more by imposing more taxes on gasoline. Now with a sluggish economy, it will cost most metro residents more just to tread water as virtually anything they do will incur even more in taxes.

When the transportation tax bill (HF2800) was passed, the Override Six Republicans were described as \”brave\” by the DFL. Tell me what is so brave about making people\’s life more difficult. What is so brave about forcing economic hardship on residents who don\’t have the choice of just charging their employer more as the government is able to do??

This April Fool\’s Day the joke is clearly on the taxpayer, except these jokes hurt….right in the wallet. It should be clear to all voters that come November it\’s time to vote these jokers out.

[Crossposted at True North]

On the MN House floor today, while discussing the massive tax grab, otherwise known as HF 2800, Rep. Shelley Madore (Apple Valley – D) gave a very impassioned speech on her reasons for voting to override the Governor\’s veto of the bill. In order to justify her vote, she apparently felt the need to grab the moral highroad…through less than upstanding methods. She stated…

The bridge went down on August 1st and a gentleman from my district died. He left four children and I went to their funeral…I went to his funeral. And I stood there with his family and I looked them in the face. And what you\’re asking me is if his life is worth a nickel a gallon? I\’m telling you it is. Those four children will never have their father come home. He was trying to get home to his family to have dinner. That\’s all he was trying to do on the bridge that day. And I will vote for that, as I have publicly stated for the last two election cycles, I will vote for this today. Thank you.

source – At time 01:57:30 in the house floor session (2/25/08) video.

Shelley, why do you feel the need to use another man\’s gravestone as a bully pulpit? Especially when it\’s not true.

Here are the facts :

1. NOBODY in Shelley Madore\’s district (Apple Valley) lost their life to the 35W Bridge Collapse.
2. All indications are that no amount of money would have saved the 35W Bridge, if in fact it fell due to a design flaw
3. The 35W bridge was not being neglected due to lack of funds, as maintenance was being done on the bridge when it feel.

Facts #2 and #3 are just inconvenient for Shelley Madore, as they destroy one of the central DFL talking points about that disaster.

However, it\’s particularly distasteful that Rep. Madore has to capitalize on the death of another person in order to justify her votes. Instead, she should just be honest with her citizens by admitting that she has never seen a tax she didn\’t like.

Rep. Madore, it\’s bad enough that you follow the lead of your inner-city liberal buddies and vote against the interests of your own district time and again. However, it\’s just plain revolting and despicable that not only do you use a man\’s grave as your soapbox, but then use his body to shield yourself from criticism.

[Crossposted at True North and at Madore Watch]

The Minnesota Legislature is back in session. And leave it to the DFL to show their colors on the first frigging day. They can\’t even go a single frigging day without proposing raising more taxes on us. What makes it even worse is my own legislator was one of the DFL jackasses to offer up the bill. Seriously Rep. Madore, can you go one day without either raising my taxes or wrapping me in more legislative red tape?

You know what, forget it, I know the answer. Big fat No.

The MN DFL wants to raise the gas tax, along with damn near every other tax, to pay for more transportation improvements.  Heh, didn\’t we just pass a transportation amendment last election?? Wasn\’t that advertised to be the answer to all our transportation costs???  Whatever happened to all that money?? Oh yeah….light rail.

Wow….I was already not looking forward to the start of the legislative session. It means another year of reading through House Journals. If you\’ve never done it, it\’s a bit like being beaten over the head with a fossilized dog turd. If these are the type of bills I have to look forward to this is gonna be an interesting year.

Apparently the MN DFL is rather proud of their accomplishments so far, in fact one of their members, Shelley Madore, went so far as to send out a letter including the following:

Last week the Minnesota House met in a marathon stretch of floor sessions to pass all of the major finance bills. After 53 hours of floor debate, just short of a House record – we\’re a full two to three weeks ahead of schedule compared with previous legislative sessions.

Apparently she\’s proud that she can raise your taxes faster than previous legislators can.

She then went on to highlight some of the bills the DFL has forced through that she is most proud of. However, she left out some of their more \”infamous\” activities. And because I\’m such a nice guy I thought I\’d list some of the most interesting ones here.

Here are some things the DFL has done already this legislative session

• Voted Against Income Tax Cuts For All Working Minnesotans. Voted to suppress an amendment by Rep. Brod to lower the income tax rate on the first $20,000 earned by any worker.
• Voted Against Tax Breaks For Small Businesses And Family Farms. Voted against an amendment by Rep Zellers to extend the same tax breaks to family farms and small businesses that were not on reservation lands as were being offered those that were located on tribal land.
• Voted Against Encouraging Job Creation. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Kohls to extend depreciation credits for businesses that modernize their operations and create jobs.
• Voted Against Extending Tax Relief For Working Families And Employers. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Erik Paulsen to extend the bill\’s one year of tax relief for working families and employers for a second year.
• Voted Against Education Tax Credits For Families. Voted to suppress an amendment by Rep. Buesgens to increase the education tax credit for families by allowing the credit to rise by the rate of inflation each year.
• Voted To Allow Foreign Taxes To Apply To Minnesotans. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Seifert to bar the Council on the Great Lakes Compact from imposing a tax on Minnesota.
• Voted Against Requiring Voter ID. Voted to suppress an amendment by Rep. Hoppe to require voters to show photo ID at the polls. Even though other DFL bills would require one to show ID to deliver cans to a recycling center or use credit cards.
• Voted To Keep Wind Mills Even If Utility Costs Jump More Than 10%. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Kohls to allow the Public Utilities Commission to delay requirements that utilities meet \”renewable energy\” requirements if the addition of such sources would raise electricity bills by at least 10 percent.
• Voted To Punish Consumers If Lawsuits Delay Utilities Innovations. Voted against an amendment to waive fines on utilities (which are passed onto consumers) if the completion of renewable energy projects are delayed by nuisance lawsuits.
• Voted Against Allowing Minnesota To Even Consider Nuclear Power. Voted against an amendment to allow the Public Utilities Commission to at least consider adding a nuclear power plant at some point in the future. Minnesota is the only state with such a moratorium.
• Voted Against Requiring A 60% Majority To Pass Tax Increases. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Berns to require a sixty-percent majority to approve any increase in taxes.
• Voted Against Giving Legislators Time To Read Bills Before A Vote. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Olson to give Representatives at least 48 hours to read bills and 24 hours notice before taking up legislation on the Floor.
• Voted Against Giving Legislators Time To Read Bills Before A Vote Again. This this she voted against an amendment by Rep. Olson to give Representatives at least 24 hours to read bills before taking up legislation on the Floor.
• Voted Against Posting Per Diem Information On The Internet. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Kohls to provide on-line information oh how many dollars in \”per diem payments\” are claimed by each Representative.
• Voted To Kill The Minority Report On HF 946. Voted to kill the Republican version of the Transportation Finance Bill, which did not include the DFL\’s gas tax, tab fees, wheelage taxes, local taxes, and other taxes and fees.
• Voted For The Majority Report On HF 946. Voted for the DFL version of the Transportation Finance Bill, which included gas taxes, tab fees, wheelage taxes, local taxes and other taxes and fees.
• Voted Against Eliminating New Sales And Use Taxes. Voted against an amendment by Rep. DeLaForest to remove HF 946s new sales and use taxes.
• Voted Against Success Criteria For New Taxes. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Kohls to end new metro-area taxes if commuting time is not decreased by three minutes in five years.
• Voted Against Allowing Voters To Vote On A Tax Increase. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Berns to allow metro voters to have a referendum on new metro-area taxes.
• Voted Against Eliminating The Increase In The Gas Tax. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Demmer to eliminate the proposed increase in the gasoline tax.
• Voted To Allow The DOT To Research New Ways To Tax Voters. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Emmer that would disallow the DOT from using trunk highway funds to research new methods of taxing Minnesotans on the basis of the miles they drive.
• Voted To Raise Fees For Deer Hunters. Voted against an amendment by Rep McNamara that would have deleted the proposed fee increase on deer hunters.
• Voted To Raise Fishing Fees on Tourists. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Zellers that would have deleted increases in fishing fees on tourists which could hurt Minnesota\’s tourism industry.
• Voted To Eliminate 4×4 Trails. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Hackbarth that would have deleted a plan to eliminate most 4×4 trails.
• Voted To Increase Fees For Fishing Contests. Voted against an amendment by Rep. DeLaForest to delete a proposed fee increase on fishing contest permits.
• Voted To Maintain Moratorium On Nuclear Power. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Peppin that would have deleted Minnesota\’s moratorium on even considering adding more nuclear power. Minnesota is the only state with such a moratorium.
• Voted To Allow Political Use Of School Equipment Or Resources. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Holberg to bar political use of school equipment or resources.
• Voted To Allow School Employees To Campaign At School Functions. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Dean to bar school employees from campaigning on school grounds or at school functions while acting in an official role.
• Voted To Allow Intrusive Surveys By Schools Without Parental Permission. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Holberg to require school districts to have parents \”opt in\” for intrusive surveys and similar inquiries into the private lives of students or families.
• Voted Against Tuition Freeze. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Ruth that would have frozen tuition increases for two years for MnSCU and University students.
• Voted For In-State Tuition For Illegal Aliens. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Severson that would have deleted the Democrats\’ proposal to allow in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.
• Voted For State Funding Of Abortions. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Otremba that would have prevented state funds from being used to pay for abortions.
• Voted To Allow Abortions Based On The Gender Of The Child. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Erickson that would have make abortions unlawful when made on the basis of gender selection for the unborn child.
• Voted Against Drug Testing For Welfare Applicants. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Emmer that would have required drug testing to apply for or renew applications for welfare benefits.
• Voted To Allow Oral Contraceptives For Minors Without Parental Consent. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Erickson that would have required parents to be notified before oral contraceptives are prescribed for their minor children.
• Voted Against Requiring Hospital To Notify Parents If Their Child Is Treated For Sexual Assault. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Dettmer that would require hospitals treating a minor child for sexual assault to notify the parents.
• Voted Against Notifying Patients About Mercury In Their Vaccines. Voted against an amendment by Rep. Brod that would require health care providers to notify their patients if the vaccine they are administering contains more than a trace amount of mercury.

Yes I\’d say the MN DFL has alot to be proud of…definitely very efficient legislators. Unfortunately, they are efficient at raising our taxes and voting against the interests of their constituents.

[Adapted from a post I made over at Madore Watch. Kevin Ecker is an nationally-syndicated author whose articles can be read at EckerNet, Madore Watch, and SD37 Republicans. He is also author of the \”Yet More Ways To Skin A Cat\” and \”Landmines – And Other Practical Jokes Gone Wrong\”.]

I have a number of impressions and alot of observations. As it\’s post-midnight and still fresh in my mind, this post may be a little jumbled but bear with me here.

Joe Tucci and I drove to the Town Hall Meeting at the Lakeville South High School in the EckerNetMobile, a gas-guzzling SUV. We were stuck behind a Hippie packed Prius, and I made the comment that they had to heading towards the Town Hall. Sure enough they pulled into a parking lot full of vehicles with liberal bumper stickers. Oh joy. Out front, protesters….opposing them, two young elementary school aged kids holding a Support The Troops banner. Might I remind you, it was like 26 degrees and snowing. Beautiful…I don\’t even like kids and I wanted to adopt them.

Inside, wow….hippies everywhere. Our plans were slightly in doubt because we were told that while the building was capable of wifi, it was not turned on. And that we wouldn\’t be able to setup up the tripod for the camera, but could hold onto it and film it. Damn

Joe Tucci, Michael Brodkorb, J. Ewing (frequent blog commenter) and myself sat in the back row. While I was trying to figure out how to set up the camera, Michael pulls a mini tripod out of his bag and offers it, which was perfect to sit on the seat in front of me. But seriously, who the hell just carries a mini tripod with them??

So I got to film the entire thing. I\’m gonna pass off the footage to Andy Aplikowski of Residual Forces who borrowed us the camera and he\’s gonna splice it all together and post it on the web. I\’ll post a link when that happens. Some good scenes in there, some of which I\’ll cover here.

Overall John Kline hit a home run with this event. He stood in front of a crowd of mostly hostile people and not only held his ground, but scored points of his own.

It was clear that the local lefties had been foaming at the mouth over this for a long time. Many of them had their questions comments speeches rants, written out ahead of time. And my guess is they had scripted it beforehand, because each time one of the scripted people got up to speak it was the same group that stood up to clap afterwards. Unfortunately, for them, they didn\’t pay attention to the format of the event. They apparently didn\’t realize the first half was just for comments, the second half was Q&A. So for the first half Kline just stood up there and listened. A politician listened?? Yes, he did. And it frustrated the hell out of the moonbats because one lady exclaimed why wasn\’t he answered their slackjawed statements?? At which point she was reminded of the format…like school children, you have to tell them several times.

Several moments stuck out, some of them in retrospect, some of them I know even before were going to be memorable. One in particular was when a woman got to speak and started by saying she was a Gold Star Mother. I couldn\’t help but wonder how many of these hippies knew the difference between a \”Gold Star\” mother and a \”Blue Star\” mother. So I knew where this was going and wow, she hit the ball out of the park with her speech, and when she was done quite a few people got up to applaud the sacrificies of her and her son. Not the lefties of course, they just sat there sulking.

Retired Lt. Col. Joe Repya got up to talk at one point, and in addition to an excellent comment, he called out the lefties in the audience, declaring that they should be ashamed of themselves for not standing up and applauding for a Gold Star Mother and her deceased son.

A letter from a soldier in Iraq was read, who pleaded with Kline to let them stay in Iraq, let them complete their job. Just give them the support they need and they\’ll do the rest. It\’s hard to argue with that….which didn\’t stop one local leftie from standing up and just proclaiming it a bunch of spin. Spin?!? A Gold Star Mother and an soldier in Iraq just spun their own sacrifices?? What are you smoking lady??

An Iraqi refugee was even in the audience and talked of his admiration for our country, and the sacrificies of his fellow countrymen. He talked of the expectations of the Iraqi people and what they had feared before we came. And what they wanted from us now. Basically they want our support and the time to get on their feet. They want to be free, but they\’re new at this.

Towards the end, things were starting to get unhinged. Including some hysterical ravings from some woman in the audience. Somewhere in there she objected to being called unpatriotic (nobody called her that…it\’s liberal talking points), and then called Kline dispicable. Kline waited until she was done and said he understood why she was upset if her patriotism was questioned, but that he also gets upset when he is called dispicable. 😆 Huzzah!! You could almost watch the lefties brain implode as she frothed at the mouth and damn near hurdled auditorium seats so she could get at the mike and start screaming unintelligible rantings at Kline.

There were a few lefty bloggers there, who apparently did their usual job of misrepresenting the facts…

Reporter Jeff Fecke has called in from the town hall meeting sponsored by Rep. John Kline (R – Minn.). Although wifi access has been enabled, Kline\’s staff has asked that there be no live blogging of the event.

Incorrect. Nobody ever said there was no liveblogging. Both in private and in public. I spoke with several members of the Kline staff and it was never related that there would be no liveblogging. Just that while the school had wifi, it wasn\’t turned on. And I verified this with my laptop….which I had out, open and turned on. Plus both Joe Tucci and MDE were liveblogging next to me. Nobody questioned it.

As of 6:50, media has not been allowed into the event to set up, and they are also not being given an option to plug into the audio equipment in order to record feeds..

I also asked about a camera setup and I was told we wouldn\’t be able to setup a tripod. They wanted to treat EVERYONE equally. Equality, what\’s wrong with equality?? Lefty bloggers need their own affirmative action program now??

Fecke will be reporting back later this evening, so stay tuned for future coverage.

That\’s some questionable reporting…but it\’s about what you\’d expected from the liberal media.

Update: Michael Brodkorb, Republican operative and chair of SD 38 in Kline\’s district, appears to be live blogging at his site, despite the restrictions placed on other bloggers at the event.

Michael Brodkorb (FORMER chair of SD38), was seated two seats away from me, and yes he appears to be live blogging….which no restrictions were placed upon. And even if there were, how do you explain that Joe Tucci was ALSO liveblogging. Joe Tucci is not a chair, is not an operative, he refuses to attend most political functions, hell, he\’s barely allowed in public. Yet he liveblogged. I had my laptop out for part of the time, until I got too busy filming the event and put it aside.

My guess is that Fecke asked if there would be wifi, was told no, so he went to go sulk in the corner and came up with this sensational story that there were restrictions. Little did he know that others would be there to call his bluff. Do your fact checking first Fecke, there is a first time for everything.

Ok that\’s a summary of the highlights….to read some of the live blogging that went on (because there were no restrictions on it), feel free to check them out. For the PG-13 version, try MDE. For the R-rated version (it would have been X, but I convinced Tucci to keep his pants on), check out KAR. Also got to finally meet Joe Repya, good guy, very personable, but didn\’t get much time to talk as he wanted to seek out the Gold Star Mother before she left and get a chance to talk to her.

That\’s all, I\’ll update this post when the video is available. If you were there, and have some updates, comments, additions, whatever, feel free to add them in the comments.

Semper Madidus!

Over at the Shelley Madore Watch site I run for my BPOU, I put together a post that is basically a mid-term report card of sorts since we\’ve now reached the halfway point for the 2007 legislative session.  And since she pretty much votes however the DFL leaders tell her to vote, you can pretty much just replace her name with DFL and see what the DFL has been up to so far in St. Paul.  Quite a few eye-raisers in there, including some votes that some people normally don\’t see. So check it out if you are interested in what the DFL has been up to so far…