MN-08: Stauber emails broke the law

Pete Stauber is the Republican candidate for the U.S. House in MN-08, which happens to be where I live. From today:

Today, St. Louis County officials finally released controversial emails that Pete Stauber has been hiding from the taxpayers. Jordan Hagert, Campaign Manager for Joe Radinovich, released the following statement: “These emails are clear evidence that Pete Stauber has been openly and knowingly violating the law and county policy to use taxpayer resources to advance his political agenda. Stauber then went on to lie about the fact that he had used county staff and resources for campaign purposes, and he knew it was illegal to do so. It’s part of a broader pattern of misleading the public. He’s been as slippery on his policy positions as he has been untruthful about these emails, and it's clear Stauber can’t be trusted to do the right thing when no one is looking.”

You may be wondering why I’m not calling Stauber a liar, in my own remarks. For me, lying is when someone is consciously aware that she is making a claim that’s not true. Years of careful observation have convinced me that right-wing politicians are so far gone in motivated reasoning and cognitive rigidity that they honestly believe every word of the pitiable nonsense they spout. The best example, these days, is of course Stauber’s big booster “President” Donald "Traitor" Trump. People whose minds “work” like that are certainly not what we should have running things.

But, hey, DFL candidate Joe Radinovich was a wild kid, a long time ago, and that’s what really matters here, right? In fact, the Stauber campaign has been atrociously hypocritical, throughout.

Yeah Pete. Hammer such scofflaw things as traffic tickets. The purity of the "hard workers who obey the law in CD8" is a tremendous thing to run on, when little else favors a Trumpster Congressional wannabe, with Trumpster cohort criminal pleas falling right, left and center; immunity grants included. Millionaires cheating the government, big time crime, and Stauber turning a blind eye to such true CRIME to talk traffic tickets. - Developers are Crabgrass

Just the other week I had occasion to take a drive across the south part of the district. That is, past a lot of corn and soybean fields. We’ll see whether, given the effects of Trump's trade policies, this area is less red than usual.

If Republicans ran Minnesota - environment

This series is based mostly on what Party of Trump state legislators have been trying to do. It is not remotely meant to be anywhere near exhaustive. Just items I’ve chosen to particularly highlight, being brought together for easy reference. I may be adding stuff, from time to time. Part 1, finances and budget, here. Part 3, education, elections, &c., here.

- This article, from Fresh Energy, excellently summarizes a lot of what went down, especially with solar.

- As does this, in a variety of areas, from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

- Xcel energy tried to use plutocratic tools in the lege to pull a bunch of crap, some of which is described in the preceding. This was probably the most noxious:

While Xcel Energy has made notable progress on building new renewable energy sources, they’re still happy to shift ever-mounting nuclear plant costs onto ratepayers. This bill would have created a new, uncapped fee on customers’ bills to pay for those costs –and allowed Xcel to run around the normal Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) process for approving investments and costs. We put pressure on Xcel and their allies in the legislature from the start: they cancelled a hearing at the last minute, watered down the bill, and ultimately let the measure die. - Environment Minnesota

From the same article:

Companies like Enbridge can build pipelines and replace them without federal intervention –that’s why it’s up to states like Minnesota to act. Right now, the PUC is considering whether to allow Enbridge to expand its Line 3 pipeline, letting millions of gallons of heavy tar sands crude run through indigenous lands, family farms, and public green spaces. Some legislators decided that our evidence-based process isn’t fast enough, though, and tried to pass legislation that would instantly approve Line 3. Thankfully, Governor Mark Dayton vetoed the bill, responding to pressure from Environment Minnesota’s members.

MN House: Ginny Klevorn in 44A

From her website:

Care for our Seniors:

- Promote policies that protect seniors’ ability to live independently in their homes

- Protect the ability to retire with dignity and peace of mind

- Prepare for growing senior population through development and training of qualified in-home care

Here are some examples of what Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) has been up to in the lege:

- Fighting against workplace protections for women;

- Helping out the predatory payday loan industry;

- Promoting right-wing gerrymandering.

You get the picture. Fanatical and power-crazed. This seat’s overdue to flip.

MN House: Amir Malik in 37B

From his website:

The number one cause of bankruptcy in America is medical expenses. Healthcare needs to be affordable for Minnesotans. While there are great programs like MinnesotaCare, more needs to be done. A healthy workforce is a productive, tax-paying workforce. Healthy children are better able to focus on achieving academically.

As for Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine):

In fall 2016, after 21 months as a legislative aide, West, then 25, was running for an open seat representing Blaine in the Minnesota House.

That September, City Pages ran a story about West’s years-long history of racist and homophobic social media diatribes. There were posts about the Confederacy (loved it), Abe Lincoln (“worst president”), and “fagballs.”

On the eve of Barack Obama’s 2008 election, he wrote, “IT’S LYNCHING TIME.”

The next day, West was out of a job... but still on the ballot and suddenly regretful for “insensitive material” that didn’t “reflect who I am or what I believe.”

Enough of Blaine’s voters either bought this mea culpa or didn’t know about it. That November, West beat retired school teacher Susan Witt by less than 1 percent. - City Pages

A relevant item of interest is a recent study of the electoral effects of bigoted, anti-Muslim rhetoric and activity, discussed and linked here. I don’t know whether West’s campaign has been doing that, but there’s certainly plenty of it in the Minnesota Party of Trump in general.

MN House: Bill Vikander in 35A

From his website:

I promise to speak up for every citizen in our district and in our state, no matter who they are, where they're from, or where they're going.  We must close the gender wage gap.  We must have an honest conversation about race and how racism still impacts each and every Minnesotan and American.  We must remember our history and embrace immigrants once again--not turn them away out of fear or politics.  We must support a woman's right to make her own reproductive health care decisions.  We must act with urgency, clarity, and purpose to meet the challenge of climate change and preserve Minnesota's natural resources for generations to come.

These are not "progressive" or "conservative" values.  They are human values, born of basic kindness and decency.  They are Minnesota values.  

This is the seat vacated by Abigail Whelan, who left the legislature to walk Christ’s path in other ways. Nothing wrong with that, if you ask me, as long as those who “walk Christ’s path” don’t try to force their own interpretation of that onto the rest of us. Which Whelan certainly did. And the GOP candidate here, John Heinrich, is casting himself as Whelan's worthy successor.

Tough district? Absolutely. But whenever someone talks to me about tough districts, this cycle, I use a five-word rejoinder (actually, four words and a letter): “Sen. Doug Jones (D-Alabama).”

MN House: Hunter Cantrell in 56A

From his website:

 Year after year, Minnesota's state legislature has continued to push through bills in the dead of night that deal with billions of our tax-payer dollars during the final hours of the legislative session. Minnesotans deserve to have the opportunity to give feedback on the policies that affect us. I want to put an end to the practice of passing important bills that no one has had the chance to read by requiring that all state budget targets to be established 14 days before the end of the legislative session, and be made open to public testimony before coming to a vote.

Special interest groups ranging from the pharmaceutical industry to the tobacco companies continue to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to buy influence over our state government. I believe politics is about serving the needs of people in our communities over the needs of the special interest groups. I am committed to reducing the ability of special interest groups to buy power and exert influence over policy-makers at the expense of the people of Minnesota.

Rep. Drew Christensen (R-Savage) got attention when he first ran, and won, in 2014 because he was all of 21 years old at the time. In the lege he’s been a cipher. This is a supremely flippable seat.

MN House: Lori Ann Clark in 21A

From her website:

Investments in public education are especially vital to rural communities who want new families to move to their towns. Our state funding solutions need to be sufficient, steady, and reliable so rural schools can create the educational opportunities our students require to learn and succeed.

To compete in this ever-changing world, Lori Ann supports a strong cradle-to-grave public education system that starts with pre-school readiness and continues with occupational retraining options to keep workers skilled and working. 

We need to support our public education teachers and their rights to organize and collectively bargain.

This is the seat that Tim Kelly left after well-publicized, adulterous involvement with then-fellow legislator Tara Mack. Rep. Barb Haley (R-Red Wing) has not sought legislative prominence, so far. From what I saw she appears to be somewhat “moderate,” with moderate in quotes because it’s entirely relative to the raving, bigoted insanity of the contemporary Party of Trump. A DFLer like Clark in this seat would be far, far better.