If we are going to end this era of dysfunctional government, we somehow have to restore trust in government. One can’t blame the voters for not trusting government if they don’t feel they can trust the election process. There are some in the media who are trying to scare people into thinking the 2008 MN governor election was a fraud and that it is happening again. State GOP leader Tony Sutton says “something smells" and “we won’t get rolled this time.” Fox 9 TV anchor Heidi Collins suggests something is fishy because the Sec of State office was prepared for a recount and asks Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, "why is it happening here again?" Rush Limbaugh compares the 2008 Franken-Coleman recount to the corrupt elections in Iran. Bill O’Reilly claims “the fix is in” referring to the 2008 recount. Finally, around noon on Election Day of 2010, the Republican Party lawyer sends out press releases to local papers questioning the integrity of the election.

As the process is coming to a close, it might surprise you to hear what some of the key people involved in the 2008 recount had to say.

Fritz Knaack, Attorney for Norm Coleman, on Almanac, “There was a lot of criticism and a lot of suspicion, let’s say, that was generated in the senate race, the fact of the matter is… we were looking for fraud and we didn’t see it. 2/5/10

Joe Friedberg, attorney for Norm Coleman, said before MN Supreme Court, 6/1/09 “There was no election fraud. There was no voter fraud.”

Jim Langdon, Attorney for Norm Coleman, in response to a question from Justice Paul Anderson, 2/12/09: “Not a whiff of fraud.”

Two different courts ruled unanimously on most of the major decisions concerning the recount.

The first court released a statement “After seven weeks of trial, the factual record is devoid of any allegations of fraud, tampering, or security breaches on Election Day, during the recount process, or during the election contest”

MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson (appointed by Tim Pawlenty) stated, “it was an open and transparent process. That openness worked spectacularly well and helped promote whatever trust there was in the highly scrutinized process.”

Former Republican Sec of State Mary Kiffmeyer, stated in 2006, “No other state in the country has gone to that degree of security in regards to the ballots, source code and checking it afterwards. It’s a great place to be in. Minnesota can really be proud.”

MN has 30,000 election workers, several thousand voting machines, and more than 2 million voters. It is inevitable there will be some machine malfunction - that is why we have a paper trail of every vote cast. Minnesota Majority says there have been “over 40 convictions of voter fraud stemming from the 2008 elections.” Virtually all of these are individual cases of a convicted felon voting while still on probation. This is hardly the kind of systemic fraud that FOX News and others are saying stole the election. The Minnesota courts agreed.

Tony Sutton talked about a smell test in reference to the fact that Republicans did so well in the State but did not win the Governors race. WCCO TV did a Reality Check and found that in 2006, DFL candidate Amy Klobuchar won the Senate by 20% points, yet Tim Pawlenty won the Governors race. In 2008 Barack Obama won the vote in MN by 10% and DFL candidate Franken won by only .01%. The lesson: Minnesotans do not always vote a straight ticket.

According to Wabasha County officials, the election in Wabasha County went very smoothly, despite some of the rumors floating around.

It is not easy to discern the truth in the media frenzy surrounding us today. At some point people have to take personal responsibility to seek out the truth. In this case, ask yourself who can I believe: the attorneys who argued the case for both sides, the two courts that listened to all the evidence, and Gov Pawlenty who certified the election, OR do I believe Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Bill O’Reilly and Tony Sutton? With the growing popularity of cable news, talk radio, and the internet over recent years, we've seen that if something is repeated enough, by different people, and in different media, many people assume that it must be true. Hopefully people will come to the realization that repetition does not equal truth. It may be best to just “turn them off”.

As the TakeAction Minnesota Program Assistant, my voice is the first to greet callers on the phone.  On an ordinary day at TakeAction Minnesota, I take 3-4 phone calls every hour, which are usually for other staff members.  However, since TakeAction Minnesota’s Hmong Organizing Program (HOP) launched its GOTV radio ads on 1600 AM Hmong Diverse and the Hmong MN Radio on October 21st, I almost immediately began receiving a regular stream of calls from older non-English speaking Hmong voters who heard the ads and became interested in voting for Senator Mark Dayton.  Fortunately, I am also Hmong and speak the language fluently, and my role quickly shifted from transferring calls to taking them myself.  The “Hmong calls” range from questions about polling locations, to why Mark Dayton deserves the Hmong vote, to requests for transportation and translation, and to (my personal favorite) how to spell his name.  

As the final GOTV moments approach us, the office has been completely converted into an Election Action Center for our Hmong and Native GOTV Programs.  Volunteers have been arriving by the dozens to receive training on how to phonebank, doorknock, transport voters, translate, and enter data.  The smell of garlicky shrimp fried rice, the blurred voices of Hmong and English speaking phone bankers, and the anxiety and urgency of our organizing have been occupying the same space and time together.  Calls have picked up even more compared to last week; they have been so frequent that although one other HOP staff has been taking them with me, we’ve still miss a few. 

Overall, it has been uber-electrifying to be involved with the immediate and tremendous response to the Hmong radio ads.  Based on the abundance of eager Hmong callers I have been speaking with, I am certain that HOP’s use of radio ads has enabled TakeAction Minnesota to engage and empower an otherwise disconnected base of people to the democratic voting process.  Today, I even received a call from Hmong radio host Phia Xiong, who needed help to track live voting results because Hmong listeners were persistently calling him for election updates.   I could not be more proud be part of an organization that HAS MADE IT EASIER for Hmong Americans to fully participate as citizens.  I feel lucky to have this unique opportunity to bridge my people withTakeAction Minnesota and the election process.   Most of all, I am proud to represent TakeAction Minnesota along with HOP to my elders and the rest of our beloved community.  

Monday, October 25, Altura MN.   A face-to-face fifteen-minute sit-down with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.  It’s a great opportunity I’d been offered, now what would I do with it?

At the kitchen table of the LaVerne and Arlene Nelson family,  Arlene speaks about their farm—the land, the pasture and crops their healthy soils gift them, and the herd of organic dairy cows supported by that all.  The Nelsons share challenges they’ve encountered farming.  Then Arlene in her characteristically soft-spoken manner offers up the crown jewel; the farm and the lifestyle it supports is healthy and viable. LaVerne and Arlene can confidently, comfortably invite in the next generation. Sitting with us at the table is son Ross who along with his wife Tiffany eagerly embraces this opportunity!  That’s it!  That’s the message I want to convey to Mark Ritchie and the crowd that assembled here on the Nelson farm—a message of hope—a message of opportunity.

If we dare to look beyond the narrow path of conventional thinking, and if we have the courage, ingenuity, and determination to strike out in another direction, there is good news for family farmers and struggling rural communities.  Ross is the antithesis of the “average American farmer”, age 57 and aging rapidly.  Ross is a member-owner of an independent cooperative that has over 49% of its membership at or below age 45, and getting younger.  How’s that happening?  It’s more unconventional thinking with a business model that pays the farmer first and runs the business on what’s left.  That economic stability for family farmers translates into increased stability for the small towns in which those farmers live. 

We need new thinking in agriculture.  Sustainable farming, whether it is organic farming, direct marketing through CSA’s or farmers markets, or other options, is an agriculture of hope and opportunity.  It takes into account the relationship between agricultural production, and the human, environmental, social, cultural and economic health of our state and its citizens.  And when it comes to policy decisions and practices regarding Minnesota agriculture, that’s the lens through which I want my leaders looking.  I want them to understand and embrace those relationships, then commit to nurturing them. 

This “Get Out The Vote” event was a high-energy, educational, entertaining adventure.  Where else would I ever have the chance to exchange visions with a prominent leader? And what a thrill to discover that with Mark Ritchie’s farm background and rural roots, HE GETS IT!!!  He shares in my hopeful vision.  Not only does he know his crops — taking notice of Nelson’s new seeding of alfalfa, and then correctly identifying a rye planting — but more importantly, he understands the value of family farmers and the role they play in the vitality and success of rural Minnesota.  There’s good news down on the farm!  There’s good news in Minnesota politics! 

Oh, by the way,  go VOTE!!!

Loretta Jaus,
Gibbon, MN
(Sibley County)
 

In SD62 we have been organizing some phone banking and door knocking.  There is a core group of about 8 of us here that has been working with reNEW from the start.  The momentum has slowed some, but people are still getting out there.  We have held 4 door knocks throughout late Sept. and Oct. and two phone banks.  During the door knocks we have one person stay behind to hook up volunteers that show up and to do volunteer recruitment calls while we’re out on the doors.  Each of the days we’ve had about 3 or 4 people out on the doors.

We’re finding a mixed bag still in SD62 and continue to persuade voters.  In my neighborhood near the Riverview Theater, we've still found folks saying they hadn’t been following the race and were eager for information.  They were very productive conversations where you walk away knowing you’ve gotten a vote.  I’m also surprised at the number of Horner signs popping up and did encounter some conversations with Horner supporters a couple weeks ago when I was out South of 38th Street between 13th and 16th Avenues.  With work and education these folks can be turned.  They told you they were supporting Horner with almost an apologetic tone.

There’s a reason to get out to the doors in 62.  There are still votes to be gained!

Last night I hosted a phone bank for Representative Paul Gardner, Senator Sandy Rummel, Representative Tarryl Clark and Senator Mark Dayton in my home.  It was fun, surprising and effective! 

We started the evening with a chili pot luck supper.  Since many of the night’s callers came directly from their jobs; it worked out well to eat together and get to know one another before diving into callingvoters.  A very important aspect of Take Action MN's electoral work is building communities who will co-govern with our elected representatives. One of the conversations at supper concluded with gratitude for the challenges in our lives that bring focus to the work we each have to do.  

Both Paul and Sandy came to meet the phone bankers.  Paul was here toward the beginning of the evening and shared in the potluck.  Paul spoke about his approach to truly address the needs of the people of the district, and of MN with an eye on sustainability. He is a very approachable person and has knocked on all the doors in his district.  I am proud to be represented at the Capitol by Paul Gardner and Senator Sandy Rummel! Sandy dropped by mid-evening.  We took a break with her and sat in my family room talking about her vision and the about the work she’s already accomplished toward the reNEW.MN vision. 

Motivated by these two spectacular candidates, we were able to get a lot of work done.  Four of our callers were first time phone bankers.  Joe, Margie, Jane and Ann had a brief training and jumped onto the phones! Imagine 10 people having phone conversations at the same time and it working out well.  It did!  We spread out best we could.  Callers found some creative spots to isolate themselves into.  I laughed out loud to see Elizabeth in the kid’s Wizard of Oz- decorated bedroom, surrounded by stuffed animals calling voters.  And as I walked down the hall, what did I see, but Cami sitting on the laundry room floor, papers spread out before her, making calls!  Ann parked herself on the floor in the back bedroom that I hadn’t tidied up for the event.  You know, something profound has happened when I let go of having the perfectly prepared event and space and allow the magic of others to touch the event and me.   

That being said, it was an organized event.  We had callers recruiting callers.  Especially for the Hmong voters in our district.  A couple weeks ago I asked Representative Paul Gardner, where there might be gap in reaching voters. Paul said that the campaign has learned that in 2008 there were 254 potential Hmong voters in our district and that 169 of them have no data in the records. Paul really wanted to reach out to this community of people in the district.  I contacted Dai and another leader from Take Action MN's Hmong Organizing Program and proposed that they join in the effort. Dai responded immediately and said he’d bring others.   They are calling all the Hmong households in the district!  They got through much of the list last night and committed to finishing the list on their own time.  I am so impressed.  And, Dai really put it to the candidates last night, asking specific questions; hearing for himself that Paul Gardner and Sandy Rummel are and will continue to stand with the Hmong community on issues that are important to the Hmong people. 

I am passionate about the community we are building, the MN we are building together, at phone banks, door knocking and by connecting with one another about what really matters to us – a better world for everyone.  I encourage all my readers to join in the effort.  Our future is together.

I initially got involved in TakeAction MN for two reasons.  One reason was because I have seen and have heard that they do great work with social justice issues, and two, I was assigned a project in my Community Organizing and Advocacy course in my graduate program in Social Work to work with an agency and complete a Community Organizing project.  I did not intend to learn and see so much of what TakeAction does in the little amount of time that I was involved. 

The Hmong Community Event with Mark Daytong was a great success.  With less than two weeks of planning, we all did a fabulous job in contacting elected officials to attend and/or speak, recruit volunteers to participate, draft an agenda, and secure a location to hold the event. 

The morning started out with volunteers and leaders setting up the room with round tables, chairs, and the stage.  Everyone was dressed to impress and the room was filled with a positive uproar of excitement and anxiety.  The doors were open to the public starting at 9:00am but to my surprise, people were anxiously waiting to get in as early as 8:15am.  Hmong people are stereotyped as being on “Hmong time” which essentially means being late, sometimes one or two hours after the intended start time.  As people and elected officials were checking and being seating, I could hear the room being filled with conversations whether it was about the anticipation of hearing from Senator Mark Dayton or to catch up with family and friends.  It was a wonderful feeling to see the room fill up with Hmong elders, youth, representatives, Senators, members of the police department, community members, and the media.

We were very fortunate to have key members of the Hmong community present from Hmong veterans, Hmong clan leaders, and past Hmong representatives.  Furthermore, we were grateful to have and hear from former Chief Harrington who is running for 67th Senate District of Minnesota, Rena Moran who is running for State Representative in district 65A in Saint Paul, Cy Thao, former State Representative in district 65A in Saint Paul, and Senator Mark Dayton who is running for Governor in the state of Minnesota.  John Choi, Tim Mahoney, and Kenneth Reed, who are all also key players in the state of Minnesota, were also in the audience.

Senator Mark Dayton was the highlight of the morning.  While walking in, he was swarmed with the media and the Hmong community wanting to chat or shake his hand before going on stage.  He delicately took his time in shaking everyone’s hand as he passed them, including check-in volunteers, Hmong elders, and TakeAction leaders.  I could see the anticipation in everyone’s voices and eyes as he took his spot on stage.  He started with an introduction and from there 3 TakeAction leaders asked him questions about employment, education, and Hmong burial for veterans.  The amount of time that was allotted for Senator Mark Dayton was too short, as I could see that many of the audience members wanted to ask questions and voice their concerns.  As Senator Mark Dayton left the stage, so did the many Hmong people present.  They followed him out to the front where they could take photos and ask questions.  I could see how passionate the Hmong community is in making positive and necessary changes in the Hmong community and we believe that Dayton can help support our efforts.

This event brought in over 300 people within two weeks of planning and it showed us that the Hmong Community does want to get involved, they want to have a voice, and they do want to make changes.  It was a real blessing to be part of this great initiative, this ‘history in the making’, to continue the path of the Hmong community in Minnesota and in the United States.
 

This past week I had a couple of conversations with friends wondering if they should vote for Tom Horner – and these were not friends I expected this from!  Besides immediate intervention (one told me I convinced her to vote Dayton and promised this weekend to try to ensure her dad will, too), I decided I needed to reach out to a broad group of "my people" and not just assume they would vote Dayton. I crafted an email message and, over Wednesday and Thursday, sent a personalized version to just over a hundred people (Copy-and-paste, personalize, send: repeat, repeat, repeat, …).

This served three purposes:

1. starts making Dayton's case to anyone thinking of voting Horner and invites further conversation
2. alerts those supporting Dayton not to assume all "their people" also do and maybe motivates them to reach out
3. for those not focused on politics it serves as a get-out-the-vote reminder, one that asks them to vote like me

Besides Dayton, I specified the other constitutional offices, the four contested state-wide judicial races, and sometimes select other races.

I included a few specific points about Horner; here's what I sent:

"While I don't love all of Dayton's positions, he is in line with many of my policy beliefs. Emmer is a non-starter with me. Horner: I think the StarTribune said it all in their endorsement of him when they wrote (I paraphrase): "If the Republican Party had not become so concerned with social issues, he would be running as the Republican candidate." Indeed.  Even so, his position on a woman's right to choose is unclear to me. His centerpiece to expand our most regressive tax (the sales tax) in part to provide tax breaks to corporations reminds us he is a Republican.

"Two other key points for me: He touts his time leading Himle Horner as relevant executive experience, but tells voters he was so uninvolved with the agency's Himle clients that he does not need to disclose those; he can't argue both ways. He assures us he won't be influenced by those client relationships; doesn't pass the smell test, to me. Plus, the way our system works, a governor with no party colleagues in the legislature makes it difficult to move an agenda. Our only recent relevant experience, Ventura, had some success because of his celebrity and because of timing: he governed when the focus was on how to 'return money to the people' – everyone could offer something. That is far from our current situation."

I made sure to be respectful and focus on my opinion of Horner's flaws.  I heard back from more than you might expect, but far fewer than you might fear. Perhaps half dozen implied they were my Horner-considering target audience. I was able to engage with them and consequently, a couple more have indicated they will vote Dayton; the others did not say, but I realize they might ultimately decide to vote for Dayton. If applied to the broad electorate, those who indicated some ambiguity in who they would vote for are a meaningful percentage: those I might have influenced to vote for Mark Dayton is also a meaningful percentage. Whatever the election's outcome, I will feel better for having taken these steps.

I am a single parent; I work for the State of Minnesota. I haven’t had a raise in three years, and with the State facing a $6 billion deficit, I won’t get one anytime soon.

My co-workers are being laid off and the rest of us are being asked to do more with less. I understand there will have to be cuts in the State budget, all of us as State employees get that.

But until we can fund public schools decently and until all Minnesotans have affordable health care, there is no room in the State budget for a new football stadium. It’s a matter of priorities.

Now I love Vikings football as much as the next person. But when I heard that Tom Horner intends to push for a new taxpayer-funded Vikings stadium, while everyone is sacrificing and scaling back, I got angry.

I’m sorry but using state tax dollars — paid in by people like you and me — to make Zygi Wilf richer makes no sense in this economic environment.

Tom Horner has profited from his association with Vikings since 2000, when his firm Himle-Horner,began lobbying on behalf of the Vikings to get a new stadium built with public money.

Fast forward to 2010. Tom Horner has grown rich from his firm’s relationship with the Vikings. Not surprising, his first major proposal on the campaign is for the public to give the Vikings an average of $33 million dollars a year for the next 40 YEARS!

That’s over $1.2 billion dollars Tom Horner wants to transfer to one of the richest men in America! Meanwhile the gap between richest and poorest in this state continues to widen.That’s not the kind of state I want to live in.

And Tom Horner has used the gubernatorial debates as one great big free stage to advance his client’s agenda. There have been a dozen or so debates since the primary and Tom Horner consistently recommends publicly subsidizing a new stadium for the Vikings.

Tom Horner has been a Republican political insider for 30 years.Tom Horner’s agenda is one that benefits big business and corporations at the expense of families like mine. And it’s wrong for Minnesota.

As a corn and soybean farmer in Dodge county, I believe Tom Horner's values and big corporate agenda are a threat to family farmers across the state.

In 2003, New Jersey investors proposed a factory farm dairy – two 3,000 cow operations – in my community in Ripley Township. This would have meant over 30 million gallons of liquid manure stored in open air lagoons in my community.  It would have meant tearing up our township roads which are not designed for the weight of the trucks in and out of such a large factory farm every day.  It would have meant putting family farm dairy operations out of business.

This was unwanted by farmers like me and most other rural residents and we spoke up and fought this proposal for 4 years.

The Pawlenty administration and Agri-Growth worked to try and force the factory farm on our community.  Agri-Growth is the lobby group for big ag interests in our state.  Groups like Cargill, ADM, Monsanto, Syngenta- the biggest of the big.

Agri-Growth bussed corporate ag interests into our community from around the state in an attempt to override the will of the farmers and rural residents in Ripley Township.

Tom Horner’s PR firm Himle/ Horner did  PR work for Agri-Growth on the issue of weakening our township rights to have a say on factory farm issues.  This concerns me. Tom Horner says he has no agenda and is about common sense. But Tom Horner is on the side of corporate agriculture – not family farmers like me.

A core value of local democracy is that all Minnesotans- especially family farmers and rural residents- have the right to control their livelihoods.  But I don’t think Tom Horner believe this.  He thinks corporations should be in charge, not local residents, and he's grown wealthy working against farmers like me.

Ultimately Ripley Township enacted a township ordinance putting common sense limits on factory farms and we stopped this proposal.  Under a Horner administration I think township right’s on factory farms issues would be in jeopardy.  Himle/ Horner while he was there worked directly for corporate interests and worked to weaken township local democracy. That was wrong.  That is not in line with what Minnesotans value.

Forty family farmers and supporters gathered Wednesday night at Jim, LeAnn, Josh, and Cindy VanDerPol’s farm Pastures of Plenty in western Minnesota for a reNEW Minnesota rural gathering/fundraiser in support of Margaret Anderson Kelliher for Governor. People enjoyed a gorgeous evening on the VanDerPol’s lawn eating family farm-raised meat and veggies.
 
State Senator Gary Kubly spoke on Margaret’s behalf as did reNEW Minnesota campaign leader (and family farmer) Paul Sobocinski. Speakers noted Margaret’s support of strengthening our rural economy by fostering real economic development with locally grown food and Margaret’s support of “Local Control," the rights of townships and counties to determine the development they want in their community.
 
Sobocinski talked about about Margaret’s grassroots campaign saying, “Margaret can win this primary even though she doesn’t have big bucks.  She can win it if each of us ask five people to consider voting for her.  There are forty of us here tonight.  Forty times five people each is two-hundred more votes for Margaret!”  People left the event pledging to talk to their neighbors, writing letters to the editor in support of Margaret, and taking lawn signs. Attendees also donated money to Margaret’s campaign and committed to get out the vote in western Minnesota for the August 10th primary election.

Click here for pictures.