Not optimal

The 2012 campaigns came to an end on Election Day, in a stunning victory for Democrats, and in disbelief for Republicans.

The day began with reports of heavy voter turnout with few problems at the polls. At the Minnesota GOP Victory Party at the Bloomington Hilton, the evening began with cautious optimism. The parking lot was full to overflowing by 7:00 p.m., with television satellite trucks stationed on the south side of the hotel. Activists admitted the possibility of losing the majority in the Minnesota Senate, but expected to retain control of the House. They were hopeful for at least a slim Electoral College win for Mitt Romney, with fingers crossed.

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, who ran unopposed for reelection, hosted a hospitality suite with his family and Chester, the family bulldog and mascot of the self-proclaimed Hennepin County Taxpayer Watchdog. The suite became the unofficial headquarters for SD44 activists, where they monitored the election returns via cable TV and a rather flakey WiFi connection, while munching on popcorn, party mix, and yes, "puppy chow."

The SD48 hospitality room, really a conference room, was standing room only with candidates and activists and the requisite TV displaying election coverage.

At his hospitality suite, U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills greeted a steady stream of supporters, as his campaign staff hovered over a laptop computer. I spent a few minutes with Bills communications manager David Strom before the candidate gave the nod, and then led his entourage downstairs to the main ballroom to deliver a gracious concession speech while encouraging the party faithful to stay engaged to fight in 2014.



Chris Fields, who challenged Democrat Keith Ellison in the Fifth U.S. Congressional District, admonished Republicans to hold elected officials at all levels accountable by continuing to discuss campaign issues like the economy and government spending. Receiving over 25% of the vote in the Fifth, Fields asserted that Republicans achieved a new credibility in the historically-Democrat district.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. —Theodore Roosevelt

Poll watching

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." —Plato

Today is Election Day. Get out to vote!

Before you vote, review the Election Integrity Watch Action Plan, and if you see something, say something. To report any suspicious activity at your polling place, call 877-602-WATCH.

After you vote, share your voting story with Minnesota Public Radio News at their special web page.

After the polls close at 8:00 p.m., you can watch the results come in at any of several election watch parties, or hunker down at home in front of the TV. If you want to follow certain races closely, try the MinnPost Live Election Results Dashboard, which you can view from an Internet-connected computer or mobile device. The official results will be posted at the Minnesota Secretary of State website. There is a dubious report circulating that Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is hoping for a 150% voter turnout to defeat the Voter ID amendment.

Over the weekend, I was encouraged by the turnout at a Saturday morning campaign literature drop and Sunday afternoon phone bank shift. There were so many volunteers scheduled for phone bank shifts that all of the calling stations were full, so they were buying cell phones to enable even more calls. People also stopped by to pick up campaign lawn signs. Minnesota visits on Sunday by vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and yesterday by presidential candidate son Josh Romney have Republican activists energized and hopeful for today's elections.

DFL running scared?

By David Faith, sd44gop.com

Over the last three days, I've received no fewer than three expensive glossy mailers paid for by the DFL attacking David Gaither. These mailers are the worst sort of political trash. They feature an unflattering screenshot of David apparently laughing and juxtapose it with a series of slanders, including (I'm not making this up) that he wants old people to starve. They are premised on the sad, tired DFL argument that only the central government can accomplish anything and that if, like Gaither, you believe government should live within its means then you must not care about the needy. They are premised on belief that only central government can help people, and that local governments, communities and private organizations don't exist. They are premised on the belief that rather than empowering people to help themselves we should treat Minnesotans as helpless sheep, powerless without the DFL shepherd.

Yet in a way, I was actually glad to receive these mailers because they told me something very important. David Gaither has the DFL running scared. There are a lot of tight races in Minnesota and the DFL would not be spending massively in Senate District 44 unless they thought there was a very good chance that David Gaither can defeat DFL incumbent Terri Bonoff. Gaither could be the key vote to defeating Gov. Mark Dayton's plan to make Minnesota the highest-taxed state in the nation, and the DFL is willing to to dig deep into their coffers to keep him out of the Senate. I think you measure a man by his enemies. David Gaither has made an enemy of the DFL money machine. That should tell you everything you need to know about his candidacy.

Let's get out there and elect David Gaither to the State Senate!

David Faith is Vice Chair at Large of the SD44 Republicans. This article originally appeared on sd44gop.com.

Trick or treat?

Looking at this direct mailed campaign lit piece, you might think that Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) has been endorsed by the popular former Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN3). Just look at that nice photo of the two shaking hands, under the headline that calls Benson "The Right Choice for Minnetonka and Plymouth." The word "right" is even underlined, in case you didn't get the hint.

At the League of Women Voters candidate forum, Benson said, "I have been endorsed by two very important and highly respected Republican politicians: a former Republican governor and a former long-term U.S. Congressman."

Although a picture is worth a thousand words, nowhere on the lit piece does it actually say that Ramstad, who has retired from partisan battles, has endorsed Rep. Benson. At the forum, Benson did not say which Republican former long-term U.S. Congressman endorsed him. When the campaign of Benson's challenger, Mark Stefan, asked Ramstad for clarification, here is what he replied via e-mail:

To Whom It May Concern:

I want to set the record straight that I have not endorsed State Rep. John Benson.

Sincerely,

Jim Ramstad
Member of Congress
1991-2009

The DFL legislators on this side of town are sure working hard to look like Republicans, at least until the Legislature is actually called into session. I wonder how many voters will fall for this trick-or-treat.

A time for choosing

Kurt Bills, the Republican endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, sent the following message to supporters. It is directed squarely at those Republicans who either stayed home on Election Day, or used their vote to "send a message" or "teach a lesson" to the Republican party "establishment," for endorsing the "wrong" candidate.

Elections have consequences. With Gov. Mark "Tax The Rich" Dayton and two liberal U.S. Senators later, how did that work out for ya?

I would add to Bills's commentary the practice of certain former Republican elected officials to undermine the candidacies of Republican-endorsed candidates by publicly endorsing their DFL opponents. The First Amendment applies to these members of the old guard as much as to any other American, but such a public repudiation of the party is also a betrayal to those of us who still work to advance Republican values.

If you have issues with the Republican Party, and many of us do, fine, next election cycle, run for delegate in your precinct, fight for changes to the platform, work hard for the candidate of your choice. But days before Election Day, it is a time for choosing. Vote next Tuesday, but please don't sabotage our fight from within.

In June 2009 Norm Coleman conceded his Senate race to comedian Al Franken.

He lost the race, after 6 months of recounts and legal battles, by 312 votes.

In December 2010, Tom Emmer conceded his race for Governor after a similar recount, losing by fewer than 9000 votes.

Both races have something in common much more important than the fact that they ended after recounts: they ended with extremely liberal politicians taking power entirely due to the defection of Republicans to third-party candidates.

In a very real way, Democrats didn’t win those elections as much as Republicans chose to lose them.

In my mind, that is shameful. Do any of the Republicans who voted for Dean Barkley or Tom Horner really believe our state and our country are better off with Al Franken and Mark Dayton as Senator and Governor?

The reasons for some Republicans to defect from Coleman and Emmer are a mirror image of each other. Some Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Coleman because he was not conservative enough for their taste; in Emmer’s case, others thought he was too conservative.

They were looking for the “Goldilocks” candidate in the race, and voted for a third party candidate or stayed home. In the Emmer race, former Republican Tom Horner garnered over 250,000 votes, more than 25 times the margin by which Emmer lost. Not all those votes were disaffected Republicans, of course, but too many of them were.

The results are stark: Minnesota didn’t get a centrist, “goldilocks” Senator or Governor. They were saddled, instead, with two of the most liberal politicians in the country representing them in Washington and St Paul.

Republicans who didn’t vote for their Republican candidates are responsible for the passage of Obamacare, a bill that would have been stopped had Norm Coleman been in the Senate.

I am not one to believe that we should abandon our principles and simply adopt the Party line. Many of you recall that I am the Republican Senate candidate today because I ran an insurgent campaign from outside the Party structure.

I firmly believe it is our responsibility to fight within the Party to ensure it represents our principles. Ronald Reagan was an insurgent, and eventually won out against the Rockefeller Republicans after nearly two decades of work in the trenches.

During that time Reagan was both a loyal Republican and a principled warrior for his cause.

That is what each of us needs to be today. Day in, day out each of us needs to work tirelessly to persuade other Republicans to our side when we disagree; and day in, day out we need to fight to defeat Democrats who are pushing policies which if left unchecked will bankrupt our country and undermine the constitutional foundations of our country.

Ronald Reagan hit it on the nose when he declared: “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.”

That is why I am voting for a Republican straight ticket this Election Day…and why you should, too.

Generation R

By David Faith, sd44gop.com

If you checked out the Star Tribune’s website this weekend you probably noticed two things. One, in what has to amount to the least surprising development of the entire Presidential campaign, the Star Tribune editorial board endorsed Barack Obama. Two, and far more interesting, was an article about how young people coming of age during the Obama Presidency are becoming more and more fiscally conservative. Indeed, Republican identification among young voters is the highest it has been in many years.

This corresponds exactly with my anecdotal observations over this election season. One of the most exciting things about this year’s election is the number of young people getting involved in helping out our Republican candidates. If you’ve been coming out to meet the candidates in Senate District 44, to fundraisers, to parades, and to other volunteer events of all kinds, you’ve met a new generation of Republican activists that are changing the political calculus of the State of Minnesota.

And it’s no wonder. Our Republican candidates are the only ones in the room speaking to young people like adults and addressing the fiscal mess they’re going to inherit. A central theme of the campaigns of SD44 State Senate candidate David Gaither, and our State House candidates Sarah Anderson and Mark Stefan, is that the current generation’s spending binge has to come to end if we’re going to give the next generation a fair shake at the same opportunities we enjoyed.

Young people are among the reasons that in addition to returning Republican majorities to the State Legislature, we have a real shot of helping to elect a Republican President of the United States. The latest Rasmussen polls show Mitt Romney drawing to within 5% of Barack Obama in Minnesota, the closest we’ve seen the race in the entire election season. What’s more, the momentum is clearly in Romney’s favor, having improved an astonishing 5% just since October 18.

At our recent SD44 gala we had the tremendous pleasure of welcoming former Senator Rudy Boschwitz to make the keynote address. Among his observations was the fact that Ronald Reagan won 49 states in 1984 without once blaming Jimmy Carter for the fiscal mess Reagan inherited. The Senator noted, with wry humor, that he was embarrassed to say what the 50th state had been. It was Minnesota. We have an historic opportunity to turn Minnesota around for Republicans with a message of limited government and personal liberty that resonates especially with the young. We will not waste that opportunity. We’re going to win this for our candidates, for our children, and for ourselves.

David Faith is Vice Chair at Large of the SD44 Republicans. This post originally appeared on sd44gop.com.

Political parties

As regular readers of North Star Liberty know, my favorite part of politics is the political parties. I don't mean the partisan political organizations, I mean the social events that those groups conduct!

From attending Republican election night parties, Red, Right and Brew happy hours, SD44 PUBlicans happy hours, Minnesota Organization of Bloggers events, senate district fundraisers, candidate meet-and-greets, and other such events, I have learned that Republican activists are well-informed, intelligent, passionate, interesting, successful, and just plan fun to hobnob with.

SD44 had its most successful event in years last Thursday, a fundraiser at the Medina Golf and Country Club. The attendance was great. They had a silent auction and a "wine pull." The food and drink were excellent. The men cleaned up and the women were dressed to the nines. They attracted great speakers like U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz (a district resident), Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers, Hennepin County Commissioner (and district resident) Jeff Johnson, and of course local candidates David Gaither, Sarah Anderson, and Mark Stefan. (In the auction, I won an American flag and four dozen oatmeal M&M cookies freshly baked by Rep. Anderson.)

Also this year, SD44 has held happy hours at various venues around the district. You never know who or how many will show up, but you can usually count on district treasurer Geoff Shipsides to save a spot for the group. I attended events at Jake's in Plymouth and The Muni in Wayzata. They were great opportunities to meet other Republicans to talk politics and other common interests. At Wednesday's event I met a supporter and friend of Marc Berris, a candidate for Hennepin County judge who strongly endorsed him and handed out his campaign cards for good measure.

Once in a while, campaigning can almost seem like a party. The Pawlenty bus tour in 2006 was a fantastic experience. So was blogging at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, where I met U.S. Senators Fred Thompson and Jim DeMint.

Election night parties can be exciting, and of course they are a lot more fun when your candidates win than when they don't. I enjoy being a part of history in the making, along with the media, candidates, and activists on election night. But win, lose, or draw, I am always proud to stand with my fellow activists, knowing that we did our best, and looking ahead to the next campaign.

If in doubt, vote early

Written by David Faith, SD44gop.com

In 2008, roughly 30% of voters nationally voted before Election Day.  One of the less appreciated factors in Barack Obama’s sweeping victory in 2008 was that Democrats dominated early balloting.  In virtually every state, including Minnesota, early voters tended to be Democratic voters.  This was not an accident.  It was a core part of the President’s campaign strategy, and of Democrats’ larger strategy to get out their vote.  The reasoning behind this strategy is blindingly obvious and borne out by both common sense and statistical analysis.  All other things being equal, people are more likely to vote if they have a month or more to accomplish it than if they have to remember to do it on a particular day.  

Voter turnout is the key to winning elections, and this is particularly true when you’re talking about state and local races in swing districts.  In state legislative elections just 1 or 2% difference in turnout could make the difference between sending small government fiscal conservatives like David Gaither, Mark Stefan, and Sarah Anderson to St. Paul, vs. sending DFL candidates that will rubber stamp Mark Dayton’s plans to make Minnesota the highest taxed state in the union like current DFL senator Terri Bonoff.

If you care enough to vote, you should care enough to vote early if there is any scenario you can imagine that would cause you to be unable to vote on Election Day due to absence from the precinct, illness or disability, religious observance, or service as an election judge in another precinct (you will have to certify to one of those four reasons).

This election is likely to be close, very close.  Consider this.  The incumbent DFL representative in SD44, John Benson, won his 2010 election by only 595 votes out of 17,399 cast, a margin of just over 3%.  It is not at all hard to imagine that just over 3% of voters had something come up that kept them from the polls.  A last-minute business trip?  A family emergency?  Health problems?  Life is complicated and unpredictable, and even determined voters can have something come up that takes priority.

I’ll say it again.  If in doubt, vote early.  Fortunately, it’s easy.  In Minnesota you can cast an absentee ballot in two ways.  First, you can send in an application to receive an absentee ballot by mail.  The form and instructions are available at the Secretary of State’s website.  Second, you can vote in person at your local city hall, or at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, during regular business hours.  Some locations have extended and weekend hours.  Details for Minnetonka can be found at the City of Minnetonka website.  For Plymouth, visit the city of Plymouth website.

David Faith is Vice Chair At Large of the SD44 Republicans. This post is cross-posted from SD44gop.org.

Fact checking Terri Bonoff

By Janet Schutz

Fact checking has been in the news quite a bit lately. I decided to do some of my own fact checking on the SD 44 Senate race. I served for two terms on the Wayzata School Board, so I do have a bit of an inside view to see through a big hole in one of Terri Bonoff’s claims.

DFL Senator Bonoff boasts that a bill she co-authored “allowed the Wayzata School District to expand without raising taxes.” That sounds really good. Too bad the statement doesn’t quite meet the fact-checking standard.

This bill provides early eligibility to the Wayzata School District for Alternative Facilities financing (Statute 123B.59). Wayzata can now issue debt for certain maintenance projects and charge the taxpayer for those debt payments without first getting taxpayer approval. With multiple buildings that need to be maintained, the bill is a good thing for the school district. Alt Facilities monies, however, cannot be used to expand.

Wayzata Schools is in fact expanding its elementary space. But they’re doing it via capital lease levy financing (Statute 126C.4), and would have done it regardless of the outcome of the law to which Terri refers. It’s also true that they are able to build without raising current levels of taxes. That’s because as old debt rolls off, they are replacing it with new capital levy obligations. It is a debt structure carefully designed to minimize taxpayer impact. This is due to years of prudent management on the part of Wayzata Schools’ administration and school boards.

I take pride in the history, success and AAA bond rating of the Wayzata School district. I am disappointed that Terri Bonoff has chosen to use the Wayzata School District’s accomplishments as a tool for her own political gain. I expect more from our elected officials.

This post originally ran on the Plymouth Patch as a letter to the editor on October 23, 2012.

An offer we can't refuse

Click image to zoom in

"As government expands, liberty contracts." —Ronald Reagan

Light rail transit is rolling down the tracks to a neighborhood near you. As far as the Metropolitan Council and Gov. Mark Dayton are concerned, taxpayers and those who live in the trains' path have three options:

• Lead
• Follow
• Get out of the way

Three lawsuits against the Central Corridor LRT line illustrate this.

When Minnesota Public Radio complained that light rail trains rumbling down Cedar Street in front of its downtown Saint Paul lobby doors could disrupt its broadcast and recording studios, the Metropolitan Council refused to re-route the tracks. When MPR asked for a spring-steel floating slab system that has proven to reduce noise and vibration from a similar transit route in Basel, Switzerland, Met Council Chairman Peter Bell said, "I think MPR does an excellent job in news and classical music. Engineering light-rail systems is not their area of expertise." MPR's subsequent lawsuit against the Met Council was dismissed. A less-expensive rubber-based floating slab system will be installed, which the experts at the Met Council assure MPR will work just fine.

When the University of Minnesota balked at the prospect of vibration and electromagnetic interference from light rail trains disrupting sensitive laboratories through the heart of its campus, they proposed an alternate route on the northern outskirts of campus. When the Met Council declined to reroute the tracks, the U sued. The University dropped its lawsuit in an agreement with the Met Council that includes mitigation measures that the Met Council assures the U will work just fine.

When the Saint Paul NAACP complained that potential negative effects of the line on residents and businesses have not been adequately analyzed, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's office commented, "I'm not sure it's inevitable bad things will happen." The NAACP's lawsuit against the Met Council, the Federal Transit Administration, and the federal Department of Transportation is still pending.

Governor Dayton is a big supporter of the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit route. Just don't confuse him with the facts.

When Gov. Dayton's own Department of Employment and Economic Development rated the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit last out of twelve metro area projects for grant money (see chart), Gov. Dayton ignored his own agency's scorecard and awarded the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit a $2 million DEED grant.

The Southwest Transitway Draft Environmental Impact Statement lists "severe" noise impacts "in a number of residential locations...[due to] high anticipated speeds of [sic] or light rail vehicle-mounted audible warning signal (bell) use at some stations and crossings;" vibration; noise and vibration from freight trains re-routed to make way for the light rail; up to hundreds of property acquisitions depending on the final route; and safety and security impacts.

I wouldn't bet against the Southwest LRT getting built due to environmental, noise, vibration, or safety concerns from property owners and residents. Light rail transit in the Twin Cities metro area is an offer from the Met Council we can't — or won't be allowed to — refuse.