Day Two: Update on 37B and a GOP Primary in 53A Mounds View/Shoreview

There are two developments to report in the 37B race between Sterner / Walter-Hansen. I previously reported that Dr. Walter-Hansen had not made a pledge to abide by the endorsement of the convention. I have new information today that indicates he had pledged to the SD party chair to abide, and that he is therefore breaking his pledge by entering the primary.

The other development in this race regards the eminent domain issue I mentioned in the previous article. While Dr. Walter-Hansen likes to make himself out to be a victim of that action, new information indicates that he purchased the property in question A FULL YEAR AFTER the eminent domain process had started, and then turned a tidy profit of $75,000 on the deal.

Dr. Walter-Hansen has said that it was not only the price of the property that was the issue but also the principal of undermining property rights for the sake of furthering community interests – a point of view more typically held by libertarians than liberals.

As of the end of business yesterday, only one more contested primary had emerged per candidate filings at the secretary of state’s office, in 53a, currently represented by Paul Gardner (DFL). That race is between John Kappler, the GOP endorsee & Mady Reiter, a former two-term State Senator who was bested in the endorsement race. While these two candidates appear identical to me, I hope they spend primary season competing to see who is the most extreme, as that will surely help Paul Gardner< win a second term to the Minnesota Legislature.

While Paul has been an able representative of the district, doing his best to balance the interests of all his constituencies, these two Republicans are clearly interested in something else. The bald faced and offensive lies in Kappler’s message, combined with the nonsensical and openly ambitious ranting of former State Senator ‘Mady’ Reiter ought to help Paul win re-election with a bigger margin than he enjoyed last time.

“The DFL in the Minnesota Legislature has a different point of view. It is dominated by Minneapolis liberals and sustained by others. They look at a 2.2 billion dollar surplus and see an opportunity for tax increases. If you own a phone, drink a beer, buy gas, or die, they want more from you. Much More. They propose that non-citizens be allowed to vote. And they’d like to compel our employers and our schools to accept their new definitions of marriage and family, definitions that are totally foreign to our sensibilities.”

This paragraph from Kappler’s website perfectly captures almost every single thing that is wrong with the GOP in our state. It displays an “us vs. them” mentality, both on a partisan and geographical basis. It misconstrues and oversimplifies “facts” such as the $2.2 Billion surplus from 2005-2006, which, you may remember, was nothing more than an accounting gimmick due to the inclusion of inflation in the revenue growth projection but not the spending growth projection. It impugns the motives of public servants (“see an opportunity for tax increases”) without evidence – people actually believe this load of manure? It flat out lies about voting rights to non-citizens – which bill number are they referring to, please? Finally, and most deplorable IMHO, it supports discrimination.

Reiter is not much better. In addition to silly contradictions and poor grammar (“Neighbors cite my success in highway and bridge transportation projects”, followed immediately by “Political veterans have been appalled by the antics of the Minnesota State Legislative majorities $6.6 billion in increased transportation taxes indeed!), most of her website is used to justify her overreaching ambition to regain political office at the cost of party unity.

Paul Gardner was looking at a difficult re-election campaign (he only won by a slim margin in 2006), but the infighting between these two ideological right-wing nuts ought to help somewhat as they compete for more activist or extreme GOP primary voters and alienate moderate general election voters.

Gardner deserves re-election: not only did he act in a pragmatic way to deliver policy that benefited his constituents; he has also done a superior job of maintaining transparency and constituent contact through every means at his disposal. I strongly recommend you check out his blog after visiting his campaign website to get an idea of what I mean.